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Spokane-area firms seek homeland defense niche – Technology companies get advice on developing success in D.C.

Several Spokane-area technology companies met Monday looking to launch a possible coalition for products and services to the federal government in the area of homeland defense.

In a post-9/11 world, solutions and strategies that improve homeland defense have a strong chance of winning favor from budget planners in Washington, the group heard several speakers say.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=020304&ID=s1482412&cat=section.business

Convening the group of about a dozen area firms was Philip Galland, president of Spokane-based Sceptre AI, a company developing software tools that can analyze huge amounts of information and data.

Keynoting the session, held in downtown Spokane, was retired U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

McCaffrey’s message is that strong ideas hatched at the local and regional levels can be successful, with care and "a lot of homework."

Also, McCaffrey said, the government — despite the popular view of it as a monolith — is looking for technology solutions to come from the ground up, not passed down by the Defense Department.

That’s why regional efforts, like the one being started in Spokane, have real potential, he added.

"By themselves, groups and businesses couldn’t afford the time and money needed to puncture the Byzantine wall of Washington politics. But together, this kind of group can offer a common set of solutions and get some results," McCaffrey said.

During his "drug czar" tenure, McCaffrey took advantage of regional ideas in developing national anti-drug strategies. He said the office used regional plans started in Delaware and Oregon and transferred features from each into the national plan.

The Monday session was a starting-point discussion meant to open the door to further dialogue, Galland said after McCaffery’s remarks. He’s invited CEOs and key business and academic leaders to reconvene and examine the potential for forming a full coalition.

An obvious area being targeted would be developing homeland-defense tools that could be sold to key federal agencies.

Area groups such as Spectre AI, TriGeo Networks and ToolBuilders and Eastern Washington University all are working in that area.

Also on hand Monday was Douglas Lemon, homeland security initiative leader from Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in the Tri-Cities.

Lemon said he’s worked before on the same regional-coalition model and found it pays off. The Energy Department funded several huge rounds of investments that were critical in saving jobs in the country’s textile industry, Lemon said.

That money and those projects came about after a grassroots effort started among mostly Southeast U.S. companies to look for ways to increase productivity.

"The power (of working cooperatively) is the same as what this coalition is trying to do," he said.

•Business writer Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected]

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