To continue securing our Homeland and winning the War on Terrorism, the 2003 Defense Appropriations Bill includes funding for high-tech initiatives that aid in the detection of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

The House Appropriations Committee met late last night to vote on the Defense spending bill. The bill includes $5 million for SensorNet, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory program, which would place real-time detection and assessment systems on existing cellular towers. The systems would be able to detect a chemical agent within 45 seconds and a biological threat within 5 minutes and then quickly alert local authorities.

"In a world after the attacks of September 11th, the war on terrorism is not only about equipping our troops abroad. Unfortunately, we now must be very vigilant in protecting our homeland and many of these high tech detection systems that are developed in East Tennessee have an important role to play," said Third District Congressman Zach Wamp. Congressman Wamp has served on the House Appropriations Committee since 1997. "The SensorNet technology will quickly detect a problem, such as a deadly air-born chemical agent, and alert the authorities immediately."

A $4 million increase over the President's budget request -- totaling $28.9 million -- for the Joint Robotics Program is also included in this bill. This funding will dramatically increase the research and the number of robotic deployments that can be made by REMOTEC, an Oak Ridge, TN company. By further developing robotic systems that can go into dangerous situations -- such as disabling a bomb through remote control -- the lives of many law enforcement officers can be saved. Many of these robots are currently being used across the country as well as in Israel and the United Kingdom.

"The robotics technology being developed at REMOTEC is fascinating. The REMOTEC engineers came to the Tennessee Valley Corridor Technology Summit that I hosted in May to showcase their work and how it can dramatically reduce the risk to law enforcement here in the homeland or our soldiers in the field. Most folks had no idea that this life-saving technology was being produced right here in East Tennessee," added Wamp.

The 2003 Defense bill includes a total of $354.7 billion to shore up resources to fight the War on Terrorism and other defense related programs. This is $33.8 billion more than the amount in the 2002 Defense spending bill.

The bill also includes and specifically mentions the following Tennessee projects:

• $1 million increase for the TN National Guard's Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking area (HIDTA) fund. These funds will help the TN National Guard eradicate marijuana growing and usage in Tennessee.
• $1 million for Laser Induced Surface Improvements Technology for the U.S. Airforce. The University of Tennessee developed a laser-based patented process that strengthens and improves surfaces of existing hardware. This funding will be used to further develop the technology for military applications.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote of the 2003 Defense Spending bill later this week.