• SAIC in $23 million contract for biometric help to U.S. Central Command

    Collecting and registering personnel into biometric databases is key to helping identify insurgents throughout the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility; SAIC awarded a $23 million contract to help

  • Biometrics to help India keep rural job program honest

    The Indian government launched a rural job program in 2006, aimed at bringing jobs to the poorest of the poor in India; the scheme assures 100 days of manual work annually to at least one member of every rural household; the program is now benefiting 35.2 million households across 619 districts; critics say that the well-intentioned program has been accompanied by fraud, bogus job cards, and ghost workers; the Indian government is now working to correct these through biometrics

  • DHS gives itself 30 days to decide SBInet fate

    DHS has given Boeing a temporary 30-day extension on the troubled SBInet border virtual fence contract; DHS has spent $1.1 billion over three years on the ambitious project, without much to show for it; “one insider says: the question is whether to carry on with a Cadillac version of the network—- or to exchange it for a Chevy model that gets the job done faster”

  • Millions in cybersecurity money go to the usual suspects

    Both the U.S. and U.K. governments committed themselves to spending millions of dollars on enhanced cybersecurity — but industry insiders say that most of the money will not be used to buy innovative security solutions from start-ups, but rather go to the usual suspects; one insider says: “in the U.S., money gets spent on the vendors who spend millions lobbying Congress”

  • Drive-by X-ray vans raise privacy, health worries

    DHS, the U.S. military, and even local law enforcement agencies are buying and deploying mobile X-ray vans that can see into the interior of vehicles around them; the Z Backscatter Van (ZBV), manufactured by American Science and Engineering (AS&E), can be used to detect contraband such as car bombs, drugs, and people in hiding; the van looks like a standard delivery van, and it takes less than fifteen seconds to scan passing vehicles; it can be operated remotely from more than 1,500 feet and can be equipped with optional technology to identify radioactivity as well; the vans, which can also see through clothing and into some buildings, are raising privacy concerns as well as questions about health risks — and what might happen if the technology gets into the wrong hands

  • Bomb-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan, Iraq may not be up to the task

    The U.S. State Department uses nearly 200 bomb-sniffing dogs in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities; the department inspector general says that bomb-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan and Iraq are not being tested properly and may not be able effectively to detect explosives

  • Local resistance to bomb sniffing-dogs training facility

    As fear of domestic terrorism grows, so does the need for explosive-sniffing dogs; company with DHS detection credentials wants to convert a horse barn in New York into a commercial kennel for bomb-sniffing dogs, but the neighbors object

  • DARPA-funded new engine brings flying car closer

    DARPA awards Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a $1 million contract to develop its EnduroCORE engine, which the company says offers “a high power-to-weight ratio comparable to gas turbines”; the engine will bring the Transformer TX flying car closer to reality

  • SIGA wins $500 million contract to produce smallpox antiviral

    SIGA has received a $500 contract — the contract will be worth as much as $2.8 billion if the government exercises all of its options — to produce the first specialized treatment for smallpox bioterror attacks and related infections; before the company can begin work, it must fend off a legal challenge from Chimerix, Inc., an unsuccessful bidder for the contract; Chimerix claims SIGA misrepresented itself as a small business in order to win this small-business set-aside

  • Six years later, U.S. pilot's licenses still not secure

    In 2004 Congress told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to come up with a pilot’s license that included the pilot’s photo and could contain biometric information like fingerprints or iris scans; critics charge that today, the only pilots pictured on FAA licenses are flight pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the licenses lack biometric data

  • U.S. to sell Saudis $60 billion in arms

    The United States has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia $60 billion of arms, including helicopters and jets; this is the most lucrative single arms deal in U.S. history and could support 75,000 jobs; the Saudis could buy up to 84 new F-15 fighters and upgrade 70 more older models. The F-15s, made by McDonnell Douglas, will not be outfitted with long-range weapons in deference to Israeli concerns. The Saudis would also purchase 70 Boeing-made AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, 72 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters (Sikorsky), 36 AH-6i light attack helicopters (Boeing), and 12 MD-530F light training helicopters (McDonnell Douglas); Israel will not object

  • Intel to invest up to $8 billion on U.S. manufacturing

    Intel will invest $8 billion to build a new factory in Oregon and upgrade four existing plants in Arizona and Oregon; Intel’s new investment will support its transition to 22-nanometer manufacturing technology. Intel’s last major investment was a $7 billion outlay announced in February 2009

  • Revolutionary forensic fingerprinting technique also detects corrosion

    Two years ago, Dr. John Bond at the University of Leicester developed a revolutionary method for identifying fingerprints on brass bullet casings, even after they have been wiped clean; now, Bond has applied the same technique to industry by developing a simple, handheld device which can measure corrosion on machine parts

  • Fujitsu develops inter-cloud data security technology

    With the advent of cloud computing, the boundary separating internal and external data has become increasingly blurred due to the utilization of external services; as a result, existing methods of preventing data leakage, such as only using a gateway to block the outflow of confidential data, have become insufficient, and there is increased demand for new security technology to allow the safe use of confidential data even in the cloud; Fujitsu offers a new data leakage prevention technology in cloud computing environments

  • China to cut rare Earths minerals export by 30 percent

    China controls more than 95 percent of the global market for rare Earth elements; China has cut rare earths exports by five to 10 percent a year since 2006; China Daily reported yesterday that the government would again cut rare earths export quotas by up to 30 percent next year, “to protect the metals from over-exploitation”; critics charge China’s real goal is to cripple important industrial segments of Western economies