EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The catastrophic events of September 11, 2001 and the ongoing war on terrorism have heightened the level of concern from Federal government officials and the transportation industry regarding the secure transport of hazardous materials (HAZMAT). Security concerns focus on the potential of HAZMAT shipments as targets for terrorists. HAZMAT shipments through intermodal connectors, modes, and facilities are all attractive targets for terrorists, and pose a much greater concern to public safety than most other shipment types. HAZMAT shipments, especially fuels and chemicals, are especially attractive targets due to the multiple points of vulnerability. These vulnerabilities exist at shipper, motor carrier, and shipment recipient facilities, and during shipment movement en route throughout the nation's roadway infrastructure.

Numerous international and domestic incidents occurred over the past several years that demonstrate the real threat potential that HAZMAT shipments pose. For example, the following events all occurred in a 2-month period in 2002:

• March 31, 2002: A 29-year-old driver for a propane distributor drove away with a 3,000-gallon bobtail. He made a telephone threat stating that he wanted to kill President George W. Bush and that he would use the bobtail as a "bomb".

• April 11, 2002: A terrorist driving a truck carrying liquefied natural gas ignited his cargo in front of a synagogue on the Tunisian Island of Djerba, killing 17 people, mainly German and French tourists. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the blast.

• May 16, 2002: A tractor-trailer carrying 10 tons of deadly cyanide in 96 drums was stolen after three armed men held up the vehicle north of Mexico City. Six drums were never found.

• May 2002: A fully loaded tanker truck pulled into Israel's largest fuel depot and suddenly caught fire due to an explosive charge connected to a cellular phone. The fire was extinguished, but had the truck exploded, destruction and death would have resulted.

Events such as these demonstrate the security and safety risks associated with HAZMAT shipments. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), working in close cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), has attempted to proactively address public and private sector HAZMAT security concerns by identifying potential security risks related to HAZMAT transportation and proposing solutions to minimize those risks. FMCSA embarked on a program to improve HAZMAT security and safety by using regulatory measures, security assessments, and outreach efforts.

Part of this effort was to sponsor an industry competitive procurement to conduct a national-level field operational test (FOT). This resulted in FMCSA awarding a contract for a team led by the Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle) (Deployment Team) to test currently existing major technologies that could offer solutions to minimize security risks of truck-based HAZMAT shipments. Supporting Deployment Team members included: QUALCOMM; the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI); the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA); Savi Technologies; the Biometrics Solutions Group (BSG); Total Security-US; and the Spill Center.

To evaluate the technologies tested in this FOT, their costs, benefits, and the operational processes require to be performed, the FMCSA, supported by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)/Joint Program Office (JPO), awarded an Independent Evaluation contract in August 2002. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (Evaluation Team) led the Independent Evaluation for this HAZMAT FOT.

Overview of the Field Operational Test

This Hazardous Materials Safety and Security Technology Field Operational Test was focused on four different HAZMAT truck transportation scenarios representing the following industry segments:

• Bulk Petroleum
• Bulk Chemical
• Less-than-Truckload (LTL)
• Truckload Explosives industries

The scenarios were chosen based on the results of a hazardous materials risk and threat assessment that was conducted as the initial phase of this project by the Deployment Team, and was combined with a desire to test the technology in different industry types. The risk and threat assessment methodology was used to identify the types of materials that were of highest concern, as well as the most likely attack scenarios (theft of a material, interception/diversion, and legal exploitation). Specific vulnerabilities were also identified during this phase of the project, which served as the basis for selecting the technologies within each scenario.

As detailed in Table 1, a wide variety of existing technologies were tested within each scenario. These technologies were integrated based on meeting specific functional requirements that FMSCA had set for the Deployment Team contract.¹ FMCSA also stipulated that these would need to be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies, such that they could conceivably be implemented rapidly by the motor carrier industry in the very near future.

Table 1. Overview of HAZMAT FOT Technologies

The technologies were grouped together into several packages within each scenario. The grouping assisted in addressing the wide range of vulnerabilities identified in the risk/threat assessment, and for testing several different cost tiers reflecting a range of carrier deployment options based on market conditions. Based on this premise, the various technology components were separated into six technology tiers, ranging from a low-end cost of approximately $800 per vehicle to a high-end of approximately $3,500 per vehicle.

