Biometric Enhancement for Airport-Risk Reduction Act of 2008

BIOMETRIC ENHANCEMENT FOR AIRPORT-RISK REDUCTION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 18, 2008)

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, last month I introduced H.R. 5982, the Biometric Enhancement for Airport Risk Reduction Act of 2008, also known as the BEAR Act. The bill was marked up and adopted unanimously by the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 20.

The Transportation Security Administration is responsible for securing 450 U.S. airports and employs approximately 50,000 people. It has a very important mission of keeping the traveling public safe from terrorist threats. But the question remains, what is TSA doing to increase security and still allow workers with unescorted access to sterile and secure areas of airports? And what mechanisms are in place to ensure that only the employees are allowed to access the airports' secure and sterile areas.

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The BEAR Act addresses these concerns. It requires TSA to provide Congress and airport operators with a report on best practices for using biometrics at airports.

Last November, Federal law enforcement raided Chicago's O'Hare Airport and arrested 23 people for fraudulently securing badges that gave them unescorted access to sensitive airport locations. According to the charging affidavit, more than 100 temporary workers were found to be in possession of fraudulent badges. And the investigation revealed that the staffing agency that sponsored these workers told them that they needed identification, but it did not have to be legitimate.

Today, workers with unescorted access to these critical facilities go through background screening to get identification badges. This background screening includes checking against a terrorist watch list. While this is a necessary and important check, a worker's biometrics are not being captured in check against biographic information to establish the individual's identity.

Since the Chicago incident, there has been a growing international trend to incorporate biometric identifying credentials in airport IDs. Canada and the United Kingdom have already taken action to address the security risk at airports by using biometric identifying credentials for airport workers.

Although I recognize the ongoing work that TSA has been doing in the last year or so, it's time for them to consider moving forward. The BEAR Act will make this happen.

The bill promotes collaboration between TSA industry, labor, and other stakeholders to collectively develop and provide airports with a blueprint on how to make biometrics work for them. The BEAR Act, as amended, includes changes proposed by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and TSA to improve the bill, including clarifying that TSA should only conduct a risk-based study of Category 10 and Category 1 airports on a selected groups of airports, defining uniform biometric identified systems to make sure that TSA looks at systems that actually match individuals, not just cards, that have biometrics on them, recognizing and not tampering with TSA's ongoing efforts in the area of biometrics such as the TWIC program and other programs.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5982.

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