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Technology is enabling base commanders and command post personnel to send out alerts in emergency situations more quickly. The new warning systems, being installed on several U.S. military bases, use the base network to reach every communications device connected to the network while tying in more traditional alert components such as public address systems and telephony.

The United States has been fighting a shadowy enemy abroad for more than four years, but uncertainty remains about whether lessons from September 11, 2001, have been sufficiently learned before another attack is launched on home territory. This question was at the heart of AFCEA International's Homeland Security 2006 conference, "Homeland Security 2.0-Building Resilient Communities," held in Washington, D.C., February 22-23. Instead of the usual panel discussions, the event centered on a simulation of a major terrorist attack in the capital region. Over the course of the conference, participants from a variety of federal, state, local and commercial organizations described how they would react to such a developing situation.

Addressing the complex issues security, defense and intelligence-gathering pose in the global war on terrorism can be an overwhelming challenge for any single organization. But experts from around the world are working diligently to cooperate and find the best solutions to tackle these issues. The task is not an easy one. They must balance protection and freedom, safety and privacy and at the same time learn how to collaborate to degrees unheard of in the past. Technology offers many solutions, but some of the best work is done when these experts and the people on the front lines meet face to face, roll up their sleeves and engage in dialogue.

These are exciting times in terms of technology at the U.S. Senate as we work to execute our information technology (IT) strategic plan. Having just implemented a comprehensive active directory and messaging architecture and entering the testing phase of a new services portal to bring business to the Web, we are poised for the next technology wave to have the biggest impact on the Senate-convergence communications technologies, including Internet protocol telephony (IPT).

The military is on the cusp of a new generation of sensor advances. Signal processing and detection technologies are uniting to provide better information and understanding than ever before. Combine that development with the global network being extended to the warfighter and you have the potential for the greatest situational awareness picture ever envisioned by a military planner.

The U.S. Army is speeding next-generation imaging systems to the field in response to experiences gleaned in Afghanistan and Iraq. Adversaries waging asymmetric warfare have impelled the Army to improve existing technologies and to seek innovative new capabilities in the field of electro-optics.

Electronic bloodhounds that quickly and reliably detect dangerous substances in a closed environment will begin replacing current sensors in military facilities in the near future. The final elements of a program borne out of the need to defend warfighters against biological and chemical agents will enter the transition stage later this year. The goal is to expand protection to the rest of the military work force. This added security is part of a two-year effort to develop extremely fast and accurate sensors that are so cost-effective that they can be used on a large scale.

Researchers are developing a portable sensor to detect hazardous biological materials more rapidly than current methods allow. The sensor has applications for government and private organizations and could be used to reduce the impact of biological weapons of mass destruction and to identify contaminants in health-related concerns.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is meeting the global threat head-on by moving from its traditional decentralized information technology framework to a consolidated, enterprise-centric environment. As part of a transformational effort called the Department of Defense Intelligence Information System Way Ahead, the agency is replacing its stovepiped environment with regional service centers that have global reach. The centers facilitate all-source data access and enable worldwide availability of information, and the consolidation will correct inefficiencies, decrease costs and improve user productivity.

The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory undertakes a busy agenda for the next two years and beyond after releasing its 2006 Experimentation Campaign Plan. The 41 initiatives in the plan fall into seven categories: command and control, maneuver, logistics, fires, intelligence, force protection and mine countermeasures.