HR9328-119

What This Bill Does

The Improving Travel for Military Members Act would allow the Transportation Security Administration to establish an airport pilot within 60 days after enactment to expedite access to security screening for traveling active-duty military personnel and accompanying family members. Establishing the pilot is discretionary, not mandatory. If TSA creates it, the agency may operate it only to the extent that expedited access does not compromise security protocols.

Every participating traveler must be screened according to that person's existing Secure Flight vetting status. Screening personnel may not admit someone to TSA PreCheck or another expedited lane unless the boarding pass already shows that the passenger is eligible. Local TSA managers could open or close lanes and reallocate resources based on passenger volume and security effectiveness.

If the pilot is established, TSA must prioritize airports within an Administrator-selected distance of military installations that have at least an Administrator-selected number of active-duty personnel. TSA must also consider whether an airport has enough space for dedicated military-family lanes and may use other necessary selection factors. The bill does not set the distance, troop threshold, number of airports, or a separate appropriation. TSA must brief three House and Senate committees within nine months after establishing the pilot and run it for three years.

Who Benefits and How

Active-duty service members and accompanying family members could receive faster or simpler checkpoint access at participating airports, potentially reducing travel delay during deployments, relocations, leave, or family trips. Airports near large military installations could receive dedicated screening operations tailored to a frequent passenger population. TSA could test whether queue and lane-management changes improve efficiency without weakening security. The congressional homeland-security and transportation committees would receive an implementation briefing within nine months.

Who Bears the Burden and How

If TSA elects to proceed, agency program and checkpoint staff must select airports, preserve Secure Flight and boarding-pass controls, allocate lanes and personnel, monitor security and passenger volume, and administer the program for three years. Selected airports may need to dedicate checkpoint space and adjust operations. Other passengers could experience queue changes when resources move, although local managers retain authority to rebalance lanes. Military family members who are not independently eligible for PreCheck do not gain eligibility merely by accompanying a service member.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes, but does not require, TSA to establish the pilot within 60 days.
• Preserves each passenger's Secure Flight and boarding-pass eligibility status.
• Prioritizes adequately sized airports near military installations with a substantial active-duty population, using thresholds selected by TSA.
• Allows local managers to open, close, and reallocate checkpoint lanes as needed.
• Requires a congressional briefing within nine months and a three-year pilot term.