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Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
July 9, 2002
09:00 AM
2123 Rayburn House Office Building
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairman, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations; my name is Steve Martin, and I am the Director of
Homeland Security Programs at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory (PNNL). On
behalf of the Laboratory Director, Dr. Lura Powell, I am pleased to provide
testimony today.
In this statement I begin with a brief overview of Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory. This is followed by some comments regarding the nature of our
homeland security challenges and some examples of ways in which PNNL is
contributing to help meet the needs for securing our homeland.
I close with comments on the role of the national laboratories managed by
the Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration in the
Department of Energy.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) is a Department of Energy (DOE) multi-program laboratory, managed by
DOE's Office of Science. Since
1965, the Pacific Northwest Division of Battelle Memorial Institute, a
not-for-profit entity based in Ohio, has operated PNNL for the DOE. PNNL employs approximately 3,500 staff and maintains a
business volume in excess of $500M annually, $230M of which is related to
national security work for a number of government clients in areas such as
combating terrorism, homeland security, proliferation detection and monitoring,
underground nuclear test detection, nuclear weapon dismantlement, nuclear
materials safeguards and security, environmental and waste characterization, and
fundamental science.
OUR
HOMELAND SECURITY CHALLENGES
Terrorism is not a new phenomenon and for decades PNNL has performed work
for government agencies with missions designed to combat terrorism.
Recent events serve to remind us of the vulnerabilities to the security
of our homeland and it is becoming even more evident that there are terrorist
elements with a willingness to deploy weapons of mass destruction against U.S.
interests - both abroad and at home.
The threat we face is dynamic and complex.
We need to be as flexible and adaptable as are the adversaries who would
threaten us. As we organize around
the need to manage the risks associated with the threats posed by weapons of
mass destruction (WMD), we must do so in a reasonable and systematic manner. The actual financial costs of developing and implementing
mitigating strategies and countermeasures are only one consideration of a
comprehensive risk management strategy. We
must also ensure that the solution is implemented in a manner that considers
negative consequences such as reduced operational efficiencies or productivity
that currently give U.S. industry and the U.S. economy a competitive advantage.
Finally, it is imperative that organizational and technological standards
evolve that ensure solutions can be integrated across the various functions and
responsibilities outlined for the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Solutions must facilitate integration of operations and functions,
information sharing, and interoperability.
PNNL CONTRIBUTIONS TO HOMELAND SECURITY
PNNL participated, along with other DOE and NNSA laboratories, in a
demonstration of national laboratory science and technology with potential for
application within the Office of Homeland Security.
At that demonstration PNNL profiled several of the following
technologies. These are but a few examples that demonstrate that
capabilities at PNNL span the entire WMD threat spectrum.
-
Millimeter
Wave Holographic Imaging System:
This system, developed for the FAA for personal security checkpoint
screening, is capable of detecting all threats and contraband.
-
Acoustic
Inspection Device: This
handheld system was originally developed by PNNL for inspection of chemical
weapon stockpiles in Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.
It can be used by Law Enforcement Officials to Detect
concealments, hidden compartments or anomalies in liquid-filled containers
and solid form commodities; Sort material types into groups of
like and unlike, and Identify liquids and solid materials over
a wide range of temperatures.
It has recently been commercialized by U.S. Customs as an inspection
and screening tool.
-
Biodetection
Enabling Analyte Delivery System (BEADS):
It is necessary to process large environmental samples to
obtain traces of threat biomaterial and deliver that material in a small
volume to a sensor. BEADS
enables automated sample preparation for biodetection systems.
-
Plutonium
Measurement and Analysis (PUMA): A
radiation monitoring system that uses glass fibers to detect the presence of
radionuclides, such as plutonium. This
technology offers flexible, lightweight, low-power detection capability.
-
Hazardous
Material Chemical Agent Detector (HAZMATCADtm):
This commercially available tool takes advantage of special (sensitive and
selective) polymers developed by PNNL and allows faster response times to
lower concentrations of hazardous chemicals and agents.
-
WMD
Interdiction Training for International and Domestic Border Security
Officials: In 1997,
Congress provided for the U.S. training of international border security
officers in detecting, identifying, and interdicting the smuggling of WMD
materials and items. Since
then, Border Officers from 17 nations have been trained as part of the
International Border Security Training Program.
PNNL is responsible for conducting this highly successful training
known as Interdict/RADACAD at the Hazardous Materials Management and
Emergency Response (HAMMER) Training Center, a $30M facility located near
PNNL at the Hanford Site. The
value of this program has been demonstrated by seizures of sensitive
materials in Eastern Europe, including nuclear reactor components destined
for Iran and a quantity of Uranium-235. The border security officials
responsible for both of these seizures attribute their success to the
training they received in this program from PNNL at HAMMER.
