ROME, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY-TV) – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney invited Congressman John Katko to come to Rome to tour Innovare Advancement Center, which they toured with local politicians earlier today

“John is our ranker on homeland security, a critically important committee, and it’s great that we have someone from Central New York who is serving in this important position. What they do at the lab is something that can be really helpful to homeland and I wanted John to see it.” – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney

Congressman Katko represents the 24th Congressional District, which encompasses all of Cayuga, Onondaga, and Wayne Counties, and the Western part of Oswego County. He is also the ranking republican member of the House of Homeland Security Committee.

“I think he learned a lot and he really excited about advocating along with me and realizing just how important the lab is to not only to warfighters and to innovation, but also to the potential use of this technology with our homeland security issues.” – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney

Tenney and Katko were joined by Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Senator Joseph Griffo and Rome Mayor Jackie Izzo. On their tour of the Air Force Research Laboratory, better known as ‘Rome Lab’, where they had an inside look at the cutting-edge technology and the work and research being done right here in Oneida County. 

“I think that’s the important thing to have you here today, because we appreciate your work, and we know it challenging in Washington these days. But we need to know that they understand what is being done here. Because throughout time we have been able to prove that we can meet and fulfill the mission necessary to protect our country and to do it in a cost-effective way. We just need to have people familiar with that and to appreciate that, so we keep that here.” – Senator Joseph Griffo

The people at Rome Labs hope the visit today showed the representatives the important research and development activities they are currently doing in the areas of Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).