§ 44903. Air transportation security

§ 44903. Air transportation security

(a) Definitions.— In this section:

(1) Administrator.— The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.

(2) Law enforcement personnel.— The term “law enforcement personnel” means individuals—

(A) authorized to carry and use firearms;

(B) vested with the degree of the police power of arrest the Administrator considers necessary to carry out this section; and

(C) identifiable by appropriate indicia of authority.

(b) Protection Against Violence and Piracy.— The Administrator shall prescribe regulations to protect passengers and property on an aircraft operating in air transportation or intrastate air transportation against an act of criminal violence or aircraft piracy. When prescribing a regulation under this subsection, the Administrator shall—

(1) consult with the Secretary of Transportation, the Attorney General, the heads of other departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States Government, and State and local authorities;

(2) consider whether a proposed regulation is consistent with—

(A) protecting passengers; and

(B) the public interest in promoting air transportation and intrastate air transportation;

(3) to the maximum extent practicable, require a uniform procedure for searching and detaining passengers and property to ensure—

(A) their safety; and

(B) courteous and efficient treatment by an air carrier, an agent or employee of an air carrier, and Government, State, and local law enforcement personnel carrying out this section; and

(4) consider the extent to which a proposed regulation will carry out this section.

(c) Security Programs.—

(1) The Administrator shall prescribe regulations under subsection (b) of this section that require each operator of an airport regularly serving an air carrier holding a certificate issued by the Secretary of Transportation to establish an air transportation security program that provides a law enforcement presence and capability at each of those airports that is adequate to ensure the safety of passengers. The regulations shall authorize the operator to use the services of qualified State, local, and private law enforcement personnel. When the Administrator decides, after being notified by an operator in the form the Administrator prescribes, that not enough qualified State, local, and private law enforcement personnel are available to carry out subsection (b), the Administrator may authorize the operator to use, on a reimbursable basis, personnel employed by the Administrator, or by another department, agency, or instrumentality of the Government with the consent of the head of the department, agency, or instrumentality, to supplement State, local, and private law enforcement personnel. When deciding whether additional personnel are needed, the Administrator shall consider the number of passengers boarded at the airport, the extent of anticipated risk of criminal violence or aircraft piracy at the airport or to the air carrier aircraft operations at the airport, and the availability of qualified State or local law enforcement personnel at the airport.

(2)

(A) The Administrator may approve a security program of an airport operator, or an amendment in an existing program, that incorporates a security program of an airport tenant (except an air carrier separately complying with part 108 or 129 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations) having access to a secured area of the airport, if the program or amendment incorporates—

(i) the measures the tenant will use, within the tenant’s leased areas or areas designated for the tenant’s exclusive use under an agreement with the airport operator, to carry out the security requirements imposed by the Administrator on the airport operator under the access control system requirements of section 107.14 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, or under other requirements of part 107 of title 14; and

(ii) the methods the airport operator will use to monitor and audit the tenant’s compliance with the security requirements and provides that the tenant will be required to pay monetary penalties to the airport operator if the tenant fails to carry out a security requirement under a contractual provision or requirement imposed by the airport operator.

(B) If the Administrator approves a program or amendment described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, the airport operator may not be found to be in violation of a requirement of this subsection or subsection (b) of this section when the airport operator demonstrates that the tenant or an employee, permittee, or invitee of the tenant is responsible for the violation and that the airport operator has complied with all measures in its security program for securing compliance with its security program by the tenant.

(C) Maximum use of chemical and biological weapon detection equipment.— The Secretary of Transportation may require airports to maximize the use of technology and equipment that is designed to detect or neutralize potential chemical or biological weapons.

(3) Pilot programs.— The Administrator shall establish pilot programs in no fewer than 20 airports to test and evaluate new and emerging technology for providing access control and other security protections for closed or secure areas of the airports. Such technology may include biometric or other technology that ensures only authorized access to secure areas.

(d) Authorizing Individuals To Carry Firearms and Make Arrests.— With the approval of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, the Administrator may authorize an individual who carries out air transportation security duties—

(1) to carry firearms; and

(2) to make arrests without warrant for an offense against the United States committed in the presence of the individual or for a felony under the laws of the United States, if the individual reasonably believes the individual to be arrested has committed or is committing a felony.

(e) Exclusive Responsibility Over Passenger Safety.— The Administrator has the exclusive responsibility to direct law enforcement activity related to the safety of passengers on an aircraft involved in an offense under section 46502 of this title from the moment all external doors of the aircraft are closed following boarding until those doors are opened to allow passengers to leave the aircraft. When requested by the Administrator, other departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government shall provide assistance necessary to carry out this subsection.

