Swalwell Emphasizes Need for TSA to Protect Airport Perimeters following San Jose Stowaway’s Comments

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) released the following statement after Yahye Abdi, the teenager who breached the Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) perimeter and stowed away in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines plane, spoke for the first-time publicly about the ease of trespassing the airport perimeter fence. Swalwell, the only Northern California Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, toured the SJC perimeter and called for a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) pilot study to test technologies to better secure airport perimeters:

"While Yahye Abdi was innocent in his intent, his statements to the press raise real concerns. His comments detailing the effortlessness with which he breached the fence at San Jose Airport are chilling and reinforce that we need to do more to protect our airport perimeters from being accessed by an un-screened, un-ticketed person wanting to inflict harm.

"The TSA must take swift action to protect the flying public from such a threat. I have called and will continue to call on the TSA to implement a pilot program to test and deploy technologies that will alert security the moment airport perimeters are breached. Every passenger is at risk of a catastrophe in the skies if we do not fix the glaring vulnerability highlighted by this teenager."