These class notes were composed by Dr. Tom O'Connor for his class on Homeland Security at NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE, original documents can be found here

BORDER AND TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
"The story of how aviation became practical is the story of how the world became small" (William Langewiesche)

    The United States has approximately 5,000 miles of border with Canada, 2,000 miles of border with Mexico, and 95,000 miles of shoreline.  Every year, over 500 million people cross these borders, and over two-thirds of them are non-U.S. citizens.  Some countries have more "porous borders" than others, and the U.S. borders are some of the most porous.  There is only about one border agent patrol for every five miles of border, and for those who cross legally, officials only have about 12 seconds to determine their legitimate identity, whether they should be admitted, under what conditions, and for how long.  Malkin (2004), among others, have pointed out the problems with America's borders are not insurmountable, and it is indeed possible to avoid adverse impacts on tourism, trade, and immigration by "securing the borders."      

    Border security in the United States has traditionally involved the twin problems of immigration control and visa control.  Of these two, immigration control is the older and more perplexing problem.  Visa control is a hodgepodge of regulations, lotteries, waivers, and TMOV (Transit Without Visa) loopholes.  America is essentially a society of immigrants, and for years, has held out its banner of freedom for those seeking liberty in a new homeland.  Yet, the Constitution was never designed for, nor does it automatically grant, the right for foreigners to migrate and enter this country.  The history of international travel and development of the idea of the passport is an interesting one (Torpey 1999), and too long to discuss here. Suffice it to say that America has a proud tradition of welcoming immigrants, but it is also a country that has every right to be concerned with its border security since there are many ports of entry (317 official ones).  Protecting those ports and the borders from terrorism is the job of a new homeland security agency called CBP: Customs & Border Protection which has over 41,000 employees, with these large numbers coming from a merger of the U.S. Customs with the Border Patrol.  At the ports, CBP employees enforce import/export laws, immigration laws, and perform agriculture inspections.  CBP also patrols traffic checkpoints along highways leading from border areas, and can conduct investigations anywhere else in the nation.

Designated Ports of Entry into the United States

Alcan Port of Entry JFK International Airport (New York City)
Amistad Dam Ketchikan Port of Entry
Anchorage International Airport Kona Air and Sea ports
Hartsfield International Airport (Atlanta) Laredo Gateway to the Americas
Baltimore International Airport Las Vegas (McCarran) International Airport
Bell Harbor Pier 66 Cruise Ship Terminal Lewiston Bridge, NY
Bridge of the Americas Logan International Airport
Brownsville/Matamoras International Bridge Long Beach Seaport
Buffalo Peace Bridge Port of Entry Los Angeles International Airport
Calais Port of Entry Madawaska Port of Entry
Calexico Port of Entry Massena (Seaway International Bridge) Port of Entry
Cape Canaveral Seaport
Cape Vincent Port of Entry Miami International Airport
Champlain, New York Miami Marine Unit
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
Chateaugay Port of Entry Mooers Port of Entry
Chicago – Midway Airport
Chicago - O’Hare International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Nogales Port of Entry
Columbus Port of Entry Ogdensburg Prescott International Bridge Port of Entry
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Orlando International Airport
Del Rio International Bridge Oroville Port of Entry
Denver International Airport Otay Mesa Port of Entry
Derby Line Port of Entry Pacific Highway Port of Entry
Detroit Canada Bridge Port of Entry Pembina Port of Entry
Detroit Canada Tunnel Port of Entry Philadelphia International Airport
Detroit Metro International Airport Phoenix - Sky Harbor International Airport
Douglas Port of Entry Piegan Port of Entry
Dulles International Airport Pittsburgh International Airport
Eagle Pass Bridge Point Roberts, WA
Eastport, Idaho Port Arthur Seaport
Fort Covington Port of Entry Port Everglades Seaport
Fort Duncan International Bridge, Eagle Pass, TX Port Huron Port of Entry
Galveston Seaport Portal Point of Entry
George Bush Intercontinental Airport Portland International Airport (POO) PDX
Grand Portage, MN Progreso International Bridge
Guam International Airport Rainbow Bridge Port of Entry (Niagara Falls)
Heart Island Port of Entry Raymond Port of Entry
Hidalgo International Bridge Roosville Port of Entry
Highgate Springs Port of Entry Rouses Point Port of Entry
Honolulu International Airport Rouses Point Amtrak Train
Honolulu Seaport San Antonio International Airport
Houlton Port of Entry San Diego International Airport (SND)
Houston Seaport San Diego Seaport
International Falls Port of Entry San Francisco International Airport

