[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3260 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3260
To require a 20th anniversary review of the missions, capabilities, and
performance of the Transportation Security Administration.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 18, 2021
Mr. Wicker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a 20th anniversary review of the missions, capabilities, and
performance of the Transportation Security Administration.
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 ``Transportation Security
Administration 20th Anniversary Review Act''.
SEC. 2. 20TH ANNIVERSARY REVIEW OF TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION.
(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Transportation Security
Administration shall enter into an arrangement with a federally funded
research and development center to conduct a comprehensive review of
the missions, capabilities, and performance of the Transportation
Security Administration during the 20 years since its establishment.
(b) Elements.--The review required by subsection (a) shall include
the following:
(1) An assessment of the effectiveness of the
Transportation Security Administration in executing the
missions required by statute.
(2) An assessment of the organizational structure of the
Transportation Security Administration and recommendations for
improving that structure, including any benefits of separating
the operations and compliance missions of the Transportation
Security Administration.
(3) An assessment of whether the Transportation Security
Administration should retain its current missions and, if
necessary, recommendations on legislative changes needed to
streamline those missions.
(4) An assessment of whether the Transportation Security
Administration is maximizing the use of flexibilities provided
by statute with respect to human capital.
(5) If the Transportation Security Administration is not
maximizing the use of those flexibilities, recommendations for
improving the use of those flexibilities administratively.
(6) An assessment of efforts of the Transportation Security
Administration to retain transportation security officers, an
assessment of whether those efforts are effective, and
recommendations with respect to how the Transportation Security
Administration could improve those efforts based on the
experiences of other large Federal employers with a significant
entry-level workforce.
(7) An assessment of whether the Transportation Security
Administration deployed the number of transportation security
officers identified by its resource allocation plan.
(8) An assessment of the utilization by the Transportation
Security Administration of the Screening Partnership Program
under section 44920 of title 49, United States Code, and
recommendations for expanding that program.
(9) A comparative analysis of screening conducted under the
Screening Partnership Program and screening conducted by
employees of the Transportation Security Administration,
including an analysis of--
(A) cost, performance (detection), staffing, and
attrition; and
(B) whether the Transportation Security
Administration intentionally disadvantages or causes
difficulties for airports that use the Screening
Partnership Program or providers of screening services
under the Program.
(10) An assessment of the user-pay model for funding for
the Transportation Security Administration, recommendations
with respect to how to reimplement that model, and an
assessment of--
(A) whether the Transportation Security
Administration is appropriately using the Aviation
Security Capital Fund established under section
44923(h) of title 49, United States Code; and
(B) the potential cost savings if the
Transportation Security Administration fully reimbursed
airports for purchasing and deploying screening
technology.
(11) An assessment of the effectiveness of the
Transportation Security Administration in implementing the
Registered Traveler Program and recommendations for
modernization of the program for full integration with the
biometric technology of the Transportation Security
Administration.
(12) An assessment of the capabilities of the
Transportation Security Administration to respond to homeland
security intelligence and recommendations for improving those
capabilities.
(13) A review of the threats to transportation identified
by the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of the
National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)).
(14) An assessment of and recommendations with respect to
the use by the Transportation Security Administration of
outcome-oriented performance measures when procuring
transportation security technology.
(15) Recommendations with respect to how the Transportation
Security Administration could diversify the transportation
security industrial base.
(16) An assessment of and recommendations with respect to
how the Transportation Security Administration can facilitate
an expansion of transportation security norms with
international partners and where appropriate reduce the need
for redundant screening.
(17) An assessment of the role of the Transportation
Security Administration as a regulator and recommendations with
respect to how the Transportation Security Administration could
reduce regulatory burdens without sacrificing security.
(18) An assessment of how the Transportation Security
Administration is working with airport operators to expand
capacity at constrained checkpoints, including whether the
Transportation Security Administration is accurately and
consistently measuring wait times at individual checkpoints and
across the system.
(19) An assessment of the efficacy of the 5-year technology
plan of the Transportation Security Administration.
(20) An assessment of the acquisition practices used by the
Transportation Security Administration and the effectiveness of
those practices in achieving rapid capability delivery.
(c) Report to Congress.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to
Congress a report on the findings of the federally funded
research and development center pursuant to the review
conducted under subsection (a).
(2) Form of report.--
(A) In general.--The report required by paragraph
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may
include a classified annex.
(B) Inclusions in classified annex.--Findings
relating to the matters described in paragraphs (12)
and (13) of subsection (b) shall be included in the
classified annex.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Administrator $2,000,000 to carry out this section.
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