A New York lawmaker threw Port Townsend-based Intellicheck Mobilisa into the national limelight Monday, urging the Department of Homeland Security to allocate $50 million to boost anti-terrorist security measures at U.S. airports with the hand-held electronic instant identification reader device that Mobilisa makes.
Nelson Ludlow, Intellicheck Mobilisa chief executive officer and president, said such a large federal contract would translate to more jobs at home on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Homeland Security to invest in the new wireless security device that would prevent would-be terrorists from boarding planes and getting past terror no-fly lists.
Congress has already appropriated the $50 million, Schumer said.
On the heels of Schumer’s news conference in Woodbury, N.Y., Intelli-Check Mobilisa stock on the American Stock Exchange surged by 75 percent and closed at $2.10 on above-average volume of 1.59 million shares, according to Beacon Equity Research.
The device produced by Intellicheck Mobilisa electronically scans passenger identifications and cross-checks identifications with the terror watch list, weeds out forged identifications and tracks visa overstays.
Implemented nationally, the system would electronically link — in real time — all airport ports of entry and exit to the terror watch list.
‘Times Square bomber’
Schumer, who spoke at a news conference at Intellicheck Mobilisa’s Woodbury, N.Y., office on Long Island, said if a similar system had been in place when Pakistani-America terrorist Faisal Shahzad tried to board an Emirates flight to Dubai, it is unlikely he would have made it aboard.
Shahzad, the so-called “Times Square bomber,” recently pleaded guilty to driving a bomb-packed sport utility vehicle into New York City’s Times Square, parking it and later boarding a plane to flee the U.S. before he was discovered on a no-fly list.
“It’s high time we have a sophisticated and integrated security system at our nation’s airports,” said Schumer.
“If we have learned anything in the effort to apprehend Mr. Shahzad, it’s that we need a fully integrated airport security system that can immediately identify, in-real time, passengers who should not be flying.
“This device would immediately remove the potential for human error by electronically linking identification with no fly lists, spot phony ids, and track visa overstays for better tracking of foreign visitors.”
A video of the news conference with Schumer and Ludlow can be seen at www.intellicheck.com.
Schumer said he sent a letter to Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security security, urging the use of these funds to implement technology such as the Defense ID System.
Ludlow in N.Y.
“This should be used at every airport,” Ludlow said in a phone interview from the Woodbury office.
“We’re still using 20-yea-old technology, and we’re letting technology get ahead of us.”
At the news conference, Ludlow demonstrated how the device would have stopped Shahzad through an instant check of the Transportation Safety Administration no-fly list.
Asked how such a contract would affect staffing at Intellicheck Mobilisa, Ludlow said, “Obviously, it would create more jobs.”
Most of the company’s staff of about 60 is based in Glen Cove Industrial Park offices south of Port Townsend, and Ludlow calls Port Townsend home.
Schumer’s news conference was watched by about 25 Intellicheck Mobilisa staffers at the local office early Monday morning.
Intellicheck Mobilisa is also setting up a wireless buoy system in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, developing an array to provide security and environmental sensors to both the public and government for use.
These buoy arrays provide security and environmental monitoring in the waterways.
The high-tech buoys monitor the coastal waters and transmit the collected data via Intellicheck Mobilisa’s trademarked Wireless Over Water technology.
The company used Wireless Over Water technology to add wireless Internet access to Washington State Ferries.
Mobilisa merged with Intellicheck in 2009 and has shown steady growth and profit since Ludlow founded the Mobilisa in 2005.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