    Modern U.S. border security consists of more than enhancing enforcement (asking more questions), enhancing inspections (searches), and enhancing management (putting special agents in charge as each port director).  CBP's priority mission is intelligence-driven homeland security, specifically to detect and prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States.  However, they've been caught up more extensively in the drug war.  CBP looks upon the interdiction of drugs as complementary to the interdiction of terrorism, and they seize around 6,300 pounds of drugs per day.  An advance intelligence system called ATS (Automated Targeting System) raises red flags on vehicles and ships before they even reach the border, and then sophisticated X-ray devices can detect anomalies on anything else, or at least a sampling of everything else.  Although CBP shares intelligence with DEA, DOJ, and many other agencies, most of its seizures are the results of "cold hits," which are the result of efforts by CBP alone.  For more information about this large agency, it might be helpful to read some of the publications at the CBP newsletter archives.     

IMMIGRATION CONTROL

    More than 60 million people have legally entered this country since its beginning, and some 10 million in the last decade, a figure that seems high but includes about 3 million undocumented aliens who were granted amnesty around the end of the 1980s. Immigrants, as defined by the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security called ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), are persons lawfully admitted for permanent residence. They arrive with permanent visas that have been applied for and issued abroad, or they adjust their status from temporary visitor to permanent resident. A visa is an official U.S. State Dept. document stamped or stapled on a page of a passport, and is obtained from any American consulate overseas or arranged via American officials or firms. Visas are either for permanent status (immigrant visas) or temporary status (nonimmigrant visas).  A list of definitions appears below:

    American immigration law operates under a quota system that gives preferential treatment to persons with family in the U.S., persons with needed job skills, and persons who qualify as refugees.  Thousands of refugees settle in the United States every year, and have a variety of organizations, such as the Cultural Orientation Project to help them.  The U.S. has an annual cap of about 675,000 immigrants, which consists of 480,000 slots being family-sponsored, 140,000 employment-related, and 55,000 in a category called Diversity (which afford an extra 3000 or so visas to low-immigration countries). The cap is always exceeded every year, however, and the actual number of approvals for permanent residence runs around 925,000. There are many reasons for exceeding the cap: it was designed as a flexible cap in the first place; refugees and asylees are exempt (asylum is the biggest loophole); parolees from the Soviet Union and China are exempt; adoption of foreign orphans is exempt, immediate family relatives (sons & daughters) are exempt; and visa quotas unused from previous years are carried over into current years (visas must be used within four months of issuance). The Dept. of State calculates quota allotments by country and the Dept. of Justice inspects, naturalizes, and apprehends or removes undocumented persons. Of the 915,000 legal immigrants in 1997 (a typical year), the following are the countries of origin, and a profile of the typical immigrant would be as follows: 29 years old, female (55%), married (51%), and having an occupation (45% of the time, in nursing and social work).

Typical Migrant Countries

1. Mexico 2. Philippines 3. India 4. Vietnam 5. China 6. Dominican Republic 7. Cuba 8. Ukraine 9. Russia 10. Jamaica 11. Haiti 12. Korea 13. El Salvador 14. Canada 15. Poland 16. Colombia 17. United Kingdom 18. Taiwan 19. Peru 20. Pakistan

    The Department of Homeland Security's main control over immigration is the CLASS (Consular Lookout and Support) system.  It provides consular officers anywhere in the world access to the best information on people not wanted in the U.S.  It uses the most advanced foreign language algorithms to ensure that transliteration and common names are not overlooked, and it prevents any visa from being printed until the name-check system—including any required interagency consultations—has been cleared.  It essentially involves integrated watch list databases, however, there are a number of other databases, such as IBIS (Interagency Border Inspection System) which link up with law enforcement databases such as NCIC.  As a general rule, everyone is subject to CLASS and IBIS security checks.  However, there are some situations that trigger a more intensive background check.  For example, there is the 26 country rule, which is an unofficial list of nations for which lengthier security checks are done.

