Defense
While on a congressional delegation trip to Afghanistan, Sen. Murkowski visited the village of Garmsir. While there, she met with some of the local village children.
It is said that no people support the military like the people of Alaska. Military families from across the country arrive in Alaska apprehensive about the distance their new posting is from home but quickly warm to Alaska and wonder why they ever lived anywhere else. Their commanders find that Alaska's pro-military spirit promotes morale and unit cohesion and that our unique open spaces and diverse terrain provide ideal joint training opportunities in the air, on land and at sea. Alaska's "top of the world" geographic advantage and superior logistical capabilities enable our troops to quickly deploy to hotspots around the globe.
Alaska proudly hosts major Army installations in Anchorage, Fairbanks and near Delta Junction, two major Air Force installations in Anchorage and North Pole, a Marine Anti-Terrorism Battalion in Anchorage, a Navy SEALS training facility in Kodiak and major Coast Guard installations at Ketchikan, Kodiak and Sitka. Alaska is also home to America's Ground Based Missile Defense System at Fort Greely, the world class training grounds of Pacific Alaska Range Complex in eastern Interior Alaska, the Kodiak Launch Complex, one of only two spaceports on the West Coast, and important Air Force-maintained radar sites that provide top cover to the North American continent. More than 20,000 active duty service members and 4,700 members of the Guard and Reserve serve in Alaska. Alaska's National Guard, which carries on the proud legacy of the Alaska Territorial Guard, is made up of citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen representing nearly every community in Alaska. In recent years, Alaska's troops have served with distinction in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. The Alaska National Guard maintains a strong relationship with Mongolia through the National Guard Bureau's state partnership program.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Military Construction Subcommittee, Sen. Murkowski fights to ensure that our Armed Forces have the resources and facilities they need to perform their vital missions. A champion of military families, Sen. Murkowski has worked to improve family support and quality of life on Alaska's military installations. Sen. Murkowski also serves on the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
TSA Screening
Sen. Murkowski believes that the safety and security of those traveling aboard our nation’s airliners is paramount and that protocols that are implemented to increase security must be weighed against a passenger’s reasonable expectation of privacy. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has recently upgraded its security screening protocols to include an enhanced pat-down and full-body scanners. Sen. Murkowski understands the enormous task that the TSA faces; securing the nation’s airline industry is no small task, but every effort must be made to ensure that any and all privacy concerns are addressed.
Sen. Murkowski is a frequent traveler between Alaska and Washington, D.C. She has had first-hand experience with both the full-body scanners and the enhanced pat-down procedures. She understands the concerns of many Alaskans, and the traveling public as a whole, that the pat-down procedures are overly invasive. Even though the Transportation Security Officers are doing their best to implement the security protocols that they are directed to employ, the touching of a passenger’s waistline and other sensitive locations on their body, raises significant concerns for her regarding the breadth and scope of the reach of the TSA.
We must all remember that there are individuals and organizations throughout the world and inside the United States that intend to do us harm. Just last year, a terrorist was able to gain access to a commercial airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear. While many feel that the new procedures being implemented by the TSA would not have identified the terrorist or his bomb, we must continue to employ whatever new technology that is available to ensure passenger safety and to thwart future terrorist attacks. Sen. Murkowski will continue to monitor the privacy concerns surrounding full-body scanners and the enhanced pat-down procedures in an effort to ensure that the TSA is not overstepping its Congressional mandates and needlessly infringing upon the Constitutional privacy rights of the traveling public.
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