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Gov. Mark Warner tries his hand at video teleconferencing Gov. Mark Warner toured the Navy base at Dahlgren as part of Virginia's preparations for the next round of base cuts. He talks with Paul Baitinger and Carlos Villatane, who work for government contractor AT&T Technologies. |
The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, could take on a significant homeland-security role if Gov. Mark Warner gets his way.
Warner visited the base yesterday as part of his preparations for the next round of military base closings and realignments due in 2005.
Though much of his visit involved sampling the next generation of advanced war-fighting systems being tested this month at Dahlgren, what seemed to interest the governor most was the base's new National Innovative Technology Mission Assurance Center.
NITMAC is a loose coalition of several programs at Dahlgren that are dedicated to helping secure America's commercial and industrial base from enemy attacks.
Some functions of NITMAC include chemical and biological defense, counter-drug technology, a center to analyze vulnerabilities in the country's infrastructure and recommend steps to mitigate risks, and a center to analyze how to defend the country by shutting down enemy infrastructure.
Though many of the programs in NITMAC have been around for decades, the coalition of programs was formed last year to try to create more synergy between the various programs.
Warner, who has governed through the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, the anthrax outbreak and last fall's sniper attacks, said he already has ideas on how the state could use NITMAC to assure statewide security.
"I saw a whole set of capabilities I wasn't aware of for integrating technology, science and communication to be used in homeland security," Warner said.
He said that Virginia, because of its high concentration of military installations, needs a more vigilant homeland-security program than some other states.
But the implications aren't limited to Virginia, he said.
"As I discuss homeland security with my fellow governors, they need to know about NITMAC."
Base leaders said they are happy to share their capabilities with Warner, the Office for Homeland Security and other civilian agencies. But they cautioned that the orders to do so must come down the military chain of command.
NWSC Executive Director Thom-as Pendergraft said that many of the NITMAC agencies are experiencing the same growing pains NASA officials did as people discovered the civilian applications of the technology it developed.
"The country has made a significant investment in these programs for the military, and all of a sudden it has significant applications to the rest of the country," he said. "How do you take advantage of that?"
Pendergraft said he was confident that a protocol for sharing information and technology with civilian agencies will be developed as homeland-security needs become more and more urgent.
Warner also observed the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstrations during his visit yesterday.
The demonstrations, taking place at several military installations across the country and in allied nations this month, test the way new technology can help various units share information, pull together capabilities, and make joint decisions in a war situation.
As part of his tour of the demonstrations, Warner sampled a system of databases, tested a spoken-language-translation device, had a teleconference with one of his constituents who is taking part in the demonstrations in Hawaii, and saw how the military is using some of the mobile-phone technology he kept abreast of in his days as a cell-phone entrepreneur.
"We're showing him what we're capable of," said Barry Dillon, head of the base's theater warfare systems department.
Dillon said he wanted Warner to see the importance of military interoperability--having each component in a war function in conjunction with every other component. He also wanted to show how the base has led interoperability technology in case such a program lands on the BRAC chopping block.
Warner acknowledged base personnel's concerns about BRAC and promised to advocate against shifting or eliminating programs there.
"We want to keep making our case for Dahlgren as we go into this," he said.
