From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 2 13:35:44 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 08:35:44 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] BMD Watch: US, Japan boost BMD ties Message-ID: <20051102083310.L673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 November 2005 ; Monsters & Critics BMD Watch: US, Japan boost BMD ties http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/printer_1059089.php --- Asia-Pacific Features By Martin Sieff WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- US, Japan boost BMD partnership Top-level U.S. and Japanese officials have agreed to boost their information-sharing on ballistic missile defense. The agreement was reached in ministerial security talks in Washington between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the U.S. side, and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono representing Japan in the so-called "two-plus-two" talks, officially known as the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee An interim report issued Saturday reflected agreement between the leaders on deepening the U.S.-Japanese alliance and developing more integrated cooperation between the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported. At a joint press conference after the meeting at the U.S. Defense Department, Ono said the realignment consultations marked a "historic process" that would upgrade the bilateral alliance. He said the Japanese government was ready to expand the Japanese Self Defense Forces' role to engage in joint defense activities with U.S. forces. The 14-page interim report, titled "Japan-U.S. Alliance: Transformation and Realignment for the Future," calls for the establishment of a Japan-U.S. Joint Operations Center. It also proposes shifting the Air Self-Defense Force's Air Defense Command Headquarters from Fuchu to Yokota, both areas of western Tokyo, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The report calls on both countries to step up arrangements for information sharing and joint information-gathering activities concerning missile defense systems. America's new state-of-the-art X-Band early warning radars are to be brought to Japan and will be jointly operated with Japan's FPS-XX next-generation anti-missile radar system to establish a potent missile attack warning network, the newspaper said. Sharing defense information could allow a U.S. Aegis-equipped destroyer to launch an interceptor missile based on radar information provided by Japan. In addition, U.S. Patriot-3 missiles are to be deployed in Japan, according to the report. SAIC chases NATO BMD contract A team led by Science Applications International Corporation, the NATO prime contractor for missile defense architecture and requirements analysis, announced in Brussels last week that it intends to pursue the NATO active layered theater ballistic missile defense (ALTBMD) systems engineering and integration contract, scheduled for an invitation for bid in March 2006. SAIC's team is comprised of U.S. and European air and missile defense development companies as well as companies with large-scale systems integration capabilities. It also involves defense research organizations who are leaders in the distributed integration of missile defense weapon systems and command and control capabilities. If selected, SAIC says its team will provide systems engineering support to NATO's ALTBMD program organization in Brussels, Belgium, and will design, develop and operate a test-bed in Europe that will help integrate and test missile defense capabilities from NATO and member nations. SAIC's European partners include France's Thales Group and European Aeronautics and Defense Space; Germany's Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH; Britain's QinetiQ; and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, as well as SAIC's U.K. subsidiary, SAIC Ltd. The Raytheon Company (U.S.) and ThalesRaytheonSystems, a transatlantic joint venture between Thales and Raytheon, complete the team. George Singley, president of SAIC's Transformation, Training and Logistics Group, described the project as "one of the most technically complex and militarily important programs NATO will ever undertake. "Our multinational consortium is committed to effectively integrating TMD assets from individual NATO allies with NATO's command and control capabilities in an architectural solution tailored to the Alliance's unique needs," he said. SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, with annual revenues of$7.2 billion and more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. Russia gives S-300s to Belarus for air defense Russia will provide Belarus with the first S-300 missile systems next March, a senior Belarussian officer told the official Russian RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday. "Four missile systems will be sent to equip four air defense divisions by next fall," said Igor Azarenok, a commander of Belarus' Air Force and air defense troops. He said the missiles would help improve the country's defense fourfold, and its air defense by 20 percent, and also enhance the joint air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States. "The air defense partnership of CIS countries pioneers real integration and helps establish close military ties between former Soviet republics," Azarenok said. The two countries concluded a contract on S-300 supplies on Sept. 10. Belarus was part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union for hundreds of years until the collapse of communism and it is on the direct path of invasion and air attack against the Russian capital Moscow from the west. Although Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka runs one of the most repressive regimes in any former Soviet republic, he continues to enjoy exceptionally close political and military ties with Russia, reflecting the strategic importance of his small republic to the Kremlin. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 2 13:38:19 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 08:38:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Panel: Robots future of military technology Message-ID: <20051102083711.O673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 November 2005 ; The Daily Texan Panel: Robots future of military technology http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2005/11/02/StateLocal/Panel.Robots.Future.Of.Military.Technology-1041824.shtml --- Weapons development project manned by defense industry By Ingrid Norton Unmanned combat-ready helicopters, terrain-checking robots and anti-air tanks are the next step in military technology, said a panel of industry representatives of Future Combat Systems. FCS is a project funded and overseen by the U.S. Army with defense industry leaders, such as The Boeing Company, and smaller business subcontractors who develop weapons technology that will develop future weapons systems. The Texas regional FCS conference took place at the Barton Creek Resort and Country Club Tuesday afternoon. "FCS is a more than $100 billion program designed to create the next generation of army equipment," said Eugene Gholz, an assistant professor of public affairs. "They're biting off an awful lot in this contract," he said. Gholz explained that FCS's structure is a departure from previous defense contractors because it is involved in so many projects and because of the role companies play in technological development. "Boeing and the SAIC have a huge role in deciding what they want the systems to be capable of," Gholz said. He explained that the government "pays the bills" and sets broad goals, but the industries are responsible for the technological development. Previously, the government has been more active in defining the role of technology. These days, there's more chance of "cost overruns and schedule slips" than if the government were supervising more closely, Gholz said. The goal of the program is to provide a complete technological overhaul of defense systems using robotic and computational technology to make sophisticated linked ground systems. Jeff Worley, FCS's program manager at Boeing, explained that having more sensitive equipment - robots that can check terrain and tanks that can detect and shoot enemy missiles as they are being fired - is especially relevant in conflicts such as the war in Iraq that take place in urban environments against insurgents. "We have an enemy that is running their command control on cell phones," Worley said. "The days of having our tanks on the eastern front are gone." Worley explained that as unmanned vehicles become more prevalent, more troops will be available for combat rather than supporting roles. Gholz explained that FCS technology will be useful for nation-building and Homeland Security but that FCS will still be most relevant for traditional warfare. "Ultimately it will make it much harder for American enemies to know where we are, and much easier for us to be able to locate our friends and enemies," Gholz said. One topic of discussion at the conference was that, as FCS's projects move toward experimentation and implementation, the FCS's first experimental brigades may be located in El Paso because of the technological capabilities and manpower Texas offers. Eighteen of FCSs' 360 industry suppliers are in Texas. FCS estimates that it is responsible for $1.7 billion in the Texas economy annually. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Nov 3 02:56:07 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 21:56:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Gamma rays give inspectors peek at cargos Message-ID: <20051102215205.A673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 October 2005 ; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Gamma rays give inspectors peek at cargos http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2005/10/31&ID=Ar02103&Section=Business --- BY DAPHNE SASHIN THE ORLANDO SENTINEL LIVE OAK, Fla. -- The white tractor-trailer was bound for an Orlando decorating company -- but first it had to pass a hightech screening at a state inspection stop along Interstate 10. As the huge truck slowly rolled forward, officer Thad Nobles used penetrating gamma rays to peer inside without ever opening the cargo doors. "The load of cocaine we got was loaded the same way," Nobles said, seated at a computer console nearby and watching as the truck's contents appeared as black-and-white images on his computer screen. Amid stacks of long, cardboard boxes, Nobles saw a dark shape and two small cartons that looked out of place. New technology is helping inspectors with Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services find drugs and other contraband as agents go about their main mission of keeping plant and animal pests and diseases out of the state. The last big bust was $3.4 million of cocaine, which inspectors found inside a truckload of tomatoes last month, using gamma-ray images. In the case of the white tractor-trailer stopped outside the small North Florida town of Live Oak, the strange shapes turned out to be rolls of carpet. But since July 2002, the department has intercepted more than $13 million in narcotics and contraband, including cash, marijuana, stolen computers, televi- sion sets and cell phones. Inspectors got more vigilant after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Maj. Jerry Bryan, chief of the Agriculture Department's Bureau of Uniformed Services, which oversees the inspection stations. In 2002 and 2003, the department bought four $1 million mobile gamma-ray machines, which it rotates among inspection stations and big events such as the Super Bowl. In addition to the cocaine found in August, images captured by the gamma-ray units led inspectors to discover more than 200 pounds of marijuana in July on Interstate 95, in Nassau County a mile south of the Florida-Georgia state line, and 549 pounds of marijuana last year in Live Oak on I-10, which authorities say is a major corridor for drug smugglers out of Mexico. "We're in a unique position to catch a lot of these guys," Bryan said. "We're about the only place where a significant amount of the tractor-trailer traffic that enters the state has to submit for inspection." The state operates 22 interdiction stations, on every highway but mainly tracing Florida's north and west borders. They search all commercial trucks hauling plants, produce or meat, in addition to doing random searches of every 20th truck that passes through. Chiefly, the inspectors are supposed to catch pests and diseases that pose a threat to consumers and the state's $62 billion agricultural industry -- but they also look for drugs, stolen products, illegal immigrants or even bombs stashed among the cargo. Trucker Greg Dowless, steering a load of ground transformers from Mississippi to West Palm