Bush orders new look at ground transportation security requirements
Chertoff ordered to provide a sector by sector analysis; close consultation with state and municipal authorities should provide some clarity; report will emphasize technology needs and set research priorities; announcment preempts an incoming congress steamed about ground transportation failings
With a new congress heading to town — one likely to harp loudly about the inadequecies of America’s land transportation security regimes — President Bush is trying to get one step ahead. A new executive order orders DHS to conduct a sector by sector (or “mode”, as he calls them) review of “existing security guidelines and security requirements and any security gaps,” and to provide “a description of how the transportation systems sector specific plan will be implemented for such mode, and the respective roles, responsibilities, and authorities of Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector.” These modes include mass transit, commuter and long-distance passenger rail, freight rail, commercial vehicles (including intercity buses), and pipelines, and related infrastructure (including roads and highways).
Businessmen take note: Key among the secretary’s charges is to “determine product and technology needs to inform the requirements for and prioritization of research, development, testing, and evaluation” and “collect information on existing and planned research, development, testing, and evaluation efforts.”
-read more in this White House press release
