Security Briefs - March 8 - March 14
The Latest Headlines:
- Canary Tells Ridge ATA Ready for Security Effort
- Hazmat Tracking Center Planned
- Airlines Get 60-Day Extension of War Insurance
- Mineta Swears in Seven Airport Security Directors
- U.S. Still Working on Cargo Security Plan
- Ridge Unveils New Terror Alert System
- Customs to Inspect Containers at Three Canadian Ports
- USPS Tests New Way to Battle Bioterror
- Browning Named Deputy Customs Commissioner
- 66 Charged With Document Fraud
- Much Still to Be Done to Secure Home Front, Journal Says
- DOT Takes Steps to Avoid Airport Security Breaches
Canary Tells Ridge ATA Ready for Security Effort
The American trucking industry is willing and able to assist in the effort to secure the U.S. against future terrorist attacks, William J. Canary, president and chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations, said in a March 12 letter to Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security.
The letter, sent the same day that Ridge unveiled the government's new color-coded security alert system, outlined some the steps the ATA has already taken to assist the government in keeping the country's roads safe, including its Highway Watch program. The program trains truck drivers to spot and report illegal activities on the road and is up and running in Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon and Virginia.
Canary pledged that the drivers and members of ATA could easily adapt the Highway Watch program for nationwide use.
"Enlisting America's 3.1 million professional truck drivers nationwide to serve as the eyes and ears adjunct to law enforcement would have a tremendous impact on efforts to prevent terrorist attacks at home," Canary wrote. "As I recently stated at a trucking industry meeting, 'Ask a member of ATA today what ATA stands for. You're likely to get one of two responses: the American Trucking Associations or the American Trucking Army. The security of our drivers, the security of our industry and the security of our nation comes first.'" Transport Topics
(Click here to read the letter.)
Hazmat Tracking Center Planned
Concentrax Inc. will join with Texoga HSE to develop a demonstration command center in Houston to help municipalities track emergency vehicles and hazardous materials, enabling them to respond more quickly to a terrorist attack or some other crisis, it was announced Wednesday.
Concentrax, based in Houston, provides vehicle monitoring services and technologies to the trucking industry, while Texoga, located in Spring, Texas and Munich, Germany, specializes in health, safety and environmental technologies.
The center will combine a continually updated street mapping database with real-time satellite tracking capabilities. Cities will be able to instantly locate first-response assets -- emergency, police, rescue and firefighting vehicles -- and deploy them quickly to an incident site. Transport Topics
(Click here for the press release.)
Airlines Get 60-Day Extension of War Insurance
United States’ airlines will get an additional 60 days of war-risk insurance from the federal government, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the move was being made to give the industry more time to create a company to insure themselves against the liability that would result from a terrorist act, Bloomberg said.
Since Sept. 11, all transportation firms, from trucking companies to airlines, have had difficulty getting insurance against terrorism.
After the attacks, the government stepped forward to insure the airlines, but it is set to expire March 20. The government insurance provides for damages up to $100 million, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics
Mineta Swears in Seven Airport Security Directors
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta swore in the first seven people on Wednesday that will be in charge of overseeing and enforcing security at the nation's airports.
The Transportation Security Administration hopes that by placing someone in charge of overseeing security at each airport, it will ensure safety while limiting delays of passenger planes that often times carry air cargo in their bellies.
The seven individuals hired by the TSA as federal security directors are:
LI>Mike Aguilar, San Diego International Airport, at Lindbergh Field
LI>Arnold Cole, Baltimore-Washington International Airport
LI>Marcia Florian, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
LI>Gail Linkins, Mobile Regional Airport
LI>William Pickle, Denver International Airport
LI>Isaac Richardson, O'Hare International Airport
LI>Willie Williams, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport
LI>Anthony Zotto, Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
U.S. Still Working on Cargo Security Plan
The federal government is still working on developing a master plan for securing the nation's cargo, the Journal of Commerce reported Tuesday.
Speaking at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America meeting in Hollywood, Fla., Joseph Clapp, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said that the United States should have a comprehensive plan for insuring the safety of cargo traveling in the U.S. by the end of 2002, the JoC reported.
Many different agencies have had a hand in shaping cargo security policy since Sept. 11, the JoC said, resulting in a confusing, piecemeal solution to security issues.
Clapp said he foresaw all concerned agencies getting together and producing a detailed security plan that would unify enforcement agencies, the JoC reported.
