Title 6, Domestic SecurityRelease 119-110

§1136 Security Exercises

Title 6 › CHAPTER 4 — TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › SUBCHAPTER III — PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › § 1136

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must set up a program of security exercises for public transportation. The goal is to test and improve how agencies prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist acts. The program covers federal, state, local, and tribal governments; public transit agencies; emergency responders and law enforcement (including transit police); and any other groups the Secretary chooses. Exercises must be tailored to each transit system, include the needs of elderly and disabled people, be live, coordinated with officials, realistic and based on current risks, include frontline workers, and follow national planning frameworks (like NIMS and the National Response Plan). The Secretary will evaluate exercises with clear performance measures, collect and share best practices, require fixes for problems found, involve nearby neighborhoods, and help governments design and run exercises. The program must be part of the National Exercise Program under section 748 of this title. Ferry systems covered by drills under section 70103 of title 46 are exempt.

Full Legal Text

Title 6, §1136

Domestic Security, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

The Secretary shall establish a program for conducting security exercises for public transportation agencies for the purpose of assessing and improving the capabilities of entities described in subsection (b) to prevent, prepare for, mitigate against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism.

(b)Covered entities

Entities to be assessed under the program shall include—

(1)Federal, State, and local agencies and tribal governments;

(2)public transportation agencies;

(3)governmental and nongovernmental emergency response providers and law enforcement personnel, including transit police; and

(4)any other organization or entity that the Secretary determines appropriate.

(c)Requirements

The Secretary shall ensure that the program—

(1)requires, for public transportation agencies which the Secretary deems appropriate, exercises to be conducted that are—

(A)scaled and tailored to the needs of specific public transportation systems, and include taking into account the needs of the elderly and individuals with disabilities;

(B)live;

(C)coordinated with appropriate officials;

(D)as realistic as practicable and based on current risk assessments, including credible threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences;

(E)inclusive, as appropriate, of frontline employees and managers; and

(F)consistent with the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, the National Preparedness Guidance, the National Preparedness Goal, and other such national initiatives;

(2)provides that exercises described in paragraph (1) will be—

(A)evaluated by the Secretary against clear and consistent performance measures;

(B)assessed by the Secretary to learn best practices, which shall be shared with appropriate Federal, State, local, and tribal officials, governmental and nongovernmental emergency response providers, law enforcement personnel, including railroad and transit police, and appropriate stakeholders; and

(C)followed by remedial action by covered entities in response to lessons learned;

(3)involves individuals in neighborhoods around the infrastructure of a public transportation system; and

(4)assists State, local, and tribal governments and public transportation agencies in designing, implementing, and evaluating exercises that conform to the requirements of paragraph (2).

(d)National Exercise Program

The Secretary shall ensure that the exercise program developed under subsection (a) is a component of the National Exercise Program established under section 748 of this title.

(e)Ferry system exemption

This section does not apply to any ferry system for which drills are required to be conducted pursuant to section 70103 of title 46.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

6 U.S.C. § 1136

Title 6, Domestic Security

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110