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New laser could help the military see hidden dangers
A new laser that can show what objects are made of could help military aircraft identify hidden dangers such as weapons arsenals far below. The system, which is made of off-the-shelf telecommunications technology, emits a broadband beam of infrared light. While most lasers emit light of one wavelength, or color, super-continuum lasers like this one give off a tight beam packed with columns of light covering a range of wavelengths — a blend of colors. Because this beam is in the infrared region, it’s invisible to human eyes. It can, however, illuminate deep information.
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U.S. has been secretly training Syrian rebels for months
Since late last year, CIA operatives and U.S. Special Forces have been secretly training Syrian rebels to used anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. the training is being conducted at U.S. bases in Jordan and Turkey, and involves fighters from the Free Syrian Army, a loose confederation of mostly secular rebel groups – many of who deserters from the Syrian military — fighting to take down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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White House finalizes executive actions on gun violence
The White House said President Obama is close to putting the final touch on several executive actions to address gun violence. White Officials said that these actions should be viewed as a substitute to legislative action.
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Competitors selected for DARPA Spectrum Challenge
As wireless devices proliferate and the radio spectrum becomes ever more congested, all users have a common interest in radio technologies that can accommodate the largest number of users but still enable priority traffic to get through. Three wild card selections remain to be selected for the DARPA Spectrum Challenge, a competition aiming to demonstrate solutions for more robust wireless radio technologies.
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Sector Report for Tuesday, 18 June 2013:
This report contains the following stories.
Plus 7 additional stories
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NYPD police chief Raymond Kelly criticizes NSA for secrecy surrounding surveillance program
NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly yesterday pointedly criticized the secrecy surrounding the National Security Agency (NSA), saying that Americans would probably be comfortable knowing their conversations are monitored. Kelly also said that if Snowden is correct in his allegations that the surveillance system can be readily abused, then there is a need for more oversight of the NSA. He said that more transparency about the checks on and supervision of what NSA analysts can monitor would help put the public at ease.
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DHS ordered to release names of immigrant criminals allowed to stay in U.S.
A federal judge has ordered DHS to release the names of thousands of criminal immigrants who were allowed to stay in the United States because their home countries refused to take them back. Two years ago, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a list of more than 6,800 criminals, including 201 who were convicted of murder and other serious offenses, but the agency refused to provide names, saying that doing so would be a violation of the immigrants’ privacy. A judge ruled that the public interest in knowing how ICE handles aliens convicted of crimes is more important than the privacy concerns of the immigrants. The list of released criminal aliens now contains more than 8,500 names.
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Sandia hosts annual Robot Rodeo
Sandia National Laboratories is hosting the seventh annual Western National Robot Rodeo and Capability Exercise, a lively and challenging five-day event that draws civilian and military bomb squad teams from across the country to see who can most effectively defuse dangerous situations with the help of robots.
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Iran to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria
In preparation for the attack by Assad forces on rebel-held Aleppo, Iran announced it is sending a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to help the Syrian military. Iran’s goal is to help Assad capture Aleppo, and inflict a decisive defeat on the rebels, before U.S., and European, military aid begin to make a difference on the battlefield. Iran has also announced that it and Hezbollah are planning to open up a new “Syrian” front on the Golan Heights against Israel, and the presence of 4,000 Revolutionary Guards in Syria will allow Iran to do so. The United States responded by saying that 3,000 U.S. troops, a detachment of F-16s fighter jets, and batteries of Patriot missiles will remain in Jordan after the joint U.S.-Jordan military exercise they are currently participating in is over.
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Improving close air support for faster, more precise airstrikes
Air-ground fire coordination — also known as Close Air Support or CAS — is a dangerous and difficult business. While its tools have become more sophisticated, CAS has not fundamentally changed since the First World War. Now, Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program aims to improve air-to-ground fire coordination, but could revolutionize military technology development and deployment as well.
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Webcast of Forensic Handwriting Analysis Conference available online
On 4-5 June 2013 NIST and partnering organizations hosted the Measurement Science and Standards in Forensic Handwriting Analysis Conference. In case you missed this event or would like to view/listen again to the presentations, the archived video of the Webcast is now available online.
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U.S. confirms: Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels, civilians (updated)
The Obama administration has informed Congress a few minutes ago that the U.S. intelligence community has determined that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on several occasions against both rebel forces and Syrian civilians. The U.S. intelligence community says these attacks, each using small quantities of sarin gas, have killed about 150 Syrians. The president’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, told reporters that the president had decided to provide “direct military support” to the opposition. Rhodes said the U.S. military assistance to the rebels would be different in “both scope and scale” from what had been authorized before, which included non-lethal equipment such as night-vision goggles and body armor.
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Detecting explosives, not toothpaste
Researchers want airports, border checkpoints, and others to detect homemade explosives made with hydrogen peroxide without nabbing people whose toothpaste happens to contain peroxide. This is part of the challenge faced in developing a portable sensor to detect a common homemade explosive called a FOx (fuel/oxidizer) mixture, made by mixing hydrogen peroxide with fuels.
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Justice Department endorses NYPD’s stop-and-frisk
The Justice Department (DOJ) has entered the debate on the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy, telling a federal judge that DOJ endorses the program as long as there is independent oversight to monitor changes in the policy if civil rights violations occur.
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U.S. confirms: Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels, civilians
The Obama administration has informed Congress a few minutes ago that the U.S. intelligence community has determined that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on several occasions against both rebel forces and Syrian civilians. The U.S. intelligence community says these attacks, each using small quantities of sarin gas, have killed about 150 Syrians.
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The long view
AI-Controlled Fighter Jets May Be Closer Than We Think — and Would Change the Face of Warfare
Could we be on the verge of an era where fighter jets take flight without pilots – and are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI)? US R Adm Michael Donnelly recently said that an upcoming combat jet could be the navy’s last one with a pilot in the cockpit.
What We’ve Learned from Survivors of the Atomic Bombs
Q&A with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman, New Vice Chair for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Need for National Information Clearinghouse for Cybercrime Data, Categorization of Cybercrimes: Report
There is an acute need for the U.S. to address its lack of overall governance and coordination of cybercrime statistics. A new report recommends that relevant federal agencies create or designate a national information clearinghouse to draw information from multiple sources of cybercrime data and establish connections to assist in criminal investigations.