APPLICATIONS

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) uses supercomputing to simulate real-life terror attacks. With the motto, "Maker The World Safer," it tries to minimize the damage from doomsday scenarios. The models that are used include biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Now the agency wants to put their models and simulation tools online to help local first responders and government agencies. Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has won a contract totaling $53.9 million from the DTRA to place the tools online. The integrated model is referred to as the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset and it has been gradually in the making since 2004. Michael Chagnon, a senior vice president with SAIC told the Washington Post, "... anybody that has a Web browser, a laptop, connectivity and permission would be able to access these tools to do their job. And those types of users would include war fighters or could include civil first responders as well." "First responders could use that information to determine exactly what type of medical response would be required and the number of people that might be affected," Chagnon said. He added, "So it's being able to publish data that could be of use to others, as well as being able to subscribe to data -- such as weather data updates -- that would enable the toolset to make more up-to-date calculations as well." The tools are also helpful for war fighters who can use it to predict attacks on the U.S. and its allies and plan how to move troops or what precautions should be taken. Chagnon said, "That interoperation with other systems and the ability to share information with other systems is the key to enhancing the value and the utility of the tool suite."