(f) Government and Industry Consortia.— The Administrator may establish at airports such consortia of government and aviation industry representatives as the Administrator may designate to provide advice on matters related to aviation security and safety. Such consortia shall not be considered Federal advisory committees for purposes of chapter 10 of title 5.

(g) Improvement of Secured-Area Access Control.—

(1) Enforcement.—

(A) Administrator to publish sanctions.— The Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register a list of sanctions for use as guidelines in the discipline of employees for infractions of airport access control requirements. The guidelines shall incorporate a progressive disciplinary approach that relates proposed sanctions to the severity or recurring nature of the infraction and shall include measures such as remedial training, suspension from security-related duties, suspension from all duties without pay, and termination of employment.

(B) Use of sanctions.— Each airport operator, air carrier, and security screening company shall include the list of sanctions published by the Administrator in its security program. The security program shall include a process for taking prompt disciplinary action against an employee who commits an infraction of airport access control requirements.

(2) Improvements.— The Administrator shall—

(A) work with airport operators and air carriers to implement and strengthen existing controls to eliminate airport access control weaknesses;

(B) require airport operators and air carriers to develop and implement comprehensive and recurring training programs that teach employees their roles in airport security, the importance of their participation, how their performance will be evaluated, and what action will be taken if they fail to perform;

(C) require airport operators and air carriers to develop and implement programs that foster and reward compliance with airport access control requirements and discourage and penalize noncompliance in accordance with guidelines issued by the Administrator to measure employee compliance;

(D) on an ongoing basis, assess and test for compliance with access control requirements, report annually findings of the assessments, and assess the effectiveness of penalties in ensuring compliance with security procedures and take any other appropriate enforcement actions when noncompliance is found;

(E) improve and better administer the Administrator’s security database to ensure its efficiency, reliability, and usefulness for identification of systemic problems and allocation of resources;

(F) improve the execution of the Administrator’s quality control program; and

(G) work with airport operators to strengthen access control points in secured areas (including air traffic control operations areas, maintenance areas, crew lounges, baggage handling areas, concessions, and catering delivery areas) to ensure the security of passengers and aircraft and consider the deployment of biometric or similar technologies that identify individuals based on unique personal characteristics.

(h) Improved Airport Perimeter Access Security.—

(1) In general.— The Administrator, in consultation with the airport operator and law enforcement authorities, may order the deployment of such personnel at any secure area of the airport as necessary to counter the risk of criminal violence, the risk of aircraft piracy at the airport, the risk to air carrier aircraft operations at the airport, or to meet national security concerns.

(2) Security of aircraft and ground access to secure areas.— In determining where to deploy such personnel, the Administrator shall consider the physical security needs of air traffic control facilities, parked aircraft, aircraft servicing equipment, aircraft supplies (including fuel), automobile parking facilities within airport perimeters or adjacent to secured facilities, and access and transition areas at airports served by other means of ground or water transportation.

(3) Deployment of federal law enforcement personnel.— The Secretary of Homeland Security may enter into a memorandum of understanding or other agreement with the Attorney General or the head of any other appropriate Federal law enforcement agency to deploy Federal law enforcement personnel at an airport in order to meet aviation safety and security concerns.

(4) Airport perimeter screening.— The Administrator—

(A) shall require screening or inspection of all individuals, goods, property, vehicles, and other equipment before entry into a secured area of an airport in the United States described in section 44903(c); 11 So in original. Probably should be “subsection (c)”.

(B) shall prescribe specific requirements for such screening and inspection that will assure at least the same level of protection as will result from screening of passengers and their baggage;

(C) shall establish procedures to ensure the safety and integrity of—

(i) all persons providing services with respect to aircraft providing passenger air transportation or intrastate air transportation and facilities of such persons at an airport in the United States described in subsection (c);

(ii) all supplies, including catering and passenger amenities, placed aboard such aircraft, including the sealing of supplies to ensure easy visual detection of tampering; and

(iii) all persons providing such supplies and facilities of such persons;

(D) shall require vendors having direct access to the airfield and aircraft to develop security programs; and

(E) shall issue guidance for the use of biometric or other technology that positively verifies the identity of each employee and law enforcement officer who enters a secure area of an airport.

(5) Use of biometric technology in airport access control systems.— In issuing guidance under paragraph (4)(E), the Administrator in consultation with representatives of the aviation industry, the biometric identifier industry, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall establish, at a minimum—

(A) comprehensive technical and operational system requirements and performance standards for the use of biometric identifier technology in airport access control systems (including airport perimeter access control systems) to ensure that the biometric identifier systems are effective, reliable, and secure;

(B) a list of products and vendors that meet the requirements and standards set forth in subparagraph (A);

(C) procedures for implementing biometric identifier systems—

(i) to ensure that individuals do not use an assumed identity to enroll in a biometric identifier system; and

(ii) to resolve failures to enroll, false matches, and false non-matches; and

(D) best practices for incorporating biometric identifier technology into airport access control systems in the most effective manner, including a process to best utilize existing airport access control systems, facilities, and equipment and existing data networks connecting airports.

