Title 6, Domestic SecurityRelease 119-110

§1183 Over-the-road Bus Exercises

Title 6 › CHAPTER 4 — TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › SUBCHAPTER IV — SURFACE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY › Part C — Over-the-Road Bus and Trucking Security › § 1183

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must create a program of security drills for long‑distance buses to test and improve how agencies and operators prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks. The program will cover federal, state, local, and tribal governments; over‑the‑road bus operators and terminal owners; emergency responders and police; and any other groups the Secretary finds appropriate. The program must combine existing drills run by the Department and the Department of Transportation unless waived. Drills must be sized and shaped to operator and terminal needs (including the elderly and people with disabilities), be live for the highest‑risk sites, be coordinated with officials, and be realistic using current risk information. Frontline bus employees should be included, and exercises must follow the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, the National Preparedness Guidance, and the National Preparedness Goal. The Secretary will measure and evaluate performance, find and share best practices, give recommendations for fixes, give advance notice to affected communities as appropriate, help state, local, tribal governments and operators run more exercises, and make sure the program matches the National Exercise Program under section 748.

Full Legal Text

Title 6, §1183

Domestic Security, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

The Secretary shall establish a program for conducting security exercises for over-the-road bus transportation for the purpose of assessing and improving the capabilities of entities described in subsection (b) to prevent, prepare for, mitigate, 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)over-the-road bus operators and over-the-road bus terminal owners and operators;

(3)governmental and nongovernmental emergency response providers and law enforcement agencies; and

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

(c)Requirements

The Secretary shall ensure that the program—

(1)consolidates existing security exercises for over-the-road bus operators and terminals administered by the Department and the Department of Transportation, as jointly determined by the Secretary and the Secretary of Transportation, unless the Secretary waives this consolidation requirement, as appropriate;

(2)consists of exercises that are—

(A)scaled and tailored to the needs of the over-the-road bus operators and terminals, including addressing the needs of the elderly and individuals with disabilities;

(B)live, in the case of the most at-risk facilities to a terrorist attack;

(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 over-the-road bus frontline employees; 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;

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

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

(B)assessed by the Secretary to identify best practices, which shall be shared, as appropriate, with operators providing over-the-road bus transportation, nonprofit employee organizations that represent over-the-road bus employees, Federal, State, local, and tribal officials, governmental and nongovernmental emergency response providers, and law enforcement personnel; and

(C)used to develop recommendations, as appropriate, provided to over-the-road bus operators and terminal owners and operators on remedial action to be taken in response to lessons learned;

(4)allows for proper advanced notification of communities and local governments in which exercises are held, as appropriate; and

(5)assists State, local, and tribal governments and over-the-road bus operators and terminal owners and operators in designing, implementing, and evaluating additional exercises that conform to the requirements of paragraph (2).

(d)National Exercise Program

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

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

6 U.S.C. § 1183

Title 6, Domestic Security

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110