Gartner is receiving numerous inquiries from clients eager to know what type of technology priorities the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, will set for the Department. To answer this, we must look back at her record as Arizona Governor. However, as Governor she managed a budget of roughly between $9-10 billion USD and focused on the use of homeland security-related technologies to control immigration and streamline the criminal justice process. Now, as head of a Federal agency that spent over $61 billion in FY 2008 and is charged with nationwide homeland security threats, no one can really predict what she may or may not focus on at this early date.

However, as Governor she focused on counter-terrorism and as a result DHS helped co-sponsor the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center, which is a fusion center designed to share various types of information (including intelligence) between and among differing domains and levels of government. In addition, her interests in implementing surveillance-type technologies, such as, aerial reconnaissance platforms and sensory devices to better detect illegal border crossings as well as champion license plate recognition technologies for the State Highway Patrol seems high. For example, she criticized the Federal government's building of a border fence with Mexico as a waste of time and money. She still maintains that governments should "incentivize" the private sector to develop more innovative technologies. However, she has never been specific with what she meant other than in the context of improved border detection and surveillance or guest-workers programs.

Rhetoric aside, look for her to focus on ways the private sector can better apply technology to better develop, classify and share various types of information for large programs such as US-VISIT, Secure Border Initiative, Transportation Workers Identity Credential.