An E-Z Pass for Guns?

By Stephen Bryen

Instead of new draconian gun laws of dubious effect, consider the ubiquitous E-Z pass.

Like millions of other Americans, I pay a small monthly fee for my handy E-Z Pass transponder. It gets me through toll booths on highways, bridges and tunnels quickly and efficiently; it crosses State lines without interruption. For the most part, the E-Z Pass billing system is accurate and gives you a helpful record of your travels.

The E-Z Pass is a passive sensor, actually a transceiver activated by a radio signal from the toll booth or toll lane.  The transceiver operates at 915 mhz and transmits information at 500 kilobits per second.  No battery or other power source is needed.  The specific E-Z Pass technology is proprietary, but transceivers for other applications have already been built. Today, RFID (radio frequency identification) devices are inserted into credit cards, building passes, garage gate openers, and Metro fare cards, to name just a few applications.

Can this technology be applied to guns and how would it work?

Putting RFID sensors into manufactured guns and tagging them to the owner is in fact simpler than the E-Z Pass system, because the sensor can be embedded at the time of manufacture or, for guns already in circulation, can be added at a very small cost. Putting antennas around schools, colleges, hospitals, sports stadiums (for example) and public buildings is not complex. Linking the sensors to existing security systems also is reasonably straightforward and not expensive.

Consider this.  A person with a gun approaches an elementary school.  If the school perimeter contained RFID antennas, they could detect the gun, automatically lock down the school, and warn school personnel that there is a potential threat.

Consider this.  At the entrance of the State Department there is a security check that includes an RFID antenna to find a gun.  Even if the gun is hidden or the magnetometer cannot not find it, it is likely the RFID antenna will detect it.

Consider this. At the entrances to the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey, there are RFID antennas. If someone enters the mall with a gun, the security guards are immediately alerted.  The detectors are linked to PTZ (pan tilt zoom) cameras that can track the likely gun holder.

RFID technology can buy a lot of protection. It can be implemented quickly in new guns and existing registered guns.  It is low cost.

In fact an Italian company called Chiappa Firearms has already introduced RFID chips in all its new guns.  While their press release is in Italian (http://www.tiropratico.com/Cinzia_Pinzoni/RFID_chiappa.pdf)  they say that the chips are virtually indestructible and that they can be read by remote detectors in microseconds.

Putting protection around schools, for example, compliments existing security systems and procedures and can be done quickly and probably within existing security and infrastructure budgets.

But isn’t the problem illegal guns?  Illegal guns are a major crime problem, but — as we just saw tragically in Newtown — legal guns are often the ones used in incidents such as school shootings, work places attacks, and shootings in public access places or events. For the most part, schools, colleges, malls, work places, and public buildings have only limited, or no defenses against legal or illegal guns, with the preponderance of crime they experience coming from legal guns.

Thirty years ago, I served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Trade and Security Policy, and Director of the Defense Technology Security Administration. Our offices became concerned with Glock pistols that were being made of synthetic polymers (a type of plastic).  The problem was that the “plastic” Glock might not be recognized by metal detectors or X-Ray machines in airports or in secure buildings.  The answer, which the Glock people accepted, was to add some metal powder to the plastic so the gun shape could be seen in an X-Ray machine and picked up by a metal detector.

The RFID tag is a modern evolution of the Glock idea, but with the advantage that it can provide early warning of danger.

In the coming months, the President and Congress are poised to consider new gun laws in response to the multi-victim tragedies of our recent past.  Many of the ideas currently advanced sound draconian, may violate the Second Amendment, and are unlikely to reduce violence committed with legally registered weapons.  An E-Z Pass-type solution wouldn’t reduce the likelihood of a violent attempt being undertaken by a mentally unbalanced or otherwise disturbed person, but it could very well protect innocent people from victimhood.

###

Dr. Stephen Bryen is President of SDB Partners, LLC based in Washington, DC

Oil and the Changing Shape of American Security

By Stephen Bryen 

It will be a different world if the United States achieves energy independence.  And now predictions are that this will happen sooner rather than later, probably by 2020.  But becoming energy independent is starting to happen even now, and organizations will try and take advantage of large surpluses, especially natural gas. 

