OOIDA’s Doug Morris to serve on TSA advisory committee

The Transportation Security Administration this week announced the formation of the Surface Transportation Advisory Committee – and among those serving on it will be OOIDA’s Director of Security Operations Doug Morris.

The committee – which is made up of 35 members from all modes of transportation – will meet twice a year and provide recommendations on surface transportation security to TSA administrator David Pekoske.

Morris says one issue he is looking forward to addressing with the committee are the security concerns that come along with autonomous vehicles and hazardous materials. He says that’s one area that has not yet been addressed.

“As we have seen and has been demonstrated before with a lot of this technology, it’s very easy to hack in to,” Morris said. “A lot of other countries like China and Russia have been able to hack these systems and I don’t think I would want an autonomous truck carrying hazardous materials going down the road … who knows what could happen.”

In addition to the 35 voting members, the committee also will have representatives from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy and Transportation. Representatives from the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board also will serve.

Morris joined the OOIDA staff in 2009. Before joining OOIDA, was commander of several units within the Maryland State Police – including the transportation security section. He was with the Maryland State Police for more than 25 years.

RELATED: Listen to more from Doug Morris talking about how much data new vehicles generate and what is being done with that data.