Homeland department could transform tech industry

The creation of a Homeland Security Department may presage more than better domestic security. It could mark the transformation of the technology industry from an economically flat maker of consumer-oriented products into a thriving, but more secretive, machine that creates security-oriented products and services.

"The homeland security opportunity [for tech companies] is unprecedented in the civilian side of government," said Bruce McConnell, a Washington-based technology consultant. "The art form is to build relationships early on with the most influential component agencies ... who will define the architecture for years to come.

President Bush signed the legislation, H.R. 5005, on Nov. 25. It will take effect in 60 days, but fundamental questions such as funding remain. New jobs in the department also must be filled and congressional oversight of the Cabinet-level agency defined.

Filling The Homeland Security Roster

President Bush nominated Tom Ridge, the White House's homeland security adviser, as departmental secretary on Nov. 25. The secretary and undersecretaries face Senate confirmation.

The secretary will name a private-sector liaison whose work will include creating and managing private-sector advisory councils within the department. The assistant will work with the research and development community on approaches to homeland security. Public-private partnerships also will be a goal. And industry groups look forward to the naming of a liaison to learn details such as the formats and type of encryption for providing information to the department.

The undersecretary for information analysis and infrastructure protection will have two assistants, one for each aspect of his jurisdiction, information analysis and infrastructure protection. The department will not collect information but rather will access, receive and analyze all data from relevant agencies, including electronic databases, unless otherwise directed by the president.

The undersecretary will develop a comprehensive national plan for securing critical infrastructure, including information technology, telecommunications networks and systems for electronically storing and transmitting financial and property records. The job also will involve administering an advisory system for warning others of homeland security threats and recommending improvements to information-sharing policies in the government.

The information analysis office will enter cooperative agreements with other agencies to obtain information, and will work with the department's chief information officer (CIO) to establish a secure communications and technology infrastructure, including data mining and other advanced analytical tools. The CIO will ensure that databases are compatible and privacy laws are observed and may use private-sector analysts to do some work.

Compliance with privacy laws will be the domain of a privacy officer, who will assess proposed rules and prepare annual reports to Congress that will include complaints of privacy violations. The department also will include a civil liberties office.

A Bureaucratic Home For Old And New

The National Infrastructure Protection Center, National Communications System, Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO), National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, and Federal Computer Incident Response Center will be among several offices moving from existing jurisdictions into that of the Homeland Security Department. The Transportation Security Administration will remain a distinct entity within the department.

Critical infrastructure information provided to the department will be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, but the act permits the House, Senate, General Accounting Office and law enforcement to use the information. Company trade secrets will retain special protection. Procedures for storing critical infrastructure information received by the department must be established in 90 days, and anyone disclosing it would face fines and/or prison time.

A new National Emergency Technology Guard, or NET Guard, of local volunteers with science and technology expertise will help localities respond to and recover from attacks on information systems and communications networks. David Peyton of the National Association of Manufacturers likened the NET Guard concept to professional soccer teams releasing their players for international play. "Teams don't always release their players," he said. "Normally they do, but they're paying, so if they have a big game coming up, they may say no."

The U.S. Sentencing Commission also will have to review its guidelines to ensure that they cover computer crimes. The law strengthens penalties for cyberattacks. For instance, cyber-related attempts to cause death could lead to life imprisonment. The commission must report to Congress by May 1 on any actions it takes based on the homeland security law.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, will establish an office of science and technology to work on law enforcement technology. It will take the lead into research and development of technologies such as high-tech weapons, interoperable communications and computer forensics. It also will serve as clearinghouse for such technologies and oversee a national tech center for law enforcement and corrections. The attorney general must submit a report on implementation in one year.

A separate provision in the measure allows the sharing of information obtained through electronic, wire or oral communications. And other language requires that information on all people denied visas be entered into an electronic database. An Internet-based tracking system for immigrants also will be created.

Separately, customs fees collected by the Treasury Department will be used to implement the Automated Commercial Environment computer system for processing merchandise entering the country. And the undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response will coordinate communications systems relating to homeland security in all levels of government.

The Pieces Of The Research Pie

The biggest potential boon for the technology industry is in the research arena. One provision of the measure calls for the department to use "off the shelf," commercially developed technologies wherever possible. Other language calls for federal information security standards and guidelines, with an emphasis on commercially developed products.

A key provision allows the secretary to designate anti-terrorism technologies for protection from liability in case of terrorist acts. One critic said the language would leave civilian terrorism victims without legal recourse unless contractors intend to cause harm.

The Homeland Security undersecretary for science and technology will be a key research player in the department. That official will develop a national strategy for countermeasures to terrorist threats, set research priorities, and establish a system for transferring technologies to federal, state and local government entities and the private sector.

The act authorizes $500 million in fiscal 2003 for a Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop homeland security technologies. Ten percent of that money is earmarked for the Coast Guard. The department also can establish or contract with one or more federally funded R&D centers to provide independent analysis of homeland security issues.

A university-based center or centers for homeland security will be established within a year, and other outside research efforts may be funded. The department also can create a headquarter laboratory for its own research and will be able to utilize existing Energy Department national laboratories. An office for national labs will be established.

So will a 20-member science and technology advisory committee comprised of "first responders" to emergencies and representatives of economically disadvantaged communities. The non-governmental advisers will serve up to three years and issue an annual report every Jan. 31.

A new Homeland Security Institute will have a wide range of possible research duties, and a technology clearinghouse will provide information about technologies, as well as solicit and screen proposals. An international affairs office, furthermore, will promote information sharing and R&D on technologies with friendly nations.