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COMMITTEE ON R&D STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
H. NORMAN ABRAMSON, chair,
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
DONALD E. BROWN,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
NICK CARTWRIGHT,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
A. RAY CHAMBERLAIN,
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Denver, Colorado
H. ANDY FRANKLIN,
Bechtel Technology, Inc., San Francisco, California
ROBERT E. GREEN, JR.,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
BRUCE HADDAN,
Norfolk Southern Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia
WILLIAM J. HARRIS, consultant,
Arlington, Virginia
MICHAEL L. HONIG,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
JIRI (ART) JANATA,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
STEVEN B. LIPNER,
Mitretek Systems, McLean, Virginia
MICHAEL D. MEYER,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
FRED V. MORRONE,
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey
JULIA WEERTMAN,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
National Research Council Staff
DANIEL MORGAN, study director, senior program officer,
National Materials Advisory Board
STEPHEN GODWIN, director,
Studies and Information Services,
Transportation Research Board
JANE GRIFFITH, interim director,
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
HERB LIN, senior scientist,
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
JANICE PRISCO, senior project assistant,
National Materials Advisory Board
NATIONAL MATERIALS ADVISORY BOARD
EDGAR A. STARKE, JR., chair,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JESSE L. (JACK) BEAUCHAMP,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
EARL H. DOWELL,
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
EDWARD C. DOWLING,
Cleveland Cliffs, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio
THOMAS W. EAGAR,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
ALASTAIR M. GLASS,
Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey
MARTIN E. GLICKSMAN,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
JOHN A.S. GREEN,
The Aluminum Association, Washington, D.C.
SIEGFRIED S. HECKER,
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
JOHN H. HOPPS, JR.,
Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
MICHAEL JAFFE,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
SYLVIA M. JOHNSON,
SRI International, Menlo Park, California
SHEILA F. KIA,
General Motors Research and Development Center, Warren, Missouri
LISA KLEIN,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
HARRY A. LIPSITT,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
ALAN G. MILLER,
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Seattle, Washington
ROBERT C. PFAHL, JR.,
Motorola, Schaumburg, Illinois
JULIA M. PHILLIPS,
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
KENNETH L. REIFSNIDER,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
JAMES W. WAGNER,
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
JULIA R. WEERTMAN,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
BILL G.W. YEE,
Pratt & Whitney, West Palm Beach, Florida
RICHARD CHAIT, director
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
DAVID D. CLARK, chair,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
FRANCES E. ALLEN,
IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York
JAMES CHIDDIX,
Time Warner Cable, Stamford, Connecticut
JOHN M. CIOFFI,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
W. BRUCE CROFT,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
A.G. FRASER,
AT&T Labs Research, Florham Park, New Jersey
SUSAN L. GRAHAM,
University of California, Berkeley
JAMES N. GRAY,
Microsoft Corporation, San Francisco, California
PATRICK M. HANRAHAN,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
JUDITH HEMPEL,
University of California, San Francisco
BUTLER W. LAMPSON,
Microsoft Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts
EDWARD D. LAZOWSKA,
University of Washington, Seattle
DAVID LIDDLE,
Interval Research Corporation, Palo Alto, California
JOHN E. MAJOR,
Wireless Knowledge, San Diego, California
TOM M. MITCHELL,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DONALD NORMAN,
Hewlett-Packard, Atherton, California
RAYMOND OZZIE,
Groove Networks, Beverly, Massachusetts
DAVID A. PATTERSON,
University of California, Berkeley
LEE S. SPROULL,
Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
LESLIE L. VADASZ,
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, California
MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL, director
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
WAYNE SHACKELFORD, chair,
Georgia Department of Transportation, Atlanta
MARTIN WACHS, vice chair,
University of California, Berkeley
SHARON D. BANKS,
AC Transit, Oakland, California
THOMAS F. BARRY, JR.,
Florida Department of Transportation, Tallahassee
BRIAN J.L. BERRY,
University of Texas at Dallas
SARAH C. CAMPBELL,
TransManagement, Inc., Washington, D.C.
