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Volpe Center Highlights - September/October 2002

Homeland Security

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility and Economic Growth
Human and Natural Environment | Organizational Excellence | Homeland Security
Awards | Papers and Presentations

Updating Planning and Design Guidelines for Airport Terminal Facilities (FAA)

In September 2001, Volpe staff were in the process of updating guidance for airport terminal planning and design in support of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Airports. In response to the events of September 11, 2001, this ongoing work was significantly modified. In addition to updating the existing planning guidance, the Volpe team is greatly expanding the security-related material that will be included in the new guidance document. Because security-related protocols and parameters have been changing so rapidly, the Volpe Center, under the direction of project manager Mr. Zale Anis of the Service and Operations Assessment Division, is organizing a series of workshops to solicit industry feedback on related design issues as they evolve.

A series of Volpe workshops will provide security-related input to airport terminal planning and design guidance. The first workshop focused on impacts of screening checked baggage in ticketing lobbies. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

The first workshop, which focused on the facility and operational impacts of checked-baggage screening in ticketing lobbies, was held June 26, 2002, at FAA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The morning program consisted of a series of presentations on operational and planning experiences encountered thus far with lobby screening. The afternoon was devoted to open discussion assessing the potential for changes in facility requirements as well as the possible development of more flexible planning techniques to accommodate those changes. Subsequent workshops may address passenger screening as well as integrated checked-baggage screening, which would integrate checked-baggage screening into the airline baggage system. Integrated screening would be conducted in the outbound baggage room rather than in the ticketing lobby. A second workshop is planned for spring 2003.

Intermodal Freight Efficiency and Security

Mr. Ken Troup of the Intermodal Logistics Systems Planning and Integration Division attended the annual conference of the National Cargo Security Council in Scottsdale, Arizona, on June 14 and 15, 2002. The conference, "Securing Assets in the Global Supply Chain," included many transportation security officials, from both industry and government. Mr. Troup gave a presentation at a workshop session titled "Distribution and Transportation 101." His remarks dealt with security issues in the supply chain, particularly since September 11, 2001. He discussed supply chain management work performed by the Volpe Center and other agencies for the Department of Defense (including Operation Safe Commerce, see below), as well as several DOT-sponsored projects underway at U.S. ports or border crossings that demonstrate the importance of federal government and transportation industry cooperation in improving security without adversely affecting freight movement efficiency.

Operation Safe Commerce (CTTSO/TSWG)

Key federal, state, and private entities are working together to construct a prototype of a secure international trade corridor. Operation Safe Commerce aims to develop a model for improved security and mobility of shipments of containerized freight, while maintaining open borders and facilitating international commerce. Under the sponsorship of the Combating Terrorism Technology Support Office/Technical Support Working Group (CTTSO/TSWG), the Volpe Center is supporting the Department of Defense, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Customs Service in this innovative public-private partnership. Other public partners include the U.S. Attorneys Offices for Vermont and New Hampshire, and the State of New Hampshire Governor's Office. The Center executed Phase I of Operation Safe Commerce, in which a single cargo container was tracked, and its security monitored, during shipment from Central Europe to the United States.

The Port of Montreal, Canada, was one of the trans-shipment points of the demonstration supply chain evaluated in Operation Safe Commerce. (Photo courtesy of Mr. Joseph Koziol)

The Volpe team achieved three objectives for Phase I: definition of the supply chain of a single container, demonstration of available technologies for tracking and monitoring the container's integrity and contents, and recommendations for improvements to the security of international container commerce. In June and July of 2002, the Center submitted draft reports documenting Phase I results.

The Volpe team consisted of Messrs. Joseph Koziol, Graham Watson, David Crawford, and Ms. Deidre Carrigan of the Technology Applications and Deployment Division; Messrs. Charles McCarthy, Robert Hoaglund, and John Wojtowicz of the Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division, and Messrs. Bob Baxter, Don Delk, and Alan Kauffman of Computer Science Corporation (a Volpe contractor).

CTTSO/TSWG is an interagency group whose mission is to provide for rapid research, development, and prototyping of new technology for the National Research and Development Program for Combating Terrorism.

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