Security Briefs - June 12 - June 18
The Latest Headlines:
- Indiana Joins Highway Watch Program
- Ridge Announces $300M for Port Security
- Officials Warn Emergency Alert System Outdated
- U.S. to Place Inspectors at More Foreign Ports
- More Airports Screeners Found to Have Criminal Records
- Ridge Announces $300M for Port Security
Indiana Joins Highway Watch Program
Indiana has become the 24th state to join the Highway Watch program, which is sponsored by American Trucking Associations, the Associated Press reported.The anti-terrorism program teaches truck drivers and state highway workers what sort of suspicious activity to look for and provides them one number to call, regardless of their location.
One truck driver told AP although he had never seen any potential terrorist activity, knowing the best way to report accidents or other emergencies will be beneficial.
Ridge Announces $300M for Port Security
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced $300 million in funding for port security projects, USA Today reported Friday.Trucks transfer cargo to and from seaports, so changes in port security could affect how trucking does business.
Ridge said $58 million would be given for "Operation Safe Commerce," a project that would track cargo containers entering ports serving the New York, Los Angeles and Seattle areas, USA Today said. These are the three largest U.S. seaports.
Fourteen other ports will split $75 million to pay for recent security improvements, Ridge said.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security would divide $170 million among 199 state and local governments and private companies for projects that include putting new patrol boats in harbors, upgrading surveillance equipment at bridges and roads and building command centers. Transport Topics
Officials Warn Emergency Alert System Outdated
Despite frequent warnings from federal officials that terrorists could strike again, little has been done to improve the nation’s emergency alert system, USA Today reported Tuesday.The beep system was created during the Cold War to warn people about any potential danger.
It was originally called the Emergency Broadcast System. However, experts said that system is outdated and does not work in many areas.
Instead, officials are recommending that the United States scrap the old system and instead warn people about emergencies by telephones, pagers, computers and televisions. Computer chips could be embedded in TVs and radios to make them turn on automatically when warnings are broadcast, the article said.
Chips could be installed for about 50 cents each, but that has never been done because industries worry that they would be held liable if the chips failed, according to USA Today. Transport Topics
U.S. to Place Inspectors at More Foreign Ports
The Bush administration has decided to place teams of U.S. inspectors at major seaports in Muslim nations and other strategically located ports to prevent terrorists from using cargo containers to smuggle weapons into the United States, the New York Times reported Thursday.The inspectors would be provided with radiation monitors, chemical detectors and other equipment to inspect "high risk" metal cargo containers before they are placed on ships bound for the United States, the article said.
Officials said teams of inspectors would remain indefinitely in Dubai, the Persian Gulf emirate that is a crucial transhipment point for containerized cargo in the Arab world, as well as Malaysia, Turkey and other Muslim nations.
The move is the second phase in a program begun after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to station inspectors overseas to work with their foreign counterparts in searching for unconventional weapons.
The first phase focused on 20 large container ports in Europe and Asia, none of them in countries with predominantly Muslim populations. Transport Topics
More Airports Screeners Found to Have Criminal Records
Los Angeles International Airport officials have uncovered 12 more airport screeners with felonies or other criminal backgrounds, the Washington Post reported Thursday.This discovery comes weeks after the government said it "rescrubbed" the backgrounds of its workforce there, the article said.
Several of the screeners had criminal records related to "unlawful, use, sale, distribution or manufacture of an explosive or weapon," the Post said.
Also Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Transportation Security Administration, in its haste to meet congressional deadlines, awarded at least 80 contracts totaling $54 million without normal competitive bidding. Transport Topics
