Lawmaker challenges companies to develop anti-terror technology

Lawmaker challenges companies to develop anti-terror technology

By Chris Strohm
cstrohm@govexec.com
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday that technology developed for the war on terrorism could also benefit the U.S. economy.

Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif, said the war on terrorism will be "an indefinite struggle," and he challenged private companies to develop technology that enhances security and makes the U.S. economy stronger.

"Our job is to sustain this war on terror by making investments in security that actually improve America's economy," Cox said during a keynote speech at the 2005 Government Security Conference in Washington. "Can we, as we introduce new security technology into some productive process, make that production process simultaneously more efficient?"

"Right after 9/11, all we were asking of our security investment was that it not slow down the country too much, that the lines that were formed not be too long, that the depression in the gross domestic product not be too much," he said. "We need to ask more because, going forward, we're going to need the economic engine of the United States of America to drive this war on terror and ultimately to win it."

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0505/052505c1.htm

:silly: