We move forward on a very wide boulevardSpecifically AXA promised investors three thingsThis rebound could threaten the whole operation that are neutral with respect to the diversity of culturesApple body tag then approximately 29 millionWhat investors to remain on the defensiveLiberals and centrists are endlessly of gruntWhere desire widespread international contactsRisk of frustrationSome coincidences are shockAll the artists I've made have a mad freedomSilicon Valley is probably the high-tech region of the United States benefiting the more manna that discharges the Government to fund new anti-terrorism technology. Two major federal laboratories in the region, the Sandia Lab and the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) have both given their Homeland Security budgets significantly increased since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Thus, the Arms Control and International Security Department budget to combat the effects of the possible use of weapons of mass destruction, has quadrupled in a few years at the Livermore lab. It represents more than 300 million dollars for a staff of 1,000 people.
These increases are part of the effort that the US Government agrees to reduce the risk of attack. Thus, while the R & D department Homeland Security budget is passed to 2 billion dollars this year, the objective is multiplied by five and transform the agency that it is running in an equivalent, for anti-terrorist technologies, Darpa, agency which funds R & D of the army U.S..
Today, the first consequences of this work are beginning to appear. One of the most spectacular developments was presented recently by the LLNL, called Truck Stopping Technology. After four years of development, this technology allows the police to California to avoid that trucks loaded with dangerous substances turn into rolling bombs, with a device which will be progressively mandatory on all trucks on the roads in the Golden State. The forces of order will now have the possibility of stopping distance a vehicle which would threaten a chemical plant, a nuclear power plant or a building official.
Detect radioactive devices
In the case of a truck taken hostage by terrorists, it would be sufficient to actuate the device installed on board to block his brakes. In a later version of the Truck Stopping Technology, the same result can be achieved automatically. Thus, each sensitive building would broadcast a radio signal special vehicle team will receive, and which will force him to stop as soon as it is approaching too close to this potential target... "We thus have a sure way to avoid any risk from many trucks travelling near these buildings," says Dave McCallen, of the Arms Control at the LLNL laboratory. The device would indeed be installed on vehicles when they enter sensitive areas.
These developments are a real scientific revolution not only for the laboratory but for Sandia lab also Until the end of the cold war, these two agencies spent the bulk of their scientific means to the sophistication of nuclear weapons for the army systems. "After September 11, the urgency of transferring this expertise to anti-terrorism technologies has become much stronger," said Gary Ackerman, responsible of the Department of counter-terrorism studies at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California.
For its part, the Sandia Lab, he also recently presented some results in this area. Thus, the airport Kennedy, New York, has successfully tested last year a new Sentinel called explosive detection system. It's a cabin in which each passenger is to lock up a few seconds before boarding and which is capable of detecting the presence of explosives, wherever they are and even in very small quantities. Satisfied, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal agency which oversees security at U.S. airports, now comes from controlling dozens of Sentinel, which will be deployed later this year.
The laboratory also developed the point SMART radiation detector that will soon be installed at the entrance of ports or highways entries. Fixed or portable version, it may detect the presence of potential radioactive ("dirty bombs") gear eventually placed these vehicles by terrorists. Sandia Lab has also developed the chemical equivalent of this detector, called MicroChemLab. Sufficiently miniaturized to fit in the Palm of the hand, it will allow soon not only to detect if a chemical attack occurred somewhere but mostly what pathogens it consists.
In addition to the scientific revolution that drove these large California laboratories to convert in the fight against terrorism, a cultural revolution this time, had to be made. Indeed, many of these new technologies are intended to be used in an everyday environment (places, roads, shops, etc...). Most will be also used and commercialized by the private sector. Therefore, what pushed laboratories to open up to the technological private firms in the region, including creating start-up recent. A reconciliation even more essential that these firms are much more reactive and the urgency to develop new technologies to protect the American population is real. "Everyone wants its technologies as soon as possible, it requires us to change our habits," acknowledges Rick Stulen, Director of the Homeland Security of Sandia lab laboratory
For example, the Cipheid start-up has benefited from a technology developed by the Livermore Lab to develop a portable laboratory system to him also diagnose a chemical attack. But the technology is also offered to hospitals to facilitate the timeliness of some diagnostics not related to a terrorist context.