Becoming energy independent has huge foreign policy and national defense implications. 

Today the Great Risk Point (GRP) is the supply of oil through the Persian Gulf. An adversary could create havoc in the shipping lanes, blow up supply depots, or even set oil fields on fire. 

GRP is such a big problem that the current administration is petrified that a rogue Iran will inflame the Gulf, and if not them, then al-Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood or their analogues. Take your pick. So the idea is to embrace them and try and redirect them away from precipitous action. 

But an energy independent America no longer faces GRP.  And there are developments that may also save Europe arising from oil discoveries from Israel, to Cyprus and probably to Greece that, if they can be moved quickly enough, can make up the difference from the Gulf.  The money is starting to come into these alternatives and this is shifting the geopolitical stage. 

OPEC will try and fight the trend by lowering energy prices. But lowering energy prices a lot means less money that can be used at home to buy off adversaries, especially the local kind. So if prices dip, which may already be starting to happen, revolution rises.  The trouble in Bahrain is a harbinger, not an oddity. 

The U.S., depending on the timing of all this, is in fat city.  But the loser are not only the Gulf States (including Iran), but also the outliers who do not have enough oil of their own.  China could get into staggering trouble if oil supplies are interrupted. Same for Japan, Korea and many others. And Europe –already heading for its own self-made depression- could collapse. Euro-socialism will go, but what will remain could be a fierce civil war in Europe between have’s and have not’s, and between ethnic groups such as Euro-Arabs, Gypsies, Jews –some new suspects, some the usual ones. 

U.S. foreign policy is built around defense of the Persian Gulf and safeguarding the flow of oil. The first Gulf war started for the United States when Saddam’s Army crossed into Saudi territory. Then the threat was clear and unambiguous.  The second Gulf war also was alarm about Saddam’s intentions and his ability to blackmail the region thanks to arsenals of chemical and biological agents.  (How much he had, what happened to it, remains a matter of dispute, but policy makers believed he had  WMD, which is all that is really important.)

But as local oil replaces imported oil, and natural gas replaces diesel and, eventually gasoline, we enter a period of enhanced ambiguity, not clarity.  Voices will ask why the U.S. should make the supply of oil safe for Europe, or safe for China?  Others will explain that we cannot roll-back revolution in the region, that we lack credibility to do that, and a political upheaval is not easy to solve with military force, especially the diminished forces we now have.  As we learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war costs probably exceed our ability to pay, at least for the next five to ten years. 

Certainly there will be renewed emphasis on the southern Mediterranean, and NATO may try and strengthen its role in protecting the emerging supplies of oil.  But to do that Israel will have to become either a de facto or de jure member of NATO, and the Euro-politics of that are really formidable. Other solutions may have to be found, such as new localized collective security agreements. These are in the future, but not very far. 

Meanwhile we are on the precipice of a huge transformation. American domestic and foreign policy may never be the same.

Don’t Take China’s Money?! Ying Ma Radio Program

Don’t Take China’s Money?!

by Friends and Foes of Liberty

Ying Ma Radio Interview with Dr. Stephen Bryen (click to play)

in Current Events

Fri, October 19, 2012

Ying Ma hosts the radio program and blog Friends and Foes of Liberty. The program features in-depth discussions with thinkers and leaders about freedom, geopolitics, the global marketplace and U.S. foreign policy. Ying Ma (馬穎) writes regularly about China, international affairs and the free market. Much of her research explores the nexus between political and economic freedom with respect to China’s rising influence on the global stage. Her articles have covered issues such as the Internet revolution, democratization, climate change, state capitalism and market liberalization, and have appeared in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review and other publications. She is the author of Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, which she completed as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

In this program, Ying Ma asks: Should the United States refuse massive amounts of money from China? Listen to the lively interview with Dr. Stephen Bryen about the national security implications of Chinese foreign direct investment in this country. Find out why Dr. Bryen opposes Chinese acquisition of U.S. telecom networks but supports a Chinese wind farm company that may have fallen victim to the Obama administration’s election-year politics.

