Government Security News July 2016 Digital Edition

within the military, industrial, and
medical fields.
About Implant Sciences
Implant Sciences is a leader in developing
and manufacturing advanced
detection capabilities to counter and
eliminate the ever-evolving threats
from explosives and drugs. The
company’s team of dedicated trace
detection experts has developed
proprietary technologies used in its
commercial products, thousands of
which have been sold across more
than 70 countries worldwide. The
company’s explosive trace detection
products have received approvals
and certifications from several international
regulatory agencies, including
the TSA in the U.S., STAC
in France, the German Ministry of
the Interior, and the Ministry of
Public Safety in China. It also received
a GSN 2013 Homeland Security
Award for “Best Explosives
Detection Solution”. All Implant
Sciences products are recognized as
Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technologies
by the Department of Homeland
Security. For further details on
Implant Sciences and its products,
please visit the Company’s website
at http://www.implantsciences.com.
The Need for a National Energy
Grid Strategy
Continued from page 10
also awash in competing demands
from state and local regulations as
well as increasing public desires for
“green” energy.
Perhaps more importantly, there
also is a need to modernize the
100-year-old business model of the
industry, one that relies on selling
watts to earn revenue and requires
decades-long massive infrastructure
investments – neither of which fits
the growing imperative to harness
technologies that encourage greater
user efficiency and greater dependence
on distributed energy such as
rooftop solar. And that daunting list
of challenges doesn’t even include
the issue of who is going to pay for
the necessary changes – which include
everything from more sensors
and massive data aggregation to the
newly trained grid operators that
can assimilate and make best use of
such data. With estimates of a necessary
expenditure of $2 trillion in
upgrades over the next ten to fifteen
years, surely there should be some
deliberate consideration given to
how best to manage all the potential
promise – and to mitigation of risks
associated with – the already evolving
and newly invigorated U.S. electrical
power delivery system.
What is needed, then, is some sober
analysis and a deliberate plan
43
jointly developed by and agreeable
to industry leaders and the people
they serve. In other words, the grid
represents another complex and
critical area which requires a true
“public-private partnership”, one
that can address the issues of system
design, integration of key factors
such as smart meters and alternative
energy sources, and appropriate
cost-sharing over time. To do any
less would be a disservice not only
to the future, but also to the all the
past good that has been enabled by
the revolutionary accomplishments
enabled by widespread and reliable
access to electrical power.
J. Michael Barrett is Director of the
Center for Homeland Security &
Resilience and a former Director of
Strategy for the White House Homeland
Security Council. This article
is drawn from the author’s recent
White Paper, “Challenges and Requirements
for Tomorrows Electrical
Power Grid”, published by the
Lexington Institute and available at
http://lexingtoninstitute.org/wp-con-
tent/uploads/2016/06/Tomorrows-
Electrical-Power-Grid.pdf.