I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1554 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit advance notice to certain 
individuals, including security screeners, of covert testing of security 
screening procedures for the purpose of enhancing transportation security 
at airports, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2011 
Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Ms. JACKSON 
LEE of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Homeland Security 
A BILL 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit advance 
notice to certain individuals, including security screeners, 
of covert testing of security screening procedures for 
the purpose of enhancing transportation security at air-
ports, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Catching Operational 
Vulnerabilities by Ensuring Random Testing Act of 2011’’ 
or the ‘‘COVERT Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF ADVANCE NOTICE OF COVERT 
TESTING TO SECURITY SCREENERS. 
Section 44935 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by redesignating the second subsection (i), 
relating to accessibility of computer-based training 
facilities, as subsection (k); and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(l) PROHIBITION OF ADVANCE NOTICE TO SECU-
RITY SCREENERS OF COVERT TESTING AND EVALUA-
TION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall ensure that information concerning a 
covert test of a transportation security system to be 
conducted by a covert testing office, the Inspector 
General of the Department of Homeland Security, or 
the Government Accountability Office is not pro-
vided to any individual prior to the completion of the 
test. 
‘‘(2) 
EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding 
para-
graph (1)— 
‘‘(A) an individual may provide informa-
tion concerning a covert test of a transportation 
security system to employees, officers, and con-
tractors of the Federal Government (including 
military personnel); employees and officers of 
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State and local governments; and law enforce-
ment officials, who are authorized to receive or 
directed to be provided such information by the 
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security 
(Transportation Security Administration), the 
Inspector General of the Department of Home-
land Security, or the Comptroller General of the 
United States, as the case may be; and 
‘‘(B) for the purpose of ensuring the secu-
rity of any individual in the vicinity of a site 
where a covert test of a transportation security 
system is being conducted, an individual con-
ducting the test may disclose his or her status 
as an individual conducting the test to any ap-
propriate individual if a security screener or 
other individual who is not a covered employee 
identifies the individual conducting the test as 
a potential threat. 
‘‘(3) SPECIAL
RULES
FOR
THE
TRANSPOR-
TATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.— 
‘‘(A) MONITORING
AND
SECURITY
OF 
TESTING PERSONNEL.—The head of each covert 
testing office shall ensure that a person or 
group of persons conducting a covert test of a 
transportation security system for the covert 
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testing office is accompanied at the site of the 
test by a cover team comprised of one or more 
employees of the covert testing office for the 
purpose of monitoring the test and confirming 
the identity of personnel involved in the test 
under subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) RESPONSIBILITY OF COVER TEAM.— 
Under this paragraph, a cover team for a covert 
test of a transportation security system shall— 
‘‘(i) monitor the test; and 
‘‘(ii) for the purpose of ensuring the 
security of any individual in the vicinity of 
a site where the test is being conducted, 
confirm, notwithstanding paragraph (1), 
the identity of any individual conducting 
the test to any appropriate individual if a 
security screener or other individual who is 
not a covered employee identifies the indi-
vidual conducting the test as a potential 
threat. 
‘‘(C) 
AVIATION
SCREENING.—Notwith-
standing subparagraph (A), the Transportation 
Security Administration is not required to have 
a cover team present during a test of the 
screening of persons, carry-on items, or checked 
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baggage at an aviation security checkpoint at or 
serving an airport if the test— 
‘‘(i) is approved by the Federal Secu-
rity Director for such airport; and 
‘‘(ii) is carried out under an aviation 
screening assessment program of the De-
partment of Homeland Security. 
‘‘(D) USE
OF
OTHER
PERSONNEL.—The 
Transportation Security Administration may 
use employees, officers, and contractors of the 
Federal Government (including military per-
sonnel) and employees and officers of State and 
local governments to conduct covert tests. 
‘‘(4) IMPACT STUDY AND REPORT ON COVERT 
TESTING PROCEDURES.— 
‘‘(A) IMPACT
STUDY.—The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall conduct a study of the 
impact of the implementation of this subsection 
on the Department of Homeland Security’s ef-
forts to improve transportation security. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The study under 
subparagraph (A) shall include an assessment 
of— 
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‘‘(i) the impact of the implementation 
of this subsection on personnel of the De-
partment of Homeland Security; 
‘‘(ii) the impact of such implementa-
tion on information sharing within the De-
partment; 
‘‘(iii) best practices for integrating the 
topic of covert testing into existing training 
and testing programs for personnel of the 
Department; and 
‘‘(iv) the effectiveness of covert testing 
as a method to improve security. 
‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this subsection, 
the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a re-
port that contains— 
‘‘(i) the results of the study under 
subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(ii) recommendations for changes to 
the training of personnel of the Depart-
ment that are necessary to ensure compli-
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ance with the requirements of this sub-
section; and 
‘‘(iii) recommendations to improve the 
effectiveness of the implementation of this 
subsection. 
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section, the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(A) 
APPROPRIATE
INDIVIDUAL.—The 
term ‘appropriate individual’, as used with re-
spect to a covert test of a transportation secu-
rity system, means any individual that— 
‘‘(i) the individual conducting the test 
determines needs to know his or her status 
as an individual conducting a test under 
paragraph (2)(B); or 
‘‘(ii) the cover team monitoring the 
test under paragraph (3)(B)(i) determines 
needs to know the identity of an individual 
conducting the test. 
‘‘(B) COVERED
EMPLOYEE.—The term 
‘covered employee’ means any individual who 
receives notice of a covert test before the com-
pletion of a test under paragraph (2)(A). 
‘‘(C) COVERT TEST.— 
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘covert 
test’ means an exercise or activity con-
ducted by a covert testing office, the In-
spector General of the Department of 
Homeland Security, or the Government Ac-
countability Office to intentionally test, 
compromise, or circumvent transportation 
security systems to identify vulnerabilities 
in such systems. 
‘‘(ii) 
LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding 
clause (i), the term ‘covert test’ does not 
mean an exercise or activity by an em-
ployee or contractor of the Transportation 
Security Administration to test or assess 
compliance with regulations under title 49, 
Code of Federal Regulations. 
‘‘(D) COVERT TESTING OFFICE.—The term 
‘covert testing office’ means any office of the 
Transportation Security Administration des-
ignated by the Assistant Secretary of Homeland 
Security (Transportation Security Administra-
tion) to conduct covert tests of transportation 
security systems. 
‘‘(E) EMPLOYEE OF A COVERT TESTING 
OFFICE.—The term ‘employee of a covert test-
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ing office’ means an individual who is an em-
ployee of a covert testing office or a contractor 
or an employee of a contractor of a covert test-
ing office.’’. 
Æ 
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