Aviation security collaboration stakeholder governance review

Aviation security requires collaboration across organizations in multiple mission areas and locations. Each organization is bound by governance which can be dictated by laws, regulations, or other rules. But much of that governance is written in vague language, where execution is left to interpretation. This can result in confusion as to which rules are legally binding, which are optional, or which are done solely as a matter of practice. Lastly, the governance often does not clearly define each organization's roles and responsibilities. To plan for and understand this legal environment better, The MITRE Corporation, as part of its Aviation Security Collaboration (ASC) research, conducted a Stakeholder Governance Review. The governance review produced a Rules Reference Guide, or a collection of pertinent aviation security laws, regulations, orders, directives, procedures, and references to other documentation, all of which are referred to as "rules". The rules were then categorized by domain: Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Industry, Transportation, and International. This paper summarizes those domains' rules by describing the legal authorities under which each organization is authorized to act, highlighting particular rules of interest, and describing the collaboration activities regarding getting and sharing information, understanding information, and coordinating operations with security partners. The governance review provided insight into the collaborative nature of the aviation security legal environment. It was found that more than two thirds of the rules were applicable to more than one domain, which implies that collaboration is required across organizations to execute the rules. As the ASC research is refined and tested, the governance review will provide the background to ensure that the research recommendations are feasible from a legal and agency policy standpoint.