An irritated Rep. Jason Chaffetz blasted aviation authorities on Wednesday for failing to appear at a congressional briefing held after a man landed a gyrocopter on the U.S. Capitol grounds, telling reporters that the pilot should have been “blown out of the air.”
Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, and his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard from Capitol Police and the Secret Service, but not from the Federal Aviation Authority, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) or the U.S. Park Police.
“I think their absence speaks volumes, but they didn’t seem to show up at the event of the gyrocopter either,” he said of the private briefing.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s top-ranking Democrat, was similarly frustrated with the absence of some law enforcement.
Chaffetz needled the authorities for not more ably handling Doug Hughes, a Florida mailman who landed the aircraft at the Capitol last week to promote campaign finance reform. Lawmakers are worried about the danger Hughes posed, and Chaffetz said federal officials told them at the briefing that a decision was made not to shoot down Hughes’ gyrocopter.
He would not have made the same judgment call.
“If it was up to me, I would’ve taken care of the problem,” he said.
The committee is scheduled to meet publicly with law enforcement next Wednesday, when Chaffetz said he expects the missing agencies to appear.
