dr. coursey?y're not citing their statistical evidence. i asked this question of staff and i was shocked that they don't have an answer and i'm shocked that you don't have an answer because you all are in charge of our national research effort. how do you know that we have a problem without having asked the question? >> mr. chairman, if i may, i think when it comes to public acceptance of these kinds of technologies, aviation security, passenger screening technologies being one example, we have to assume -- >> why do you have to assume? >> because it's prudent to do so. >> you can assume that the sky is blue. you can assume the sun rises in the east. but i think that mr. smith and i would agree that it's dangerous to make very many assumptions and bet a whole lot on that. >> i know. but if i may finish, sir. we have to assume that there could be public acceptance issues. >> well, the question is why? what makes it safe to make that assumption? and it's a simple thing to ask the question. i mean, a

dr. coursey? >> yes, you wouldn't expect nist to have a large role in this. we have usability in our information technology -- >> i'm never surprised at what nist is involved in. i can't think of a single area that nist is involved in. >> this is a very excited project partially supported by dhs and look at the fingerprint readers as passengers are approaching a checkpoint. this is work funded by s & t that now being used by u.s. visit. but it basically comes to the idea of affordance. when you come up to a piece of equipment, do you instinctly understand what you're being asked to do? or do you have to have some long instruction in doing that? so i think the public acceptance to some extent will hinge on these usability studies. this one particular one was very helpful for u.s. visit. >> did you ever compare a mac with an ibm? just kidding. just kidding. mr. lujan? >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. and just to pick up a little bit where we left off. dr. albright, modeling simulation, computin