"The Price of Peace"

Some observations that are chilling to the careful reader come from the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS has a new program, called FutureTECH, which is meant to propel technology and product innovations along the development cycle, from concept and the laboratory to the marketplace.

But the technology list includes almost exclusively technologies meant to defeat IEDs (improvised explosive devices, the bombs that were so murderous to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan) and provide defense against suicide bombers. Does this mean that DHS is concerned about terrorism within the homeland, of the type currently happening in Baghdad?

Rest assured that there are solutions already available for many of these challenges. The DOD has invested many billions in counter-IED technologies since 9-11, through programs from organizations like the JIEDDO (Joint IED Defeat Organization) and the TWSG (Technical Support Working Group). Some of these solutions involved concepts such as:

- Persistent surveillance, the continuous monitoring of risky areas from the air using UAVs (unmanned air vehicles);
- Remote detection and defusing of IEDs using small, smart robots, most prominently those manufactured by iRobot and Foster-Wheeler;
- Communications solutions allowing interconnectivity between the military, local law enforcement, first responders, and state officials;
- Standoff detection of explosives or their trigger mechanisms from the air or a vehicle

Also, and perhaps not surprisingly, the Israelis have the leading technology regarding bomb detection. After the bloody and infuriating rash of suicide bomber incidents earlier this decade, a focus on technology and process have basically brought these incidents to a halt. No doubt that the nation can liberally borrow from these solutions, or procure them directly from Israeli companies.

But the big concern is that our nation's officials are concerned enough about this violence being inflicted on the homeland. On our highways, in our cities, in our shopping malls.

Yes, this means business opportunities for entrepreneurs with novel solutions, hardware and software. But it is also a sobering recognition of the reality of 21st century America.

As General George Marshall, America's distinguished military leader throughout World War II said, "the price of peace is eternal vigilance."