That rule has been in effect ever since the 3 small general aviation airports near Washington were reopened 6-7 years ago. It was the condition that the TSA (and the Secret Service and the FAA and the military) imposed on anyone who wants to fly to/from those three airports. Interestingly enough, the pilots allowed to fly into those airports are not allowed into DCA.

This proposes extending the rules.

The three airports are College Park, Potomac, and Washington Exec/Hyde Field. Short runways & other restrictions make them impractical for jets.

The process is publicly known: visit airfield, fill out paperwork. Take paperwork to DCA (or BWI) and get fingerprinted in the SIDA office. Paperwork goes to the FAA FSDO - the applicant has to go to the FSDO for an interview, then (after approval) back to the airfield to get a briefing and be shown the secret handshake.

When I did it, it took about 3 weeks.

Similar to Global Entry - only a lot more cumbersome to accomplish. I don't doubt that the cumbersome part is intentional.

For GA airports outside the flight-restricted-zone, there is no requirement (although Congress has now dictated that the FAA start issuing licenses with photos on them). There's also a watch-list check done when pilots get their licenses.

This really is no change from status quo.