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Funds for Combat Shotgun Modernization, UMD Center for Automated Language and Cultural Analysis & Bio Defense Detector
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 25, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) announced that the U.S. House of Representatives approved $7 million for national security projects in Prince George's County. The funding was included in the FY09 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2638) at the request of Rep. Hoyer. The bill was passed yesterday by the House; the Senate is expected to vote on the measure this week. "I am pleased to have secured this federal funding for defense projects in Prince George's County that are working to benefit our nation's military and bolster national security," Hoyer said. "Funding for the project to modernize the Marine Corps M1014 combat shotgun will help create a safer and more reliable model," stated Hoyer. "These upgrades are imperative to ensure that our troops have the most technologically advanced weaponry available." "I am also pleased to announce that funds have been included for the University of Maryland Center for Automated Language and Cultural Analysis," Hoyer said. "Sophisticated language analysis is essential to breaking down language and cultural barriers and facilitating effective intelligence gathering and diplomatic communication. The tools developed through this program will arm language experts with advanced capabilities to enhance understanding where language and cultural differences exist." "Investments in this bill will also support the University of Maryland's cutting edge work to develop technology to detect and warn against harmful biological agents." Funding that will benefit Prince George's County included in the FY09 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act is listed below. Marine Corps Shotgun Modernization Program - $3 Million
This project will fund the United States Marine Corps Shotgun Modernization Program, which is working to modernize the M1014 combat shotgun. The United States Marine Corps, as the Joint service lead for the M1014, is working to integrate Less than Lethal (LTL) technology to the M-1014 combat shotgun platform in order to create a safer, and more reliable use of LTL technologies for our soldiers currently serving abroad. The modernization program will be conducted by Prince George's County-based Beretta USA. University of Maryland Center for Automated Language and Cultural Analysis - $2 Million
Project funding will develop concrete advances in language technology, language and cultural knowledge, and analysis. The goal of the Center is to produce the technology needed to arm soldiers on the ground and analysts with the tools needed to understand both the language and cultural backgrounds needed to fight the war on terror. This center will work to provide the war fighter with automatic tools that combine language understanding, translation and multilingual information retrieval that incorporate cultural analysis. Biological Agent Early Warning Detector - $2 Million
This project will provide funding to develop a Biological Agent detector that can rapidly detect emerging or engineered biological threats on a single platform. The early warning detector will leverage new advancements in DNA sequencing technology in order to rapidly detect unique strains of chemical and biological agents. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Maryland. ###
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