The Role of Transportation Professionals
in Transportation Security
Eva Lerner-Lam, Aff., ASCE
President, Palisades Consulting Group, Inc.
Vice President, Transportation and Development Institute
of the ASCE
Presented to the
ASCE Cleveland State University Student Chapter
Thursday, April 21, 2005
PALISADES
Overview of Presentation
 What is “T&DI”?
 Nature and Background of Transportation
Security
 Today’s Challenges
 Role of the Transportation Engineer
 Future Trends
PALISADES
ASCE Institutes
There are seven full-service, self-governing Institutes within the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) that serve the needs of
all members of the civil engineering project team in specific areas.
PALISADES
Transportation and Development
Institute of ASCE
 Established in 2003
 Over 14,100 members
 Non-ASCE members eligible
 Acknowledges importance of disciplines (law,
architecture, public administration, etc.) in
transportation and development
 $125/year for non-members
 One free Institute membership for ASCE
members ($20 each additional Institute)
PALISADES
T&DI Vision
“A global leader for integrated
transportation and development that is
safe, secure and sustainable”
PALISADES
T&DI Board of Governors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Robert D. Stevens, Ph.D., P.E., AICP, F.ASCE, President
Eva Lerner-Lam, Aff. M.ASCE, Vice President
Louis F. Cohn, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Treasurer
Kumares C. Sinha, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, Past President
Essam Radwan, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
Larry G. Mugler, AICP, M.ASCE
C. Michael Walton, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE
Jonathan C. Esslinger, P.E., F.ASCE, Director & Secretary
PALISADES
T&DI Technical Activities
Technical Activities Division ExCom
Planning
And
Development
- Intermodal
- Airport Planning &
Operations
- Planning &
Economics
- Land Use
- Environmental
Issues
Design,
Construction
Maintenance
-Airfield Pavement
- Highway Pavement
- Construction
- Local Roads &
Streets
- Geometric Design
Operations
And
Safety
- Transportation
Safety
-Transportation
Operations
- Public Transport
- Rail Transportation
- Automated People
Movers
Cross
Cutting
-Advanced
Technologies
- Infrastructure
Systems
- Research
- Transportation
Security
PALISADES
T&DI Administrative Activities
Administrative Activities Division ExCom
Awards
Membership
Policy
Conferences
Publications
Education
Standards
Nominating
PALISADES
T&DI Products & Services
•
•
•
3 Journals
Quarterly Newsletter
Specialty Conferences
•
10th Automated People Movers (May 14, 2005, Orlando, FL)
•
Pavement Conference (Fall 2005,
Atlanta, GA, Tentative)
•
9th International AATT Conference
(August 13 – 16, 2006, Chicago, IL)
PALISADES
T&DI Products & Services
•
Specialty Conferences (Cont’d.)
•
29th International Air Transport (Summer
2006)
•
Intermodal Conference (2006 – Tentative)
•
10th AATT Conference (2008)
•
Smart Growth (Date TBD)
PALISADES
T&DI Products & Services
•
Continuing Professional Development
•
Transportation Security (Web – Based)
•
Hot Topics in Transportation (Web –
Based)
•
Roadside Design
•
Context-Sensitive Solutions
•
Work Zone Traffic Control
PALISADES
T&DI Products & Services
•
•
•
•
Low Volume Road Pavement Guide
Local Road Design Manual
Standards, such as Automated
People Movers
Awards Program
PALISADES
T&DI Transportation Security
Committee
Technical Activities Division ExCom
Planning
And
Development
- Intermodal
- Airport Planning &
Operations
- Planning &
Economics
- Land Use
- Environmental
Issues
Design,
Construction
Maintenance
-Airfield Pavement
- Highway Pavement
- Construction
- Local Roads &
Streets
- Geometric Design
Operations
And
Safety
- Transportation
Safety
-Transportation
Operations
- Public Transport
- Rail Transportation
- Automated People
Movers
Cross
Cutting
-Advanced
Technologies
- Infrastructure
Systems
- Research
- Transportation
Security
PALISADES
T&DI Transportation Security
Committee
 41 members
 Includes engineers, planners, architects,
security professionals, researchers,
operators, owners
 Civilian government
 Military government
 Private sector
PALISADES
T&DI Transportation Security
Committee
ExCom
Infrastructure




Operations
Education
Chair: Charles Barker, P.E., ARM, M. ASCE
Vice Chair: Tadi Ramakrishna, P.E., M. ASCE
Past Chair: Eva Lerner-Lam, Aff., ASCE
Secretary: Stephen F. Duffy, Ph.D., P.E., M. ASCE
PALISADES
T&DI Transportation Security
Committee Activities
 Education and Outreach Course: Transportation Security 101
 Synthesis of Practice: Homeland Security Color-Coded
Warning System
 Webinars: Transportation and Security Experts Sharing Best
Practices
 Task Committees:
 Enabling Professional Discourse in a “Security-Sensitive”
Environment
 Guidelines and Best Practices for Roving Security Inspections
PALISADES
Nature and Background of
Transportation Security
 Security is:
 Protection against crimes
 Security is NOT:
 Safety, which is protection against accidents
PALISADES
Nature and Background of
Transportation Security
 Pre-9/11
 Emphasis on law enforcement
 Focus was not on counter-terrorism,
infrastructure hardening, mitigation, emergency
response or recovery
 Post-9/11
 Playing “catch up” on the above
PALISADES
Good Security is Good Security
 Non-terrorist
 Terrorist
[Opposite is also true…]
PALISADES
Key Strategies
Prepare and Prevent
Terrorist
Threats
Non-Terrorist
Threats
Deter & Mitigate
Protect
Transportation
Systems
Deter & Mitigate
Respond
and
Recover
PALISADES
Transportation Modes
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Aviation
Public Transit
Highways
Rail
Pipeline
Navigable Waterways
Ports
Bridges
Tunnels
PALISADES
One Subsector: Public Transit
Past Breaches in Security:
 August 6, 1927
Two bombs in two NYC
Subway stations
 December 7, 1993
Colin Ferguson kills 6, injures
17 on LIRR at rush hour
 December 15 and 21, 1994
Edward Leary explodes two
bombs on the NYC subway
system, injuring 53 people
 October 9, 1995
"Sons of the Gestapo" kills 1,
injures 65 on sabotaged
Amtrak Sunset Limited in
Arizona desert
 November 27, 1998
Deranged passenger on a
Seattle Metro bus kills bus
operator, one passenger and
injures 32 others.
 May 2, 2001
Bus hijacker in LA crashes into
a minivan, killing the minivan
driver and injuring seven
others.
PALISADES
Moscow, August 8, 2000
 Eight people died and
more than 50 were
injured after a bomb
ripped through one of
Moscow's busiest
underground
walkways creating
carnage during rush
hour
PALISADES
New York, September 11, 2001
 Two hijacked jetliners
hit the World Trade
Center in New York
 PATH and MTA
subway train stations
are destroyed
PALISADES
Madrid, March 11, 2004
 Bombs were loaded onto the
early morning trains as they
passed through a suburban
station en route for Madrid
 10 bombs detonated by mobile
phone exploded on four trains
in three stations during the rush
hour, killing 190 and injuring
more than 1,430
PALISADES
Tactical Elements of This War
 A sports bag
containing an
unexploded bomb
was discovered in the
wreckage of one of
the Madrid train cars
PALISADES
Tactical Elements of This War
 A cell phone was
found in the bag,
rigged to act as a
detonation device
PALISADES
Tactical Elements of This War
 The unexploded
bomb contained
about 22 pounds of a
whitish-colored plastic
explosive
PALISADES
Tactical Elements of This War
 Also packed in the
bag was a large
quantity of bolts and
nails, the potentially
deadly shrapnel
PALISADES
Today’s Challenges
 Re-organizing Government
 Bolstering competencies and efforts in:

