Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee

The Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee advises the TSA Administrator on surface transportation security matters, including the development, refinement, and implementation of policies, programs, initiatives, rulemakings and security directives pertaining to surface transportation security.

The committee operates in accordance with the provisions of the TSA Modernization Act of 2018, which was signed into law on October 3, 2018. This committee is exempt from the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The committee typically meets at least twice a year, with one of these meetings open to the public. Please see below for upcoming meetings and minutes from recent meetings.

Committee Charter

STSAC Charter (pdf. 316KB)

Committee Membership

The committee is composed of voting and nonvoting members.

  • Nonvoting members serve on the committee in an advisory capacity and include representatives from federal departments and agencies, as the Administrator considers appropriate.
  • Voting members consist of individuals representing each mode of surface transportation, such as passenger rail, freight rail, mass transit, pipelines, highways, over-the-road bus, school bus industry, and trucking.

Voting members serve two-year terms and may continue to serve until the Administrator appoints a successor. The committee may also request the assistance of individuals with subject-matter expertise related to the jurisdiction of the committee.

See a listing of Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee members.

Committee Reports

The committee will submit two types of reports to the TSA Administrator:

  1. Periodic reports on matters the Administrator or majority of members of the committee deem important.
  2. Annual reports providing information on the activities, findings, and recommendations of the committee during the preceding year.

We will post the annual reports on our website no later than six months after the Administrator receives them.

Annual Reports

Committee Recommendations

  • Fiscal Year 2021 Recommendations Periodic Update (pdf. 189kb)
  • TSA is required under section 1969(e)(4) of the TSA Modernization Act, Division K of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254; Oct. 5, 2018) to provide quarterly updates for the Fiscal Year 2021 STSAC Recommendations. The seventh quarterly update is due March 30, 2023. As of March 30, 2023, TSA has fully implemented two of the 18 recommendations. Both recommendations were submitted by the Emergency Management and Resiliency (EM&R) Subcommittee—one of four STSAC Subcommittees. TSA's Surface Operations (SO); Policy, Plans, and Engagement (PPE); and the STSAC EM&R Subcommittee collaborated with industry to host two virtual COVID-19 Best Practices and Lessons Learned (BPLL) Workshops, which were held on September 15, 2020 and March 02, 2022, through the Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program (I-STEP). The EM&R Subcommittee team shared the results of both workshops in the STSAC COVID-19 2022 Workshop Quick-Look Report and the STSAC COVID-19 2022 Workshop Final After-Action Report. Both documents were shared across the surface transportation and academia communities and will be briefed out in future conferences, webinars, and meetings. TSA is actively working with industry partners to develop recommendation implementation goals, identify projected milestones, and establish target completion dates for the remaining open recommendations.

Upcoming Committee Meetings

  • May 17, 2023
  • August 17, 2023
  • November 16, 2023: Public Meeting

Recent Committee Meetings

Contact Information

For more information about the Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee, please email your inquiry.