Washington

Charles McQueary: more interested in speedy solutions than in blue-sky research. Credit: DHS

In his first few weeks as undersecretary for science and technology at the US Department of Homeland Security, Charles McQueary has seen proposals for countless homeland-security devices, ideas for tamper-proof manhole covers and an anti-anthrax spray, among others. But so far he hasn't awarded so much as a cent to any of these pitches.

Although he was sworn in on 9 April, McQueary is still waiting for Congress to give him his first $30 million, which he will spend on an initial round of grants to support the directorate's technology priorities. Until then, he is spending much of his time fielding queries from businesses, universities and inventors who want a share of the $800 million that his directorate has requested from Congress for 2004.

The early signs are that bench scientists won't see much of the money. McQueary admits that his main priority will be to find existing devices and bring them rapidly into use. For the time being at least, the focus is on applied, rather than basic, science. “It's very important that we have an understanding about what kinds of scientific solutions exist today, so we can bring those to bear quickly,” he says.

McQueary, a 63-year-old mechanical engineer, came out of retirement to head the new directorate. He spent much of his career running research and development programmes at defence contractor General Dynamics, and at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

He is currently building up a staff of about 150 to run the science and technology directorate from the Department of Homeland Security's temporary headquarters, at a Navy complex in an opulent residential area of northwest Washington DC. The complex's wide, grassy lawns and red-brick buildings make it look like a university campus, but the number of officials strolling about in uniform — as well as the tight security at the front gate — give it the feel of a military base. The whole department is expected to move to new headquarters before too long.

Already, McQueary's actions are being watched assiduously by university officials, hopeful contractors and those in Congress who pushed in the first place for a Homeland Security directorate dedicated to science and technology. “We'd like to get more information from the administration on what kind of research agenda they intend to pursue and why,” says David Goldston, chief of staff on the House Science Committee, which advocated setting up the directorate.

One part of that agenda that will be implemented this year, McQueary says, is the creation of university-based research centres in five priority areas: radiological, chemical, biological, nuclear and high-explosive threats.

The department will also organize its own Homeland Security Institute, probably led by staff at an existing federal institution such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Next year, it is also expected to award $350 million in new funding for critical areas such as border security, through a Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency.

McQueary's focus on immediate solutions, rather than blue-sky ideas, may derive from the fact that he thinks about the terrorist attacks of 11 September almost every day. “It's easy to look back and say we could have done this or that, but the fact is we weren't thinking that way,” McQueary says. “The challenge is to prevent the next thing that's comparable.”