May 4, 2011

Homeland Security funds have already made their way into investment in Long Island. They were used to purchase BEAR, a ballistically engineered armored response vehicle. This one is in a Suffolk police facility in Ronkonkoma. Checking out BEAR is Suffolk County Police Insp. Stuart K. Cameron, who commands the department's special patrol bureau. (March 9, 2011) (Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara)

LI firms could cash in on security boost

By: James Bernstein

Concerns that the death of Osama bin Laden could lead to retaliation by al-Qaida operatives in the United States are likely to prompt Congress to provide more money next year to the Department of Homeland Security, and therefore to facilities like the Morrelly Center for Homeland Security in Bethpage, an official of the organization that operates Morrelly said earlier this week.

Congress slashed homeland security funding by about $2.1 billion, to $39 billion, for the 2011 budget, passed a few weeks ago to cover spending for the rest of this year. But that should rise in 2012 as the result of bin Laden's death at the hands of a U.S. special-operations force in Pakistan, said Bradley Schreiber, vice president for operations in Washington, D.C., for the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security, which oversees the Morrelly Center.

“There is a general sense in official Washington that the threat will not diminish” with bin Laden's death, said Schreiber. In fact, it may rise. I think people [in Congress] will give pause before cutting” homeland security funding, he said, and “there may be an uptick” in spending.

What does that mean for Morrelly?

Despite incidents such as the Times Square bombing attempt a year ago, some people in the United States became blasé about possible new terror attacks, said Frank Otto, the Morrelly Center's president. The increased awareness against attacks “can only be good for us,” Otto said.

The need for detection and surveillance will be greater, Otto said. “These are the kinds of products we do very well at,” he said, referring to the work of 16 companies that have offices at Morrelly.

There may be room for a few more companies, but said Otto, “I'm getting choosy” about who is invited in. “I like to see the small entrepreneurs. They can move faster than the big guys.”

The security business overall has been brisk since bin Laden's death early Sunday.

“In the last two days I haven't been able to pick my head up and look out the window,” said Anthony Roman, chief executive of Lynbrook-based Roman & Associates, developer of software that keeps track of the location of corporate executives as they travel overseas. “The business community is concerned.”

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