Homeland Security Prefers Integration Over Innovation by Bill Pietrucha According to a recent report issued by the organizers of the Technology and Homeland Security Summit, the U.S. market for homeland security technology products and services is approaching $100 billion. The report, titled ìHomeland Technology Opportunities: The Market, The Needs and Recommendations,î puts the market at just over $98 billion, including $9.5 billion alone for local government needs. But most of the money earmarked for homeland security is currently going into personnel, such as airline baggage and passenger screeners, and not technology, according to a number of security industry insiders. ìThe homeland security market is a growing market,î said Jim Wrightson, ìbut with a caveat.î Wrightson, vice president of strategic planning at Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., noted that most homeland security money to date has first been spent on increased manpower, such as airport screeners. ìOnce the manpower is in place, we expect to see a move to t echnology to ease the workload,î he said. But donít start planning your future on selling to governmentsówhether federal, state or localóyour latest technological achievement. ìAlthough there will be more government activity, it will mostly be in information technology issues,î Wrightson explained. ìAnd not necessarily new technology, but the integration of existing technology. ìMost of the technology is already here,î he added. ìWe now need to maximize the efficiency through system integration and information sharing. The critical issue is shared information, not only in the federal government, but also at the state and local level.î Based on his discussions with colleagues in government, Wrightson said Lockheed Martin sees the homeland security challenges as falling into four primary areas. As Arthur Johnson, senior vice president of corporate strategic development for Lockheed Martin, noted last July in a speech at the Systems Approach to Terrorism conference, those four areas are: information management, border control, emergency response and incident management, and critical infrastructure protection. Information management involves, among other things, data mining, data fusion and pattern recognition to support threat identificationóand then, of course, networking to facilitate data sharing and provide ìalertingî to the likelihood of impending terrorist activities. The key in this area is to convert the wealth of ìdataî into ìknowledgeî that can be acted upon. Border control entails improved surveillance and enhanced capabilities at points of entry, especially in the areas of vessel traffic management, port control and biometric identification systems. The goal here is to build a ìvirtual watch listî that can be accessed in real time by front-line border control agents. Emergency response and incident management involves specialized training, rehearsal and simulation capabilities to improve the actions of ìfirst respondersî and advanced integrated communications systems that enable those in command centers to make more informed decisions. Critical infrastructure protection encompasses such areas as airport and postal security, including biohazard detection systems, intrusion detection systems, smart transportation, and a range of new sensors to detect weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on the use of biometrics to positively identify those who have access to transportation and other critical infrastructure assets. ìThe challenge is to reach out in all these areas,î Wrightson said. Since much of the new homeland security funding is in the fiscal year 2003 budget request, and the appropriations bills are not yet complete, Wrightson observed that there ìare not many actual procurements to date. The exception is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),î which now heads up security for the nationís airports. Wrightson said Lockheed Martin won two contracts through the TSA this year: a Phase 1 contract last April to prepare and coordinate planning for new security operations that will help ensure air passenger safety at the nationís 429 commercial airports, and a contract to train airport screeners. The Phase 1 contract for the Airport Security Rollout program, valued at $350 million, requires implementation of new security operations at the nationís airports. Under Phase 1 of the Strategic Airport Security Rollout program, the teams, which include Lockheed Martin, will develop a master plan to coordinate and manage implementation of new security operations across airportsówork that involves approximately 1,200 unique procedures, tailored to individual airports and affecting security for baggage handling and passenger screening. Passenger screening lanes at security checkpoints inside airports will be reconfigured. If needed, screening equipment, such as metal detectors, X-ray machines, video cameras and hand wands, will be upgraded or replaced. The team will also provide logistics and orientation support for new government screening personnel, according to Wrightson. ìCoordination and integration of information will pay huge benefits in the homeland security arena,î Wrightson noted. ìWe all grew up during the Cold War, and we always thought about defense in terms of deterrence. In todayís post-9/11 world, deterrence is difficult Ö there are no set pieces anymore. We never had to worry about the threat of our infrastructure being destroyed outside of a nuclear war. Now the terrorists try to use our own infrastructure against us.