A Decision Support System Framework for the Improvement of a Surface Transportation Security Training Program

This paper presents a decision support system framework that could be used for assessing and improving a surface transportation security training program. The training program provides domain awareness, reporting, and information sharing capabilities to aid in protecting the nation's critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR). Several such training programs are currently federally funded in the U.S. After a literature review, the basic elements and requirements of the framework for such a decision support system are described including database, model management, and user interface subsystems, data inputs, possible actions, performance measures, and recommended actions. The overall security confidence level is quantitatively defined as the objective of the program and three major tier-one factors are identified: flow of program trainees over a CI/KR, percentage of incidents being reported and percentage of quality and complete reports. The calculation procedures to obtain those factors along with the data requirement and availability are provided. Actions that can influence those factors are also identified and discussed.