Terror Net

[R.A. Hettinga]

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<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/innovation31204.asp?p=0>

Technology Review


Terror Net




 By Lakshmi Sandhana
 Innovation News
December 2004


Ever since the September 11 terrorist attacks, federal agencies have been
wishing for a system capable of issuing a nationwide alert at the first
sign of a chemical, biological, or radiological attack. Now such a system
is undergoing trials in Tennessee.


Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
in Tennessee, the new system consists of sensor packages attached to
structures such as cell-phone towers. The packages will include detectors
for airborne chemicals and radioisotopes, and for weather changes. The
intent of the system-which is being tested in Knoxville, Nashville, and
other locations-is to detect plumes of contaminants, predict their spread,
and quickly alert command centers. In a 2002 test, prototype sensors
successfully detected discharges of simulated sarin gas in three cities 140
to 270 kilometers apart and dispatched pertinent data in less than two
minutes. The current trial will test the system on an even larger scale.

The Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and other
organizations are sharing the cost of developing the system; at least $12
million has been assigned to it for the coming year. "At this point, we are
not deployed nationwide, but we've demonstrated the scalability of the
technology," says Jim Kulesz, special-projects manager at Oak Ridge.
Observers say the technology, while promising, is not a panacea. If fully
deployed, says Paul Sereiko, president of Needham, MA-based wireless-sensor
maker Sensicast Systems, it "will provide an excellent early-warning system
for wide-area contaminant monitoring." But, he adds, additional local
monitoring will still be needed.


- -- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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