In 2001, the September 11 (9/11) terrorist attacks spurred a pivotal change in the way the U.S. looks at preparedness for threats to the homeland. The two-plus decades that followed have been filled with collaborations, innovations, and partnerships that transformed the nation’s preparedness and response capabilities. At the Department of Energy national laboratories, researchers are tackling complex problems through innovative science and technology, supporting national security through research and development (R&D). Science and technology partnerships with national laboratories are helping to bridge the gap between R&D and emergency preparedness needs in the field. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a novel model of preparedness to link first responders, emergency managers, and critical infrastructure providers to researchers.
Understanding the Evolving Threat Landscape
With the collision of emerging technologies and increasing natural and human-made threats, the preparedness landscape is changing, and it is changing fast. In the 21st century, preparedness is multi-domain, multi-hazard, and multi-discipline as threats grow increasingly complex, whether digital, physical, or airborne. For emergency managers and first responders tasked with keeping communities and critical infrastructure safe, the pressure is on to rapidly assess incoming information and make decisions faster than ever.
For more than a decade, teams at PNNL have been connecting with first responders and emergency managers across the nation to elicit feedback about technology needs in the field. Through workshops, interviews, focus groups, roundtables, and simple conversations, they have heard directly from fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services (EMS), public safety communications, critical infrastructure owners and operators, and more. In recent years, particularly with the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), soft-target attacks, and cascading impacts from cybersecurity breaches on critical infrastructure, each frontier poses new technological challenges and opportunities. Here are a few examples:
- Cybersecurity. As systems become increasingly digitized and connected, the threat surface expands. Small municipalities and their critical infrastructure owners and operators can lack the capital and resources to employ robust cybersecurity capabilities to protect themselves and the communities they serve. Preparedness demands accessible, affordable solutions to identify and elevate threats and vulnerabilities, enhance resilience through advance planning, and strengthen the security and reliability of infrastructure and cyberspace.
- Integration and interoperability. While new technology – such as whizbang sensors, audiovisual capabilities, and wearables – comes to market at a record pace, adoption is often fraught with delays because the jurisdictions that need it do not have the time to test, evaluate, and implement it within existing systems and data architectures. The challenge escalates with cross-jurisdictional information sharing and the privacy and policy implications that accompany it.
- Communications. In some spaces, there is more power in mobile devices than some first responders can use in the field. The handheld radio remains the trustworthy standby where network conditions and audio capabilities cannot keep up with the places first responders go.
- Geolocation. The combination of geolocation and haptic alerts (vibrations) in today’s mapping tools could alert responders in low-visibility and low-audio scenarios (e.g., notify firefighters entering a danger zone or send updates to law enforcement navigating an active shooter scenario).
- Resource Management. Preparedness and response require many resources (people, personal protective equipment [PPE], vehicles, volunteers, etc.) that require a lot of effort, energy, and capabilities to identify and track. Imagine a system that could source PPE supplies, identify needed hospital capacity for patient transport, or quickly distinguish credentials and deploy volunteers arriving on scene.
- Soft-Target Protection. From sports arenas and concert venues to busy city centers, large venues are packed with people. Well-populated and unprotected places present complex security challenges that make them vulnerable to attack. Tools like systems of sensors connected with immersive visual and data analytics can reduce that threat and increase security, all while being minimally intrusive or disruptive to the carefree experience people are seeking.
- Threat and Hazard Detection. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive (CBRNE) threats are becoming more sophisticated and making it more difficult to prepare equipment and to detect potential threats. For example, the chemical structure of fentanyl is constantly changing and difficult for detection equipment manufacturers to keep pace. Solutions are needed to discover novel signatures of emerging CBRNE threats, to update the equipment used to detect them, and to train responders in their use.
- Critical Infrastructure. The nation’s complex and intricate systems – the electrical power grid, transportation systems, banking and finance systems, and more – is becoming more complex, more connected, and more vulnerable to adverse conditions, such as cyber and physical attacks. Modeling, simulation, and predictive analytics provide a better understanding of the system and asset interdependencies and anticipate how their disruption could impact continuity of operations in public health and national security.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI). The emerging and escalating capabilities of AI, including generative AI, machine learning, and automation, pose promise and peril to the future of preparedness. Even baby steps – like generative AI for public messaging, translation, or scenario planning – require a better understanding of and training with AI tools, in addition to controlled test-bed environments, standard operating procedures, and governance to ensure safe and secure operations.
Partnering for Preparedness
Recognizing that partnerships for preparedness happen in all shapes and sizes, PNNL has put connecting with end users and making regular and consistent contact with first responders and emergency managers at the forefront of R&D outreach. This spurred the launch of the Northwest Regional Technology Center, a one-of-a-kind center focused on building relationships for regional preparedness, response, and recovery. These partnerships help build informed, functional solutions that fit the emerging needs of first responders and others on the front lines. For example, teams are reimagining the traveler experience and developing and deploying technologies to protect airline passengers. Some tools help protect crowded places, and others leverage capabilities like AI, satellite imagery, and predictive analytics to improve situational awareness of and response to natural disasters like wildfires and floods. Researchers are also in the fight against fentanyl, updating chemical libraries, evaluating equipment, and informing standards to improve detection equipment used by first responders in the field.
Through a mix of projects and partnerships to connect with first responders and emergency management stakeholders, PNNL is assessing current research in emergency management, eliciting and refining capability needs from practitioners, and identifying where technology such as AI may benefit the future of emergency management and operations centers. Whatever challenges lay ahead, end-user input and an in-depth understanding of the R&D and technology landscape will help inform solutions for preparedness for years to come.
PNNL is not alone in this mission – Department of Energy national laboratories across the country are at work on all these fronts. As federally funded R&D centers, national laboratories are a conduit for connecting science and technology with the nation’s capacity to anticipate and mitigate threats. In particular, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 authorized the Department of Homeland Security to use national laboratories in conducting its mission. Having a national laboratory nearby means streamlined access to R&D talent and science and technology capabilities, including test beds, facilities, and real-time disaster support (modeling, simulation, etc.). Together, this network of talent, innovation, and partnerships can bring a science and engineering approach to preparedness and play a role in nearly every layer of the country’s national security.
Ryan Eddy
Ryan Eddy serves as the director for Homeland Security Programs in the National Security Directorate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He oversees the work PNNL performs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which encompasses nearly 50 diverse projects and over $100 million worth of annual business. Eddy manages a team that engages with components across DHS in such areas as explosives detection, nuclear security, and cybersecurity. By drawing on his years of experience in Washington, D.C., Mr. Eddy oversees program development strategies for DHS sponsors that assure PNNL is delivering mission-relevant work. DHS sponsors at PNNL include the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, Science & Technology Directorate, Customs and Border Protection, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Transportation Security Administration, and others.
Ann Lesperance
Ann Lesperance is the director of the Northwest Regional Technology Center at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). She has over 30 years of experience as a researcher and project manager, and her primary focus is developing regional programs to accelerate the demonstration and deployment of new homeland security technologies. Lesperance works with state and local emergency responders and public safety officials and builds regional coalitions of emergency management professionals to understand and help prioritize their operational needs and requirements. Ms. Lesperance also has a joint appointment as the director for the College of Social Science and Humanities Programs at Northeastern University Seattle. In this role, she leads efforts to build the master’s program in Security and Resilience Studies and Urban Informatics. She was also awarded a faculty affiliate appointment with Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute, where she partners with the institute to identify and participate in interdisciplinary proposal efforts for new research and education collaborations.
