The Homeland Security Pageant

Inventors Unveil Devices to Thwart Terrorist Attacks

George Li of BioDefense describes to Angela Corrieri of Mobile Digital Systems the workings of MailDefender, an oven-like device designed to decontaminate mail, at the Chesapeake Innovation Center in Annapolis. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)

First came duct tape. Then the airport liquid ban. And yesterday, officials unveiled the latest development in the country's war on terror: an American Idol-style contest for homeland security inventors.

Six finalists. One stage. Ten minutes each to win the hearts of the judges and walk away with $50,000. Or perhaps more important, a phone call from one of the defense contractors sitting in the audience.

Among the contestants:

· A Russian scientist with his biological weapons detector. "All of Western civilization is at war," he proclaimed.

· A team from Boston with a 300-degree steel furnace capable of killing biological threats.

· A former Ohio police officer, frustrated with law enforcement's unwieldy Web networks and offering a way to fix them.

· An inventor from Atlanta with an X-ray device able to detect everything from a vial of cocaine to nuclear waste.