The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate wants to improve its plans for conducting research to protect first responders, an official said today.

In opening remarks at a stakeholder summit of the International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation (IFAFRI), Andre Hentz, acting deputy under secretary for S&T, said, “What we really want to do is develop a more robust and methodical R&D duty cycle that helps us better be stewards of the taxpayer dollars that we get to affect and drive down risks to first responders.”

“We need to be able to motivate and connect with industry and better help you guys understand what our true requirements are,” he added.

Speakers at today’s event discussed the need to (1) “know the locations of responders and their proximity to risks and hazards in real time”; (2) “detect, monitor and analyze passive and active threats and hazards at incident scenes in real time”; (3) “rapidly identify hazardous agent[s] and contaminants”; and (4) “incorporate information from multiple and non-traditional sources into incident command operations[.]”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily