Schneider Leads Bipartisan Group Urging Funding for U.S.-Israel Counter-Tunnel Defense Efforts

This week, Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) led a bipartisan group of 56 Members of Congress urging robust funding for joint U.S.-Israel counter-tunnel defense efforts.

In a letter to the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense, Schneider and the other signers request continued funding the vital program, and thank the Subcommittee's leadership for including $47.5 million in the FY 2018 Defense Appropriations Bill.

The letter signers note the subterranean threat to Israel from tunnels along its southern and northern borders, which have been used to launch rockets, stockpile weapons, smuggle arms and contraband, and launch deadly terrorist attacks.

"Terrorist tunnel networks represent an increasingly sophisticated and dangerous threat to the safety and security of our ally Israel," said Schneider. "The joint U.S.-Israeli counter-tunnel program is already yielding results: in recent months, Israel detected a number of cross-border tunnels from Gaza using technologies under cooperative development. The United States also stands to directly benefit from these joint technological advancements in our fight against ISIS and effort to secure our own borders. I thank the Subcommittee for their past support of this vital program and urge them to again include funding this year."

The full letter is available online.

Background:

Last year, Schneider partnered with Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) to introduced H.R. 2914, The United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel Defense Cooperation Act, which would authorize the joint counter-tunnel program.