Are Truck Bombs The Next Big Threat?

By John Cloud

While most of the nation was nervously following news of the mounting anthrax cases last week, some law-enforcement officials were equally disturbed by a less publicized crime in New Jersey. Authorities issued a national alert Wednesday morning after they learned that a tractor-trailer carrying what they thought might be hazardous materials had been stolen from Rockland Corp., a distributor of fertilizer and pesticides. Officials were relieved Friday when they found the truck's trailer, which contained 5 tons of lawn fertilizer. Rockland disclosed that the fertilizer in the truck was not the kind rich in ammonium nitrate, which can be used to build bombs.

But the disappearance of a truck loaded with chemicals helped confirm fears among many investigators that the next wave of terror could come not from deadly germs but from a simple truck carrying explosives or some other kind of deadly goo. Why fiddle with bacteria when you can simply drive a tanker full of gasoline into a building?

The Sept. 11 hijackings pointed up serious lapses in air safety, and it turns out that roads are no less vulnerable. The trucking industry loses as much as $12 billion a year in cargo thefts, which often occur when gun-wielding crooks surprise drivers as they nap or refuel. The robbers typically sell the cargo, if they can, and sometimes unload the big engines as well.

But what if a terrorist commandeered one of the 500,000 yearly shipments of commercial explosives? One hijacking could net enough raw material for multiple bombs--or the truck itself could become a surface-to-surface missile if a kamikaze driver took the wheel. Nothing like that has happened, but the possibility has authorities across the U.S. frazzled. Two weeks ago, a water truck (with a sprinkler that conceivably could spray chemicals) was stolen in Colorado. After a day-long, statewide search, the vehicle turned up. "A couple of yo-yos stole it for fun," says an investigator. But before it was recovered, a federal official says, "we were going crazy."

The attacks of Sept. 11 have spurred the trucking industry to improve its lax security. Some technology is already available. A security feature installed in some trucks is a tracking device similar to the transponders used on commercial jets. The device beams a truck's location by satellite to fleet managers, while a two-way messaging system allows drivers and trucking officials to stay in touch. Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego offers truckers a panic button. When it's pushed, a ping sounds in the company's network management center, a NASA-style command base with 31 computer monitors. In an emergency, an operator can alert authorities to the location of the truck in distress.

Panic buttons aren't standard equipment yet, not even for hazardous-material haulers. But since Sept. 11, more trucking companies are looking into them. Another device that could help, also made by Qualcomm, can stop a truck from operating when the messaging system is disabled. The technology is used in other parts of the world where terrorism has been a bigger threat, but few U.S. truckers know about it. "We didn't do it here because it wasn't a big issue," says Qualcomm's Chris Wolfe. "We weren't projecting a terrorist problem."

The trucking industry, which moves 68% of the nation's freight (trains carry just 14%), has a long way to go to protect its fleets from terrorists. Only now are plans being developed for trucking firms to supply officials at loading docks with the names of drivers who will pick up goods. Trucking executives are also working with chemical and oil companies to cross-check the identity of drivers before trucks are filled.

Some security advocates are asking Congress to help fund the installation of a panic button on every truck that hauls blasting agents. The Institute of Makers of Explosives, a trade group whose products are often shipped by truck, advocates federal background checks on drivers who haul explosives. "I don't mean you need a top-secret clearance," says James Ronay, a former FBI bomb expert who runs the institute. "But you need to know who that person is." Ronay's group is also pushing for a new federal licensing system for all purchases of explosives. Such licensing is now required only when explosives are shipped across state lines. Dozens of truck-safety requirements mandated by Congress have been overlooked in the past few years by federal regulators, says longtime highway-safety advocate Joan Claybrook. "They really haven't paid attention" to trucks, she says. Perhaps they will now.

--By John Cloud. Reported by Elaine Shannon and Michael Weisskopf/Washington

With reporting by Elaine Shannon and Michael Weisskopf/Washington