Keating’s airport perimeter security bill passes House

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Monday authored by U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) to strengthen security at the nation’s airports.

The bill stems from an investigation into the death of a 16 year-old boy who managed to break security at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport and hid himself in the wheel well of a 737 commercial airplane without detection.

Keating’s legislation, the Airport Perimeter and Access Control Security Act of 2016, was written in direct response to recommendations made within the independent review of commercial airports by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that was released at the end of May. The report was originally requested by Keating in Feb. 2014.

The act would require the Transportation Security Administration to modernize and enhance airport perimeter security by consistently updating their risk assessments, along with developing a comprehensive strategy to keep the area safe as threats evolve.

“The recent attacks on the airports of Brussels and Istanbul demonstrated that airports remain a steady target for terrorists and in the those cases, it was the perimeter areas that were attacked,” Keating said. “Every airport is unique and the landscape of terrorism is always changing. We need to stay ahead of these evolving threats with both a strong basis of comprehensive security policies as well as the flexibility to adapt and change them as need be. My bipartisan legislation will close loopholes in airport security practices and ensure that each access control point and perimeter is as secure as possible.”