Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5056) to modernize and enhance airport perimeter and access control security by requiring updated risk assessments and the development of security strategies, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 5056

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security Act of 2016''. SEC. 2. RISK ASSESSMENTS OF AIRPORT SECURITY.

(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shall--

(1) not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, update the Transportation Sector Security Risk Assessment (TSSRA) for the aviation sector; and

(2) not later than 90 days after such date--

(A) update with the latest and most currently available intelligence information the Comprehensive Risk Assessment of Perimeter and Access Control Security (in this Act referred to as the ``Risk Assessment of Airport Security'') and determine a regular timeframe and schedule for further updates to such Risk Assessment of Airport Security; and

(B) conduct a system-wide assessment of airport access control points and airport perimeter security.

(b) Contents.--The security risk assessments required under subsection (a)(2) shall--

(1) include updates reflected in the TSSRA and Joint Vulnerability Assessment (JVA) findings;

(2) reflect changes to the risk environment relating to airport access control points and airport perimeters;

(3) use security event data for specific analysis of system-wide trends related to airport access control points and airport perimeter security to better inform risk management decisions; and

(4) take into consideration the unique geography of and current best practices used by airports to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

(c) Report.--The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, relevant Federal departments and agencies, and airport operators on the results of the security risk assessments required under subsection (a). SEC. 3. AIRPORT SECURITY STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT.

(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall update the 2012 National Strategy for Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security (in this section referred to as the ``National Strategy'').

(b) Contents.--The update to the National Strategy required under subsection (a) shall include--

(1) information from the Risk Assessment of Airport Security; and

(2) information on--

(A) airport security-related activities;

(B) the status of TSA efforts to address the goals and objectives referred to in subsection (a);

(C) finalized outcome-based performance measures and performance levels for each relevant activity and goal and objective under subparagraphs (A) and (B); and

(D) input from airport operators.

(c) Updates.--Not later than 90 days after the update is completed under subsection (a), the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall implement a process for determining when additional updates to the strategy referred to in such subsection are needed.

I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5056, the Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security Act, sponsored by Congressman Bill Keating.

In recent months, we have seen attacks at airports and aircraft overseas and, in every instance, the integrity and effectiveness of the airport security infrastructure and the insider threat has been concerning. For this reason, we must scrutinize the security of our Nation's airports and ensure that the public has confidence that their travels will be safe and secure in this high-threat environment.

Specifically, H.R. 5056 directs the TSA to update its official risk assessment for the aviation sector to reflect the latest available threat intelligence. Moreover, the bill mandates that TSA's comprehensive risk assessment of perimeter and access control security is more regularly updated and that TSA conducts a sectorwide assessment of airport access control vulnerabilities and mitigation efforts.

All of this information is required for an updated national strategy for airport perimeter and access control security, which TSA has failed to update since 2012, despite multiple access controls and perimeter security breaches at airports across the country.

As this bill demonstrates, we cannot focus solely on the effectiveness of our passenger screening checkpoints while allowing lax security around the airport perimeter and within the sterile areas of airports.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Keating for introducing this critical legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for his well-thought-out, well-placed, and long-overdue legislation. It makes me think of my time serving in the United States military as an airfield commander charged with many things, including the security of the airfield.

Knowing that our adversaries, at any level, whether it is on the civilian side or the military side, continuously probe and look for ways to thwart us in our efforts to maintain our security, ever changing their tactics, techniques, and procedures--you can see from the recent attacks where they figured they could not get their device or their activities onto the plane. They just simply attacked prior to getting on the plane and actually attacking prior to going through security--so it is in that spirit that we know that we must be right every single bit of the time. There is no margin for error, which is why this legislation is so well placed and so timely.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5056.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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