McCaul, Chaffetz: Flying mailman exposed security crack

Two top House committee chairmen said on Sunday a rogue mailman who landed a small gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn last week exposed a security vulnerability that could help terrorists.

“It exposed a vulnerability that, quite frankly … that a terrorist, I think can exploit,” House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said on ABC’s “This Week.”


The mailman safely landed on the Capitol lawn before he was arrested, and some lawmakers wondered why he hadn’t been shot down before coming so close. On Sunday, McCaul said he’s been assured by Capitol Police that if the gyrocopter had gotten closer to Speaker John Boehner’s Capitol balcony, police with long guns would have been able to shoot it down.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah.), speaking on “Fox News Sunday.” added the gyrocopter incident contributes to a general decline in confidence of the capital’s security forces.

“That shine has gone away,” he said, adding that he and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, plan to convene a briefing with security officials to explain what happened before they call for any leadership changes. He also worried that the gyrocopter incident could embolden terrorists.

“When you don’t take somebody down and take them down hard … you’ve got some real deranged people and some more sophisticated terrorists that are probably going to take a shot at us,” he said.

Also appearing on Fox, Sen Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the mailman should’ve been shot down, in part because it was unclear whether he posed a serious threat.

“I’m glad he’s not hurt, but that just shows how far our defenses have fallen,” he said.