Below is a list of projects for the 4th Congressional District and North Carolina that were included at my request in the Fiscal Year 2008 Homeland Security Appropriations bill (H.R. 2638). That bill eventually formed part of the end-of-the-year Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law 110-161).

Project: Institute for Homeland Security Solutions (IHSS)
Funding: $ 7,500,000
Description: Funded through the Research Triangle Institute, the IHSS will work with universities and other partners to conduct applied technological and social science research focused on developing near-term technological solutions to practical, real world homeland security problems faced by the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies, and state and local governments.

Project: Risk Identification, Planning, Communication, Response Coordination, and Modeling for Disaster Mitigation (3 parts)
Funding: $3,400,000

(a) Coastal Region Evacuation and Sheltering Standard Operating Guide (SOG)
Description: This funding will allow the State of North Carolina to update an SOG by integrating new Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) data, developing pocket guides for use by law enforcement personnel and emergency managers, and beginning to build a State Evacuation and Sheltering SOG as a primary pre-mitigation strategy.

(b) Integrated Flood Risk Identification, Communication, and Mitigation
Description: The State of North Carolina will develop methods for integrating flood mapping and mitigation to prevent and reduce property damage in North Carolina resulting from disasters.

(c) Web-Based Emergency Operations Center
Description: This funding will be used to help complete Phase 3 of this NC Division of Emergency Management initiative. In collaboration with all 100 counties and the Western Band of Cherokee Reservation, NCEM is building-out Web-EOC for more efficient and timely coordination of state and federal web-based crisis management. Web-EOC provides online capability for local and state agencies to make resource requests of NCEM, while also enhancing NCEM’s situational awareness at the local level.

Project: Critical Infrastructure Protection Application
Funding: $ 1,600,000
Description: The State of North Carolina will use this funding to identify and prioritize critical infrastructure and key resources in North Carolina and develop means to protect them from natural disasters and terrorist attacks in cooperation with localities, the private sector, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Project: Center of Excellence in Logistics & Technology (LOGTECH)
Funding: $ 450,000
Description: This funding will enable U.S. Coast Guard personnel to participate in LOGTECH educational programs in logistics, technology, and organizational transformation. Established with Department of Defense funding in 2000 to improve military logistics, LOGTECH is a comprehensive program incorporating research, executive education programs, a logistics-focused MBA degree program, and an annual LOGTECH Forum. The Coast Guard is currently the only military branch not participating in LOGTECH. LOGTECH is affiliated with the Institute for Business and Defense (IBD), a 501(c)(3) research and education organization established by the University of North Carolina and the State of North Carolina.

Project: Deployable “Black Box” Pilot Program
Funding: $ 3,500,000
Description: This funding will allow the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) – in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – to test “deployable black box” technologies for expediting the recovery, development, and analysis of information from aircraft accidents to determine their cause. The 9/11 Commission recommended that the federal government take steps to improve the survivability of black boxes (flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders) to ensure that complete and reliable information is available to investigators in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. This activity was authorized by the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act, which was signed into law earlier this year (Public Law 110-53).

Project: Crane-based Radiation Detection Technologies at Ports of Entry
Funding: $ 2,000,000
Description: U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) will use this funding to competitively test technologies that detect nuclear and radiological materials in cargo containers as they are loaded onto ships or unloaded from ships. Such technology has the potential to detect dangerous material earlier in the chain of commerce, including at foreign ports before any danger is posed to the United States.