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Super Thermal teams up with Colorado State for DHS grant
Team hopes for a $1 million grant for further development of cooling and breathing apparatus; system designed with biological and chemical emergencies in mind; cryogenic air a key component
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FBI's Sentinel program works out the kinks, worries about funding
DoJ inspector general sees progress, at least in comparison to the failed Virtual Case File program; $150 million needed, but congress will likely give much less; Lockheed Martin stands to gain if budgetting issues are resolved
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Oxford City outfits housing employees with tracking and recording badges
New technology allows rent collectors to quietly raise the alarm during a confrontation; push a button and an open channel is created; conversations are recorded for legal purposes; Connexion2, Vodafone, and Identicom provide the technology
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AS&E wins $13 million NATO deal
Contract covers a range of explosives detection needs, including parcel, personnel, and cargo; no ZBVs in this deal, despite company’s oft-reported success
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Zareba reports devastating first quarter numbers
With net income down 94 percent, the electrical fence company goes through growing pains as it attempts to shift from controlling livestock to controlling prisons and oil refineries
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Federal government moves forward with national fusion centers
New rules will streamline security classifications from 100 to six, removing a major obstacle to the implementation of an effective information sharing environment; new Interagency Threat Assessment Coordination Group to be based at DHS
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ERF Wireless to build $5 million network for Louisiana police and public
Unique deal bolsters Louisiana State Police communications while also serving poorer rural areas; local banks, who will also have access, will foot most of the bill, but the police will provide the towers; a unique financing arrangement provides a model for other company’s seeking a PR boost
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Chertoff reiterates support for municipal data fusion centers
Intent is to improve information sharing between federal and local authorities; agency has already invested $380 million in centers in New York, Illinois, Maryland, and elsewhere; 55 more to come on-line by the end of next fiscal year; facilitating security clearances another critical objective
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Two companies prepare to rollout lie-detection MRI scanners
No Lie MRI and Cephos are hoping to take over the polygraph market, but for now they will have to focus on marital discord and business impropriety; technique measures changes in brain activity when confronted with untrue statements; critics call it modern day phrenology
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ShotSpotter takes hold in D.C. as city moves to thwart rising gun violence
Gunshot detection system informs police when shots are fired and directs them to the scene; three D.C. homicides have so far been detected, and one suspect arrested, due directly to the technology; company takes technology to Iraq to help in the fight against snipers
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TSA canines to train on discarded NYC subway cars
Four-legged members of the National Explosive Detection Canine Team to begin specialized training for mass transit situations; 35 teams currently exist in 11 transit systems, but TSA is hoping to boost that number with improved training
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“Buy American” rules at center of USAID contracting dispute
Rapiscan and Smiths Detection complain about losing an X-ray contract with Chemonics after deal goes to AS&E in partnership with a Chinese firm; deal is legal, but seems to violate spirit of “buy American rules”
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EFF challenges FBI’s ambitious IDW project
The FBI has launched an ambitious data-collection project — Investigative Data Warehouse, or IDW — which already has more than 560 million items of information in its possession, to which more than 12,000 law enforcement agents have access
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Enforsys, Svivot receive BIRD grant to develop law enforcement decision-making solution
Knowledge is power, and two companies, one American, one Israeli, with products aiming to assist law enforcement and antiterror authorities prevent nefarious activities — and, if not prevent, help solve them — are given a grant to merge their solution to create a more powerful decision-making tool
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Virginia asks emergency responders to use common language
Approach takes HSPD-5 and NIMS requirements seriously by asking agencies to abandon 10-codes; confusion often resulted during inter-agency responses due to different associated meanings
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.
The Surprising Reasons Floods and Other Disasters Are Deadlier at Night
It’s not just that it’s dark and people are asleep. Urban sprawl, confirmation bias, and other factors can play a role.
Why Flash Flood Warnings Will Continue to Go Unheeded
Experts say local education and community support are key to conveying risk.