TransportationExperts: security of U.S. mass transit system must be tightened
Counterterrorism experts are arguing that security on America’s mass transit lines must be tightened in light of the foiled plot to attack a Toronto passenger train. The plan to attack Canada’s transit system highlights security holes in America’s commuter system, and the challenges involved in securing this vast system.
Officers and canine during security sweep // Source: wordpress.com
Counterterrorism experts are arguing that security on America’s mass transit lines must be tightened in light of the foiled plot to attack a Toronto passenger train.
Fox News reports that the plan to attack Canada’s transit system highlights security holes that exist in America’s commuter system, and the challenges involved in reinforcing security. “The millions of Americans who take public transportation need to be assured that everything possible is being done to ensure their security and safety,” American Public Transportation Association president and CEO Michael Melaniphy told Fox News on Monday, adding that federal funding should be increased.
Security analysts say that public transit systems are hard to defend because of their open architecture, many access points, and large number of passengers. R recent incidents, however, only serve to emphasize the need to make public transportation more secure.
Scott Weber, a former counsel for DHS, told Fox News that “the threat lies everywhere.”
“This country has to change its outlook on day-to-day life,” Weber said. “We can’t let out guard down.”
Melaniphy thinks investments should be made on state-of-the-art surveillance, explosive and chemical-detection systems, enhanced communication technology, anti-terrorism patrol teams, first responder training, and public education campaigns.
“These enhancements are crucial in order to effectively combat and deter potential attacks,” Melaniphy said.
Since 9/11 there have been more than 700 terrorist attacks on ground transportation worldwide, and fifty foiled attacks in the United States.
According to Daniel Prieto, research director of the Homeland Security Partnership Initiative, Americans take public transit thirty-two million times a day, “16 times more than they travel on domestic airlines.” Prieto added that 9/11 terror mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed “told his interrogators that Al Qaeda had plans to attack the metro system in Washington, D.C.”
A 2010 administration report discussed the need to maintain and improve safety on the nation’s mass transit system, but critics charge that the administration’s – and Congress’s – statements on ground transportation security are not much more than posturing, and that cuts in federal funding for ground transportation security over the years prove this..
“The APTA has urged Congress to significantly increase funding for public transportation security to the levels called for in the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007,” Melaniphy told Fox News. “Instead, from 2010 to 2012, federal investment in transit security decreased by 65 percent, while public transportation ridership increased by 300 million trips. This decrease in federal funding is just short-sighted.”
DHS, through its Transit Security Grant Program, has given more than $547 million to sixty mass transit and passenger rail system in twenty-five different states. The Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for allocating the money, divided the funds on a “risk-based prioritization in determining eligible passenger rail and transit agencies, funding allocations and evaluations for award,” according to TSA Web site. In 2012 the grant program provided $87.5 million to beef up security measures at the country’s passenger rail, intra-city bus networks, and ferry systems.