Beach, admitted the inspections slow him down, but he doesn't complain. "Between the drugs and everything that goes on now, it doesn't bother me," Dowless said. As Dowless drove forward under the big white boom of the gamma-ray system, a box on one end of the arm sent radiation through his truck and produced a black-and-white image on Nobles' screen. Like an X-ray, the contents of Dowless' truck appeared as neat stacks of black and white boxes. Detecting nothing out of the ordinary, the inspectors sent Dowless on his way. Although the inspectors have had this recent good run, scores of narcotics and contraband are likely getting through because the department only inspects a fraction of the tractor-trailers that enter the state. "The traffic is so intense that obviously you can't search every truck," Bryan said. "I don't know what I'm missing. That's the problem." Last year, 1.4 million trucks pulled up to the green and white inspection buildings on either side of I-10. In most cases, a uniformed officer first scans the driver's paperwork detailing the truck's cargo and checks it for discrepancies. That information also gets transmitted to the Department of Revenue, which checks for unpaid sales taxes on the cargo. Inspectors have helped the state recover more than $38 million in unpaid taxes since 2002 on items such as a $1 million printing press hidden in a load of cheese. Trailers carrying farm products, drivers with suspicious paperwork and randomly selected containers are directed to pull over for a physical inspection by a dog trained to sniff out citrus, tomatoes, avocados and meat products, by the gamma-ray truck or by some combination. The gamma-ray system produces an image of the tractortrailer's contents in less than two minutes, which authorities say speeds up inspections and allows them to find things they wouldn't have time to search for by hand. The technology -- officially known as the mobile Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System -- also deters criminals, Bryan said. "We have heard radio traffic on the CBs. When the trucks deploy, you can hear the truck traffic, 'Them VACIS trucks are out,"' Bryan said. "They're just letting everybody know." Most truck drivers are honest people, inspectors say, but sometimes they may not even know what they're carrying, said Leland Sisk, who was delivering chicken wings from Tyson Foods Inc. to the U.S. Food Service in Tampa. "They've got a right to do it," Sisk said of the inspectors, as one of them opened the doors of his refrigerated trailer. "There are a lot of drivers that probably haul stuff they didn't know was back there." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Nov 3 02:59:10 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 21:59:10 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] ICE Agents Seize More Than 3900 Lbs. of Cocaine Message-ID: <20051102215623.A673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 6 October 2005 ; Community Dispatch ICE Agents Seize More Than 3900 Lbs. of Cocaine http://communitydispatch.com/artman/publish/article_2344.shtml --- By U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Antiguan-flagged vessel arrived at the Port of San Juan with the contraband SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that 3,904 pounds of cocaine were seized yesterday after being discovered on board the Antiguan-flagged vessel TMM Turango shortly after the vessel's arrival at the Port of San Juan. The seizure was part of Operation Caribbean Corridor, an investigative/law enforcement initiative by ICE, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in the Caribbean Basin. The TMM Durango docked at the Port of San Juan at approximately 9:00 a.m. on Aug 5, 2005. The vessel's last port of call prior to arriving at San Juan was Venezuela. During a required inspection of the vessel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors discovered a liquid gas cylinder with two hidden compartments. CBP inspectors used the vehicle and cargo inspection system (VACIS) to detect that the 3,904 pounds of cocaine had been concealed within the two compartments. "We have the technology, resources and intelligence to detect any type of contraband coming to the United States from abroad," said Lydia St. John-Mellado, acting special agent-in-charge of ICE investigations in San Juan. "ICE, along with its Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partners and other federal, state and local agencies, will continue to work together to ensure that these massive quantities of drugs don't reach the streets of Puerto Rico." No arrests were made during this seizure; however, the investigation into the case continues. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Nov 4 13:08:55 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 08:08:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] County stormwater plan still needs work Message-ID: <20051104080743.X673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 4 November 2005 ; The Island Packet Online County stormwater plan still needs work http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/5305596p-4810190c.html --- Objectives unclear, review panel says BY PETER FROST, The Island Packet Beaufort County's stormwater master plan is on the right track, but it needs some major refinements before it will be useful in planning, two members of an independent review panel said Thursday. Dr. Delma Bratvold of the private-consulting firm SAIC and Dr. Craig Stow of the University of South Carolina's environmental health sciences department said the county needs to clarify its objectives for its stormwater master plan and spend a minimum of two more years testing it before the plan can be implemented. "To be a useful decision tool, the model clearly needs more testing," Stow said. "What they've got is not extremely precise, but that's the nature of plans like this." The plan, which is more than a year past due, was created to improve drainage, water quality and stormwater runoff monitoring in the county. In August, County Council approved a three-tier rate structure for charging homeowners a stormwater utility fee, which is earmarked to go toward master-plan recommendations. Stow and Bratvold concluded that the master plan's objectives are unclear, therefore determining further action and implementation is impossible. Bratvold, who in the review recommended the county "seriously consider (its) goals" before adopting the plan, said Thursday that the plan was "certainly a beginning ... but, it's not an end" to the stormwater and water quality management process. Bob Gross, an ex-officio member of the board, said the review revealed that the master plan is not "way out in the broccoli. We're on the right path, but (the plan) needs to be fine-tuned." County Public Works director Eddie Bellamy said he thinks the independent review will prove helpful in carrying out the county's master plan, but he doesn't expect it to change much before presenting it to County Council. "If it's going to be used, it has to be further developed," Bellamy said. "But we've known from Day One that it has to be a working document." The peer review was released to the public on Oct. 18, nearly two weeks after it was scheduled. Bellamy delayed the plan's submittal because he said he wasn't willing to make the draft version a public document. The board requested an independent review of the stormwater master plan in January to ensure the plan would meet its desired objectives. Some officials raised concerns of a conflict of interest because one of the companies developing the county's plan, Thomas & Hutton Engineering, creates stormwater master plans for area developers. However, some utility board members have said they prefer the firm's involvement in the plan because of their knowledge of the area. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Nov 8 13:14:25 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 08:14:25 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Enlisting robots to fight our battles Message-ID: <20051108081254.D673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 November 2005 ; Newsday.com Enlisting robots to fight our battles http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzfcs084503314nov08,0,966764.story --- BY JAMES BERNSTEIN STAFF WRITER November 8, 2005 A spidery-looking vehicle glides through the air, hunting in dark and forbidding spaces for enemy soldiers and then relaying data to troops. Another device climbs stairs and wades through water, searching for explosives. Something out of a sci-fi film? Not quite. The vehicles are a part of a new vision the U.S. Army has of the future, a future dotted with technological devices that will provide the soldier of the 21st century with the kind of data about the enemy not available before, such as where the opponent is and what arms he has. The Army calls its 2 1/2-year-old vision Future Combat Systems (FCS for short), potentially a $100 billion program - the largest in the Army's history. Military contractors, including BAE Systems in Greenlawn, are at work on the devices. Yesterday, the FCS came to Long Island, in the form of Boeing Co. and Scientific Applications International Corp. of Vienna, Va., the system's prime contractors. They hosted a forum at the Melville Marriott to tell the FSC story and search for small companies that might be capable of signing on as FCS subcontractors. Despite its size, the FCS program is not widely known or understood outside of the defense industry. Boeing and Scientific Applications International already have 360 companies working for them. They hope eventually to have as many as 500, the majority of them small businesses. The Army wants to spend about $20 billion to design and develop FCS. Another $80 billion, the Army figures, will be needed to construct FCS. FCS is a plan to create 18 new weapons, including robots, light combat vehicles and aerial drones. The plan is to link them all in one huge war-fighting network. William Campbell, a retired Army lieutenant general who heads up BAE's part of the FCS, said the program is akin in complexity to the U.S. effort to put a man on the moon three decades ago. Estimates are that the program will require 32 million lines of software. "The FCS is the largest program the Army has ever had," said Campbell, vice president of BAE's communications, navigation, identification and reconnaissance group, part of which is based in Greenlawn. "It's really all about gathering information" and getting it to soldiers in combat, Campbell said. BAE, one of Long Island's largest military contractors, is working on electronic systems for the FCS program, said Jeffrey Markel, president of the communications, navigation group. "It's our job to make sure all pieces are able to be integrated," Markel said in an interview at the forum yesterday. Small businesses on Long Island can get involved with the FCS program, said George Gatta, vice president of Workforce and Economic Development at Suffolk County Community College in Selden. Gatta said that the college was recently awarded a $2.4 million federal grant - the only community college in the state given the award - to help small manufacturers upgrade their skills. With some upgrading, Gatta said, a number of Long Island companies would be able to compete to get into programs like FCS. "For a number of years the major companies on Long Island have been reaching out to the smaller companies offering to bring them into the major procurement process," said Gatta, a former Suffolk economic development commissioner. "The major companies have made it clear they would love to do business with those smaller companies." Boeing and Scientific Applications International have held two other forums - in Detroit and Austin, Texas, and others are planned for later this year, said Daniel Zanini, SAIC's senior vice president for the FCS program. The program has not been without its problems. The Bush administration's $3.4 billion request for the next fiscal year has been reduced by $149 million in the House and about $100 million in the Senate. House-Senate conferees are to iron out the differences. The Army has restructured it several times, raising its potential costs, from an initial estimate of $78 billion. Some in Congress have complained about the program's spiraling costs in an era when the Pentagon is funding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, there are questions about whether the system can do what it's supposed to do, said Loren Thompson, a military expert at the conservative Lexington Institute in Washington, D.C. "This is the most ambitious military network that has ever been proposed," said Thompson. "Can it be done? Probably, but we haven't tried it yet." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 9 03:15:45 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 22:15:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] "Defense News": Israel out of US Army FCS program Message-ID: <20051108221403.X673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 November 2005 ; Globes Online "Defense News": Israel out of US Army FCS program http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000026802&fid=1725 --- The Future Combat Systems program will develop intercommunicating manned and unmanned air and land vehicles. Ran Dagoni, Washington "Defense News" reports in its latest issue that possible Israeli participation in the US Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is caught up in the sanctions imposed by the Bush administration against Israel, ostensibly because of arms sales to China. In contrast to Israel's participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, which was resumed following talks between Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz and US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last week, procedures for Israel's participation in the FCS program are still frozen, and are waiting for a decision by the Pentagon. "Defense News" says that Mofaz and Rumsfeld did not discuss the subject during their meeting. As far as Israel is concerned, the difference lies in the fact that it will buy F-35s, but will be a potential vendor for the FCS. As a potential supplier to the US Army, FCS program managers would have to share advanced technological know-how with Israel. US anger towards Israel over its arms sales to China kept Israel Air Force representatives away from the JSF program for over a year. In the case of the FCS program, the US withdrew from an August 2004 agreement with Israel, under which identified potential areas of cooperation in the program. US and Israeli sources believe that, following the lifting of US sanctions against Israel and the resumption of Israeli participation in the JSF program, it will be possible to renew efforts for Israel to become an international partner in the FCS program. James Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), which is responsible for the FCS program, said a political solution to the problem would be the key to progress in the field. At this stage, Britain's BAE Systems (LSE:BA) is the only non-US partner in the FCS program with Boeing IDS and San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The FCS program will develop a family of high-performance intercommunicating manned and unmanned air and land vehicles. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 9 03:16:49 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 22:16:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Contract Message-ID: <20051108221554.Y673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 November 2005 ; SAIC News SAIC Awarded Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Contract http://www.saic.com/news/2005/nov/08.html --- (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Group announced today that it has been awarded a contract that will help the Air Force provide chemical and biological testing and evaluation expertise. The new Chemical, Biological Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) engineering and technical services contract was awarded by Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 1 (AFOTEC Det. 1). The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is for four years and has a total ceiling value of $98 million. Work will be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. "Under the CBRNE contract, SAIC will assess new and emerging technologies and concepts," said Chuck Zang, SAIC senior vice president and a general manager in the Engineering, Test and Analysis Business Unit. "We'll work to determine their technological maturity when operated under realistic environments to help give U.S warfighters the tools they need to do their jobs more safely and effectively." AFOTEC Det. 1 supports the Air Force, Department of Defense (DoD), combatant commanders and other government agencies in support of operational test and evaluation, as well as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Advanced Systems and Concepts requirements for all non-traditional acquisition programs to complete a military utility assessment. SAIC has supported AFOTEC Det. 1 and its predecessor agencies since 1990, providing quick-reaction assessments of systems in response to urgent DoD requirements. The SAIC-led team includes 10 small businesses, one minority institution, and a non-profit laboratory. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 9 23:53:20 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 18:53:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins $154M health contract Message-ID: <20051109185239.M673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 November 2005 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC wins $154M health contract http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/11/07/daily23.html --- Neil Adler Staff Reporter Science Applications International Corp., which recently filed for an initial public offering of its stock, has won a contract worth up to $154 million to improve health care information technology for the military. SAIC, which is based in San Diego and employs thousands of workers in the Washington area, received a one-year contract with two one-year options to "maintain and enhance functionality" of health care information systems within the Military Health System (MHS). The privately held company, which employs 42,000 people worldwide, will monitor health applications with a focus on database administration, trouble shooting repairs, help-desk services, software development and computer network expertise. SAIC will provide on-site maintenance of health information systems for more than 100 military treatment facilities around the world. "This global contract, which encompasses both development and maintenance, will allow SAIC to provide a streamlined, end-to-end approach that can help the MHS achieve economies of scale and cost savings," says Robert McCord, a company senior vice president and general manager of SAIC's health solutions business unit, which is based in McLean. The research and engineering firm has worked with the military for nearly 20 years, providing a range of information technology services to support more than 9 million active duty and retired military personnel and their families. SAIC, under a previous contract with the Department of Defense, developed the composite health care system, an integrated hospital information system that connects military medical departments, hospitals, outpatient clinics, labs and pharmacies. The company's latest contract with the military calls for SAIC to monitor this composite health care system and plan for a next-generation version of the system. Vic Eilenfield, manager of the Military Health System's clinical information technology program office, says the support SAIC has provided users of the composite health care system "has instilled them with great confidence in our clinical systems, and the number of patients who have been assisted by the system SAIC produced and maintains is now truly countless." SAIC announced it would go public Sept. 1, hoping to raise about $1.7 billion, which would represent one of the largest IPOs in recent years. The company employs about 16,000 people in the Washington region. SAIC reported revenue of $7.2 billion in 2005, a 23 percent increase over revenue of $5.8 billion the previous year. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 9 23:54:24 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 18:54:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC to Provide IT Services to U.S. Military Health System Message-ID: <20051109185322.M673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 November 2005 ; SAIC News SAIC to Provide IT Services to U.S. Military Health System http://www.saic.com/news/2005/nov/09.html --- (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today it was awarded a contract to maintain and enhance functionality for the health care information systems within the Military Health System (MHS). This time and materials contract calls for a base term of one year along with two consecutive one-year option periods, which combined have a potential cumulative value of $154 million. Extending an 18-year record of service to the MHS, SAIC will continue to provide a wide range of information technology in support of more than nine million active duty and retired military personnel and their families. This contract consists of on-site maintenance and around-the-clock monitoring of health applications such as the Composite Health Care System (CHCS), including database administration, trouble-shooting, report generation, appointments, LAN/WAN expertise, help desk services and specialized software development for more than 102 military treatment facilities around the world. "SAIC has a long legacy of providing the highest quality large-scale systems development and maintenance services to the MHS," said Robert McCord, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of SAIC's Health Solutions Business Unit. "This global contract, which encompasses both development and maintenance, will allow SAIC to provide a streamlined, end-to-end approach that can help the MHS achieve economies of scale and cost savings." SAIC also will continue to provide consolidated services that strengthen and add to the functionality of the system. Among such services are software and systems engineering, configuration management, data management, planning and scheduling, tier three support, deployment and logistics support and conversion to emerging systems like the next generation CHCS II. Colonel Vic Eilenfield, program manager of the Clinical Information Technology Program Office of the Military Health System said, "The support SAIC has provided CHCS users has instilled them with great confidence in our clinical systems, and the number of patients who have been assisted by the system SAIC produced and maintains is now truly countless." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Nov 10 13:18:14 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:18:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins $154 million military health system deal Message-ID: <20051110081659.V673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 November 2005 ; Washington Technology SAIC wins $154 million military health system deal http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/27396-1.html --- By William Welsh Deputy Editor Science Applications International Corp. has won a three-year, $154 million contract to provide IT services that will maintain and enhance the U.S. military health care system. Under the contract, SAIC of San Diego will handle on-site maintenance and around-the-clock monitoring of key health applications such as the Composite Health Care System (CHCS). The contract builds on an 18-year partnership with the customer. Specifically, the company will provide local area and wide area network expertise, help desk services and specialized software development to more than 102 military treatment facilities around the world. Other related responsibilities include database administration, trouble-shooting and report generation. SAIC also will continue to provide consolidated services that strengthen and add functionality to the system, such as software and systems engineering, configuration management, data management, planning and scheduling, deployment and logistics support, and conversion to the next-generation CHCS II. CHCS is a fully integrated hospital information system that connects medical departments, hospital wards, outlying clinics, laboratories and pharmacies. It was designed and developed for the Defense Department by SAIC. SAIC has more than 42,000 employees and annual sales of $7.2 million. The company ranks No. 3 [1] on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 [2] list, which measures federal contracting revenue. [1] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005/3.html [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Nov 11 14:02:47 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:02:47 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] New York picks SAIC to secure WTC site Message-ID: <20051111090104.X673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 November 2005 ; San Diego Union-Tribune New York picks SAIC to secure WTC site http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20051111-9999-1b11saic.html --- By Bruce V. Bigelow UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER New York Gov. George Pataki's office said yesterday that San Diego's SAIC has been hired to help authorities create a master security plan for the World Trade Center site while it is being rebuilt. The amount of