• New search tool finds you, even in untagged photos

    A new algorithm designed at the University of Toronto has the power profoundly to change the way we find photos among the billions on social media sites such as Facebook and Flickr. The search tool uses tag locations to quantify relationships between individuals, even those not tagged in any given photo.

  • East Asia tensions on the rise as China plans more unilateral moves

    The Obama administration has advised American commercial airlines to comply with China’s demand to be notified in advance of all aircraft passing through China’s newly – and unilaterally — defined Air Defense Identification Zone(ADIZ). In contrast, Japan’s government has notified its commercial airlines to proceed with business as usual. Regional tensions are on the rise as China has said it expects to set up other ADIZs within the region.

  • Nigerian vigilantes join fight against Islamist Boko Haram

    In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria where the Islamist Boko Haram has emerged, a network of vigilantes, called the Civilian JTF, is fighting the militants to gain back control of the local economy and daily life. Many Nigerians are not persuaded the Nigerian military is doing all it could to defeat the Islamist insurgency.

  • Obama chooses John Roth for DHS IG

    The DHS Inspector General post has been vacant since early 2011, when Richard Skinner retired. Lawmakers say they welcome President Obama’s nomination of John Roth for the position. Roth has held different positions at the Department of Justice, and since last year has served as the head of the Food and Drug Administration’s office of criminal investigations. The inspector general’s office is currently headed by Charles Edwards, who has been under investigation for alleged improprieties, including complaints that he violated anti-nepotism rules by employing his wife as a supervisory auditor and changed audit findings in response to political pressure. Lawmakers have called on him to resign.

  • U.S., Japan reject China’s unilateral East China Sea claims

    The Chinese government this past weekend has declared the country’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), effective immediately. The zone covers an area in the East China Sea — two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom – which includes islands claimed by both China and Japan. China calls them the Diaoyou islands, while Japan calls them the Senkaku islands. The United States and Japan said they would not abide by China’s unilateral decision, and on Tuesday the United States sent two B-52s long-range bombers to conduct “routine training mission” through the airspace China declared as its own, and did so without following China’s instructions about how aircraft should conduct themselves in that space.

  • Security Council condemns LRA’s “war crimes”

    The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its use of children in armed conflict. The council demanded that the group immediately end all hostilities, release all abductees, and disarm and demobilize.

  • Uranium, plutonium, heavy water … why Iran’s nuclear deal matters

    By Martin Sevior

    The agreement reached with Iran will limit enrichment to 5 percent U-235 and allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors regular visits (even daily) to their facilities. The inspectors can easily determine the ratios of U-235 and Pu-239 in the input fuel and waste streams via the characteristic radiation signatures of the isotopes involved. These stand out like a sore thumb to their instruments. In addition, the IAEA will measure the amount of U-235 employed at each facility to determine if any of the uranium is diverted to undisclosed locations. While this arrangement is operating it is highly unlikely that Iran will be able to build nuclear weapons.

  • Community ties affect terrorist groups’ targeting of civilians

    A new study finds terrorist groups which are embedded into the society around them may choose tactics that compromise the group’s strategic or ideological priorities in order to avoid alienating local communities. The study highlights how community condemnation generates restraint in terrorists’ targeting of civilians, while endorsements may facilitate such attacks.

  • Exploring “culture of surveillance” in the United States

    Recent revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been analyzing the communication records of all U.S. citizens have many talking about the topic of “mass surveillance” by the government. A University of Kansas sociologist who has been documenting what he calls our “culture of surveillance” for nearly twenty years argues, however, that these developments are part of deeper social and cultural changes going on for quite some time. Professor William Staples focuses his attention on the relatively mundane techniques of keeping a close watch of people — what he has dubbed the “Tiny Brothers” — which are increasingly present in the workplace, school, home, and community.

  • Government agencies recognized for engagement with industry

    The Washington Homeland Security Roundtable (WHSR) established the Industry Engagement Awards to recognize exceptional efforts by government agencies to collaborate, engage, and partner with industry. Last year, WHSR recognized both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Border Patrol for their engagement and programs with industry through WHSR. At their upcoming 4 December holiday reception, WHSR will again recognize various government leaders of DHS component agencies for their contributions to partnering and engaging with industry.

  • The interim agreement between the P5+1 and Iran: the details

    The P5+1 countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China, facilitated by the European Union) have been engaged in negotiations with Iran in an effort to reach a verifiable diplomatic resolution which would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. On Sunday, the P5+1 and Iran reached a set of initial understandings which halts, at least temporarily, the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and rolls it back in key respects. In return, for Iran’s concessions, and as part of this initial step, the P5+1 will provide what the agreement describes as “limited, temporary, targeted, and reversible” relief to Iran.

  • Off-shore barges considered for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons

    After failing to find a country willing to allow its territory to be used for disposing of Syria’s chemical weapons, the United States is exploring other options. Two options being seriously considered involve the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons off shore, rather than on land. Both proposals call for removing the chemical weapons from Syria and placing them on a large barge at sea, where they would be dissolved or incinerated.

  • List of most-at-risk L.A. buildings to be released

    Scientists have compiled a list of concrete buildings in Los Angeles which could be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake. The list identifies about 1,500 concrete structures built before 1980 which need further study to determine their risk level. Structural engineers insist that hundreds could die if any of the buildings collapsed.

  • Sahel-Sahara countries to build joint security training center in Rabat

    At a meeting on common security challenges in north and west Africa, government officials from nineteen Sahel, Sahara, and Maghreb countries agreed to build a joint security training center in Rabat, Morocco, to increase the competency of the region’s security forces to deal with growing terrorist and jihadist threats. The nineteen countries will also increase information sharing and harmonize the legal means they use to fight security threats. The ministers said that one of the first steps toward improving security in west and north Africa would be to improve monitoring of border and increase border security.

  • Israel withdraws from U.S. terror case to placate China

    The Israeli government has prohibited a former security official from testifying in an anti-terrorism case in the United States. The case involves families of victims of Palestinian suicide bombers who claim the Bank of China facilitated transfers of funds used to carry out the suicide attacks, and other attacks which are not part of the case. The Israeli government initially pushed for the official’s testimony because it would have shed light on the services the Bank of China offered Hamas and Islamic Jihad – but now says it would not allow him to testify for fear the testimony would reveal methods and sources.Critics of Netanyahu’s U-turn on the issue of fighting terrorism, an issue which has been central to his political career, say that preventing the official from testifying has nothing to do with intelligence information. Rather, it has to do with Israel’s growing economic and security relations with China.