Security, Transportation

The contemporary international scene is characterized by ever-increasing mobility of people, capital, and goods. Such mobility depends on an effective transportation system, one that is secure from disruption by international terrorism. Attempting to ensure that people can continue to avail themselves of various mobility options and that trade can continue to flow smoothly and economically has become an international priority.

Terrorist attacks have inflicted serious damage to transportation facilities in many countries. Airports and airlines have been attacked in Israel, Spain, India, South Korea, and Scotland, as have mass transit facilities in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan, often with devastating consequences in terms of human lives and economics.

The issue of how to improve security in transportation is greatly complicated by the growing economic and personal interconnectedness that characterizes the modern world, as technological changes in transportation and communication lead to ever greater movements of goods and people. Protecting an infrastructure that handles such an enormous volume of freight and passengers is clearly a gigantic task.

Transportation targets appeal to terrorists for many reasons. First, transportation is a major sector in any economy and a significant contributor to national growth. The global freight system, which is vulnerable at many points, is of particular concern because of the national and international consequences of a successful attack. International trade would be halted and economic growth throughout the globe would slow, imposing a heavy burden on all states, especially upon those least able to bear it.

Second, terrorists now seek to inflict as many casualties as possible. Transportation nodes—stations, subways, and airports—are therefore appealing targets. The March 2004 attacks on the Madrid train stations, where over 170 people were killed and many more injured, and the July 2005 attacks on London's underground system, which killed 56 people (including the four suicide bombers) and injured about 700, provide vivid and tragic proof of the appeal of these targets.

Third, transportation facilities are often national and international icons, and the demolition of a famous bridge or a well-known tunnel would possess great symbolic significance.

Effective transportation security presents a secondary positive aspect as an essential counter-terrorism tool. Terrorists have to travel to their targets with their weapons or to a place where they can obtain them. A secure transportation system can obviously limit the mobility of terrorists, an issue of growing concern to law enforcement agencies everywhere.

Effective transportation security can also increase the security of vehicles that can be, and sometimes [Page 1214]have been, used as weapons. The tragedy of September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington, D.C., was the result of airplanes transformed into missiles and fired into buildings. More common are truck bombs, which have been launched against intermodal terminals, bridges, tunnels, vessels in port, trains, and buses.

Terrorists are also exploring the potential of other weapons, including radioactive materials. The acquisition of 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of highly enriched uranium (HEU) would permit terrorists to assemble a nuclear weapon, albeit an inefficient one. However, building a bomb is a difficult task, even with the necessary materials and the technical know-how. More likely is an attack using a radiological dispersal device (RDD) that explodes and disseminates radioactive materials in a transportation facility or disperses such materials in powdered form, perhaps from a plane.

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