Transportation Security 2

Risk Management and Transportation

Transportation security has been at the center of the homeland security enterprise since the 9/11 attacks demonstrated how transportation infrastructure could be turned into weapons to strike the homeland.

In the two decades since the attacks, broad and deep changes have been made to the ways that authorities secure transportation networks and infrastructure, as well as the strategies that guide their response. The screening of air passengers by the Transportation Security Administration (and international travelers by U.S. Customs and Border Protection) have been the most visible components of transportation security, but there are many other aspects involved in securing transportation networks.

This course provides background on the foundational doctrine of risk management that authorities use to manage threats concealed within massive transport flows of people and goods, examines the evolving nature of traveler security and the expansion of the Transportation Security Administration, describes cargo security efforts in different transportation modes, and finally analyzes the security challenges presented by surface transportation, including rail and passenger vehicles.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, users should:

• Gain a clear understanding of the concept of risk management and the strategies authorities have designed to implement it
• Obtain a strategic understanding of the Transportation Security Administration and the key programs and policies it employs to secure commercial passenger air travel
• develop a familiarity with cargo screening processes, which represent a substantial challenge for transportation security

Finally, the course provides users with a general overview of surface and rail transportation security issues.  

About the Instructors

The instructors are partners at New Macro Risks, a business intelligence firm providing strategic insights into today’s most pressing homeland security challenges.

Alan Bersin has held numerous high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice. Most recently, after serving as the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Bersin served as the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Chief Diplomatic Officer for DHS. Previously, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. He also served as a Vice President for the Americas and on the Executive Committee of INTERPOL. Bersin is a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center and a Senior Fellow with the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Nate Bruggeman held senior policy positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection addressing border security, law enforcement intelligence, and U.S.-Mexico engagement. He has also had a distinguished legal career, most recently at the Colorado Department of Law and previously in private practice. Bruggeman is a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center’s Homeland Security Project and the Executive Editor of its Homeland Security Policy Paper Series.

Ben Rohrbaugh has been at the forefront of border and supply chain security and advancing U.S.-Mexico relations for over a decade. Rohrbaugh held senior policy positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and he was a Director on the White House’s National Security Council where he developed policy on border and supply chain security issues. Rohrbaugh is currently a Fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas-Austin, and he is the author of the acclaimed More or Less Afraid of Nearly Everything: Homeland Security, Borders, and Disasters in the Twenty-first Century.