Security focus stays on planes, bioterror

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is expected to announce several new rail-security programs today to address a growing demand for security upgrades following the terrorist bombings in Madrid this month. But U.S. officials say most of their money and attention will remain on aviation security and bioterrorism. “It’s very important that we do not simply react to an incident that happens anywhere in the world,” says Asa Hutchinson, the border and transportation security chief at the Department of Homeland Security. In deciding how and where to spend taxpayers’ money, he says, “you have to measure the threat, the damage, the harm to the economy and to society.” Administration officials said Sunday that Ridge will announce several small-scale efforts to tighten rail security. The department will create a “rapid-deployment mass transit program,” including teams with explosives-sniffing dogs that can be sent to vulnerable rail systems and stations when intelligence suggests a threat. The department also will speed up plans for a pilot program to test whether explosives-detection technology can be used to screen rail passengers and bags. The technology will be tested at a commuter rail station. Full Story