The priorities of DHS's Science and Technology Directorate

We have written several stories about the restless, entrepreneurial approach to technology development that drives DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate. Government Technology’s Corey McKenna writes that Nike’s slogan — “Just do it” — also captures the spirit of S&t.

Jay Cohen, undersecretary of the S & T Directorate, oversees an agency with an $830 million dollar budget, nearly half of which is devoted to the directorate’s high-priority technology needs. About 10 percent of the budget goes into further innovation in homeland security technology and about 1 percent of the budget goes into a rapid-development fund. Projects in that fund must cost less than $1 million and have a time-to-market of less than a year. S&T has around 250 projects under development at any one time for completion in between one to five years, and each of those projects is reviewed against performance metrics every six months. Of these projects, Cohen expects 50 percent to fail. It is part of the directorate’s entrepreneurial culture. “S and T is 1,000 miles wide and one millimeter deep,” Cohen told McKenna.

Here are the current priorities of S&T:

• Interoperability — Cohen says interoperability is a governance issue. He noted that before a bomb technician from a local police department can jam a bomb, he has to receive a permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This should change.
• Counter IEDs — Improvised explosive devices are not weapons of mass destruction, but weapons of mass influence, Cohen said.
• Cyber Security - Cyber security is a very difficult challenge, Cohen said. He noted the importance of the security of the cyber component of the U.S. critical infrastructure and that DHS is planning to spend $17 billion on cyber security in the next five years.
• Another major project the directorate is funding is a 3-D personnel location technology — that is, not only pinpointing first responders as to their latitude and longitude coordinates, but their location within a building as well.
• Additionally, the directorate is funding improvements in biometric identification, an improved vehicle stopping technology and a breathing apparatus.
• The directorate is also working on is a container scanner that can detect nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional explosive compounds as well as a stowaway passenger in 45 seconds.