CREW TRAINING.

SEC. 1403. CREW TRAINING. (a) In General.—Section 44918(e) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking “The Administrator” and inserting the following: “(1) In general.—The Under Secretary”; (2) by adding at the end the following: “(2) Additional requirements.—In updating the training guidance, the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator, shall issue a rule to— “(A) require both classroom and effective hands-on situational training in the following elements of self-defense: “(i) recognizing suspicious activities and determining the seriousness of an occurrence; “(ii) deterring a passenger who might present a problem; “(iii) crew communication and coordination; “(iv) the proper commands to give to passengers and attackers; “(v) methods to subdue and restrain an attacker; “(vi) use of available items aboard the aircraft for self-defense; “(vii) appropriate and effective responses to defend oneself, including the use of force against an attacker; “(viii) use of protective devices assigned to crew members (to the extent such devices are approved by the Administrator or Under Secretary); “(ix) the psychology of terrorists to cope with their behavior and passenger responses to that behavior; and “(x) how to respond to aircraft maneuvers that may be authorized to defend against an act of criminal violence or air piracy; “(B) require training in the proper conduct of a cabin search, including the duty time required to conduct the search; 116 STAT. 2306 “(C) establish the required number of hours of training and the qualifications for the training instructors; “(D) establish the intervals, number of hours, and elements of recurrent training; “(E) ensure that air carriers provide the initial training required by this paragraph within 24 months of the date of enactment of this subparagraph; and “(F) ensure that no person is required to participate in any hands-on training activity that that person believes will have an adverse impact on his or her health or safety. “(3) Responsibility of under secretary.—(A) Consultation.—In developing the rule under paragraph (2), the Under Secretary shall consult with law enforcement personnel and security experts who have expertise in self-defense training, terrorism experts, and representatives of air carriers, the provider of self-defense training for Federal air marshals, flight attendants, labor organizations representing flight attendants, and educational institutions offering law enforcement training programs. “(B) Designation of official.—The Under Secretary shall designate an official in the Transportation Security Administra¬tion to be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the training program under this subsection. “(C) Necessary resources and knowledge. .—The Under Secretary shall ensure that employees of the Administration responsible for monitoring the training program have the necessary resources and knowledge.”; and (3) by aligning the remainder of the text of paragraph (1) (as designated by paragraph (1) of this section) with para¬graphs (2) and (3) (as added by paragraph (2) of this section). (b) Enhance security measures.—Section 109(a) of the Avia¬tion and Transportation Security Act (49 U.S.C. 114 note; 115 Stat. 613-614) is amended by adding at the end the following: “(9) Require that air carriers provide flight attendants with a discreet, hands-free, wireless method of communicating with the pilots.”. (c) Benefits and Risks of Providing Flight Attendants With Nonlethal Weapons.— (1) Study.—The Under Secretary of Transportation for Security shall conduct a study to evaluate the benefits and risks of providing flight attendants with nonlethal weapons to aide in combating air piracy and criminal violence on commercial airlines. (2) Report.—Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report on the results of the study.