§44927. Expedited screening for severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans

(a) Passenger Screening.-The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and organizations identified by the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs that advocate on behalf of severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans, shall develop and implement a process to support and facilitate the ease of travel and to the extent possible provide expedited passenger screening services for severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans through passenger screening. The process shall be designed to offer the individual private screening to the maximum extent practicable.

(b) Operations Center.-As part of the process under subsection (a), the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall maintain an operations center to provide support and facilitate the movement of severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans through passenger screening prior to boarding a passenger aircraft operated by an air carrier or foreign air carrier in air transportation or intrastate air transportation.

(c) Protocols.-The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall-

(1) establish and publish protocols, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the organizations identified under subsection (a), under which a severely injured or disabled member of the Armed Forces or severely injured or disabled veteran, or the family member or other representative of such member or veteran, may contact the operations center maintained under subsection (b) and request the expedited passenger screening services described in subsection (a) for that member or veteran; and

(2) upon receipt of a request under paragraph (1), require the operations center to notify the appropriate Federal Security Director of the request for expedited passenger screening services, as described in subsection (a), for that member or veteran.

(d) Training.-The Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall integrate training on the protocols established under subsection (c) into the training provided to all employees who will regularly provide the passenger screening services described in subsection (a).

(e) Rule of Construction.-Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to require additional screening of a severely injured or disabled member of the Armed Forces, a severely injured or disabled veteran, or their accompanying family members or nonmedical attendants, if intelligence, law enforcement, or other information indicates that additional screening is necessary.

(f) Reports.-Each year, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this section. Each report shall include each of the following:

(1) Information on the training provided under subsection (d).

(2) Information on the consultations between the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and the organizations identified under subsection (a).

(3) The number of people who accessed the operations center during the period covered by the report.

(4) Such other information as the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration determines is appropriate.

(Added Pub. L. 113–27, §2(a), Aug. 9, 2013, 127 Stat. 503 ; amended Pub. L. 115–254, div. K, title I, §1991(d)(23), Oct. 5, 2018, 132 Stat. 3637 .)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018-Pub. L. 115–254, §1991(d)(23)(A), substituted "Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration" for "Assistant Secretary" wherever appearing.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–254, §1991(d)(23)(B), substituted "Veterans Affairs that" for "Veteran Affairs that".

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 115–254, §1991(d)(23)(C), substituted "Reports" for "Report" in heading and "Each year," for "Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, and annually thereafter," in introductory provisions.