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Defusing the threat of ionizing radiation
The damage to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake raised concerns regarding U.S. preparedness to treat large-scale human exposure to ionizing radiation. Additionally, the immediate destructive potential of nuclear and radiological weapons, as well as their long-term health and economic impacts, continue to be of concern to DoD. Researchers look for novel approaches to mitigate immediate and long-term health damage from acute exposure to ionizing radiation and model its biophysical effects.
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Colorado moving closer to imposing tighter gun restrictions
Colorado, home of two of the worst mass shooting in United States history, is moving a step closer to passing a new set of gun restrictions. Last Friday, Colorado’s House of Representatives gave approval to legislations which will require background checks for private gun sales as well as limits on clip capacity. Other measures are being considered
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DHS to buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition
DHS is looking to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the next four or five years — this comes to about five bullets for every person in the United States. The news was met in some conspiratorial quarters as an indication that the government is in an “arms race against the American people,” but the truth is more mundane: the rounds will be used for basic and advanced law enforcement training for federal law enforcement agencies supervised by DHS. The training will be conducted Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia and other facilities, which also offer firearms training to tens of thousands of federal law enforcement officers.
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Ohio country authorized to use drones to look for missing persons
The Medina County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office has recently been authorized to fly drones on police missions. Tom Miller, the county’s new sheriff, said the drones will be used specifically for looking for missing people or suspect who may be hiding in the woods.
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DHS HQ cafeteria employee claims she was repeatedly raped on the job
A cafeteria employee claims she was sexually assaulted and raped several times at the cafeteria of the DHS headquarters building in Northwest Washington, D.C. The D.C. police is now investigating.
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Alabama consolidates state law enforcement, IT agencies
A Republican-led effort to consolidate government operations in Alabama was met with a bi-partisan approval as both Democrats and Republicans voted to merge law enforcement and information technology operations. A study done by Auburn University at Montgomery estimates state agencies spend $317 million a year on IT operations, and that with the new measures, the state could save between $32 million and $64 million.
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Jumping soft robots avoid obstacles during search and rescue operations
These soft robots can already stand, walk, wriggle under obstacles, and change colors. Now researchers are adding a new skill to the soft robot tool kit: jumping. Researchers make the robots jump by using combustible gases. This ability to jump could one day prove critical in allowing the robots to avoid obstacles during search and rescue operations.
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Maryland drills first responders in response to “large-scale” incident
More than 100 police, fire, first responders, military and civilian personnel took part in a homeland security exercise earlier this month at Battelle in Aberdeen, Maryland. The exercise included intelligence and information sharing, mass casualty care, on-site security and protection, operational coordination, and public information and communication.
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Biden argues new gun laws needed
Vice President Joe Biden told regional law enforcement officials in Philadelphia on Monday that new gun laws are needed if gun violence is to stop. Biden pledged to take his message around the country.
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Seattle mayor says no to drones
Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has shut down the Seattle Police Department’s drone program before it started. McGinn said the police need to stay focused on “community building.” The announcement came just one day after the city held a public hearing to discuss restrictions to be imposed on drone use by the police departments. Many citizens voiced their concerns about possible violations of privacy.
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DHS grant to fund technology for tracking mobile devices
The University Of Alabama at Birmingham(UAB) has been given a $583,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Securityto build a system for verifying the location history and chorological track of cell phones and smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The system being built could also be used to eliminate contest fraud, verify the origin of sea food, and protect national security.
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Cat Killer Sean Lynde MacKenzie moves to Cyber-Extortion, Cyber-Harassment
Sean Lynde, who pled guilty in New York to criminal animal cruelty and cyber extortion, has now assumed the name “MacKenzie” and is expanding his cyber extortion activities. According to charges filed before the New York Supreme Court, Lynde is now purchasing Web site accounts using other people’s names, posting death threats and defamatory statements on these sites, and then trying to extort funds from the targets. Holding multiple drivers licenses, in multiple names, Lynde reflects how criminals increasingly use the Web to cyber extort businesses and individuals
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Cat Killer Sean Lynde MacKenzie moves to Cyber-Extortion, Cyber-Harassment
Sean Lynde, who pled guilty in New York to criminal animal cruelty and cyber extortion, has now assumed the name “MacKenzie” and is expanding his cyber extortion activities. According to charges filed before the New York Supreme Court, Lynde is now purchasing Web site accounts using other people’s names, posting death threats and defamatory statements on these sites, and then trying to extort funds from the targets. Holding multiple drivers licenses, in multiple names, Lynde reflects how criminals increasingly use the Web to cyber extort businesses and individuals
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Florida restricts the use of drones by law enforcement agencies
States continue to restrict the use of drones by law enforcement agencies. Florida police agencies wanted state lawmakers to make a special exception in a bill which bans the use of UAVs by law enforcement, so that drones could be used for crowd control. The bill, however, won the approval of the Senate Community Affairs Committee without the exception.
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Bangladeshi man pleads guilty to trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank building
A Bangladeshi man who triedattempted to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank has pleaded guilty to the charges. Under the plea agreement, he will faces up to life in prison.
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More headlines
The long view
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.