Summary
Numerous incidents around the world have highlighted the vulnerability of commercial vehicles to terrorist acts. Commercial vehicles include over 1 million highly diverse truck and intercity bus firms. Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has primary federal responsibility for ensuring the security of the commercial vehicle sector, while vehicle operators are responsible for implementing security measures for their firms. GAO was asked to examine: (1) the extent to which TSA has assessed security risks for commercial vehicles; (2) actions taken by key stakeholders to mitigate identified risks; and (3) TSA efforts to coordinate its security strategy with other federal, state, and private sector stakeholders. GAO reviewed TSA plans, assessments, and other documents; visited a nonrandom sample of 26 commercial truck and bus companies of varying sizes, locations, and types of operations; and interviewed TSA and other federal and state officials and industry representatives.
TSA has taken actions to evaluate the security risks associated with the commercial vehicle sector, including assessing threats and initiating vulnerability assessments, but more work remains to fully gauge security risks. Risk assessment uses a combined analysis of threat, vulnerability, and consequence to estimate the likelihood of terrorist attacks and the severity of their impact. TSA conducted threat assessments of the commercial vehicle sector and has also cosponsored a vulnerability assessment pilot program in Missouri. However, TSA's threat assessments generally have not identified the likelihood of specific threats, as required by DHS policy. TSA has also not determined the scope, method, and time frame for completing vulnerability assessments of the commercial vehicle sector. In addition, TSA has not conducted consequence assessments, or leveraged the consequence assessments of other sectors. As a result of limitations with its threat, vulnerability, and consequence assessments, TSA cannot be sure that its approach for securing the commercial vehicle sector addresses the highest priority security needs. Moreover, TSA has not developed a plan or time frame to complete a risk assessment of the sector. Nor has TSA completed a report on commercial trucking security as required by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act (9/11 Commission Act). Key government and industry stakeholders have taken actions to strengthen the security of commercial vehicles, but TSA has not assessed the effectiveness of federal programs. TSA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have implemented programs to strengthen security, particularly those emphasizing the protection of hazardous materials. States have also worked collaboratively to strengthen commercial vehicle security through their transportation and law enforcement officials' associations, and the establishment of fusion centers. TSA also has begun developing and using performance measures to monitor the progress of its program activities to secure the commercial vehicle sector, but has not developed measures to assess the effectiveness of these actions in mitigating security risks. Without such information, TSA will be limited in its ability to measure its success in enhancing commercial vehicle security. While TSA has also taken actions to improve coordination with federal, state, and industry stakeholders, more can be done to ensure that these coordination efforts enhance security for the sector. TSA signed joint agreements with DOT and supported the establishment of intergovernmental and industry councils to strengthen collaboration. TSA and DOT completed an agreement to avoid duplication of effort as required by the 9/11 Commission Act. However, some state and industry officials GAO interviewed reported that TSA had not clearly defined stakeholder roles and responsibilities consistent with leading practices for collaborating agencies. TSA has not developed a means to monitor and assess the effectiveness of its coordination efforts. Without enhanced coordination with the states, TSA will have difficulty expanding its vulnerability assessments.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Cathleen A. Berrick
Government Accountability Office: Homeland Security and Justice
(202) 512-3404
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To assist the Transportation Security Administration in more fully evaluating, selecting, and implementing commercial vehicle security risk mitigation activities, and to help strengthen the security of commercial vehicles in the United States and leverage the knowledge and practices employed by key federal and nonfederal stakeholders, the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration should establish a plan and a time frame for completing risk assessments of the commercial vehicle sector, and use this information to support future updates to the Transportation Sector Strategic Plan, to include conducting: (1) to the extent feasible, assessments that include information about the likelihood of a terrorist attack method on a particular asset, system, or network as required by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan; (2) a vulnerability assessment of the commercial vehicle sector, including: assessing the scope and method of assessments required to gauge the sector's vulnerabilities; considering the findings and recommendations of the Missouri pilot evaluation report to strengthen future Corporate Security Reviews; and enhancing direct coordination with state governments to expand the Transportation Security Administration's field inspection Corporate Security Review capacities; (3) consequence assessments of the commercial vehicle sector, or developing alternative strategies to assess potential consequences of attacks, such as coordinating with other Sector-Specific Agencies to leverage their consequence assessment efforts.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Border and Transportation Security: Transportation Security Administration
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To assist the Transportation Security Administration in more fully evaluating, selecting, and implementing commercial vehicle security risk mitigation activities, and to help strengthen the security of commercial vehicles in the United States and leverage the knowledge and practices employed by key federal and nonfederal stakeholders, the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration should, in future updates to the Highway Infrastructure and Motor Carrier Annex to the Transportation Sector Security Plan, clarify the basis for the agency's security strategy of focusing on the transportation of hazardous materials, the relative risk of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices to the sector, and, based on the relative risk of these threats, any risk mitigation activities to be implemented to address them.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Border and Transportation Security: Transportation Security Administration
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To assist the Transportation Security Administration in more fully evaluating, selecting, and implementing commercial vehicle security risk mitigation activities, and to help strengthen the security of commercial vehicles in the United States and leverage the knowledge and practices employed by key federal and nonfederal stakeholders, the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration should develop outcome-based performance measures, to the extent possible, to assess the effectiveness of federal programs to enhance the security of the commercial vehicle sector.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Border and Transportation Security: Transportation Security Administration
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To assist the Transportation Security Administration in more fully evaluating, selecting, and implementing commercial vehicle security risk mitigation activities, and to help strengthen the security of commercial vehicles in the United States and leverage the knowledge and practices employed by key federal and nonfederal stakeholders, the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration should establish a process to strengthen coordination with the commercial vehicle industry, including ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of industry and government are fully defined and clearly communicated; new approaches to enhance communication are considered; and monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of its coordination efforts.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Border and Transportation Security: Transportation Security Administration
Status: In process
Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
