• Airport security by the numbers

    In its 2011 budget request, DHS has asked for $214.7 million to buy and install 500 whole-body scanners; 75 percent of high-risk airports and 60 percent of second-tier airports will have body scanners deployed by the end of 2011

  • Unmanned helicopter to monitor the consequences of nuclear disasters

    Engineering students at Virginia Tech designed a UAV for flying into American cities blasted by a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb; the unmanned helicopter’s main mission would be to assist military investigators enter an American city after a nuclear attack in order to detect radiation level

  • Obama administration to unveil nuclear weapons policy

    The administration’s Nuclear Posture Review was initially scheduled for release late last year, and then again for 1 March, but it is coming; it will lay out the administration’s justifications and strategy for maintaining a nuclear arsenal, and will be important in guiding work throughout the energy department, including at the primary weapons laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California

  • Smaller, more sensitive sensors revolutionize public safety, medicine

    There is a revolution under way — the growth of single-molecule detection; sensors known as “e-noses” function as artificial snouts that can identify the most minute trace of compounds in the air, while microfluidic “lab on a chip” sensors can flag individual DNA strands and other entities in liquids; important implications for public safety and medicine

  • DHS: New bioterror detector will provide near real-time results

    The BioWatch program now monitors more than 30 U.S. urban areas - 20 more will be added in the near future - for the presence biological pathogens, including anthrax, smallpox, plague, and tularemia; the process of collecting the sensors’ filters and analyzing them takes about 36 hours; DHS says Generation 3 technology will provide near real-time analysis; some experts are skeptical

  • DHS budget has little money for radiation detector devices

    Placing radiation detectors at U.S. ports of entry would help prevent the smuggling of nuclear material into the United States — but it is also a business issue for Washington state: 400 employees work at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington; the proposed DHS budget contains only $8 million for these detectors, and the Washington congressional delegation presses for more

  • Nigeria ordering Rapiscan backscatter imaging systems for the country's international airports

    The government of Nigeria is deploying Rapiscan’s Secure 1000 Single Pose backscatter whole-body scanners at the country’s four international airports; the systems will be used to screen passengers traveling to the United States as well other countries

  • Dynasil's RMD receives $2.5 million from DHS to continue work on nuclear detection

    RMD specializes in developing scintillator crystals, which convert radiation to visible light; DHS gives the company $2.5 million — in addition to an earlier award of $5.6 million — to continue work on the crystals, which will enable more accurate detection of radioactive materials

  • DHS awards L-3 Communication $164.7 million for millimeter wave scanners

    The drive toward deploying whole-body scanners at U.S. airports accelerates; L-3 receives a $164.7 million order from TSA for the company’s ProVision millimeter wave (MMW) advanced imaging technology; more than 200 ProVision systems are deployed worldwide at airports and other facilities

  • GAO: Nuclear material could be smuggled undetected into U.S.

    GAO investigators test for vulnerabilities along the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders; they examine both ports of entry and unmonitored areas of the border; GAO concluded that a determined cross-border violator would likely be able to bring radioactive materials or other contraband undetected into the United States by crossing the U.S.-Canada border

  • Paris airport starts deploys full-body scanner

    France follows the U.K. in deploying whole-body scanners for U.S.-bound passengers; the scanners are currently deployed at the Charles de Gaulle airport, but will be rolled out to other airports during the next few months

  • TSA bolsters airport scanning

    The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now swabbing the hands of some passengers for traces of explosives; also, explosive detection machines are put on carts and rolled down the concourses to boarding areas, randomly rescreening passengers who are already in the “sterile area” of the airport

  • Smiths Detection, 20/20BioResponse in global distribution agreement

    The agreement is for BioCheck powder screening test kits; the biological threat assessment tool will strengthen Smiths Detection’s portfolio of emergency and first response solutions

  • Home-made poisons pose risks for first responders

    A 23-year old St. Petersburg, Florida resident committed suicide by filling his car with gas which was a custom-made combination of pesticides and cleaning products; he learned about the deadly concoction from the Internet

  • IDenta Corp.’s detection kit prove a success in India

    Israeli detection-kit maker Identa sees success in India; last year the company has shipped 20,000 different kinds of kits to India; tests by India’s National Investigative Agency showed Identa’s kits to be more effective than sprays and other means of explosive detection