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DHS IG: Cook County communications program botched
On Monday the DHS Inspector General blasted officials in Cook County, Illinois for mishandling a $45 million federally funded project to upgrade communications equipment for first responders; the Inspector General said the Cook County program, dubbed Project Shield, was fraught with trouble from the start, resulted in equipment that did not work, and potentially wasted millions of taxpayers’ dollars
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Israel takes out another Iranian nuclear scientist
Yet another Iranian scientist associated with Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been killed earlier today: Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who was the deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed when a “sticky” bomb was attached to his car by two men on a motorcycle; in the last two years, Israel’s Mossad has taken out four leading Iranian nuclear scientists; there are reports that this latest strike was a joint Mossad-MEK operation
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Morocco changes offer U.S. “very important opportunity”
Homeland Security NewsWire’s Executive Editor Eugene K. Chow recently had the opportunity to chat with Robert M. Holley, the executive director of the Moroccan American Center for Policy; in their interview Holley discusses the implications of Morocco’s recent historic elections, the likely policies of the newly elected moderate Islamist party, and the broader consequences of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya
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New way to detect underground nuclear tests
A new analysis of satellite data from the late 1990s documents for the first time the “uplift” of ground above a site of underground nuclear testing, providing researchers a new tool for analyzing the strength of underground nuclear detonation
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British military gears up to secure 2012 Olympic Games
As London gears up for the 2012 Olympic Games, event organizers and government officials have spared no expense on security measures to ensure the safety of the hundreds of thousands of athletes, spectators, and VIPS attending the six week event which begins on 27 July
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State Department launches new Bureau of Counterterrorism
Last week, the State Department announced that its counterterrorism office has been upgraded to a “full-fledged bureau”
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Al Qaeda wants to be your “friend” and “follower”
Hackers attacking databases is just one facet of online terrorist activity; international terrorist organizations have shifted their Internet activity focus to social networks and today a number of Facebook groups are asking users to join and support Hezbollah, Hamas, and other armed groups that have been included in the West’s list of declared terror organizations
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Record high police fatalities, second year in a row
For the second year in a row, a record number of law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty; the chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund blamed the recent spate of law enforcement deaths on budget cuts
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LA sheriff department upgrading its 1980-era terminals
The Los Angeles Sheriff Department is upgrading its 1980s-era terminals, for which it had become difficult for the largest sheriff’s agency in the United States to find parts; the upgrade – Raytheon’s Mobile Digital Computer System (MDCS); the MDCS project and major technology upgrade represents the largest-ever deployment of mobile digital computers to a sheriff’s department in the country
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Thirty U.S. car dealers caught in Hezbollah terror-financing scheme
Thirty used car dealerships in the United States are currently under investigation for their part in an international money laundering scheme that sent roughly $300 million to the known terrorist organization Hezbollah
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Al Qaeda leaders fleeing to North Africa
Reports from senior British military officials indicate that al Qaeda’s top leaders are moving out of Pakistan and into North Africa potentially in an attempt to avoid casualties from the U.S. drone campaign or as a broader shift in strategy
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Emergency responders prepare for chaotic New Year’s Eve
Emergency responders across the nation are gearing up for another busy New Year’s; each year the holiday sends overly enthusiastic revelers to the emergency room with alcohol-fueled deaths and injuries, but this New Year’s is expected to be particularly chaotic as it falls on a Saturday, giving party-goers all day to imbibe and a full day to recover
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New DHS headquarters delayed 5 years and $500 million over
The latest Congressionally-approved budget for DHS will delay the building of the agency’s new headquarters by at least five years and cost an additional $500 million
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The Iran decision: the pros and cons of the military option -- I
Short of unforeseen developments, the real decision U.S., Israeli, and European leaders will face in 2012 is not whether to use military means or other means to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons or the capability to produce them; the real decision, rather, will be between using military means to stop Iran’s confident march toward the bomb, and accepting the reality of a nuclear-armed Iran; those who support a military attack on Iran argue that the choice is thus between two very bad options: a nuclear armed Iran or a war to prevent it from going nuclear; each of these options has its costs, but the costs of allowing Iran to become a nuclear weapon state far outweigh the costs of using a military attack to prevent it from becoming one
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FBI’s eGuardian integrated with Memex Patriarch
Deployed over the last three years, FBI eGuardian is a nationwide Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) system focused on counterterrorism tips and leads; the agency has now integrated eGuardian with Patriarch Intelligence Management Platform from Memmex
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More headlines
The long view
Preventing Another 'Jan. 6' Starts by Changing How Elections Are Certified, Experts Say
The 2024 presidential election may be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but preventing a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021 — when false claims of a stolen election promoted by Donald Trump and his allies led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol —will be top of mind this election year. Research finds broad support among public for nonpartisan certification commissions.
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
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.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.
Don’t Buy Moscow’s Shameless Campaign Tying Biden to Its Terrorist Attack
Russia has offered many different explanations to the ISIS-K’s 22 March 2024 terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, but the most recent explanation offered by Russia is the most audacious yet: Russia now charges that the Ukrainian energy company Burisma financed the attack. Burisma is at the center of an effort by a congressional committee to impeach President Biden, but the case has all but collapsed. Hunter Stoll writes that Russia’s disinformation and propaganda apparatus appears to be searching for ways to keep Burisma in the news ahead of the U.S. presidential election.