WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), co-chairs of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, are teaming up on legislation to end abuse of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) aircraft registration process. The Preventing Terrorist and Narcotic Air Events Act would close loopholes at FAA that allow drug cartels and bad actors to secure U.S. planes and use them to move drugs and threaten our national security.

“In their current form, FAA’s standards for aircraft registration leave the door open for transnational criminals to use American planes as lethal weapons, carrying toxic pills and powder to our shores,” Grassley said. “Amid a national drug epidemic and heightened global threats, FAA must do its part to protect Americans and save lives. Our bill is a simple and straightforward one, and it should be included in the upcoming FAA reauthorization.” 

“I’m glad to co-lead this bipartisan bill to require the FAA to close the gaping loopholes cartel operatives, foreign kleptocrats, and international criminals use to obscure the true owners of American aircrafts,” Whitehouse said. “For too long, enemies of the U.S. have been able to secretly shelter their ill-gotten gains right here on our shores. This bill protects American national security and shines another beam of sunlight into the dark economy.”

Background

According to a recent Grassley report, FAA employs limited information collection and identity verification methods during its registration process, allowing criminals to register planes under phony U.S. identities. In 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued 15 recommendations to resolve FAA’s vulnerabilities. To date, FAA has only implemented three of the 15 recommendations. 

Grassley and Whitehouse’s Preventing Terrorist and Narcotic Air Events Act would require the FAA to implement GAO’s outstanding anti-fraud and abuse recommendations and report to Congress on their implementation. 

At a Drug Caucus hearing this week, a GAO witness highlighted the dire need for action to curtail FAA’s security risks, positing that FAA’s current registration procedures are so weak they may not even catch a terrorist who attempts to access U.S. planes.

View bill text HERE and video HERE. 

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