49 U.S.C. § 44946 — Aviation Security Advisory Committee

(a) Establishment. The Administrator must establish an aviation security advisory committee within the Transportation Security Administration.

(b) Duties. The Administrator must consult the Advisory Committee as appropriate on aviation security matters, including developing, refining, and carrying out aviation-security policies, programs, rules, and security directives, while following sensitive-security guidelines. At the Administrator's request, the Committee must develop recommendations for improving aviation security. The full Committee must approve recommendations agreed on by its subcommittees before those recommendations go to the Administrator. The Committee must periodically report to the Administrator on matters the Administrator identifies and on other matters a majority of Committee members identifies. It must submit an annual report on its activities, findings, and recommendations, including those of its subcommittees; within 6 months after receiving it, the Administrator must publish a public version consistent with section 552(b) of title 5. Within 90 days after receiving recommendations under paragraph (2) or (4), the Administrator must respond in writing with feedback on each recommendation, an action plan for recommendations the Administrator supports, and reasons for rejecting any recommendation. Within 30 days after that response, the Administrator must notify the specified Senate and House committees and provide a briefing if requested. Before that briefing, the Administrator must send those committees a report about the recommendations transmitted under paragraph (4).

(c) Membership. The Administrator appoints the Committee members. They must represent no more than 34 member organizations, with one representative, or that representative's designee, for each organization. The membership must include representatives of the organizations and groups listed in the statute, including air carriers, all-cargo air transportation, indirect air carriers, relevant labor organizations, aircraft manufacturers, airport operators and contractors, general aviation, privacy organizations, the travel industry, airport-based businesses including minority-owned small businesses, airport security-screening businesses, repair stations, passenger advocacy groups, the aviation-security-technology industry including screening technology and biometrics, victims of terrorist acts against aviation, and law-enforcement and security experts. Members serve 2-year terms but may continue until successors are appointed and may be reappointed. The Administrator may remove a member for cause. Members receive no government pay, allowances, or benefits for Committee service. The Committee must meet at least twice each year, with at least one meeting open to the public, and must keep an attendance record. Within 60 days after appointing a member, the Administrator must decide whether there is cause to restrict the member from possessing sensitive security information. Without such cause, and after the member voluntarily signs a nondisclosure agreement, the member may receive relevant sensitive security information and must protect it under part 1520 of title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. A stakeholder representative elected by the appointed members chairs the Committee.

(d) Subcommittees. (1) The Committee chairperson, coordinating with the Administrator, may establish any subcommittee within the Committee that the Administrator and Committee decide is necessary. The Administrator and the Advisory Committee must create subcommittees addressing: (A) air cargo security, including implementing TSA programs to screen cargo on passenger and all-cargo aircraft under established cargo-screening mandates; (B) general aviation facilities, general aviation aircraft, and helicopter operations at general-aviation and commercial-service airports; (C) perimeter and access control, including recommendations on airport perimeter security, exit-lane security and technology at commercial-service airports, and access-control issues; and (D) security technology standards and requirements, including international harmonization, technology to screen passengers, passenger baggage, carry-on baggage, and cargo, and biometric technology. (2) Every subcommittee established by the chairperson in coordination with the Administrator must consider risk-based security approaches that balance transportation-security costs and benefits, including for passenger screening, baggage screening, air-cargo-security policies, and general aviation security. (3) Each subcommittee must meet at least quarterly and give the Committee information, including recommendations, about its issues for inclusion in the annual report. (4) Each subcommittee must have a government official and an industry official as co-chairs.

(e) Subject-matter experts. Each subcommittee must include relevant subject-matter experts appointed by its chairpersons.

(f) Chapter 10 of title 5 does not apply. Chapter 10 of title 5 does not apply to the Committee or its subcommittees.

(g) Definitions. “Administrator” means the TSA Administrator. “Advisory Committee” means the aviation security advisory committee established under subsection (a). “Perimeter security” means procedures or systems for monitoring, securing, and preventing unauthorized access to an airport, including its airfield and terminal; it includes the fence area around an airport, access gates, and access controls.