By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) -A congressional group will visit New Orleans on Monday to inspect security ahead of the Feb. 9 Super Bowl following a New Year’s Day attack in the city that killed 14 people and injured scores more, the congressman leading the delegation said.
The bipartisan group will visit the site of the attack in the city’s popular French Quarter, where an ISIS-inspired U.S. Army veteran rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers in the early hours of Jan. 1.
The lawmakers will then tour Caesars Superdome, the site of the NFL’s championship game, to observe security preparations and joint efforts by all levels of law enforcement to ensure public safety.
“In the early hours of the new year, our nation faced yet another chilling reminder that the threat from terror in the homeland is evolving and unrelenting,” U.S. Representative Dale Strong said in an email to Reuters.
“The House Committee on Homeland Security continues to conduct rigorous oversight of the investigation into the heinous Bourbon Street attack, and we intend to visit New Orleans to ensure federal, state, and local law enforcement are well-prepared to protect Super Bowl LIX spectators and the public in the wake of these heightened threats in the area.”
Officials for the NFL this week said they modified their security plans including adding more law enforcement support.
The FBI said 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group, acted on his own.
NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier told reporters on Wednesday that law enforcement would number in the “thousands” between state, local and federal agencies.
Lanier said there have not been any credible threats made on the event since Jan. 1.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry this week renewed a state of emergency established after the New Year’s Day attack and said that checkpoints would be in place around the French Quarter.
Lanier said the state of emergency brought in more state resources to the city.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Matthew Lewis)
