Providing the TSA with insight into cloud capabilities and resources for better situational awareness
Transportation Security Administration Administrator David Pekoske and staff tour PNNL during a recent visit.
(Photo by Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Protecting U.S. residents and visitors is a top priority for the National Security Directorate within Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Staff scientists and engineers at PNNL strive to create innovative technology advances with impactful results related to cybersecurity, nuclear material science and detection, threat analysis, and more.
Over the years, PNNL has collaborated closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance national entry point security. Additionally, PNNL has established a strong partnership with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to advance aviation security measures and improve passenger experience.
Recently, staff in the Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Division were recognized by the TSA’s Innovation Task Force (ITF) for their contributions to cloud capabilities, development strategies, and smart management of cloud resources. Carrie Carlson and Bryan Gerber, both software engineers, along with Jessica Delucchi, deputy project manager, were invited to the ITF External Program Management Review meeting to be commended for their continuous contributions to the program.
Established in 2016, the TSA ITF aims to enhance early-stage understanding of operational environments and more precisely define requirements to address capability gaps.
“We were able to harness previously developed PNNL cloud capabilities to enable rapid solution development, improving emerging threat response and adoption of best-in-class security innovations for the ITF,” said Carlson.
The PNNL team has been pivotal in providing valuable insight into general cloud capabilities and smart management of cloud resources to drive the development of an Amazon Web Services sandbox environment. This sandbox would give the ITF the capability to execute demonstrations with real data from airports across the nation instead of synthetic data.
The goal is to use these cloud capabilities and environments to better help the ITF and TSA improve situational awareness and, in turn, keep the nation safe from threats.
“Being recognized for this work is very impactful for Jessica, Bryan, and myself because we are dedicated to helping organizations within the DHS space find better ways to collect and analyze important data,” said Carlson. “We know if we can help the ITF and largely the TSA do the same thing, we can improve aviation security to reach better situational awareness.”
Recently, TSA Administrator David Pekoske and staff visited the PNNL-Richland campus and were able to tour the laboratory’s capabilities that have been applied to the DHS mission space. With ongoing work to improve cloud and data analytics strategies for Customs and Border Protection, PNNL was able to showcase real-life improvements that the TSA could also implement.
“By opening our doors to the TSA Administrator and staff, we are not only able to highlight our work on the millimeter-wave scanning technology done at PNNL but also some of the other capabilities that you get at a multipurpose Department of Energy national laboratory,” said Ryan Eddy, PNNL Director for Homeland Security Programs. “Those capabilities can include cybersecurity, cloud services, being an independent evaluator of technologies, or our ability to look at and understand intelligence threats that may be part of the aviation mission space.”
With multiple advanced national security facilities and a diverse team of scientists, engineers, and program managers, PNNL continues to create impactful results for its partners. This recognition from the ITF points to the dedication of those in the national security space to create meaningful results.
“The work that we’re doing with the TSA and ITF mission spaces is incredibly important. I see that work growing and evolving over time because of the terrific work that Carrie, Jessica, Bryan, and the broader team are doing,” said Eddy. “I think we are starting to see additional doors open as we continue to prove ourselves and broaden our capabilities in this space.”
Published: August 19, 2024