Homeland Security Focus
JOHN McHALE
Department of Homeland Security uses
Northrop Grumman UAV
BY BEN AMES
SAN DIEGO — Leaders of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security face an enormous challenge in
trying to detect illegal immigrants who cross the
U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. .
The Hunter UAV from Northrop Grumman is helping
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security protect the
Mexican border.
Now they have technology on their side. Through
the end of January, Border Patrol agents will moni-
tor the vast desert with two RQ-5 Hunter unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) developed by Northrop
Grumman's Unmanned Systems unit in San Diego.
The UAVs will use optoelectronic infrared sen-
sors to scan the Arizona border area 90 miles south-
east of Tucson.
"A critical part of Northrop Grumman's layered
defense approach to homeland security is to help
Government tests biometric ID card
for U.S. transportation workers
BY BEN AMES
LOS ANGELES — Security agents at the Port of
Long Beach Container Terminal face a difficult
challenge in blocking unauthorized people from
entering secure areas. In fact, many transporta-
tion workers must carry a different identification
card for each facility they access.
Now leaders of the U.S. Transportation Se-
curity Administration (TSA) are testing a bio-
metric ID card called the Transportation
Worker Identity Credential (TWIC) Program
as a possible solution. Over the next seven
months, the program will expand to 34 sites in
six states.
The TWIG is a tamper resistant credential
that contains biometric information about the
holder that renders the card useless to anyone
other than the rightful owner. Using this bio-
metric data, each transportation facility can
verify the identity of a worker and prevent
1 8 I December 2004 | Military & Aerospace Electronics
strengthen the weakest links in the nation's defense,"
says David Zolet, vice president, Homeland Secu-
rity, Northrop Grumman.
"Unmanned aerial vehicles provide unparalleled
surveillance capabilities that not only cause greater
levels of apprehension among potential terrorists,
but also provide safer working conditions for Bor-
der Patrol agents who risk their lives on a daily ba-
sis," Zolet says.
Hunter is just one of several UAVs in Northrop
Grumman's portfolio of unmanned systems that
could support the Arizona Border Control's
surveillance and reconnaissance requirements.
"Hunter UAVs provide a variety of battle-tested
capabilities and sensor options that are well suited
to Border Patrol operations," says Chris Hernandez,
sector vice president for Northrop Grumman's Un-
manned Systems unit. "These capabilities include
sustained autonomous flight, high-resolution day
and nighttime visual and infrared sensors, inte-
grated GPS location systems, and the ability to relay
communication signals to border patrol agents."
Stealth is another benefit of the Hunter. People
on the ground may be unaware of its presence be-
cause of the vehicle's low visual profile at altitude
and its quiet engine, says Hernandez.
The Border Patrol is now part of U.S. Customs
and Border Protection within the Department of
Homeland Security. For more information on
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, see
www.is.northropgrumman.com/index.htmL F3
unauthorized individuals from accessing
secure areas.
The card protects that data with security fea-
tures such as guilloche patterns, microtext, UV
printing, and holographic overlays. It imple-
ments the data with technology including three
chips (holding 72,64, and 4 kilobytes of data),
a magnetic stripe, two-dimensional barcode,
serial number, and digital photo.
"TWIC is a significant enhancement that will
prevent terrorists and other unauthorized per-
sons from gaining access to sensitive areas of the
nation's transportation system," says Under Sec-
retary for Border and Transportation Security
Asa Hutchinson. "Developing the prototype for
this new technology is another step in TSA's con-
tinuing effort to enhance security in all modes
of transportation."
After Long Beach, TSA leaders will roll the
continued on p. 19
TSA asks Analogic Corp. to build better
bomb detectors for airports
Ldst month Andiogic Corp. in Peabody, Mass., won a con-
tract from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration
(TSA). Analogic will develop the TSA's Manhattan II project,
an effort to build threat-detection and discrimination capa-
bilities for scanning checked luggage carried onboard aircraft
and other applications. Analogic has already received funding
Linder two other grants through TSA's Phoenix program. The
first grant went to Lockheed Martin and Analogic to design
and develop continuous performance enhancements for ex-
isting explosive detection systems (EDS). The second award
was a multimillion-dollar grant to Analogic to design a net-
workable EDS with high throughput and detection capabili-
ties. Over the past several years Analogic has supplied more
than 525 Explosive Assessment Computed Tomography (EX-
ACT) Systems to both domestic and international airports in-
cluding Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, Singapore's Changi Air-
port, and Italy's Fiumicino and Ciamplno airports.
