I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 876 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to reform programs of the 

Transportation Security Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2017 

Mr. KATKO (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 

VELA, Mr. KEATING, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to reform 

programs of the Transportation Security Administration, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Employee 

5 Screening and Security Enhancement Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra2 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis3 tration. 

4 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis5 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor6 tation Security Administration. 

7 (3) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘air carrier’’ has 

8 the meaning given such term in section 40102 of 

9 title 49, United States Code. 

10 (4) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT11 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com12 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu13 rity of the House of Representatives and the Com14 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af15 fairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

16 Transportation of the Senate. 

17 (5) FOREIGN AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘foreign 

18 air carrier’’ has the meaning given such term in sec19 tion 40102 of title 49, United States Code. 

20 (6) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

21 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

22 such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

23 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 


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1 SEC. 3. COST AND FEASIBILITY STUDY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 

4 consultation with the Aviation Security Advisory Com5 mittee (established under section 44946 of title 49, United 

6 States Code), shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

7 Security of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

8 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 

9 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

10 the Senate, and the Comptroller General of the United 

11 States a cost and feasibility study of a statistically signifi12 cant number of Category I, II, and X airports to ensure 

13 that all employee entry and exit points that lead to secure 

14 areas of such airports are comprised of the following: 

15 (1) A secure door utilizing card and pin entry 

16 or biometric technology. 

17 (2) Surveillance video recording, capable of 

18 storing video data for at least 30 days. 

19 (3) Advanced screening technologies, including 

20 at least one of the following: 

21 (A) Magnetometer (walk-through or hand22 held). 

23 (B) Explosives detection canines. 

24 (C) Explosives trace detection swabbing. 

25 (D) Advanced imaging technology. 

26 (E) X-ray bag screening technology. 


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1 (b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub2 section (a) shall include information related to the em3 ployee screening costs of those category I, II, and X air4 ports which have already implemented practices of screen5 ing 100 percent of employees entering secure areas of air6 ports, including the following: 

7 (1) Costs associated with establishing an oper8 ational minimum number of employee entry and exit 

9 points. 

10 (2) A comparison of costs associated with im11 plementing the requirements specified in paragraph 

12 (1), based on whether such implementation was car13 ried out by the Administration or airports. 

14 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of the 

16 study required under subsection (a), the Comptroller 

17 General of the United States shall review such study 

18 to assess the quality and reliability of such study. 

19 (2) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 60 days 

20 after the receipt of the study required under sub21 section (a), the Comptroller General of the United 

22 States shall report to the Committee on Homeland 

23 Security of the House of Representatives and the 

24 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

25 Affairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 


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1 and Transportation of the Senate on the results of 

2 the review required under paragraph (1). 

3 SEC. 4. AIRPORT WORKER EDUCATION AND SECURITY 

4 AWARENESS. 

5 (a) COOPERATIVE EFFORTS TO ENHANCE AIRPORT

6 SECURITY AWARENESS.—Not later than 180 days after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

8 shall work with air carriers, foreign air carriers, airport 

9 operators, airport vendors, and airport concessionaires to 

10 enhance security awareness of credentialed airport popu11 lations regarding insider threats to aviation security and 

12 best practices related to airport access controls. 

13 (b) CREDENTIALING STANDARDS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad16 ministrator shall, in consultation with air carriers, 

17 foreign air carriers, airport operators, vendors, and 

18 airport concessionaires, assess credentialing stand19 ards, policies, and practices to ensure that insider 

20 threats to aviation security are adequately ad21 dressed. 

22 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after 

23 completion of the assessment required under para24 graph (1), the Administrator shall report to the apVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Feb 13, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H876.IH H876

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1 propriate congressional committees on the results of 

2 such assessment. 

3 (c) SIDA APPLICATIONS.—Not later than 60 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis5 trator shall revise the application submitted by an indi6 vidual applying for a credential granting access to the Se7 cure Identification Display Area (as such term is defined 

8 in section 1540.5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations) 

9 of an airport to require the social security number of such 

10 individual in order to strengthen security vetting effective11 ness. 

12 SEC. 5. SECURING AIRPORT WORKER ACCESS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall work 

14 with airport operators to identify advanced technologies, 

15 including biometric identification technologies, for secur16 ing employee access to the secure and sterile areas of air17 ports (as such terms are defined in section 1540.5 of title 

18 49, Code of Federal Regulations). 

19 (b) RAP BACK VETTING.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis21 trator shall ensure that all credentialed aviation worker 

22 populations are continuously vetted through the Federal 

23 Bureau of Investigation’s Rap Back Service, in order to 

24 more rapidly detect and mitigate insider threats to avia25 tion security. 


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1 (c) INSIDER THREAT EDUCATION AND MITIGA2 TION.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en3 actment of this Act, the Administrator shall identify 

4 means of enhancing the Administration’s ability to lever5 age the resources of the Department of Homeland Secu6 rity and the intelligence community to educate Adminis7 tration personnel on insider threats to aviation security 

8 and how the Administration can better mitigate such in9 sider threats. 

10 (d) PLAYBOOK OPERATIONS.—The Administrator 

11 shall ensure that Administration-led employee screening 

12 efforts, known as Playbook operations, are targeted, stra13 tegic, and focused on providing the greatest level of secu14 rity effectiveness. 

15 (e) COVERT TESTING.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall in17 crease covert testing of employee screening oper18 ations at airports and measure existing levels of se19 curity effectiveness. The Administrator shall provide 

20 to air carriers, foreign air carriers, airport operators, 

21 airport vendors, and airport concessionaires— 

22 (A) the results of such testing; and 

23 (B) recommendations based on such re24 sults and measurements on how to improve 

25 such security screening operations. 


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1 (2) ANNUAL REPORTING.—The Administrator 

2 shall submit to the appropriate congressional com3 mittees an annual report on the frequency, method4 ology, strategy, and effectiveness of employee screen5 ing operations at airports. 

6 (f) CENTRALIZED DATABASE.—Not later than 180 

7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad8 ministrator, in consultation with the Aviation Security Ad9 visory Committee, shall— 

10 (1) establish a national database of Administra11 tion employees who have had either their airport or 

12 aircraft operator-issued badge revoked for failure to 

13 comply with aviation security requirements; 

14 (2) determine the appropriate reporting mecha15 nisms for airports and air carriers and foreign air 

16 carriers to— 

17 (A) submit to the Administration data re18 garding employees described in paragraph (1); 

19 and 

20 (B) access the database established pursu21 ant to such paragraph; and 

22 (3) establish a process that allows individuals 

23 whose names were mistakenly entered into such 

24 database to have their names removed and have 

25 their credentialing restored. 


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1 SEC. 6. INSIDER THREAT COORDINATION EFFORTS. 

2 The Department of Homeland Security is the lead 

3 interagency coordinator pertaining to insider threat inves4 tigations and mitigation efforts at airports. The Depart5 ment shall make every practicable effort to coordinate with 

6 other relevant Government entities when undertaking such 

7 investigations and efforts. 

8 SEC. 7. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY. 

9 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees a plan to conduct 

12 recurring reviews of the operational, technical, and man13 agement security controls for Administration information 

14 technology systems at airports. 

Æ 


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