Intelligence, homeland security agencies sharpen surveillance methods
Techniques under development include gait recognition and keystroke analyses of typing rhythms.
A senior Coast Guard official on Tuesday praised homeland security and intelligence agencies' efforts to develop new surveillance tools and bolster information sharing.
Guy Thomas, the Coast Guard's science and technology adviser, said improved surveillance techniques would help provide better protection against the possibility of attacks launched from boats offshore.
A 60- to 70-foot boat loaded with ordinary explosives and a biological or chemical weapon could deliver and spread a deadly substance - five pounds of anthrax, for example - to coastal areas with thousands of people, Thomas said. "I don't think I want to live in Los Angeles anymore," he told guests of the Border Management Summit, which was organized by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
Protecting the coastal waters requires improved sensory techniques, an official with a company that provides security solutions said. He said his company has been working on multiple projects aimed at identifying incoming ships from farther away to detect suspicious ones. Recent advances mean that even the material from which a ship is built -- whether it is wood, plastic or metal -- can be determined from a distance, he said.
As part of more general efforts to improve surveillance, technology capable of recording biometric identifiers such as leg or facial muscle movement without alerting the subject is being refined. Gait recognition, for instance, is part of the "long-range surveillance" that the FBI may start using to help track suspects, said Duane Blackburn, the bureau's representative to the National Science and Technology Council. It remains in the research phase, and is being tested at universities, Blackburn said.
Other techniques in development include keystroke analyses of typing rhythms, and the production of video and photographic images clear enough to display biometric patterns.
Like gait surveillance, these remain in the early research stages. "Video is a real challenge," said Christopher Miles, senior program manager of the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice.
When intelligence is gathered, more needs to be done to ensure it is shared among intelligence and homeland security officials, Thomas said. "Ninety-five percent of [information and intelligence] needs to stay [unclassified]," he said.