Budget

U.K. local authorities lack intelligence for effective counter-terrorism
A government study finds that government counter-terrorism funding to local authorities and neighborhood policing over the last two years has yet to translate into a coherent strategy to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremists
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DHS releases FY2009 guidance for $3 billion worth of grants
FEMA requests applications for 14 programs for which it has allocated $3 billion; funded programs concentrate on state and local governments and strengthening community preparedness
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The priorities of DHS's Science and Technology Directorate
DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate is known for its restless, entrepreneurial spirit; it has a $830 million dollar budget, and 250 projects under development at any one time
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U.S. debates creating domestic intelligence agency
A new RAND study examines the benefits of creating a domestic intelligence agency; research group offers a break-even analysis of the various counterterrorism organizational options
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Satellite program canceled; intelligence community uneasy
Congress has shelved a Pentagon program to buy two commercial imagery satellites; in 2005 the Pentagon pulled the plug on a major component of the Future Imagery Architecture system; U.S. intelligence community fears intelligence gaps will open
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New DHS network still has problems
HSIN was launched in 2004 to provide a secure, Internet-based system to share terrorism information with federal, state, and local agencies and the private sector, but ran into problems; last year DHS decided to replace it with a new system, but that one, too, has problems
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DHS, NSF announce $3.1 million awards for radiological detection
DHS and NSF give awards to academic institutions to advance research in radiological and nuclear detection
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Texas county weighing border fence alternatives
Cameron County, Texas, must decide which option is more beneficial to it: DHS’s fence plan which the county does not like, but which will see $37 million in contracts go to local businesses, or resubmitting the county’s alternative fence plan, which DHS had already rejected, exploiting the fact that DHS has postponed the 31 December fence deadline
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More debate about how best to defend Earth against asteroids
U.C. Berkeley expert says protecting Earth against incoming asteroids “is not an astronomy problem. It is a financial problem, an accounting problem, an international problem, an organizational problem, a political problem”
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Briefly noted
Aussie cyber security needs work… D.C. policy carry iPhones… Surveillance radar in Indonesian straits… HUD awards Iowa critical infrastructure funds…
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India eases foreign borrowing rules to aid infrastructure
The U.S. infrastructure is often described as “aging” or “crumbling”; in india they refer to the country’s “ramshackle infrastructure”; the Indian government, as part of a move to have $500 billion invested in improving the country’s infrastructure, eases borrowing rule, allowing Indian companies involved in infrastructure improvement to borrow more money abroad
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USPS to deploy IPv6-capable video surveillance
The U.S. Postal Services wants to increase security inside the more than 40,000 post offices around the country; it will install IPv6-capable CCTV systems — complying with the federal government encouragment of agnecies to migrate to IPv6
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DHS may operate under continuing resolution in the new fiscal year
Republican lawmakers and DHS officials warn that allowing DHS to operate under a continuing resolution in the new fiscal year would have consequences for several programs, possibly weakening U.S. security; Democrats strongly disagree
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Panel says nearly $15 billion wasted in 11 failed DHS contracts
A House homeleand security subcommittee charges that there is nearly $15 billion in waste in 11 failed DHS contract
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Asking fundamental questions about the homeland security agenda
The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks should occasion a debate about fundamentals, not merely a tactical, short-term security issues; such fundamental issues have to do with how the United States fits increased security from natural and man-made disasters into a liberal, democratic, free-market system characterized by federalism and checks-and-balances
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