Budget

Aussies to create private-public partnership to strengthen infrastructure
The Australian federal government has established a $20 billion Building Australia Fund to help finance critical infrastructure projects; trouble is, the country’s tender process is erratic and complicated; new measure aims to correct this
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Kiwis plan for critical infrastructure investment
New Zealand’s government plans massive increase in investment in infrastructure; Finance Minister Michael Cullen: “We will deliver more investment…. You will be hearing a lot more about infrastructure from the Labor-led government in the months ahead”
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Report calls for long-term homeland security capacity
The U.S. homeland security effort should be long-term in nature and less dependent on the political vagaries of the annual budgeting process; security efforts will be more sustainable if they are “dual use” and offer broader societal benefits beyond just security
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Nuclear fuel cycle echnology R&D, $15 million awarded
U.S. Department of Energy awards funding ranging in value from $200,000 to $2,000,000 to 34 organizations to do reasearch into spent fuel separations technology, advanced nuclear fuel development, fast burner reactors, and advanced transmutation systems, advanced fuel cycle systems analysis, advanced computing and simulation, safeguards, and advanced waste forms
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DHS prepares for attack during transition
Elaine Duke, DHS’s undersecretary for management: “A lot of acts of terror take place in times of political change, and there’s an awareness of that…. So we’re looking at — when our political employees leave — who acts in their place … in case of an incident”
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IG says delays in bioterrorism lab threatened D.C.'s capabilities
Washington, D.C. took ownership of the 5,285-square-foot Biosafety Level 3 lab, in which dangerous pathogens such as anthrax, tuberculosis, typhus, and yellow fever can be quickly analyzed; trouble is, the project is nine years behind schedule
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DHS awards $1.8 billion in preparedness grants
DHS will award approximately $3 billion in Fiscal Year 2008 for preparedness; department has provided roughly $25 billion in grants since Fiscal Year 2002 to state, local, and tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations
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U.K. says country is a good place for scientific research
U.K. government body releases a reference work showing major research infrastructures, including light sources, research ships, innovative laboratories, and social data sets
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New Jersey's Stevens Tech to lead research on port security
Hoboken is poised to become a center for research into port security
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GAO strongly criticizes DoE over Hanford clean-up
More than 210 million liters of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State; most are more than fifty years old; GAO says there now “serious questions about the tanks’ long-term viability”
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Homeland security experts on priorities for next administration
Experts: The next administration’s top four homeland security priorities should be border security, emergency response, development of medical counter-measures to weapons of mass destruction, and port security
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Federal money for identity programs boost biometrics market
A slew of U.S. government programs — US VISIT, the Real ID Act, TWIC, the FBI’s next-generation database, and many more — depend on biometric technology; the estimated value of potential contracts to implement federal identity-solutions programs has more than doubled since 2006, rising from $890 million to $2 billion this year; biometric companies fiercely compete — and lobby — for contracts
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Pentagon's IG resigns
Claude Kicklighter, who took over as Pentagon inspector general in April 2007, has accepted a teaching position at George Mason University; he will be executive director of the university’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Project
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$30.5 billion U.S. loan guarantees for advanced energy technology
The U.S. Department of Energy issues three solicitations for a total of up to $30.5 billion in loan guarantees for projects that employ advanced energy technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions
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U.S. DOE offers $1.3 billion funding for clean coal technology
The Bush administration sees clean coal as a vital component of its energy policy, and the Department of Energy announced a funding opportunity of $1.3 billion for companies and organizations doing research and development of clean coal
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