Dr. Bryen is the President and CEO of Ziklag Systems and the President and CEO of SDB Partners. He has 40 years of experience working in national security and industry, and has previously served as a senior staff director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as an Under Secretary of Defense for Trade Security Policy in the Reagan administration, and as the President of the North America operations of Finmeccanica, one of the world’s top ten global players in aerospace, defense and security.  

The radio program can be found here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yingma/2012/10/19/interview-with-stephen-bryen

Links for Ying Ma are here: 

• http://yingma.org
• http://www.twitter.com/GZtoGhetto
• http://www.facebook.com/ChineseGirlintheGhetto

Google Needs A Security Advisory Board

by Stephen Bryen

Google is building what it calls a “Privacy Red Team.”  The company is rapidly recruiting qualified engineers for the job. In its advertisement for team members, Google says: ”Top candidates will have an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of modern web browsers and computer networks, enjoy analyzing software designs and implementations from both a privacy and security perspective, and will be recognized experts at discovering and prioritizing subtle, unusual, and emergent security flaws.”

Google’s Red Team is a good idea –in fact every technology company should consider having security expertise at the engineering level.

But the security issue is bigger than the technical elements.

Today, not only personal privacy but also personal security are at risk because of the security weaknesses of computer and mobile phone operating systems and related software applications.

In thinking about security it is not only the risk of crime or the loss of sensitive information.  As we can see in places such as Iran, the risk also is to the lives of those who oppose the Iranian regime. As I wrote recently in the magazine InFocus Quarterly, Iran is buying spy gear from the West and using it against their own people.  With this equipment Iran can easily spy on the mobile phones of the regime’s opponents, entrap them, and jail them, sometimes leading to executions.

Companies legally trying to do business in certain countries either tend to look the other way, don’t “officially” want to know where their technology goes or how it is used, or actively cooperate with governments trying to suppress their own people.

So in fact modern technology has created a conundrum for technology-based companies working in the computer and telecommunications fields.

I believe we can expect tougher U.S. laws in future to not only protect privacy but to deal with spy technology sold to rogue regimes.

Many of the big companies have Boards of Directors that should, with management, be addressing such issues.  But if one looks at many technology companies one finds a lack of qualified Board Members that can champion privacy and security from the inside.

Today’s world is in upheaval.  Modern technology has dramatically changed the game and is redefining the global political landscape.    While American companies are, by far, not the only force in the technology space,  as companies that live in the world’s greatest democracy U.S. companies have a responsibility to do more to make sure that our technology does not create victims domestically or internationally.

Google is moving in the right direction with its privacy red team.  The next step for Google and other high tech companies is for them to enhance their Boards of Directors with security and privacy advocates and create either security committees or Security Advisory Boards.

Growing Number of Mobile Threats Means the Writing is on the Wall

“We Must Protect Mobile Devices”

 by Tom Malatesta

COO, Ziklag Systems (http://www.ziklagsystems.com)

The great majority of mobile attacks, and their malware, stem from and attack third-party markets, particularly in China and Russia. In most cases, we do not find this malware in the official Android market. 

Google’s app store has suffered from some incidents, but so far those counts are moderate. McAfee Labs advises customers to use “install software” only from the official market. That step should greatly reduce the risk of compromising your Android device. 

This quarter we saw significant amounts of new adware and mobile backdoor malware, along with some very simple premium-rate SMS-sending malware. 

Mobile adware displays ads on a victim’s phone without permission. (This does not include ad-supported games or apps.) Adware ranges from wallpaper with added sales pitches (Android/Nyearleaker.A) to fake versions of games that send visitors to advertising sites (Android/Steek.A). Adware doesn’t necessarily reduce users’ security, but it does subject them to unwanted ads.

Backdoor Trojans on Android have gotten a bit more sophisticated. Instead of performing just one action, they use root exploits and launch additional malware. 

Android/FoncyDropper.A, for example, uses a root exploit to gain control of the phone and launch an IRC bot that receives commands from the attacker. It also sends premium-rate SMS messages based on the country of the SIM card.

In a similar vein, Android/Rootsmart.A uses a root exploit to download Android/DrdLive.A, a backdoor Trojan that sends premium-rate SMS messages and takes commands from a control server.

