Homeland Security unveils technology advisory panel

The Homeland Security Department on Thursday unveiled its new 18-member science and technology advisory committee.

The body, mandated under the 2002 law that created the department, consists of top government and industry scientists with expertise in various fields deemed essential to homeland security. In remarks to panel members at their first meeting, Charles McQueary, Homeland Security's undersecretary for science and technology, said their expertise will be vital in helping the department ready equipment to protect the country from terrorism.

"This division has the responsibility to provide the best science directly to our operational units. It's very important to me that this organization help deliver things," McQueary said. "The real important responsibility we have is to engage in scientific areas that will provide capabilities to the nation's first responders" to emergencies.

McQueary said that while the department has succeeded in integrating the operations of the border security agencies, more technology is needed to better secure the flow of goods and people into the United States.

"There are over a billion operations per day" on the nation's borders, he said, "and all we have to do is be right 100 percent of the time. When you consider that people are involved, you realize the tremendous responsibility." He noted that U.S. adversaries "have to be right only once."

McQueary said he has held meetings on border security with his counterparts in Canada and Mexico, as well as those in Israel and Japan. Noting that Mexico has requested help securing traffic along its southern border, McQueary said Mexico may deploy U.S. technologies there that are deemed unsuitable for the U.S. border because of the impact on traffic flow.

Homeland Security will focus increased attention on bioterrorism surveillance and counter measures this year, McQueary said. The department's BioWatch program is now operational in 10 U.S. cities and will be doubled in fiscal 2005, he said.

Meanwhile, the administration's 10th homeland security directive on bioterrorism is now in final draft form and will be issued soon, McQueary added.

BioWatch partners Homeland Security with the Environmental Protection Agency to operate sophisticated sensors to test air quality daily, record the results and analyze them for irregularities. "We've taken 1.5 million samples with no false alarms," McQueary said.

The program's "plume modeling" capability even tracked the source of a tularemia bacteria outbreak near Houston. Much of the $126 million funding increase to the science and technology directorate will go to expanding BioWatch, McQueary said.

Meanwhile, McQueary said a chemical-detection system is now operating in subway stations in Washington, D.C., combining air samples with cameras for real-time monitoring. "The system works well," he said, adding that increased funding is needed to expand it because the District of Columbia is paying a "substantial" amount of the $1 million per-station costs.

Future areas of interest include anti-missile defenses for civilian aircraft and improving cyber-security technology. "It's a hard problem," McQueary said. "You can't point to one solution and say this will make networks safer."