Security & Safety Briefs - Aug. 26 - Sept. 1

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The Latest Headlines:

• NTSB Urges Steps to Reduce Barge-Bridge Accidents
• Experts: Dirty Bomb in L.A. Could Cost $34 Billion
• Report Faults Hiring of Some Air Marshals

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NTSB Urges Steps to Reduce Barge-Bridge Accidents

A federal safety agency said the U.S. needs to take steps to reduce the number of barges that hit rail or road bridges including better checks on pilots' alertness and improved road-warning systems, Bloomberg News reported.

Ellen Engleman Conners, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said barge hit bridges about five times each week.

As an example, a large section of a bridge in Oklahoma collapsed in 2002, sending 11 vehicles into the water and killing 14, because the barge pilot was unconscious, Bloomberg said.

However, Kevin Watson, attorney for the Magnolia Marine Transport, told Bloomberg the captain was incapacitated due to cardiac arrhythmia that was previously undiagnosed. But following the incident, the company installed electronic systems on its vessels to advise crew members if a barge pilot is not alert.

Conners said the NTSB has urged the Coast Guard to evaluate the effectiveness of such electronic systems. In addition, very few highway bridges have a system to warn of structural problems, NTSB staff member Michele McMurtry said. Transport Topics

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Experts: Dirty Bomb in L.A. Could Cost $34 Billion

Researchers said that a radiological "dirty bomb" detonated at either the Port of Los Angeles or Long Beach could cost the nation’s economy as much as $34 billion, the Associated Press reported.

Experts discussed the possibility during an Aug. 21 conference hosted by the University of Southern California’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events.

Researchers from USC and Texas Southern University used a mathematical model to reach the $34 billion estimate.

Clark Abt, a social and economic policy consultant, said that because of the high cost of a possible attack, it was important to fund overseas scanners to detect nuclear weapons before they reach U.S. shores, AP said. Transport Topics

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Report Faults Hiring of Some Air Marshals

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general said in a report released Monday that the U.S. government hired air marshals who had been involved in cases of misconduct and does not hold them to a high enough disciplinary standard, the Associated Press reported.

"Many federal air marshals were granted access to classified information after displaying questionable judgment, irresponsibility and emotionally unstable behavior," Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said in the report.

Thousands of air marshals were pushed into service after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The exact number is classified and the marshals travel undercover, but pilots say they guard only a small percentage of daily flights, AP said.

Asa Hutchinson, the department's undersecretary, disagreed with the report, and said new guidelines have been set for determining whether applicants are suitable to be air marshals, whose job is primarily guarding planes while they are in flight. Transport Topics

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