Getting the Green Light
Transportation security should be viewed as an integrated system with multiple coordinating parts
- By Kim Rahfaldt
- Jul 01, 2008
The transportation industry relies
on an inherently open architecture
and is a complex critical
infrastructure where free movement is
necessary as people move within and
between modes of transportation. This
freedom of movement must be maintained
for transit to perform its basic
functions. Due to the volume of people in
public places using various means of
transportation, ensuring safety and monitoring
all of the movement can be difficult
and challenging.
Securing the nation’s transportation
network requires the transportation
industry to operate as an integrated system,
and therefore we must manage the
security from a system perspective.
Working closely with security manufacturers
and the best integrators in the private
sector, the government must work to
establish and facilitate the management
of transportation security. When looking
at the transportation industry’s security
from a system perspective, all factors
must be considered, including what kind
of technology will be implemented, what
role people will play, and the policies and
procedures that must be written and put
into practice to manage the risk involved.
An Industry-Wide Plan
Overall planning involves many players,
including the Transportation Security
Administration, Department of
Homeland Security, Coast Guard, the
Federal Transit Administration and the
owners/presidents of the different transportation
infrastructures.
The goals of a system approach are to
protect key assets such as people and property,
reduce the risk of terrorism, create
consistent inter-modal security standards,
incorporate the national strategy of homeland
security and coincide with DHS’
National Infrastructure Protection Plan,
the National Response Plan and National
Incident Management System.
Meeting these goals would provide a
coordinated approach to help prevent a
security breach to the aviation, maritime
and surface transportation modes while
reducing the risk to critical transportation
infrastructure or operations. A systematic
approach to security has many challenges,
some of which are attractive targets,
open design, immense size and traffic
volumes, balancing security and convenience,
distributing costs equally,
numerous owners/operators involved and
creating a plan that encourages a fast
post-event recovery.
The Federal Transit Administration
has developed security and emergency
response plans that support the initiatives
of the DHS and standard operation procedures.
FTA calls for transit groups to
develop and implement access control
systems for employees, visitors, contractors,
facilities and vehicles. Access
restrictions that implement recovery
plans after an attack or emergency also
need to be addressed.
Risk Assessment
Transportation agencies need to perform
a detailed risk assessment to determine
security strengths and weaknesses. Risk
assessments help determine threat
sources, infrastructure vulnerabilities and
the consequences of an attack. The level
of security applied to the different transportation
modes would be consistent and
risk-based.
“Comprehensive risk assessments help
transportation agencies determine where they need to secure their buildings, assets
and people,” said Bob Sawyer, AMAG
Technology president. “Logistical decisions
are crucial for camera placement,
for example, and a risk assessment will
discover high-risk areas where one or
more cameras should be placed for maximum
security.”
A complete risk assessment will
determine the different security measures
that must be put in place such as access
control and video management.
Access Control
The implementation of a well-designed
access control system would increase
security for each of the different modes
of transportation: air, rail, ocean and
truck. Though each mode is unique, a
truly flexible and versatile system could
manage all of the modes while meeting
all specialized security needs. The ideal
system would secure and control access
to facilities or areas, monitor employees
and passengers throughout an organization
and grant or deny access based upon
predefined rules—including timedefined,
biometric rules and zone access.
An ideal system also would save
money—lower officer costs by remotely
administering these systems and reduce
the need for staff to support and administer
disparate systems at each facility and
improve operational efficiency—and the
security department would have immediate
access to many types of information
associated with an event, share information
across the enterprise and increase
security.
Access control will play a critical role
in securing the U.S. supply chain and
access to any relevant facility. An access
control implementation would provide
increased security and many other distinct
advantages including controlled
access, record of movement and asset
protection. For example, if U.S. Customs
is storing a shipment of suspicious materials,
access to the area surrounding the
material can be controlled and a permanent
record created showing anyone having
access to the assets.
An access control system will address
the need for transit agency employees and
visitors to have appropriate identification
using the badging system. An access control
system will address these other FTA
security program action items:
• Increase surveillance of critical infrastructure
areas such as loading docks,
parking lots and bridges.
• Secure and monitor unmanned and
remote sites.
• Provide a person’s identification
through use of badges.
• Use access control on all employee
entrances to buildings.
• Require employees to use employee
entrances, never public entrances.
The task of managing visitors, particularly in a public
transportation setting, remains a challenge. FTA is
working with the transportation industry to identify critical,
high-risk assets and operations, and is developing a
broad range of strategies to increase security. These
strategies must become an integral
part of daily transit operations.