California Transportation Security Summits

In the aftermath of September 11, it became undeniably clear that terrorists target civil transport systems and are willing to use transport systems as weapons of mass destruction as well as targets. In response to this threat, America ’s transportation community must adopt more effective measures to insure the safety of the millions of passengers and employees who use or work in transit facilities every day. To meet this heightened responsibility, leaders of the transportation community need high-quality information and appropriate policy guidance. 

To help meet this need, the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)—a leader in transportation terrorism research since the mid-1990s—invited California transit officials to regional summits on surface transportation security during the spring of 2002. Participants were able to interact with some of the nation’s foremost experts on the terrorist threat to transportation, asking them the vital questions that local transit officials need to ask as they prepare for an uncertain future. This innovative local summit was modeled on MTI’s successful national summit on transportation security, held in Washington , D.C. just six weeks after 9/11.