• Air cargo still vulnerable to terrorists

    DHS’s inspector general says there are many problems still with the TSA’s program to stop terrorists from sneaking a bomb into any of the tens of thousands of cargo packages carried each day in the bellies of passenger planes

  • Nuclear leaks at Three Mile Island investigated

    There was another radioactive leak at Three Mile Island, the scene of the U.S. worst nuclear power accident; NRC said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety; investigators this weekend were trying to determine the cause of radiological contamination inside the nuclear facility’s containment building

  • Predicting the effect of a nuclear weapon dropped on an urban area

    Current models of nuclear effects use wind direction and wind speed to draw a predicted cone-shape area of fall-out; new research results show that these models are too simple in some ways — for instance, they do not include the complex dynamics of wind movements around buildings, which can concentrate fall-out preferentially in certain areas

  • GE Global Research to develop wearable RFID chemical sensor

    GE Global Research will develop a wearable radio-frequency-identification (RFID) sensors to alert people to the presence of chemicals in the air; as the sensors can be made at a size smaller than a penny, they could form part of an identification badge that would provide an early warning for people about the presence of chemical agents

  • NASA develops chemical-detection app for iPhone

    NASA’s Homeland Security Cell-All program has developed an intriguing application to Apple’s phone in the form of a stamp-sized chemical sniffing device; the prototype chemical sensor can sniff small amounts of chemicals like methane, ammonia, and chlorine gas

  • Pakistan installs radiology scanner in Islamabad

    There are more than 160 points of entry into Islamabad but four main entry points for goods carrying vehicles; the Pakistani government buys radiation detectors from China to prevent terrorists from smuggling a nuclear or dirty bomb into the city; worries about the health effects of the strong radiation the scanner emit

  • TSA agents monitor U.S. ground transportation for nuclear, biological threats

    DHS, the FBI, and TSA quietly monitor the U.S. ground transportation system for nuclear and biological weapons; TSA agents carry portable detection sensors fan out aboard trains and buses and at transit hubs

  • DHS misses deadline for certifying new radiation detectors

    Back in June, the head of DHS’s nuclear monitoring division said the agency would sign off this fall on two congressionally mandated certifications for the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitor system; the testing and evaluation of these innovative nuclear detection systems have not yet been completed, though; the new machines are designed to not only detect radiation but identify the nature of its source, thus eliminating time-consuming secondary inspections to determine whether a material is dangerous

  • TSA limits scope of screeners' searches

    An assistant to congressman Ron Paul was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine; under a threat of a law suit, TSA has changed its search policies: TSA screeners can now only conduct searches aimed at keeping firearms and explosives off of airplanes and cannot search for crimes unrelated to transportation security, and the agency also told screeners that passengers carrying large sums of cash have not broken the law

  • Radiological monitoring system along U.S.-Canada border completed

    The last of the 600 radiological monitors along the U.S.-Canada border has been deployed (at Trout River, New York, on the Quebec border); DHS says it is now scanning 100 percent of all vehicle traffic entering from Canada and Mexico — plus all mail and courier packages from Mexico and a further 98 percent of all arriving seaborne container cargo — for radioactive threats

  • Rockefeller targets container security

    The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) said this week he is working in partnership with DHS inspector general to update current port security procedures better to protect against biological and chemical threats

  • Los Alamos lab's toxic waste seeps toward New Mexico's water sources

    Radioactive debris has been found in canyons that drain into the Rio Grande, but officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory say there is no health risk; to comply with New Mexico’s clean up orders, the lab has installed about 300 monitoring wells and gauges, contaminated soil is being removed from canyon bottoms, wetlands are being planted, and small dams built to arrest the flow of polluted storm water

  • GAO: TSA continues to face challenges in finding and deploying checkpoint screening technology

    Since TSA’s creation, ten passenger screening technologies have been in various phases of research, development, test and evaluation, procurement, and deployment, but TSA has not deployed any of these technologies to airports nationwide

  • U.S. considers facial recognition, eye scans at border

    DHS proposes to spend billions of dollars collecting fingerprints and eye scans from all foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country; already, the United States demands biometric data, typically fingerprints and digital photos, from arriving air and sea travelers with visas; the aim is to try to ensure the person matches the individual who was given the visa overseas. Canadians and Mexicans are currently exempt

  • Day of Americans serving as mobile chemicals sensors nears

    NASA Ames scientists demonstrate cell phone chemical sensor; the prototype device, designed to be plugged in to an iPhone, collects sensor data and sends it to another phone or a computer via telephone communication network or Wi-Fi