Today's news

Domestic terrorismAnimal rights activists set fourteen cattle trucks ablaze
Earlier this month fourteen cattle-transportation trailers were set on fire at California’s largest feed yard by an animal rights group; following the attack, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) released a statement that indicated an anonymous group of activists had executed the attack against the “horrors of factory farming”
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DetectionNYPD developing concealed gun detecting tech
The New York Police Department (NYPD) is currently at work on a device that can detect if a person is carrying a concealed firearm from as far as eighty-two feet away
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Radiation detectionIllinois first responder receive wearable radiation detectors
First responder across Illinois will soon be outfitted with portable personal radiation detectors to detect dirty bombs and increase safety
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Border securityBattling smugglers along Canadian border
To help stem the flow of drugs across the porous northern border, federal authorities are working closely with tribal law enforcement agencies on Native American lands near Canada, providing equipment and training
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Public healthHow new viruses evolve and become deadly
Scientists demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations; this demonstration follows recent news that scientists in the United States and the Netherlands produced a deadly version of bird flu
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Nuclear powerSea water could corrode nuclear fuel
Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time; scientists have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles
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DisastersTsunami debris spread across Pacific Ocean
The 11 March 2011 tsunami in Japan washed millions of tons of debris into the Pacific; scientists have been trying to track the trajectory of this debris that can threaten small ships and coastlines
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Carbon sequestrationWetlands capture more carbon than earlier thought
New study shows that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply; the study found that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland
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Also noted
U.S. to protect American goods globally | David Cameron: human rights laws prevent U.K. from protecting against terrorism | Symantec: disable pcAnywhere |Israel looks to next-generation Internet | Study: Haiti faces more devastating quakes | Honduras: murder capital of the world | Hackers target Web sites of Israeli hospitals | Bird flu bioterrorism is much harder than it sounds | Hamat train traffic to be suspended for Super Bowl
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Disaster insuranceInsurance companies predict increase in premiums
Even after all the flood waters have receded and power has been restored, New Jersey homeowners will still have to suffer the consequences of Hurricane Irene; according to insurance industry representatives and analysts, homeowners and businesses will likely see their insurance premiums increase over the next several years
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World Report – products & solutions, market opportunities, security initiatives – from Homeland Security NewsWire

The long view

CybersecurityU.S. - Australia announce cyber defense treaty
Last week, the United States and Australia announced a mutual defense treaty that declared a cyberattack on one would result in retaliation by both nations; this new agreement appears to be the first instance of a mutual defense treaty in the cyber realm outside of NATO
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Rep. Peter King, House Homeland Security CommitteeAl Qaeda "very much alive"; U.S. needs to be "aggressive and preemptive"
Representative Peter King (R-New York), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, reflects back on the 9/11 attacks, discusses critical lessons learned, and the greatest threats facing the United States over the next decade; "--we have largely learned that we need to be aggressive and preemptive when it comes to our national security. Increasingly, we do not wait for an attack before we respond, but we go after and disrupt the threat before an attack can be launched; Law enforcement at all levels must follow suit, thinking more imaginatively and “outside the box."
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Joel McCleary, chairman, Q GlobalBiological weapons: U.S. must not repeat the failure of imagination
Joel McCleary, a biological weapons expert, is the chairman and co-founder of Q Global and the founder of PharmAthene; he argues that the U.S. government has not done enough to protect the nation against a biological attack, warns of the need for presidential leadership, and underscores the dangers of biological weapons
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Nuclear mattersJapan nuke accident halves nuclear power growth
The nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant appears to have caused nations around the world to reconsider nuclear projects; following the accident, demand for future nuclear projects has been halved
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Graham Allison, Harvard Kennedy School of GovernmentWe are in an "era of terror": individuals, small groups can kill on a mass scale
Graham Allison, the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, discusses nuclear terrorism in a post 9/11 world, the progress the United States has made at home and abroad in securing loose nuclear weapons and materials, the need to strengthen security measures protecting low-grade nuclear stockpiles at hospitals, and the dangerous threat that nuclear terrorism still poses
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Corey Hinderstein, Nuclear Threat InitiativeApathy a "central threat" to nuclear security, says expert
Corey Hinderstein, the vice president of the International Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, looks back on the progress made in securing loose nuclear material in the ten years since 9/11; more specifically, Hinderstein discusses the likelihood of al Qaeda obtaining a nuclear bomb or nuclear material, bolstering security at medical and industrial facilities that have stockpiles of low-grade nuclear material, and the dangers of apathy
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Analysis // by Ben FrankelIsrael-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through
Earlier today, the initial phase of prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place; Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since -- even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him -- returned to Israel in exchange for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; in total, 1,027 Palestinian (1,000 men and twenty-seven women) will be released in the exchange; the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to "clean the table" of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities
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Nuclear waste and contaminationCold War nuclear legacy challenges science, society
Fifty years of U.S. nuclear weapons production, and government-sponsored nuclear energy research and production, generated contaminated soil and groundwater covering two million acres in thirty-five states; for most of that period, the U.S. government did not have environmental structures, technologies, or infrastructure to deal with the problem
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Indian official: Pakistan trying to bleed India dry through a thousand cuts
On Tuesday a top Indian official condemned Pakistan stating that the country was trying to bleed India dry through a thousand cuts by threatening to attack Indian businesses; "This (Jihadi) brand of terrorism is primarily sponsored by our neighboring country in the west whose--- policy is to conduct war against India by all other means and bleed us through a thousand cuts. This naturally includes the targeting of anything...with a view to damaging, degrading or destroying the engines of economic growth and critical centers of power and strength of our country," said U K Bansal, the internal security secretary of the Union Home Ministry; Bansal's comments came as part of a speech in New Delhi

Today's news

Domestic terrorismAnimal rights activists set fourteen cattle trucks ablaze

DetectionNYPD developing concealed gun detecting tech

Radiation detectionIllinois first responder receive wearable radiation detectors

Border securityBattling smugglers along Canadian border

Public healthHow new viruses evolve and become deadly

Nuclear powerSea water could corrode nuclear fuel

DisastersTsunami debris spread across Pacific Ocean

Carbon sequestrationWetlands capture more carbon than earlier thought

Also noted

Disaster insuranceInsurance companies predict increase in premiums

More headlines

The long view

CybersecurityU.S. - Australia announce cyber defense treaty

Rep. Peter King, House Homeland Security CommitteeAl Qaeda "very much alive"; U.S. needs to be "aggressive and preemptive"

Joel McCleary, chairman, Q GlobalBiological weapons: U.S. must not repeat the failure of imagination

Nuclear mattersJapan nuke accident halves nuclear power growth

Graham Allison, Harvard Kennedy School of GovernmentWe are in an "era of terror": individuals, small groups can kill on a mass scale

Corey Hinderstein, Nuclear Threat InitiativeApathy a "central threat" to nuclear security, says expert

Analysis // by Ben FrankelIsrael-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through

Nuclear waste and contaminationCold War nuclear legacy challenges science, society

Indian official: Pakistan trying to bleed India dry through a thousand cuts