If it is proved that an Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate is indeed responsible for bringing down the Russian airliner that killed 224 people a week ago, it will show the terror group needs to be taken on in a much stronger way, Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said Sunday.
"If this is a bomb by the affiliate by ISIS, ISIS has eclipsed al-Qaida as the gravest terror threat in the world," Schiff said Sunday of ABC's
"This Week"
Rep. Pete King, a New York Republican who serves on the House Intelligence Committee with Schiff, said the consensus of intelligence officials he has spoken to is that ISIS was involved.
"From everything I have seen, I'm almost ready to conclude that it was ISIS or an ISIS affiliate," King said.
Schiff said there are likely a dozen regional airports with the same lax security that allowed a bomb onto the Russian Metrojet flight from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport.
The United States will have to have a bigger role in airport security in the area, especially those bringing passengers into the United States, King said.