GlobalSecurity.org In the News

By Greg Schneider and Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post Staff Writers

The Pentagon yesterday issued a rush appeal for ideas for fighting terrorism, asking contractors for exotic new surveillance technologies that could be used against faraway enemies, as well as at American airports and shopping malls.

In releasing an unusual "broad agency announcement," the Pentagon bypassed its cumbersome bureaucracy and posted a list of 38 sought-after systems or technologies on an Internet site used by contractors. It wants one-page proposals by Dec. 23 for products that could be in place in 12 to 18 months.

The requested items include a computer system for tracking anyone who buys material that could be used in making bombs, a portable polygraph machine for questioning airline passengers, and voiceprint software for automatically recognizing people speaking Middle Eastern languages.

Experts said the initiative reflects how a military heavy on jets and ships is shifting its investments to fight this new, unexpected type of war.

Officials put no price on the effort and said it was an attempt to find a new way of doing business in a time of urgent need. Many of the surveillance technologies are already highly developed in the commercial world. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, they are being rapidly embraced for law enforcement, intelligence and security purposes.

The Pentagon's announcement came on the day the Senate approved a landmark bill that would greatly expand the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to tap phones, monitor Internet traffic and conduct other forms of surveillance in pursuit of terrorists.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Joseph Atick, president of Visionics Corp. of Jersey City, which makes facial recognition systems for identifying and tracking people.

"We're going from concepts and ideas to programs and appropriations," Atick said. "I'm very impressed how fast they've turned around. It just shows the urgency with which they are operating."

A Pentagon spokesman said the unusually broad request is an attempt to get innovative ideas from sources that might not otherwise have direct access to the Pentagon -- small companies, even individuals with imaginative solutions -- and quickly put them in place.

"This is an area that needs a little bit of thinking outside the box," said the spokesman, Air Force Maj. Mike Halbig.

Among other technologies, defense officials want proposals for facial recognition systems, computer programs that can predict terrorist behavior, and sophisticated scanners for spotting people who have handled weapons of mass destruction.

"This is exactly where [the U.S. military] is going to try to spend more money," said John Pike, a military analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a nonpartisan think tank. "For the most part, these are small gadgets that you don't have to have a Boeing or Lockheed Martin to build or develop."

Electronics expert David Rockwell of the Teal Group, an aerospace consulting firm, said many of the systems the Pentagon wants have been in development for years but until now have suffered from a lack of funding and attention.

Some of the areas "have potentially ominous overtones," Rockwell added. One item, for instance, calls for a tracking device that allows "monitoring of civilian as well as military targets."

"Some of this technology could be used in ways that have not been legal in the past and may become legal in the future," he said. "But I think that's happened during every time of war in the U.S."

Many of the technologies the Pentagon proposes are similar to devices that companies are already putting on the market.

"It sounds like they've done their homework. Most of these technologies are pretty ripe for these uses," said Richard Norton, executive director of the International Biometric Industry Association, which represents companies that make systems keyed to immutable characteristics such as fingerprints and certain facial characteristics.

Member companies expect their revenue to come in at $200 million this year, double last year's. The use of digital fingerprints by law enforcement agencies has become common, and banks, casinos and other businesses now routinely use facial recognition or handprint systems to identify fraud artists or improve building security.

Earlier this year, Tampa became the first U.S. city to use facial recognition in a public area to fight crime. Officials at airports in Boston and Oakland, Calif., are planning to install a facial recognition system, and officials at least a dozen other U.S. airports are considering such measures to increase security.

Civil liberties specialists said the military's effort would accelerate the development and adoption of biometric systems throughout society.

Improved facial and voice recognition systems could dramatically strengthen the ability of authorities to identify and track people, including those who might be innocent of any wrongdoing, said James Dempsey, deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties advocacy group based in the District.

While there's little doubt such systems could help the military fight terror, the improved technology will almost surely migrate into civilian law enforcement agencies, Dempsey said.

The system used by Tampa police, for instance, was developed by Visionics Corp. with millions of dollars in backing from the Defense and Justice departments. And it is being used by a variety of police agencies for targeted surveillance.

"The government is increasingly going to be conducting scans -- facial scans, voice scans, data scans," Dempsey said. "They're going to be tapping into this digital ocean . . . of daily behavior."

Copyright 2001 Washington Post