the contract was under negotiation. The comprehensive planning effort will coordinate all aspects of security for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, from security design through construction, occupancy and operations. A statement from the governor's office cited SAIC's expertise as a security consultant, and noted the company's work at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games at Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. The company, also known as Science Applications International Corp., still has outstanding disagreements, however, with the Greek government over its security work in Athens. The Greek government contracted with SAIC in early 2003 to lead a consortium of international companies in adapting a military C4I system to provide "total information awareness" to Greece's security officials. C4I is an acronym for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence. The plans called for mounting infrared and high-resolution security cameras on 1,250 concrete columns around the Greek capital. The contract also called for surveillance equipment on 12 patrol boats, 4,000 vehicles, three helicopters and a blimp. SAIC also provided extensive training before turning over the system to Greek security officials. The company disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that the Greeks still have not formally accepted the system that SAIC delivered in Athens, and Greece still is withholding certain milestone payments. "We have been in discussions with the customer and our principal subcontractor to attempt to resolve these issues through appropriate contract and subcontract modifications," SAIC said. "However, no agreement has been reached to date." SAIC's contract for Greece's security infrastructure was estimated at $312 million after it was awarded in 2003. It was said to represent nearly a quarter of the overall security costs for the Summer Games. But SAIC spokesman Jared Adams said yesterday the contract was for $191 million. He said the Greek government has paid $143 million, leaving almost $49 million in dispute. SAIC wrote off $15 million on the contract nearly a year ago. The project was plagued by a number of delays and modifications, a top executive said at the time. In New York, construction began in September on the first major project at the World Trade Center, a $2 billion transit hub. Groundbreakings are planned for early next year for the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower and the trade center's memorial. More office towers, a performing arts center, a museum and a cultural building also are planned. Jim Kallstrom, Pataki's senior counter-terrorism adviser, said SAIC will serve as a security consultant to a team that includes the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York's police and fire commissioners as well as other city and state agencies. "The degree of security planning that will result from this partnership will establish new security standards for sites where public spaces, commercial and retail properties, and mass-transit infrastructure are co-located," Kallstrom said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Nov 14 14:33:28 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 09:33:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Sending Its Bull Out to Pasture With IPO Message-ID: <20051114092858.X673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 November 2005 ; Black Enterprise SAIC Sending Its Bull Out to Pasture With IPO http://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section=ybbf&story_id=85371567&ID=blackenterprise --- San Diego Business Journal By Allen, Mike When San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. conducts its initial public offering early next year - the date has not been set - it would end one of the more curious aspects of being a company entirely owned by employees: maintaining its own stock exchange. To accommodate employees who want to trade in the company's shares, which only they can own, SAIC set up an internal stock exchange called Bull Inc. Once SAIC conducts the IPO, which calls for raising $1.73 billion, Bull Inc. would be put out of business and shares would trade freely on the New York Stock Exchange. SAIC officials refused to speak about this issue or anything else during the time before and shortly after the IPO called "the quiet period," citing a strict interpretation of federal securities regulations. But earlier interviews with company officials and employees give some insight into how SAIC managed Bull Inc. and how it determined the price of its shares. To achieve this, the company employed a complex formula that included assessing SAIC's financial performance and comparing this to similar companies in the same industry. SAIC is a diversified engineering and research firm that derives about 90 percent of its revenues from federal government contracts. In addition to comparing its financials to similar firms, SAIC hired outside appraisers to help it determine a quarterly stock price. Employees were only permitted to buy and sell shares on a single day each quarter. "Every quarter the price of the stock was set, and you only had one day to trade it. You had to hand in all the paperwork well ahead of time," said Bruce Ahern, a former SAIC employee now living in Atlanta. Shares and stock options were allocated to employees annually as part or their compensation based on their position and merit. But additional shares could be acquired or sold through Bull Inc., Ahern said. Once employees left the company, they were required to sell all their shares. As SAIC's revenues soared in the 1990s, so did the price of its stock. In the early 1990s, shares were trading at about $5. By 2000, it was just below $30. Except for a few slight dips in the early part of this decade, the stock has continued climbing. Following the second quarter of 2005, the most recent price was $41.80, which gave the company a market capitalization of about $7.6 billion. According to SAIC reports, its stock increased by an annual average of 15.9 percent from 1999 to 2004. Ray Smilor, the executive director of the Beyster Institute, an entity established by SAIC founder Robert Beyster to promote employee ownership, said despite the dramatic change to a public company, the majority of SAIC's ownership will still remain in the hands of employees. He didn't anticipate many changes in how the company is run. Of course, there's no guarantee that once the stock goes public, all those employees will retain their shares. The majority of the funds raised through the IPO will be used to pay existing shareholders a cash dividend for each share they own that would range from $8 to $10. In his letter to employees describing the reasons for the IPO, Chief Executive Officer Ken Dahlberg said the company has been using too much of its cash to balance the stock exchange system, including some $2.5 billion in the past five years. Dahlberg said by taking the company public and letting the open market handle stock trades, the company would better use its cash reserves for other purposes. It would also provide SAIC with a public currency to pursue acquisitions of other companies. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Nov 14 23:32:56 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:32:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] American Electric Power to Install AutoTour(TM) Across U.S. Fossil and Hydro Generation Fleet Message-ID: <20051114183055.H673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 November 2005 ; PR Newswire American Electric Power to Install AutoTour(TM) Across U.S. Fossil and Hydro Generation Fleet http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-14-2005/0004215357 --- System to Automate Field Data Collection and Support Safer and More Reliable Operations RESTON, Va., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Systems & Solutions, LLC, a Rolls-Royce and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) business enterprise, today announced that American Electric Power Systems (AEP), the largest generator of electricity in the U.S., has selected AutoTour(TM), to support plant operations at 32 of its fossil and hydro power plant sites. AutoTour is a mobile field data collection system that can help to improve plant operations by facilitating the electronic collection of operations and maintenance data from plant equipment not monitored by existing plant process computer systems. "AEP's decision to deploy AutoTour across its U.S. power generation fleet represents strong validation of our product," stated Tom Palmer, senior vice president, asset optimization at Data Systems & Solutions. "AutoTour's time-tested user interface and its ability to integrate into work management systems is extremely helpful for plant operators." AutoTour is a generic tool that can satisfy many different data collection needs. This solution integrates easily with work management systems to retrieve open work orders and upload proposed work requests generated in the field. In addition, it integrates with document management systems to upload reference documents such as procedures and to store the documents it creates. AutoTour also has advanced automation capabilities, including being able to accommodate add-in functionality and transmit data wirelessly. About Data Systems & Solutions, LLC Data Systems & Solutions, LLC is a world-class supplier of Asset Optimization and Instrumentation & Control solutions. Founded in 1999 as a Rolls-Royce and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) business enterprise, the company has employees working from offices in the USA, UK, France and Czech Republic. The company applies domain expertise and core competencies in software engineering, predictive services and information management to protect, control and optimize the reliability and availability of high value assets, while ensuring safe and profitable operations. Please visit the Data Systems & Solutions web site at http://www.ds-s.com or contact us at info at ds-s.com. About America Electric Power System American Electric Power owns and operates about 80 generating stations in the United States, with a capacity of more than 36,000 megawatts and is the nation's largest electricity generator. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP's 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit http://www.aep.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Nov 15 13:37:18 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:37:18 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Globalizing Law Enforcement Message-ID: <20051115083045.Y673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 November 2005 ; Left Hook Globalizing Law Enforcement http://lefthook.org/Politics/Federman111405.html --- Adam Federman In January of this year a groundbreaking ceremony at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Roswell, New Mexico initiated construction of a new 24,500 square foot building that will be used to train mid-level law enforcement managers from around the world. It is the latest effort in the globalization of law enforcement strategies influenced and increasingly shaped by the present war on terror and national security concerns. The building, located on a site formerly occupied by the Walker Air Force Base Chapel will house state of the art classrooms, administrative and staff offices, two computer-training centers, and space for public meetings and presentations. The new building will allow the academy to expand its training program and significantly increase enrollment. The $5.4 million facility is the pet project of US Senator Pete Domenici who, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee in FY 2004, secured $7.1 million for operating and construction costs. Thus, the establishment last year at New Mexico Tech University of the U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici Endowed Faculty Professorship in Science and Technology for National Security. A rather long-winded title, but given the amount of federal dollars Domenici has siphoned into the Roswell military-industrial-academic complex, it is well earned. He also secured millions for a new Micro Engineering lab. Its purpose: testing military and commercial electronics. ILEA Roswell is a program of the US Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and is administered through a cooperative agreement between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in partnership with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, the body responsible for funding the Domenici endowed professorship), Sam Houston State University, and Eastern New Mexico University. Roughly 1,319 delegates from 61 countries have attended classes at ILEA Roswell since it opened its doors in September 2001. The first ILEA, however, was