President's Corner

Evolving Industry Role in the War on Terrorism

by Lt. Gen. Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr., USAF (Ret)

December 2001 – The Pentagon issues thousands of solicitations each year, asking industry to bid on specific contract opportunities. Most solicitations are very specific in what they ask for. Others, however, are more apt to interpretation and leave the door open for industry to come up with new, creative concepts.

In the U.S. campaign against global terrorism, the industry’s creativity and inventiveness are taking a central role. The Pentagon issued a solicitation last month, seeking from industry innovative technologies that can help combat terrorism.

The announcement was “mocked” by some news media as a signal that the Pentagon is ill-prepared to fight this war and needs fresh ideas. But, as we know, this criticism really misses the point about how the United States responds to new threats to national security. The U.S. military strategy has been to posture for known threats and to be ready to respond rapidly to new threats. The readiness and quick response capability that the industrial base has maintained is the very strength that the Pentagon is now calling upon.

The solicitation issued by the Pentagon is meant to give the industrial community a glimpse of the kind of capabilities companies must be prepared to provide to the government. It is an indication that the industrial base has a big role to play in the global campaign against terrorism.

The broad-agency announcement (BAA) has a list of 38 desired technologies. These technologies, the Pentagon said, must not be developmental. They must be advanced enough that they can be deployed within 18 months. Proposals are due December 23.

The message to industry is that, in this war, rapid development cycles and more streamlined processes are vital. There is the opportunity not only to make an important contribution to national security, but also an opening to define new, improved, workable acquisition processes. The Pentagon and other agencies involved in the war—the White House Office of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation, Treasury and others—need the technologies soon, before the enemy is able to adjust. In this new type of war, different investment strategies and streamlined acquisition processes are needed.

This BAA is one example of how defense business will be done in the near future. Before September 11, “national defense” was about projecting and supporting our forces overseas. Now, it’s also about the protection of the homeland.

Homeland security will become a “major mission area” that our industry will be asked to support. Many of the definitions and specific roles each agency will play are still being worked out and fine-tuned. But industry should not stand on the sidelines. It should take a proactive approach.

According to the Government Electronic Industries Association, the U.S. government plans to spend $6.6 billion a year on homeland defense technologies. Those funds will be spread across several agencies. This presents a broader opportunity for the defense industry to support agencies other than the Pentagon and the military services.

The BAA that the Pentagon released October 23 provides a comprehensive look at near term security needs.

In the area of counter-terrorism, the government wants technologies that can help find suspected terrorists, predict the future behavior of terrorists, find weapons that could be used by terrorists, detect and warn of terrorist activities. The Pentagon also is seeking software that can recognize and translate the Pashtu, Urdu, Farsi, Arabic dialects, and other Middle Eastern and central/south Asian languages.

In the field of cybersecurity, industry is being asked to provide tools that can help monitor global computer networks that may be used by terrorists to communicate and conduct financial transactions. The government also wants small, tag sensors that can monitor both civilian and military targets.

Another technology that will be needed is to locate and identify faces in video images.

Those firms in the information technology business will be challenged to develop an integrated database and data mining tools that can identify patterns, trends and models of behavior of terrorist groups. This would include information fusion of diverse intelligence, law enforcement and cultural data. The system would allow “what if” type modeling of events and behavioral patterns.

In the realm of physical security, the government wants technologies to protect personnel, equipment and facilities against terrorist activity. This includes equipment to safeguard personnel, prevent or delay unauthorized access to facilities, as well as methods of mitigating the effects of blasts.

For domestic security, the U.S. government will be investing in technologies that can screen passengers in ports of entry.

To address the domestic threat of weapons of mass destruction attacks, the Pentagon is seeking technologies to monitor, detect and characterize concealed chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear devices and high explosives.

The list goes on.

For the members of our national industrial base, there is an unprecedented opportunity to both help the nation’s cause and sharpen skills in those technologies needed for this new kind of war. After Pearl Harbor, America’s industries rallied to the call to produce massive amounts of tanks, ships and airplanes. The reality is much different today. The capabilities needed today are of a different nature, but I am confident that our industry will rise to the challenge.

As I have noted before, defense spending patterns must reflect both the need to keep our warriors well-equipped and the industrial base well-practiced and fit. The additional resources provided in response to this latest crisis don’t necessarily translate into that long-term commitment to R&D and production that is required to maintain a healthy industrial base. As we go forward, we need to continue to advocate that enduring need.

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President's Corner

Evolving Industry Role in the War on Terrorism

by Lt. Gen. Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr., USAF (Ret)

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