ANNE P. CANBY,
Delaware Department of Transportation, Dover
E. DEAN CARLSON,
Kansas Department of Transportation, Topeka
JOANNE F. CASEY,
Intermodal Association of North America, Greenbelt, Maryland
JOHN W. FISHER,
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
GORMAN GILBERT,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh
DELON HAMPTON,
Delon Hampton & Associates, Washington, D.C.
LESTER A. HOEL,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JAMES L. LAMMIE,
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., New York, New York
THOMAS F. LARWIN,
San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board, San Diego, California
BRADLEY L. MALLORY,
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Harrisburg
JEFFREY J. MCCAIG,
Trimac Corporation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
JOSEPH A. MICKES,
Missouri Department of Transportation, Jefferson City
MARSHALL W. MOORE,
North Dakota Department of Transportation, Bismarck
JEFFREY R. MORELAND,
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas
SID MORRISON,
Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia
JOHN P. POORMAN,
Capital District Transportation Committee, Albany, New York
ANDREA RINIKER,
Port of Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington
JOHN M. SAMUELS,
Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, Virginia
JAMES A. WILDING,
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Alexandria, Virginia
CURTIS A. WILEY,
Indiana Department of Transportation, Indianapolis
DAVID N. WORMLEY,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., executive director
Preface
In May 1998, in response to a congressional mandate (House Report 104-863, p. 1189) and with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the National Research Council formed the Committee on R&D Strategies to Improve Surface Transportation Security. The committee's purpose was to examine the vulnerabilities of the surface transportation system, identify ways to improve the system's security, and recommend a strategy for research and development (R&D). The committee consisted of 14 members with diverse expertise in science, technology, and policy.
The committee was given the following task:
The study will review the results of the DOT vulnerability assessment to help define areas that could be made less vulnerable with new technologies and processes and which of these technologies and processes are likely to be effective, affordable, and acceptable to the users. This study will identify technologies and processes that hold promise for defending against, mitigating the consequences of, or assisting in the investigation of attacks on the physical surface transportation infrastructure or on the surface transportation information systems and network, including
- technologies and processes in use for other security efforts that may be applied to surface transportation modes with or without modifications
- technology areas and processes where a development effort or research support may lead to promising surface transportation security technologies
The study will recommend a research and development agenda for the
DOT, including a broad research and development strategy and technology transfer process.
Areas to be addressed include technologies and processes that are specific to an individual transportation mode, as well as those that are crossmodal and intermodal. The study will also consider how these technologies and processes may be effectively transferred to the user communities.
The committee interpreted the word "attacks" primarily to mean attacks by terrorists (or by others using similar methods, such as foreign agents, violent protesters, or disgruntled insiders) rather than conventional criminal activities, such as robberies. Many response strategies might be helpful in both situations, however. In addition, the committee interpreted "attacks on the physical infrastructure" to include human casualties caused by explosions or chemical or biological releases, as well as physical damage, but not to include hijacking or hostage-taking incidents directed primarily at individuals rather than infrastructure. Here too, however, many of the same strategic approaches might be useful in both cases.
Any R&D agenda is based on a set of goals, values, and priorities. During the course of the study, the committee concluded that the first step in establishing an R&D strategy for surface transportation security should be to make that basis explicit. The range of possible security technologies and processes is so broad, the variety of threats so diverse, and the overall security problem so complex that proceeding to the selection of R&D topics without an explicit strategy would give no assurance of an appropriate result.
The committee has not lost sight of the ultimate need to identify specific R&D projects that might improve the security of the surface transportation system. It firmly believes, however, that DOT should put in place a strategy of the type recommended in this report before proceeding to that step. The process of implementing the strategy—such as further evaluating systemic vulnerabilities, establishing a framework for setting priorities, and ensuring the involvement of transportation owners and operators—will elicit essential feedback both from within DOT and from the broader surface transportation community.