created in Budapest, Hungary in 1995 following an agreement between President Bill Clinton and Hungarian President Arpad Goncz. It was viewed as a way to train officials from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in policing techniques, methods, and procedures that, of course, support democracy and human rights. According to associate dean for academic support at University of Virginia's school of continuing education, which organized the training programs in Budapest, the objective was to equip law enforcement officials with the "knowledge they need to make a successful transition from totalitarianism to democracy." UVA collaborated with the FBI in creating the ILEA program in Budapest. Since then ILEAs in Bangkok (1999) and Gaborone, Botswana, (2001) have been established. Attempts to establish ILEA south, "for officials from Central America and the Dominican Republic," have thus far failed. Two pilot training programs, however, were held in Panama in 1997. And, according to New Mexico Tech's ILEA program manager Michael Hensley, there are plans to set up a fourth academy in Guatemala. Even without ILEA South the combined academies have trained over 8,000 officers from fifty countries. Their global reach is extensive and growing. As Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security and Director, Office of Foreign Missions, addressing graduates in Gaborone in 2003 said, "ILEA has the unique ability to not only prepare law enforcement professionals for the wide gamut of law enforcement challenges that you will face, but to shape and influence police activities in every country around the world." The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), which oversees ILEA operations, describes its primary function as that of providing, "foreign policy guidance to the ILEA Directors, [ensuring] availability of adequate funding to support ILEA operations, and [providing] oversight that will ensure that U.S. foreign policy objectives are achieved." The establishment of ILEAs and efforts to train foreign police forces grew out of the radically transformed geopolitical conditions that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union. "In the 1990s" according to a paper by David H. Bayley of the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, "reform of foreign police forces was widely recognized as necessary to support the expansion of democracy and to ensure a safe environment abroad for market economies." Section 660 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 amended in 1974 to prohibit US agencies from training foreign police was amended again in 1996, "to permit assistance to civilian police forces in countries emerging from armed conflict." Statistics provided by Bayley in a 2001 report show that in 1996 an average of 154 police officers were deployed overseas each month, in 1997 275, and by the end of 1999, more than 600. He also notes that, "The United States spent close to $1 billion on rule of law programs from 1994 to 1998 in 184 countries." As US credibility diminishes abroad and its global authority weakens it will increasingly depend on foreign armies and law enforcement officials to ensure, as the INL notes, that U.S. foreign policy objectives are achieved. And the objectives are quite ambitious. In a recent revision of its strategic agreement signed in 2003, New Mexico Tech and SAIC have agreed to expand programs and facilities related to Homeland Security technology and training, international law enforcement and counter-terrorism training, cyber-security issues, and scientific research related to astronomy and directed energy topics. SAIC, described by the Associated Press as "the most influential company most people have never heard of," and by The Asia Times as, "the most mysterious and feared of the big 10 defense giants," is lead systems integrator, along with Boeing, for the Army's Future Combat Systems Program. They have also had their hands deep in the remaking of Iraq. The Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council formed in February 2003, nearly two months before the war and responsible for putting in place Iraq's post war government was on the SAIC payroll. They have also been involved in training "Iraqi journalists, police and soldiers," (Guardian Oct. 29 2003) and through subcontracts with Vinnell Corp., the Iraqi military. Vinnell, founded in the 1930s, is known for its training of the Saudi Arabian National Guard. According to the SAIC website, the employee owned company brought in revenues of $7.2 billion in FY 2005, a 23 percent jump from last year, "primarily due to an increase in our federal government contract awards." SAIC's role in Iraq and its partnership with ILEA Roswell raise a number of questions. One is whether they have been involved in the development and use of torture as a method of law enforcement in Iraq and perhaps elsewhere. Another more basic question is whether foreign police officers and mid level bureaucrats should be trained to further the foreign policy objectives of the United States. The ILEA network is not the first time the United States has invested in training an international police force as part of a broader foreign policy initiative. In 1963 the International Police Academy was created under the auspices of the Office of Public Safety by moving the Inter-American Police Academy, established in Panama in 1962 by classified Presidential directive, to Washington, D.C. From the beginning the Academy had close to ties to the intelligence community, the State Department, and military. The OPS consolidated existing anti-subversion and counter insurgency programs and institution building programs with a police and intelligence component into a single entity. At the time, communism was the great evil and American foreign policy interests dictated the activities of the IPA, which became a sort of proxy army in its own right. However, the line between political dissent, subversion, and criminality was often blurred. According to an article in Police Quarterly the IPA's combined goals of nation building and counter insurgency infused with a good dose of cold war hysteria led to the, "conflation, in rhetoric and advice, of political critique and demands for social justice with crime, thereby extinguishing for all practical purposes the line between political dissent, subversion, and normal criminality. Nationalism was a fake, a 'pretense,' insurgency was criminal and not political, criminality was subversion, total force necessary though regrettable, and military, intelligence and police coordination essential." A final exercise at the IPA school, for example, used a map of fictitious countries surrounding the capital of the nation of San Martin. "Students conducted games to learn how to protect visiting dignitaries against rumored assassination attempts, to control protest demonstrations by CONTRA (the National Committee for Agrarian Reform), or to deal with bomb threats by subversive groups." Another pedagogical tool was a 46 minute film developed by staff at the School of the Americas and the Inter-American Police Academy titled, "First Line of Defense." It told "the dramatic story of a Latin American country where subversive disturbances are countered by civil police." The OPS was terminated incrementally in 1974 and 1975 and the IPA graduated its final class in 1974. According to the above mentioned article, "the major reason why Congress abolished OPS by amendments to the Foreign Aid Appropriations Acts were numerous verified reports of the involvement of OPS and IPA trained police officers in torture, killings and repression back in their home countries, especially in Vietnam, Thailand and Latin and Central America." Initially established to combat drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and to facilitate the transition to democracy, ILEAs and particularly the Academy in Roswell, are now seen as an instrumental part of the broader war, a war that has no limits, a war that by its very nature can never be won. And given the US approach to the rule of law, torture, surveillance, privacy and so on and its increased alienation from the rest of the world, ILEAs will become an increasingly useful weapon in implementing as the ILN states, US foreign policy objectives. --- Adam Federman is a graduate of Columbia University and currently lives in Montreal. He can be reached at afederm987 at earthlink.net. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 16 23:41:55 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 18:41:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Secure Elements Selected by SAIC for Inclusion in Managed Security Services Program Message-ID: <20051116184052.A673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 November 2005 ; PR Newswire Secure Elements Selected by SAIC for Inclusion in Managed Security Services Program http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-16-2005/0004217378 --- HERNDON, Va., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Secure Elements, Inc., a leader in enterprise vulnerability management and compliance risk-reduction solutions, announced today that its C5 Enterprise Vulnerability Management (EVM) suite has been selected by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to be included in their set of Managed Security Services offerings. SAIC will offer the vulnerability and compliance management service in conjunction with its other managed service offerings such as firewall/VPN management, intrusion detection, antivirus protection, managed authentication, and continuous Web application assessment services. The integration of the service can enable SAIC to offer customers a level of assurance that their managed systems can be monitored and protected from cyber threats, and that their systems can be managed in accordance with regulatory compliance mandates. "Secure Elements has worked very hard and spent a lot of human resource and capital in building what we have always known to be an excellent vulnerability and compliance management solution in the market," said William Welch, vice president of worldwide sales at Secure Elements. "It is an honor to be selected by SAIC for inclusion in their managed security services offering." About Secure Elements Secure Elements is an enterprise vulnerability management and compliance risk reduction leader, automating security remediation strategies and tactics across the entire enterprise, reducing business risk and IT management costs while improving systems performance and maintaining business continuity. Protecting mission critical and network infrastructure assets from both known and unknown attacks without limiting operational performance, the company rapidly identifies and intelligently responds to complex and diverse security incidents. Using real-time threat intelligence data and analysis, Secure Elements provides administrators with optimal security control across the enterprise. For more information, please visit http://www.secure-elements.com or call 1-800-709-5011. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Nov 17 03:12:27 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 22:12:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Cost of DoD's Top 85 Programs Rise $65B Message-ID: <20051116221035.U673-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 November 2005 ; DefenseNews.com Cost of DoD's Top 85 Programs Rise $65B http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1305761&C=america --- Cost of DoD's Top 85 Programs Rise $65B By GOPAL RATNAM and GREG GRANT The estimated cost of the largest U.S. weapons programs increased by $65 billion, or 4.4 percent, between June and September, according to a Nov. 15 update to the Pentagon's Selected Acquisition Report, which covers all future development and acquisition costs for 85 programs. Most of the rise -- from $1.474 trillion to $1.539 trillion -- was attributed to the restructuring of the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, an ambitious effort to create a network of manned and unmanned ground and air vehicles. The report said FCS's estimated price tag has risen from $98.8 billion to $161 billion in nonconstant dollars, or about $120 billion in constant, inflation-adjusted dollars. Army Secretary Francis Harvey said on Oct. 20 that FCS would cost about $122 billion in constant dollars though 2025, including $27.7 billion for research and development and $94 billion to equip 15 brigades. Army officials declined immediate comment. Officials with Boeing, which runs the FCS program with SAIC, also declined to comment. The report attributes the FCS rise to a "program restructure" that will cost $54 billion and a four-year "extension of schedule" that will cost $8.2 billion. Both figures were given in nonconstant dollars. The FCS program was launched in 2003 with an estimated cost of about $92 billion. The report also offered the first cost estimate for the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, at $3.6 billion. The program received approval in July to enter the next phase of development. Cost estimates for two major space programs also went up between June and September, according to the report. The average unit cost for both the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, or NPOESS, and the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High increased by 15 percent during the last six months, triggering a Nunn-McCurdy review. The Nunn-McCurdy legislation requires the Pentagon to certify a program's importance when its unit cost increases beyond 15 percent during a reporting period. The Selected Acquisition Reports, which are prepared for Congress by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, estimate the total acquisition cost of programs, including past and predicted expenditures on research and development, procurement, military construction, and acquisition-related operation and maintenance. