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Concerns over E-Verify effectiveness as illegal immigration detentions drop
The Obama administration has mandated that by 8 September, all contractors who do work with the federal government must use E-Verify to ensure their prospective employees can legally work in the United States; senators say it is too easy to fool the current E-Verify system
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EADS wins large Saudi border protection deal
EADS’s win of the massive Saudi border fencing contract, valued at $2.3-2.8 billion, is part of the defense contractors effort to use homeland security projects as a means to bolster its revenues
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The business aspects of get-tough immigration policy
The post-9/11 get-tough policy toward immigration has meant booming business for private prison-management companies; the building of prisons and detention centers is now a much-needed source of income for cash-strapped rural communities
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U.S. halts uranium mining at Grand Canyon
The Interior Department has barred the filing of new mining claims, including for uranium, on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon
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DARPA awards Cobham $15 million for wireless network
DARPA awards Cobham a contract calling for the company to develop low-cost wireless network nodes which support adaptation by means of distributed network processing
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Google, Microsoft promise new age in cyber-security
Security-conscious consumers are in the habit of regularly updating their antivirus software; this will soon be unnecessary — this, at least, is the promise of both Microsoft and Google; the two companies’ new operating systems will include built-in, continuously updated defenses against viruses and malware
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Trend: Businesses increasingly rely on SAS for security
More and more companies have gravitated toward the idea of “software as a service” (SAS) — using software that is delivered remotely instead of hosted on in-house servers; more and more companies are now offering security products as services — but is it the best approach to security?
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Raytheon wins $155 million wireless contract
DARPA awards Raytheon $155 million to provide a military wireless network interoperable gateway
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Houston computer forensics lab accredited
Newly accredited Houston lab expands Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory Network (RCFL), a national network of sixteen FBI-sponsored digital forensics laboratories and training centers devoted entirely to the scientific examination of digital evidence in support of criminal investigations
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Investment in R&D sees thriving biometric markets
With security remaining a top priority at all levels of U.S. government, the biometrics market is seeing market stability and returns on their investments in R&D
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Officials complain about northern border policy
Five-hundred government officials, policy experts, and business leaders from the United States and Canada gather to discuss the impact of security measures along the U.S.-Canada border on commerce; their conclusion: What is good for the U.S.-Mexico border may be unsuitable for the U.S.-Canada border
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GSA adds more cybersecurity software to SmartBuy program
GSA estimates the contracts could be worth $20 million over five years
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Cyber crime bigwigs using big-business tactics
Cisco cybercrime reports says “The novel thing is that [cybercriminals] have taken the Harvard Business School, General Electric board room business training and applied it to their old techniques”
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Local flexibility required to ease border crossing, facilitate commerce
Canada and the United States are the world’s two biggest trading partners — with $596 billion in trade in 2008; new report says that tight U.S.-Canada border rules are bad for business
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IBM signs U.K. biometric passport deal
IBM signs a £265 million contract with the U.K. Border Agency’s (UKBA) to provide UKBA with fingerprinting capabilities and run the database that will store the facial images and fingerprints needed to keep the passport in line with international standards
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The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
Bookshelf: Preserving the U.S. Technological Republic
The United States since its founding has always been a technological republic, one whose place in the world has been made possible and advanced by its capacity for innovation. But our present advantage cannot be taken for granted.
Critical Minerals Don’t Belong in Landfills – Microwave Tech Offers a Cleaner Way to Reclaim Them from E-waste
E-waste recycling focuses on retrieving steel, copper, aluminum, but ignores tiny specks of critical materials. Once technology becomes available to recover these tiny but valuable specks of critical materials quickly and affordably, the U.S. can transform domestic recycling and take a big step toward solving its shortage of critical materials.
Microbes That Extract Rare Earth Elements Also Can Capture Carbon
A small but mighty microbe can safely extract the rare earth and other critical elements for building everything from satellites to solar panels – and it has another superpower: capturing carbon dioxide.