Aviation Security

The number of law enforcement officers who fly while armed is unknown because neither the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor the airlines systematically collect this information. Recognizing that weapons legally carried onto aircraft by law enforcement officers may present a threat to safety, FAA has proposed changes to strengthen regulations. GAO found the following weaknesses in the proposed changes: (1) there are no safeguards to help ensure that firearms are removed from an aircraft when law enforcement officers deplane; (2) Federal law enforcement officers are not required to document their need to fly; (3) law enforcement officers who inform the airline that they will be armed are not required to have their carry-on luggage screened; and (4) there is no procedure for verifying the credentials of law enforcement officers flying while armed. FAA is working with the law enforcement community and with airlines to implement a secure memory card system to better verify law enforcement officers' identities. The Department of Transportation, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and the Fraternal Order of Police did not entirely agree with GAO's recommendations.

GAO noted that: (1) the number of law enforcement officers who fly while armed is unknown because neither the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor the airlines systematically collect this information; (2) recognizing that weapons legally carried onto aircraft by law enforcement officers may present a threat to safety, FAA has proposed changes to strengthen the regulation governing weapons carriage and to minimize the number of officers carrying weapons on board commercial aircraft; (3) however, neither the current nor proposed regulation addresses several remaining problems, some of which may arise due to simple human error; (4) weaknesses include: (a) no safeguards to help ensure that firearms are removed from an aircraft when law enforcement officers deplane, raising the potential for these weapons to be used by unauthorized persons if they are left behind, thereby creating safety and security concerns; (b) federal law enforcement officers are not required to document their need to fly while armed, despite some airline representatives' concerns that federal law enforcement officers are flying with their firearms without having a legitimate mission-related need; (c) law enforcement officers who have notified an airline that they will be flying with firearms are not required to have their carry-on luggage screened, enabling them to carry items that may be inimical to the safety of the flight, such as oxygen bottles, lighter fluid, or tear gas; almost all other passengers, including the pilots of the aircraft, must be screened; and (d) there is no procedure for verifying the credentials of law enforcement officers flying while armed; a recent GAO investigation found that falsified law enforcement credentials could be used to receive authorization from airlines to fly while armed; (5) FAA is working with the law enforcement community and with airlines to implement a secure memory card system to better verify law enforcement officers' identity; (6) this technology is currently in use by other establishments and may provide a means to address several of the gaps GAO identified; (7) information stored in the cards' memory, which would be accessed through a specialized reader, could include the law enforcement officer's name, employing agency, and firearms training status; and (8) this system would also enable FAA to document the extent to which firearms are carried on board aircraft.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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