Centers to study U.S. security

RTP, UNC-CH sites hailed as putting area at front of homeland security efforts

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- In just three hours Tuesday, the Triangle became a national powerhouse in homeland security research.

In separate events in RTP and Chapel Hill, government and university officials unveiled a pair of new groups that have won more than $22 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for research projects in the next few years, many of them at local universities.

First came the announcement of the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions at a morning news conference at Research Triangle Park's headquarters. Then, in early afternoon, came the dedication of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management, which is based at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"I think this very decisively announces to the rest of the country that the Triangle has arrived as a center of homeland security research," said U.S. Rep. David Price, who spoke at both events.

In his role as chairman of the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, Price got the Institute of Homeland Security a contract with the homeland security department. Meanwhile, a team led by veteran UNC-CH marine researcher Rick Luettich won the grant for the UNC-CH-based center in a competitive process.

The importance of the research involved was underscored Monday by Hurricane Gustav's assault on the Gulf Coast. Luettich, a leading expert on storm surge modeling, had been working for the past three days with state officials in Louisiana, federal leaders and other researchers to track the potential dangers.

Luettich said he envisions the center tapping a wide range of disciplines. It will advance the ability to model storm behavior, but also will study things such as better ways to build structures and plan waterfront communities so that there is less storm damage.

Some overlap is likely in the two groups' work -- leaders of both have been meeting -- but the institute at RTP will emphasize issues related to terrorism, Price said, while the center at UNC-CH will focus on traditional disasters such as hurricanes.

Crucial for the world

The N.C. Military Foundation, which was started to lure more defense industry money to the state, came up with the idea of the Institute. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who helped start the military foundation, was among those at the announcement.

RTI International will act as the prime contractor for the institute, which will distribute grants for research into such things as the social roots of terrorism and improving government response and recovery efforts in natural disasters.

Perdue said the results of the institute's work could be crucial for the future not just of North Carolina but also the nation and the world. She called the institute a competitive advantage and said that it would compliment the state's reputation for being friendly to military bases and defense-related industry.

"The marker we're laying down today is that we also have become a powerhouse in homeland security," she said.

The Homeland Security contract runs through 2010, but it could win more money from the department and other sources.

"We see it as seed money to get us started and to let us demonstrate what a useful resource this will be for them," said David Schanzer, head of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security and co-director of the new institute.

The federal funding for the institute is a sign the government has realized that the problems of homeland security aren't going to be solved entirely with new technology, Schanzer said.

"For example, we don't really understand why people engage in violent behavior," he said. "There are many people who are angry or have certain political beliefs, but only a very small number take violent action, and we need to understand why they do before we can prevent it."

Another illustration of the kind of research the institute will take is the roots of why victims in a natural disaster behave as they do, Schanzer said. If there was a better understanding of why people refuse to evacuate, for example, that may suggest better ways of motivating them to leave.

'The best of the best'

Speaking at both events was Jay Cohen, undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security. Two such events on the same day is a credit to the state, Cohen said in an interview.

"If you look around the country, there are many industrial parks, there are many universities and several research parks, but it's been my experience that no state puts it together as well as North Carolina can," he said. "We wanted the best of the best in these two cases, and we've picked very well. And these aren't short-term commitments."