• New detection devices from Smiths Detection

    Smiths Detection shows three new devices for quicker and more reliable detection of biological and chemical agents; soldiers and first responders will also appreciate the light weight and the ability to operate the gear with only one hand

  • Light refraction used to detect explosives or toxins, and identify infections

    The transmission of light can be affected by the suspension of metal particles in a clear medium; researchers are now exploiting this property to construct nanosensors that could be used to detect explosives or toxins, or identify infections

  • Colin Cummings named new ICx technologies CEO

    Cummings will succeed Hans Kobler, who will continue as chairman; Kobler will go after opportunities the company sees from increased government spending; company’s detection unit suffered from delays in DHS business in the fourth quarter

  • New ricin detection test developed

    As little as one-half milligram of ricin is lethal to humans; no antidote is available; two teams of researchers in New York and Georgia develop a test that can accurately detect and quantify the presence of ricin

  • DHS seeks nuclear detection research

    DHS is looking to award $3 million this summer for nuclear detection technology exploratory research that could lead to a dramatic improvement in the U.S. nuclear detection capabilities

  • Metallic nanostructures make security and medical sensors possible

    New sensors could be tailor-made instantly to detect the presence of particular molecules, for example poisons or explosives in transport screening situations, or proteins in patients’ blood samples, with high sensitivity

  • AS&E sells its first gantry security scanner to Pentagon

    AS&E’s proprietary Z Backscatter technology is popular with customers, and the company announces yet another contract, this time with the Pentagon — but: complaint from scanning rival Rapiscan lead the U.S. government to half an earlier order for AS&E’s ZBV Military Trailers, from 68 units to 34 units

  • Rapiscan wins U.K. contract for its mobile cargo scanner

    The company says the Eagle Mobile 4500 can scan shipping containers and trucks in less than twenty minutes while also being capable of penetrating dense cargo at increased inspection rates without impeding the flow of commerce; Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs wants several of these scanners deployed at U.K. ports of entry

  • NYPD wants to expand anti-terror program to midtown

    NYPD wants to duplicate in midtown the measures under way near Ground Zero; these measures will allow allow police to do everything they do downtown — scan license plates, monitor surveillance video cameras, and use radiation and bioterrorism detectors — between 34th and 59th streets, from river to river

  • New RFID technology tracks nuclear materials

    Argonne National Lab’s researchers develop RFID-based method to monitor the environmental and physical conditions of containers of nuclear materials in storage and transportation

  • Hi-G-Tek, Trojan Defense work on global nuclear threat early detection

    Hi-G-Tek and Trojan Defense collaborate on developing a global nuclear threat early detection and warning system; the wireless sensor is designed for rapid reporting of WMD in global shipments

  • GAO: TSA may not meet deadline for cargo checks

    Passenger planes carry about 7.6 billion pounds of cargo a year; all suitcases have been screened since 2002, but cargo has been subject to much looser inspection requirements, raising concerns that terrorists could slip a bomb into a package; TSA was given an August 2010 deadline or guarantee that all cargo carried on passenger planes is being screened

  • DHS's stimulus projects to create 3,000 Jobs

    DHS has received $1 billion for air travel security under President Obama’s stimulus package; money will be used to enhance checked baggage security and liquid threats in carry-on baggage

  • Hunting down dirty bomb materials

    A Los Alamos-based team in in the business of locating and recovering nuclear materials from hospitals, labs, oil fields, and factories so that these materials do not fall into the hands of terrorists; between 2,500 and 3,000 radiological sources are registered each year as unwanted; some officials estimate that there may be tens of thousands of other radioactive sources that the National Nuclear Security Agency has not identified

  • San Diego State builds radiation detection system

    New Immersive Visualization Center on the campus of San Diego State collaborates with the university’s Homeland Security Program to build, and then demonstrate, gamma radiation detection perimeter system