Security experts envision greater role for foreign firms

Technology companies from all over the world must help the United States fight terrorism, homeland security experts from the public and private sectors said Thursday night during a forum sponsored by GlobeTrade.

Military and civilian personnel need "the right stuff, at the right place, at the right time" in order to combat terrorist groups both at home and abroad, according to John Garrett, a defense and security adviser with Patton Boggs.

"I don't think you can accomplish that today without a global outlook," Garrett told senior government officials and corporate executives from the United States and more than 12 other countries. "I don't think 'Made in America' means today what it once meant."

Steven Cooper, the White House Office of Homeland Security's chief information officer, said White House officials are looking to the global private sector for solutions that would enable federal agencies to integrate systems and share information with each other and with global allies, state and local agencies, and the private sector.

"Realistically, I can't do this by myself," Cooper said. "All of us together have to provide the answers and solutions to combating global terrorism."

Cooper said those solutions include "collaboration technologies" that would provide secure global communications, "knowledge management" tools for data mining and linkage analysis, and "modeling and simulation" tools to help with threat and risk assessment.

Officials at all levels of government also need geographic imaging systems for disaster management, crisis response, and recovery efforts, according to Cooper.

Michael Fedarcyk, acting section chief for communications and analysis at the FBI, said his office is looking for "proactive technology" to "exploit what the bad guys are doing and how they're doing it."

He noted, for example, that even the most elusive terrorist cells are likely to leave online paper trails. "They still have to communicate," Fedarcyk said. "They still have to buy things. They still have to pay bills."

Large government contractors such as Computer Sciences Corp.-which has offices in 75 countries-are developing products with "expandability" because tech-savvy terrorists are likely to adapt quickly to counter-terrorism measures, according to Vincent Anthony, director of the company's asymmetric warfare and homeland security division.

"Terrorism is ever-evolving, ever-changing," Anthony said. "What we are looking for is over-arching technology with more than one application."

One such product, Anthony said, is a "smart card" the firm is developing to perform many tasks, such as verifying users' identities, providing access to certain information systems, and enabling the users to encrypt sensitive data within those systems.

Cooper said the Office of Homeland Security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and other federal offices also are trying to reach out to small technology firms that have never sought federal contracts before.

"Some of the smaller companies, both in the United States and around the world, who have unique solutions ... don't know how to approach and do business with the federal government," Cooper said. "We need to correct that very quickly."