The House passed a bill Monday to require airports to increase their perimeter security after years of breaches.
“This bipartisan legislation will close [loopholes] in our airport security practices and procedures and bring us closer to ensuring access control points and perimeters of all design are as secure as possible,” said Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security Act of 2016 sponsor William Keating, D-Mass., during a speech on the House floor.
Keating said the Transportation Security Agency has failed to adequately secure the perimeters of the nation’s airports, threatening the safety of innumerable employees and travelers. He cited a Government Accountability Office report he commissioned that found the TSA conducted comprehensive vulnerability assessments at only 19 percent of commercial airports between 2009-15.
The bill, which was approved by voice vote, would adopt the recommendations from the GAO report to update current policies and procedures, including requiring the TSA to conduct a national assessment of airport access points and perimeter security.
He cited the TSA’s own calculations over a 10-year period before 2011, stating there were more than 1,000 breaches, including stowaways, trespassers on tarmacs, people scaling bordering fences or driving vehicles through restricted areas.
He argued that action is necessary to ensure that terrorists don’t take advantage of such security holes.
Rep. Scott Perry, R.-Pa., supported the bipartisan bill, arguing that policymakers “cannot focus solely on the effectiveness of our passenger screening checkpoints while allowing lax security around the airport perimeter and within the sterile areas of airports.”
