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Holmes-Norton Questions Air Safety Procedures

December 29, 2009
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D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Kavitha Cardoza
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.

By Kavitha Cardoza

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton says she has several questions she wants answered, about the recent incident where a Nigerian national tried to set off an explosive on a plane bound for Detroit.

Norton sits on the House Homeland Security Committee. While she praises the Northwest Airlines crew and passengers for preventing Umar Abdul- Mutallab from setting off an explosive, she says she wants to know how he got on in the first place.

"I have watched these watch lists for years. And I can't fathom why the report given to the embassy did not raise red flags. Because it came from a very credible source, a courageous and difficult source- this man's own father," says Norton.

Norton says while she believes the U-S needs to balance security with privacy, she also wants to know how he was able to get through security screening in Amsterdam. House and Senate Homeland Security Committees have scheduled hearings for January.

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