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HARMAN HIGHLIGHTS LOCAL TECHNOLOGY TO PROVIDE HOMELAND SECURITY AND FIGHT TERRORISM

-- Applauds Local Tech Companies for Ingenuity and Foresight --

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TORRANCE, February 19 - Rep. Jane Harman (D-Redondo Beach), the Ranking Democrat on the House Select Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security called today for "public-private technology innovations to keep us one step ahead of our enemies in real time."

Harman gave the opening address and moderated a panel at a forum she chaired on Technology and Terrorism at the Torrance Marriott. (Click here to see the conference agenda.)

"We now face what I frequently call a digital threat - enemies who work in loose non-hierarchical networks," said Congresswoman Harman. "They use the latest technologies and attack asymmetrically - where and when we least expect it. What we need is a digital response."

"We must be able to detect explosives, biological or nuclear materials, or other harmful agents and prevent them from entering our country. We need highly sensitive scanners in our ports and airports, and ways of screening entrants to big events - such as the Super Bowl or Olympics."

"Small and medium-sized technology companies, many located in the South Bay, have the best people and the best technologies to meet the threat."

More than 300 executives from large and small aerospace and high-tech companies located primarily in the South Bay attended the conference. Panelists included John Reingruber, co-chair of the Technical Support Working Group, the DoD agency responsible for R&D of technologies related counter-terrorism and homeland security, and Gilman Louie, the President and CEO of In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital fund.

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