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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, One of the sectors most vulnerable to terrorism in
3 the United States is civil aviation; and
 
4     WHEREAS, On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid, a member of
5 Al-Qaeda, attempted to destroy American Airlines Flight 63, a
6 trans-Atlantic flight from Paris, France to Miami, Florida, by
7 detonating explosives hidden in his shoes; and
 
8     WHEREAS, On December 25, 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
9 attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his
10 underwear on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, a trans-Atlantic
11 flight en route from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Detroit,
12 Michigan; and
 
13     WHEREAS, The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), a United
14 States federal law enforcement agency under the supervision of
15 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), currently
16 deploys Federal Air Marshals to detect, deter, and defeat
17 hostile acts targeting U.S. air carriers, airports,
18 passengers, and crews; and
 
19     WHEREAS, While the FAMS does a wonderful job in protecting
20 domestic flights, such protection does not apply to the
21 thousands of flights coming into the United States from foreign

 

 

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1 countries each day; and
 
2     WHEREAS, The use of well-trained air marshals in these
3 flights would greatly decrease the risk of a successful
4 terrorist attack in the future; therefore, be it
 
5     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
6 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
7 urge the President, the members of the United States Congress,
8 the Federal Aviation Administration, and all commercial
9 airlines to implement a requirement that all commercial
10 passenger flights originating outside the U.S. must have at
11 least one qualified air marshal on board; and be it further
 
12     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
13 presented to President Barack Obama, the members of the
14 Illinois congressional delegation, and FAA Administrator J.
15 Randolph Babbitt.