Android/Stiniter.A uses a root exploit to download additional malware and sends information from the phone to sites under the control of the attacker. It also sends text messages to premium-rate numbers. The attacker’s control server updates the message body and the number the hijacked phone sends to. 

This quarter, malware writers created one of the first destructive Android Trojans, Android/Moghava.A. Instead of damaging apps or other executables this malware goes after photos. Moghava.A searches for photos stored on the SD card, and adds the image of the Ayatollah Khomeini to each picture. The malware is also a bit buggy, so it will continue to add to the pictures until there is no more space on the card.

The writing is clearly on the wall– We must protect all devices, mobile or otherwise, that have valuable data. If not, today’s cybercriminals will be happy to handle it for us.

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CUTS GANG RELATED GUN CRIME

by Stephen Bryen

The SENTRI advanced gunshot detection system, that instantly sends a picture of the shooter to the police, has dramatic and proven results in cutting community gun violence as validated results in Illinois and California show.  “An incredible bit of engineering” says National Geographic.

An advanced technology gunshot detection system called SENTRI has dramatic and proven results in cutting gang gun violence in communities according to validated results in Chicago, Illinois and Richmond,California.

The SENTRI system can be mounted on telephone poles, buildings and is available in portable form.  It can even work mounted on police cars and other vehicles.

SENTRI is in use around America such as in Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, Baltimore, Maryland, Charlotte, North Carolina and Wilmington, Delaware.

SENTRI is now available from SDB Partners LLC .

SENTRI is a neural-network based gunshot detection system with a 360 degree camera that zooms in on a shooter the moment a gun is fired.  Immediately notifying police with a photo of the person firing the gun, SENTRI performs as a silent proactive witness.

SENTRI has proven results in dramatically reducing crime even in heavy crime areas and can positively reinforce the national Department of Justice sponsored  Project Safe Neighborhoods program.

The FBI says “Gangs are expanding, evolving and posing an increasing threat to US communities nationwide. Many gangs are sophisticated criminal networks with members who are violent, distribute wholesale quantities of drugs, and develop and maintain close working relationships with members and associates of transnational criminal/drug trafficking organizations.”

The FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment reveals the following:

***There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and OMG gang members comprising more than 33,000 gangs in the United States. Gang membership increased most significantly in the Northeast and Southeast regions, although the West and Great Lakes regions boast the highest number of gang members. Neighborhood-based gangs, hybrid gang members, and national-level gangs such as the Sureños are rapidly expanding in many jurisdictions. Many communities are also experiencing an increase in ethnic-based gangs such as African, Asian, Caribbean, and Eurasian gangs.

***Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90 percent in several others, according to NGIC analysis. Major cities and suburban areas experience the most gang-related violence. Local neighborhood-based gangs and drug crews continue to pose the most significant criminal threat in most communities. Aggressive recruitment of juveniles and immigrants, alliances and conflict between gangs, the release of incarcerated gang members from prison, advancements in technology and communication, and Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization (MDTO) involvement in drug distribution have resulted in gang expansion and violence in a number of jurisdictions.

The Justice Department created Project Safe Neighborhoods to try and deal with neighborhood related crime by greater citizen education and more vigorous prosecution of criminals.  The program has had some success, but it could have far better results with better tools.  SENTRI is a tool that meets the security needs of the community and has been proven to reduce gun-linked crime in bad neighborhoods.

In a special TV program done by National Geographic, SENTRI was shown installed in Richmond, California .  A particular section of Richmond, known as the Easter Hills Housing Project, was a particularly high crime high gun incidence area, a place where the police would only go with substantial backup.  With SENTRI installed, the crime rate plummeted and Easter Hills, now re-named Richmond Village, has become a safe area.  As the Richmond police say, with SENTRI “we will get a face” and catch the felon.  National Geographic called SENTRI “an incredible bit of engineering” and there has been no gun crime in the neighborhood since the system was installed.

SENTRI was part of Chicago’s “Operation Disruption” which focused on the placement of video cameras equipped with gunshot detection capability in downtown Chicago.  The Chicago Sun-Times reported that during the first seven months of Operation Disruption serious crime in the areas was down 17%.

