The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to establish a network of national laboratories to develop and foster the implementation of counter-terrorism technologies.

According to the DHS, this research network will follow the Cold War model of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which directed the work of national laboratories in the research and development of nuclear weaponry.

The Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories — the so-called Tri-Lab organization that served NNSA — have already begun to organize Homeland Security research efforts around four specific threats identified by the department: chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.

The Tri-Labs have been working in each of these areas for decades, and their work tends to overlap. In business, overlapping responsibilities are frowned on, but overlap offers benefits in the world of research.

“None of the labs have unique pieces of Homeland security,” says T. J. Allard, director of Homeland security at Sandia National Laboratories. “This is because the problems are so difficult and have so many different facets. One lab, for example, might work on bio-detection, while another focuses on clean-up after a release.”

With the creation of the DHS, each of the national labs began to organize its own Homeland security research effort.

Sandia has created a separate unit. According to Allard, Sandia's priorities are fourfold: Threat and vulnerability assessments, physical security, nuclear material identification and chemical and biological weapons detection.

“Vulnerability and threat assessments are a big deal,” Allard says. The goal is to understand vulnerabilities in electrical transmission systems, chemical facilities, municipal water systems, building design and other areas. Threat assessments, of course, relate to vulnerability.

“We have been thinking about vulnerabilities and terrorist threats since the 1972 Munich Olympics attacks,” Allard continues. “When the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, we had assessment methodologies on the shelf and ready to use. To me, this is what a national laboratory does: anticipate needs and work on problems when they are not sexy. Then, you have tools when they are needed.”

At Lawrence Livermore, an existing counter-terrorism division already mirrors the research priorities being set by the deaprtment, says Page Stoutland, deputy division leader for counter-terrorism. “Our research over the years has involved countering attacks by nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction,” he continues. “Under that umbrella, our research involves building better radiation and biological detectors and detection networks.”

Lawrence Livermore also researches emergency response technology. The lab, for example, maintains a Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST), whose job is to disable a nuclear weapon detected on U.S. soil. Another program focuses on attribution. If there were a nuclear attack, where did the nuclear material come from? Still other programs focus on predicting the effects of a weapon of mass destruction.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has announced that a standalone Center for Homeland Security, housed in Los Angeles, will assume responsibilities for Homeland security research. The center will pursue research in three areas:chemical and biological attacks; nuclear and radiological attacks; and attacks on critical infrastructure, which include transportation, power, communications and food-supply networks.

“In many cases, capabilities related to these areas were in place before the creation of the DHS,” says Thomas Meyer, the director for the Center of Homeland Security. “For example, we have a technology called Trans-Sims, or transportation simulations. “This system can simulate the flow of vehicle traffic in large cities and what happens when you change the system.”

Trans-Sims can actually model more than traffic. It can predict how a terrorist event might alter air and water traffic or the transmission of electrical power. The technology can also track chemical and biological releases. Current research aims to develop tracking tools for use by first responders and other entities responding to terrorist attacks.

In the past, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia have pursued joint research. The result of one of these programs, called BASIS, has been deployed. “This is a detection system that assays the air in a region or a city,” Meyer says.

Another concern related to DHS research involves moving technological developments into the marketplace. “At the end of the day, industry will solve the problem of terrorism,” Stoutland says.

Right now, there is little profit to be made on DHS technologies, Stoutland continues. Companies can't market nebulous technological concepts. In the end, perhaps the biggest challenge of DHS technologies is the design of tangible products that private industry can manufacture and sell.