WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Somewhere in America, a "guy in his garage" came up with an idea to counter terrorism that -- unbeknownst to him -- has made the Pentagon sit up and take notice.
He submitted it to the Defense Department in response to a request for idea to combat terrorists, carry out protracted operations in remote areas or deal with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. It immediately caught the eye of officials, who forwarded it to Pentagon acquisition chief, who immediately forwarded it to a four-star war fighting commander.
"I've been in that office for a long time. It's rare to see anything that creative," said Jeffrey David, an official with the technological Support Working Group, an interagency office that researches and develops new technologies. "I don't know if it is a gold mine, but it's an innovative application of existing technology. It's the kind of thing you ask, 'That's so obvious. Aren't people already doing that?' But no one had ever thought of it before."
The events of Sept. 11 spurred the office to issue a new request for ideas, and it has received a flood in response. The "broad agency announcement" outlining the request has been downloaded 80,000 times. More than 8,000 people have registered to submit ideas -- 26 times more than responded to a request just six months ago -- and 700 have already been sent in. Historically, 90 percent of the submission come in on the last day, David said.
David expects there to be between 10,000 and 20,000 submissions by the due date, Dec. 23 at 4 p.m. A typical response would bring about 900 ideas, he said.
The "TSWG" expects to spend between $20 million and $40 million developing the winning proposals into operational equipment or concepts. Some contracts could be awarded as soon as February, if the idea is right.
The office has been in existence for nearly 20 years and has already borne fruit. A fingerprinting device developed with the Israeli ministry of defense was used to flout an assassination attempt, David said.
The technologies range from the high-tech -- garage-sized gamma ray machines to peer into the bellies of cargo trucks for explosives, now in place at U.S. European Command -- to the low: at the TSWG's request, the Customs Service compiled a checklist for vehicle inspectors to find contraband and explosive devices. That $12 booklet is in use by 20,000 organizations around the world.
Some of the technology has been put to use recently: a biological detection kit developed under TSWG contract was provided to several teams that responded to the recent spate of anthrax attacks. Every bomb squad in the country has bomb "disruptors" to destroy explosive devices, and soon will get at least one protective bomb suit able to keep out chemical and biological contaminants.
Salt Lake City's underground pipeline system has been mapped and modeled to help emergency services in the event there is a chemical or biological release in the water system during the upcoming Olympics, and similar systems have been developed for rivers in Utah and Ohio, according to David.
The TSWG, with an annual budget of about $70 million -- most of it from the Pentagon -- serves 80 different government organizations.
