Barbara Boxer: “My friend is so much on point. It is true that the attempt to down an Israel airliner in Kenya failed. However, it is…”

“My friend is so much on point. It is true that the attempt to down an Israel airliner in Kenya failed. However, it is estimated that over the last 25 years, more than 550 people have been killed in incidents involving shoulder-fired missiles and commercial aircraft. I want to show my friend a statement made by a member of the travel industry, as we look at more funding for the airlines, which I think is essential right now given what they have gone through, because we have a war and we had terrorism and we have a recession. This is what Ed Adams, chairman of a big tourism industry group, said: The travel industry is painfully aware of what a successful attack of using a shoulder-fired missile on a commercial airliner could do to the confidence of the traveling public. It is a situation we would prefer not to even imagine, but we must understand the reality of such an event if we intend to prevent it. The blow to the economy, in general, and the travel and tourism sector, in particular, combined with the loss of human lives would be staggering. These costs would certainly outweigh the expense of the precautionary measures you are recommending today to make sure our commercial planes are safe from such a terrorist attack.”