In this month's issue, columnist Peter Curtis of Power Management Concepts writes about the Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security in Bethpage, NY. Peter writes, "The Center is intended to be a research center under normal conditions and an emergency operation center (EOC) during critical events. Using robust technology, it will operate as a communication hub that provides a common operating picture (COP) for government assets when called upon."

Peter's enthusiasm for the Center raised my spirits a bit after I heard about security breaches on November 3rd and 5th. 

By now, most everyone has heard about the murders committed by Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood on November 3rd. Twelve people died and 31 people were injured. The New York Daily News reported that one witness heard the gunman yell "Allahu Akbar" before launching his assault. Just two days earlier The Associate Press reported that five anti-war demonstrators, including an 81-year-old Roman Catholic priest and an 81-year-old nun were cut through a security fence at the nuclear missile storage facility for Trident submarines at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

Two security breaches at guarded military facilities in three days makes me nervous, and so I am happy that Mission Critical can report on this effort to make the nation safer.

The stakes are high, but mistakes do happen. Consider this story from the June 2nd New York Times. "The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons." This story, though widely reported, went largely unnoticed. Still together these three security breaches tell a cautionary. We cannot know the nature of all the threats against us, but we must protect against them all. The only way to do that is to be smarter. 

Read more about the Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security to see one effort to be smarter. Our coverage will be available here and in the mail in a few days.