Executive Summary
The white paper assesses the national resilience state, particularly in the transportation sector, by emphasizing the existing approaches and their efficiency in enabling homeland security. As the “senior non-political member of the Department of Homeland Security” for 15 years, the paper identifies the issues experienced by the transportation sector and proposes strategies or approaches to address gaps, thus improving resilience.
Introduction
National resilience is a vital homeland security component, encompassing the ability to recover, anticipate, absorb, and adapt to different threats. The transportation sector often plays a vital role in maintaining the movement of goods, services, and people across the country. This white paper explores the national resilience state with a particular aim on transportation by evaluating the strategies or approaches to enable its resilience.
Strategies in Place to Enable National Resilience in The Transportation Sector
Different strategies have been implemented to enable national resilience in the transportation sector. The strategies include: First, the “Department of Homeland Security” carries out comprehensive risk assessments to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities to the transportation area (Argyroudis et al., 2019). This involves evaluating important transportation assets, carrying out an analysis of the physical infrastructure, and an assessment of the various hazards’ potential impact. Second, local, federal, and state agencies should collaborate to develop “comprehensive emergency response plans,” particularly tailored to transportation disruptions. Such outline procedures, roles, and responsibilities for different stakeholders who will ensure an efficient and coordinated response during the crises.
Third, enhancing public-private partnerships. Collaborative efforts between the stakeholders of the private sector and the government entities should be established to enable transportation resilience. This involves sharing expertise, information, and resources to collectively address its challenges and improve recovery capabilities, preparedness, and response (Laspidou et al., 2020). Fourth, the government should allocate funding, especially for projects of transportation infrastructure, which prioritize resilience. This involves incorporating resilience principles, upgrading the aging infrastructure, and implementing advanced technologies into modern transportation systems’ design and construction.
Nevertheless, federal agencies, like the “Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security,” work harmoniously to enhance transportation resilience. This harmonious collaboration enables common standards and practices development, information sharing, and joint exercises across different means of transportation (Renne et al., 2020). Moreover, efforts are being made to strengthen the transportation systems’ cybersecurity. This includes conducting vulnerability assessments, implementing robust cybersecurity protocols, and enabling awareness and training programs for transportation personnel to mitigate cyber risks. Also, investments in development and research support innovative technologies’ advancement and strategies or approaches to improving transportation resilience. This involves examining new processes, systems, and materials, enhancing the transportation infrastructure’s ability to recover and withstand disruptions. Finally, strategies are also in place to improve interoperability and coordination among various means of transportation. This enhances the easy movement of people and goods across different transportation networks, thus decreasing vulnerabilities and enabling overall resilience. Therefore, by implementing and regularly improving such strategies or approaches, the transportation sector may enable its resilience, thus contributing to national resilience. However, ongoing collaboration, evaluation, and adaptation are important in efficiently addressing emerging challenges and threats.
The Gaps in Transportation on National Resilience
Various gaps exist in assessing the national resilience state, especially in transportation. One of the significant gaps is the issue of aging or old transportation infrastructure. Most ports, roads, airports, bridges, and railways nationwide need upgrades and modernization because they are deteriorating quickly (Koc et al., 2020). These aging infrastructures often lead to a rise in vulnerability to disruptions by limiting the ability of the sector to recover and withstand various threats. Second, the transportation field is highly interconnected, with various transportation means which rely on each other to enhance efficient functioning. However, this interdependency may also pose vulnerability. This is because disruptions in one transportation mode, like the closure of a major airport or a bridge collapse, may have cascading impacts on other means of transportation by disrupting the general transportation network.
Also, while significant efforts have been put in place to allocate funding for infrastructural transportation, there still needs to be a gap in resource availability, mainly dedicated to enabling resilience. Decreased financial resources may prevent the needed resilience measures implementation by impeding the sector’s ability to address the vulnerabilities proactively. Nevertheless, the ever-rising reliance on technology and digitization in transportation systems have often exposed the field to cybersecurity dangers or threats (Buinevich et al., 2019). The cyberattacks, especially on transportation infrastructure, may result in compromised safety and disruptions, thus leading to significant adverse economic effects. Therefore, addressing the cybersecurity vulnerabilities by ensuring the transportation systems’ resilience against cyber threats is vital to address this critical gap.
The field of transportation is vulnerable to climate change impacts, involving more intense and frequent changing precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise. Therefore, climate resilience must be integrated into operational practices, transportation planning, and infrastructural design. It is crucial to address this gap to ensure the ability of the sector to adapt and withstand climate-related disruptions (Feofilovs et al., 2021). Nonetheless, empowering and engaging communities in response efforts and preparedness is vital for efficient national resilience. Therefore, there needs to be more in the transportation sector to ensure that the societies residing near the transportation infrastructure are involved in decision-making processes and resilience planning, adequately informed, and prepared. Therefore, addressing such gaps in enhancing the transportation sector’s resilience and the general national resilience is vital.
