Security Briefs - Jan. 11 - Jan. 17
- New Budget Boosts Funds for Homeland Defense
- Armed Humvees Guard Pentagon
- BWI Airport to be Used for Testing New Security Measures
- Technology Seen as a Key in Transportation Security
- Coast Guard Presses U.N. for New Maritime Rules
- High Court Rules on Border Search
- Second Man Pleads Guilty to CDL Fraud
- Magaw Says TSA Won't Abuse Authority
- Men Cleared in Truck Bomb Plot
- Agencies Could Combine for One Border Security Group
- Intelligence Report Sees Trucks as Terror Weapons
- Airport Terminal Evacuated After Metal Detector Unplugged
- Armed Humvees Guard Pentagon
New Budget Boosts Funds for Homeland Defense
With a new premium being placed on homeland defense, it appears that the federal budget for fiscal 2003 will also focus on defense-related items, USA Today reported.More money will be going towards airports, seaports, fire departments, bioterrorism researchers and other groups related to defending the U.S. against terrorism. Winners in the new budget sweepstakes include the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, airlines and airports and the Coast Guard.
With extra money going to defense and the U.S. facing its first budget deficit since 1997, the government may cut funding to other projects like highway construction or other programs, the paper said. Overall homeland defense spending is expected to top $26 billion. Transport Topics
Armed Humvees Guard Pentagon
Concern about truck bombs has led the Pentagon to position a pair of Humvees carrying M-60 machine guns along a section of highway running near the nation’s military headquarters, Worldnet Daily reported Thursday.
A Pentagon spokesman refused to comment to Transport Topics about the purpose of the armed vehicles. Transport Topics
BWI Airport to be Used for Testing New Security Measures
Baltimore-Washington International Airport will be a laboratory for testing security technology and training methods as it builds a new airport security system, the Washington Post reported.Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson said this airport was chosen because of its close proximity to Washington and because it has struggled with delays since the terrorist attacks.
A spokesman for the airport said that one concourse will be used for testing, but it was too early to know what changes passengers might see over the course of the year.
One transportation official said much of the experimentation will take place only behind the scenes, the article said. Transport Topics
Technology Seen as a Key in Transportation Security
The Department of Transportation will rely heavily on new technologies to beef up security across all modes of transportation, according to Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael P. Jackson.Rather than using individual technologies, the DOT will apply a “system of systems” that will be “collectively stronger than any one system individually,” Jackson told the Transportion Research Board on Monday. The layered approach to security is similar to the method that the Secret Service uses to protect the president.
Bill Quade, chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hazardous materials division said that trucking companies can use any number of security systems, including, tracking vehicles by satellite, tamper-proof seals on trailers, panic buttons and remote engine shutoffs.
He added sectors of the trucking industry that haul hazardous materials could face requirements for such security technology, but added that no such requirement was currently in the works. Transport Topics
(For more on this story, please see the Jan. 21 print edition of Transport Topics.)
Coast Guard Presses U.N. for New Maritime Rules
In a move that could slow overseas cargo shipments, the U.S. Coast Guard has asked the United Nations to overhaul some its maritime regulations to help in the war on terrorism, Reuters reported.In a paper submitted to the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization on Tuesday, the Coast Guard calls for security officers on all ships and makes other recommendations including the electronic sealing of ocean-going containers.
The USCG asked that the IMO begin focusing on this electronic sealing on Feb. 11, Reuters said. Transport Topics
High Court Rules on Border Search
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision upholding a Border Patrol search of a minivan on the Mexican border.In an incident which occurred in 1998, well before security on U.S. borders began tightening over fears of terrorism following the September terrorist attacks, border guards searched a minivan on the U.S. side of the border after its driver was thought to be acting suspiciously, Reuters reported. A search of the van turned up a sizeable cache of marijuana leading to the driver being charged with possession with intent to distribute.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist said that a prior decision by an appeals court was wrong in saying that the circumstances of the stop were not, on their own, significant enough to prompt a search. Rehnquist said that the situation needs to be looked as a whole in order to make a decision on whether or not to search, Reuters reported.
The decision could pave the way for increased border search powers that the White House has been lobbying for as part of its antiterror plan, the Wall Street Journal reported. Transport Topics
Second Man Pleads Guilty to CDL Fraud
An Iraqi immigrant became the second man to plead guilty to illegally obtaining a commercial driver license with certification to haul hazardous materials in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported.The 34-year old man is one of 20 Middle Eastern men who were charged with bribing a former Pennsylvania Department of Transportation official for the documents. The charges surfaced in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks amid fears that trucks could be used as the next terror weapon, the AP said.
As part of the plea agreement, the man will likely receive probation and cooperate with prosecutors in their other investigations, the AP said. He was released Monday on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 15. Transport Topics
Magaw Says TSA Won't Abuse Authority
John Magaw, nominated last week by President Bush as head of the Transportation Security Administration, said Monday that although Congress has given the administration broad authority, he will not abuse that authority, the Journal of Commerce reported.Speaking at a session at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting, he said the new agency, TSA, will be a flexible and functional structure.
This was Magaw's first appearance since being nominated. He is currently the under secretary of transportation. Transport Topics
Men Cleared in Truck Bomb Plot
State law enforcement officials in Florida have cleared four men accused of planning to kill Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with a truck bomb, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday.The accusation, brought by a 36-year old native of Tel Aviv, Israel, who was in jail on various charges, was found to be less and less credible, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.
The four men who were named have all been questioned and have passed polygraph examinations. However, an article in the Miami Herald said the informant, who is currently in jail, has failed several lie-detector tests and may simply be trying to cut a deal with prosecutors in his own criminal case. Transport Topics
Agencies Could Combine for One Border Security Group
The Office of Homeland Security’s ambitious plan to consolidate border agencies into one, larger, more cohesive unit has sparked intense debate inside the Bush administration, the New York Times reported Monday.The plan would bring the Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the border patrol arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Agriculture’s quarantine inspection program, the paper said.
Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has been pushing for the plan since late last month, but agencies ranging from state, treasury, agriculture, justice and defense departments have all voiced their opposition.
The white paper produced by Ridge’s office claims that consolidation would improve mobilization times and efficiency, the Times reported. Transport Topics
Intelligence Report Sees Trucks as Terror Weapons
A new intelligence report says a nuclear, biological or chemical attack by terrorists is more likely to be delivered by trucks, ships or airplanes than by long-range missiles, the Washington Post said.A report issued Thursday by the Central Intelligence Agency and 10 other intelligence organizations notes that a delivery system such as a truck, plane or boat is less expensive than developing or producing ICBMs.
In addition, the report said, non-missile systems can be covertly developed or employed, with the source being masked.
The Post said the new estimate could affect debate over a plan to spend $8 billion to meet the threat of a missile attack from North Korea, Iran, Iraq or other rogue states. Transport Topics
Airport Terminal Evacuated After Metal Detector Unplugged
A terminal at Sacramento International Airport was evacuated Friday morning, delaying flights as well as truck movement of cargo to passenger planes, after it was discovered one of the metal detectors had been unplugged, Bloomberg reported.As many as 800 travelers were forced to leave the terminal and then be screened again, as were passengers on two planes that had pulled away from the terminal. It is not known how the detectors became unplugged, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
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