ITS and the battle against terrorism

Following the murderous events in Paris, investigators will be looking at how the terrorists’ plans could have been detected and foiled and why that did not happen in this case. Full details are not yet known but from the press reports it appears that there were several missed opportunities which centre on travel and transport: A car stopped by the German police was found to contain weapons and had a Paris address programed into its satellite navigation; the ‘mastermind’ has travelled undetected from Syria,
November 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

Following the murderous events in Paris, investigators will be looking at how the terrorists’ plans could have been detected and foiled and why that did not happen in this case. Full details are not yet known but from the press reports it appears that there were several missed opportunities which centre on travel and transport: A car stopped by the German police was found to contain weapons and had a Paris address programed into its satellite navigation; the ‘mastermind’ has travelled undetected from Syria, another two participants had travelled from Belgium in hired cars. After the atrocities took place another suspect is reported to have been stopped on their way to the Belgian border and then released.

If those initial reports turn out to be correct, then there are clearly internal communications issues for the security services to address but beyond that they will be looking at how such networks can be detected and their plots foiled. While the detection will probably centre on intercepting communications, preventing the perpetrators from arranging, equipping and carrying out their murderous deeds is likely to involve disrupting their travel plan. The reality is that the systems employed by the transportation sector are better equipped to detecting – or being modified to detect – the movement of marked individuals and suspect vehicles than any others currently deployed.

So in addition to tighter border controls, the response to Paris could involve road authorities, car hire and car share companies and transit operators having to monitor traffic and travellers for marked individuals. Furthermore, if one or more of these individuals is detected, there is likely to be a duty to inform the relevant authority.

While it probably won’t be long before we know the outcomes of these security reviews it seems clear that the transportation sector will be involved in countering future plots. Therefore it would be preferable for transportation authorities to participate in these conversations from the outset, rather than waiting for regulations to be imposed from on high.

Related Content

  • Frequency changes threaten vehicle safety applications
    January 24, 2012
    The use of frequency spectrum at 5.9GHz for vehicle safety applications is at risk because of two draft bills currently before Congress. Here, we look at why and what’s being done to address the issue. In the US, the right of cooperative infrastructure to use frequency at 5.9GHz is under threat as a result of the proposal of two bills in Congress. The chronology of spectrum allocation for Dedicated Short- Range Communications (DSRC)-based Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety a
    Read More
  • Impact of extreme weather phenomena on European transport system
    January 23, 2012
    The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland's Pekka Leviäkangas writes about the initial results of the EWENT project, which was set up to research the effects of severe weather on the European transport network. The European EWENT (Extreme Weather impacts on European Networks of Transport) project, financed by the European Commission under 7th Framework Programme for Research, recently issued its first Work Package (WP1) report. This is a review of extreme weather phenomena and their effects on the Europe
    Read More
  • Emissions reductions targets to have major impact on transport
    October 28, 2015
    As bold moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in California, David Crawford looks at the ramifications for transportation. California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent dramatic raising of the bar on emissions reduction policy for the state has won him praise from Japan, Australia, Europe and the secretariat of the critical UN conference on climate change being held in Paris in November/December 2015. His April 2015 executive order aimed at bringing emissions to 40% below 1990 lev
    Read More
  • Roadside infrastructure key to in-vehicle deployment
    November 28, 2013
    The implementation of in-vehicle systems will require multilateral cooperation, as Honda’s Sue Bai explains to Colin Sowman. Vehicle manufacturers will shape the future direction of in-vehicle ITS systems, but they can’t do it on their own. So to find out what they see on the horizon, and the obstacles they face, ITS International spoke to Sue Bai, principal engineer in the Automobile Technology Research Department with Honda R&D Americas. Not only does she play an important role in Honda’s US-based ITS
    Read More

Highlighted Content