Home » Physical Security » Critical Infrastructure

In Depth

Science and Technology Directorate of DHS: Do We Need It?

James Giermanski says bungled container security initiatives call the S&T Directorate into question.

By James Giermanski

September 21, 2009 — CSO — There always seems to be something that DHS does that either doesn't make much sense, is a waste of funds, or is a little frightening. Perhaps the Department's recent Cargo Conveyance Security Technology Demonstrations of container security devices (CSDs) which took place at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico is a little of all three. Unfortunately, it exemplifies the level of knowledge that DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate has with respect to commercial applications of existing CSDs.

Also see Container Security: Who's In Charge?

It makes more sense to allow— instead of S&T—the operations components of DHS to determine the kind of research is needed to accomplish their mission objectives and be involved in its contracting. To demonstrate, an analysis of the recent presentation of CSDs by DHS in August, 2009 should support my thesis.

THE PLAYERS

1. Georgia Tech

From the coverage of the event, it appears that the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) with federal dollars developed and demonstrated two of the projects labeled "container security systems," although one might challenge the use of the word "systems," since one was merely detected the unauthorized opening or removal of the container doors. Without getting into the details of each, Georgia Tech, while a superb University with an equally superb research institute with great facilities and labs simply has no depth in the area of container security. Specifically, technology for sensing that the doors have been opened or removed has been available for many years. Georgia Tech in 2006 announced that it was developing this capability.

A new shipping container security device in development by the Georgia Tech Research Institute could make U.S. ports less vulnerable to terrorist activities. The contract is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Containers equipped with the new devices will be continuously monitored for unauthorized attempts to open the container doors, using a novel sensing technique that is sensitive to door angular position. The system will securely communicate container information remotely to port authorities, providing a log of door activity and an alarm if an event occurs that requires immediate attention.

The new device does not seem to do more than what already existed. In fact, we have had off-the-shelf sensors that are currently used to sense not just doors, but also entry into multiple sides of the container. Finally, GTRI's work in the container security area is mostly in RFID technologies which Georgia Tech admits is problematic given the lack of international standards for use in a global supply chain system.