Washington, DC – Congressman Al Green (TX-09), today, attended a House Committee on Homeland Security Hearing entitled “The XDR Tuberculosis Incident: A Poorly Coordinated Federal Response to an Incident with Homeland Security Implications”.  Hearing witnesses included: Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Jeffrey W. Runge, Assistant Secretary for Health and Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Department of Homeland Security; Mr. W. Ralph Basham, Commissioner, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security; and Jayson P. Ahern, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, Customs and Border Protection. 

This hearing was designed to identify the shortfalls in our border security and disease control systems, and discuss ways that we can fix those problems.  Specifically, the hearing focused on the communication and notification policies and procedures between federal agencies and international entities; the process by which the CDC attempted to prevent an infected individual from crossing into the United States; the Department of Homeland Security’s delay in placing the individual on a “no-fly” list and the procedures by which the Department screens visitors coming across our northern and southern borders; the breakdown of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prevent the infected individual from crossing the Canadian border; the level of medical preparedness and awareness that exists among CBP agents; and the policies, procedures, and capabilities that our nation possesses to isolate and quarantine an infected person once he/she enters the U.S.

“This incident could have been catastrophic. This time it was TB, next time it could be SARS, Avian Flu, or even worse.  It provided a real world test of our national systems of border security and disease control and revealed breakdowns in the system which could allow this infected individual to cross into the United States through the Canadian border,” stated Congressman Al Green.  “Although Andrew Speaker was warned by CDC not to travel and was trusted not to do so, he committed a breach of trust when he disregarded the warning and traveled.  Is trust enough to assure the public that a person with a potentially deadly communicable disease will do the right thing? In an imperfect system, when the lives of millions of Americans are at stake, can we trust ‘trust’ to protect us?  This incident has highlighted serious shortfalls in our border security and disease control systems and proves that, almost six years after the tragedy of 9-11, we -as a nation,- still have a great deal of work to do.”

**A timeline of the incidents relating to the Andrew Speaker incident and Federal Responses is attached.