Uncle Sam Wants Your Product
From June 2006
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The installation of security barriers around the State Capitol and the Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse, and the three-year closure of Folsom Dam Road are a few examples of high-profile safeguards since 9/11. On a smaller scale, since January, some travelers at Sacramento International Airport are walking through $100,000 detectors that blow small bursts of air over them and into a gas analyzer that searches for trace elements of explosives.
The detectors, known as puffers, are made by a British company and complement the routine swiping of carry-on luggage with chemical pads, checking for traces of chemicals unique to explosives.
Another possible change at the airport, which has about 10 million outgoing passengers annually, is still pending, awaiting the slow pace of federal decision making. A frequent-flyer traveler-registration program, speeding enrolled passengers past the long lines, is not speeding forward.
A survey asking if passengers would enroll in a fee-based program that uses biometric data to bypass most security measures elicited “limited interest,” says Hardy Acree, director of the Sacramento County Airport Systems. The airport’s initial ahead-of–the-pack approach has been tempered by the practical need to have the frequent flyer security system in place at multiple major airports.
As with the airport, many other security measures dealing with potential threats to the public, business and the infrastructure are occurring outside the public eye. “We like to characterize what you see and what you can talk about as 10 percent of what is happening with security,” says Acree. “Security is like an iceberg: 90 percent of it goes unseen.” Most of the new security measures are far more elaborate and are aimed at specific threats on potential terrorist targets. Many are focused on securing the infrastructure.
Agriculture and Water
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments is taking a comprehensive step in preparing
a mapped digital database for future first responders. More than 1,000 miles of urbanized Sacramento, Yolo and Placer counties will be stored using geographic-information-system technology for reference in case of major emergencies. The maps, set to be ready this fall, will show areas down to 2 feet square. Those maps could be invaluable for first responders dealing with a terrorist attack on the local infrastructure.
Continued...
The detectors, known as puffers, are made by a British company and complement the routine swiping of carry-on luggage with chemical pads, checking for traces of chemicals unique to explosives.
Another possible change at the airport, which has about 10 million outgoing passengers annually, is still pending, awaiting the slow pace of federal decision making. A frequent-flyer traveler-registration program, speeding enrolled passengers past the long lines, is not speeding forward.
A survey asking if passengers would enroll in a fee-based program that uses biometric data to bypass most security measures elicited “limited interest,” says Hardy Acree, director of the Sacramento County Airport Systems. The airport’s initial ahead-of–the-pack approach has been tempered by the practical need to have the frequent flyer security system in place at multiple major airports.
As with the airport, many other security measures dealing with potential threats to the public, business and the infrastructure are occurring outside the public eye. “We like to characterize what you see and what you can talk about as 10 percent of what is happening with security,” says Acree. “Security is like an iceberg: 90 percent of it goes unseen.” Most of the new security measures are far more elaborate and are aimed at specific threats on potential terrorist targets. Many are focused on securing the infrastructure.
Agriculture and Water
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments is taking a comprehensive step in preparing
a mapped digital database for future first responders. More than 1,000 miles of urbanized Sacramento, Yolo and Placer counties will be stored using geographic-information-system technology for reference in case of major emergencies. The maps, set to be ready this fall, will show areas down to 2 feet square. Those maps could be invaluable for first responders dealing with a terrorist attack on the local infrastructure.
Continued...
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