Michael DePallo, chair, APTA Security Affairs Steering Committee, and director and general manager, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, testified recently before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security during a hearing on public transportation security investments for Fiscal Year 2013.

DePallo’s testimony addressed security threats facing public transportation agencies, including a historical assessment of plots that have been averted. He stressed the need to restore appropriations for the Transit Security Grant Program, noting concerns about a reduction in the grant period for allowable expenditures, as well as elimination of the grant program from the National Preparedness Grant Program.
 He also raised the question of whether a risk-based funding approach would prevent important security improvements that could be precluded from receiving funding consideration and called for continuing to allow direct administration of grants to public transit agencies rather than to their State Administrative Agencies.