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UNLV counterterrorism institute spends $9 million with little to show for it
More problems for UNLV — but for a change not with its men’s basketball team: A mysterious counterterrorism institute on campus has spent nearly $9 million with but little to show for it
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Engineering partnership in $750 million FEMA housing inspection contract
FEMA has awarded a new $750 million contract to a joint engineering venture to provide housing inspection services — on short notice — to the U.S. government in areas affected by disasters
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U.S. to buy $165 million worth of anthrax medicine from HGS
After fourteen years, HGS has their first product sale; the company is experimenting in anthrax therapies and the U.S. government is buying; 20,000 doses to be exact
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DHS on SBInet RFP: "Transformational," "audaciously ambitious"
DHS issues its long-awaited SBInet RFP accompanying the release with language some industry insiders consider a bit over-drawn
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DHS identifies 5 companies for SBI short list
DHS has selected the short list companies for its SBI project — and these companies are already forming coalitions with small and mid-size firms better to prepare themselves for a successful bid
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DHS IG slams Unisys for shoddy performance on $1 billion TSA contract
Few government programs were as thoroughly botched as Unisys’ handling of a 2002 $1 billion TSA airport communication contract; the DHS IG has just completed his report on this sorry saga, and Unisys does not look any better for it; what does not help, at least on the PR front, is the fact that on-his-way-to-jail Jack Abramoff helped Unisys get the contract in the first place
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Transportation, border security largest homeland security allocations in proposed budget
An analysis of government-wide homeland security allocations in President Bush’s proposed budget shows that transportation and border security will receive the most money
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CCAT grants award to developer of robotics
Twenty years ago states sent representatives abroad to lure foreign automakers to build their plants in, say, Illinois or Tennessee; these days states send representatives abroad to lure foreign homeland security companies
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Trend: U.S. states lure foreign homeland security businesses
Kenneth Mead served for nine years as the IG at DoT; he has a lot to say about transportation security
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The long view
Setting the Stage for U.S. Leadership in 6G
Every day there are more headlines about China’s rise in 5G, the next generation of wireless communications technologies, and the economic and national security risks to the United States that go along with these developing technologies. These concerns, particularly the threat of critical infrastructure disruptions, are valid—but the plight of the United States is in part self-inflicted. The U.S. government waited too long to tackle the difficult issues surrounding 5G. As a result, China has unprecedented clout on the global stage regarding the deployment and diffusion of advanced communications technologies. With decisive action today, the U.S. can ensure its status as the undisputed leader in wireless technology within 10 years. In doing so, it will lock in the ability to build secure 6G infrastructure with all the accompanying economic and national security benefits.
Huawei Technicians Helped African Governments Spy on Political Opponents
Huawei Technologies Co., the world’s largest telecommunications company, dominates African markets, where it has sold security tools that governments use for digital surveillance and censorship. But Huawei employees have provided other services, not disclosed publicly. Technicians from the Chinese powerhouse have, in at least two cases, personally helped African governments spy on their political opponents, including intercepting their encrypted communications and social media, and using cell data to track their whereabouts. The incident in Uganda and another in Zambia, as detailed in a Wall Street Journal investigation, show how Huawei employees have used the company’s technology and other companies’ products to support the domestic spying of those governments.
Data Leviathan: China’s Burgeoning Surveillance State
Classical totalitarianism, in which the state controls all institutions and most aspects of public life, largely died with the Soviet Union, apart from a few holdouts such as North Korea. The Chinese Communist Party retained a state monopoly in the political realm but allowed a significant private economy to flourish. Yet today, in Xinjiang, a region in China’s northwest, a new totalitarianism is emerging—one built not on state ownership of enterprises or property but on the state’s intrusive collection and analysis of information about the people there. Xinjiang shows us what a surveillance state looks like under a government that brooks no dissent and seeks to preclude the ability to fight back. And it demonstrates the power of personal information as a tool of social control.
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.
How Does USAMRIID Shut Down Impact Nation’s Bioterrorism Laboratory Response Network?
The Laboratory Response Network (LRN) is a collaborative federal effort run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with other federal agency and public health partners. The U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Special Pathogens Laboratory at Fort Detrick is one of only three National Laboratories at the top of the protective umbrella of the LRN structure, along with those operated by the CDC and the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), responsible for specialized characterization of organisms, bioforensics, select agent activity, and handling highly infectious biological agents. It begs the question then, what happens when an important component of the nation’s biopreparedness infrastructure fails to meet CDC biosafety requirements and has its Federal Select Agent certification pulled?
Terrorists Turn to Bitcoin for Funding, and They’re Learning Fast
Terrorists have been slow to join other criminal elements that have been drawn to Bitcoin and have used it for everything from drug purchases to money laundering. But in recent months, government authorities and organizations that track terrorist financing have begun to raise alarms about an uptick in the number of Islamist terrorist organizations experimenting with Bitcoin and other digital coins.