On any given day, everything from cyanide to acetone, infectious waste to radioactive materials, munitions to mercury, rolls along our nation’s highways. The U.S. government lists more than 60,000 materials as hazardous and trucks carry 94 percent of the 800,000 daily shipments of these materials.

Is there a problem here?

Newsweek and Landline magazines report that captured al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (seized in Pakistan on March 1) has fingered an Ohio truck driver as an al Qaeda operative in plots to collapse a suspension bridge and blow up an airliner in the United States.

The unidentified driver told interrogators he was ordered by his al Qaeda bosses to obtain tools that could be used to loosen bolts on a suspension bridge.

The driver also revealed a plan, possibly using cargo trucks, to drive under the belly of a passenger jet without causing suspicion and blow it up.

Targets could also include the country’s subway systems, according to other al Qaeda detainees who have been cooperating with the Feds.

As part of an effort to prevent such terrorist attacks, the government, responding to requirements of its own Patriot Act, is currently conducting background checks on the nation’s 3.5 million truckers who haul HAZMAT.

The Transportation Security Administration will be checking state and federal records to find truckers who have been found guilty of any in a list of felonies that include: possession of a controlled substance within the past seven years, terrorism, murder, assault, conspiracy, arson, bribery, smuggling, mental incompetence or the improper transportation of hazardous materials. Those it finds will lose their endorsement to haul hazardous materials, although they may keep their commercial licenses.

The checks will also determine if the driver is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident – a new requirement for holding a license with a HAZMAT endorsement. In addition, every driver will eventually have to submit a fingerprint.

Although drivers may appeal the government’s findings and some will be allowed to obtain waivers, truckers’ groups are concerned people will lose their jobs because they did something years ago that disqualifies them from hauling dangerous materials.

Rob Black, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, gave the example of an 18-year-old convicted of a minor drug offense. “He ends up straightening out, gets a job as a truck driver, it’s 4 to 5 years later, he’s turned himself around, he’s got a job, but he’s now at risk,” Black said.

Rich Moskowitz, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, is concerned that state and federal authorities are not required to inform employers if drivers don’t pass the background checks, leaving companies vulnerable if employees disclose a failure to pass to their bosses.

“If they self-disclose, we face a potential wrongful termination suit,” Moskowitz said. “If they self-disclose and we keep them on and they’re involved in an incident, we face an action of negligent hiring.”

Government officials argue that while there may be issues with the current rule, something

needed to be done.

“Do we want violent and potentially deceptive criminals driving a tanker filled with 80,000 gallons of chlorine?” asked the TSA’s Turmail.

“This is only a single step in the enhancement of security in the entire truck network, just like we have done with aviation security,” he said.

I have no qualms with these stiffer requirements. Indeed, I applaud them. However, shouldn’t the scrutiny go further than the driver? After all, Aviation security did not start and end with the airline crews. What about the thousands of warehouse personnel and retail employees who have regular, daily access to hazardous materials?

Yes, by all means increase the vigilance of HAZMAT licensed truckers. But increase it at the depots, warehouses, ports and retail levels as well.

The predecessors of our race learned early on that only by exercising extreme vigilance could they hope to survive a world “red in tooth and claw.” If Sept. 11, 2001 taught us anything, it taught us that we still live in such an unsafe world. No government edict, no Patriot Act or other act of Congress can change that.

If we are to survive, we must increase our vigilance.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at [email protected].