IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3318 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 10, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To require the Transportation Security Administration to 

establish a task force to conduct an analysis of emerging 

and potential future threats to transportation security, 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emerging Transpor3 tation Security Threats Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. EMERGING AND FUTURE THREATS TASK FORCE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

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

7 the Transportation Security Administration, in consulta8 tion with the Director of National Intelligence and the in9 telligence community (as such term is defined in section 

10 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 

11 3003(4))) and the heads of other Federal agencies, as de12 termined appropriate by the Administrator, shall establish 

13 a task force to conduct an analysis of emerging and poten14 tial future threats to transportation security. 

15 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force established under 

16 subsection (a) shall be comprised of employees of the De17 partment of Homeland Security who, in carrying out the 

18 analysis required under such subsection, shall consult with 

19 the Director of National Intelligence and the intelligence 

20 community and the heads of Federal agencies, as deter21 mined appropriate by the Administrator. 

22 (c) DEADLINE.—Not later than 270 days after the 

23 Administrator establishes the task force under subsection 

24 (a), the task force shall submit to the Administrator the 

25 analysis required under such subsection. 


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1 (d) ELEMENTS.—The analysis required under sub2 section (a) shall include emerging and potential future 

3 threats posed by the following: 

4 (1) Evolving tactics by terrorist organizations 

5 that may pose a catastrophic risk to an aviation or 

6 surface transportation entity. 

7 (2) Explosive and explosive devices or attacks 

8 involving the use of explosives that may cause cata9 strophic damage to an aviation or surface transpor10 tation system. 

11 (3) Chemical or biological agents being released 

12 in either aviation or surface transportation systems. 

13 (4) Cyberthreat actors seeking to undermine 

14 confidence in transportation systems or cause service 

15 disruptions that jeopardize transportation security. 

16 (5) Unmanned aerial systems with the capa17 bility of inflicting harm on transportation targets. 

18 (6) Individuals or groups seeking to attack soft 

19 targets, public areas, or crowded spaces of transpor20 tation systems, including attacks against Transpor21 tation Security Administration employees and other 

22 security personnel. 

23 (7) Foreign actors seeking to exploit 

24 vulnerabilities posed by the inconsistent or inad25 equate security screening protocols at last point of 


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1 departure airports with direct flights to the United 

2 States. 

3 (8) Information sharing challenges within the 

4 Federal Government and among partner govern5 ments. 

6 (9) Information sharing challenges between the 

7 Administration or other relevant Federal agencies 

8 and transportation stakeholders, including air car9 riers, airport operators, surface transportation oper10 ators, and State and local law enforcement. 

11 (10) Growth in passenger volume in both the 

12 aviation and surface transportation sectors. 

13 (e) MITIGATION.—Not later than 120 days after the 

14 completion of the analysis required under subsection (a), 

15 the Administrator of the Transportation Security Admin16 istration shall develop, as appropriate, a threat mitigation 

17 strategy for each of the threats examined in such analysis, 

18 and— 

19 (1) assign appropriate resources of the Admin20 istration to address such threats, based on cal21 culated risk; or 

22 (2) provide recommendations through the De23 partment of Homeland Security to the appropriate 

24 Federal department or agency responsible for ad25 dressing such threats. 


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1 (f) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.—When carrying 

2 out the analysis required under subsection (a), the Admin3 istrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

4 shall engage transportation stakeholders referred to in 

5 subsection (b)(9) and account for security concerns of 

6 transportation operators by— 

7 (1) convening not fewer than three industry day 

8 events for such transportation stakeholders to hear 

9 from relevant public and private sector security part10 ners and provide feedback on threats such transpor11 tation stakeholders identify as emerging; 

12 (2) developing strategies to solicit feedback on 

13 a consistent basis from such transportation stake14 holders across all modes of transportation and pro15 viding consistent responses to stakeholder concerns; 

16 (3) improving the quality, timeliness, and rel17 evancy of information sharing products disseminated 

18 by the Administration to such transportation stake19 holders, including classified information sharing 

20 products; 

21 (4) coordinating security incident response and 

22 communications drills, including tabletop exercises, 

23 to improve incident preparedness and response capa24 bilities across transportation modes and among 

25 transportation systems; 


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1 (5) encouraging regular communication between 

2 Federal Security Directors, Field Intelligence Offi3 cers, Federal Air Marshal Special Agents in Charge, 

4 and such transportation stakeholders; 

5 (6) establishing regular opportunities for senior 

6 Administration leadership to engage with such trans7 portation stakeholders regarding changes in the 

8 threat environment and how the Administration can 

9 offer security support to address such changes; and 

10 (7) briefing the Aviation Security Advisory 

11 Committee and the Surface Transportation Security 

12 Advisory Committee on the efforts of the task force 

13 established pursuant to subsection (a). 

14 (g) BRIEFING TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator of 

15 the Transportation Security Administration shall brief the 

16 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep17 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

18 and Transportation of the Senate on the results of the 

19 analysis required under subsection (a) and relevant miti20 gation strategies developed in accordance with subsection 

21 (c). 

22 (h) NON-APPLICABILITY OF FACA AND PRA.—The 

23 Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) and the 

24 Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) shall 


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1 not apply to the task force established under subsection 

2 (a). 

3 SEC. 3. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

6 of the United States shall conduct a review of the feasi7 bility, risks, costs, and potential threat mitigation benefits 

8 of the Transportation Security Administration deploying 

9 the agency’s passenger and property screening assets to 

10 conduct screening in areas or facilities prior to passenger 

11 arrival at airport terminals. 

12 (b) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.—In conducting 

13 the review required under subsection (a), the Comptroller 

14 General of the United States shall consult with the Trans15 portation Security Administration, airport operators, air 

16 carriers, businesses that operate in airports, labor groups 

17 representing the Transportation Security Administration 

18 and transportation sector personnel, and other stake19 holders. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 9, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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