N.C. to be site for 'Institute for Homeland Security Solutions'

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — North Carolina will be the home for an “Institute for Homeland Security Solutions,” state, federal and local officials plan to announce next Tuesday in RTP.

Specific details about the institute – its mission, funding, staffing plans and other details – will not be disclosed until next Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for RTI International.

“The Institute is a new federally funded research collaboration that will conduct applied social science research to improve detection, analysis, and understanding of homeland security threats and enhance response and recovery efforts,” RTI said.

RTI, an international think tank, is part of the organization that will operate the institute. Other participants include Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Military Foundation . The military foundation is a group focused on bringing more Department of Defense and Homeland Security spending to the state.

Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents the 4th Congressional District that includes much of the Triangle, is among the speakers scheduled to attend the announcement.

Price holds considerable sway over Homeland Security related issues through his role as chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.

“Thinking about security requires us to think about America’s role in the world and about the full range of domestic needs we face after years of neglect,” Price said in a speech delivered in June. Price has been an outspoken critic of Bush Administration on numerous security issues.

“The agenda for repair, renewal, and reform is vast and urgent, and it is within that broader agenda that the program of the still-new, still-consolidating Department of Homeland Security should take a proportionate place,” he said in the speech.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who is seeking the governor’s job in November, also will be at the announcement. Perdue has been actively involved in the creation and launching of the military foundation.

Tuesday’s event will take place at 11 a.m. at RTP headquarters at 12 Davis Drive in RTP.