Transit systems not coordinated

| 10.11.2005 | 12:12:471761 |

October 12: A new report released by the Governmental Accountability Office has found that the four federal agencies in charge of protecting and coordinating mass transit lines in the event of a terrorist attacks have not been effective in protecting the nation's trains and other forms of mass transportation, Washington Technology reported Monday. The report was issued on October 7.

Washington Technology also found that the Transportation Security Administration, the agency in charge of all coordination and protection operations, had not yet finished "its vulnerability and risk assessment for mass transit systems," and that as of July 2005 the TSA "has not yet finished a risk assessment for the passenger rail sector, nor had it developed a method on how to rank and compare risks."

The GAO report wrote, "Until both of these efforts have been accomplished, in collaboration with rail industry stakeholders, TSA will not be able to prioritize passenger rail assets based on risk and help guide investment decisions to protect them."

Federal officials as well as their state, city and local counterparts have been focused on ways to protect those riding and using national transit in light of the al-Qaeda attacks in Madrid in 2004 and in London this summer. Last week New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference that intelligence gathered in Iraq had led city officials to believe that attacks were planned in New York's subway system over last weekend - however new reports on Tuesday from the intelligence sources were found to be phony.

In response to the growing concern, the Department of Homeland Security "expects to release an updated National Infrastructure Protection Plan in November, and TSA is expected to issue a rail security plan in February 2006," Washington Technology reported.