To protect the homeland from terrorist attacks employing explosive devices, revolutionary advances across a wide range of technologies are required. Inspired by recent advances in near-space (defined as the region between 20 km and 100 km), this paper proposes a new passive radar system using opportunistic transmitter as an illuminator and near-space platform as a receiver. This concept differs substantially from current radars. This system can be operated as a passive bistatic or multistatic radar and hence largely immune to jamming. By placing the receiver in near-space platforms, many functions that are currently performed with satellites or airplanes could be performed much more cheaply and with much greater operational utility. These advantages make near-space passive attractive for a variety of applications, many of which fit well with the needs of homeland security. This paper details the role of near-space passive radar as sensor system that can support homeland security applications. The strengths and weakness of near-space passive radar, compared to current spaceborne and airborne radars, are detailed. The signal models and processing algorithms for near-space passive radar are provided. It is shown that the use of cost effective near-space platforms can provide the solutions that were previously thought to be out of reach to remote sensing and government customers.