Thursday, October 11th, 2007 - 7:30PM ROAR Screening Room, Beverly Hills
Penrose "Parney" Albright is one of the nation's leading experts on homeland and national security policy and technology. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, where he was responsible for developing the multi-year strategy, planning guidance programs and budget for the Science and Technology Directorate. Prior to joining the Department, Dr. Albright served jointly as Senior Director for Research and Development in the Office of Homeland Security and Assistant Director for the Office of Homeland and National Security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He was a key architect of the President's National Strategy for Homeland Security, and directed the formation of the DHS's Science and Technology Directorate. Previously, he served as Program Manager for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).
Prior to his time at DARPA, Parney was with the Science and Technology Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses. He is a Nationally known expert in ballistic missile boost-phase phenomenology and launch detection systems, and has served on several National panels in that area, including the so-called Everett Panel on Space-Based Infrared satellites; the Space-based Infrared Architecture Study; the Congressionally-mandated "Heritage sensor" study, and the Space Systems Phenomenology Study.
Parney has been involved for many years with studies and analyses of ballistic and cruise missile defense concepts, including technical and performance analyses of space-based and airborne laser programs; sea-based ballistic missile defense concepts; boost-phase intercept systems; and National missile defense concepts. He has served on a number of prominent panels related to missile defense, including all of the various so-called "Welch Panels" associated with National Missile Defense. Parney has also been part of the Congressionally-mandated reviews of the lethality of the Patriot PAC-3 and Standard Missile/Arrow systems; the Boost-Phase Intercept study for USD(A&T); and led the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense study for OSD and the Joint Staff. He has been a member of the Space-based Laser Independent Review Team, and the Senior Steering Group for National Cruise Missile Defense. He led the analytic portion of the joint US-Israeli Short Range Rocket Defense study commissioned by the Secretary of Defense, and served as the technical lead for the Theater Air and Missile Defense Modernization panel for the 1996 Quadrennial Defense Review.
Parney also served on the National panel that reviewed the nerve gas transport modeling of the Khamisiyah release event in Iraq. He led the analytic team for the 1999 Defense Science Board Summer Study, which revolved around issues associated with the transport and sustainment of future Army rapid deployment forces. Parney has also led or participated in studies for DoD and the intelligence community in the area hyperspectral and multispectral sensor technologies and their application to a diverse set of problems.