Navy seeks local help with security

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

The U.S. Navy is looking for local companies to help protect Pearl Harbor and other facilities from terrorism.

Yesterday Navy officials discussed business opportunities in surveillance, access and control, communications and other areas at the TechEnterprise 2003 conference at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. The conference, which ends today, is a forum for companies to find out about opportunities with the federal government.

Overall, the Department of Defense has lost 431 people to terrorism since 1980 versus 278 lost in battle, said Jim Smerchansky, a scientific adviser to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. To counter attacks such as those in Oklahoma City, at the Pentagon and the USS Cole, the Navy is seeking both high-tech communications systems and low-tech solutions, such as barriers to keep unauthorized vehicles from entering Navy property. The Navy also is looking for systems that are ready for testing, rather than those needing additional research and development, Smerchansky said.

"We're not only looking for sexy technologies," he said. "Sometimes the right solution is brute force."

Among the systems to address the need to protect Navy forces now being tested at a Navy facility in San Diego are:

• Radar used to detect above-water threats such as swimmers.
• Thermal-imaging systems to identify and track potential terrorists.
• Infra-red and radar-based systems to search cars and trucks entering Navy facilities.

Navy officials were vague about which problems need solving, rather, they are looking for companies to propose solutions to the general problem of keeping its facilities safe.

"In some cases you don't want to advertise too broadly what you're looking for because it could expose a weakness at the same time," said Ted Sheppard, a program manager in the Office of Naval Research.

For information on business opportunities in Navy security, contact Ted Sheppard at 474-1242.