By Calvin Biesecker
House and Senate negotiators yesterday agreed to a compromise stimulus bill that includes spending on new and emerging screening technologies at airports and additional funding for the electronic border fence program as part of a $2.8 billion funding wedge for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Votes in the House and Senate on the overall $789.5 billion stimulus package, of which the DHS spending is just a fraction, are expected today.
The funding set aside for DHS includes $1 billion for the Transportation Security Administration to acquire systems that screen checked and carry-on bags for explosives, according to a summary of the conference report worked out by the negotiators from the House and Senate. The TSA funds also likely include spending on emerging checkpoint security technologies, something that both the respective House and Senate versions of the bill proposed.
The likely beneficiaries of the TSA money include General Electric [GE], L-3 Communications [LLL], Reveal Imaging Technologies, Smiths Detection and OSI Systems [OSIS], and possibly even American Science and Engineering [ASEI]. GE, L-3 and Reveal all make equipment certified by TSA to scan checked baggage for explosives.
Smiths and OSI Systems’ Rapiscan division make the Advanced Technology X-Ray machines being installed at airport checkpoints to screen carry-on bags. Both companies are working on improvements to those machines to be able to screen for liquids hidden inside carry-on parcels.
As for emerging technologies at the checkpoints, TSA has already acquired millimeter wave imaging systems from L-3 for scanning a person’s entire body. Competing systems based on X-Ray backscatter technology and supplied by both AS&E and Rapiscan are also being tested by TSA. Under the Bush Administration TSA appeared to favor the millimeter wave imaging technology but that remains to be seen once President Obama appoints new leadership at TSA. TSA has also acquired liquid scanning technologies from Smiths and ICx Technologies [ICXT] for checkpoint screening in the past.
As for the electronic fencing project, $280 million has been agreed to for both border security technology and tactical communications systems. Boeing [BA] is developing the electronic fence, called Secure Border Initiative (SBInet) for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That work has slowed due to technical issues that stemmed in part from an aggressive schedule that assumed integrating radar and camera technology into a networked sensor system that would feed into a common operating picture would be easier than it turned out to be. CBP is working toward the first limited operational deployments of SBInet along Arizona’s border with Mexico later this year (Defense Daily, Feb. 9).
The stimulus package also includes $300 million for port, transit and rail security. More specifics related to the bill will have to wait until the full conference report is released but the respective House and Senate versions of the bill included about $100 million for Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) equipment, which consists of basically large X-Ray machines that can screen vehicles and cargo containers to verify manifest data and check for weapons, narcotics and other contraband.
The Senate bill said that the NII equipment would be for ports of entry while the House bill said the equipment would specifically be for seaports of entry. A host of companies supply this type of equipment for CBP, including AS&E, L-3, SAIC [SAI], and Britain’s Smiths Detection. However, Stanford Group analyst Josephine Millward said in a note citing government sources that the final bill does not have any funding for NII equipment.
The final bill also includes $240 million for the Coast Guard, $430 million for construction at border points of entry, and $210 million for the construction of fire stations, according to a summary of the conference report.
Elsewhere in the bill, Congress would provide $2.3 billion for work on Defense Department facility projects such as housing, hospitals and child care centers.
The bill also contains $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million for more scientists to work on climate control.