SENTRI achieves pro-actively exactly what is needed to cut down on gun crime and lets programs such as Project Safe Neighborhoods achieve its goals.

SENTRI’s technology is the most cost-effective approach to gunshot detection because it requires the fewest number of units to cover an area and can be combined with other linked technologies including automatic license plate readers (ALPR) and facial recognition.  The SENTRI system is partnered with Elsag North America , America’s leading ALPR company and with FaceFirst® (Airborne Biometrics Group, Inc.) of Camarillo, California for face recognition.  SENTRI can also be trained to “hear” shouts for help and can keep its cameras operating providing vital evidence for police and law enforcement.

Images

SENTRI in Los Angeles[Download]

SENTRI on Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco[Download]

Videos

“An incredible bit of Engineering”

Ziklag Systems names James Swanson its chief intelligence officer

Government Security News

Wed, 2012-05-16 04:14 PM

James Swanson

Ziklag Systems has appointed James Swanson as its chief intelligence officer. Swanson brings a strong background in government intelligence operations and private industry experience to the effort by Ziklag Systems to combat phone spying.

Ziklag Systems is a mobile security company, based in Washington, DC, that specializes in removing spy phone bugs from mobile smart phones. The company offers services to government agencies and sensitive critical infrastructure industries to stop foreign hacking of smart phones.

Swanson has thirty years of experience in national security, intelligence, defense, proliferation/counter-proliferation, and technology security, according to a news release issued by Ziklag on May 15. Swanson is a retired naval intelligence officer who served with Middle East Forces (Bahrain, now U.S. 5th Fleet) during the Iran-Iraq war, and with the U.S. Seventh Fleet Staff in Japan. During his naval career he was chief of staff for one of the analytical divisions at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and deputy intelligence officer on several naval fleet staffs. Swanson has also had tours of duty with the Office of Naval Intelligence.

He joined the Defense Technology Security Administration, where he worked on high technology espionage issues, until his retirement from the Defense Department.

Swanson was a member of the original staff of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, where he led efforts to analyze China’s military programs and deal with alleged Chinese theft of U.S. technology and sensitive weapons and defense information.
Swanson also has significant industry experience. He was senior vice president for operations at Finmeccanica North America, Inc., a global aerospace and defense contractor, where he provided leadership on defense and homeland security acquisitions by Finmeccanica companies in the U.S., and supported business development for Finmeccanica’s operating companies. He successfully gained Finmeccanica’s participation in the R2-3G program, the U. S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Rapid Response Program.

Tom Malatesta, COO of Ziklag Systems, said, “Jim Swanson’s addition to our team helps to position Ziklag Systems at the core of our government and intelligence centers, where the threat of mobile smart phone compromise is very great. Swanson is talented in being a qualified analyst who understands the threat, and a practical businessman who can help government agencies put in place programs to mitigate or stop spyphones and other smart phone intrusions.”

Ziklag Systems calls itself an up-and-coming provider of special security software targeted to sensitive government organizations and critical infrastructure industry. Its mission is to try to stop foreign control over smart phones, which dominate today’s marketplace, and offer a gateway into government and industry computer networks and facilitate “phishing” operations against top government and industry leaders.

New Legislative Proposal Focuses on China

There are occasions -maybe too many of them- when Congressmen introduce legislation just to be able to say to their constituents that they are taking action and doing things.  The legislation goes no where in particular, and after a few press releases aimed at their district, the legislation disappears into the vast Congressional hopper.

But in the case of the Wolf-Forbes Resolution 616 introduced on April 16th,  the proposal may have legs.  There has been a great reluctance in Congress to address the issues posed by China, affecting American security, America’s economy, and U.S. technological leadership.

There are reasons to hope that China, if it can democratize itself and put in a truly fair and equitable “rule of law” system, can be an exciting and positive factor in future.  Likewise, there is reason to believe China may go the other way, become aggressive and dangerous.

Congressmen Wolf and Forbes (both from Virginia) are really putting these questions on the table.  Probably after the Presidential elections, the time will arrive for Congress to finally do its job and lead an inquiry framed around the questions and suggestions made in Resolution 616.

