| Terrorist attacks combine the clandestine use of unconventional weapons, covert operatives and targets of national significance. Due to hardening of aviation assets following 11 September, terrorists have focused globally on ground transportation. This thesis will explore the vulnerability of the New York City Subway, over a decade later. Subway complexities reveal three distinct obstacles. I will first identify issues in obtaining federal funding for developing policies to secure a porous system. I will then examine the most feared attack in a subway, a weaponized biological pathogen. I will then analyze labor policies for utilizing transit employees on the frontline of the counterterrorism initiative. The thesis will conclude that the aviation model of security is impractical, spending billions to secure the infrastructure is problematic, and that the most effective solution to reduce the vulnerability is to develop sound labor policies via human intelligence, a properly prepared frontline transit worker. |