FBI buys nigbt vision gear from
ITT Industries
Agents at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will
use night vision pocketscopes from ITT Industries Night Vi-
sion, of Roanoke, Va., under the terms of a $4.9 million
contract awarded last month. ITT's NE 601 OF pocketscope
uses Generation 3 image intensifier technology, providing
visibility in extreme-low-light conditions. Compact and
lightweight, it can be hand-held as a monocular, or cam-
era-mounted as a night vision lens for either 35-m(n or
video cameras. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the need for this life-
saving night-vision technology has increased with federal
and state/local law enforcement agencies' increased Home-
land Security responsibilities. During the past several years,
ITT has supplied the FBI with ground and aviation night
vision goggles, similar to what it provides Department of
Defense (DOD) military forces, "In our current environment,
the need for timely and accurate intelligence is more critical
than ever," says Gaiy Hopkins, contracting officer for the
FBI. "Night vision technology allows us to conduct our mis-
sions 24 hours a day — it's a must-have for the FBI,"
NSA names a tecbnology scout
Leaders at the U.S, National Security Agency (NSA) are al-
ways on the lookout for new technologies to serve their
intelligence-gathering mission. Last month they picked
Chesapeake Innovation Center (CIC) in Annapolis, Md., for
a $445,000 contract to act as a scout for new technology.
Over the next year, CIC engineers will find small compa-
nies with new technologies in informatics and information
assurance software, informatics software finds knowledge
buried in vast volumes of data, CIC advisors will then help
those companies meet NSA's business and technological
requirements, "We are creating a bndge to carry powerful
technological innovations from small enterprises into the
NSA," says John Elstner, chief executive officer of the CIC.
"By helping entrepreneurs build their technology busi-
nesses and navigate the often complex federal procure-
ment system, we can speed the delivery of technological
solutions to the end users who need them the most," The
CIC is a public-private partnership
initiated by the Anne Arundel Eco- ccmmued on o 19
www.miiaero.com

nomic Development Corp. if acfs as a business incubator
focused on homeland and nafiona! security. For more in-
formafion, see www.cic-fech.org. The Nafional Secunty
Agency/Central Security Service is America's crypfologic
organization, charged with directing specialized activities
to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign
intelligence information.
Alarm industry will track policies with
new database
Law enforcement and government agencies need infor-
mation on alarm policies, to judge their impact on pub-
iic safety. That is why the Security Indusfry Alarm Coali-
tion (SIAC) will creafe a centralized, national,
ordinance-tracking database to provide standardized in-
formation on alarm ordinances and policies. SIAC will
launch this Ordinance Tracking Information System
(OTIS) in the first half of 2005. "Insurance companies
are concerned with fhe growing trend foward non-
response to citizens' alarms by some jurisdictions and
they have an ongoing need for information on non-
response jurisdictions," says SIAC Executive Director
Stan Martin, "OTIS will be a research fool for alarm
companies operating on the local, regional, and national
level. It will provide valuable information to law en-
forcement, policymakers, third-party monitoring compa-
nies, and proprietary providers such as State Farm, Auto
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Homeland Security Focus
Zone, and Federal Express." The Security industry Alarm
Government tests ID card
continued from p. 18
Coalition (SIAC) is a nonprofit organization that strives
to improve the lines of communication between law en-
forcement and end users, including the 30 million alarm TWIC program out to workers at three
system users in homes and businesses throughout North other sifes: the Philadelphia Marifime Ex-
America. For more information see www.SIACinc.org. change in Pennsylvania, and fhe Port of
Pensacoia and Port Canaveral in Florida.
Coast Guard Auxiliary grows into its In the weeks following, as many as 200,000
post-9/11 mission workers from maritime, rail, aviation, and
ground modes of transportation are ex-
The new National Commodore of the U.S, Coast Guard
pected to participate.
Auxiliary, Commodore Gene Seibert, will lead fhe service
through its transformation into a post-9/11 agency. His first The TSA and the U.S. Coasf Guard are
task is to lead the service's 35,000 uniformed volunteer drafting rules to implement the TWIC for
members in fheir combined mission of marifime safety and marifime workers, based on the lessons
security, as weil as homeland security and recreational they learn in this profofype phase. For
boating and manne and environmental safety programs. more informafion, see www.fsa.gov. (3
Seibert began his two-year term last month when he re-
lieved Commodore Bill Edgerton in a change-of-command
ceremony at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington.
"The overarching mission of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxil-
iary is to contribute to the safety and security of our citi-
zens, ports, waterways and coastal regions," he says. "We
will balance our missions of recreational boating safety and
Coast Guard support with maritime homeland security and
other challenges that emerge as a result of our growing
understanding of changes required in fhe posf-9/11 era."
For more information, see www.auxpa.org.
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Military S-Aerospace Electronics | December 2004 | 1 9