26 Country Security Scrutiny List

Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen

    In addition, there is the 7 country rule, which consists of those nations deemed to be state sponsors of terrorism.  This list consists of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba.  The problem here has not been with direct entry to the United States, but with INDIRECT ENTRY.  People from such designated nations know they haven't got much of a chance getting into the U.S. directly, so they travel to Canada or Mexico, and then enter the U.S. from one of those borders with a special 30-day I-94 travel visa, which is a discretionary thing (read automatic) given at the border crossings.  The Department of Homeland Security's main control over the movements, or comings-and-goings, of people from countries on scrutiny lists is called Special Registration, or NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System).  NSEERS requires frequent visits to Port of Entry offices in order to conduct interviews. 

LEGAL IMMIGRATION: TEMPORARY RESIDENTS
    Citizens, nationals, and aliens are allowed to apply for another type of visa status: temporary visitor or authorized "documented" worker. There are no quota systems by country for temporary visas. "Documented alien" is the phrase for the well-known identification procedures used by all employers to process I-9 verification -- one form of identification from column A, two forms of identification from column B, and work authorization forms from column C (a Social Security card not stamped "not valid for employment", ICE employment authorization document, ICE citizen identification card, ICE reentry permit, or refugee travel document). An alien need not have a green card to be authorized to work. The visa or an ICE document are all that's required to be an authorized worker. A grandfather clause exempts some people from this process, specifically employees who have worked for an employer since before 1986.

    There are different types of worker visas. In general, a temporary resident card is valid for 31 months, and the date of temporary residence begins on the date of the fee receipt, not the date the INS approves the form (see INS forms & fees), which may be many months later. Temporary residents may only apply for permanent residence during the last 12 months of their 31-month visa, and the benefit here is that such application is the only thing allowing travel in and out of the U.S. for temporary residents. There are two types of agricultural worker visas: Special Agricultural Workers (SAWs) and Replenishment Agricultural Workers (RAWs). SAW applicants are typically hired for 90-day periods during the summer months (migrant laborers), and if they are undocumented aliens who want to legalize their status, they can apply for a kind of amnesty program which allows them to leave agricultural work. RAW applicants, if undocumented and wanting to legalize, are bound to agricultural work for 3 years after approval.

    Student visas are another type of temporary residence. There are approximately 450,000 foreign students in the U.S. and the visa applicable to most foreign students is known as an F-1 visa. American schools that accept such students must be approved and issued a special acceptance form. The foreign student applicant must then prove that they will pursue full-time study, have adequate financial support, are proficient in English (or will receive sufficient training), and intend to leave the U.S. upon completion of their studies (although extensions of stay can be granted for up to eight years, inclusive of the years of study). Special permission must be obtained if the foreign student plans to work, and there are separate procedures for part-time work and for full-time work. M-1 student visas are designed mostly for study and work, but the program of study must be vocational or technically oriented, and the work must be related to the program of study. M-1 visas are for a limited time, however, and there are few extensions. Another type of visa, the J-1, is sometimes designed as part of student or scholar exchange programs, and allow application for permanent residence after two years of study. Spouses and children of foreign students are allowed to accompany them to the U.S. and even to be employed, but their income is not supposed to be used to support the foreign student.

    Foreign students used to be able to transfer schools without approval, and change their major or course of studies, but these moves tend to be looked upon by authorities as ways to extend the student's stay in the U.S.  If the student fails a class, gets on academic probation or suspension, or drops down to part-time study, there is more extensive scrutiny, and the FBI may even investigate the student, as they might do if the student participates in demonstrations or other extracurricular activities. Generally, student visa control is accomplished by the Department of Homeland Security's SEVIS system.  This system requires, among other things, for school registrars to report foreign students who don't enroll or attend classes.  Foreign students, starting in 2004, have to pay a one-time processing fee of $100 which helps finance SEVIS.

    There are other types of temporary visas, including tourist visas, business visas (H-1s), exchange visitor visas, fiancée visas, visas allowing somebody to "look around" for work, study, research, or religion, and even lottery visas. Visit Knowledge Co's VISA MAP for an alphabetical listing of all visas.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
    One of the problems inhibiting the ability of industrialized, democratic countries from being able to take more immigrants is the fact that the native populations of these countries are aging and retiring, forcing up welfare, Social Security, and Medicare expenses. Since illegal immigrants have not been screened by any authorities and have not had their "bona fides" established in terms of employment, they can seriously influence the economic dependency ratio or the ratio of productive workers to retirees if they are able to access the social services of an advanced, democratic nation. In addition, there is the problem of an "informal, underground" economy. This area is watched closely by our nation's economists, and it is closely connected to such things as our inflation rate, fiscal and monetary controls, our standard of living index, and our quality of life. Since many illegal immigrants work cheaply and are often paid off the books, they contribute to this underground economy.

