Document 5

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CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice *

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112

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Information Systems

Date

May 3, 2024

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pdf

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2

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I believe that based on existing TSA rules and protocols, they have proved to so far be adequate enough to prevent any major terrorist attacks that could have resulted in drastic death tolls and damage to infrastructure. However, that is not to say that there could not be any improvements to protocols that are in place now. I think currently TSA has done a well enough job in their methods to ensure that areas of mass transit remain secure and are able to detain those who would wish to do harm using weapons by implementing technology that can allow for a in depth analysis of a persons belongings and body. For example, the textbook states that currently, “The new means for discerning explosives, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and other concealed m aterials are the millimeter-wave device and advanced imaging technology (AIT). TSA currently uses both types at 78 airports. Around 500 AIT and 300- millimeter wave machines are presently in use (Nemeth, 2021,498).” I think that after some failed attempts at imaging a person and their belongings, TSA has been able to establish an adequate system for ensuring that people are being screened in order to prevent dangerous weapons, explosives, or chemicals from entering mass transit areas. TSA has done a good job at ensuring that no mass attacks or incidents occur in places such as airports due to the technology they have employed even if it has caused controversy by some of the public who feel that the technology has become somewhat invasive of their privacy. I believe that in this situation, the trade off of privacy, in this case being facial features and body imaging, being invaded is worth it because it ensures that no other attack or hijacking could ever take place again as it did during the 9/11 attacks. TSA ensuring safety not only comes from their ever innovating use of technology but it also comes from their very organized strong communication between their agents and other departments that they employ the assistance of in order to ensure that their is a smooth and quick flow of information regarding any protocols that need to be carried out and what roles every department would have should a scenario occur in which lives or infrastructure could be damaged. For example. TSA has recognized that, “In rail and mass transit, the demands of risk assessment are more global and less contained than the security checkpoint at an airport. TSA, working closely with state, federal, and local law enforcement, must see vulnerability, threat, and risk in a much larger f ramework (Nemeth, 2021, 537).” Therefore, TSA has outlined and implemented a set of protocols to follow when it comes to safeguarding the nation’s rail and mass transit system. Some of these guidelines are as follows, “Implement an integrated federal appro ach that consolidates capabilities in a unified effort for security assessments, Implement a unified environment for sharing transportation security information that provides all relevant threat information and improves the effectiveness of information flow, Identify an interagency lead to establish a single data repository for all federally obtained security risk-related information on transportation systems and assets, and fully identify federal roles and responsibilities in surface transportation security, taking steps to efficiently leverage resources (Nemeth, 2021, 539).” Despite the good work that TSA does in ensuring no physical attacks occur, they still need to work on rail security. When it comes to the country’s rail system, TSA should put more fo cus on how secure and up to date the country’s train rails are. Often train derailments are caused by poor quality rails that have not been serviced in a really long time and due to the wear and tear they go through in making sure they can transport large trains often with immense weight they lead to massive damage to not only the surrounding area where the incident takes place but also the economy itself due to delays in transportation. I believe that how the USDOT along with the FRA, and EPA responded to train derailments was not an effective way to deal with the situation that unfolded. The damage that the train derailment caused by spilling various chemicals into the surrounding environment was immense, especially in places such as East Palestine, Ohio. The spilling of the various chemicals in the Sulphur and Leslie Runs and even later the State Line Lake has been very damaging. Not only has the surroundings of the lake been affected by the spill, so has the wildlife that live in the lake such as fish, “After prolonged and steady rains last week, State Line Lake, located north of the train derailment site, began to flood into the freshwater bypass pond established at the site. With the two water bodies connected, fish from the lake were drawn into the bypass pump intakes. The fish were
killed by the pumps in the bypass system, not by exposure to any contaminants. EPA later directed Norfolk Southern to suspend cleanup operations to evaluate how to more effectively contain and recover oil sheen from sediments. (United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.).” Not only were the efforts by the EPA disastrous to the wildlife in the area, but they were not even effective in removing the contaminants that were the cause of the train being derailed. It was clear that the EPA did a poor job in having a plan ready to put into action should a spill ever occur. It almost seemed like they had no plan at all and just scrambled to put together anything in order to claim that the issue was being taken care of. Furthermore, this incident occurred due to the US Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration failing to do their job in ensuring that the railroad system was capable enough of transporting freight trains with various chemicals. According to a statement put out by the USDOT and FRA, “Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator Amit Bose today announced a national initiative for focused inspections on routes that carry high-hazard flammable trains (HHFTs) and other trains carrying large volumes of hazmat commodities. Working with USDOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), FRA will identify these routes and prioritize them for inspection beginning immediately. The inspections will start in East Palestine, Ohio, and expand to communities nationwide (United States Department of Transportation, 2023).” It is clear that this incident occurred in the first place due to negligence in maintaining the railroad strong and stable enough to be able to serve the purpose of transporting heavy train loads. If the USDOT had decided to commit to inspections of not only the railroads but also the train cars earlier and more periodically in order to ensure that they were safe enough, there could have been a less likely chance for this train derailment to have happened in the first place. This in turn would have meant no damages to the surrounding area and economy due to the huge amounts of funds needed in order to begin inspections, rebuilding efforts, and cleaning methods from the spill that even presently has not been fully resolved. Safety efforts should not only be placed on preventing attacks by bad actors but also on ensuring that equipment being used is also up to standard in order to carry out their job the way it was meant to do so in the first place. References United States Department of Transportation. (2023, March 1). USDOT's Federal Railroad Administration Announces New Safety Initiative with a Focus on Hazardous Materials FRA | FRA . Federal Railroad Administration. Retrieved April 17, 2024, from https://railroads.dot.gov/about- fra/communications/newsroom/press-releases/usdots-federal-railroad-administration-announces-0 United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment | US EPA . Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved April 17, 2024, from https://www.epa.gov/east-palestine-oh-train- derailment Nemeth, C. P. (2021). Homeland Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practice (4th ed.). CRC Press.
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