Below please find links to the Wolf and Forbes proposals.

————————-

Congressmen Frank R. Wolf (VA-10) and Randy Forbes (VA-04) announced today they have introduced House Resolution 616 <http://forbes.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=241504-36683564> , to provide a comprehensive strategic framework of key objectives to guide the U.S. House of Representatives in developing policy with regard to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Their statement:

“In the past decade we have watched as China has grown to become the world’s second largest economy, the world’s largest manufacturer and has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in modernizing its military capability.  For the first time in our nation’s history one of our largest trading partners, and the single largest holder of our foreign debt, is an aspiring peer competitor. Faced with this challenge, the U.S. government has failed to develop a strategic vision to guide an integrated, government-wide approach to U.S.-China relations.  Lacking a forward-thinking framework, our government has been relegated to a position of reactionary policymaking.  This is why we have identified key outstanding issues in U.S.-China relations and resolved to implement nine strategic objectives to address them.

Listed below are summaries of several strategic objectives included in H. Res. 616, introduced by Congressman Forbes and Congressman Wolf, for legislators to consider when creating new foreign, economic and defense policies. 

*       That the U.S. sustains and deploys unambiguous defense and intelligence capabilities to foster deterrence and resists coercion in the Asia-Pacific region.

*       To encourage the PRC to support political reform, the rule of law, transparency, democratization, human rights, and religious freedom.

*       To convey to Beijing that responsible behavior will create the possibility for a genuine partnership between the U.S. and the PRC, while unacceptable behavior will incur costs that far outweigh any gains. “

For background of recent significant developments in the U.S.-China relationship, click here. <http://forbes.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=241505-36683564> 

To read the bill, click here. <http://forbes.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=241506-36683564> 

To see the work as Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, who share a common interest in the emergence of China as a political, economic, and military actor on both the regional and global stage, click here. <http://forbes.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=241507-36683564>

Safer College Campuses –Can Technology Help?

by Stephen Bryen

Presented by SDB Partners LLC

Any parent who sends a child to college worries about the child’s security. From Ivy League schools to state universities to community colleges, danger lurks for students. The surprisingly high level of risk has been amply documented by The Daily Beast in figuring the 50 worst campuses for crime. [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/14/most-dangerous-college-campuses-ranked.html ]

Crimes at colleges range from assaults, robberies burglaries, car thefts and car jacking, rapes to murder.

College security and local law enforcement are strongly challenged to respond rapidly in such emergencies.

Many campuses have put in security cameras and emergency call kiosks to try and offer some support to students, particularly in far off areas or in parking lots where many of these crimes occur.

Students rarely carry much money, but they have with them items in high demand such as high end cell phones, laptop computers and tablets like the Ipad, music players and the like. They also have credit cards and documents that are valuable to thieves. Women particularly risk physical assault and rape.

Total protection for students is, of course, impossible. But technology can help if it is used correctly.

The problem with conventional sensors is two fold. First, the victim has to be able to activate the sensor. When a student is accosted, it is a high moment of danger. A woman might reach into her pocket or backpack to grab her cellphone and try and call for help, but she may not have time or the cell phone might be ripped out of her hands by the assailant. She may try and run to the emergency Kiosk to try and summon help, but she might not be able to get to it in time. Surveillance cameras may see what is going on, but smart thieves know where the cameras are and avoid them. And even if the event is caught on camera, the security guards trying to monitor multiple video streams may miss the event.

There are two promising technologies that can help a lot to reduce physical assaults. The first is a gunshot and anomaly detector or GAD. The second is a Long range Acoustic Device or LRAD. Put together these offer a next generation level of protection to students.

GAD With High Powered Lighting

A gunshot anomaly detector can respond to a gunshot, to an explosion, or to a scream for help (or even just a scream). Using a neural network technology to sort out sounds and classify them, the next generation gunshot and anomaly detector not only immediately sounds an alarm when an event occurs, but thanks to its integrated camera it can zoom in on the source in less than a second and stream video immediately to police and security personnel.

