Good morning. Thank you, Lee (Zak, USTDA Director), for that kind introduction, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts with all of you this morning. As you might guess, the subject of aviation security holds some significance for me, and I appreciate being able to discuss it in the context of trade and commerce, especially with partners as important to the United States of America as those represented here today.

By U.S. House of Representatives rules which state that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has no jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), no representative from TSA will be present at the Subcommittee on Aviation hearing scheduled for Nov. 29.

TSA will continue to work with its committees of jurisdiction to pursue effective and efficient security solutions. In the 112th Congress alone, TSA witnesses have testified at 38 hearings and provided 425 briefings for Members of Congress.