Posted on: Sunday, October 28, 2001

The September 11 attack | Coping with the aftermath
Firms scramble to answer homeland security call

By Paul Horvitz
Bloomberg News Service

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is appealing to U.S. companies to create security systems and devices that will help identify and stop terrorists. Defense contractors and computer companies such as Unisys Corp. may benefit.

The Defense Department made the request last week, bypassing its usual procurement system, and wants initial proposals in two months. It's seeking automated systems to detect Middle Eastern and South Asian languages in intercepted phone calls, software to find patterns in law-enforcement databases, tags and sensors to monitor movement, face-recognition and voice-print systems, video- tracking devices, and "deception" detectors to screen travelers.

"This is a very broad-based call," said Major Mike Halbig, a Pentagon spokesman. "We're looking for good ideas."

The Pentagon is asking for help as the federal government and private businesses work to tighten security across the United States following the Sept. 11 attacks. Some possible systems already are in development or in pilot programs. With an accelerated review process, the goal is to have new systems ready in 12 to 18 months, the government said.

The government hopes for proposals from defense contractors, computer services companies, think tanks and universities, Halbig said, adding that funds will be allocated once projects are selected.

"A lot of companies like ours and others have a range of technology that might be applied to homeland defense," said Jim Fetig, a spokesman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest defense contractor. "We are examining our technology to determine where we can be of help."

Unisys, for example, has a pilot program with the Defense Department to test security systems using automated recognition of faces, irises and fingerprints, said Ed Hogan, Unisys' Global Public Sector vice president.

"All three have the ability to be made operational now," he said, pending decisions on what combination of scans are desired and the scale of the system.

Originally, he said, the system was aimed at building security.

"Now, we're rethinking," he said, to broaden its potential in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Unisys, a seller of computer services and hardware based in Blue Bell, Pa., already is talking to airlines and airports about the system, Hogan said.

The Pentagon's announcement, from the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, specifically seeks "help in combating terrorism, defeating difficult targets, conducting protracted operations in remote areas and developing countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction."

It was the first time the Pentagon issued a broad request for devices and weapons to combat terrorism, Fetig said.

Companies that may benefit include defense contractors Northrop Grumman Corp. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., which develop information systems as well as weapons, and Visionics Corp., a maker of face-recognition systems. Computer Sciences Corp. already has defense contracts for systems related to information security.

The Pentagon request, in a 24-page document, seeks software to incorporate Afghan, Iranian and Arabic dialects into automated recognition systems for spy agencies. It also seeks programs to scan and decrypt a range of computer data, including data from handheld devices.

The government wants better systems for finding and identifying faces in videotape. It also wants systems that can create a voiceprint of suspected terrorists and their associates and it's seeking better security for building access. It also wants quicker ways to screen passengers with new "deception detection" devices, such as portable polygraph machines or "alternate approaches and sensors."

Behind many of these systems will be complex databases, computers to run them and networks to make data broadly available. In addition, the Pentagon wants proposals for software and computers to create Web-based training systems to improve anti- terror readiness.

Companies are likely to approach the process of bidding in a low-key manner, Hogan said.

"Industry is very sensitive," he said. "They don't want to look like ambulance chasers."