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

Counter-terrorism
Infrastructure Hardening
Response
Recovery
 Education and Outreach to professionals
and general citizenry
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 Department of Homeland Security, established 2002
 Consolidated 22 agencies, 180,000 employees
 Purpose: To be the unifying core for the vast national
network of organizations and institutions involved in
efforts to secure the nation
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 Created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of
2001 in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World
Trade Center and The Pentagon.
 Originally organized in the U.S. Department of Transportation;
moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003
 Charged with developing policies to ensure the safety of U.S. air
traffic and other forms of transportation.
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 National Strategy For Homeland Security (2002)
 Organizing for a Secure Homeland
 Critical Mission Areas
 Intelligence and Warning
 Border and Transportation Security
 Domestic Counterterrorism
 Protecting Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets
 Defending against Catastrophic Threats
 Emergency Preparedness and Response
 Foundations
 Law
 Science and Technology
 Information Sharing and Systems
 International Cooperation
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 National Response Plan (2004)
 Integrates domestic prevention,
preparedness, response, and recovery
activities into a single all-discipline, allhazards plan.
 Forms the basis of how the federal
government coordinates with state, local, and
tribal governments and the private sector
during incidents.
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 National Incident Management System
(2005)
 Integrates effective practices in emergency
preparedness and response into a
comprehensive national framework for
incident management
PALISADES
“Catching up”:
Re-organizing Government
 Major challenges:
 Differences in operating policies, procedures,
cultures
 Implementation (definitions, policies,
procedures, guidelines, best practices, etc.)
at the regional, state and local levels
 Lack of funding
PALISADES
Bolstering efforts
 Counter-terrorism
 Intelligence gathering and sharing
 Infrastructure Hardening
 Engineering must include terrorism as a design
constraint
 Response
 Unified National Response Plan
 Incident Management System
 Recovery
 ??? (Virtual absence of current activity!)
PALISADES
Education and Outreach
 Major objective of T&DI—through its Transportation




Security Committee
Other ASCE Institutes are also incorporating Security
ASCE 2005 Infrastructure Report Card includes Security
as a new category
Ready.Gov (www.ready.gov)
 “Don’t be afraid, be prepared”
 ReadyBusiness
 ReadyAmerica
 ReadyKids
The Infrastructure Security Partnership (www.tisp.org)
PALISADES
Future Trends
1. Strategic planning phase is transitioning to
implementation phase
2. Must understand the interdependencies
between and among critical infrastructures
3. Need to prioritize initiatives and monitor the
programming and expenditure of funds against
a backdrop of continued fiscal austerity
4. Increasing sense of complacency until the next
major attack
PALISADES
Role of the Transportation Engineer
1. Include Security as a design constraint in
all activities






Planning
Design
Construction
Mitigation
Response
Recovery
PALISADES
Role of the Transportation Engineer
2. Seek (and demand) security education
and training

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
Course curricula
Certification programs
Exercises and drills
PALISADES
Role of the Transportation Engineer
3. Raise awareness of importance of
Recovery planning and preparedness
PALISADES
In Conclusion
1. There is a significant role for the
transportation professional to play in
securing our multi-modal transportation
systems
2. Membership and participation in
professional societies (such as T&DI)
can help transportation professionals
develop careers and help secure the
nation
PALISADES
References
 Transportation and Development Institute
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(www.tanddi.org)
American Society of Civil Engineers (www.asce.org)
Presidential Actions (www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/)
Ready.Gov (www.ready.gov)
Department of Homeland Security (www.dhs.gov)
Transportation Security Administration (www.tsa.gov)
Federal Emergency Management Agency National
Incident Management System
(http://www.fema.gov/nims/)
PALISADES