Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-10th District), co-chair with Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Mich) of the Congressional ITS Caucus, spoke on "ITS and Security" at the California ITS Technology Security Summit in Concord May 28. Tauscher sits on both the House Transportation and Armed Services Committees.

"The ITS caucus has 22 members now, and we're recruiting," she said. "There are places in this country where asphalt is still king, where they don't necessarily see a benefit from ITS, but they're beginning to get it.

The goal of the ITS Technology Security Summit is to create an understanding of current and future security issues facing regional, state and federal multi-modal surface transportation systems.

"Before September 11," Congresswoman Tauscher said, "intelligent transportation systems were nice-to-haves, but now they're have-to-haves."

In the event of a terrorist attack on our vulnerable surface transportation system, "We can use technology to minimize the impacts and maximize our ability to respond and recover."

"We need to have a cabinet level office of homeland security so you can bring your concerns and wares to one place rather than to forty agencies."

CCIT Executive Director Hamed Benouar, speaking on "ITS for Critical Infrastructure Protection," emphasized ITS' importance to national defense.

"We have been focusing on ITS for efficiency and safety; now we need to do some reverse engineering to adapt those systems to meet our security needs," he said. "We are spending millions of dollars on new systems, but we should consider first building on existing intelligent infrastructure, fill the gaps and leverage the ITS investments we already have in place".

The ITS Security Summit was sponsored by the California Alliance for Advanced Transportation Systems (CAATS). PATH Deputy Director Steve Shladover and CCIT Director Benouar sit on the CAATS Board of Directors.

Congresswoman Tauscher and PATH Publications Manager Bill Stone at
PATH'S Security Summit Exhibit