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Promoting Dual-Benefit Solutions
The Homeland Security Institute pursues a research
agenda that focuses on “dual-benefit solutions”—those
that enhance the security of our nation while advancing some
other public good. As part of our effort to build the intellectual
framework for homeland security in the global community, the
Institute has a weekly section of the newsletter to highlight
solutions that promote the idea of dual benefit. We invite
readers to email the Homeland Security Institute with news
about dual-benefit solutions. If you or your organization
are working on dual-benefit security issues, send us an email
and we may include them in an upcoming issue. [Email the Institute]
RI
Health Dept. Releases Building Vulnerability Assessment Tool
On 22 November, the Rhode Island Department of
Health released a Building Vulnerability Assessment Tool to
help building owners and managers identify air-handling system
vulnerabilities. A building’s air-handling system can
expose large numbers of people to biological or chemical agents.
Eliminating security gaps in the system can prevent the health
consequences of potential terrorist attacks as well as accidental
introduction of hazards. “Using the Building Vulnerability
Assessment Tool is a ‘triple win’ for building owners,
office workers and the general public,” said Patricia
Nolan, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the Rhode Island Department
of Health. “Not only is it easy to use, but it helps
to keep Rhode Islanders safe and healthy—especially during
the influenza season, when improved air quality can reduce
exposure to viruses and other causes of illness.” [View press release] [View tool]
Nanomix and UCLA Developing
Nano-Based DNA Detection (Yahoo!
Finance) Nanomix Inc. has signed
an agreement with the regents of the University of California,
Los Angeles, for technology used to detect biomolecules such
as DNA and proteins; its uses may range from glucose monitoring
to viral and infectious disease detection and even homeland
security. The discoveries by Dr. George Gruner of UCLA “will be used
to develop products including a range of sensors and detectors
for medical, diagnostic, industrial and forensic uses,” said David Macdonald, CEO and President of Nanomix. “These sensors will permit the direct electronic detection and identification
of biomolecules, resulting in faster, simpler and cheaper
measurements.” [View press release]
Fort Wayne, IN, May Get Emergency
Control Center (Fort Wayne Journal
Gazette) “Fort Wayne could
soon be home to a first-in-the-nation command and control
center for handling emergencies from blizzards to floods to
terrorist attacks, thanks to a gift from software company
FourthWave,” reports the Journal Gazette. “The
only cost to the city, officials told the Fort Wayne City
Council on Tuesday, would be rent for the space in FourthWave’s
downtown building.” [View article]
Dirty-Bomb Detectors to Be Installed at Airport in Ottawa (Yahoo! Finance) Technology to detect
dirty bombs and clandestine radiological sources will soon
be installed at the Ottawa International Airport in Canada
as part of a government counter-terrorism program. “The
Detection Units contain radiation detector, GPS and cell modem
technology, and automatically report their findings to a central
computer every few seconds,” says Chris Clarke, president
of Mobile Detect Inc. “All this data is presented on
one graphical screen, allowing one expert to easily monitor
the entire airport and immediately initiate a response to
any illicit radiation detected.” [View press release]
Cellphone
Sniffs Out Dirty Bombs (New Scientist) “A smart phone that can detect
radiation may soon be helping the police to find the raw materials
for radioactive ‘dirty bombs’ before they are deployed,”
reports the New Scientist. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with funding from the Homeland Security Department, has “turned a multi-function internet cellphone into a wireless
sensor that will feed data into a new type of radiation monitoring
network” called a RadNet. “The phones will
glean data as the officers carrying them go about their daily
business, and the information will be used to draw up maps
of radiation that will expose illicit stores of nuclear material.” [View article]
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