Transcript of Doorstop Interview by Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, at the Launch of the CBRNE@Changi Lab

Question: What national security imperatives are driving the development of the kinds of CBRNE screening capabilities such as those showcased in this new CBRNE@Changi lab?

Minister: You’ve seen these facilities. When you say CBRNE, people will wonder what it is. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and of course, explosive materials. The world is changing before our eyes, we see it. The threats are evolving, and there are people around the world who want to do bad things.

We keep upgrading our facilities. We have testing facilities in Woodlands, in Tuas, in Pasir Panjang. This is our fourth. [We can] quickly take the chemical materials, and the others – as I said, CBRNE – bring it here. It’s good to have a facility on-site, near the airport. In the past, we used to send it to Pasir Panjang or Woodlands – takes time. Quick turnaround, better safety, and it’s much more digitised, much more automated.

We keep improving, and HTX worked with vendors, suppliers, customised a lot of the equipment that you see. A lot of the equipment you see is also conceptualised by HTX itself. So, it’s part of the way the Home Team, the entire Ministry of Home Affairs Home Team, is transforming, bringing technology, keeping our borders safe. And of course, internally, Police have been transforming too.

At the same time, this is a pandemic testing facility. People may wonder why [since] Covid-19 is over. Some of the lessons we learnt from Covid-19 – again, facility on-site near the airport, because when the next pandemic strikes, you’re not going to have time to prepare this. So with the lessons learnt, we have put in a state-of-the-art facility for testing for pandemics.