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Release Date: 08/06/03 00:00:00
For Immediate Release
Directorate of Science and Technology
August 6, 2003
I would be remiss if I didn't also thank the dedicated staff of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), particularly Wayne Messler, for providing an opportunity for such a diverse group - industry, government, and labs - to share ideas and discuss enhanced communication in defense of the Homeland. A lot of hard work goes into an event like this, and they did a great job putting it together.
I am particularly pleased to be working with the NDIA, which is an old friend from my defense days. For many years I was associated with ADPA and NSIA and subsequently served on the Executive Committee of the combined unit which became NDIA. I encourage all of you to sustain this organization as it fosters the cooperative spirit that will aid in the defeat of world-wide terrorism.
Now please permit me to tell you something about the Department of Homeland Security and the Science and Technology Division.
Protecting our nation by safely moving goods in and out of our ports is critical to America's commercial interests and an important priority of homeland security. U.S. ports are safer now than ever before due to the Department's emphasis on innovative security measures at every phase of a piece of cargo's movement through our system.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has implemented a fully integrated and layered approach to port security using shared information, intra-agency cooperation and technology. This layered process of tracking people, goods, and vessels begins well before a ship leaves port, extends throughout the voyage and continues after docking at a U.S. port.
The nation is truly safer today than it was before 9-11, due in large part to technological innovations that helps us detect, intercept and respond to potential acts of terrorism more swiftly than ever before imagined.
Perhaps the Department's greatest innovation is the importance we place on innovation! Science and Technology is not just a Washington buzzword; it's an entire division. As the Department fights terrorism, we're developing the tools that can help us win. It's a unique and historic undertaking.
As Under Secretary for Science and Technology, I lead a team that is tasked with discovering new innovations - identifying existing ones - and ensuring that they get to the people who protect us from terrorism. With the creation of the Department, President Bush envisioned a department that would engage entrepreneurs and apply America's inventive spirit to the war on terrorism.
In this endeavor, industry, government, federal and national laboratories and universities play the primary roles. We know that scientific achievement often happens far outside the Washington beltway.
As we explore technologies that may enhance maritime security measures at our ports, we must also act as operations analysts and systems engineers. With each step forward we ask: How will this system operate in the real world? Can it be manufactured on a large, even a national scale? How will this one piece affect the rest of the structure we've built? Will the beneficiaries in the private sector choose to use it? And if so, will they be able to afford it? Remember, the discovery is just the beginning.
Over the years, industry has made the transition from Cold War to peacetime uses for products and technologies. Now you are transitioning to homeland security, creating a unified and cooperative effort from government to industry across the country, with hundreds of employees hard at work each and every day.
Let me assure you, we will support you as you support us.
The programs of the Science and Technology division are being funded at a level of more than $500 million this fiscal year alone; the President has proposed it be increased to just over $800 million in 2004. This funding will accomplish several goals:
While the activities of the Science & Technology division are many, three key areas of action can be described as intramural, industrial and educational.
We will serve as a vigorous internal research engine in which we will work closely with scientists and engineers, national laboratories, sister agencies and health organizations on technological innovations.
We will also focus on engaging the industrial base of our nation to apply these innovations to real-world problems. To that end we have created the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA), a cousin to the Defense Department's DARPA agency, which helped create the Internet. HSARPA will help jumpstart and steer homeland security R&D toward high priority needs, such as port security and critical infrastructure protection.
We will also take a leading role in education. The Science and Technology division sponsors programs that will inspire young students to study in areas of critical technological areas vital to this nation's survival. Two such programs are our Homeland Security Center's of Excellence and the Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows program. In fact, the first 102 awardees of this program have recently been chosen. They are an equal mix of men and women who will study in areas such as math, computers, the physical, sciences, health sciences and chemistry. The announcement for the 2003-2004 academic year will be posted at www.orau.gov/dhsed/.
Now that you know a little about us, you may ask: What have you done for me? The answer is ever changing, but always positive.
Every day we collect more intelligence, share more information, inspect more containers, and guard more territory. Government at every level is working in tandem with private industry to maintain security and quickly respond to specific threats or national concerns. This year alone, the Department of Homeland Security has provided over $1 billion in port security grants that support both high and low-tech solutions from the Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) to the Container Security Initiative (CSI), for example.
The non-intrusive inspection technology inspects shipping containers determined to be high risk by the U.S. Automated Targeting System. The technology consists of sophisticated large-scale radiation detection portals and hand-held technologies that substantially increase the likelihood that nuclear or radiological materials and weapons will be detected well before reaching U.S. waters.
The Container Security Initiative (CSI), supported by our division and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have formed agreements with countries where 19 of the world's 20 largest ports are located to identify, target and search suspicious cargo from Hong Kong to Antwerp. The program is fully functional in 40% of these ports, with increased implementation daily. These 20 ports account for 68% of all cargo entering the United States. The CSI program has been expanded into strategic locations including areas of the Middle East such as Dubai as well as Turkey and Malaysia. This second phase will account for more than 80% of all cargo entering the country.
Securing our ports and shoring-up our maritime infrastructure is one of the most important undertakings of the Department. With over 95 percent of our nation's international trade moving by ship and seven million containers imported annually, port security is an issue we take seriously.
This maritime trade represents 2 billion tons of freight worth more than $1 trillion - and these figures are projected to double by the year 2020. Each year, our ports process 3.3 billion barrels of imported oil and 5 million cruise ship passengers. These same waterways handle 110,000 commercial fishing vessels and 134 million ferry passengers.
Remember, some of the terrorists' targets are:
Now imagine that terrorists completely shut down the U.S. port traffic for a significant amount of time. Such a blow would succeed in at least two of their targets objectives and the impact would be a major blow to the economic engine of the modern western world.
In June of this year, we closed our first Broad Agency Announcement that called for proposals on a wide variety of areas. We counted more than 3,300 proposals and have identified a number of promising proposals that focus on the security of our ports and waterways. These programs are currently under evaluation.
It's an exciting time. Recently, Under Secretary Hutchison, who will speak to you later this evening, traveled to a Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Florida where he was able to view first hand various technologies such as the C-130 Airborne Sensor with Palletized Electronic Reconnaissance (CASPER), ION Scanner and the Compact Integrated Narcotics Detector (CINDI). These various technologies create an added layer of defense that will ensure the safety and security measures used to protect the homeland. Developing and exploiting technological advances by using off-the-shelf or near-term technologies will provide us with the tools needed to deter, detect, mitigate and respond to a terrorist attack.
I believe the Secretary said it best when he said that "the port security measures we are putting in place - both here at home and abroad - are building our capabilities and strengthening each layer of defense - long before a vessel reaches our shores, state-of-the-art-technology and, of course, vigilance at every turn, we are able to screen and board 100 percent of high-risk vessels coming into our ports."
The Department strives to support an environment where scientists are free to innovate, where the private sector is encouraged to adopt those innovations, where our homeland security professionals and the American people are protected by those innovations. I am pleased to report that, with your help, we are off to a great start.
Thank you.
This page was last modified on 08/06/03 00:00:00