November 14, 2003
Volume 1, Number 7

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The HSTC View

Standards In The Homeland Security Arena

By

Thomas R. Coughlin, Jr., M.D.

Director

Homeland Security Technology Council of the United States

This is the first in a series of articles from HSTC leaders.

The recent emphasis by both government and the media on Homeland Security brings to light a number of deficiencies and opportunities in this new and burgeoning industry.  The issues of Homeland Security and Defense present challenges and technological opportunities in areas ranging from building protection to cybersecurity to initial response to detection of chemical, biological radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) agents and devices.

Ensuring security at a national level involves millions of individuals in the criminal justice and public safety communities, the military, science, emergency services, public health and medicine, information technology, airport and building security and other areas. 

With such a large force either directly or indirectly involved in the various aspects of Homeland Security, one of the deficiencies that becomes obvious centers around the issue of standards.  While it may seem logical to some that to have standards in place is the only practical way to approach the massive problem of Homeland Security, the facts are that few standards in this area currently exist.

Having recognized standards in place for Homeland Security technologies can facilitate communications among first responders, ensure comparability of measurement results, and interworking of multiple technologies.  Standards can also help federal, state and local agencies protect against threats before they become critical, and can assist in making informed procurement decisions at all levels of Homeland Security.

The extremely broad range of technologies currently available, the speed of development of new technologies, and the numbers of end users involved in the Homeland Security effort create special challenges for the development of standards in this area.

Homeland Security Standards Needed Now

Why are CBRNE standards needed now?  There are several reasons to advocate the adoption of these types of standards on a national level.  First of all, such standards would foster cooperation among agencies from the local level up to the federal level, especially among first responders such as fire departments, police and even National Guard Units and local offices of FEMA and the FBI.  Additionally, in order for manufacturers to make an item to perform a specific function in a given situation, one must know the end users’ expected performance requirements -- what is it supposed to do, under what conditions, etc.  National performance, commonality, and interoperability standards would help delineate these expected requirements.

Uniform Homeland Security standards would also provide all agencies with guidance on procurement.  Purchasers of CBRNE or Homeland Security equipment would have access to performance data on their potential purchases and be able to more wisely spend the limited Homeland Security dollars.  Also, since data on comparable equipment could be reviewed, more cost effective purchases could be made by all Homeland Security providers.

Standards would also lend credibility to data measurements.  If all equipment or devices of a certain type must be tested under the same set of standards, then performance outcomes can be compared and performance data becomes more credible since all devices were subjected to the same tests.  This in turn would help generate both public and end-user confidence in equipment performance.

One area of the Homeland Security landscape that has received little attention is that of liability.  While no universal set of standards will effectively prevent damaging litigation against either the manufacturer or the end-user in the case of an untoward event, standards could provide some degree of legal defensibility.  The elucidation of all of the potential legal and liability problems in this area would be quite extensive and is clearly beyond the scope of this article and the expertise of its author. However, these legal and liability considerations are just additional factors weighing in favor of the establishment of national Homeland Security standards.

In the December 5 issue, Dr. Couglin discusses Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and one organization that OLES is intimately involved with that addresses some of the needs for standards in these areas is the IAB—the Inter Agency Board for Equipment Standardization and InterOperability.  Learn more about the HSTC. Visit www.thehstc.us.