PNNL initiated training
of U.S. Customs Officers this year. Thus
far, two 3-day courses in radiation detection and protection and the use of
advanced detection equipment have been completed.
For the foreseeable future, one U.S. Customs class per month is
scheduled.
The practical operational
environment of HAMMER is enhanced by props that include a mock border crossing,
a Port of Entry building with a loading dock, inspection pit and radiation
portal monitor, as well as intermodal shipping containers and transport vehicles
with concealment compartments and traps commonly used by smugglers.
-
International
Emergency Preparedness for WMD:
PNNL supports a US government-sponsored training program that teaches
international first responders how to recognize, respond to and manage an
incident involving a WMD. In
addition to the operations training at HAMMER, PNNL also supports a course
for international mail handlers on Postal Chemical/Biological Incident
Management. In the same way the international WMD interdiction training
eventually expanded to accommodate U.S. Customs Officers, consideration
should be given to leveraging this training capability and facility to
accommodate the government's articulated desire to train U.S. first
responders to handle WMD incidents.
-
Federal
Emergency Management Information System and EMADVANTAGE:
Decision support and command and control tools have been developed
for both emergency managers and emergency responders.
These tools provide an automated decision support
architecture
that applies to situation planning and response capabilities for large
multi-user environments.
-
National
Counterdrug Center (NCC):
Operational coordination (or interoperability) across multiple
agencies, missions, or functions is a known limiting factor impacting
interdiction efforts. The NCC
is a simulation-based interoperability training system that can improve
multi-agency operational planning and execution in a virtual environment. While the current focus is drug interdiction, this national
capability can be readily leveraged to accommodate training and planning
capability for all-threat interdiction to include weapons of mass
destruction. In addition, since
the underlying objectives are to support interoperability, it is plausible
that the capability and concept of simulation-based interactive environments
can support the needs of first responders (police, fire, and emergency
medical) as well.
-
Information
visualization and knowledge management:
For over a decade PNNL has been conducting research that helps
government analysts deal with the overwhelming amount of information they
must process. PNNL has
developed and successfully deployed tools for exploiting large and diverse
sets of information and analysts within a number of government agencies are
currently taking advantage of PNNL tools like SPIRE and Starlight
to help them connect the dots.
-
Critical
Infrastructure Protection:
PNNL is one of many DOE laboratories tasked to assure the integrity
of energy infrastructures by conducting vulnerability assessments and
recommending risk-mitigating strategies.
The bulk of this work has focused on the electrical power
infrastructure, an area wherein PNNL has recognized capability.
- Radiological Detection
Expertise: Even though PNNL
has existed for nearly four decades, there are over 50 years of history
related to radiation detection technology development and deployment as a
result of the legacy from the Hanford site's involvement in the Manhattan
project. Instruments
incorporating PNNL radiation detection technologies have been fielded in a
number of locations, including: outer
space, deep undersea, within the core of both naval and civilian reactors,
border crossings, international nuclear test detection networks, high
altitude aircraft, nuclear accident sites such as Three Mile Island and
Chernobyl, U.S. nuclear complex sites, and deep underground.
In addition, PNNL staff participate in a number of U.S. Government or
international policy working groups including the Radiation Detection Panel
(DOE), the Nuclear Smuggling Working group (IAEA), and the Radiation
Instrumentation Steering Committee (IEEE.)
PNNL currently holds leadership positions in the International
Nuclear Materials Management Association.
- Radiation
Portal Monitoring Support to US Customs:
The
U.S. Customs Service, Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Applied
Technology Division (ATD), working with the Department of Energy (Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory-PNNL), has established a terrorist
radiation/nuclear detection project to investigate systems and technologies
to augment and enhance their existing radiological detection capabilities.
This project addresses the maritime, aviation, land crossing, and
rail USCS inspection environments.
THE
ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND
OUR NATIONAL LABORATORIES
The science and technology response to our homeland security challenges
must draw broadly on the talent and expertise resident in our research
universities, our industry, and in all the government laboratories managed by
multiple agencies. The
national laboratories managed by DOE's Office of Science and the National
Nuclear Security Administration will play a very substantial role, particularly
on weapons of mass destruction issues.
These laboratories have specialized capabilities in several areas of
science and technology, such as the control and detection of nuclear materials,
and expertise pertinent to radiological, chemical and biological threats.
The national laboratories maintain the interdisciplinary approach and
scientific and engineering breadth necessary to take a broad systems view of
these problems, and have the ability to deliver solutions in a secure
environment.
I
very much appreciate the opportunity to provide this testimony and will be
pleased to answer questions or provide any additional information that would be
helpful.
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