New Strategic Focus for Homeland Security Creates Opportunity for Win-Win Public-Private Partnerships and Investment

(MEDFIELD, MA ) Homeland security strategist W. David Stephenson, of Stephenson Strategies, says "the DHS’s new strategic approach increases the opportunities for public-private collaborations that can both improve security and profitability.”

Stephenson is a keynoter in the new online conference,“Homeland Security: Tracking Trends in Spending and Technology,“ downloadable at : http://www.homelanddefensestocks.com/Forums/register.aspx

The homeland security strategist concentrates on profitable collaborations between business and industry and on empowering individuals to play active roles in anti-terror preparation and response. He says Sec. Michael Chertoff’s emphasis on risk assessment and “bang for the buck” creates opportunities in 3 areas where government and industry confront similar challenges:

*communication: with wireless, redundant, self-organizing and self-healing technologies such as mesh networks, “smart dust” networks of wireless sensors, and “swarm intelligence" networks that can still function even in a disaster and offer more robust, cheaper networks otherwise

*collaboration: tools such as XML that allow seamless integration of data from various sources, especially legacy data bases; public-private collaborations such as the Safe and Secure Tradelanes Initiative for “smart” shipping containers; and “presence,” the new communications dashboard integrating real-time, location-based data with the full range of IP-based technology.

*empowering individuals: capitalizing on the billions of dollars worth of mobile personal technologies, from camera phones to Wi-Fi laptops, owned by the public, plus applications such as Dodgeball.com and Mobile IM that people use daily but could be converted in an instant to also provide real-time, customized emergency information and to use the public as the eyes and ears of anti-terror preparations.

Stephenson, creator of the “Terrorism Survival Planner” for handhelds, also writes what CIO.com says is the best homeland security blog, which highlights innovative technologies and their anti-terror applications (the blog was a finalist for the 2004 Koufax Awards). His”smart mobs for homeland security” strategy to empower the public has been called the best example of “.. a 'new politics' way of organizing a government service.”