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A deadly game
Playing hide and seek with terrorists
increases public procurement load
by Richard Bray
The September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States brought a sense
of wartime urgency to public sector spending in Canada. Across the
country, strategic facilities like power plants and telecommunications
systems need to be “hardened” against possible attacks. Meanwhile,
Canadian soldiers (www.dnd.ca)
in Afghanistan are at the end of a supply chain that stretches halfway
around the world.
The Supply Operations Services Branch at Public Works and Government
Services Canada (www.pwgsc.gc.ca)
quickly began expediting public security and anti-terrorism purchasing by
establishing 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week service for emergency or
national security procurements. While emergency spending can be
fast-tracked to speed past the normal obstacles, and as much as $15
million in requirements has been authorized in one day, officials point
out that such spending will certainly be subject to review.
The goal of all this urgency is to protect Canadians by deterring
attacks within the country, and to make sure Canada does not become a safe
haven for terrorists planning attacks elsewhere. The federal government
will be spending more money to gather information and upgrade police
capabilities, to screen people arriving in Canada more carefully, to
better prepare for emergencies, and to train and equip the military.
Airports are the first concern. In the past, terrorists have singled
out commercial aviation as a target – now airliners have become weapons.
In either case, airports are a top priority for added security. Fully $2.2
billion of the $6.5 billion allocated in the December 2001 Federal Budget
to defend Canada against terrorism is dedicated to protecting aviation.
Over five years, through Transport Canada (www.tc.gc.ca),
the federal government will spend that $2.2 billion to bring the security
environment around air travel up to rigorous new national standards. To
get that done, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has been
created. Reporting to the Minister of Transport, the new Authority will
provide key security services. To pay for these services, a new Air
Travelers Security Charge of $12 each way is being levied on airline
passengers, beginning April 1, 2002, for travel within the country. One of
its most important responsibilities will be to ensure that no unauthorized
explosives are placed aboard aircraft, either in luggage or cargo. More
than $1 billion will be spent on explosives detection systems over the
next five years. (See sidebar.)
For the first time in decades, armed police officers in civilian
clothes began traveling on Canadian aircraft to protect them from
hijackers, while cockpit doors were replaced so they would be more secure.
Security zones around airport handling facilities and aircraft parking
areas were upgraded.
A new, $6-million information system will connect officers who handle
the traveling public to data banks in Canada and abroad. As new
technologies are put into place, cargo and baggage handlers and airline
staff will require new training programs.
Over the next five years, federal purchasing officers will be shopping
for an array of goods and services, ranging from simple contracts for
security guard services to advanced technologies like scanning units that
can electronically transmit and analyze fingerprints, palm-prints and
photographs. New and existing laboratories will need specialized equipment
for analyzing and deterring the threats from chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons.
Within the $1.2 billion allotted to federal security departments like
the RCMP (www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca)
and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), CSIS (www.csis-scrs.gc.ca)
received its biggest funding increase ever, much of which will be devoted
to technical upgrades – computers, fax machines and telecommunications
systems.
The security of Canada’s passport system is being enhanced with
technology for expanded background checks and a new, high security
passport booklet with embedded photos, holograms, advanced printing and
other security features. A new on-site, online identification and
retrieval information system is being implemented for passport officers;
and the Passport Office
(www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/passport/menu.asp)
is getting more staff. Security guards and cameras have been placed at all
passport offices, and an online data verification process has been set up
with the provinces.
The September 11 attack prompted concern at every level of government,
but with today’s strained budgets, not every government can summon the
necessary resources to deal with the surging demand. At the end of
January, Michelle McKinnon of the Nova Scotia Justice Department (www.gov.ns.ca/just)
says her government was still grappling with the issues and wondering how
the federal government will help to compensate provinces for
security-related activities. “The point is how the federal government is
going to help the provinces with respect to some of those costs. Things
like training, for police, for crown attorneys. That’s really where we are
right now,” she says.
With regard to assessing potential targets for vulnerability, McKinnon
says, “Certainly the RCMP has been tasked with that and they have
identified some. For Nova Scotia, at least, we have been given,
thankfully, a low threat assessment.”
But as far as assuming the costs of hardening vulnerable targets
against terrorist threats, McKinnon says, “We feel very strongly that it
has to be shared.”
