ATA Mobilizes in Terror War

The American Trucking Associations and other North American trucking groups unveiled a plan Monday that mobilizes truck drivers to prevent terrorists from using trucks as weapons.

Responding to President Bush’s call in his State of the Union address for “transportation and utility workers well trained in spotting danger,” the anti-terrorism action plan, a coordinated effort of the Trucking Security Working Group, will bring to bear the eyes and ears of more then 3 million drivers. They will be trained to identify and report suspicious activities in the industry and on the road, ATA said.

A major part of the plan is the expansion of ATA’s Highway Watch Program to include all 50 states and adding defined observation and communications procedures to enhance national security.

The first step of the plan is the installation of a color-coded threat-alert system, matching the system put in place by the Office of Homeland Security. As each stage in the system is reached, new trucking security measures will be put in play.

The plan escalates as alert levels rise by increasing driver vigilance on interstate highways, bridges, tunnels and seaports, by increasing driver-dispatcher check-ins and regularly broadcasting cargo theft and hijacking information.

At first, drivers will report possible threats to an “800” number, the working group said. That information will be screened and sent on to the proper authorities for action. The next phase of the action plan is the creation of a highway watch operations center.

A CIA official told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in March that terrorists are more likely to use trucks, ships or planes to deliver a strike than they are to fire a missile on the U.S., the Associated Press reported.

(Click here for the full press release.)

(Click here for an explanation of the anti-terrorism action plan's Threat Alert System.)

(Click here an outline of the anti-terrorism action plan.)