This report therefore focuses on the first step, developing a strategic vision of an R&D program for the long term, and recommends a process for achieving that vision. The goal is to present a strategy rather than a shopping list of projects. Several specific R&D topics are discussed, but the report cannot and does not seek to be complete at that level.
The committee met four times between May and November 1998. Meetings included open sessions for gathering information from outside experts, as well as closed deliberative sessions for discussions among the committee members. The third meeting, in August 1998, included a day of site visits to transportation facilities. In addition, selected committee members and staff participated in several outside conferences and workshops during the course of the study to
gather information and ideas from the broader transportation and security communities.
Two brief interim letter reports were issued during the course of the study to update DOT on the committee's progress. The present report, the final product of the study, supersedes the two letter reports and presents the committee's complete findings and recommendations.
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Acknowledgments
The committee wishes to express its appreciation to the many individuals who provided valuable assistance during the course of the study. The following speakers gave presentations during the first, second, and fourth committee meetings on security and R&D issues in their particular areas of expertise: James Biostad, Kelley Coyner, John Daly, Mortimer Downey, Thomas Falvey, Jeffrey Shumaker, and Daniel Sullivan, U.S. Department of Transportation; Richard Clarke, National Security Council; John Davis, Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office; Basil Doyle, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Beverly Huey and Richard Little, National Research Council; Kerri-Ann Jones and Steven Rinaldi, Office of Science and Technology Policy; Michael O'Connell and Page Stoutland, U.S. Department of Energy; and Julie Wigton, Counterterrorism Center.
For arranging and hosting the committee's site visits during its third meeting, the committee thanks Beth Brown, Michael Franke, Michael Henry, Ron Hughes, and Hal Whiteman of Transport Canada. Thanks also to those who showed the committee around at the sites: Greg Poitras, Terminal Systems, Inc.; Steve Lefler and Sheena Nelson, BC Ferry Corporation; Fred L. McCague, North West Cruise Ship Association; and K.L. (Kelly) Thomas, VIA Rail Canada.
This study was a joint project of the National Materials Advisory Board of the Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems (CETS), the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications (CPSMA), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Joint oversight was provided by a ''virtual commission" consisting of James C. Williams, GE Aircraft Engines, and Barry M. Trost, Stanford University, representing CETS; John Kreick, Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company,
and John E. Estes, University of California, Santa Barbara, representing CPSMA; and Lester A. Hoel, University of Virginia, and John M. Samuels, Norfolk Southern Corporation, representing TRB.
This report has been reviewed by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the authors and the National Research Council in making their published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The draft manuscript and the content of the review comments remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. The committee wishes to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Arden Bement, Purdue University; Trent DePersia, National Institute of Justice; Patrick Griffin, Sandia National Laboratories; Thomas Lambert, Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority; Thomas Larson, consultant; James van Loben Sels, Parsons Brinckerhoff; Fred Schneider, Cornell University; and Joseph Vervier, ENSCO, Inc. While the individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, responsibility for the final content of this report rests solely with the authoring committee and the National Research Council.
Finally, the committee gratefully acknowledges the support of the staff of the National Research Council: Daniel Morgan, Stephen Godwin, Jane Griffith, Herb Lin, and Janice Prisco.
Boxes, Figures, and Tables
BOXES
1-1 |
Some Incidents Involving Surface Transportation in the United States |
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1-2 |
The Satin Gas Attack on the Tokyo Subway in 1995 |
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1-3 |
DOT Agencies with R&D Activities |
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2-1 |
Nonvirus Cyber Attacks on Surface Transportation |
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2-2 |
Differences between Chemical and Biological Attacks |
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2-3 |
The Impact of Earthquakes on Surface Transportation |
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2-4 |
Implications for Surface Transportation of Trends in Communications |
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3-1 |
A Matrix for Categorizing R&D Topics in Surface Transportation Security |
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3-2 |
Operators' Perceptions of Threats |
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4-1 |
R&D Opportunities in Construction Design |
FIGURES