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Alabama wants to teach you how to deal with active-shooter situations
The Alabama Department of Homeland Security (ADHS) has paid for a series of billboards, informing the public there is a video on how to deal with an active shooter situation in a work place or other public settings.
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Making military wireless networks more robust
DARPA’s Wireless Network Defense program seeks to develop new technologies to help make wireless networks more resilient to unforeseen scenarios and malicious compromise.
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Obama wants U.S. to influence debate over global drone rules
President Barack Obama wants the United States to help formulate global guidelines for the use of drones, especially as other countries, led by China, have begun to invest in their own drone fleets.
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Widely used FBI surveillance method ruled unconstitutional
A national security letters (NSLs) is an administrative subpoena which allows the FBI to ask Internet companies and communication service providers to turn over subscriber information on American customers, while prohibiting the providers from informing these customers that their personal information has been turned over to the FBI. Since the 9/11 attacks, the bureau has issued an average of 50,000 NSLs a year. A federal judge in California says this is “rendering the statute impermissibly overbroad.”
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U.S. cancels final phase of European missile defense system
Faced with sequestration-imposed budget cuts, the Pentagon cancels the fourth and final phase of the U.S. European missile defense system. The money made available by the decision would be used to fund the deployment of fourteen additional missile interceptors in Alaska to increase U.S. defense against North Korea’s missile threat. The Pentagon said that the first three phases of the defensive missile deployment in Europe, when completed in 2018, would provide coverage of all of NATO members.
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Fighting gun restrictions on the international scene
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has taken its campaign against measures aiming to tighten gun control to the international level. The organization has been leading a campaign fight a UN treaty designed to restrict the flow of arms to conflict zones. The treaty is likely to pass, but the NRA appears to have enough support in the Senate to prevent ratification.
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Was Mexican border firefight killing 40 real?
It would seem that drug violence only stops at the Mexican border in the imaginations of Washington politicians. On example: Mexican journalists, because of fear for their own lives and the safety of their families, are increasingly reluctant to cover drug cartels’ violence and mayhem. What has occurred in recent months is that American reporters located in American border cities also have stopped reporting on drug-related violence across the border for the same reasons as their Mexican counterparts.
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U.S. to bolster missile defense to meet North Korean threat
The United States is bolstering the country’s missile defense after a series of explicit nuclear threats from North Korea. The Pentagon will announce Monday that it is deploying fourteen additional ground-based interceptors at missile silos in Alaska and California.
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Questions raised about Iron Dome success
MIT professor Ted Postol is at it again: in 1992 he successfully challenged the claims made by the United States, Israel, and Raytheon about the effectiveness of the Patriot missiles in intercepting Iraqi SCUD missiles fired at Israel, and now he is raising similar questions about the accuracy of claims made about the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system during the 10-day Israel-Hamas war last November, a war code-named Pillar of Defense.
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Gun manufacturers take action against states which passed tough gun laws
Gun manufacturers are starting to push back against strict gun laws in some states by refusing to sell their products to law enforcement agencies in these states, or to employees of these agencies. So far, more than 110 specialty manufacturers of firearms have joined the movement, which calls itself the Firearm Equality Movement.
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Proposed Utah law would bar the feds from regulating guns in the state
Responding to post-Sandy Hook initiatives to tighten gun regulations, lawmakers in twenty-five states are pushing bills which would give their states the sole right to regulate firearms within the state. Utah has now joined this group of states.
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ACLU looks into the use of military technology by local law-enforcement
Affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union in twenty-three difference states have filed more than 255 requests for public records in order to determine how many local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics – technology and tactics which have that have traditionally been used on battlefields overseas such as, most recently, in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
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U.S. arms sales, security partnerships to suffer as a result of sequestration cuts
One area where sequestration-mandated budget cuts will be felt sooner rather than later is U.S. support for foreign militaries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Training and security partnership engagements with allies will likely decline as well as the Defense Department must now operate with a $46 billion cut in its budget for fiscal 2013.
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NIST offers forensic science education and training Webcasts
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is offering three upcoming educational and skills-building events — two workshops followed by a conference — for forensic science professionals. All of the events will be free to attend and viewable via live Webcasts.
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U.S. military “unprepared” for cyberattacks by “top-tier,” cyber-capable adversary: Pentagon
A new Pentagon study concludes that the U.S. military is unprepared for a full-scale cyber-conflict with a top-tier, cyber-capable adversary. The report says the United States must increase its offensive cyberwarfare capabilities, and that the U.S. intelligence agencies must invest more resources in obtaining information about other countries’ cyberwar capabilities and plans. The report says that the United States must maintain the threat of a nuclear strike as a deterrent to a major cyberattack by other countries. The report warns that the Pentagon cannot be confident its military computer systems and communication networks are not compromised because many of the components of these systems and networks are made in countries which pose the main cyberthreat to U.S. national security.
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More headlines
The long view
How Quickly Could Iran Make Nuclear Weapons Today?
By David Albright
For Iran, two of the three poles in the tent of building nuclear weapons – fissile material and delivery vehicles — are essentially complete. It will take them one week to enrich enough uranium to 90 percent for one bomb (and one month to enrich enough uranium for six bombs). Iran also has a variety of delivery systems, including nuclear-capable missiles: the delivery pole is ready. Weaponization is the pole that needs more work. The accelerated weaponization program can be accomplished in a matter of six months.
Fifty-Five Hours of Risk: The Dangerous Implications of Slow Attack Attribution
By J. D. Maddox
Assuming that its foreign adversaries’ recent violent threats are to be taken seriously, and that the likelihood of a direct attack against the United States is, if not on the rise, at least significant enough to warrant serious attention, the United States has an urgent mandate to prepare effective cognitive defenses. Foremost among these is the ability to quickly and accurately attribute attacks to their originators, and to deliver that information to the public through a trustworthy vehicle.
What Can We Learn from the Nation’s Historic Decline in Murders?
By Champe Barton
The U.S. endured a spike in gun violence during the pandemic, but it’s subsiding in many places. A researcher puts the latest homicide statistics into context — and warns lawmakers not to become complacent.
Is Left-Wing Terrorism Making a Comeback in Germany? Analyzing the “Engel – Guntermann Network”
By Christian Jokinen
For Germany, the reemergence of more violence orientated left-wing extremist actors has diversified the threat posed by non-state actors even further. Violent left-wing extremism is also of growing concern across Europe. While left-wing violent extremism does not currently represent as acute a threat as currently manifested by jihadist and right-wing terrorist attacks, the recent concerning trend among German left-wing extremists is toward greater violence and transnationalism.
Saving Seconds, Saving Lives: NIST-Funded Challenge Crowns Winners in 3D Tracking Technology
NIST has awarded $1.9 million to six teams for innovative 3D tracking solutions in the final phase of a competition. The winning designs combine localization and biometric monitoring, using sensors affixed to first responders’ equipment. This competition is part of an $8 million NIST-funded initiative to address first responders’ need for improved tracking in emergency settings where GPS falls short.
For First Responders, Communication with Their Teams is Essential
When a first responder enters a building during an emergency, they count on being able to communicate with their team at all times. Their safety and their ability to carry out the mission relies on knowing they can reach help and support anywhere that they need to go within a structure.