    Estimating the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is not an easy task. The best estimates peg the existing number at 7 million (about 3% of the population), with an estimated annual inflow of about 350,000. Of this annual flow, about 125,000 (41%) are visa "overstayers".  Here's a table showing some 1996 figures of illegal immigrants by country of origin:

Illegal Immigration Source Countries

Mexico 1,321,000
El Salvador 327,000
Guatemala 129,000
Canada 97,000
Poland 91,000

    What happens to the illegal immigrants who enter every year? Most of them live in California (75%). New York is next with 10%. Another 10% or so reside in our state prison system, and the rest are scattered among 8-9 states primarily, including Texas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Arizona, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington, and Maryland. The state of Texas has the largest population of settled illegal immigrants, but it has not been the place for new illegal entries in recent years due to Border Patrol activities.

    There's a whole black market for smuggling illegal immigrants that is operated by organized crime. Little documentation is available, but some Asian gangs, for example, charge $15,000 to be smuggled into the U.S. with $1,500 in advance and the rest to be paid upon arriving or worked off later. Although there are freelance operators, organized crime is also closely associated with the problem of manufacturing false identifications and credentials.

    Any police department apprehending an illegal immigrant usually reports it to federal authorities. In some places, there also exist "bounties" or monthly per capita fees for detaining suspects, about $60 per day. In some cases, there are reasons why the police department would not report anything to federal authorities: because they want the suspect's cooperation in an ongoing investigation, to testify at trial, or the local community's support. It is unknown how many illegals are under local police protection. Community policing, in particular, tends to include promises that there will be no sweeps or raids for illegal immigrants in the local area, as ethnic communities hate these things as well as too close of a local police relationship with the INS.

    At the same time, overcrowded state prison systems have repeatedly asked help from the federal government to alleviate the burden of housing convicted illegal aliens. In some cases, the federal government has provided financial assistance or subsidies, but in other cases, it's looked upon as a state problem. Neither the Border Patrol nor the Bureau of Prisons have the capacity to hold all who are apprehended. Some Los Angeles County jails predominantly consist of detainees who are illegal aliens, and Texas has a special prison unit at Huntsville for illegal aliens.  The Dept. of Homeland Security's USCIS Program has incorporated many of the Border Patrol's best programs for dealing with the problem of illegal immigration.

VISA CONTROL

    The authority to make crucial visa decisions has long been under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State, and his or her legally vested consular offices in the Foreign Service. The Secretary's legal authority to supervise this function was established in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which required the Department of State to coordinate with the Attorney General and other agencies in the Department of Justice, namely, the INS and the FBI.  Since 9/11, however, the Department of Homeland Security has absorbed both the authority of the Attorney General and the authority of the Secretary of State to establish regulations related to the granting and refusal of visas by consular officers, and to administer and to enforce the laws regarding the issuance and the denial of visas.  Placing visa issuance authority in the hands of Homeland Security represents a belief that visa policy can be used to protect the United States from terrorists.

    The Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) provides consular officers anywhere in the world access to the best information on people not wanted in the U.S.  It uses the most advanced foreign language algorithms to ensure that transliteration and common names are not overlooked, and it prevents any visa from being printed until our name-check system—including any required interagency consultations—has been cleared. 

