BOSTON—As the first female speaker for the annual Karl Taylor Compton Lecture Series at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano outlined the ever-changing challenges Homeland Security faces. She said that harnessing science and technology to meet the needs of Homeland Security is critical to the nation’s continual security and prosperity.

The Department of Homeland Security was formed eight years ago in one of the largest reorganizations of federal government since formation of the Department of Defense, which involved 22 agencies and departments. It was formed with the belief that “one can only tackle as complex as securing a homeland if you brought together the different kinds of expertise and multiple resources that exist across the government,” Napolitano said. “Though we have made considerable progress, we have a way to go to thoroughly integrate our functions and capabilities.”

MIT is a leader of technological innovation that the nation and the military has traditionally tapped. They have formed successful collaborations on critical projects. It was a congenial setting for Napolitano’s speech about science as an integral and indispensable part of Homeland Security, and her pitch to recruit some of the bright talents there.

Napolitano said that each day about 2 million passengers travel in 370 of our nation’s airports, 50,000 cargo containers enter our ports, and more terabytes of intelligent information than the entire text holdings of the Library of Congress are sifted to identify potential threats. Based on recent attempted attacks and latest intelligence, aviation continues to be a preferred target of terrorists who seek to attack the United States. Other dangers include compromises of infrastructure and cybersecurity, natural disasters, and pandemics.

How to keep trade and travel flowing across borders while safeguarding security, how to secure infrastructure while most of it is in private hands, how to meet these goals while ensuring public trust and support, how to do the job without violating civil rights, liberty, and privacy, and how to remain resilient? These are some of the pressing issues DHS faces.

Napolitano looks forward to the day when passengers will not have to shed their shoes and go through so much screening before boarding an airplane. The agency is working on what she calls the “airport checkpoint of tomorrow”—an integrated checkpoint that is more effective, smoother and less intrusive for both passengers and cargo. She said security screenings will not use profiling but behavioral science to develop more sophisticated ways to spot would-be terrorists.

To encourage participation of scientists in public service, Napolitano spelled out that DHS is the third largest department in the government. They are building a workforce that will have long term programs and long term budgets, billions of dollars for big, complex projects, which will last for decades.

DHS is emphasizing that careers in science in of public service are equally challenging and appealing as those in academia and the private sector.

Napolitano encourages top scientists to consider working for or spending a stint at DHS.

Security in the end rests on our sense of shared responsibility from our communities and “the mandate that we embrace the benefit of the best of what science has to offer.”

DHS Head Calls for Science in Public Service

Massachusetts’s Solar Energy Future is Vibrant and on Target

College Degrees Still Worth the Investment

Boston Terror Drill Biggest, First

Mitt Romney’s Health Care Dilemma