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Bee Alert Technology offers new explosives detection system
Unlike competitors, company’s approach relies on voice recognition software to identify changes in bees’ buzzing when exposed to particular chemicals; response takes less than thirty seconds; applications in both the homeland security and agriculture industries; portable model in development
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Bundeswehr purchases 22 new iRobot PackBots
Deal fills out German fleet to a robust forty; German soldiers spent eighteen months testing the EOD drones; iRobot continues to dominate the market
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Oak Ridge scientist develops anti-berrylium dust-rag
Special coating seen as a cure for industrial inhalation problems, and technology may eventually aid in large-scale radiation clean-ups; Y-12 National Security Complex conducts tests but needs help bringing it to market;
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Navy begins planning for next generation of EOD robots
Packbot, Talon, and Bombot are doing the job well, but the military wants to build a scalable system from the ground up; wireless communication a major concern due to interference from IED jammers; 2012 proposed production date
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Indiana researchers develop real-life tricorder
Star Trek-inspired mass spectrometer weighs less than twenty pounds; analysis can be done on surfaces outside the vacuum chamber; system detects biomarkers and explosives with ease; two Indiana companies rush into the market
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TraceGuard receives $800,000 in Israeli government funding
The generosity of the Office of Chief Scientist continues; New York-based company to continue work on automated trace extraction technology
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RealityMobile offers off-the-shelf situational control system
Relying on camera phones compatible with Palm OS or Windows Mobile 5.0, RealityVision system offers commanders unparalleled remote access to personnel on the ground
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Technest wins another Army NVESD sensor contract
$4.4 million contract will pay for the development of demining and counterming technologies; deal follows $10 million in earlier contracts with Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate
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iRobot shares suffer, but future looks bright
Company predicts lower-than-expected earnings in 2007; Roomba and PackBot make an unlikely kinship; coordinating networks of PackBots the next big challenge as Helen Grenier looks to develop packs of surveillance droids
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TSA finds most railroad security measures inadequate
$7 million study finds advanced explosives and screening methods suffer high false positive rates; yet traditional methods such as X-rays and canines suffer from poor economies of scale; study may upset congressional plans to boost railroad security spending
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DHS offers $58 million in new anti-nuclear research grants
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and the National Science Foundation team up to encourage research into sensors and radiation dispersal devices
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Livermore Lab introduces card-based explosives detection system
Disposable, self-contained system can fit in a wallet and requires little training to use; ampoules within the card contain the reagent materials, eliminating the need to handle chemicals; DHS, Mounties among current customers
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IED conference scheduled for April
Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization to hold a three-day conference in Leesburg, Virginia; event open to industry and academia, but attendees must possess secret clearances; Ike Skelton to give the keynote address
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Air Force deploys mobile bioweapons detection labs
Equipped with $100,000 in equipment, the trailer can quickly identify fourteen biological agents; McConnell Air Force Base plays host; mobile testing marches on
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"Speed bump" IEDs continue to plague forces in Iraq
With EFPs suddenly in the limelight, it is important to keep in mind other IED threats; speed bump IEDs are simple to manufacture, easy to conceal, and require no Iranian assistance; V-shaped hulls and mine rollers among established defensive techniques, but more are needed
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The long view
Lawmakers Seek Probe of Controversial Bioweapons Defense System
The Trump administration’s attempt to deploy a scientifically disputed system for detecting airborne anthrax or other infectious agents in terrorist attacks is facing increased scrutiny from a bipartisan group of House members. in a three-page letter, four Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct an in-depth scientific evaluation of the new system, called BioDetection 21. Officials from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, signaled that they plan to open the inquiry.
Hackers Could Have Breached U.S. Bioterrorism Defenses for Years, Records Show. We’ll Never Know Whether They Did
The Department of Homeland Security stored sensitive data from the nation’s bioterrorism defense program on an insecure website where it was vulnerable to attacks by hackers for over a decade, according to government documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. The data included the locations of at least some BioWatch air samplers, which are installed at subway stations and other public locations in more than 30 U.S. cities and are designed to detect anthrax or other airborne biological weapons, Homeland Security officials confirmed. It also included the results of tests for possible pathogens, a list of biological agents that could be detected and response plans that would be put in place in the event of an attack.
Can Nuclear Power Be Saved?
Whither nuclear power? That question has become more important as energy policies evolve to emphasize emissions-free “green” energy and an increased electrification of the U.S. economy. Some environmentalists consider nuclear power to be crucial to reducing carbon emissions; others continue to vehemently oppose nuclear power and believe that our energy must come solely from renewable sources. The public, encouraged into hysteria by dramatizations of nuclear-plant accidents such as the film The China Syndrome and HBO’s Chernobyl, is split. Meanwhile, the nuclear-power industry itself is in a parlous state for a variety of tangled reasons.
The Once and Future Threat of Nuclear Weapon Testing
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the central security instrument of the United States and the world community. It is based on a strategic bargain between the five nuclear weapon states in the NPT (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) and the 185 non-nuclear-weapon parties to the treaty. The current worldwide moratorium on nuclear weapon testing and the intended ultimate conversion of that ban to legally binding treaty status by bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force are essential to the long-term viability of this strategic bargain.