A wealthier province with more promising targets, Ontario committed
about $30 million dollars in the wake of September 11 to improve security
for Ontario residents, according to Bill Parish of the Ontario
Solicitor-General’s (www.solicitorgeneral.msg.gov.on.ca/english/default.htm)
office.
“An Ontario rapid response team will be made up of Ontario Provincial
Police officers to counter terrorist threats. We’re increasing funding for
intelligence gathering,” he says. “We are going to build facilities at
both the Ontario Fire College and the Ontario Police College. The police
college construction will support anti-terrorist training and the fire
college will get an Emergency Management Training Centre.” The budget for
Emergency Measures Ontario (EMO) is being doubled to allow EMO to work
with municipalities on emergency plans and exercises.
The leadership of this war against terrorism has emphasized that it
could take as long as 10 years to win a decisive victory. Buying and
deploying many of the weapons to win this struggle with no doubt stretch
the capacities of the existing procurement system, as terrorists devise
new ways to attack and governments develop new ways to counter them. Many
of the weapons are still in the imaginations of the adversaries in this
conflict.
SIDEBAR
New technology detects bombs
Just two weeks after the terrorist attacks
on New York and Washington, Transport Minister David Collenette
announced that Transport Canada was buying advanced explosives
detection systems (EDS) to improve security at high-priority
Canadian airports.
Transport Canada had already been working
with airports and airlines to improve the ability to detect
explosives at every major Canadian airport, with a timetable for
implementation in 2003. Clearly, after September 11, the timetable
was advanced. Due to security reasons, no specific information was
available about where and how the equipment would be deployed, but
Collenette did say his department would continue to “…develop
standards that would require the broader and more systematic use of
advanced explosives detection systems in the future.”
Transport Canada would not tell Summit how
much it plans to spend on EDS for Canada’s airports, but there is no
doubt it will be a substantial portion of the $2.2 billion the
December 2001 Federal Budget allocated to air travel security. EDS
capable of handling the high volumes of luggage and cargo that
stream through major airports can cost as much as $1.5 million.
Canada has been a leader in airport EDS –
installing explosives and vapour detection systems at this country’s
airports in 1985. At that time, the systems were used to check
suspicious luggage and sweep aircraft that presented a particularly
attractive target to terrorists. Today, of course, the objective is
to check every piece of cargo and luggage arriving at a Canadian
airport.
Even before the attacks on the Pentagon and
the World Trade Center, Transport Canada’s research and development
arm, the Transportation Development Centre, had tripled its spending
on airport security, with EDS as its first priority. Laser, X-ray
and infrared technologies are all being evaluated for their
effectiveness in screening large quantities of luggage and cargo
quickly and effectively.
Obviously, the first requirement in a bomb
detector is the ability to find hidden explosives, but in an airport
setting, the system must be non-intrusive, low-maintenance,
high-capacity and, above all, not prone to issuing false alarms. As
well, the EDS equipment should integrate with existing
baggage-scanning and handling equipment. Operating procedures must
be easily learned so new and existing security employees can be
quickly trained.
In May 2000 the US Federal Aviation
Administration (www.faa.gov) awarded a contract to three companies,
L-3 Communications, InVision Technologies and PerkinsElmer Inc., to
develop lower-cost EDS equipment for smaller airports and other
facilities that do not require high-capacity systems but do require
the same state-of-the-art detection capability.
Post September 11, L-3 Communications and
InVision Technologies, the only US manufacturers of EDS equipment,
found themselves unable to meet the demand for bomb-detection
equipment. Over the last five years, only about 50 of the United
States’ 546 airports have been equipped with bomb detectors. That
means only about 10 percent of the one billion pieces of luggage
that go through American airports each year have been checked for
bombs. It’s been estimated that as many as 2,000 machines will be
needed to meet the demand in US airports alone, so Canadian
purchasers may find themselves in a bidding war for scarce
equipment, at least in the near term.
The International Air Transport Association
(IATA) says there is an annual six percent increase in the number of
air travelers, which means that passenger traffic will double by the
year 2010. There is no reason to doubt that the increase in Canada
will be at least in that range. To maintain a viable aviation
industry, the pressure is on for security measures to keep up with
capacity, so it’s a safe bet that spending on EDS and the support
services required will increase substantially in the years ahead.
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Richard Bray is an Ottawa-based freelance
writer specializing in the IT sector. He has been published in magazines
and newspapers in Australia, the US and Canada. Before freelancing, he
worked as a producer, reporter and senior writer for CBC in Toronto.
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