The freight-forwarding industry is looking for the government to designate a lead agency to handle cargo security, the JoC said. Transport Topics
Ridge Unveils New Terror Alert System
Homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a five-stage system on Tuesday that advises citizens and public agencies how to respond to specific terror alerts, news services reported.
This system comes in response to criticism after four previous broad alerts raised fears without useful information. Previous alerts have also caused delays on highways and airports due to heightened security, which disrupted transportation networks.
Green will be the lowest-status warning, followed by blue, yellow, orange and red as the perceived dangers intensify. Ridge said that he believes the nation will remain at the yellow level for the foreseeable future, the Associated Press reported.
The alert system will be in force immediately for federal agencies, but is subject to a 45-day comment period. Transport Topics
Customs to Inspect Containers at Three Canadian Ports
The U.S. Customs Service will begin inspecting cargo containers bound for the United States at three major Canadian ports, Bloomberg reported Monday. The move is a first step toward prescreening cargo before it enters the country.
Customs officials will be placed at ports in Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax, Nova Scotia, beginning March 25 to inspect U.S-bound cargo containers. On that same day, Canada will place its own inspectors at the ports of Seattle and Newark/New York, Bloomberg said.
The added security stop could delay cargo offloading at seaports, and hold up the trucks that carry cargo from port to inland locations.
Security officials have come out with a plan to screen all cargo containers bound for the United States at their point of origin. Officials hope to minimize the threat that such containers could be used to smuggle terrorists or a weapon of mass destruction, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
USPS Tests New Way to Battle Bioterror
The United States Postal Service has begun testing of biological agent detection equipment in an effort to prevent future bioterrorist attacks, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
The device would allow the service to detect and confirm the presence of contagions, like anthrax, without the time and expense of taking a sample to a laboratory, the Post reported.
The sophisticated polymerase chain reaction equipment is currently being tested for adaptation to the Postal Service’s high-speed mail sorters. The USPS is planning to spend $200 million to install PCR systems at 292 facilities around the country.
Last fall, several letters laced with the bacteria anthrax were sent to prominent media personalities in New York and politicians in Washington, forcing the USPS to answer questions about the safety of mail. Since then the service has been trying to restore confidence in its services and insure the safety of the mail. Transport Topics
Browning Named Deputy Customs Commissioner
Douglas Browning has been named deputy U.S. Customs commissioner, the Journal of Commerce reported Monday.
Browning will be replacing Charles M. Winwood, who is retiring. Currently, Browning is the acting assistant commissioner for rulings and regulations and the assistant commissioner for international affairs. He will assume his new duties over a three-week transitional period.
A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Browning got his law degree from Hofstra University. He began his career at the Customs Service 25 years ago as a staff attorney in the rulings office, the JoC reported. Transport Topics
66 Charged With Document Fraud
Sixty-six people were charged in federal indictments Friday with lying or using fake documents to get job at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., the Associated Press reported.
Security problems at airports can delay flights, disrupting the schedules of the trucks that pick up and deliver air cargo.
Most of those charged, the AP said, were illegal immigrants from Mexico who worked for a cleaning service, although some worked in aircraft fueling, food services and baggage handling.
A U.S. Attorney said 47 were arrested at the airport Friday. He said he did know when the others would be arrested and said no terrorist activity had been uncovered. Transport Topics
Much Still to Be Done to Secure Home Front, Journal Says
The U.S. government has put a premium on defending the nation against another terrorist attack since Sept. 11, but the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that there is still much work to be done.
At U.S. airports, where a large deal of cargo is moved through, delays from security breaches have snarled transportation networks with near regularity. And confusion over how to phase the federal government into the role of securing the airports has prevented them from becoming as secure as they had hoped by this time, the Journal said.
Meanwhile, discussions of national ID cards, especially in regard to commercial driver licenses, have raised questions about civil liberties and infringement of basic rights to privacy, the Journal said.
The Journal asserted that even as millions of dollars are spent on homeland defense, experts are realizing much more will need to be done than originally thought. Transport Topics
DOT Takes Steps to Avoid Airport Security Breaches
After unplugged metal detectors were discovered at five airports over an eight-day period, Transport Secretary Norman Mineta said Thursday steps will be taken to ensure the machines remain plugged in, the Associated Press reported.
he incidents caused hundreds of flights to be delayed because so many passengers had to be screened again. It also delayed the airfreight being carried in the bellies of these planes.
Brackets and other devices will be installed to keep the machines plugged in and officials will try to better partition airport concourses so the number of affected passengers will be limited in the event of a breach. Transport Topics
