Programs
Regional Technology Integration Initiative Assessment
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate has implemented the Regional Technology Integration Initiative (RTII) to facilitate the transition of innovative technologies and organizational concepts for emergency preparedness and response to regional, state, and local jurisdictions. The program recognizes the need for all-hazard preparedness and response, with a specific interest in deploying technologies that are effective in response to terrorist events. Four regional pilot locations have been selected from across the country (Seattle, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Anaheim), all of which are participating in the DHS Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). Through the RTII, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory leads three specific projects (described below): Interconnected Emergency Operations Centers, Credentialing for Emergency Responders, and Interoperable Communications.
Interconnected Emergency Operations Centers
Emergency operations centers (EOCs) within a region must be able to quickly and accurately share time-critical information. Information vital to an effective response includes a wide variety of data related to an incident. This project will develop and deploy an integrated set of prototype functions to improve interconnectivity between applications, processes, and data used by emergency operations centers EOCs in the Seattle urban area.
Credentialing for Emergency Responders
Responders must quickly gain entry to emergency event sites without compromising access security. This RTII project aims to develop a technology information architecture to support a credentialing system for the rapid identification and qualification of responders (e.g., fire rescuers, law enforcement, medical professionals, public health officials, and public utility workers).
Interoperable Communications
To provide emergency responders with immediate and unassisted communication across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines would vastly improve response efficiency. The objective of this project is to develop a blueprint consistent with the Seattle UASI vision for a system that will allow responders to travel across the entire area, traversing all jurisdictions, without breaking communications.
Radiation Portal Monitoring Project
As part of the DHS mission to protect the nation, PNNL is working with the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on the Radiation Portal Monitoring Project (RPMP) to develop and deploy effective radiation interdiction systems at U.S. ports of entry. The RPMP mission is to scan all vehicles and cargo entering the ports for unauthorized shipments of nuclear and radiological materials while also maintaining the flow of legitimate trade and travel. PNNL is deploying radiation portal monitor systems at border crossing across the country. PNNL also provides specific expertise in radiation detection systems and their field application, operational simulation modeling and computational analysis, interdiction technology development, and integration engineering and configuration management.
DHS Selects City for Integrated Communications Architecture Pilot
DHS has selected Los Angeles/Long Beach as the location for its integrated communications architecture pilot after a 5-month assessment of six potential cities that included Seattle. PNNL has been assisting Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in identifying a site for the pilot of an integrated communications architecture for chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) sensors to increase situational awareness for city officials and first responders. PNNL assessed Seattle, Los Angeles/Long Beach, and Anaheim as potential sites. ANL concentrated on New York, Boston, and Chicago. None of the cities have fully integrated CBRNE sensors into a common operating picture for rapid situational awareness. Los Angeles was chosen because of the comprehensive array of sensors already in place, the eagerness of the responder community to support the integration effort, and the character of the existing communication infrastructure. The pilot program will focus on getting the right information to the right person at the right time. The information sharing across organizational boundaries (both civilian and military) will involve implementation of existing and emerging standards for communications interoperability within a common data model. The idea is not to build a new architecture but to provide a system that can be easily adapted into the legacy systems and procedures that the city already has in place and to seamlessly add the additional benefits of real-time sensing to daily operations. While the DHS concentration is on CBRNE for high-consequence events, the technology is expected to be able to be applied to many aspects of routine operations by the emergency response community. A successful implementation in Los Angeles will pave the way for implementing the same tools at a second city with minimal effort and disruption before making the tools available across the nation.
West Coast Maritime Radiation Detection Pilot Project in Puget Sound
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and the U. S. Coast Guard are helping federal, state, local, and tribal maritime authorities reduce the risk of radiological and nuclear threats that could be illicitly transported on recreational or small commercial vessels. Currently, an estimated 17 million small vessels are registered in the U.S. With such a large number of small vessels operating in our waters, the potential exists for terrorists or criminal organizations to take advantage of this threat vector and use a small vessel to attack or deliver materials for an attack against our nation. The West Coast Maritime Radiation Detection Pilot Project goals are in direct support of the DHS Small Vessel Security Strategy to expand and enhance maritime radiological/nuclear detection capabilities for international, federal, state, local, tribal and private stakeholders.