AVIATION TRANSPORTATION

    The defense of U.S. airspace has traditionally depended upon cooperation between civilian and military authorities, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command).  The FAA has a national Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, but each of the FAA's 22 Control Centers is used to operating independently.  NORAD has its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but the continental U.S. is divided into three NORAD regions: Northeast, Southeast, and Western (two additional regions exist in Alaska and Canada since NORAD is a joint U.S.-Canadian organization).  The FAA's purpose, or the job of air traffic controllers, is to monitor the transponder signals, radar and radio contacts with civil aircraft to keep them at a safe distance from one another.  NORAD's purpose is to detect and respond to any aerospace threat, internal or external, against the North American continent.  Although NORAD in recent years has made some moves toward training for "asymmetric" threats, such as drug smuggling and terrorist hijacking of airplanes, most of NORAD's resources are still aimed at defending against Cold War threats, such as Soviet bombers and cruise missiles.  In the event of a threat, FAA-NORAD cooperation involves a rather complicated chain of command.  FAA controllers would notify FAA headquarters, who in turn would notify the Pentagon, who in turn would authorize NORAD involvement and keep the FAA informed.  NORAD protocols call for military fighters to follow any suspect aircraft at a distance of five miles behind and inform on its flight path.  A "suspect" threat exists whenever a transponder signal is lost on an aircraft (terrorist hijackers normally know how to turn off a plane's transponder).  It is possible, but more difficult to track an aircraft's flight path by radar (radar doesn't show a plane's identity or altitude).  If radio contact is lost, the threat escalates to "alarm" status, since simultaneous loss of transponder and radio is a rare occurrence.  If the aircraft doesn't get back on course, communications are not reestablished, military fighters cannot forcibly escort the plane, or the pilots are able to "squawk" a code of "7500" -- the universal code for a hijack in progress -- then "alert" status is reached, and orders may be given by the President, Vice President, or Secretary of Defense to shoot the aircraft down (technically, the Vice President can only issue orders to "engage" which has the same meaning as a shootdown order).  Where to scramble the military fighters for the shootdown or engagement may be problematic because it takes time (sometimes as long as eight minutes) to locate the target aircraft by radar.  By contrast, it takes less than five minutes for a commercial aircraft within sixty miles of a target to make a rapid descent and be used as a weapon of mass destruction (assuming maximum speed capability or overspeed and no time for slowing to aim the airplane into a target).  When investigating such events, it is important to record as much as possible before the crash, since only one out of four cockpit voice recorders usually (CVRs) survive a crash.

    CAPPS is an FAA-approved automated system run by the airline companies which scores each airline passenger's profile to identify those who might pose a threat to civil aviation.  The system also chooses some passengers at random, and these people, along with those who meet the "profile" are targeted to receive additional security scrutiny.  10 out of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attack were identified via the CAPPS system.  In addition to CAPPS, airline ticket agents also mark as "selectees" those passengers who do not provide adequate answers to security questions, fail to have appropriate identification, or meet other criteria as determined by airline security.  CAPPS II is a TSA-sponsored database system that combines the profiling capabilities of CAPPS with linkages to other governmental and commercial databases.  CAPPS II has been vigorously opposed by privacy advocates, but it is essential to the mission of agencies like the TSA, which are supposed to develop a "safe" or trusted passenger system.

THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

    The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, is a new agency within the federal Department of Transportation.  It was created on November 19, 2001 by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) which made it responsible for (among other things that Transportation does): (1) the deployment of air marshals, (2) improved airport perimeter security, (3) a 911 emergency call system for aircraft and trains, (4) screening of all passengers, baggage, mail, cargo, and carry-ons, and (5) chemical and biological weapons detection.  Most people are familiar with TSA officials as the screeners at airports, but few people know that under the PATRIOT Act, the TSA also implements background checks on all Hazmat truck drivers and carries out other maritime and land security missions.  The jurisdiction of the Transportation Department is quite broad, and covers not only the five (5) main transportation modes of airways, highways, railways, waterways, and pipelines, but urban mass transit, the transport of migrant workers, bus security, certain aspects of port security, security training for carriers, and flight training for non-US. citizens.  In addition, the agency is tasked with the job of developing CAPPS II-type technology which would automate the process of "detecting suspicious behavior within the aviation security domain that would sense patterns of travelers' or employees' physiological responses and/or overt behavior that are reliably associated with malicious intent" (TSA website 2004).

