A day at work with the federal agents keeping an eye on the nation’s transportation system.
Chan Browne …
At the Freedom Center, a counterterrorism compound in Northern Virginia where Chan is an assistant special agent in charge, the employees always seem to rush. They hurry from the Huddle Room to the Emergency Conference Room, to the coffee refill room, to the Pentagon rubble memorial of 9/11 at the entrance, to the signs on the double door — “Restricted Area,” “Authorized Personnel Only” — leading to the Watch Floor.
It is here that the officers stand watch round-the-clock with one assignment: Stop another 9/11. …
Every security breach across eight modes of transportation collects and dumps on the Watch Floor. The unmarked building, originally called the Transportation Security Operations Center, opened in August 2003. It responds to threats to mass transit, bridges, railways, vehicles and roads, pipelines, postal and cargo shipping, maritime matters and ports, and, above all, aviation.
The Flight Watchmen: Nearly seven years after 9/11 … (The Washington Post; June 22, 2008)