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Nov 27 15:54:50 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 10:54:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] The future of combat Message-ID: <20051127105311.N3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 November 2005 ; Press-Telegram The future of combat http://www.presstelegram.com/business/ci_3228279 --- By Felix Sanchez , Staff writer LONG BEACH -- Leaders of a multibillion-dollar program to build a futuristic U.S. defense system are confident their effort can navigate a penny-pinching political landscape. In recent months, the U.S. Army's proposed Future Combat Systems, a plan led by the Boeing Co. and the SAIC Corp. to help develop new, high-tech military weapons systems, has come under scrutiny by legislators who have seen the program's longterm costs jump 25 percent over original estimates of $92 billion. There has been talk about trimming $100 million to $400 million of next year's funding for the combat systems programs, in addition to cuts in other key military programs, in the Defense Department's 2006 budget. "We're still confident that Congress will support the president's budget" which supports continued full funding, said Daniel R. Zanini, senior vice president with Science Applications International Corp. in San Diego and program manager for Future Combat Systems. The modernization program remains on cost, on schedule and is meeting performance standards set 29 months ago, Zanini said. It did undergo a significant change recently: instead of developing a package of technology that would be unveiled and introduced all at once, individual technologies are spun out and delivered to the military as available, he said. Zanini and several top-level managers and executives with Northrop Grumman Corp., a top program subcontractor, were in Long Beach to brief local officials about progress and to recruit new companies for technology development. Future Combat is creating Army equipment, combat vehicles and unmanned robotics to safely monitor and pinpoint enemy attackers, and computerized communications systems to help soldiers assess a situation and deploy swiftly. The program is big business for defense contractors, with more than 360 companies signed on and working under Boeing and SASI's leadership. More than 100 companies are located in California, with a $2.5 billion economic impact over the life of the program, Zanini said. During their briefing, Northrop Grumman's Joe Emerson showcased a scale model of the firm's new MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle, one of the program's new technologies. The 3,150-pound Fire Scout helicopter will give bird's-eye views of combat with real-time, streaming video and perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. It is being developed for the Army and Navy. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Nov 27 15:57:05 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 10:57:05 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] More detectors coming to ports to spot, stop WMD in time Message-ID: <20051127105532.R3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 November 2005 ; NorthJersey.com More detectors coming to ports to spot, stop WMD in time http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyOCZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjgxNzYzMiZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI= --- By HUGH R. MORLEY STAFF WRITER The hunt for weapons of mass destruction at New Jersey ports is getting more rigorous. Federal authorities will soon bring online 12 new gates that can detect whether a container passing through has nuclear material inside, closing a gap in port security that allows such materials to enter the United States. The detectors are the latest in a series of measures introduced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to tighten port security since 9/11. Experts say it's only a matter of time before a terrorist tries to smuggle a nuclear bomb or other weapon of mass destruction into the U.S., probably in a shipping container - of which more than a million enter New York and New Jersey ports each year. They worry that aside from the obvious danger, even a threat that shuts the port and disrupts the flow of goods could damage the economy. Since February 2004, the customs department has installed the detector gates at four of the six terminals in New York and New Jersey ports. But those monitor only about 65 percent of trucks leaving the port, said Kevin McCabe, the customs department's chief of seaport enforcement in the New York harbor. The new gates - which are installed but not yet operational at Maher Terminals in Elizabeth - will mean 98 percent of trucks leaving the port area get checked, McCabe said. "This is an exit gate strategy," McCabe said. "Let's hit everything before it leaves." Sam Crane, Maher Terminals' vice president of external affairs, said the company is working with customs officials to get the detectors online as soon as possible, perhaps by the end of the year. The gates monitor the radioactivity level of any vehicle or container that pass through. If radioactivity is discovered, customs officers divert the truck through a second detector. The type of radioactive material present is then compared to a computer record of the contents of the container to make sure that the two match. About 1.5 percent of the 6,000 trucks that go through the gates presently in operation are diverted for closer scrutiny, customs officials say. Usually, the detector is triggered by a naturally radioactive - but harmless - material, such as ceramic tiles, McCabe said. The gates are the final part of a multilayered strategy in which the department targets containers most likely to carry weapons, and subjects them to extra scrutiny. And the scrutiny starts long before a ship reaches the port. At least 24 hours before a container is shipped to the U.S., the vessel owner must send authorities here detailed information about the shipment, such as the contents, the company sending it and where the goods originated. A computer analyzes the data, as do customs officials in New Jersey and Virginia. They look for factors that mark the container as suspicious, such as coming from a region where terrorists are known to be active or containing items that do not normally come from the area, McCabe said. About one in 10 are deemed suspicious. Containers that raise concern are often inspected at the foreign port, McCabe said. "The idea is to push the border as far away as possible and identify a potential problem as early in the supply chain as possible," he said. Suspicious containers that get to New Jersey and New York are also scrutinized by customs officials such as Inspector James Ginty and his team, armed with a gamma-ray imaging system known as Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS). At 11:30 a.m. Monday, Ginty and his partner were hunched over computer screens in a white pickup truck on a dockside on Staten Island. To their left, a tractor-trailer carrying a 40-foot-long container full of pens, furniture parts and other items shipped from Taiwan inched past a gamma-ray camera scanning the inside of the box. The men studied the image as it appears on the computer. They put the container's identification number into the computer, pulled up details of the contents and compared them with the gamma-ray image onscreen. "What's on there should match the container," Ginty said, satisfied that it did. Outside the truck, a customs officer checked for nuclear materials with a hand-held radiation detector. Another officer made sure the container seal hadn't been broken. Of those targeted, 90 percent are cleared, and the rest are inspected further, often by opening the container and its contents. "We are managing the risk," McCabe said. "There are people who say we should be doing more containers. That's what the terrorists want. The terrorists want to stop our economy." Although the department has come across no weapons of mass destruction with its port security effort, officials have found drugs, conventional weapons and other contraband, McCabe said. Several businessmen who rely on the ports say the customs department has done a good job balancing the demand for security with the need to avoid disruptions to business. Michael Skinner, vice president at William B. Skinner Inc, a Carlstadt-based broker and logistics provider, said he had expected "more delays and more chaos" after the 9/11 attacks. There are delays, he said, but "the situation is not prohibitive - it's not preventing people from transacting business." Critics, however, say the department's strategy is still lacking. A Government Accountability Office report in April concluded that some foreign ports lacked staff or equipment to do a thorough inspection. P.J. Crowley, a homeland security expert at a Washington, D.C., public policy agency, said a more technologically advanced system is needed, as well as a more secure computer system. "A terrorist can go into the computer, make a suspect shipment into a conforming shipment, and then the odds are they won't inspect the box," he said. What's needed, he said, is a vigorous push to develop technology that would do a gamma-ray search of all containers, not just a small percentage. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Nov 27 16:02:15 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 11:02:15 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Mobile robots get serious Message-ID: <20051127105727.V3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 November 2005 ; EDN Mobile robots get serious http://www.edn.com/article/CA6283835.html?industryid=2814 --- After years of serving hobbyists and moviemakers, a series of world events may elevate mobile robots to technology's "next big thing." By Warren Webb, Technical Editor Although the concept and operational hardware for mobile robots have been around for decades, a rash of natural disasters and continuing military conflict have prompted designers to take a fresh look at the capabilities of this technology. The idea of an electromechanical device's replacing one or more humans in a hazardous or potentially dangerous situation has become the mantra of military, law-enforcement, aerospace, and exploration projects. Ranging from simple wheeled vehicles with a camera to unmanned aircraft with armaments, mobile-robotic technology has saved untold numbers of lives and become the favorite subject of new development projects. These applications have limited hardware resources and require real-time operation, compact mechanical design, battery operation, and economical software.requirements that embedded-system design shares. As such, robotic-control-system design is a logical next step for embedded-system-design teams. Current products represent the leading edge of mobile-robotic design. For example, iRobot Corp's rugged, lightweight PackBot EOD (explosive-ordnance-disposal) robot conducts EOD, hazardous-material handling, search and surveillance, and hostage-rescue tasks for bomb squads, SWAT (special-weapons-and-tactical) teams, and military units (Figure 1). [1] The PackBot's manipulator system can reach as far as 2m in any direction to disrupt improvised explosive devices, military ordnance, land mines, and other incendiary devices. One operator can carry and deploy the PackBot EOD, which weighs approximately 53 lbs. The chassis offers eight payload bays, each with interchangeable payload modules, such as video, audio, chemical, and biological sensors; mine detectors; ground-penetrating radar; and extra power. A ruggedized operator-control unit provides wireless-remote management and sensor display. Stressing the cost savings of robotics technology, Colin Angle, chief