Our picksFEMA cuts fund detention centers; protecting campaign websites; coping with hurricanes, and more

Published 17 September 2018

·  Symantec becomes latest firm offering free security testing for campaign websites

·  Trump transferred $9.75 million from FEMA to ICE to cover the cost of immigrant detention centers

·  FEMA’s testing a new “presidential alerts” system that sends messages to your phone

·  Families are getting better at preparing for hurricanes

·  Facial-recognition scanners at airports raise privacy concerns

·  Congress subpoenas ‘uncooperative’ DHS official amid accusations of punishing whistleblowers

·  The next harmful move against H-1B visas

·  Retired Marine four-star patents jet-killing drone boat

·  What feds can do to guard against DDoS attacks and the botnet threat

·  General’s secret weapon to keep Trump in Afghanistan: Fox News

Symantec becomes latest firm offering free security testing for campaign websites (Olivia Beavers, The Hill)
Cybersecurity firm Symantec announced on Tuesday that it will offer free security testing of campaign websites ahead of the November midterms, a move that comes amid heightened concern that malicious actors will seek to interfere in the elections. Symantec said candidates, campaigns and other election groups can use its program called Project Dolphin to help protect their websites from hostile actors seeking to influence the election through cyber means.

Trump transferred $9.75 million from FEMA to ICE to cover the cost of immigrant detention centers (Isabella Murillo, Laloyolan)
Right before Hurricane Florence hit, President Donald Trump transferred nearly $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a recently released documents report. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes both FEMA and ICE, requested an extra $200 million to go to ICE from other departments to cover the unforeseen costs of building more detention centers to hold and deport more migrants.

FEMA’s testing a new “presidential alerts” system that sends messages to your phone (Emily Stewart, Vox)
Under a normal president, this wouldn’t be a big deal. Under Trump, not so much.

Families are getting better at preparing for hurricanes (Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic)
For many parents, ensuring that the kids are out of harm’s way is only half the battle.

Facial-recognition scanners at airports raise privacy concerns (Lori Aratani, Washington Post) When a facial recognition scanner helped authorities nab a man trying to enter the country using someone else’s passport at Dulles International Airport last month, officials heralded the technology as a “step forward” in protecting the United States from threats. But privacy advocates and civil libertarians are concerned about the devices’ accuracy and potential misuse of the information they collect, and they say the technology is being rushed into use before it has been fully vetted.

Congress subpoenas ‘uncooperative’ DHS official amid accusations of punishing whistleblowers (Jeffrey Cook, ABC News)
After allegedly refusing to cooperate with investigators, Congressional leaders are ordering a senior Department of Homeland Security official to answer questions regarding reported retaliation against whistleblowers within the department, according to documents obtained by ABC News.

The next harmful move against H-1B visas (Stuart Anderson, Forbes)
Left to their own preferences, it seems Trump Administration officials would not allow any H-1B visa holders to work in the United States. For the past two years, every administration measure on high-skilled immigration has made life more difficult for high-skilled foreign nationals and their employers – and there is more to come.

Retired Marine four-star patents jet-killing drone boat (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
John Allen also has a patent on a quadcopter mothership.

What feds can do to guard against DDoS attacks and the botnet threat (Phil Goldstein, FedTech)
Distributed denial of service attacks are becoming more powerful, but the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security have urged agencies to lead by example in combating them.

General’s secret weapon to keep Trump in Afghanistan: Fox News (Erin Banco, Daily Beast)
The president wanted to pull troops out of America’s longest war. So a commander’s aides came up with a countermeasure—an appeal to Trump’s favorite cable network.