Boston bombingHouse panel to hold hearings on marathon bombing

Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said theHouse Homeland Security Committee will meet next week to hear testimony from Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and discuss the Boston Marathon bombing response methods and its implications for homeland security.

“Two weeks ago, our country was attacked by radical Islamist terrorists,” McCaul said in a statement. “Four lives were lost and hundreds of others were forever changed. As our nation recovers, it is imperative that we understand what happened, what signs may have been missed and what we can improve.”

CBS News reports that the committee hearing, scheduled for 9 May, was announced one day after President Barack Obama defended the way federal law enforcement searched for the two suspects in the bombing.

In addition to Davis, former Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Kurt Schwartz, the Massachusetts undersecretary for homeland security, are also on the bill to testify.

One of the main issues that could come up in the hearing is Tamerlan Tsnarvaev’s trip the Russia in 2011.  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has been pressing the issue, claiming that Tsnarvaev’s six-month trip failed to raise flags with law enforcement because his name was misspelled.

DHS secretary Janet Napolitano said, however, that the “system pinged” when Tsnarvaev boarded the plane heading to Russia, but that by the time he returned to the United States the investigation into his potential connection with militants in the Caucuses  was over.

McCaul, the chairman of the committee, said this hearing is just the beginning.

“This will be the first in a series of hearings, as part of a broader investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings,” McCaul told reporters. “The investigation will look at how law enforcement addressed the area after the attack; how federal, state and local officials communicated with their counterparts at other agencies regarding the suspects before and following the event; and the challenges associated with securing our country since 9/11.

“Ultimately, the investigation will assess how our efforts have evolved to meet the dynamic terrorist threat of foreign-inspired attacks on our soil, and what changes may be necessary to protect the homeland.”