The aggressive schedule Congress set to improve aviation security, including a crucial deadline for baggage screening by year's end, has ratcheted up demand for systems integrators that can provide services and products to the new Transportation Security Administration. Robert Nabors of EDS said his company, for instance, is focusing on security assessments, passenger identification and baggage screening.
Information technology plays prominently in President Bush's $37.7 billion budget proposal for homeland security in fiscal 2003. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced Feb. 4 that "using 21st century technology to secure the homeland" would be one of four main initiatives in the new budget. The Bush administration is requesting $722 million for this initiative, aimed at using technology to prevent terrorist attacks, Ridge said.
Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift announced last month she is establishing an Internet-based system for state and local agencies to share information about bioterrorist threats.
Four small tech companies have banded together as charter members of the Homeland Security Coalition, a move they say will expand and strengthen their offerings.
MapInfo Corp. of Troy, N.Y., Jan. 29 announced it formed a homeland security unit to help government agencies use location information to protect the nation's people and assets.
Stronger, more uniform processes are needed for issuing state driver's licenses before they can serve as secure identification, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators said.
The aerospace industry will see strong growth in information technologies and solutions needed to bolster homeland defense, a top industry official said in his annual state of the industry speech.
The Justice Department will let police chiefs from cities, counties and other municipalities apply for national security clearances that would put them in the information-sharing loop during national emergencies.
The Internet is providing new life for one of the military's most popular programs?Operation Dear Abby. Security concerns nixed the mail program, but the Web is bringing it back in time for Christmas.
Computer Sciences Corp. is taking its government security expertise to the private sector with a new enterprise information risk management service, the El Segundo, Calif.-based company announced Dec. 11.
Creating a national identification system could be a lot easier than you think. Calls since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to create a national ID system to help government authorities monitor citizens and aliens have largely met with skepticism and resistance.
This year has been an important crossroads for the state and local government marketplace. Red-hot economic activity and overflowing revenue coffers have receded, while electronic government initiatives, though still moving forward, now must accommodate the new priorities and direction brought about by the events of Sept. 11.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and subsequent plans to reorganize the Justice Department have set in motion changes that will accelerate long-delayed improvements in the information technology capabilities of the FBI.
