• Global Entry program expands to four additional airports

    CBP announced the expansion of the Global Entry program to four additional airports; the expansion will make the program available at airports serving 97 percent of international travelers arriving in the United States

  • Armed pilot program budget to be slashed in half

    The Obama administration’s budget proposes cutting more than half the funding for a program that trains airline pilots to wield guns in the event of a terrorist takeover; the program is voluntary and consists of an intensive eight-day training course and a recurring training every six months; thousands of U.S. airline pilots have been trained to carry weapons as a final line of defense against terrorism

  • DHS report concludes airport scanners are safe

    A new report by the DHS Inspector General concludes that the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) full body scanners are safe; the IG reviewed five independent studies and concluded that an airline passenger would have to be subjected to 17,000 screenings a year, or forty-seven a day, to reach the limit of acceptable radiation dosing

  • Air Marshals complain of rampant workplace discrimination

    A recently released DHS Inspector General report found that feelings of discrimination against homosexuals, minorities, and veterans were rampant among the Federal Air Marshal service

  • Court: Malaysian woman can sue DHS over No-Fly List

    A U.S. appeals court has cleared the way for a Malaysian woman to file a lawsuit against DHS and the FBI for mistakenly placing her on the No-Fly List and arresting her at San Francisco International Airport in 2005; Rahinah Ibrahim, who has never been accused of any crimes, was arrested and placed in a holding cell for two hours

  • Growing ubiquity of X-ray scanners could pose public health risk

    Body scanners are now routinely deployed in airports, border check points, and even the streets of some American cities; with the use of X-ray scanners by law enforcement agencies becoming increasingly commonplace, health advocates worry that the additional radiation exposure could pose a health risk; repeated exposures to low-doses of radiation can lead to cancer; currently federal health standards are primarily limited to medical X-rays and since the body scanners do not fall under this category, the decision on where and how to use the devices is entirely up to security officials

  • New bill to allow more private screeners at airports

    Private security companies could soon be taking over passenger screening at U.S. airports thanks to recently passed legislation that has cleared both the Senate and the House; the proposed law would require that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allow airports to switch to private contractors unless it can demonstrate that the move is not cost-effective and hinders security

  • Risk-based passenger screening may well make air travel safer

    In a new study, researchers demonstrate that intensive screening of all passengers actually makes the system less secure by overtaxing security resources; the reason: when overestimating the population risk, a larger proportion of high-risk passengers are designated for too little screening while a larger proportion of low-risk passengers are subjected to too much screening

  • Two U.K. citizens detained by DHS over Twitter jokes

    In an egregious error, Homeland Security agents apprehended two young British travelers bound for Los Angeles over misunderstood tweets

  • New scanner allows passengers to take liquids on board

    A new bottle scanner enables aircraft passengers to carry liquid items larger than 100 ml once more; airports could now allow passengers to take items such as water, cosmetics, perfumes, and duty free through airport security channels from as early as 2013

  • Buffalo airport perimeter security found 100 percent accurate

    A recent Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report found that the new perimeter security system at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York was 100 percent accurate in tracking and detecting intrusions

  • TSA screens employees for radiation from body scanners

    In response to fierce criticism that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was needlessly exposing millions of airport passengers to potentially harmful amounts of radiation, the agency has agreed to measure radiation exposure levels from full-body scanners at 100 airports across the country

  • Accenture to bolster capabilities of US-VISIT

    DHS has awarded Accenture Federal Services a 13-month, $71 million contract further to enhance the capabilities of US-VISIT

  • More travelers worry about health effects of airport scanning

    More than 1 in 5 passengers in a recent survey (23 percent) said they would refuse to be examined in one of the whole-body scanners now in many airports; a third of people under 35 said they would decline the scans; the debate among health and radiation experts continue, with no consensus yet about the health effects of airport screening

  • TSA union blasts DHS over labor dispute

    Union representatives of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees sharply criticized the agency’s leaders over its approach to labor negotiations