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B-1 APPENDIX B Texas DOTâs Confidential Safety Information Memorandum
B-2 M E M O R A N D U M TO: Administration, District Engineers DATE: April 29, 2002 Division Directors, and Office Directors FROM: Michael W. Behrens, P.E. SUBJECT: Confidential Safety Information The department has a long record of permitting full public access to our docu- ments whenever possible. This continues to be our goal. Our responsibility to the public, however, requires that we now increase our awareness of security issues at all levels. No area within the departmentâs responsibility poses a greater danger of catastrophic loss of life than a poten- tial threat to our bridges. The events of the last year have shown us all that the threat is far more real than we could have previously imagined. We cannot now continue to release bridge designs and plans to the public as if that threat did not exist. Therefore, last month Mary Lou Ralls sent you each an email stating that you should contact the Office of General Counsel whenever you get a request for bridge designs or plans and whenever you get any unusual request for infor- mation that may relate to public safety or the security of our infrastructure. Let me reinforce that. No bridge designs or plans are to be released by anyone in the department to members of the public unless you have first contacted the Office of General Counsel for legal advice about whether the information must be released. Texas Department Of Transportation
