Transportation Security: Transportation Activities Account

¶ … Transportation Security:

Transportation activities account for a significant portion of the country's gross domestic product and more than 10 million jobs. Despite of the critical importance of this trade activity, the global transportation system and industry has continued to be inherently fragile. The global transportation industry is still vulnerable to considerable terrorist activities to extent that many people think that such activities will have destructive and long-lasting impacts on the entire global trade system. The recent terrorist events like the 9/11 attacks have contributed to the recognition of the need to enhance the security of the transportation industry, which has become a critical element of many transportation agencies (Ritter, Barrett & Wilson, 2006). As these events and activities are increasing, enhancing transportation security in a global transportation industry is a national priority.

One of the major goals of the measures towards promoting transportation security is lessening the risk of disruptions of trade in reaction to global security threats. As the world continues to be effectively interdependent and interconnected, security threats through the transportation industry have also become standardized. The maintenance of transportation security has become an important face of the global transportation industry since links to security threats usually span over large distances. Consequently, these threats have become relatively difficult to control because they are organized across several different environments. The enhancement of transportation security not only helps in developing global transportation capabilities but it's also beneficial in dealing with these tactics.

While several portions of the global transportation network have been heavily inspected, various governmental and regulatory policies and initiatives have been implemented. Regardless of these measures, analysts and experts in the transportation industry still concur that this system remains susceptible to significant terrorist events. The vulnerability has in turn increased the need enhancing global transportation security. As a result, various regulations have already been enacted such as hazardous material regulations, restricted hours of operation, speed limits, and restricted landings and departures. Moreover, various agencies have included compulsory deterrence and detection initiatives in order to further enhance transportation security. These agencies have also implemented practices that are geared towards detecting product tampering and theft. As part of enhancing the detection of transportation security, some of the most common practices that are used today include monitoring devices, surveillance cameras, quick-response capabilities, and satellite tracking.

Since these strategies do not fully prevent security attacks in the global transportation industry, co-operation and coordination with international allies and partners is considered as an appropriate measure for preventing the transportation system from exploitation. Transportation security initiatives must be designed and harmonized globally since unilateral efforts are ineffective in preventing and mitigating security threats (Flynn, 2000). Actually, coordinated efforts promote security improvements in this system in the entire logistics and transportation networks.