ABSTRACT

Keywords: surface transportation, emergency management, homeland security, transportation infrastructure, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Customs Service, Border Patrol, NAFTA, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Transportation Research Board, Department of Energy

• Identify the principal federal organizations with responsibility for emergency management and homeland security for the surface transportation sector

• Identify the sources of planning assistance and grants for emergency management and homeland security for the surface transportation sector

Disasters and the Surface Transportation System “All disasters are local” is an o§en repeated quote from James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Clinton administration. Every emergency, disaster or catastrophe starts in someone’s local jurisdiction. Sylves (2008) notes that local capability to respond to these events varies widely, depending on the size of the community and the sophistication of its risk analysis. “In the United States, government management of major disasters is done through intergovernmental relations…[with] a tremendous degree of overlap” (p. 221).