DHS opens Silicon Valley office in search of innovation.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

* The Department of Homeland Security in January opened an office in the heart of Silicon Valley seeking innovation at companies that don't normally do business with the federal government.

The initiative follows in the footsteps of the Defense Department's Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental office, which is also hoping to tap into new ideas found in a region known as the heart of the U.S. information technology industry.

"This is our way of trying to get their ideas into the government, get their capabilities and use them so we can perform our mission better," said Melissa Ho, managing director of the department's Silicon Valley office, which is under the Science and Technology Directorate.

Ho will be a one-person operation for the time being.

"We felt that Silicon Valley, as well as a number of the innovation corridors around the country and around the world, have great ideas to share that we haven't been tapping into very well. We haven't been getting their interest," Ho told National Defense.

There has been some coordination between herself and the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental office. "We have talked with them and are sharing notes: who they have been talking to; who we have been talking to. We are definitely coordinating on that front," Ho said.

To kick off the initiative, the Science and Technology Directorate in December released its first solicitation targeted at Silicon Valley firms. It focuses on cybersecurity and the "Internet of Things (IoT)."

As devices other than computers are becoming connected to the Internet--such as cars, thermostats and industrial equipment--there have been dire warnings from experts that security is not being "baked into" the systems from the beginning. For example, hackers have been able to take control of cars that were put on the road with software vulnerabilities.

"There are devices out there that are network-enabled, that affect consumers as well as the government, pipelines and other critical infrastructure end users," Ho said.

The solicitation was aimed at "non-traditional performers such as technology startups," the announcement read. It "marks an important milestone in how we do business at S&T," DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Reginald Brothers said in a statement. "We want to remove the barriers that limit the nation's innovators from considering us as a technology partner. The [solicitation] will help engage some of the best minds on the most difficult homeland...