February 10, 2003

COUNTERING TERRORISM THREATS: TRUCKING INDUSTRY AND MULTI-MODAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK VULNERABILITIES
By Dr. Saul B. Wilen

The trucking industry is a major component of the U.S. transportation sector, but lacks the resources to prevent trucks from being used as tools by terrorists.

A functioning plan is necessary to make America’s trucking industry safe and secure. The goal of such a plan is to enhance security while improving operational effectiveness and efficiency. The trucking industry has implemented approaches to expand its security focus to include the prevention of the use of vehicles and containers by terrorists. This commitment allows for the continuation of trucking functions during a terrorist threat or even an attack.

The federal government has minimally supported the trucking industry to secure its functions and reduce threats. The trucking industry has limited resources allocated to support anti-terrorism needs. The focus on obtaining the necessary resources has proven to be a difficult problem. The trucking industry has obtained no funds to secure the most potentially dangerous situations including transporting hazardous materials, and hijacking with use of the vehicles by terrorists as tools for destruction. Standards and regulations for the trucking industry are at low federal priority, and are not expected to be promulgated for many months or even a year.

Economically there are constant efforts to increase the flow of cargo. As with every situation, actions taken always generate consequences. This applies to the expanse of the transportation industry where the web of various connected components result in increased security risks. The slowing or switching of cargo from one transport mode to another increases vulnerabilities at the nodes (ports, borders, shipment hubs).

A segment of the trucking fleet hauls hazardous materials, chemicals, and fuels of various types, which could be readily and deliberately released or exploded on impact and/or detonation. Each day gasoline tanker trucks make about 50,000 trips. At many refueling depots, these tanker trucks are unattended. They deliver their fuel load to deserted gasoline stations usually late at night. There are hundreds of thousands of hazardous cargo loads hauled on U.S. roadways every day.

Trucks carrying chemicals like chlorine represent an even greater risk. Chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas used to purify water, as a disinfectant, as a bleaching agent, and in the manufacture of other chlorinated compounds. It is an irritant poison when inhaled in quantity and it has been used in chemical warfare. Trucks transport chlorine as a partial solution. When released from solution clouds of toxic fumes can cause cough, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, irritation of the throat and airways, pneumonia, and can result in death. Contact with the liquid and concentrated vapors can cause cell death and ulceration of the skin and mucous membranes. The toxic fumes can be carried by the wind to more distant areas. Terrorists therefore have an accessible reservoir of weapons primed and ready for use.

The transportation industry uses multi-modal transportation networks as a means to expand profitability in this highly competitive environment. The rapidly growing multi-modal concept supports the movement of cargo by container using two or more modes (ship, air, rail, and/or truck). The multi-modal concept increases the vulnerability of container cargo shipments and introduces enhanced threat potential each time there is another mode of transportation and a new transfer point. A competing dilemma exists between the need for increased security and the slowing of the cargo flow. At the same time the decreased flow results in an increase of vulnerabilities especially at transfer points and nodes of the multi-modal network. This dilemma must be considered in any anti-terrorism planning process.

Terrorists frequently use vehicles carrying explosives to destroy a target. However, terrorists have realized that tanker trucks full of explosive fuel are convenient alternate weapons/surrogate bombs. These tanker trucks can be used against specific targets, even turning hazardous industrial facilities themselves into chemical weapons. June 23, 1996, Saudi Arabia, the explosion of a fuel truck outside a U.S. Air Force installation kills 19 U.S. military personnel, wounding 515 including 240 Americans. In Europe terrorists are suspected of hijacking fully loaded tanker trucks and crashing them into targets and/or detonating them with explosives when parked near a target. On April 11, 2002 a loaded gas tanker truck was collided into the wall of a synagogue in Tunis. The truck exploded killing 15 people, several of them German. An Islamic terrorist group claimed responsibility. May 2002 a fully loaded tanker truck pulled into Israel's largest fuel depot and suddenly caught fire due to an explosive charge connected to a cellular phone. The fire was extinguished, but had the truck exploded markedly enhanced destruction and death would have resulted. This shift in terrorist behavior has heightened awareness by security specialists and has created an increased risk potential for the trucking industry.

Trucks are most vulnerable when they are stopped. Few trucks in the United States are equipped with truck security systems. Technology presently exists for ignition kill capabilities and for GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking by fleet operators. These methods and developing technologies can play increasing roles over time in truck security. The trucking industry needs to develop standards to support the transition to these approaches as they become routine and available. Spot, routine, and high-risk truck inspections are infrequent. At truck stops unattended vehicles are frequently left with their engines running and these areas are usually unguarded. These stops need the presence of security personnel and increased law enforcement surveillance at and around these areas. There is only a minimal number of secure parking areas available along America’s roadways, so drivers often use vacant un-secure areas as rest stops.

