DHS establishes centers of excellence

The Homeland Security Department has named five new centers of excellence in counterterrorism research. Each will receive a grant of as much as $2 million a year for four to six years, the department said. The centers are:

• Border Security and Immigration: The University of Arizona at Tucson and University of Texas at El Paso.

• Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Rhode Island in Kingston.

• Maritime, Island and Port Security: The University of Hawaii in Honolulu and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.

• Natural Disasters, Coast Infrastructure and Emergency Management: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss.

• Transportation Security: Texas Southern University, in Houston, Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss., and the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

DHS launches Northern Border pilot programs

While the Homeland Security Department prepares a prototype solution for protecting the northern border, new technologies already are being tested in the field, states a new report from the department’s Customs and Border Protection directorate. The 20-page report said the federal government is in the process of implementing additions in border personnel, infrastructure improvements and technologies to protect the U.S.-Canadian border. The report was written and submitted to Congress under the requirements of the 9/11 Commission implementation law approved last year.
(Washington Technology story)

A tale of two borders

The United States’ strategy for securing its border with Canada primarily will focus on using technology, while the Homeland Security Department’s strategy for securing the southern border also includes hundreds of miles of fencing, DHS’ top official said. Earlier this week DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff told senators on the Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, “We are going to have technology on the northern border, but it’s going to be a different array than what we have at the southern border," he said.
(Washington Technology story)

Chertoff celebrates DHS anniversary

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Wednesday strongly defended border security projects undertaken by his department, asserting that virtual fencing in Arizona is working and that border-control efforts are not being delayed by three years. "I have read in the newspapers that there is a three-year delay and for the life of me I cannot figure out where that comes from," Chertoff said in an interview with reporters marking the five-year anniversary of the Homeland Security Department. "There's no doubt that the process of working out some of the kinks delayed this by five to six months, but to say it's three years, I don't know where that comes from." GAO testified before the House Homeland Security Committee Feb. 27 on the department's SBInet border security program, which includes the building of a virtual fence on 28 miles in southern Arizona, dubbed Project 28.
(Government Executive story)