The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) supports cutting-edge research to produce revolutionary changes in technologies, new capabilities and threat and risk assessments for the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE).

Director

Dr. Patrick Carrick

Organization

Established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, HSARPA uses innovation and modernization to further scientific advances and produce front-line products that support DHS components such as U.S. Customs and Borders Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the U. S. Coast Guard, and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as state, local, and private sector entities including first responders and critical infrastructure operators.

HSARPA conducts analysis to understand these organizations’ current missions, systems and processes and helps identify operational gaps where new technologies can have the most impact. Program managers lead teams of subject matter experts to develop, test and evaluate these new homeland security technologies and capabilities.

Select areas of HSARPA focus and their initiatives include developing products that will help:

• Borders and Maritime Security Division - Prevent contraband, criminals and terrorists from entering the U.S. while permitting the lawful flow of commerce and visitors.
• Chemical and Biological Defense Division - Detect, protect against, respond to and recover from potential biological or chemical events.
• Cyber Security Division - Create a safe, secure and resilient cyber environment.
• Explosives Division - Detect, prevent and mitigate non-nuclear explosives attacks against people and infrastructure.
• Resilient Systems Division - Strengthen resiliency across the HSE to include societal community resilience as well as physical infrastructure and disaster response and recovery capabilities.