The technologies were matched to testing scenarios, which were developed to address the functional requirements and the threats and vulnerabilities identified in the Threat/Risk Assessment. With the overall goal of the FOT being to test technologies installed in 100 vehicles, each scenario tested a total of 25 vehicles, with various combinations of technology installed on each vehicle. Table 2 provides a summary of each scenario and the technology components to be tested by scenario.

Table 2. Overview of HAZMAT FOT Scenarios

Before full operational testing began in September 2003, a series of Beta Tests were conducted in early July 2003 to validate the system components. For this testing, QUALCOMM utilized its unique "Technology Truck," which allowed for all of the prototype system hardware to be connected to an operational test vehicle. The truck was then driven on several specified routes for the 5-day duration of Beta testing to validate the system design and operational concept.

Full operational testing commenced in September 2003 and continued through April 2004, based on the four scenarios detailed above. Additionally, some testing was conducted between February and May 2004 to examine potential public sector technologies that could interface with the prototype system.

Independent Evaluation Technical Approach

In order of priority, the primary evaluation impact categories examined by the Evaluation Team were security, operational efficiency, and safety.² As detailed in Figure 1 on the succeeding page, these impact categories feed the benefit-cost analysis according to macroeconomic/ societal (macro) public sector benefit-cost results (stemming from security benefits) and microeconomic/industry (micro) private sector benefit-cost results (derived from operational efficiency benefits). The macro/societal and micro/industry benefit-cost measurements analysis was conducted to determine the following:

• Do the technologies provide significant macro security and safety benefits?

• If so, are the industry operational efficiency benefits significant enough to drive widespread industry deployment of test technology systems, or is government action warranted to facilitate wide-scale deployment?

The evaluation assessments were conducted within the scope of the FOT and extended the FOT findings to the larger universe of truck-based HAZMAT shipments (for the four primary scenario load types) through rigorous analytical frameworks. These frameworks utilized:

• Primary and secondary industry survey data;

• Detailed motor carrier census records;

• Market analysis of technology products and services that are commercially available; and

• The informed opinions provided by two groups of leading national experts in HAZMAT shipping, public safety, security and risk assessment - an Expert Steering Committee and a 26-member Delphi Panel.

Based on the results of the testing of the technologies in this FOT, these assessments were then made for each scenario to determine what measurable benefits existed. Following this, analytical frameworks were applied to monetize potential benefits and to weigh these against any costs that would have to be incurred to realize the benefits.

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to support the technology-based and system-based evaluations. Qualitative data were derived from on-site observations and personal interviews during the FOT. Information was gathered on such topics as the operational effectiveness of the technology, customer satisfaction, and institutional challenges. For example, drivers were asked about the ease of use of the various technologies, and how adding the technology impacted their daily operations. Quantitative data was collected primarily through system-generated archived reports, providing ongoing data collection of use and performance of technology applications throughout the FOT.

Figure 1. Evaluation Framework

Footnotes

¹ It should be noted that this evaluation does not endorse any one vendor or another through the results of this evaluation or the functional product descriptions that follow. The evaluation's focus was to explore the functionality represented by the cited product types tested during the FOT. It was necessary for this test to consider individual products to collect quantitative and qualitative test data for the FOT. The specific products used in this FOT should be thought of as being representative for a class of products that exhibit similar functionalities in the field, and not as the only technology products to provide potential benefits in regard to HAZMAT security and operational efficiency.

² While safety was originally considered as a potential significant impact category for this FOT, it should be noted that the test technologies were designed to enable real-time communications and information exchange among drivers, dispatchers, and other authorized parties; track assets; secure vehicles, loads, and shipping documentation; and enable driver or automated exception alerts in response to crises or deviations in operational characteristics outside of set parameters. The technologies themselves and their usage are not specifically designed to provide explicit or traditional safety benefits (i.e., direct technology intervention to avoid a crash).

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