(6) Use of biometric technology for armed law enforcement travel.—

(A) In general.— The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall—

(i) implement this paragraph by publication in the Federal Register; and

(ii) establish a national registered armed law enforcement program, that shall be federally managed, for law enforcement officers needing to be armed when traveling by commercial aircraft.

(B) Program requirements.— The program shall—

(i) establish a credential or a system that incorporates biometric technology and other applicable technologies;

(ii) establish a system for law enforcement officers who need to be armed when traveling by commercial aircraft on a regular basis and for those who need to be armed during temporary travel assignments;

(iii) comply with other uniform credentialing initiatives, including the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12;

(iv) apply to all Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial government law enforcement agencies; and

(v) establish a process by which the travel credential or system may be used to verify the identity, using biometric technology, of a Federal, State, local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement officer seeking to carry a weapon on board a commercial aircraft, without unnecessarily disclosing to the public that the individual is a law enforcement officer.

(C) Procedures.— In establishing the program, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall develop procedures—

(i) to ensure that a law enforcement officer of a Federal, State, local, tribal, or territorial government flying armed has a specific reason for flying armed and the reason is within the scope of the duties of such officer;

(ii) to preserve the anonymity of the armed law enforcement officer;

(iii) to resolve failures to enroll, false matches, and false nonmatches relating to the use of the law enforcement travel credential or system;

(iv) to determine the method of issuance of the biometric credential to law enforcement officers needing to be armed when traveling by commercial aircraft;

(v) to invalidate any law enforcement travel credential or system that is lost, stolen, or no longer authorized for use;

(vi) to coordinate the program with the Federal Air Marshal Service, including the force multiplier program of the Service; and

(vii) to implement a phased approach to launching the program, addressing the immediate needs of the relevant Federal agent population before expanding to other law enforcement populations.

(7) Definitions.— In this subsection, the following definitions apply:

(A) Biometric identifier information.— The term “biometric identifier information” means the distinct physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual that are used for unique identification, or verification of the identity, of an individual.

(B) Biometric identifier.— The term “biometric identifier” means a technology that enables the automated identification, or verification of the identity, of an individual based on biometric information.

(C) Failure to enroll.— The term “failure to enroll” means the inability of an individual to enroll in a biometric identifier system due to an insufficiently distinctive biometric sample, the lack of a body part necessary to provide the biometric sample, a system design that makes it difficult to provide consistent biometric identifier information, or other factors.

(D) False match.— The term “false match” means the incorrect matching of one individual’s biometric identifier information to another individual’s biometric identifier information by a biometric identifier system.

(E) False non-match.— The term “false non-match” means the rejection of a valid identity by a biometric identifier system.

(F) Secure area of an airport.— The term “secure area of an airport” means the sterile area and the Secure Identification Display Area of an airport (as such terms are defined in section 1540.5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation to such section).

(i) Authority to Arm Flight Deck Crew With Less-Than-Lethal Weapons.—

(1) In general.— If the Administrator, after receiving the recommendations of the National Institute of Justice, determines, with the approval of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, that it is appropriate and necessary and would effectively serve the public interest in avoiding air piracy, the Administrator may authorize members of the flight deck crew on any aircraft providing air transportation or intrastate air transportation to carry a less-than-lethal weapon while the aircraft is engaged in providing such transportation.

(2) Usage.— If the Administrator grants authority under paragraph (1) for flight deck crew members to carry a less-than-lethal weapon while engaged in providing air transportation or intrastate air transportation, the Administrator shall—

(A) prescribe rules requiring that any such crew member be trained in the proper use of the weapon; and

(B) prescribe guidelines setting forth the circumstances under which such weapons may be used.

(3) Request of air carriers to use less-than-lethal weapons.— If the Administrator receives a request from an air carrier for authorization to allow pilots of the air carrier to carry less-than-lethal weapons, the Administrator shall respond to that request within 90 days.

(j) Short-Term Assessment and Deployment of Emerging Security Technologies and Procedures.—

(1) In general.— The Administrator shall periodically recommend to airport operators commercially available measures or procedures to prevent access to secure airport areas by unauthorized persons.

(2) Secure flight program.—

(A) In general.— The Administrator shall ensure that the Secure Flight program, or any successor program—