Experts See Tracking Technology as Security Key

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>WASHINGTON — As the debate over the what steps are needed to ensure the safety of all freight shipments continues, experts said the use of tracking technology would be a key component of any enhancements.

"Security tracking acts like intelligence information," Stephen Flynn, a homeland security expert for the Council on Foreign Relations, said at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting. "It allows the authorities to act if there is something suspicious without causing mass disruptions. That is important because of the economic damage that disruptions can cause."

Flynn said it is important to track containers and to have accurate information about their contents. He also said that improving security is more burdensome in the post-9/11 world because the intermodal transportation system was originally built to improve reliability and efficiency of shipments without factoring today’s security issues into the equation.