Text of "marlenekoeppel on Rocket thread" thing from yesterday's WSJ.
November 1, 2001
Politics & Policy
Tech Firms Flock Back to Washington
To Pitch Products as Security Solutions
By JIM VANDEHEI and GREG HITT
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a
high-tech lobbying revival is sweeping through the nation's capital.
Chief executives and lobbyists representing technology companies big and small
are reworking their products -- or at least their sales pitches -- to win federal
blessing to sell their gadgets as solutions to the country's homeland-security
concerns.
Upstart Vocent of Mountain View, Calif., is shopping its voice-identification
technology for airports as the "secure answer to the security needs of today's
society." Vocent is scheduled to pitch its product to top Federal Aviation
Administration officials next week. Iridium Satellite LLC of Arlington, Va., also
is lobbying the FAA to approve its system for providing real-time flight data and
voice monitoring of commercial aircraft. The company takes credit for
language inserted in the Senate aviation bill directing the FAA to study its
technology.
And technology heavyweight Qualcomm Inc. is pushing real-time video and
audio monitoring of airplane cabins and cockpits, and a variety of other
products, including a global-positioning system for trucks that carry hazardous
materials and state-of-the-art mobile telephones for policy makers.
Rep. Mike Honda, a Democrat from California's Silicon Valley, says the push
for technology that would close security gaps promises to "reshape and
enhance security in our airports and other public places," and at the same time
"revitalize the technology sector of our economy."
Mr. Honda, among others, has put
together a series of meetings between Silicon Valley executives and federal
policy makers, including top officials at the FAA and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Two weeks ago, Mr. Honda arranged for about a half-dozen
companies, including Vocent, to showcase their products for lawmakers and
aides at a closed-door meeting in the House Budget Committee room. He later
introduced a bill that would provide billions of dollars in funding to the
technology companies in attendance.
The red-carpet treatment is reminiscent of the reception that technology
companies got when the stock market was booming a year ago. During 2000,
lawmakers were piling up frequent-flier miles as they jetted to and from Silicon
Valley to meet the tech sector's wizards and solicit both their help and
contributions.
Since last year's elections, however, Washington's interest has plummeted right
along with the Nasdaq Stock Market. President Bush has been slow to fill his
much-ballyhooed technology-advisory group, after appointing Silicon Valley
venture capitalist Floyd Kvamme as his technology czar early this year. Also
early this year, the White House dropped its plan for a research and
development tax credit -- an industry priority -- as part of the massive tax
package.
High-tech companies were sidelined during many of the legislative fights during
the first nine months of the year. As their fortunes ebbed, most cut back on
their Washington representation, as well as on costly trips to plead their cases.
But the Sept. 11 attacks reignited Washington's interest in cutting-edge
products -- particularly ones that can be easily adapted for security purposes.
The Defense Department wants proposals for surveillance products, including
systems that can see through walls or detect explosive devices.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey says her agency has received roughly 23,000
proposals for new airline-security devices since Sept. 11, many of them
coming from technology firms.
One of the early winners is Rapiscan Security Products, a subsidiary of OSI
Systems Inc. of Hawthorne, Calif. The FAA recently awarded Rapiscan $1.4
million to step up development of technology to detect explosives in carry-on
and checked luggage. The FAA funds follow a smaller grant earlier this year,
and will help Rapiscan develop a working prototype.
But most of the lobbying campaigns are just getting up and running. Qualcomm
-- whose stock had fallen to $38.31 on Oct. 5 from its 52-week high of
$107.81 on Dec. 6, but has since bounced back to $49.12 -- is at the forefront
of this movement, preparing an ambitious lobbying campaign to sell the Bush
administration on several of its technologies.
The company is pitching its repackaged "ViaWeb" global-positioning
technology, which trucking companies use to monitor their fleets, to the
Transportation Department as a way to track vehicles hauling hazardous
materials. In the early days of the hijacking investigation, law-enforcement
officials learned that some detainees had unlawfully obtained special hauling
licenses for such materials, and feared terrorists might be prepared to ram
trucks loaded with toxics into buildings or tunnels.
Qualcomm is tweaking its technology so it could be used to alert authorities if a
truck carrying hazardous material ventured too close to federal buildings,
power plants or other potential targets. Qualcomm officials plan to meet soon
with Transportation Department officials to shop their product.
Qualcomm has enlisted the lobbying firm headed by former Republican Rep.
Tom Loeffler of Texas, a close friend and top fund-raiser for President Bush,
for its broad campaign. With Mr. Loeffler's assistance, the company is also
lobbying the FAA to approve its video- and voice-streaming technologies. Jonas
Neihardt, the company's vice president of government affairs, said airlines
could use the devices to beam real-time images and conversations from cabins
and cockpits to Earth, potentially replacing the black-box recorders used in
crash investigations.
Qualcomm isn't the only company trying to build its business in this area.
Iridium has partnered with Honeywell International Inc. on the proposal to add
real-time voice and data recorders to commercial airlines. Honeywell's own
agenda, though, is much broader. Executives say the FAA contacted Honeywell
shortly after Sept. 11, and the two have since been talking about ways to boost
safety. The company has launched a special initiative to develop and market
safety products, such as special fibers that could be used to strengthen cockpit
doors. In addition to the FAA, the company is also targeting the Pentagon and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
"As a company, we begin with the obvious recognition that the scope of the
tragedy overwhelms everything else," says Mike Naylor, Honeywell's vice
president for government relations. "We'd kind of like to make money without it
being required by a tragedy of this magnitude. But we are also well-positioned
to help."
Write to Jim VandeHei at jim.vandehei@wsj.com and Greg Hitt at
greg.hitt@wsj.com
Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
