Safety & Security Federal Actions

The federal government of the United States has slowly begun to pay attention to the security of school bus transportation. Listed here are links to the federal initiatives taken to date:

• TSA School Bus Threat Assessment
  Ordered by Congress as a result of the 9/11 Commission Report, TSA completed a security assessment on the vulnerabilities of school bus security in 2010. The report is not for public consumption but can be requested by school district and school bus operator personnel through a direct appeal to TSA

• The Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program (I-STEP)
  The TSA’s Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program provides exercise, training and security planning tools and services to the transportation community, including to school districts and private bus companies for student transportation

• Transportation Security Administration Makes School Bus Drivers Eligible Under New First Observer Trucking Security Program:
  Train-the-trainer curriculum available (July 2009)

• Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Rolls Out School Transportation Security Awareness Training:
  (updated March 25, 2008 – new Web site)

• Letter from Jennifer Dorn, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration:
  (January 21, 2005)

• Public Transportation and School Buses, Federal Transit Administration
  (January, 2005)

• Employee Guide to School Bus Security: Identifying Security Threats Maritime & Land Security of the Transportation Security Administration

• Department of Homeland Security Announces Additional $21 Million Grant in Partnership with American Trucking Association:
  (Sept 13, 2004) Funds enabled the School Bus Watch driver training program, the precursor to First Observer

• Congress, Bush Administration Designate School Bus Service as ‘Mass Transportation’

• USA Patriots Act, H.R. 3162 Section 801 “Terrorist Attacks and Other Acts of Violence Against Mass Transportation Systems, (C) (5):
  “The term ‘mass transportation’ … shall include school bus …”
• The Relative Risks of School Travel: A National Perspective and Guidance for Local Community Risk Assessment (July 25, 2002)
  Report by the Transportation Research Board submitted to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives

• Sec. 801 Terrorist Attacks and Other Acts of Violence Against Mass Transportation Systems:
  (Chapter 97 of title 18, United States Code, Sec. 1993)

• Alerts from the Department of Homeland Security:
  • Alert 1
  • Alert 2