Saying he has a gut feeling the Russian jetliner that crashed in Egypt on Saturday was brought down by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke tells
Newsmax TV the crash is a reminder of how real such threats are.
"My gut tells me that's correct. It's not the first time Russia's been hit by a terrorist threat," Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said Thursday on "Newsmax Now."
There also are holes in America's system, he said. "We had the TSA reports recently. … We're not doing as thorough of a job as we need to."
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ISIS looks at systems to determine areas it can penetrate, and the crash "is a reminder that we face a capable enemy that's certainly capable of bringing down an aircraft," he said.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268 that went down on the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 244 on board. After initially saying a bomb on the plane was unlikely, American, Russian
and
other officials say that now appears to be a good possibility.
Zinke also talked about the recent cases of veterans mistakenly declared dead and cut off from their benefits by the Veterans Administration.
"It is about accountability," he said. "When the new secretary came in, you might recall, 'Well, I'm going to fire 1,000,'" Zinke said. The actual firings can be counted on one hand, he added.
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