Targeted investments and strategies should be implemented to allocate dedicated resources for resilience, address aging infrastructure, enhance cybersecurity measures, strengthen interagency coordination, promote community preparedness and engagement, and integrate climate resilience considerations (Hyman et al., 2019). The mentioned above actions will significantly contribute to a more resilient and robust transportation sector better equipped to withstand and recover from disruptions.
Addressing the Gaps
In addressing the gaps found in national resilience, especially within the transportation field, the following measures may be taken: first is prioritizing funding for the modernization of transportation infrastructure and resilience upgrades (Sadatsafavi et al., 2019). This involves investing in upgrading and repairing aging ports, roads, airports, bridges, and railways. This can be done by incorporating resilience principles into the infrastructure design to enable construction that may withstand potential threats. Also enhancing collaboration and coordination among local, state, and federal transportation agencies. Sharing best practices, establishing clear communication lines, and conducting joint training and exercises will improve coordination, especially during emergencies. Therefore, developing integrated plans addressing interdependencies ensures a unified response across various transportation modes.
Third, allocating dedicated resources, particularly for enabling transportation resilience, and increasing funding for research and development initiatives aimed at resilient infrastructure design, resilience technologies, and innovative materials. This can be done by providing financial support to transportation agencies that can implement resilience measures and incorporate resilience considerations into their planning and operations. Fourth, implementing quality cybersecurity measures to protect transportation systems from external cyber threats (Hyman et al., 2019). This involves creating incident response protocols, carrying out frequent vulnerability assessments, and enhancing network security. This can be done through collaborating with the private sector and cybersecurity experts to stay ahead of ever-changing cyber risks and ensure efficient cyber resilience.
Nevertheless, integrating considerations of climate resilience into transportation sector planning, design, and operations should be embraced. Vulnerability assessments should be carried out to enable the identification of climate-related risks and the development of adaptation approaches for mitigating their effects. Projections and climate data should be incorporated into decision-making processes to ensure long-term resilience, especially against climate change effects (Singh et al., 2023). Finally, investing in innovation and research to develop advanced strategies, technologies, and materials will enable transportation resilience. Therefore, encouraging collaboration between government, academia, and industrial agencies is vital in driving innovation and developing advanced solutions for resilient transportation systems. Therefore, addressing such measures requires a multi-level strategy involving local, state, federal, private, and public sector collaboration.
Conclusion
Enabling national resilience, especially within the transportation field important for homeland security. While the existing strategies or approaches have often made progress, challenges like the climate change effects persist, aging infrastructure, interdependencies, and cybersecurity threats. The transportation field may improve its general resilience by investing in infrastructure, fostering interagency collaboration, strengthening cybersecurity measures, and integrating climate resilience into planning processes. The efforts also will contribute to a more resilient and secure nation.
References
Renne, J., Wolshon, B., Murray-Tuite, P., & Pande, A. (2020). Emergence of resilience as a framework for state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in the United States. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 82, 102178. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920918309519
Feofilovs, M., & Romagnoli, F. (2021). Dynamic assessment of urban resilience to natural hazards. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 62, 102328. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921002946
Sadatsafavi, H., Kim, A. A., Anderson, S. D., & Bishop, P. (2019). Scenario planning application in the US highway transportation industry. Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 25(2), 05019002. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29IS.1943-555X.0000474
Laspidou, C. S., Mellios, N. K., Spyropoulou, A. E., Kofinas, D. T., & Papadopoulou, M. P. (2020). Systems thinking on the resource nexus: Modeling and visualization tools to identify critical interlinkages for resilient and sustainable societies and institutions. Science of the Total Environment, 717, 137264. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720307749
Koc, E., Cetiner, B., Rose, A., Soibelman, L., Taciroglu, E., & Wei, D. (2020). CRAFT: Comprehensive resilience assessment framework for transportation systems in urban areas. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 46, 101159. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474034620301300
Argyroudis, S. A., Mitoulis, S. Α., Winter, M. G., & Kaynia, A. M. (2019). Fragility of transport assets exposed to multiple hazards: State-of-the-art review toward infrastructural resilience. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 191, 106567. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832018315254
Singh, P., Amekudzi-Kennedy, A., Ashuri, B., Chester, M., Labi, S., & Wall, T. A. (2023). Developing adaptive resilience in infrastructure systems: an approach to quantify long-term benefits. Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, 8(sup1), 26-47. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23789689.2022.2126631
Buinevich, M., & Vladyko, A. (2019). Forecasting issues of wireless communication networks’ cyber resilience for an intelligent transportation system: An overview of cyber attacks. Information, 10(1), 27. https://www.mdpi.com/394890
Hyman, B. T., Alisha, Z., & Gordon, S. (2019). Secure controls for smart cities; applications in intelligent transportation systems and smart buildings. International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications, 8(6), 167-171. https://hal.science/hal-02273490/
Singh, P., Amekudzi-Kennedy, A., Ashuri, B., Chester, M., Labi, S., & Wall, T. A. (2023). Developing adaptive resilience in infrastructure systems: an approach to quantify long-term benefits. Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, 8(sup1), 26-47. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23789689.2022.2126631
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