    Up until March of 2003, the United States Coast Guard was part of the Department of Transportation, and provided most of the organic (sector-specific tactical/planning) intelligence function for that department (in addition to FAA).  Since the Coast Guard was transferred to DHS, the TSA has been developing its own intelligence capabilities with its Transportation Security Intelligence Service (TSIS), which have primarily been involved with the on-site TRAVEL assessment (Transportation Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Evaluation) and self-administered TSARM questionnaire (TSA self-assessment Risk Module).  Both of these tools are ways of collecting baseline information of system effectiveness in response to various threat scenarios.  There are only about 100 intelligence positions in TSA as of late 2004, but they are supported by other intelligence components within DHS, and DOT, through TSA, is a full and active participant in the national counterterrorism and law enforcement communities by virtue of its relationships with other agencies, such as liaisons with the CIA, FBI, NIPC, DSO at DOS, NSA, and DIA.  Despite what looks like a difficult job of interagency coordination, TSA is remarkably capable of producing declassified "warning" or actionable intelligence to a variety of industry representatives via a system of secure phones.  Classified intelligence is shared with other agencies via a system of Security Directives (SDs), Emergency Amendments (EAs), and Information Circulars (ICs), which is exactly the way FAA used to do it.  For example, the names of suspected terrorists on a watch list go out on two (2) lists: one in the form of a classified list (for intelligence and certain law enforcement officials only) which represents parties that should never be transported for any reason (unless local intelligence or law enforcement officials deem wise for an intelligence operation); and two in the form of a declassified list (of "selectees") who can be transported, but only after certain security measure have been taken.  In many ways, TSA was designed to use access to intelligence products as an incentive for local officials to upgrade their security procedures.  In retrospect, the "federalization" of airport screeners was a vast improvement over the "rent-a-cop" era which existed before.      

PIPELINE SAFETY

    The United States has over 2.3 million miles of pipeline which provide over two-thirds of the energy consumed by the nation.  Natural gas, oil, coal, lignite, and other hazardous liquids are carried by these pipelines, and pipelines are the most efficient way to transport these commodities. The federal Office of Pipeline Safety has primary responsibility for the national security of pipelines, but there are many private firms, like Bats, Inc which can be contracted to do the surveillance work that most security requires.  Each state also has regulatory agencies or associations which inspect control rooms and storage facilities.  Nationally, most of the pipelines tend to be clustered in two states (where most of the natural gas is), and in some states, the pipelines run right above an earthquake fault line.  The maps below are illustrative of this national and local picture:

The National Pipeline System and a State System

    For various reasons, some of the pipeline system seems to always be in a state of repair, which temporarily shuts down the flow of energy and drives up the cost to consumers, although manufacturing associations have put up websites like Pipeline 101 to inform the public that this is a misconception.  Keeping the pipeline system running has always been the first commerce priority of the federal government.  The primary safety concern is accidental excavation, since pipelines are located in rural areas which now tend to be where development and suburban "sprawl" take place.  Accidental damage from weather disasters in another concern, as is the problem of phasing out single-hull tankers, which started with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and gives companies until 2015 to cease using such ships.  Protecting pipelines from terrorist attack is the contemporary safety and security concern. 

    Anti-terrorism pipeline security generally consists of installing intrusion barriers mostly around the most critical 200,000 miles of oil pipelines, and groups like the Association of Oil Pipelines have long urged investment in more research and development of new techniques.  Basically, about all that can be done now is increased surveillance, employee background checks, Internet mapping, restrictions on access to facilities, guard patrols, increased awareness training, and interagency coordination.  One only has to look overseas to Afghanistan and Iraq to see how vulnerable the oil industry really is, and although it may be unlikely, pipelines may become the targets of domestic eco-terrorists as well as international terrorists.   

TRANSIT SAFETY

    The Federal Transit Administration has responsibility for the safety and security of commuter rail, fixed route bus lines, aerial tramways, monorails, ferryboats, and lightweight and heavyweight passenger trains.  FTA conducts risk and vulnerability assessments and provides technical assistance for emergency management planning, specifically along the lines of casualty mitigation.  They are heavily concerned with any problems that might be attributable to "human factors," and to that end, they conduct training, audits, and regulatory checks on such things as operator fatigue and drug and alcohol abuse.  They are also concerned with fire safety.  FTA's DAMIS (Drug & Alcohol Management Information System) database requires state and local transportation authorities to upload information about their employees and certain subcontractors.