î In his speech to the Systems Approach to Terrorism conference, Lockheed Martinís Johnson noted, ìsince Sept. 11, deterrence is not an option against those who are willing and, indeed, already plan to give their lives in the process of attacking us.î Quoting former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, Johnson said that when asked about the enormous size of the homeland security issue, Hamre said, ìLabor-intensive solutions that are currently in place are not going to work [over the long term]. Weíve got to embrace deep-technology solutions or we will pay a huge price for inefficiency. ìInformation technology will be at the core of homeland security for much the same reason that it has become essential to our military forces,î Johnson added. ì[Information technology]-based systems are essential to our military because they gatheróand then sift and correlateóenormous amounts of raw data from a range of sophisticated intelligence sources. The right information, at the right time, to the right people, presented in the right wayóthat is the way information technology is transforming the modern battlefield.î Wrightson commented that one area that not only is concerned with systems integration and information sharing but also technology products is border security. He said the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is considering procurement of entry-exit systems to keep better track of border security. ìSomething like 330 million non-U.S. citizens enter the country each year,î Wrightson said. ìWhile the vast majority of them are tourists, students, business travelers and relatives, unfortunately a small minority also are criminals and potential terrorists. We need to handle our borders more efficiently, and the entire field of biometrics, including fingerprinting and fingerprint information systems, is crucial to identifying just who is coming across our borders.î One company that specializes in biometrics authentication devices is Biometrics 2000 Corp. The Springfield, Mass.-based firm develops and markets these devices using hardware and software products based on advanced fingerprint identification and verification methods for access-control applications. The companyís CheckME series of fingerprint reader devices offers a modular design for seamless integration into existing access-control systems, large or small, according to Biometrics 2000ís Chief Executive Officer Joe Turek. ìFingerprints are our individual natural signature,î he said, ìnever changing, always unique. The waves and curls which stretch across the fingers and palm of the hand are the most accurate way for security personnel to identify and track the people who enter into the sensitive areas of our workplace. ìImpossible to replicate, the fingerprint is the key to modern security,î he added. Turek, who also is chairman of the biometrics group of the Security Industry Association, observed that when he gave a speech on biometrics, ìbefor e 9/11, half the audience thought biometrics was biomedical Ö now only one out of 100 needs an explanation.î He noted, ìOur vision is to apply our products and services to airlines, border control and immigration.î Turek told The Washington Diplomat that he has ìproposed that every visitor to the United States have a biometric link, a biometric identification to know where that person is, and who that person is.î He has also proposed frequent-flier cards with biometrics information to ease congestion at airports. According to Turek, fingerprints are still the preferred method of identification. ìPeople donít like retina scans because they consider them too intrusive (see related article, page C-5). People fear that a laser is scanning their eye, even though it is not a laser.î Turekís system converts the fingerprint into a mathematical number, which is then encrypted and printed on a smart card. ìThe card cannot be altered without destroying the print,î he said. Along with the CheckME one-to-one fingerprint verification unit, Biometrics also supplies a wireless fingerprint reader, a one-to-many fingerprint system for 20 to 30 users, mag-strip or smart card hotel/motel electronic locking systems, and related software. ìThere has been an excellent response to our fingerprint identification systems,î Turek noted, ìand not only to the federal, state and local governments, but also to multinational and national corporations for internal access security.î Airports also are a large buyer of Biometrics 2000ís systems, Turek said, as well as prisons. ìAnyplace that has a high turnover of people or employees needs a security system,î he said, and fingerprinting ìis an established means of ensuring identity and security that a majority of people accept,î he said. ìThe only time you want to slide in under the radar is if you have criminal intent.î Bill Pietrucha is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.