ATA supports formation of terrorist warning system

Director of homeland security Tom Ridge unveiled the Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS) yesterday, which break up warnings of terrorist threats into five distinct levels from low to severe. Canary said that the ATA supports turning TIPS into reality and hopes to connect several ATA programs to the TIPS network.

Those ATA programs include Highway Watch, developed in 1998 with FMCSA. The program trains professional truck drivers to recognize and report to designated state law enforcement agencies both emergency situations and suspicious activity.

"We believe the Highway Watch program can be easily and efficiently transformed in a rapid manner to a security program within TIPS," Canary wrote in a letter to Ridge. "Enlisting America's 3.1 million professional truck drivers nationwide to serve as the eyes and ears adjunct to law enforcement would have a tremendous impact on efforts to prevent terrorist attacks at home."