Lieberman to hold aviation security hearing

A Senate committee will look at the state of aviation security 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the office of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman announced Thursday.

The committee will hold a hearing Nov. 2 titled “Ten Years After 9/11:The Next Wave in Aviation.” The meeting will be chaired by Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking Republican on the Homeland Security panel Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The hearing comes as the Transportation Security Administration, which was created after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. is under fire for a sexual note left in a passenger's bag. The agency has been criticized broadly for its airport security practices, including pat-down hand searches and body scans.

Lieberman's office said Thursday the hearing would "examine the development of new technologies used in screening airline passengers, detecting suspicious cargo, and uncovering potential terrorist threats."

"This is the last in a series of hearings the Committee has held to examine the country’s improved preparedness since 9/11 and what vulnerabilities still remain," Lieberman's office said in the announcement.

The hearing will take place next Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

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