On November 18, 2009, Assistant Director of TWU's Air Transport Division Robert Gless, testified before the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection of the Committee on Homeland Security. The hearing included testimony specifically addressing the problems with security risks at foreign repair stations.

Gless, a certified Aviation Maintenance Technician himself, laid out his concerns for the subcommittee saying, “There are three major concerns that we have with regard to repair work performed at foreign aircraft repair stations. First, we have long held that our belief is that the same standards should be applied to repair work being performed on U.S. bound aircraft regardless if the work is done in the U.S. or abroad. Second, the loss of thousands of American jobs to outsourced foreign repair mechanics further weakens our U.S. economic security. And finally, we have a concern regarding security breaches within and around the perimeters of facilities which can lead to sabotage.

Gless offered the subcommittee four major recommendations:

1. Require that all maintenance on aircraft used in domestic U.S. service be done in FAA-certified repair facilities.
2. Require, as a condition of FAA certification, that all repair stations meet the same standards. This would include, but not be limited to, drug and alcohol testing and Part 65 aircraft mechanic certification.
3. Reconfigure FAA inspection and oversight to place the greatest scrutiny on those repair stations whose audits determine to pose the greatest risk to safety and security.
4. Require, as a condition of FAA-certification, that all repair stations be subject to unannounced FAA inspections. The FAA shall be prohibited from certifying any repair station in any countries that prohibit unannounced inspections and shall immediately revoke any existing certifications in such countries.

Watch Gless' whole testimony and question and answer session above (total running time: 11 minutes) and read it here.