There is a significantly disproportionate distribution of financial resources among the transportation industries. The airline industry used billions for security while the trucking industry receives about a half million dollars per year has been allocated for truck driver training to detect and report suspicious activities that might have terrorism or national security implications under the Driver Awareness Education Program according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. There are approximately three million licensed truck divers in the U.S. The training of drivers to be aware of potential terrorist behaviors has only recently started and these programs have reached only minimal numbers. Little has been done to make trucks more secure, but nothing has been done to develop prevention approaches to defeat terrorist threats against the trucking industry.

The critical infrastructure of the United States is defined by the conglomerate of vital elements available for carrying out the functions of daily living, the operations of industry and government, and the variety of components that contribute to the American and global economies. America’s critical infrastructure is highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks against vital elements, nodes, and transfer points. Pro-active prevention and preparation programs are not yet established. Several key questions must be raised and answered.

• How vulnerable is the trucking industry?
• Can terrorism attacks involving trucking vehicles and their use as tools of terrorism be prevented?
• Is the trucking industry prepared to respond to a terrorist act and how? and
• Is the trucking industry prepared to establish a comprehensive strategy and innovative private sector – governmental - community cooperation that focuses on prevention, protection, preparedness, and response?

Security, risk management, and health and safety managers in the trucking industry must have pro-active training, and planning and preparedness experience with programs to defeat terrorist threats and acts. This planning should include the development of logical information gathering tools, assessment processes, continuing education programs, preparedness evaluation including repeated practice exercises, and especially the formulation of prevention strategies. The plan presented below in outline form serves as a practical guide for creating an applicable structure. Companies can expand, modify, and/or adapt this plan to supplement presently existing approaches and for consideration in specific situations and issues.

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT PLAN

• A thorough assessment of the wide-scope of functions presently performed
• An assessment of personnel, hiring practices, and monitoring approaches
• An assessment of equipment inventories, condition, and maintenance systems
• An assessment of all potential vulnerabilities to terrorist threats of facilities, personnel, and equipment that could and would result in injury, death, cessation of function, impact on other related and non-related systems and entities, short and long-term disruption of service, economic instability, and diversion of resources
• An assessment of the security and health and safety needs and existing approaches and those needed to protect vital and vulnerable components
• An assessment of emergency support available in the facilities and in the surrounding communities
• The establishment of preparedness goals that include prevention, protection, intervention, and response
• The implementation of a program for personnel hiring and monitoring that is consistent with established preparedness goals
• The implementation of a program for heightened facility and equipment maintenance and monitoring
• The development of check-list evaluations to support frequent monitoring of the preparedness goals for personnel, facilities, and equipment, with periodic assessment of the results and the implementation of necessary changes
• The implementation of a strategy for the orderly evacuation of personnel from facilities
• The implementation of programs for the education of all personnel at all levels to include monitoring for educational effectiveness and regular re-enforcement and updating
• The establishment, implementation, and testing of all primary, backup, and alternative systems

The evaluation of any specific infrastructure component requires a logical sequence for information gathering. This requires real-time access to appropriate information from the many available and relevant databases. Also necessary are the sources that contribute to planning, implementation, alert status, early pro-active responses, and for appropriate reaction. Effective communication of vital information that can be used by others is an important contribution to the intelligence gathering potential that allows for prevention. The primary assessment areas include present status and inherent strengths of the specific workplace environment, and the factors contributing to the defined present and potential vulnerabilities. An analysis of needs, of the existing educational programs, communication systems, and information gathering processes are necessary to develop strategies and planning.

The process incorporates examining the vital functions of the trucking industry, and how they affect the community, the society, and the economy. This process is necessary for determining consequences, which could result when functions are disrupted or eliminated in a terrorist attack. The disruptions can be direct or indirect. The applications of technology, IT (information technologies), and telecommunications serve as common threads for networking and communication. The vulnerabilities to attack and disruption of the cyber components impact the trucking industry indirectly, but result in disruption as if the attack were direct.

On September 11, 2001 terrorists hijacked four airliners laden with full tanks of jet fuel and used them as flying bombs to destroy and create fear. The far-reaching effects directly impacted the operation and economic stability of the airline industry, the on-going cost of enhanced security and preparedness, and the effects on the American economy in general. Financial concerns based on economic instability, job instability, and the issues of insurance and insurance cost weigh heavily on the outcomes. Such a scenario is as realistic a consideration for the trucking industry as it was a reality for the airline industry.

The trucking industry contributes a vital component to the cargo transport system along with other modes of transportation, linking suppliers (manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, retailers) with consumers. There must be dialogue, cooperative efforts, and programs that result in new ideas and approaches critical to a security strategy. The reality is that limited resources dictate prioritizing of security activities. Security measures enhance the likelihood of prevention of terrorist acts, or at least allow for early detection to limit the consequences.