Briefly noted

Global CCTV market analysis 2008-12
Highlights from a new Companies and Market study of the CCTV market:

• The global CCTV market (including both analog and IP-based CCTV) grew at a CAGR of 24.28 percent in 2007 over 2006 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of approx 23 percent from 2008 to 2012.
• The global demand for CCTV systems is escalating at a faster pace due to a robust growth in the IP-based CCTV surveillance systems as compared to the analog ones.
• In 2006 North America and Europe accounted for more than 85% of the global CCTV market.
• It is expected that major demand for CCTV systems will come from the Asia-Pacific region in future.
• Intelligent video surveillance system is emerging as a new trend that is driving the video surveillance software market.
• Various sectors like retail, health care and transportation represents the opportunity areas for the global CCTV market.

U.S. intelligence agencies spend $47.5 billion in 2008
The U.S. intelligence community spent $47.5 billion in fiscal 2008 spying on terrorist groups and foreign countries, conducting electronic wiretaps, and operating classified programs, the office of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mike McConnell said. The budget figure, larger than the $43.5 billion spent in fiscal 2007, covers spending for the National Intelligence Program, which includes the National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and a dozen other agencies. It does not include spending on tactical military intelligence programs. No details on how the funding was used or on specific programs it supports were released.

Changing role for DHS in cybersecurity
Robert Jamison, under secretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS, told ComputerWorld: “As we go ahead into the election, the first thing that’s important is career leadership … that we have the right people in the right jobs, and, secondly, that we don’t lose the momentum of a coordinated approach.”

Auditors: Private security in Iraq cost over $6 billion
No one knows for sure, but auditors think the United States has paid well over $6 billion to private security companies who have been guarding diplomats, troops, Iraqi officials and reconstruction workers in Iraq. The money amounts to about 12 percent of the $50 billion Americans are paying for reconstruction in the country, said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen.

China begins investigation of tainted eggs
In China, it seems, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Officials in northeastern China said Wednesday they were looking into reports that eggs from a local company were tainted with the chemical melamine, state media reported. U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores said Tuesday it had pulled Hanwei’s eggs from its shelves in China, emphasizing that it was a precautionary measure and that products from Hanwei inside the country hadn’t yet been found to be contaminated.