(Traffic World Magazine posted the following article by John D. Schulz on its website on March 21.)
NEW YORK — As a result of the war in Iraq, the federal government is issuing a single point of contact phone number to report suspicious activity or potential threats involving maritime and surface transportation, a top official is telling transportation stakeholders.
Richard Bennis, the Transportation Security Administration’s assistant administrator for maritime and land security, says the hotline numbers are being issued “in the interest of maintaining comprehensive domain awareness of the transportation system.”
The Transportation Security Administration requests that its stakeholders utilize the phone numbers below to notify the TSA of potential threats or significant security incidents involving maritime and surface transportation. Notifications to TSA should be made in the first round of notifications made outside your company or association.
The TSA says examples of potential threats include, but are not limited to, bomb threats, suspicious activities and suspected sabotage. Examples of significant security incidents include, but are not limited to, sabotage, violent attacks on or destruction of property and people, and hijackings.
TSA requests that notification originate from your company or association’s security office through a single point of contact.
The Transportation Security Administration 24-hour Command Center’s numbers are 1-(571) 227-1881 and (571)-227-1882.
The TSA says these numbers should only be used in serious situations and are not intended to supersede the normal notification channels that your office follows (i.e. notifying local emergency services, FBI, etc.). E-mail notification may also be made at tsa:hqcac@tsa.dot.gov.