• TSA replaces backscatter scanners with millimeter wave scanners at some airports

    TSA is replacing some backscatter scanners at large U.S. airports with millimeter wave scanners; backscatter scanners were criticized for violating travelers’ privacy, and risking travelers’ health by emitting high levels of radiation

  • Cybersecurity bill supporters want a vote on bill in this Congress

    Last week, lawmakers and top White House officials appeared in different events, conferences, and industry gatherings to promote the cyber security bill which has been stalled in the Senate since August; administration’s officials and lawmakers supporting the bill warned that the current situation leaves U.S. critical infrastructure and businesses vulnerable to attack from hackers and spies

  • Los Alamos lab accelerates shipment of nuclear waste to permanent storage site

    Los Alamos National Laboratory broke its own records in the first year of accelerated shipping effort of nuclear waste from the Lab to permanent disposal facilities located twenty-six miles outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico

  • Cyber criminals target small businesses

    A recent study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec found that 77 percent of small business owners in the United States think their company is safe from cyber criminals; trouble is, 83 percent of them do not have a cyber security plan

  • Sen. Rockefeller asks Fortune 500 CEOs for cybersecurity best practices

    Last month, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) sent a letter to the CEOs of fortune 500 companies asking them what cybersecurity practices they have adopted, how these practices were adopted, who developed them, and when they were developed; many saw Rockefeller’s letter as an admission that the Obama administration does not have a basis for trying to impose cybersecurity practices on the private sector through the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, now stalled in Congress

  • More companies adopt cloud disaster recovery solutions

    More and more companies adopt a cloud disaster recovery solution; in a recent 2012 TechTarget Cloud Pulse survey, a majority of the 926 companies that responded have said they are now using a cloud disaster recovery system or plan to in the next six months

  • U.S. energy policy should emphasize supply security, not energy independence

    America’s policymakers need to consider whether energy independence is really necessary to achieve adequate, reliable and affordable energy supplies, according to a new report from Deloitte; the United States already enjoys significant energy independence for most sectors and much of our economy

  • Sequestration-related defense budget cuts in 2013 to increase from $50.5 to $60.6 billion

    Defense contractors are already worried about $50 billion dollars which would be cut from the defense budget on 3 January 2013 if the White House and Congress fail to reach an agreement on a deficit reduction plan; budget analysts point out that due to a provision in the Budget Control Act, another $10 billion will be added to that amount, bringing the total in defense cuts in 2013 to $60.6 billion

  • China’s Mekong River dams undermine neighbors’ economies, food production

    Five Chinese dams on the Mekong River’s upper portions have caused rapid changes in water level, and other adverse effects, downstream, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos, where millions of people rely on the river for water, food, and transportation

  • Design competition for next generation ground vehicle opens

    DARPA is calling on innovators with expertise in designing and engineering drive train and mobility systems collaboratively to design elements of a new amphibious infantry vehicle, the Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG);the winning team will be awarded a $1,000,000 cash prize and will have its design built in the iFAB Foundry

  • Aussie banks considering biometric security

    Australia’s major banks are considering a move to biometric security systems in an effort to boost security for their customers; the banks are changing their systems as a way for customers to keep their money and valuables safe without ATM cards

  • To ensure success, Mexican drug cartels emulate corporate business model

    When the subject of Mexican drug cartels come up, most people think of bloody violence, pounds of cocaine or marijuana, and so much money people have to weight it instead of counting it; what people do not think about is the business models the cartels emulate – and they emulate the models and management charts of typical American corporations

  • U.S. keeps collecting money for a nuclear waste repository – but has no plans to build one

    Illinois utility customers have paid the U.S government $1.9 billion to store spent nuclear fuel from nuclear plants in the state in a permanent national nuclear waste repository; in the last thirty years, the U.S. government has collected $30 billion from utilities toward this permanent storage, and it keeps collecting $750 million a year; trouble is, in February 2009 the Obama administration decided to “defund” the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, and the U.S. government no longer has active plans for a centralized nuclear waste storage facility

  • Biometric technologies adopted by more Australian banks

    The use of face-recognition biometrics technology will soon become main stream in Australian banks, and may even be used in conjunction with other technologies; in a survey, 79 percent of Australians said that they were comfortable with fingerprint technology replacing banking PINs

  • GOP lawmakers advise defense contractors to issue sequestration-related layoff notices

    The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires that an employer who employs more than 100 employees must provide a 60-day advanced notice to employees of mass layoffs or the closing of a plant; if the act is not followed, employees can sue for back pay and benefits for up to sixty days; the Obama administration advised defense contractors that they should not comply with the act, even in the face of the 2 January 2013 $500 billion cut in the defense budget which would go into effect if no deficit reduction agreement is reached; if contracts are cancelled and mass lay-offs ensue, the administration said it would cover the defense contractors’ non-compliance-related legal costs; Republican lawmakers say they would block any payments to cover such non-compliance, and advised defense contractors that they should follow the law