BACKGROUND

The nation's highway system and users are at risk from a variety of threats both natural and human caused. Responding to threats and events in a timely and well-planned manner is critical to the nation's economy, mobility, and security. Risks to the highway transportation system generally fall into three categories: the physical facilities themselves, the motor carriers operating on the system, and the information infrastructure that monitors and manages the flow of goods, vehicles, and people on the highway system. This project is primarily concerned with physical facilities and selected motor carrier operations.

This first volume of NCHRP Report 525: Surface Transportation Security will be of interest to transportation officials and others responsible for establishing and communicating desired employee practices in observing and reporting security threats. The audience will therefore include chief executive officers; senior executives; operational and technical managers; law enforcement officers; security personnel; and communications, training, and human-resources staff. Personnel with similar responsibilities in transportation or public works will also find this report to be of value.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of Volume 1: Responding to Threats: A Field Personnel Manual is to provide a draft template that contains basic security awareness training in a workbook format that can be redesigned as a pamphlet, glove-box brochure, or other user-specific document. This NCHRP manual emphasizes noticing and reporting behavior that may be part of the planning stages of an event, and explains how an increased level of attention on the part of all employees can deter criminal and terrorist plans prior to implementation. This document is not intended to be implemented verbatim; rather, it is a resource that provides raw materials, leaving it up to each individual state to assimilate all the information available to it and develop its own comprehensive security program based on the circumstances and needs of that state.

TASKS

Task 1. Review the risk assessment methodologies used or currently being developed by state departments of transportation or readily available from foreign countries.

Task 2. Based on the results of Task 1 and relevant work in fields outside of highway transportation, develop a draft manual (including a checklist) that contains examples and suggested approaches for: (a) identifying suspicious devices,
(b) identifying suspicious vehicles abandoned near a structure, (c) developing assessment checklists for Tasks 2(a) and 2(b), (d) developing procedures for observing the environment, ( e) developing procedures for identifying suspicious behavior in the environment, and the response to suspicious behavior, (f) developing procedures for identifying suspicious conditions in the environment, and the response to suspicious conditions, (g) developing countermeasures that might be appropriate to prevent or minimize loss or damage to the facilities and the public based on risk assessments, (h) estimating capital and operating costs of such countermeasures, (i) developing plans for security, to include responding to suspicious situations in, on, or near

• highways/roads/streets
• important structures (bridges, overpasses, constrictions such as mountain passes)
• weigh stations and parking areas

Task 3. Test the utility of the manual and checklist developed in Task 2 in three States.

Task 4. Based on the results of Task 3, refine the manual and checklist and prepare a final manual and checklist in both print and web-postable formats

Status: Published as NCHRP Report 525,Vol. 1.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 525: Surface Transportation Security Volume 1 - Responding to Threats: A Field Personnel Manual includes a draft template that contains basic security awareness training in a workbook format that can be redesigned as a pamphlet, glove-box brochure, or other user-specific document. This NCHRP manual emphasizes noticing and reporting behavior that may be part of the planning stages of an event, and explains how an increased level of attention on the part of all employees can deter criminal and terrorist plans prior to implementation.