Mass Transit Security:
Protecting Our Railways & Subways
Traditional checkpoints, like those at airports, are not efficient methods for screening the millions of riders that use U.S. mass transit systems each day. Given the security risks that this presents, it is important to leverage university and industry research to develop technologies that would allow for the rapid screening of threats to people and carried items at a distance including explosives, chemical and biological agents, and toxic industrial chemicals.
How can mass transit authorities, technology developers, first responders, government officials, and the general public work together to address these challenges and accomplish the following?
1. Work with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and mass transit operators across the country to develop and evaluate screening technologies that would enhance security in a wide variety of mass transportation venues;
2. Improve technologies that would allow transit operators to detect and/or potentially identify the presence of operational threats to include explosives, toxic industrial chemicals, chemical warfare agents, biological warfare agents, drugs and narcotics;
3. Develop non-invasive imaging systems to detect explosives or chemical threats that could be used to screen people, in a high-throughput mode while maintaining individual privacy, before they enter mass transit systems;
4. Develop new technologies that will provide enhanced trace detection capabilities for the detection of explosives, chemical and biological threats;
5. Improve canine proficiency for the detection of explosives in carried items, on people and in potential leave behinds;
6. Improve capabilities to rapidly detect an aerosolized biological agent , chemical agent, or toxic industrial chemical to prevent spread, and confirm the effectiveness of the recovery and remediation actions to assure public health and worker safety prior to reoccupation and reuse; and
7. Enhance decision support tools for urban planners and first responders to restore normal business operations following a chemical or biological attack.
DHS S&T needs your requirements and ideas to help guide the investment in these technology development areas and trust interested parties will view this activity as an opportunity to influence decision-makers.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS!
To post your ideas, just click the “Submit New Idea” button at the top of the screen (on the right!).
