Deepwater improvements to enhance maritime security
Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Thomas H. Collins told Congress April 20 that a recently revised implementation plan will posture the Deepwater Program to play an even greater role in reducing the future risk of a terrorist event in the United States. Testifying to the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, the Commandant said the performance of individual platforms and Deepwater’s overall system of systems will be evaluated over time to determine the eventual capacity numbers of assets-needed to achieve Deepwater’s performance-based goals. For this reason, Collins said, the revised post-9/11 Deepwater Implementation Plan’s final strength at program completion indicates a range of assets in some categories. The Commandant also emphasized the importance of Deepwater’s improved C4ISR systems in achieving higher levels of maritime domain awareness. Deepwater’s revised Mission Need Statement and Implementation Plan were developed and approved following an intensive performance-gap analysis that identified the need for more capable functional requirements for the Coast Guard to perform its post-9/11 missions effectively.
Passport Systems wins contract for cargo-detection scanner
Officials at Passport Systems in Acton, Mass., recently announced that PassPort won a Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA) contract for research and development in support of advanced detection systems for nuclear and radiological devices. The contract is for the initial phase in a multiphase program to develop and build a prototype scanner system that could be deployed in seaports, borders and airports worldwide to detect nuclear, radiological, explosive, and chemical devices. The initial award is for $1.6 million. Nuclear-resonance-fluorescence imaging (NRFI) is a technology that automatically and rapidly detects the existence of nuclear devices, radiological or “dirty bombs,” explosives, chemical weapons, and other contraband. NRFI identifies these threats by scanning the constituent chemical elements of the contents of a cargo container, vehicle, or suitcase. This technology identifies the contents of a container or suitcase without having to open it up, and does not depend on a human operator attempting to make a visual identification of possible threats.
Intelligent Results to support national security efforts
Officials at the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) at Ft. Belvoir, Va., recently selected Intelligent Results (IR) in Bellevue, Wash., to support national security efforts. This product provides INSCOM with advanced capabilities for generating actionable intelligence from the volumes of structured and unstructured (text) data they collect and monitor. The same technology being utilized by INSCOM is also available to financial institutions, telecommunication companies and others interested in using all their data, both structured and unstructured, to understand what their customers are trying to tell them about their services and products and then make the most informed business decisions possible, company officials say. For more information go online at www.intelligentresults.com.
