Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office: 2008 Review (Black and White)

Publisher Marketing: As this document goes to print, the election season is winding down; one in which presidential candidates have staked their claim on "change." For the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO), change is a part of daily life. Much has changed since the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) was formed in the aftermath of the 1983 Beirut bombing, which killed 241 service members. In a world where the greatest threat to liberty was a ground war in Eastern Europe, terrorism was an afterthought, if it was a thought at all. Security to enter many Federal buildings or airports was minimal. The prevailing thought was "it can't happen here." TSWG, and later CTTSO, stood as a voice for those who knew that it could happen here. And we challenged the stereotype of each part of the Federal bureaucracy that rejected cooperation on a "Not Invented Here" basis. Since its inception, CTTSO has remained agile. As one example, TSWG split what had been one subgroup into two separate ones - Explosives Detection and Improvised Device Defeat. As interest expanded, this division allowed for a greater focus in a more specific area. CTTSO added Irregular Warfare Support and Explosive Ordnance Disposal/Low-Intensity Conflict as the need for both quickly became apparent. But while change is critical, so is staying true to what needs to be done. CTTSO's method, unchanged since its inception, is simple yet powerful - involve users at every step of the way. Federal, State, and local science advisors, end users, subject matter experts, and first responders meet to discuss and vote on the highest priorities - thus reducing a requirements process that may take a year at some agencies to a single day. After this process, the members who brought the requirement continue to participate. Even if they are patrolling Baghdad or Boston, they stay involved, reviewing submissions from all around the world that seek to address high-priority requirements. Users evaluate prototypes at every stage of development, making sure that what gets developed meets requirements. This evaluation can be as complex as making sure that a detection device performs to its specifications or performing tests to confirm that a new blast material can survive a truck bomb. Or it can be as simple as users recommending a minor modification to a prototype to ensure that someone wearing protective gloves can still use the prototype effectively. And members' work does not stop when a product is developed. They work with their agencies and CTTSO to ensure that successes are quickly transitioned to the user, so that every soldier, police officer, firefighter, or screener who needs the new technology has it as soon as possible. CTTSO's international vision has stayed consistent as well. Since cooperation began in 1994 with Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom, CTTSO has looked overseas to augment the domestic program. The addition of Australia and Singapore to CTTSO's international partners in 2006 continued this trend - looking for our counterparts with fresh ideas and who are interested in cooperating on projects that can stretch taxpayer dollars even further. CTTSO's approach works. But it always needs agility to evolve. Because in locations around the world, there are those who are also pursuing their own change, exploring the latest foiled attack and trying to figure out how to defeat our countermeasures, and examining the latest successful attack and trying to figure out how to kill five more soldiers the next time. Until they rest, we cannot.