49 U.S.C. § 44903 : US Code - Section 44903: Air transportation security

Search 49 U.S.C. § 44903 : US Code - Section 44903: Air transportation security

(a) Definition. - In this section, "law enforcement personnel"
means individuals -
(1) authorized to carry and use firearms;
(2) vested with the degree of the police power of arrest the
Under Secretary of Transportation for Security considers
necessary to carry out this section; and
(3) identifiable by appropriate indicia of authority.
(b) Protection Against Violence and Piracy. - The Under Secretary
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
Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under
Secretary decides, after being notified by an operator in the form
the Under Secretary prescribes, that not enough qualified State,
local, and private law enforcement personnel are available to carry
out subsection (b), the Under Secretary may authorize the operator
to use, on a reimbursable basis, personnel employed by the Under
Secretary, 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 Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Secretary of Transportation 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 Under
Secretary 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 Under Secretary, other
departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government
shall provide assistance necessary to carry out this subsection.
(f) Government and Industry Consortia. - The Under Secretary may
establish at airports such consortia of government and aviation
industry representatives as the Under Secretary 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 the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
(g) Improvement of Secured-Area Access Control. -
(1) Enforcement. -
(A) Under Secretary to publish sanctions. - The Under
Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under
Secretary 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 Under Secretary'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 Under Secretary'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 Under Secretary, 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 Under
Secretary 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 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 Under Secretary -
(A) shall require, as soon as practicable after the date of
enactment of this subsection, 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);
(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 section 44903(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, not later than March 31, 2005, 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
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security
Administration) 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 law enforcement officer
travel. -
(A) In general. - Not later than 120 days after the date of
enactment of this paragraph, the Assistant Secretary, in
consultation with the Attorney General, shall -
(i) establish a law enforcement officer travel credential
that incorporates biometric identifier technology and is
uniform across all Federal, State, local, tribal, and
territorial government law enforcement agencies;
(ii) establish a process by which the travel credential
will be used to verify the identity of a Federal, State,
local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement officer seeking
to carry a weapon on board an aircraft, without unnecessarily
disclosing to the public that the individual is a law
enforcement officer;
(iii) establish procedures -
(I) to ensure that only Federal, State, local, tribal,
and territorial government law enforcement officers are
issued a law enforcement travel credential;
(II) to resolve failures to enroll, false matches, and
false non-matches relating to use of the law enforcement
travel credential; and
(III) to invalidate any law enforcement travel credential
that is lost, stolen, or no longer authorized for use;
(iv) begin issuance of the travel credential to each
Federal, State, local, tribal, or territorial government law
enforcement officer authorized by the Assistant Secretary to
carry a weapon on board an aircraft; and
(v) take such other actions with respect to the travel
credential as the Assistant Secretary considers appropriate.
(B) Funding. - There is authorized to be appropriated such
sums as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph.
(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 Under Secretary, 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 Under
Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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 Under Secretary 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, after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Under
Secretary receives a request from an air carrier for
authorization to allow pilots of the air carrier to carry less-
than-lethal weapons, the Under Secretary shall respond to that
request within 90 days.
(j) Short-Term Assessment and Deployment of Emerging Security
Technologies and Procedures. -
(1) In general. - The Under Secretary of Transportation for
Security shall recommend to airport operators, within 6 months
after the date of enactment of the Aviation and Transportation
Security Act, commercially available measures or procedures to
prevent access to secure airport areas by unauthorized persons.
As part of the 6-month assessment, the Under Secretary for
Transportation Security shall -
(A) review the effectiveness of biometrics systems currently
in use at several United States airports, including San
Francisco International;
(B) review the effectiveness of increased surveillance at
access points;
(C) review the effectiveness of card- or keypad-based access
systems;
(D) review the effectiveness of airport emergency exit
systems and determine whether those that lead to secure areas
of the airport should be monitored or how breaches can be
swiftly responded to; and
(E) specifically target the elimination of the "piggy-
backing" phenomenon, where another person follows an
authorized person through the access point.
The 6-month assessment shall include a 12-month deployment
strategy for currently available technology at all category X
airports, as defined in the Federal Aviation Administration
approved air carrier security programs required under part 108 of
title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. Not later than 18 months
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Transportation shall conduct a review of reductions in
unauthorized access at these airports.
(2) Computer-assisted passenger prescreening system. -
(A) In general. - The Secretary of Transportation shall
ensure that the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening
System, or any successor system -
(i) is used to evaluate all passengers before they board an
aircraft; and
(ii) includes procedures to ensure that individuals
selected by the system and their carry-on and checked baggage
are adequately screened.
(B) Modifications. - The Secretary of Transportation may
modify any requirement under the Computer-Assisted Passenger
Prescreening System for flights that originate and terminate
within the same State, if the Secretary determines that -
(i) the State has extraordinary air transportation needs or
concerns due to its isolation and dependence on air
transportation; and
(ii) the routine characteristics of passengers, given the
nature of the market, regularly triggers primary selectee
status.
(C) Advanced airline passenger prescreening. -
(i) Commencement of testing. - Not later than January 1,
2005, the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security
(Transportation Security Administration), or the designee of
the Assistant Secretary, shall commence testing of an
advanced passenger prescreening system that will allow the
Department of Homeland Security to assume the performance of
comparing passenger information, as defined by the Assistant
Secretary, to the automatic selectee and no fly lists,
utilizing all appropriate records in the consolidated and
integrated terrorist watchlist maintained by the Federal
Government.
