Posted on 08/04/2003 11:51:42 AM PDT by chance33_98
Anti-Terrorism Expert Urges Bush Administration to Focus on New Technology, Not Old Security Techniques, to Make America Safer
8/4/03 2:13:00 PM
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To: National Desk
Contact: Stella Harrison of Stellar Strategies, 202-431-6461
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Homeland Security's annual budget is soon to reach $36.2 billion, currently at $29.4 billion. Only forty of its over 170,000 employees are assigned to Undersecretary for Science and Technology Charles McQueary with a budget of only $350 million. This represents an investment in research and development of less than one and a half percent of the total Homeland Security budget.
The reliance on traditional methods of securing America concerns anti-terrorism expert Hank Chase, director of homeland security for ITS Corporation.
"The techniques and methods being employed by the Homeland Security Department to protect America and American citizens have been used for years by Israel to a degree and severity we would likely never countenance in the United States and still Israelis die by the score on the streets," said Chase, a retired Navy commander.
Classic physical security practices (guards with guns, patrols, searching packages & screening visitors at the entrance to a facility, and the like) represent an institutionalized devotion to low-tech methods that are consuming or soon will consume literally billions of tax dollars in an attempt to prevent another terrorist attack on US soil.
"Many, if not all of my colleagues in the US security industry, agree we must make very profound advancements in security technology if we are to stand a chance at being truly safe," continued Chase. "And yet the Homeland Security Department with only a few exceptions rely on classic physical security techniques, even when it is very plain these measures do not work entirely well."
Chase recommends that technology provided by government-industry partnership offers the only salvation of making America genuinely safe: publicly-placed (privacy issues notwithstanding) sniffers, sensors, high-speed face & license-plate recognition programs - high technology that will allow remote & instant detection of explosives and weapons of mass destruction and immediate identification of evil doers.
"The commitment of the Bush Administration to funding and exploiting new high-technology anti-terrorism ideas confidently available today from US business leaves much to be desired. I urge this Administration to focus more on new technology solutions, not old security techniques. Let's hope our inability to pursue imaginative technological solutions to Homeland Security does not prove to be America's undoing," concluded Chase.
To schedule an interview with Hank Chase, call Stella Harrison of Stellar Strategies at 202-431-6461. Email: Stella@stellarstrategies.net
http://www.usnewswire.com/
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