• Growing unease over illegal cell phone jammers

    For less than $40 nearly anyone can purchase a cell phone jamming device to prevent those nearby from making calls, which has law enforcement agencies uneasy

  • Face and gunshot detecting technology

    Individuals who fire weapons with criminal intent will now have to think twice now that Safety Dynamics Inc. and FaceFirst have decided to join forces

  • Tighter regulation of industry’s disaster preparedness required

    Before 11 March 2011, Japan was held up as a paragon for preparedness; they had a national readiness plan, regular disaster drills, and strong civic engagement; the Fukushima disaster exposed a disturbing reality: search and rescue efforts were delayed, shelters ill-equipped, and supply chains broken; worst of all, there was confusion about who was managing the nuclear accident — the power company TEPCO or the Japanese government; information, when forthcoming, was sometimes contradictory

  • GAO: new emergency responder network lacks critical features

    A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report concludes that limitations in the government’s plans to create a nationwide broadband network for first responders will require the continued use of the existing system for at least another decade

  • Reliable communications during natural disasters, emergencies

    The Contingency Response Communications System (CRCS) is easily set up within thirty minutes. Once set up is complete the CRCS allows emergency first responders quickly to communicate with military commanders through phone or Internet

  • Detroit prioritizes how its responds to 911 calls

    With the help of a newly created unit, Detroit Police are changing how they respond to emergency calls; under the new system, officers will be able to respond to the most immediate threats first before dealing with non-emergency requests

  • NASA official says hackers gained “full functional control”

    Last week NASA officials disclosed details about the alarming extent that hackers were able to penetrate the agency’s networks

  • U.K. police learning to battle cartels in El Paso

    This week law enforcement officers from the United Kingdom are in El Paso, Texas to train with DHS; the special agents from the U.K.’s Serious Organized Crime Agency are in town specifically to learn how to combat the growing threat of trafficking

  • Computer spots liars by looking at the way they talk

    Computer scientists are exploring whether machines can read the visual cues of an individual’s conduct to discover whether or not that individual is lying; in a study of forty videotaped conversations, an automated system the researchers developed correctly identified whether interview subjects were lying or telling the truth 82.5 percent of the time

  • Missouri first responders learn from last year’s tornado season

    Drawing on the valuable lessons learned from last year’s record tornado season, emergency officials in the St. Louis area were ready to spring into action immediately after tornadoes swept through the state once again last week

  • Robot for shipboard firefighting

    In both war and peace, fire in the shipboard environment is serious and frequently results in excessive damage and high repair costs because the fire is not detected or controlled adequately; researchershave developed a humanoid robot that could fight fires on the next generation of combatants

  • The future of nuclear energy

    While the lessons of the 11 March 2011 Fukushima disaster are being absorbed, the United States is moving forward with nuclear power; for the first time since 1978, the U.S. National Regulatory Commission has approved two new plants; the $14 billion facilities will be built just outside Augusta, Georgia

  • No racial profiling, abuse by Secure Communities

    The Earl Warren Institute at the University of California, Berkeley Law School claimed that DHS Secure Communities program suffers from a disturbing pattern of abuse of authority by ICE, including wrongful arrests of thousands of U.S. citizens, a pattern of racial profiling against Latinos, and denial of due process for aliens in removal proceedings; a new study by the Center for Immigration Studies says this is not the case

  • DARPA sponsors development of deep-sea surveillance robot

    New Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) to address Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) surveillance needs over large, operationally demanding areas

  • Infrastructure security, disaster planning “Super map” developed

    A U.S. Marine stationed at the Quantico base in Virginia has developed sophisticated mapping software that can give users full situational awareness of their surroundings in real-time; the software is a “super map” taking in a torrent of data streams from emergency dispatch reports to weather forecasts, traffic reports, and security system alerts