The University of Nebraska has received more than $750,000 to improve its terrorism preparedness infrastructure. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Funds were awarded recently through the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the State Homeland Security Policy Group.
“The University of Nebraska is an important partner in Nebraska’s terrorism preparedness efforts, most notably in the bioterrorism arena, and this funding will help to ensure that the related research and equipment is secure,” Gov. Mike Johanns said. “This money also will help to protect the integrity of both the state and university computer systems by funding an interface that will allow each to back-up the other.”
In all, $1,028,380 million in funding was awarded. Of that total, the university will share more than $360,000 with the State of Nebraska Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to build a backup computer information storage system. The DAS also will receive $80,000 for video surveillance cameras and vulnerability assessments for critical facilities. The rest of the funding will provide for secure access to specific buildings on each NU campus, and for state-of-the-art equipment that the university will use for detection of bioterrorism agents and other infectious diseases.
University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith, Ph.D., said that the funding shows a high level of cooperation between the state and the university, as well as between the university’s four campuses. Those four campuses – the undergraduate campuses in Kearney, Omaha and Lincoln, as well as the Medical Center in Omaha – will receive funding for access control to buildings related to terrorism preparedness, as well as essential equipment for security infrastructure and monitoring.
“This is an example of how Nebraska is a model for the nation in the area of terrorism preparedness,” Dr. Smith said. “The backup to the information system is truly a cooperative effort. If a terrorism event were to take down either the state’s information system or our information system, this new system would provide necessary backup. In addition, these funds will allow all of our campuses to have state-of-the-art equipment that would assist in the detection of potential harmful chemical and biological agents.”
Al Berndt, assistant director for NEMA and a member of the Homeland Security Policy Group, said that the group recognizes the University of Nebraska’ important contributions in terrorism preparedness.
“We’ve had a good relationship with the university,” Berndt said. “This money will help the university enhance their facilities and the access to those facilities.”
Steve Hinrichs, M.D., director of the University of Nebraska Center for Biosecurity, said the funding would benefit the university in three areas.
- The afore-mentioned data backup source for both the university and the DAS.
- About $300,000 will be used to provide more secure access control to university buildings where dangerous chemical and biological agents could be detected and analyzed. These funds will go toward the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).
- About $350,000 will be allocated to security infrastructure/monitoring equipment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“We are very pleased to receive this funding, which will be critical in developing an integrated, centralized detection, monitoring and response system that helps us to ensure the security of the people and the facilities on the UNL campus,” said Prem Paul, Ph.D., UNL vice chancellor for research.
“Funding from the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program will provide UNO with resources to enhance building and room security through card access systems,” said Stan Schleifer, manager of support services at UNO. “Access control is a priority where research and hazardous chemicals are handled and stored. This funding is especially critical given the budget challenges faced by the university in recent years.”
Randy Haack, Ph.D., UNK vice chancellor for business and finance, noted that UNK also intends to use the funds to improve access safeguards at key facilities.
“This support will enable us to modernize our access control capability in many areas,” Dr. Haack said. “These upgrades would likely be beyond our reach at current funding levels, and they will provide new levels of security for core campus functions and for our students, visitors, faculty, and staff.”
Thomas Conroy, administrator for the DAS Information Management Services Division, said that both the university and state government information systems support critical business functions.
“The two organizations have been working together to devise plans that utilize our joint resources to reduce the impact of an incident,” Conroy said. “This grant enables us to further advance our effort to maintain essential services in the event an incident impacts either organization.”
Lt. Gov. Dave Heineman, chairman of the state Homeland Security Policy Group, said that opportunities for collaboration were among the factors that the group considered when awarding the funds. Other factors included eligibility issues and the sponsoring organizations’ internal priority assignment.
“The integration of the resources between the state and the university should be a model for the rest of the country,” Heineman said. “These projects are just another example of how our cooperative attitudes benefit all Nebraskans to the utmost.”