Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

S.U. Takes Lead in Conversation About how Forensic Science Intersects with National Security

Scott Willis
/
WAER News

Experts at Syracuse University are trying to start a national dialogue on how to best use forensic technology to address national security concerns.  They kicked-off the two-day symposium Monday with a keynote lecture by Congressmember and SU law school alumnus John Katko.  
  The former long-time federal prosecutor told about 100 students and faculty that he dealt with forensics from day one on the job, though the technology wasn’t what it is today.  He says it’s evolved from analyzing hair samples, wire taps, and gunpowder residue to using search warrants on cellphones.

 
"The phones are a treasure trove of information.  If these four guys  are part of a gang, they're all going to say they don't know each other.  Well, one guy has their three numbers in there, right?  Or, they've got the nicknames on there , and we know them by their nicknames on the streets.  And, gang members love to take photos.  So, what do you do?  You get all the photos off their phones, and the photos are wonderful, they're flashing the gang signs.   So, that's another another way we use forensic evidence on a regular basis."

 
Now, as a member of congress, Katko says the government is applying forensic and national security sciences to investigating and taking down gangs on the international stage.  He says the homeland security is trying to track and take down groups like ISIS that try to lure and radicalize disaffected people over the internet so they join the terrorist organization.

 
"It's not an accident that we've caught several people on their way over there, including three teenage girls who thought they were going on some kind of adventure.  If they got over there, they would have been sex slaves, and that would have been it for them.  Their lives would have been over.  So, it's really scary, in that realm, obviously trying to figure where these messages are coming from and who's doing them is obviously a forensic analysis you have to do as well."

 
  Katko chairs the homeland security transportation subcommittee and was just appointed to head the foreign fighters task force.   Chemistry Professor Jim Spencer founded SU’s Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute.

 
"We remain unique as the only institution nationally that follows the guidelines set forth by the 2009 congressionally mandated national academy sciences study focused on the absolutely necessary intersection and cooperation between forensic science and national security science."

 

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
/
WAER News
Dozens of students and faculty listen to Katko's lecture.

 
Spencer says students are becoming national leaders in their field, putting SU at the forefront of finding ways to deal with crime, terrorism, and national disasters.  The symposium resumes Thursday, May 7th at 9:30 with lectures and panel discussions featuring an array of experts from the forensic and national security sciences fields.   
 
 

 
 

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.