Security focus on LI manufacturing

Some U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials stopped by the Morrelly Center for Homeland Security in Bethpage earlier this week to discuss plans to protect one of Long Island's staples, its manufacturing sector.

The buzzword was security. We were politely asked to leave the building when the meeting started. Kerry O'Connor, a homeland security program analyst who led the DHS group, said some of the 25 or so companies attending the meeting did not want any of their possible security "vulnerabilities" exposed to the public.

We did learn that the U.S. DHS has been on a nationwide tour discussing its National Infrastructure Protection Plan. DHS literature said the plan provides "a unifying framework that integrates a range of efforts designed to enhance the safety of our nation's critical infrastructure."

There are 18 sectors the department regards as critical, including agriculture and food, banking and finance, the defense industrial base, and manufacturing, among others.

DHS was invited here by the Long Island Forum for Technology, which sponsored the event. LIFT president Frank Otto said the meeting was the first of its kind involving DHS on Long Island.

O'Connor said DHS hoped to create a "public-private partnership" with companies interested in protecting themselves against terror attacks or natural disasters. "The bottom line is to better understand the needs of these companies," he said. O'Connor said there had been other meetings with companies elsewhere but declined to say how many or where.

Otto said LIFT is trying to determine whether homeland security needs could create a new industrial sector for Long Island. LIFT is already trying to create an industry on the Island to service railroads.