Public Safety & Homeland Security
HAYWARD, CA – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15), member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, today requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issue an updated assessment of our nation's airport perimeter security needs. The last report GAO issued evaluating airport perimeter security was published in 2009.
On April 20, a 16-year-old flew from Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) to Kahului Airport in Maui in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight after having climbed a perimeter fence at SJC undetected.
A stock photo of San Francisco International Airport featured in an international publication – reportedly run by al Qaeda - is sounding off alarms on Capitol Hill, especially as the year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings nears.
HAYWARD, CA -- U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Member of the Homeland Security Committee, today announced he is an original cosponsor of H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014. He introduced it with Reps. Susan W. Brooks (R-IN-5), Donald Payne (D-NJ-10), and Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4). The bipartisan bill expands both the membership and influence of the Department of Homeland Security's existing Virtual Social Media Working Group.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) offered a five-year anniversary tribute on the House Floor for fallen Oakland Police Department officers Sergeant Mark Dunakin, Sergeant Ervin Romans, Sergeant Daniel Sakai, and Officer John Hege. The officers were killed in the line of duty on Saturday, March 21, 2009.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) led a letter with Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC), Candice Miller (R-MI), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Members of the Homeland Security Committee with jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to Secretary of State John Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson based on security concerns raised by the ongoing investigation involving missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey urging that the FBI take steps to improve DNA testing for law enforcement. The letter asks the bureau to consider Rapid DNA analysis, and to better use private labs to reduce the severe DNA backlog. The letter was co-led by Reps. Mike Honda (CA-17) and Barbara Lee (CA-13).
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) today announced the Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) was awarded a two-year $4.1 million federal SAFER grant to hire and train 12 new firefighters. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Swalwell, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter to FEMA in September in support of the grant for the Alameda County Fire Department.
A House panel has approved by a voice vote a bill aimed at strengthening the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity workforce.
During a markup session on Oct. 29, the House Homeland Security Committee amended the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act to encourage DHS to boost the pool of IT security job candidates by creating a tuition-for-work fellowship as well as a program to identify military veterans and unemployed computer specialists for potential IT security
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) sent a bipartisan letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator W. Craig Fugate, urging FEMA to adopt open data standards to enhance social media alerts in disaster situations. In a July Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing led by Rep. Swalwell and Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications Chairman Rep. Susan Brooks on the role of social media in an emergency situation, witnesses noted certain obstacles undermining the dissemination of vital, life-saving information.
PLEASANTON, CA – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) today announced that the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System was awarded a FEMA transportation security grant of $12.8 million for FY2013 to secure its Transbay Tube which connects San Francisco and the East Bay and protect the system in case of a terrorist attack. Rep.