House Science Hearing on DHS S&T
Congressman David Wu, chairman of the House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, convened a hearing today on funding for homeland security R&D. Director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Vayl Oxford testified, along with Admiral Cohen, Under Secretary for Science and Technology at DHS. I testified on the role of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, the applicability of risk assessments, and other items. Jerry Epstein, Senior Fellow at CSIS, testified on the Department’s biosecurity investments. And, from a first responder-as-user perspective, Marilyn Ward of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council testified.
Fortunately, the hearing avoided the non-starter subject of whether DNDO should be consolidated into the S&T Directorate. The whole reason it is separate is due the special nature of nuclear terrorism and nuc detection R&D. The hearing focused instead on the importance of strategic level judgments about how to balance near-term needs to deploy technology solutions to the challenges of securing the homeland with long-term commitments to R&D that can lead to major leaps in capability down the road.
My statement focused on the nuclear challenge from a non-physicist perspective by introducing a different view of success factors for the DNDO, and the public sector in general. There’s a certain amount of attention given to the use of a broader framework for gauging value in R&D investments in there, too, that makes use of an IBM model — Global Movement Management – developed originally by Scott Gould and Christian Beckner. Full disclosure: I’m now on that project to generate the 2.0 iteration. I’d welcome any reactions to my testimony, and you can view the statements offered by the other expert witnesses by clicking below.
Vayl Oxford testimony for 3-8-07 hearingÂ
Admiral Cohen testimony for 3-8-07 hearingÂ
Dr. Epstein testimont for 3-8-07 hearing
Ms. Ward’s testimony for 3-8-07 hearing
Czerwinski testimony for 3-8-07 hearing
Update 3/11/07: GovExec’s Winter Casey covered the hearing in this story.