The country has done a fair job of protecting airline passengers since 9/11, but what about the millions of us who each day travels by train, bus or even ferry?
These soft targets are difficult to protect, as the European rail bombings and foiled attack against a New Jersey train station suggest.
Recent proposed legislation seeks to change that. Introduced two days after the unsuccessful attempt in New Jersey, the bill seeks to shore up holes found in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) approach to transportation safety.
The legislation addresses concerns that TSA is not adequately positioned to identify security risks across different modes of transportation, serve as a source of intelligence or as a training and best practices resource for federal, state, local and private transportation security. Currently, TSA uses only three percent of its budget on surface transportation security.