IMPROVED AIRPORT PERIMETER ACCESS SECURITY.

SEC. 106. IMPROVED AIRPORT PERIMETER ACCESS SECURITY. (a) In General.—Section 44903 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “(h) Improved Airport Perimeter Access Security.— “(1) In general.—The Under Secretary, in consultation with the airport operator and law enforcement authorities, may order the deployment of such personnel at any secure area of the airport as necessary to counter the risk of criminal violence, the risk of aircraft piracy at the airport, the risk to air carrier aircraft operations at the airport, or to meet national security concerns. “(2) Security of aircraft and ground access to secure areas.—In determining where to deploy such personnel, the Under Secretary shall consider the physical security needs of air traffic control facilities, parked aircraft, aircraft servicing equipment, aircraft supplies (including fuel), automobile parking facilities within airport perimeters or adjacent to secured facilities, and access and transition areas at airports served by other means of ground or water transportation. “(3) Deployment of federal law enforcement personnel.—The Secretary may enter into a memorandum of understanding or other agreement with the Attorney General or the head of any other appropriate Federal law enforcement agency to deploy Federal law enforcement personnel at an airport in order to meet aviation safety and security concerns. “(4) Airport perimeter screening.—The Under Secretary— “(A) shall require, as soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this subsection, screening or inspection of all individuals, goods, property, vehicles, and other equipment before entry into a secured area of an airport in the United States described in section 44903(c); “(B) shall prescribe specific requirements for such screening and inspection that will assure at least the same level of protection as will result from screening of passengers and their baggage; “(C) shall establish procedures to ensure the safety and integrity of— “(i) all persons providing services with respect to aircraft providing passenger air transportation or intrastate air transportation and facilities of such persons at an airport in the United States described in section 44903(c); “(ii) all supplies, including catering and passenger amenities, placed aboard such aircraft, including the sealing of supplies to ensure easy visual detection of tampering; and “(iii) all persons providing such supplies and facilities of such persons; “(D) shall require vendors having direct access to the airfield and aircraft to develop security programs; and 115 STAT. 609 “(E) may provide for the use of biometric or other technology that positively verifies the identity of each employee and law enforcement officer who enters a secure area of an airport.”. (b) Small and Medium Airports.— (1) Technical support and financial assistance.—The Under Secretary of Transportation for Security shall develop a plan to— (A) provide technical support to airports, each of which had less than 1 percent of the total annual enplanements in the United States for the most recent calendar year for which data is available, to enhance security operations; and (B) provide financial assistance to those airports to defray the costs of enhancing security. (2) Removal of certain restrictions.— (A) Certification by operator.—If the operator of an airport described in paragraph (1), after consultation with the appropriate State and local law enforcement authorities, determines that safeguards are in place to sufficiently protect public safety, and so certifies in writing to the Under Secretary, then any security rule, order, or other directive restricting the parking of passenger vehicles shall not apply at that airport after the applicable time period specified in subparagraph (B), unless the Under Secretary, taking into account individual airport circumstances, notifies the airport operator that the safeguards in place do not adequately respond to specific security risks and that the restriction must be continued in order to ensure public safety. (B) Countermand period.—The time period within which the Secretary may notify an airport operator, after receiving a certification under subparagraph (A), that a restriction must be continued in order to ensure public safety at the airport is— (i) 15 days for a nonhub airport (as defined in section 41714(h) of title 49, United States Code); (ii) 30 days for a small hub airport (as defined in such section); (iii) 60 days for a medium hub airport (as defined in such section); and (iv) 120 days for an airport that had at least 1 percent of the total annual enplanements in the United States for the most recent calendar year for which data is available. (c) Improvement of Secured-Area Access Control.—Section 44903(g)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking “weaknesses by January 31, 2001;” in subparagraph (A) and inserting “weaknesses;”; (2) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting the following: “(D) on an ongoing basis, assess and test for compliance with access control requirements, report annually findings of the assessments, and assess the effectiveness of penalties in ensuring compliance with security procedures and take any other appropriate enforcement actions when noncompliance is found;”; 115 STAT. 610 (3) by striking“program by January 31, 2001;” in subparagraph (F) and inserting “program;”; and (4) by striking subparagraph (G) and inserting the following: “(G) work with airport operators to strengthen access control points in secured areas (including air traffic control operations areas, maintenance areas, crew lounges, baggage handling areas, concessions, and catering delivery areas) to ensure the security of passengers and aircraft and consider the deployment of biometric or similar technologies that identify individuals based on unique personal characteristics.”. (d) Airport Security Pilot Program.—Section 44903(c) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “(3) Pilot programs.—The Administrator shall establish pilot programs in no fewer than 20 airports to test and evaluate new and emerging technology for providing access control and other security protections for closed or secure areas of the airports. Such technology may include biometric or other technology that ensures only authorized access to secure areas.”. (e) Airport Security Awareness Programs.—The Under Secretary of Transportation for Security shall require scheduled passenger air carriers, and airports in the United States described in section 44903(c) to develop security awareness programs for airport employees, ground crews, gate, ticket, and curbside agents of the air carriers, and other individuals employed at such airports.