Border Security Expo 2011Businesses vying for information, contracts at Border Security Expo 2011
Law enforcement officers, government officials, and homeland security firms from around the world will gather in Phoenix next week for Border Security Expo 2011; the event will be held on 15-16 February and will feature the heads of major DHS agencies as well as Mexican government officials; organizers estimate that millions of dollars worth of contracts will be signed; the expo will focus on preventing illegal border crossing as well as combating drug trafficking, drug wars, and gangs; firms will have the opportunity to learn of DHS future procurement needs, in particular what DHS will require for SBInet’s replacement; the event attracts buyers from across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America
Law enforcement officers, government officials, and homeland security firms from around the world willgather in Phoenix next week for Border Security Expo 2011.
Held on 15-16 February, the conference will focus on terrorism, securing borders, and combating the drug trade and stemming its violence.
Homeland security and defense firms will be showcasing their latest products in the hopes of securing lucrative contracts, as governments around the world increasingly turn their attention to their borders.
Michael Rosenberg, vice president of the Security Division at E. J. Krause and head of the event, estimates that with buyers from the United States, Europe, and Mexico looking to procure technology, services, and solutions, several million dollars worth of contracts will likely be signed at the conference.
The event will feature more than 100 exhibitors including firms like Raytheon, ICX Technology, and Oshkosh Defense.
This year the expo will focus not only on traditional issue like preventing illegal border crossings, but also on combating the drug trade.
As part of a broader “paradigm shift, the event will take a very heavy look at drug violence, drug cartels, and gangs,” says Rosenberg.
Several officials from the Mexican government will be present to discuss efforts to combat the drug trade, ways to increase cooperation, and what needs to be done in the future.
Rosenberg says the aim will be to “keep the violence right along the border from crossing over.”
He adds that the carnage from the drug wars has already started to spill over and that drug cartels “have posted lookouts in the mountains,” and they are “looking down into Arizona to see what agents are doing along the border.”
In the increasingly bloody drug wars in Mexico, seventy-nine Americans were killed in 2009, more than double the number of deaths in 2007.
In Mexico, the death toll has been far higher. Since President Felipe Calderon launched his war against the drug cartels in 2006, more than 30,000 people have died.
The expo also presents homeland security and defense firms with the opportunity to learn about the future needs of DHS.
In particular, after the cancellation of the Secure Border Initiative (SBInet), firms will be eager to learn about what DHS will require in the hopes that they can provide solutions for its yet to be determined replacement program.
To that end, attendees will likely listen with extra care to remarks made by Mark Borkowski, the Component Acquisition Executive & Assistant Commissioner, Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition, Customs and Border Protection, on government procurement plans in his speech titled “What does Government need? What is new on the horizon?”
The heads of several DHS agencies including John Morton, the director of the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Mike Fisher, the head of U.S. Border Patrol, as well as top officials from the Mexican government will also deliver remarks.
Event planners expect more than a thousand people to attend the conference.
The expo is organized by E. J. Krause & Associates, which produces conferences and exhibitions across the world.
