Security official touts department's science initiatives

A Homeland Security Department official on Thursday briefed lawmakers on progress made at the department to implement new technologies for combating terrorist threats.

"We are shaping the [science and technology division] to serve as the department's hub for research and development for exposing and countering chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, high-explosive and cyber threats," Penrose (Parney) Albright, an assistant secretary at the department, said in prepared testimony before a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

Albright said that within his division are "portfolios" to focus on the different directorates at the department, including border and transportation security, intelligence analysis and critical infrastructure, and emergency preparedness and response. The department also is focused on developing standards for technologies used by local, state and federal officials, he said.

"The staff of each portfolio is charged with being an expert in their particular area," he said before the cyber security subcommittee.

Albright outlined in his testimony recent steps taken in each area and said the department plans to use 55 percent of its funding for "contracting activities" with the private sector: 23 percent for biological countermeasures, 6 percent for chemical countermeasures and 10 percent for "revolutionary, long-range research for breakthrough technologies and systems."

On cybersecurity, Albright said the department is "very aware that our critical cyber infrastructure is an attractive target for our adversaries." He said the new cyber-security division works "around the clock" analyzing cyber threats, issuing alerts and warnings, and improving information sharing with the private sector.

To protect the nation's physical infrastructure, he said his division has built and delivered a prototype digital-mapping system to assess threats to the oil and gas infrastructures in the Southwest. It also is delivering "cutting-edge visualization, data searching, data correlation and all-source analytic aids" to analyze vulnerability information, he said.

At the nation's borders, Albright said an experiment is underway to create an infrastructure in the Southwest for federal, state and local officials to share data about "individuals who have already entered our country, either legally or not, and who engage in hostile behavior after crossing the border." It would track people who attempt to change their identities or borrow others' identities.

Albright also said the department is taking steps to enhance the abilities of wireless communications so officials at all levels can communicate effectively with each other during emergencies. "The goal is to enable public-safety agencies to talk across disciplines and jurisdictions via radio communications systems, exchanging voice or data with one another on demand and in real time," he said.

On maritime security, Albright said the division has joined with the U.S. Coast Guard to build a prototype surveillance facility for three ports in Florida. The $3.7 million, 24-month program will "integrate existing facilities and upgrade equipment to detect, track and identify vessel traffic" around the ports, he said.

Albright said the division also is working to develop standards for the new technologies. Initial guidelines for radiation- and biological-detection technology are underway, and formal standards for communications systems that work together have been published.