TSA HTUA Maps Finally Available Online

Back in January I noted that TSA was late in their promised posting of maps of each of the High-Threat Urban Areas (HTUA). Every day since then I have searched the TSA web site to see if they had yet posted those maps. Today, about four and a half months late, I found them. I am assuming that they were just posted, but you can’t tell; TSA is one of the backward government agencies that does not date their web pages. As TSA promised in their preamble to their freight rail security bill, the maps do not provide enough detail to determine if a facility near the boundary is in or out, but most facilities will find the maps useful. Facilities near the boundaries should contact the TSA Freedom Center (703-563-3240 or 1-877-456-8722) to determine their actual HTUA status. If I were within a ¼ mile of the apparent boundary line I would call. I have never seen a city map that shows such well rounded borders, so I suspect that there was considerable blurring of ‘10-mile outside of the city limit’ rule to make these very general maps. It does not appear that an awful lot of work went into the production of these maps. Take for instance the map of the Detroit, MI HTUA. A significant portion of the HTUA is in Canada. I doubt that the Canadian government would recognize TSA security regulations on their territory. Now I’ll remove my tongue from my left cheek and remind everyone once again that these are just very general maps and facilities with any doubt as to their status should contact TSA.