(Washington, DC) – US Representative Sue Myrick (NC-09) has sent a letter to President Obama urging him to give Transportation Security Administration agents greater authority in screening airline passengers paying with cash.

Faisal Shahzad, the failed New York Time Square bomber, somehow made it through security and boarded an aircraft – despite being on the no-fly list – in part because he purchased his ticket with cash a short time before takeoff.

“I urge you to use your authority to allow TSA agents to personally check the identification of passengers, who purchase airlines tickets in cash hours before takeoff, against existing terrorist databases,” Myrick wrote in her letter to the President. “While paying for a ticket in cash is not a crime, it is clear that terrorists are using cash purchases in an effort to evade law enforcement”.

Click here to read the entire letter.