House Homeland Committee chair seeks answers from FBI, DHS on travel history of New Orleans attacker

House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., is demanding Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, authorize an updated briefing on Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who is the suspect connected to the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans. 

Green and Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, signed the letter that was sent to the officials.

According to the Homeland Security Committee majority, Green and Pfluger want DHS and the FBI to "provide confirmation of details previously provided to the committee concerning the suspect, whether a 'travel lookout' was created prior to the terrorist attack, if the U.S. government received intelligence reports from a foreign government about Jabbar, and what security measures the FBI and DHS took to support law enforcement partners in New Orleans to prevent the terrorist attack."

The lawmakers pointed out that Jabbar traveled to Egypt and Canada in 2023 and they want to know if those trips played a role in the New Orleans attack plot.

The GOP leaders asked for the briefing no later than Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Trump's inauguration.