David S. Ortiz

Maritime Terrorism: Risk and Liability

This book examines terrorism liability and risk issues connected with two general types of maritime scenarios - terrorist attacks on containerized shipping and terrorist attacks on passenger ships. The book investigates underlying vulnerabilities, threats and potential consequences, and combines this data to create a picture of the relative risks of different terrorism scenarios. The book discusses key concepts, ambiguities, and legal authorities that would be appropriate in ascertaining civil liability for maritime terrorist acts. It addresses third party (commercial) defendants, particularly. The book offers insights into the nature of maritime terrorism risk and also the methods in which government might respond to that risk through the civil justice system. It combines the exploration of liability and risk in a single study.

Evaluating the Viability of 100 Per Cent Container Inspection at America’s Ports

This chapter presented a cost-benefit analysis of 100 per cent scanning of sea containers that are coming into US ports. The mode uses cost estimates associated with equipment acquisition, operations and maintenance, inspector pay and the delay in delivery of goods. The benefits of the policy are the expected averted costs for preventing a terrorist attack.. The analysis does not consider the costs of allocating space for the scanning equipment and inspection stations at ports, nor the benefits due to increased interception of illegal or misrepresented goods likely to occur from the imposition of 100 per cent scanning. The chapter found the following conclusions: (1) adopting a policy of 100 per cent scanning with current technology is not viable because of restriction on land and personnel: (2) this is a ripe area for future work because complete scanning would most likely deter terrorist and smugglers; (3) the base policy assumed that 5 per cent of incoming containers were selected for random scanning; and (4) the port area for scanning and inspection was critical driver of a policy’s viability.

Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials established the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-83 research series to examine global and domestic long-range strategic issues and their implications for departments of transportation (DOTs) to help prepare the DOTs for the challenges and benefits created by these trends. NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 5: Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future is the fifth report in this series. This report examines how the mandate, role, funding, and operations of state departments of transportation (DOTs) will likely be affected by changes in energy supply and demand in the next 30 to 50 years, and identifies potential strategies and actions that DOTs can employ to plan and prepare for these effects. The report describes how robust decision-making techniques can be used to help navigate the potential risks and rewards of different policy and management responses under differing surface transportation energy supply-and- demand scenarios. The report will be useful to senior policy analysts and long-range planning officials who want to more effectively understand and manage energy uncertainty as part of policy development and long-range planning activities.