executive officer and co-founder of iRobot, says, "The US engagement in global conflicts has stressed our military and financial resources far beyond our original planning. More than half of our active-duty units are deployed abroad, and one in three reserve units were mobilized in the last four years. The bottom line is that expenditures are growing at an exponential rate, and a basic technological change is necessary to keep the cost and manpower requirements under control." With an eye toward delivering supplies and equipment in unmanned vehicles through a hostile environment, the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) sponsored its Grand Challenge on Oct 8, 2005 (Figure 2). [2] With a $2 million prize for the team that most quickly finished a designated route across the Southwest's Mojave Desert, the contest was designed to accelerate research and development in autonomous ground-vehicle technology that will help save lives on the battlefield. DARPA Director Anthony J Tether notes, "This event is a challenge for US ingenuity. It brings together individuals and organizations from the research-and-development community, industry, government, the armed services, academia, and professional societies and from the ranks of students, backyard inventors, and automotive enthusiasts." Stanford University's team pocketed the cash with its "Stanley" robotic car, which the team based on a diesel Volkswagen Touareg R5, which covered the 132-mile course in just less than seven hours with an average speed of 19.1 mph. Stanley comes with seven Pentium M processors, a global-positioning system, a radar system, four laser-range finders, and a stereo-camera system. It also has an inertial-measurement unit that can estimate how the vehicle is tilted relative to the ground. Four other teams also completed the course. Robot motion Motion control is the foundation of robotics, and designers most often implement it by computer control of electric motors or actuators. Embedded-system designers have used electromagnetic-control circuits since the early days of electronics to energize motors, relays, solenoids, and speakers, but current motion-control techniques are more complex, because system requirements call for precision motion that is coordinated among multiple motors or actuators. Designers usually opt for dc or stepper motors for precision motion control. You can apply each motor type in open-loop situations or with feedback from the motor itself or other portions of your application to guarantee accuracy. Each of the motor types has myriad variations with corresponding advantages, drawbacks, and best-suited applications. Stepper motors are among the most popular robotic-motion-control devices because they move in discrete steps, provide accurate angular-position information, and are relatively easy to control. The rotor of a stepper motor consists of permanent magnets arranged in a series of poles that determine the step size. The stator includes multiple windings to create a magnetic field that interacts with the rotor's permanent magnets. As a sequence of pulses from a control circuit turns the stator windings on and off, the motor rotates in the forward or reverse direction. Reversing the stator-pulse sequence changes the direction of rotation, and the frequency of the pulses controls the speed. To make a stepper motor rotate, you must constantly turn on and off the windings. Conversely, if you constantly energize one winding, the motor stops rotating and maintains an angular position with its specified holding torque. Modern dc motors find wide use in robotic applications, which require precise control of rotational speed or torque. A dc motor rotates by the interaction of two magnetic fields. The stator creates a fixed magnetic field with a permanent magnet or energized electromagnet, and the rotating armature or rotor includes a series of electromagnets that generate a magnetic field when current flows through one of its windings. For a brushed-dc motor, a commutator on the rotor and brushes on the stator energize individual windings as the motor rotates. The opposite polarities of the energized rotor winding and the stator magnet attract, causing the rotor to move until it aligns with the stator field. Just as the rotor reaches alignment, the brushes move across the commutator and energize the next winding to maintain motion. Speed in motors is proportional to the applied voltage, and output torque is proportional to the current. Robotic control of dc motors is a challenge, because you must vary the speed of the dc-motor during operation. The most popular approach to efficient dc-motor operation is to apply a PWM (pulse-width-modulated) square wave with an on-to-off ratio corresponding to the desired speed. The motor acts as a lowpass filter to translate the PWM signal into an effective dc level. PWM-drive signals are popular because a microprocessor-based controller can easily generate them. Although a precise pulse width regulates the motor's speed, the actual PWM frequency is variable, and designers should optimize it to prevent motor chatter, audible noise, and RFI. To reverse a dc motor, you must reverse the direction of the current in the motor; most designers use four switching devices arranged in an H pattern for this purpose. Brushless Hall effect A popular variation of the dc motor eliminates the electrically noisy and maintenance-prone brushes but sacrifices controller simplicity. The brushless-dc motor is basically a synchronous motor with permanent magnets on the rotor and windings on the stator. Stator windings are arranged in a three-phase Y connection and produce trapezoidal torque characteristics. The energized stator windings create electromagnet poles that attract the rotor and generate torque. By using an appropriate sequence to apply voltages to the stator phases, you can create and maintain a rotating field on the stator. You must synchronize the stator current with the rotor field to generate a torque. Most brushless-dc motors use Hall-effect sensors to read the motor's rotor position and enable the controller to switch the three winding phases on and off in the proper sequence to produce rotary motion. As the motion-control problem becomes more complex through coordinated moves or intricate motion profiles, designers have turned to dedicated processors or DSPs to calculate real-time trajectories. For example, the MCK240 DSP motion-control kit from Technosoft is an evaluation and development package for the Texas Instruments TMS320F240 DSP controller. The kit comes with an onboard 50W, three-phase inverter and a brushless motor with Hall sensors and a 500-line encoder. Built-in current feedback from the inverter low-side legs or dc path allows the development and implementation of a large set of control algorithms, including sensorless approaches. All communication between the PC and the DSP board occurs through the RS-232 interface using flash-resident monitoring software with downloading, uploading, debugging, and inspection capabilities. The kit includes a graphical motion-control, evaluation, and analysis software package, along with a set of ready-to-run examples (Figure 3). [3] The MCK240 costs approximately $1250. Several motion-control vendors offer off-the-shelf controllers for mobile-robotics systems. Roboteq Inc offers a microcomputer-based, dual-channel dc-motor controller that can directly and continuously drive as much as 60A on each channel at voltages as high as 40V. The AX3500 targets designers of mobile-robotic vehicles, including automatic guided vehicles, underwater remotely operated vehicles, and mobile robots for exploration, hazardous-material-handling, military, and surveillance applications (Figure 4). [4] The OEM version comes on a 4.26.75-in. board and accepts commands from a serial-port interface or a standard remote-controlled radio for robot applications. With the serial port, developers can use the AX3500 to design fully autonomous or semiautonomous robots by connecting it to single-board computers, wireless modems, or wireless-LAN adapters. The controller's two channels can operate independently, or you can combine them to set the direction and rotation of a vehicle by coordinating the motion on each side of the vehicle. The motors operate in open- or closed-loop speed or position modes. The AX3500 includes inputs for two quadrature encoders and four limit switches for speed and odometer measurement. The AX3500 features intelligent current sensing and automatically limits each channel's power output to user-preset values as high as 60A. The AX3500 is available now at $395 (one) and comes with an interface cable and PC-based configuration software. Hobby contributions Mobile robotics receives a huge amount of research, development, software, and trial-and-error testing from engineers and hobbyists having fun with combat robots. These fighting machines use dc motors, batteries, and remote-control electronics, along with an array of weapons in an attempt to subdue or disable an opponent. The agility of these robots directly depends on the dc-motor controller. Several companies provide off-the-shelf controllers to supply the high voltage and current that a battle situation requires. However, one of the most useful spin-offs for design engineers is the OSMC (Open Source Motor Controller) project. This project began as an Internet-hosted collaborative effort to design and implement a high-power, H-bridge motor-control system for permanent-magnet dc motors targeting battle robots. You can purchase kits or download free schematics, parts lists, and software for the OSMC boards from www.robot-power.com. You can also join the OSMC project and follow new developments at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osmc/. Mobile robotics is a new and growing industry with diverse military, law-enforcement, aerospace, medical, and home applications appearing weekly. For example, Daniel Zanini, senior vice president and program manager at research and engineering company SAIC, says, "Robotics will play a major role in our future combat systems. Unmanned aircraft, submarines, and land vehicles, along with conventional forces, will become nodes in a huge integrated network system, allowing commanders to determine the status and deploy resources from a computer screen." Targeting consumers, iRobot has shipped more than 1.2 million Roomba mobile robots for automated home vacuuming. A constant flow of new technology, such as improved motors, better control algorithms, and more efficient controllers, gives embedded-system designers plenty of tools and opportunities to participate in robotics development. Like it or not, mobile robots will continue to replace, augment, or support human activity in the future. Maybe some of those weird science-fiction stories were right on. [1] http://www.edn.com/contents/images/6283835f1.pdf [2] http://www.edn.com/contents/images/6283835f2.pdf [3] http://www.edn.com/contents/images/6283835f3.pdf [4] http://www.edn.com/contents/images/6283835f4.pdf From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Nov 27 16:03:56 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 11:03:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Canada Customs Call Upon Police to Secure Cornwall Border Crossing Message-ID: <20051127110259.U3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 22 November 2005 ; CCN Matthews Canada Customs Call Upon Police to Secure Cornwall Border Crossing http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases.ControllerFr?action=check4Cookies&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=568829 --- OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 22, 2005) - Customs Officers operating a Customs Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS) at the Canada's Customs Border Crossing in Cornwall, Ontario, on Friday, November 18, 2005, were required to take enforcement action against an Akwesasne resident after inspection of her vehicle led to the discovery of undeclared goods. "All of our members are sensitive to the environment in which they work," says Ron Moran, "and regularly take precautions to ensure potentially tense situations don't flare up and become unnecessarily aggravated. The individual with whom they interacted on Friday immediately became belligerent and made a call using her cell phone. Shortly after the call was placed, individuals began showing up adjacent to the fencing that surrounds the Customs facility taking pictures of Customs Officers and the vehicles they drive. This made our members feel intimidated and threatened." Moran is the National President of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise (CEUDA) representing 10,500 members at the Canada Revenue Agency and the Customs Border Services Agency (CBSA), more than 5,000 of whom are this country's Customs Officers which