DHS’s Commitment to Innovation

Under its umbrella mission of "securing the nation from the many threats we face," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines several mission areas critical to meeting this goal. These include countering terrorism and preventing threats, securing and managing borders, administering immigration, securing cyberspace, building resilience, and responding to incidents, as well as combating crimes of exploitation. To support these areas, the DHS Innovation, Research & Development Strategic Plan defines eight scientific areas as focal points for research:

  • Advanced sensing
  • AI and autonomous systems
  • Biotechnology
  • Climate change
  • Communications and networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data integration, analytics, modeling, and simulation
  • Digital identity and trust

In a previous post, we looked at DHS's work with artificial intelligence (AI), digital identity, and climate change. In this post, we'll take a look at the activity happening in more of these eight areas. Continue reading

The Metaverse in Your Neighborhood

State and local governments tend to be the early adopters of emerging technology in the public sector. Smart city projects, grant management, and regional collaboration have driven localities to implement emerging technology to meet the real challenges of serving citizens. Today, states and localities are experimenting with how virtual reality, and more specifically the metaverse, can help further real-world connections in communities.

Trained by Avatars

Virtual reality has long been used as a tool for training in government - think flight simulators - but today, the technology is being used for more than just tactical training. Virtual reality is helping to introduce scenarios to improve the empathy and understanding of public servants. In the metaverse, public safety professionals can safely simulate responding to dangerous situations (without the real-world risks) while also adding in realistic interactions with "people" behaving as they would during a crisis. Continue reading

Beyond the Beltway- Great Spots for Government Meetings: Atlanta

The next city in our Beyond the Beltway series is Atlanta, Georgia. Looking at the federal employee population across the country, there are some interesting concentrations that lend themselves to some targeted events. Atlanta is the home of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as offices for many related Health and Human Services agencies. There are over 44,000 federal employees in the Atlanta metro area. The largest military presence is the Army with seven bases in Georgia. Atlanta is also an easy hub for travel from anywhere in the country, particularly east coast cities.

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