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1 1 (January 15, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govebkx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: January 15, 2021 Aviation Security Measures and Domestic Terrorism Threats After the January 6, 2021, security breach of the United States Capitol, some Members ofCongress have advocated restricting the air travelof individuals who may seek to incite or carry out further violence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly considering placing individuals who illegally entered the Capitolon the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) No -Fly List. This In Focus discusses the circumstances under which air carriers, TSA, and other federal authorities may restrict domestic airline travel in response to security threats. The No-Fly List and Airline Passenger Prescreening The No-Fly List is one of severallists maintainedby TSA to identify passengers based on their risk to aviations afety and national security (See 49 U.S.C. §44903). As the name implies, individuals onthe No-Fly List are to be denied boarding and referred to law enforcement authorities when they arrive at an airport to checkin for a commercial airline flight. In addition to theNo -Fly List, TSA maintains lists of individuals who are to receive special scrutiny during pre- flight security screening and whose carry-on bags and checked baggage are to be examined more thoroughly. The primary list of such individuals is referred to as the Selectee List or Automatic Selectee List to indicate that these individuals are to be automatically selected for enhanced screening. Enhanced screening may include measures such as pat-downs and chemicaltrace detection swabs to test for explosives residue. Passengers not on these lists may be randomly s elected for enhanced screening, and passengers or baggagethattrigger alarms during initial screening may also undergo these additional measures. Both the No-Fly and Selectee lists are subsets of the broader consolid ated terroris t watchlis t, formally known as the Terrorist Screening Database or TSDB. The TSDB is maintained by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, which is responsible for consolidating and disseminating terrorism data to federal, state, and local law enforcement, and international partners. TSA's Secure Flight systemchecks passenger names against these lists multiple times between ticket purchase and the flight's departure, as the lists are routinely updated. TSA may expand these Secure Flight checks to include the larger number of identities in the complete TSDB when warrantedby security conditions. This can be done when specific threat intelligence suggests, for example, heightened security concerns regarding a specific flight, flights along a specific route, flights froma certain region, or flights to a specific destination. TSA sometimes refers to this broader useof the complete TSDB as the Expanded Selectee List, suggesting that, under such heightened security conditions, additional individuals may be selected for enhanced security screening. However, the No-Fly list might not be expanded unless specific information warrants inclusionof additionalindividuals on that list. In addition to the Selectee list, TSA relies on sets ofrules to temporarily assign certain passengers to two other lists it maintains, the Silent Partner and Quiet Skies lists. Individuals may be placed onthese lists based on their recent international travelpatterns, and are subject to enhanced screening measures, including additional baggage screening, for a period of time. Historically, the TSA lists and the broader TSDB have focus edmainly on international terrorist threats. The FBI most recently released data about its security lists in September 2011. At that time, about 98% of the roughly 420,000 identities contained in the TSDB referred to persons who were notU.S citizens orlegalU.S. residents. The No-Fly list then consisted of about 16,000 identities, of which fewer than 500 referred to U.S. persons. The Selectee list was said to also contain about 16,000 identities, although theFBIdid not specify how many of those were U.S. persons. TheTSDB apparently has grown considerably since then. According to press reports, about 1.2 million people were on the watchlist in 2017, including about 4,600 American citizens. Official updates regarding the size and scope of the No-Fly and Selectee lists, however, have notbeen made public. TSA was required to establish a procedural mechanism enabling people to challenge their inclusion on theNo -Fly list or other lists that effectively barred themfromtraveling by air. The Department of Homeland Security's Traveler Redress Inquiry Program(TRIP) maintains a website through which individuals who claimto have been misidentified may seekredress, but such individuals may be barred fromair travelor subjectto enhanced screening until their cases are adjudicated. Airline Blacklists Airlines' contracts ofcarriage, to which passengers agree when they purchase tickets, oblige passengers to obey airline rules and policies and comply with crewmembers performing their duties. Airlines may refuse to provide service to individuals who refuse to wear masks or facial coverings for the duration of the flight, as airlines have uniformly required in response to federal recommendations to limit the spread of COVID-19. Airlines may also remove disruptive or uncooperative individuals froman airplane, and may ban themfrom future flights. Airlines are not obligated to notify the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), TSA, other federal agencies, or other airlines of individuals who have been banned fromfuture flights. If incidents are brought to their attention, however, FAA or TSA may investigate to determine whether individuals may have violated federal aviation s afety or security regulations.

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