TSA Announces Cooperative Agreement with American Trucking Associations to Expand its Highway Security Watch Program
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced a $19.3 million cooperative agreement with the American Trucking Associations (ATA) to expand ATA's Highway Watch program, which trains highway professionals to identify and report safety and security situations on U.S. roads.
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According to the TSA, the program will provide training and communications infrastructure to prepare 400,000 transportation professionals to respond in the event they or their cargo are the target of a terrorist attack and to share valuable intelligence with TSA if they witness potential threats.
Commercial Truck Drivers & Other Highway Professionals to Receive Instruction
The TSA states that commercial truck and bus drivers, school bus drivers, highway maintenance crews, bridge and tunnel toll collectors and others will receive instruction under the Highway Watch Grant.
According to the TSA, the Highway Watch program will link transportation professionals with first responders, law enforcement and the intelligence community via TSA's Transportation Security Coordination Center (TSCC) in Herndon, VA. Specifically, a suspicious event can be reported to the National Highway Watch Call Center which will in turn immediately alert the TSCC.
The TSCC will then integrate this information with other data received from around the country as well as up-to-the-minute intelligence from around the world. Subsequently, this data will be analyzed and local first responders and law enforcement in appropriate areas will be alerted in a timely manner.
TSA press release (dated 03/23/04) available at http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=0900051980093ccf