This issue of Center Point highlights AASHTO’s Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM).   SCOTSEM’s body of work was shaped in light of the challenges the nation faced after the attacks on September 11, 2001; ten years later SCOTSEM leaders understood the importance of sharpening the Committee’s focus to address the emerging challenges facing the transportation sector related to infrastructure protection and emergency management.  A decade’s worth of technology innovations serving the field provided the platform on which the Committee based its new agenda.

Serving as its Chair since April 2011 is Brian Ness who took on this role a little over a year after becoming director of the Idaho Transportation Department. In addition to Brian, the SCOTSEM leadership consists of vice chair Chuck Runyon, three technical working groups (infrastructure protection / security, emergency management, and research) along with four regional working groups.  Under this leadership, SCOTSEM has become a crucial source of knowledge for transportation departments nationwide.  Its efforts have led to the doubling of attendance at annual SCOTSEM meetings to more than forty states. The Committee also introduced a new, 4^th Generation Strategic Plan that aligns with AASHTO’s new direction and establishes a strong foundation for future activities. The new organizational structure for the committee, which includes a working group for each of the four AASHTO regions in addition to its three technical working groups, has been well received by the committee members and could be a model for other special and standing committees in AASHTO.

The new SCOTSEM strategic plan (drawn from the approach used by Chairman Ness at the Idaho Transportation Department) focuses on accountability, productivity, and performance measures, which also complements AASHTO’s new priorities.

The Special Committee’s work benefits greatly from expanded partnerships with other national transportation organizations, such as the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Transportation Security Administration, all of which share SCOTSEM’s commitment to preparedness and response.

NOCoE tips its cap to Brian and his team and encourages the TSM&O community to contribute to and benefit from SCOTSEM’s work.

SCOTSEM has two recently released publications:

1. Managing Catastrophic Transportation Emergencies: A Guide for Transportation Executives, which was developed to assist new Chief Executives of state DOTs and is based on the thoughts and advice of transportation leaders who have been in similar positions; and

2. Fundamental Capabilities of Effective All-Hazards Infrastructure Protection, Resilience, and Emergency Management for State Departments of Transportation, which synthesizes the most recent federal and state guidance and research from a state DOT perspective and lays out a set of capabilities for state DOTs that addresses all-hazards infrastructure protection, resilience, and emergency management and reflects National Preparedness Goals.