Countering terrorism in transportation

Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2002 by Downey, Mortimer L, Menzies, Thomas R

Those who have worked to improve quality in U.S. manufacturing are known to repeat the mantra that "you cannot inspect quality into a product." The same observation has been made for safety, and it applies equally to security. The way to strengthen security is to build it into the systems by which transportation is operated and managed, just as we have done to ensure quality and safety.

The TSA's strategic role

Building layered and well-integrated security systems into all transportation modes will not be easy. It will require an ability and willingness to step back and define security goals; to identify the layered and dual-use security concepts best suited to meeting them; and to work with many public, private, and foreign entities to implement the most promising ones. Security planners must be willing to question many existing security rules, institutional relationships, tactics, and technologies. And the planners themselves must be supported by sound systems-level research and analysis.

That is why work to devise and deploy such coherent systems must get under way now. What the tragic security failures of September 11 reveal is that the continual piecemeal imposition of new technologies, rules, and processes can compromise security and erode public confidence in the government's ability to ensure it. Federal policymakers seeking to regain public confidence in aviation security did not have a coherent system in place that could be fixed by filling identifiable gaps. Rather, the structure that was in place was fragmented and irreparable, prompting Congress to take the many dramatic, rushed, and ad hoc measures that it did. Unfortunately, further attacks may make it even more difficult to devise sound security systems, leading to more erosion of public confidence and an even greater inclination to react reflexively through piecemeal means.

Newly organized and compelled to act quickly on the congressional requirements for aviation security, the TSA is just beginning to examine the security needs of all transport modes and to define its role in meeting these needs. The TSA must be more than an enforcement agency. It must take on a strategic role in developing coherent security systems for all kinds of transportation. We urge the TSA to:

Take the lead in designing transportation security systems through collaboration. There are many public, private, and foreign entities that ultimately must field the systems that will make transportation more secure. Their decentralization and dispersion, however, hinder cooperation in devising and deploying system-level concepts. The TSA is well positioned to orchestrate such cooperation, which is essential for building security into transportation operations, as exemplified by the large port concept for securing marine shipping containers.

As the TSA works with transportation system owners, operators, and users in exploring alternative security concepts, it will become more sensitive to implementation issues, from economic to societal challenges. The prospects for deploying many new technologies and processes in support of security systems will likely raise some difficult societal issues. For instance, a more comprehensive and integrated CAPPS initiative for prescreening airline passengers may require the use of biometric cards and access to personal data to better identify passengers and their risk characteristics, presenting not only technical challenges but also raising concerns over legality, privacy, and civil liberties.