The GAD has significant range and can be mounted on buildings, walls or lamp posts or towers. It solves a major surveillance problem which is recognition by monitors that a security event is in progress. The GAD responds automatically and autonomously, flashes a red alert, pumps video to police cruisers and foot patrols, and accurately shows the exact location of the incident. The best GAD system is produced by Safety Dynamics, a firm based in Tuscon, Arizona and represented by SDB Partners LLC. (See contact information below.)

The GAD’s capability can be complimented by the LRAD. The LRAD is best understood as a very powerful acoustic device that can send broadcast at high amplitude any kind of message, warning, siren sound or whatever else is programmed into it. Originally LRAD was designed as a non-lethal warning system for ships but today it is also a useful law enforcement tool. Installed in combination with a GAD, the LRAD can immediately blast messages and siren sounds that will frighten off an attacker. The LRAD is manufactured by the LRAD Corporation in San Diego, California (www.lradx.com).

Small LRAD Unit

The GAD-LRAD combination are affordable solutions that can help reduce campus crime and increase the safety and security of campus facilities.

For more information contact James Swanson at SDB Partners LLC. Telephone 202-540-0692 Email james@sdb-partners.com

A Unique Entrepreneur is Behind a Powerful Security Technology –Sally Fernandez’s Visionary Approach

Sally Fernandez & her SENTRI System

Presented by SDB Partners LLC 

Sally Fernandez is President and CEO of Safety Dynamics, a high technology security company based in Tucson, Arizona.  The company is rapidly making strong inroads in the security and defense communities because of its innovative gunshot detection system.  Unlike all other systems, the Safety Dynamics technology is based on Dynamic Synapse Neural Network (DSNN)technology developed by the Laboratory for Neural Dynamics at the University of Southern California .  It is the only gunshot detection system founded on neurobiology principles of brain signal processing, and allows, like the human brain, accurate temporal pattern recognition of acoustic signals even in the presence of high noise.

Gunshot detection systems are used mainly in noisy urban settings and in military applications, often in unattended locations.  The accuracy and reliability of the system is, therefore, critically important.  Safety Dynamics product, the SENTRI system, is rapidly being adopted across the United States and abroad because of its unique capability.  The system has fired the imagination of the Pentagon, which is helping to sponsor Fernandez’s technology, and the technology has generated news programs and special videos, most recently from National Geographic.

When SENTRI “hears” a gunshot it zooms a camera directly to the source and immediately transmits information about the event and the shooter to law enforcement or military users.  This dramatically shortens the time it takes to respond to a firearms-related event, and it gives the police important information about the shooter including an image that can show the face of the perpetrator.

In January, Safety Dynamics and Face First, a leading California facial recognition company, have added advanced face recognition technology to the gunshot detector, making it possible to immediately match a shooter’s face to known databases of criminals in police files.  This will even further shorten the time between a shooting event and the apprehension of the shooter.

Sally Fernandez, the founder of Safety Dynamics, is a highly experienced entrepreneur with a strong security background. She has played important roles in past years with Fortune 500 companies including General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and Hughes Aircraft. She is a graduate of Michigan State University where last year she was selected as the Alumni of the Year in Social Science, and a graduate of the Harvard University Executive Development Program.  A chapter in the book Latinas in the Workplace: An Emerging Leadership Force is focused on Sally’s achievement. (The book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers and is published by Stylus Publishing.)

Sally has been recognized as Small Business Leader of the Year, Hispanic Business Woman of the Year, Women of Influence, Women on the Move, Notable Hispanic American Women, and Who’s Who in Hispanic Americans.  She serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Way of America and is a member of the Tucson Airport Authority and the Tucson and Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“Probably the best thing about Safety Dynamics is that a powerful technology underlies the system,” says Dr. Stephen Bryen, President of SDB Partners LLC and former head of the Defense Technology Security Administration at the Pentagon. “Not only is the SENTRI product series catching on in the law enforcement community and spreading across the U.S., but the technology is a growing significance for protecting critical infrastructure, government installations, and in fielded military applications. At the end of the day our country will owe a lot to Sally Fernandez and her visionary approach.”

For more information and videos on Safety Dynamics visit  http://www.safetydynamics.net