1.This Act may be cited as the &short-title1;
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2.Passenger and baggage screening operations
(a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall conduct a study on the workforce size needed to adequately conduct passenger and baggage screening operations. The study shall include an analysis of the optimal screener workforce for security purposes, taking into account the following: passenger demand for air travel, number of airports and screening checkpoints, number of screeners required to operate each checkpoint, use of technology (including in-line explosive detection systems for baggage screening), and any additional screening personnel and other resources that may be necessary to implement section 14 of this Act. The study shall cover all screeners, whether employed by the Transportation Security Administration or private companies.
(b)Not later than December 31, 2004, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report on the results of the study, together with recommendations concerning the appropriate screener staffing level, including assessments of full time versus part time screeners, and appropriate ratio of supervisors, lead screeners, and screeners. The Secretary shall include in this report a description of the assumptions used for determining acceptable passenger wait times at screening checkpoints, and how different lengths of expected wait times would influence the analysis.
3.Procedures for opting out of federalized screening
(a)If the Department of Homeland Security authorizes an airport to opt out of federalized screening under section 44919 of title 49, United States Code, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress on the date of such authorization a report certifying that security will be preserved at the airport.
(b)The report shall include, at a minimum, the following:
(1)The security and nonsecurity factors that the Transportation Security Administration used to evaluate the application to opt out of federalized screening.
(2)A description of how the Administration will ensure compliance of security regulations and statutes at the airport on a regular and continuing basis.
(3)All security functions for which the Administration will maintain direct responsibility at the airport.
(4)The decisionmaking authority for screening operations retained by the Administration, and those authorities transferred to the airport or private screening entity.
(5)The amount of Federal funds that will be provided to the airport or private screening entity for screening operations, for what purposes, and how such funds will be provided.
4.Explosive detection equipmentIn entering into agreements with airports to install electronic detection equipment or to alter airport structures to facilitate explosive detection equipment, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall give priority to those airports that have not met the requirement of section 44901(d) of title 49, United States Code, to screen all checked baggage with explosive detection systems.
5.Elimination of bag-match program as acceptable alternative for checked baggage
(a)Section 44901(e) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (1); and
(2 by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively.
(b)Limitation on Statutory ConstructionNothing in this section (including the amendments made by subsection (a)) shall be construed to prevent the Transportation Security Administration from using the bag-match program as a supplemental means of securing checked baggage.
6.Aviation security technologies
(a)As part of the Department of Homeland Security’s budget request for fiscal year 2006, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall transmit to Congress a report on—
(1)the status and technical maturity of aviation security technologies (including technologies for detecting explosive, chemical, biological, or radiological materials on or in passengers, carry-on or checked baggage, or air cargo, improving resolution and readability of x-ray-based baggage screening systems, integrating the threat imaging projection system into checked baggage detection systems, and site access security for airport facilities);
(2) the planned schedule for deployment of such technologies;
(3)the expected costs for development, testing, evaluation, procurement, and installation, and projected annual costs for operation and maintenance, of such technologies;
(4)potential deployment problems in an airport setting; and
(5)the advisability of deploying security technologies to airports in a manner that maximizes the number of technologies that Federal and airport security personnel can effectively operate.
(b)Technology specifications and certificationNot later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the head of the Transportation Security Administration, the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, and the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, shall—
(1)issue updated technical specifications governing the use of explosive detection systems for baggage screening based on the most recent assessment of terrorist capabilities, potential impacts upon aircraft and passengers of the use of various weapons or dangerous materials, and the state of explosive detection technology;
(2)determine the compliance with such specifications of currently deployed baggage screening equipment;
(3) use such specifications for future certification of new technologies for use in baggage screening; and
(4)issue technical specifications governing the use of technology for screening air cargo if the Secretary determines that explosive detection technologies under paragraph (1) for passenger and baggage screening do not meet the needs for screening air cargo in accordance with the system established under section 404 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
7.Inspection of cargo carried aboard passenger aircraftSubtitle A of title IV of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 201–203) is amended by adding at the end the following:
404.Air cargo on passenger aircraft
(a)Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish and begin to implement a system to screen or inspect all cargo that is to be transported in passenger aircraft operated by an air carrier or foreign air carrier in air transportation or intrastate air transportation (as such terms are defined in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code). The system shall require the use of equipment, technology, and personnel to screen and inspect cargo that meet the same standards as those established by the Secretary for equipment, technology, and personnel used to screen passenger baggage.
(b)Not later than 210 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report describing the system under subsection (a).
(c)Authorization of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section..
8.Database on known shipping companies
(a)Not later than April 1, 2005, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall complete, and make available as appropriate to personnel of the Transportation Security Administration, freight forwarders, airport authorities, air carriers, and other relevant entities a database containing the names and other relevant information of all known shipping companies. In making such database available to nongovernmental entities, the Secretary shall ensure that sensitive security information and company proprietary information is adequately protected.
(b)Not later than the 30th day following the date of the completion of the database under subsection (a), the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report on the number of known shipping companies in the database, the number of known shipping companies for whom the Administration has conducted physical inspections of facilities and paperwork of such companies to determine compliance with security regulations that apply to those companies, the number of companies that have applied to the Secretary for known shipping company status and been denied, and the number of known shipping companies that have been removed from the database as a result of findings by the Administration that such companies have failed to comply with appropriate security regulations
9.
