Reply #96: SAIC came up in another thread about technology that could easily

[Catrina]

check the containers coming into the ports.

DU poster Tomintib, related a story regarding a talk he had with rep for a company that made the technology and how he had tried to sell it to Homeland Security but was turned down. DUers researched companies that had this technology and in their research, came across SAIC.

Here's the thread ~

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x513982

Here's the first post about SAIC:


Steve_DeShazer (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #35
51. WHOA!!! CHECK THIS OUT....
From the SAIC website:

SAIC'S VACIS® Cargo, Vehicle and Contraband Inspection Systems to Be Installed in the Sultanate of Oman

(SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation’s (SAIC) Security and Transportation Technology Business Unit today announced that its VACIS® cargo, vehicle and contraband inspection systems have been selected by Royal Oman Police Customs for operation at border crossings and Port Sultan Qaboos. Royal Oman Police Customs is acquiring Mobile VACIS and Portal VACIS systems, and the order includes installation, on-site operator training and maintenance.

SAIC’s VACIS inspection systems are gamma ray-based systems designed for the non-intrusive inspection of the contents of trucks, containers and cargo. The Mobile VACIS system is truck-mounted for rapid deployment and can inspect both stationary and moving vehicles and containers. Scanning can be performed in forward or reverse and an entire series of containers can be scanned in a single pass.

"We are pleased to be selected by Oman Customs to facilitate their efforts to improve security and productivity at high-throughput checkpoints," said Alex Preston, SAIC general manager of the Security and Transportation Technology Business Unit. "We have more than 280 VACIS inspection systems, designed to assist customs, port, terminal and checkpoint authorities with manifest verification, tariff collection and the identification of contraband and other suspicious items, deployed and operational globally."



......


From the OP in that thread:

Turns out he was with a SF/Reno based firm that makes the most kick-butt CT Scanner on the market for cargo containers. These things are so powerful they require their own power grid and can produce a crystal-clear 3-D image of the entire contents of the container. And quick, too.

So I ask him if they can keep up with the demand because of all the attention on Port Security.

He tells me that all of their business is overseas, primarily Middle East and Asia.

Says they cannot give them away in the US.

..........

He goes on to say that the rep told him if he went public with the information that the DHS won't buy this technology while selling it all over the world, he was told that he 'would be arrested'.

Don't know if this is significant, or even if the guy was from SAIC ~ but thought it was interesting.

....

Also, in view of all this information, remember the news that cellphone records were being sold online a few weeks ago? No one seemed to know where these companies were getting the info. John Aravosis bought the cell records of Gen. Clark during the election, AIRC. Could this company be selling the information they have collected for such purposes? Just a thought since they are implicated in the ID theft travesty ~