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s a f e t y & o p e r a t i o n s
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Safe & Secure: The Present Danger
Incidents following September 11 terrorist attacks are causing alarm among those concerned about industry security.
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
A truck driver pulls his tanker into a gas station to deliver a load. He sets his line and is pumping gasoline into the station's tanks when a man approaches, engages him in conversation and starts asking questions. What the stranger with the foreign accent wants to know is, how many gallons does the tank trailer hold?
The driver, no fool, declines to answer. Later, as he's coming out of the station with his paperwork, he sees the same man examining the information placard on the trailer. Still later, as he's driving toward his next stop, the man passes him in a car, shouting triumphantly that he has learned the capacity of the tank.
This occurred last year, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It was just one of several incidents that convinced the trucking company, Sentinel Transportation of Wilmington, Del., that it was the target of terrorist intelligence-gathering.
The incident, and others like it, are feeding a sense of present danger among those concerned about industry security. Jeffrey Beatty, a security expert who is preparing an antiterrorism action plan on behalf of the American Trucking Assns., said that the industry needs to heed the message emanating from Washington.
"We are getting more candor from our leaders than ever before," he said.
Terrorists are more likely to use trucks, ships or airplanes, rather than sophisticated weaponry like missiles, to deliver weapons of mass destruction, according to a recent report by the Central Intelligence Agency. These vehicles are cheaper, more accurate and more effective than the missiles that are now available.
Andrew Maner, director of the office of trade relations for the U.S. Customs Service, told of the recent discovery of an Al Qaeda operative hiding in an ocean shipping container. He was equipped with a satellite phone, toilet, bed Ð and maps of U.S. airports. "This threat isn't over," Maner said. "Trade is a primary target."
President Bush, in his State of the Union address in January, said U.S. forces in Afghanistan have found terrorist diagrams of nuclear power plants and water facilities, as well as surveillance maps of U.S. cities.
"Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears and showed us the true scope of the task ahead," Bush said. "Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder . . . are now spread throughout the world like ticking time bombs, set to go off without warning."
The statistical risk for any particular company or individual may be small, but Sentinel's experience indicates that the generalized threat needs to be taken personally. It may be that the man at the filling station was just a curious and aggressive guy — or it may be that he was one of those killers Bush was talking about.
In any event, Sentinel, a private carrier that hauls fuel oil for Conoco and chemicals for DuPont, is treating the current situation with absolute seriousness. It maintains an ongoing security program that uses training, technology and communications to protect itself (See story page 36).
The Federal Effort
In Washington, the campaign to improve security begins with money. The new Transportation Security Administration, the agency in the Department of Transportation charged with pulling together all of DOT's security efforts, would get $4.8 billion. That's up from $1.3 billion last year, and zero the year before. The Coast Guard, responsible for port security, would get the biggest increase in its history. Border security would get $11 billion, up from $2 billion last year. The Customs Service would get a 37% increase, to $2.3 billion. The Immigration and Naturalization Service would get a 29% increase to $5.3 billion.
It adds up to $38 billion for homeland security — double what has been spent since Sept. 11.
Of course, the line items will get much crossing out and rewriting — in no small part due to pressure from Congress over Bush's proposed $9 billion cut in highway funding — but there is no question that security will be the government's primary concern.
Meanwhile, federal agencies are working at flank speed on important security initiatives that will have an immediate impact on trucking.
First among them is a rule pending at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that will require hazmat drivers to clear a background check through the FBI and other agencies, such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Under the proposed rule, which was to be made public in February, drivers who need a hazardous materials endorsement on their commercial license will have to submit their fingerprints to the FBI for positive identity.
The background checks are required by law — Congress ordered them last fall in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
According to a senior agency official, the agency is considering requiring hazmat applicants to visit the local police station for fingerprinting when they either get a new license or renew an old one.
The FBI would run its check and forward the information to DOT for analysis and the decision on whether the driver passes muster, the official said. The driver would find out DOT's ruling through his local Department of Motor Vehicles. If DOT cannot provide a yes or a no, it may ask the driver to get in touch to answer questions.
The process could take as long as two months, and could cost an additional $50 — $25 for the fingerprints and $25 for the background check, the official said. These costs presumably would be borne by the company or the driver.
The official said the safety agency anticipates that some companies might start requiring drivers to obtain a hazmat endorsement simply for the security of having a background check. On the other hand, he said, the added expense might discourage unnecessary applications.
Another, longer-term initiative now in the works is a new weapon for the fight against terrorism: a National Transportation Worker ID Card.
DOT is studying the idea of a computerized card with a biometric identifier for practically anyone who works in transportation. The "smart card" would verify identities, validate background information and control access to vehicles and facilities.
For trucking, it would serve as the commercial drivers license.
The idea was put in motion by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta following Sept. 11. A DOT team representing all the transportation modes has worked out some of the details, although many questions remain unanswered.
According to a draft proposal put together by the team, the card would use existing technology to ensure that the cardholder is who he says he is, and to store and protect information.
The draft calls for a biometric identifier — fingerprints are a possibility — but does not say which one should be used. That decision is being left up to the new Transportation Security Administration.
The point is to create a system that crosses all modal boundaries, minimizes overlapping credentials and is compatible with most computers and software systems.
The same type of card would be used by all transportation workers, although it would be issued by different agencies. For example, truck licenses would be issued by state DMVs, and maritime licenses by the Coast Guard.
What DOT envisions is a five-level security system to manage access to facilities and vehicles. A person with a level 1 clearance would have to have an escort to enter, say, a terminal facility, while someone with the level 4 clearance would have full access. A truck driver's hazmat endorsement would be the fifth clearance.
The level of clearance would be established by the depth of the background investigation, but at a minimum everyone would have to go through the FBI criminal records check.
The card would be good for five years, and then it would have to be renewed.
The card still is a work in progress, so federal officials are not discussing the details. But trucking industry representatives in Washington, D.C., who are familiar with the plan see it as serious business.
"The concept is the wave of the future," said Gary Petty, president of the National Private Truck Council. "We need to make sure we have a role in shaping whatever the ultimate system is."
Cliff Harvison, president of the National Tank Truck Carriers, agreed that the idea fits the times. Security is a paramount concern for all modes of transportation, he said.
Still, people quietly voice concerns: how much is too much? As one observer put it, "Everybody says we need to do something — and we are."
State motor vehicle administrators stirred old questions about the heavy hand of government when they proposed a uniform national driver's license with a unique identifier. It is an idea that has been hovering around the edges of public policy for a long time, kept off center stage by fears of Big Brother. But in January the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators put the issue on the national agenda with a recommendation that state licenses be standardized — at least in terms of the information that they contain.
Others point to the new security law Congress passed last year that, among other things, significantly raises the fines for hazmat violations. This may be good for safety, but it is not much of a restraint to terrorism, said Rick Preston of Sentinel Transportation.
For the time being, however, security holds sway. With good reason. As we learned on Sept. 11, the unthinkable is possible. Consider that the Boeing 767 planes that flew into the World Trade Towers carried 11,000 gallons of jet fuel, and the average tank trailer carries 9,000 gallons of gasoline. The scenarios for mayhem unfold like nightmares.
"We aren't going to win everything," said security expert Jeff Beatty.
The difference, say Beatty, Preston and others, will be made by drivers and others in the industry.
"People are the key," said Preston. "With the right training, people will do their part."
Sidebars
On Guard At Sentinel
Getting Smart Along The Canadian Border
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