(a)For the purposes of deploying Federal law enforcement officers not part of the Federal Air Marshal Service as alternative security personnel on commercial aircraft—
(1)the Secretary of Homeland Security, not later than the 90th day following the date of enactment of this Act, shall establish training standards that all Federal law enforcement officers must meet in order to serve as Federal air marshals; and
(2)the head of the Federal Air Marshal Service, in determining on which flights to place one or more Federal air marshals, shall—
(A)have access to information on whether Federal law enforcement officials meeting the training standards established under paragraph (1) are scheduled to travel on commercial flights; and
(B)not substitute Federal law enforcement officials that have not met such training standards for Federal air marshal personnel.
(b)The Secretary may waive the requirement of subsection (a)(2)(B) for not to exceed 6 months after the 90th day referred to in subsection (a) if necessary for security purposes.
(c)The Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report on the timeline for providing training required to carry out subsection (a)(2) and any additional resources needed to implement this section.
10.Coordination of air marshal activities The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall collaborate with foreign governments to coordinate air marshal activities, including air marshal scheduling on international flights, weapons training, use and protocols for nonlethal weapons, threat recognition, communications, and other issues as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
11.Flight deck security for foreign air carrier overflights
(a)Not later than the 90th day following the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue regulations to require that overflying aircraft meet or exceed the level of flight deck security for passenger and cargo as required under part 129.28 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
(b)In this section, the term “overflying aircraft” means a flight of a passenger or cargo aircraft by a foreign air carrier that departs from and arrives at an airport outside the United States and enters United States airspace during the flight.
12.Daily preflight searches of aircraft
(a)The Secretary of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, shall issue, by October 1, 2004, regulations governing daily preflight searches of aircraft for foreign materials that might be used in a terrorist attack.
(b)
(1)The Secretary shall reimburse air carriers for expenses incurred, during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, in training air carrier personnel as necessary to implement the regulations issued under this section.
(2)There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this subsection for fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
(c)The Secretary shall provide guidance to air carriers on removing or otherwise securing items commonly found on board aircraft that might be used in an act of terrorism.
13.Flight crew communication systems
(a)Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall require, to the greatest extent technically feasible, air carriers (as defined in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code) to provide flight attendants with a discreet and wireless method of communicating with pilots that meet such standards as the Secretary may establish by regulation. Such a system must be accessible by any Federal air marshal on a flight of an air carrier and appropriate Government security officials and personnel of the air carrier.
(b)The Secretary shall issue regulations to carry out this section not later than the 90th day following the date of enactment of this Act.
14.Airport Site Access and Perimeter Security
(a)Not later than the 90th day following the date of enactment of this Act, the head of the Transportation Security Administration shall transmit to Congress a report that addresses the Administration’s implementation of sections 106, 136, and 138 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (Public Law 107–71). Such report shall include, at a minimum, the following:
(1)How and on what date the Administration complied with each provision of such sections.
(2)For each provision of such sections that has not been complied with, the actions the Administration has taken as of the date the report is transmitted to Congress and the estimated completion date and costs for actions that the Administration must take in order to comply with that provision.
(b)All personnel accessing airport sterile areas from unrestricted areas shall undergo security screening in accordance with section 44901(a) of title 49, United States Code.
(c)The Transportation Security Administration shall ensure that all personnel accessing airport secure areas have successfully undergone a background check, conducted by the Transportation Security Administration, consisting of all measures required of passenger screener personnel of the Administration under section 44936 of title 49, United States Code.
(d)Limitation on statutory constructionNothing in this section shall be construed to provide passengers, airport workers, or other personnel not granted regular access to secure areas before the date of enactment of this Act authority to do so, regardless of whether such person has undergone security screening.
(e)In this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)The term sterile areas
means any part of an airport that is regularly accessible to passengers after having cleared a passenger security screening checkpoint.
(2)The term secure areas
means parts of an airport complex not typically accessible to passengers, including areas outside of terminal buildings, baggage handling and loading areas, parked aircraft, runways, air control towers, and similar areas.
(f)Subsections (b) and (c) take effect on the 120th day following the date of enactment of this Act.
15.
(a)Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the head of the Transportation Security Administration and the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, shall transmit to Congress a report on defending against the threat from MANPADS attacks on commercial aircraft.
(b)The report shall include, at a minimum, the following:
(1)An evaluation of the current and projected future threats to commercial aircraft from MANPADS, including an assessment of the likelihood that terrorist groups will obtain MANPADS of various levels of sophistication, the ability of terrorist groups to use such systems, and the relative effectiveness of such systems against commercial aviation.
(2)A technical assessment of the adequacy and maturity of current aircraft-based countermeasures to current and projected threats from shoulder-launched missiles.
(3)To the extent that any countermeasures under paragraph (2) are assessed to be sufficiently technically mature for deployment on commercial aircraft, a determination of—
(A)the technical ability of such countermeasures to prevent MANPADS from impacting an aircraft;
(B)any operational difficulties with deploying, maintaining, or using such countermeasures; and
(C)the cost of deploying and maintaining such countermeasures on all or part of the commercial aircraft fleet.
(4)An assessment of alternate technological approaches for MANPADS countermeasures, including estimates of timelines for development, testing, and evaluation.
(5)A description of the need for additional mid-term and long-term research and development to advance technologies to meet current and future threats, including a cost-benefit analysis of alternative technologies.
(6)The criteria and plans for selecting technologies for additional research and development described in paragraph (5).
(7)The status and plans for programs of the Department of Homeland Security to decrease the risk of MANPADS attacks on commercial aircraft through airport perimeter security, improved identification of MANPADS by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, and international efforts to counter proliferation and otherwise reduce availability of MANPADS to terrorist groups or individuals.
(c)In this section, the term “MANPADS” means man-portable air defense systems, which are shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile systems that can be carried and transported by a person.