• CBP overtime costs soar, agency seeks solutions

    Over the past six years U.S. Border Patrol agents have accrued more and more overtime pay at the same time that the number of arrests for illegal crossers has fallen to record lows; the cost of overtime has rocketed from roughly $156 million in 2006 to more than $331 million in 2011, with DHS spending more than $1.4 billion total during that time period

  • Fort Wayne Mayor dissolves joint homeland security department

    After six years of operation, the joint Fort Wayne-Allen County Homeland Security Department has been dissolved; last week Tom Henry, the Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana sent a letter to county officials notifying them of the city’s plans to end its agreement to share in the costs of the local homeland security department

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Budget cuts hamper U.S. response to biological attack

    A recently released report charges that state and federal budget cuts have weakened U.S. bioterrorism response capabilities

  • NY counties receive money to prepare for emergencies

    The magnitude of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee posed serious communications challenges to the response and recovery efforts among many New York counties; these counties are now receiving $20 million in funding to help localities better respond to emergency situations

  • Lawmakers make steep cuts to DHS research budget

    Over the weekend the Senate approved an omnibus spending bill that would result in deep cuts to DHS’ research and development arm

  • Spending cuts force contractors to alter strategy

    Projected federal spending cuts are upsetting the status quo in the world of government contracting, forcing firms to reevaluate their business strategies or determine whether they can do business at all

  • Indiana sheriffs use video conferencing to reduce costs

    In an effort to reduce costs, officials in Tippecanoe County, Indiana have begun using video conferencing technology to hold court hearings without transporting the defendant to the courtroom

  • DARPA to boost cyber research spending by 50 percent

    Last week, the head of the Department of Defense’s advanced research arm announced that the agency would increase cyber research spending by 50 percent over the next five years to develop both defensive and offensive capabilities

  • Budget cuts force Nevada to reconsider security priorities

    Next fiscal year Nevada will be forced to adapt to a 47 percent cut in DHS funding. To prepare for this new financial reality, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval has called for a reassessment of the state’s homeland security priorities

  • $4.1 Million in DHS grants awarded in Kentucky

    Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced last Thursday that 125 projects will receive approximately $4.1 million in grants courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security

  • N.Y. businesses protest DHS budget cuts

    On Monday more than 100 New York City business executives urged lawmakers to maintain current DHS spending levels to prevent a future terrorist attack in the city; their business people move comes in response to the latest proposed budget for DHS by the House which looks to cut more than $1 billion, or 2.6 percent, of the agency’s budget; meanwhile the Senate has proposed cutting more than $650 million from DHS’ 2011 budget of $41 billion

  • Predicting race and ethnicity from irises now possible

    Conventional wisdom holds that irises, like fingerprints, are unique to each individual and have little similarities between ethnic groups or gender, but a groundbreaking new study indicates that biometric scanners can actually predict race and gender based on iris texture alone; the study’s findings are important in that it opens new avenues for research that previously were not thought possible