DHS And R&D

From Homeland Security Watch:

This story adds to a growing torrent of critical news pieces looking back at DHS’s effort to develop the next generation of aviation screening equipment over the past 2-3 years, and finding unaddressed vulnerabilities. Ultimately, I think there are three complementary explanations for this reality, which have formed something of a vicious circle:

1. DHS has underfunded R&D and procurement of new aviation screening technology.
2. The devices available to DHS have not been robust and/or effective enough for full-scale deployment.
3. DHS has deemed these aviation security threats to be relatively low-risk in comparison with other homeland security threats.

I don’t have much faith in the ability of DHS to execute things like this. Does DHS really needs its own ARPA version? DHS should use prizes and grants to get the effects it wants. It should outsource the management of these as much as possible to DARPA and the NSF.