(ii) Assumption of function. - Not later than 180 days
after completion of testing under clause (i), the Assistant
Secretary, or the designee of the Assistant Secretary, shall
begin to assume the performance of the passenger prescreening
function of comparing passenger information to the automatic
selectee and no fly lists and utilize all appropriate records
in the consolidated and integrated terrorist watchlist
maintained by the Federal Government in performing that
function.
(iii) Requirements. - In assuming performance of the
function under clause (ii), the Assistant Secretary shall -
(I) establish a procedure to enable airline passengers,
who are delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight
because the advanced passenger prescreening system
determined that they might pose a security threat, to
appeal such determination and correct information contained
in the system;
(II) ensure that Federal Government databases that will
be used to establish the identity of a passenger under the
system will not produce a large number of false positives;
(III) establish an internal oversight board to oversee
and monitor the manner in which the system is being
implemented;
(IV) establish sufficient operational safeguards to
reduce the opportunities for abuse;
(V) implement substantial security measures to protect
the system from unauthorized access;
(VI) adopt policies establishing effective oversight of
the use and operation of the system; and
(VII) ensure that there are no specific privacy concerns
with the technological architecture of the system.
(iv) Passenger information. - Not later than 180 days after
the completion of the testing of the advanced passenger
prescreening system, the Assistant Secretary, by order or
interim final rule -
(I) shall require air carriers to supply to the Assistant
Secretary the passenger information needed to begin
implementing the advanced passenger prescreening system;
and
(II) shall require entities that provide systems and
services to air carriers in the operation of air carrier
reservations systems to provide to air carriers passenger
information in possession of such entities, but only to the
extent necessary to comply with subclause (I).
(D) Screening of employees against watchlist. - The Assistant
Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security
Administration), in coordination with the Secretary of
Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration, shall ensure that individuals are screened
against all appropriate records in the consolidated and
integrated terrorist watchlist maintained by the Federal
Government before -
(i) being certificated by the Federal Aviation
Administration;
(ii) being granted unescorted access to the secure area of
an airport; or
(iii) being granted unescorted access to the air operations
area (as defined in section 1540.5 of title 49, Code of
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation to such
section) of an airport.
(E) Aircraft charter customer and lessee prescreening. -
(i) In general. - Not later than 90 days after the date on
which the Assistant Secretary assumes the performance of the
advanced passenger prescreening function under subparagraph
(C)(ii), the Assistant Secretary shall establish a process by
which operators of aircraft to be used in charter air
transportation with a maximum takeoff weight greater than
12,500 pounds and lessors of aircraft with a maximum takeoff
weight greater than 12,500 pounds may -
(I) request the Department of Homeland Security to use
the advanced passenger prescreening system to compare
information about any individual seeking to charter an
aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight greater than 12,500
pounds, any passenger proposed to be transported aboard
such aircraft, and any individual seeking to lease an
aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight greater than 12,500
pounds to the automatic selectee and no fly lists,
utilizing all appropriate records in the consolidated and
integrated terrorist watchlist maintained by the Federal
Government; and
(II) refuse to charter or lease an aircraft with a
maximum takeoff weight greater than 12,500 pounds to or
transport aboard such aircraft any persons identified on
such watch list.
(ii) Requirements. - The requirements of subparagraph
(C)(iii) shall apply to this subparagraph.
(iii) No fly and automatic selectee lists. - The Secretary
of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Terrorist
Screening Center, shall design and review, as necessary,
guidelines, policies, and operating procedures for the
collection, removal, and updating of data maintained, or to
be maintained, in the no fly and automatic selectee lists.
(F) Applicability. - Section 607 of the Vision 100 - Century
of Aviation Reauthorization Act (49 U.S.C. 44903 note; 117
Stat. 2568) shall not apply to the advanced passenger
prescreening system established under subparagraph (C).
(G) Appeal procedures. -
(i) In general. - The Assistant Secretary shall establish a
timely and fair process for individuals identified as a
threat under one or more of subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E)
to appeal to the Transportation Security Administration the
determination and correct any erroneous information.
(ii) Records. - The process shall include the establishment
of a method by which the Assistant Secretary will be able to
maintain a record of air passengers and other individuals who
have been misidentified and have corrected erroneous
information. To prevent repeated delays of misidentified
passengers and other individuals, the Transportation Security
Administration record shall contain information determined by
the Assistant Secretary to authenticate the identity of such
a passenger or individual.
(H) Definition. - In this paragraph, 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).
(k) Limitation on Liability for Acts To Thwart Criminal Violence
or Aircraft Piracy. - An individual shall not be liable for damages
in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of
the acts of the individual in attempting to thwart an act of
criminal violence or piracy on an aircraft if that individual
reasonably believed that such an act of criminal violence or piracy
was occurring or was about to occur.
(l) Air Charter Program. -
(1) In general. - The Under Secretary for Border and
Transportation Security of the Department of Homeland Security
shall implement an aviation security program for charter air
carriers (as defined in section 40102(a)) with a maximum
certificated takeoff weight of more than 12,500 pounds.
(2) Exemption for armed forces charters. -
(A) In general. - Paragraph (1) and the other requirements of
this chapter do not apply to passengers and property carried by
aircraft when employed to provide charter transportation to
members of the armed forces.
(B) Security procedures. - The Secretary of Defense, in
consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the
Secretary of Transportation, shall establish security
procedures relating to the operation of aircraft when employed
to provide charter transportation to members of the armed
forces to or from an airport described in section 44903(c).
(C) Armed forces defined. - In this paragraph, the term
"armed forces" has the meaning given that term by section
101(a)(4) of title 10.