Security Threat Assessments for Hazmat Drivers (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 25, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RL32740 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Paul F. Rothberg, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is gradually implementing Section 1012 of the USA PATRIOT Act (P.L. 107-56). This provision seeks to reduce some of the security risks associated with hazardous materials (hazmat) transportation by requiring a security threat assessment of drivers with a hazmat endorsement on their commercial drivers license (CDL). This process, which includes immigration and database checks, may deter a terrorist from obtaining or keeping such an endorsement; nevertheless, the hazmat transportation system remains vulnerable to attack. Members of Congress are overseeing implementation of TSA's program, reviewing its financial impacts, and deciding whether to explicitly require in law a comparable review of Canadian- and Mexican-domiciled drivers transporting specified hazmats into the United States. Congress might consider whether to: help the states pay for their costs to implement TSA's program by specifying that any fee collected by TSA also must reflect state costs and must be shared with the states, conduct additional oversight on TSA's hazmat threat assessment process, evaluate whether TSA should be required to combine its hazmat security threat process with its Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) program, or delay the fingerprint-based portion of the check until the TWIC is deployed. Each of these options poses its own set of unique costs and benefits that would need to be evaluated. This report will not be updated.