include the uniformed Front-Line Customs Officers, as well as the Investigation, Intelligence, and Trade Customs Officers. While there are harmonious relations between just about every Akwesasne resident and the Customs Officers working on Cornwall Island, it is a known fact that there exists a history of hostility directed by a few residents toward Customs Officers. Moran says, "I have personally seen bullet holes marking the outside walls of the building that, by the way, also happens to be the only Customs building in the country with bullet proof windows to protect Customs Officers." Fear escalated until Customs management called the Mohawk Akwesasne Police to escort the Customs Officers operating the VACIS truck off Cornwall Island for their own safety. All Customs Officers who remained at the border crossing exercised their right to refuse dangerous work, withdrawing their services under Section 128 of the Canada Labour Code, on the grounds that the work site had become too dangerous for them to work in without the protection of a side-arm or the protection of an armed police presence on the premise. A Labour Affairs Officer from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) was called in to investigate and has yet to rule on the matter. In the interim of a ruling, Customs Officers agreed to return to work at 5:00 p.m., Saturday, November 19, 2005, because Customs management called in armed police to secure the Customs facility; 3 armed police officers are currently on site providing that security. Moran also stated that "Both CEUDA and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence agree an armed presence is required at all border crossings, and the Deputy Prime Minister indicated on October 31, 2005, to this very Committee that she will place an armed presence at the border hoping to make an announcement about this within a few months." Moran concludes by saying that, "While the CBSA has gone out of its way to deny the reality of dangers at the border, continuously placing our members in harm's way, we're pleased to see all stakeholders now acknowledge the need for an immediate armed presence at the Port of Cornwall which certainly confirms the dangerous nature of this particular port. Customs management must now take immediate action to secure the working environment of all Customs Officers across Canada." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Nov 29 03:44:03 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:44:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Federal government could oust Yucca Mountain contractor Message-ID: <20051128224128.W3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 November 2005 ; Las Vegas Business Press Federal government could oust Yucca Mountain contractor http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2005/11/28/news/news03.txt --- By TONY ILLIA BUSINESS PRESS The U.S. Dept of Energy is returning to the drawing board on how to improve management of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. And that upgrade could entail changing contractors. The joint venture of Bechtel SAIC, won the five-year, $3.1 billion site-management contract on Feb. 12, 2001 and that agreement expires in March. Industry sources say the DOE is planning to rebid the contract, adding that competing teams are now beginning to develop. A Bechtel spokesman says the DOE has not decided whether to renew, but claims that it has met all of its performance requirements. The joint-venture, however, has yet to receive 100 percent of its fee, which was reduced somewhat after a recent evaluation. Photo [1], Caption: "Most attention has focused on safety issues at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste-storage project. The contract for Bechtel promises to be another opportunity to revisit those issues." "But that's typical," the spokesman said. There have been up to 2,000 Bechtel SAIC employees and subcontractors working at the Yucca site. DOE, meanwhile, has instructed Bechtel SAIC to devise a plan to operate the repository as a non-containment facility. It's a move that would eliminate billions of dollars in construction for handling spent fuel, says Paul Golan, acting director of DOE's office of civilian radioactive waste management. A "simpler" design will make the project "more reliable," he adds. The repository's two-tiered standard, as outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency, has come under fire by project critics and state officials who claim the proposed rules do not satisfy a court order last July to protect the health and safety of future Nevadans. "We have said all along the project is not safe and the science is bad, but never thought DOE would actually admit it," said U.S. Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign in an Oct. 25 joint-statement. "[It's a] misguided and fraud-riddled project." Bechtel SAIC and DOE personnel are both responsible for repository problems, Golan says. That added uncertainty to securing a federal license to operate the facility. "The bottom line is that this new plan gives us simplification in design, licensing and construction," he added. The Yucca Mountain repository plays a key role in the Bush Administration's National Energy Policy, which is seeking to add 50,000 megawatts of new nuclear generation capacity by 2020. A permanent storage facility solves a long-standing waste problem by consolidating 42,000 metric tons of radioactive plutonium currently stored at 131 places in 39 states. The previous design called for large handling facilities where fuel would be prepared for storage in the repository. Under the new plan, however, most spent fuel would be sent to the repository in standardized canisters that would not require repetitive handling of fuel. Failure in project management, contract administration and oversight contributed to project problems, Golan admits. He vows to fix such shortcomings by increasing control of government staffers and contractors, while assuming more authority at DOE headquarters for oversight. [1] http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/content/articles/2005/11/28/news/news03.jpg From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Nov 29 03:45:37 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:45:37 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Announces Key Organizational Changes Message-ID: <20051128224423.M3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 November 2005 ; SAIC News SAIC Announces Key Organizational Changes http://www.saic.com/news/2005/nov/28.html --- (SAN DIEGO) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) today announced two organizational changes to its corporate leadership team. "I am pleased to announce two key organizational changes that will further strengthen our corporate leadership team," said Ken Dahlberg, SAIC chairman and chief executive officer. "After five years as chief financial officer (CFO) of our company, Tom Darcy will assume the new position of executive vice president, Strategic Projects. "In this capacity Tom will be responsible for several strategic imperatives as we plan and execute our transition to a public company early next year. Tom's initial role will be to facilitate an efficient transition of chief financial officer responsibilities to his successor, provide additional financial expertise during the implementation of our initial public offering, and assist in the establishment of our investor relations function. Tom will continue to report directly to me. I want to thank Tom for his personal contributions, teamwork and support to me as CFO and I look forward to his continued participation as a member of our senior management team. "I am also very pleased to announce that effective today, Mark Sopp will become executive vice president and chief financial officer of our company reporting directly to me. Mark joins SAIC with more than 18 years of finance experience, after most recently serving as CFO and treasurer of The Titan Corporation. At Titan, Mark helped manage the organization through a period of dramatic revenue growth from $400 million to $2.5 billion over a five-year period. In an environment complicated by vigorous acquisition activity, Mark and his team also achieved a successful SOX 404 certification. Mark practiced as a certified public accountant early in his career after earning a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from New Mexico State University. "This is an exciting opportunity with a corporation I have long admired and I look forward to working with Ken and the leadership team at this point in SAIC's highly successful history," said Sopp. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Nov 29 23:47:12 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:47:12 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SYS Technologies Awarded $1.1 Million Subcontract for FORCEnet Architecture and Systems Engineering Support Message-ID: <20051129184627.V3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 November 2005 ; Business Wire SYS Technologies Awarded $1.1 Million Subcontract for FORCEnet Architecture and Systems Engineering Support http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20051129005374&newsLang=en --- SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2005--SYS Technologies, (AMEX: SYS), a leading provider of real time information technology solutions to industrial and U.S. government customers, announced today that it has been awarded a $1.1 million subcontract by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SYS will provide systems engineering services to SAIC in support of SPAWAR's (Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command) FORCEnet Integrated Architecture program. The program will incorporate common engineering, information protocols, computing, and interface standards across computer environments and platforms. The open architecture will provide technical performance, architecture, and design guidance for the computer programs and computing infrastructure of future Naval Warfare Systems. Ken Regan, President of SYS Technologies' Defense Solutions Group said, "We are pleased to be selected along with SAIC to support SPAWAR in its role of FORCEnet Chief Engineer. This subcontract award continues our longstanding partnering relationship with SAIC, expands our area of support to SPAWAR, and further validates our corporate commitment to increasing our offerings to the Defense community." About SYS Technologies SYS Technologies (AMEX: SYS), is a leading provider of information and communications systems for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Industrial markets. SYS Technologies' expertise is in real time sensor capture, communications, applications development, integration and data visualization which forms the basis of its current success and future growth. For the Department of Defense (DoD), we provide command and control systems to operational commanders. For the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and various state agencies, we provide real-time safety and security products and services, including sensor networking products and end-to-end solutions. For large industrial customers in the telecommunications, utilities, construction, chemical, and biomedical industries, our products and services are used to intelligently and profitably manage remote assets. SYS Technologies is headquartered in San Diego at 5050 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA 92123 and has principal offices in California, Virginia and Washington, DC. For additional information, visit the SYS Technologies web site at http://www.systechnologies.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Nov 30 23:46:08 2005 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:46:08 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense Message-ID: <20051130184559.K3948-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 30 November 2005; DOD CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/2005/ct20051130.html --- CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense No. 1239-05 FOR RELEASE AT Nov 30, 2005 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry) Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 5:00 PM Contracts, Wednesday, November 30, 2005 CONTRACTS NAVY [...] Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $9,208,444 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-05-C-0026) to exercise an option for technical, engineering, and programmatic services in support of the Tomahawk-All-Up-Round Missile Program for the Navy ($8,742,860; 95 percent) and the United Kingdom ($465,584; 5 percent). Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md. (85 percent); Lexington Park, Md., (10 percent); and other locations within the United States (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. [...]