The Problem of Security on U.S. Transportation

May 23, 2006

Two University of South Florida students from Saudi Arabia remained in a Tampa, Fla., jail May 23 following their arrests four days earlier on trespassing charges stemming from their unauthorized ride on a public school bus that was transporting high school students to classes. Authorities arrested Mana Saleh Almanajam and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran when the bus they had hopped near the university arrived at nearby Wharton High School.

Almanajam and Alsidran, who arrived in the United States six months ago on Saudi government scholarships, are among 76 Saudi students taking part in a scholarship program introduced in 2005 by U.S. President George W. Bush and Saudi King Abdullah aimed at increasing Saudi enrollment in U.S. universities.

In all likelihood, this is simply a case of two foreign students being unaware of regulations against riding public school buses. It is common for foreign university students to unknowingly commit misdemeanor crimes such as public consumption of alcohol, for example. The fact that the two have given conflicting stories about themselves and their reasons for boarding the bus, however, does raise suspicions. They initially claimed to be Moroccans rather that Saudi Arabians, and first said they took the bus in order to enroll in an easier English-language course. They then said they just wanted to see an American high school, and finally said they thought the trip would be fun.

Allowing the two to board a school bus in the first place was an egregious breach of security. The bus driver on duty that day was not regularly assigned to that route and therefore could not have known whether Almanajam and Alsidran actually were high school students. Still, the fact that one of them was wearing a trench coat in 80-degree Tampa heat should have raised a red flag. It was not until students alerted the bus driver to the presence of the two that she radioed the school district, and Tampa Sheriff's deputies were notified. The students also used their cell phones to notify their parents of the incident. Had this been an attack, warnings to police would have come entirely too late.

Although the pair's real motives remain unclear, the case highlights the lack of security in U.S. transit systems. In countries targeted by militants, public transit drivers often are the first line of defense against an attack. In Israel, which has seen dozens of suicide bombings aboard city buses, drivers have the authority and obligation to screen boarding passengers. In many cases, alert Israeli bus drivers have saved the lives of their passengers by denying entry and in some cases physically fighting off would-be suicide bombers. A suspicious individual wearing a trench coat in 80-degree heat, for instance, most certainly would be denied entry into an Israeli bus.

In light of the July 2005 London Underground
bombings and the March 2004 Madrid train attack, New York City recently announced plans to install several digital video cameras in city buses in an attempt to further protect against crimes ranging from terrorist activity to petty theft. Although cameras can provide excellent footage of an attack as it occurs, they do little to prevent an attack. Given the demonstrated militant preference for hitting transportation targets, transit operators must be vigilant.

© Copyright 2006 Strategic Forecasting Inc.