    Approximately 30 accidents happen every month involving passenger trains, and most of these involve collision with motor vehicles.  Safety incidents with buses, however, run at well over 100 per month, and these include acts of vandalism and assault as well as collision with motor vehicles.  In cases of collision, the driver of the motor vehicle (not the bus) is almost always at fault.  The causes of the collisions include illegal left turns, running red lights, failing to yield, and disregarding (going around) rail-crossing gates.  The train and bus crime problem are usually addressed by posting police officers on-site, and finding better ways to protect drivers.  Train and bus crime is episodic; in some years, there are few incidents; and in other years, there are serious assaults (and even killings) of passengers.  Terrorist threats are usually addressed by bomb-sniffing dogs.  The FTA has been in the forefront of a movement to get video cameras installed on all transit conveyances, and most major-city METRO lines now have "red phones" installed in them which connect directly to a police department.  There are additional concerns about the security of transportation facilities; i.e., offices, waiting rooms, maintenance shops, bus yards, and dispatch centers.  These concerns are typically addressed by attempts to make transit employees more security conscious.  There are certain transit areas of the United States which, because of volume, make up what might be called "special" risk areas, as follows:

    There are, in fact, only 30 transit providers who are the nation's largest providers and carry 80% of all passengers at any one time for the nation.  Focusing in on these carriers has been FTA's top priority, at least in terms of how enhanced intelligence is used.  These major provider areas have been the targets of attempts to develop real-time intelligence sharing between FTA, industry representatives, the FBI, and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF).  Pager and text messaging systems tend to characterize these real-time efforts, but the JTTF approach is described below.  When homeland security levels are raised, particular attention is paid to "critical" points of vulnerability, such as bridges and tunnels, but another agency, the Federal Highway Administration, or FHWA, is largely responsible for making recommendations for bridges and tunnels.  However, for trucking security, the primary concern is HAZMAT (hazardous materials) related, and a quick definition of a HAZMAT incident is whenever 25 or more persons have to be evacuated or a major transportation artery has to be closed.  Approximately 80% of all HAZMAT incidents involve trucks.

The JTTF Approach to Homeland Security

     Many of the FBI's task forces dealing with significant crime problems grew out of the agency's close working relationship with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Both organizations have a history of innovative approaches to law enforcement and highly competent investigators willing to try new concepts. The first formal FBI task force, the Bank Robbery Task Force, was staffed with FBI special agents and NYPD detectives, followed closely by participation from a host of other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. The task force concept flourished, and, by the mid-1980s, many other formalized FBI-sponsored task forces existed, dealing with such issues as fugitives, drugs, and, eventually, terrorism. The joint task force concept is not new nor did the FBI develop it. Many levels of law enforcement successfully have used the concept for years to handle specific crime problems. All FBI-sponsored task forces, however, have two common elements that make them unique: 1) written memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between participating law enforcement agencies and 2) FBI funding to pay for participating state and local departments' expenses, such as officer overtime, vehicles, gas, cell phones, and related office costs. (See http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2004/nov2004/nov04leb.htm#page_2 for more information)

    Anti-terrorism transit safety involves protection from the use of biological weapons, chemical weapons, and radioactive weapons.  Federal agencies with a relationship to transit security work hard in preparing for such scenarios. Plans exist for the following basic two types of scenarios:

    Guidelines for Responding to a Chemical Weapons Incident (pdf) have been put together, and consist, in part, of a key role for intelligence as well as investigative functions.  For example, identifying the possible group(s) and possible "theme" for the attack helps determine if the threat warrants notification and security for other sites.     

INTERNET RESOURCES
ACLU Immigration Issues Page
American Association of Port Authorities
Antiterrorism Oil Pipeline Security News
Aviation Security News

Center for Immigration Studies
David Montoya Article on Border Insecurity
DeportAliens.com
DOT Testimony Before Congress 1998-2004
Edwin Meese' Article on the Principles of Immigration
Federation for American Immigration Reform
Immigration and National Security after 9/11
International Centre for Migration Policy Development
Legal Aspects of Searches of Airline Passengers in the USA (pdf)
Maritime Security Council
NewsMax Archive of Articles on Immigration/Borders
Office of Immigration Statistics
The Transportation of Natural Gas
Transportation Security Administration Home Page
World Crimes

PRINTED RESOURCES
Beare, M. (1997). "Illegal Migration: Personal Tragedies, Social Problems, or National Security Threats?" Transnational Organized Crime 3(4): 11-41.
Bullock, J., Haddow, G., Coppola, D., Ergin, E., Westerman, L. & Yeletaysi, S. (2005). Introduction to Homeland Security. Boston: Elsevier.
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Last updated: 09/22/05
Syllabus for JUS 415 (Homeland Security)
MegaLinks in Criminal Justice

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