In the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airplane over Detroit, Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) suggested last week that the State Department should “no longer have the authority to handle visas for foreigners travelling to the United States,” Roll Call reported.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Lieberman said:

“We ought to take a look at taking the visa application and admission responsibility from the State Department. It doesn’t really fit with foreign policy anymore, and in an age of terrorism I think the Department of Homeland Security ought to be handling visas abroad.”

Roll Call noted that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) also expressed concern over the State Department’s handling of a report from the bombing suspect’s father that he posed an imminent threat to the United States. As chair and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, Lieberman and Collins plan to hold a series of hearings this year to investigate how the bombing suspect was able to board the plane, as well as the “communication breakdown between various government agencies.”