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Volpe Center Highlights - May 1999

National Security

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security | Published and Presented

Advance the nation's vital security interests by ensuring that the transportation system is secure and available for defense mobility and that our borders are safe from illegal intrusion.

Strategic Nuclear Delivery of Missiles (DOD)

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties I and II charge the Department of Defense (DOD) with ensuring the safe transportation of missile fuel and related hazardous materials in the former Soviet Union. In support of this effort, Mr. Ross Gill, of the Advanced Vehicle Technologies Division, is assisting the DOD Threat Reduction Agency with certification of trackage and railway equipment to transport missiles destined for storage or dismantling. Mr. Gill recently traveled to Moscow, Zlatoust, Severodvinsk, and Biysk in Russia to inspect and evaluate specific rail systems linked to the military facilities involved in the dismantling of the SS N 20 Solid Fuel.

Volpe Staffer Receives Appreciation Award (FAA)

Dr. John Hobbs, of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division, a nationally recognized expert in the field of explosives detection, recently chaired a Working Group meeting of the Sub-Committee on Controlled Access Security Search and Screening Equipment of the American Society for Testing of Materials in Seattle, WA. At that meeting, Dr. Hobbs received an Award of Appreciation in recognition for his "many years of outstanding service and active participation in the work of the Committee and his efforts and accomplishments." Membership of the Committee includes representatives from government agencies, National Laboratories, academia, and industry. Dr. Hobbs's research is part of the Volpe Center's ongoing FAA-sponsored research studying techniques for detecting explosives and flammable liquids concealed on airline passengers or their baggage. Although at present commercial vapor detection systems are available (satisfying the FAA's operational requirements for the detection of weapons on passengers by metal detectors and for the inspection of baggage by various types of radiation), detection systems for explosives and flammable liquids concealed on a person are yet to be developed.

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