• Short-link
• Link
• Embed

GSN 2015 DIGITAL YEARBOOK OF HOMELAND SECURITY and AIRPORT, SEAPORT, BORDER SECURITY AWARDS PROGRAMS GSN INTERVIEW Chuck Brooks, Distinguished Judge GSN 2015 Homeland Security and Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards programs GSN: What are your general thoughts on the 2015 awards? CB: For me it was a real pleasure judging this year’s annual Homeland Security and Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards programs. The submissions this year were frankly quite amazing. The capabilities and technical merits of the IT and Physical security products/solutions of all the vendors made it especially difficult to judge. In my opinion they were all winners because they are leading technological contributors to the current and future security of our nation. It is good to know that very talented people in industry and government are continually designing and upgrading security solutions to fill gaps as adversaries are becoming more hostile and sophisticated. GSN: You spent many years on Capitol Hill and also at the Department of Homeland Security. As we head into 2016, what do you envision as homeland security spending priorities? CB: Macro spending will increase across the board on homeland security products and services In accordance to the new threats we are especially facing from ISIS and from other terrorist actors, and global instabilities. This was reflected in the recent passage of the 2016 omnibus spending Bill recently passed by Congress by Congress. The bill provides DHS with $40.96 billion, which is an increase of $1.33 billion over the fiscal year 2015 enacted levels. It included increased funding levels for Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for DHS Cybersecurity programs in the DHS 8

National Programs and Protection Directorate. Global spending also parallels the DHS spending raise. A new market research report, “Global Homeland Security and Emergency Management Market, 2013–2018”, published by MarketsandMarkets is expected to reach $544.02 Billion by 2018. Unfortunately, those numbers could go even higher if there are more incidents similar to what happened in Paris, Mali, and San Bernardino, CA. GSN: What area/issue pending trends do you see as priorities for the homeland security community? CB: Counterterrorism and the counter CBRNE (chemical , biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive) mission will always be fundamental to homeland planning and spending. Those are the most catastrophic threats. In addition to CBRNE DHS has assumed more and more of a leadership role in cybersecurity derived from both Presidential mandates and congressional legislation. Cybersecurity is indeed a top priority as government agencies and mega corporations experience more data breaches with each passing year. I recently published an article in The Federal Times on Key homeland security priorities to watch in 2016 (http://www.federaltimes.com/story/ government/dhs/blog/2015/12/15/key-homeland-securitypriorities-watch-2016/77368604/) My thoughts in regards to cybersecurity verbatim: “The 2015 DHS budget directed more than $1.25 billion to cybersecurity and that trend will continue in 2016. Cybersecurity and IT have moved to the forefront since DHS’s inception as we have become a more interconnected world. New legislation pending in Congress formalizes the increased DHS role in public/private partnering. New legislation also would update the 12-year-old Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and delineate DHS’s role in guarding government networks and websites. A priority for 2016 will be to accelerate rollout of Einstein III Accelerated (E3A), the latest phase of DHS’s automated network-security correcting systems. DHS has established memoranda of agreement with 55 federal agencies to implement Einstein to provide horizon scanning and automated monitoring, detection, and remediation of government networks. DHS is also planning for new cyber technologies that provide advanced defense of network framework layers, including authentication, better encryption, biometrics, and data analytical tools”. GSN: What future areas of homeland security interest would you advise companies to explore? CB: The key word really is “future” and it is already around the corner with the Internet of Things (IoT). Recently both the FBI and DHS issued warnings about IoT and pending threats. The reality is that we have become immersed in a new digital era comprised of more than 50 billion interfaced devices. Anything connected is vulnerable. Expect significant investments in smart cities, smart homes, smart businesses, and smart governments in the next decade. For the security community this conveys opportunities in developing and integrating new sensors for threat detection, surveillance, predictive data analytics, Continued on next page 9