• Experts: Internet crime might cause global catastrophe

    Damage caused by cyber crime is estimated at $100 billion annually; tech-savvy gangs from China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa were coming up with ever more sophisticated ways of swindling money from vulnerable people

  • UN: Destroyed Syrian facility resembled a nuclear reactor

    On 6 September 2007 Israel destroyed a remote facility in north-east Syria; Israel and the United States claimed the facility was a nuclear reactor in the making (Syrian officials offered many different, and contradictory, explanations about the facility); Syria engaged in elaborate “landscaping,” importing tons of fresh soil to alter the site before admitting outsiders; these outsiders — IAEA inspectors — have now concluded the the site looked like a nuclear reactor

  • New York City opens counterterrorism center

    The $100 million project was launched after 9/11; the facility would eventually receive video footage from 3,000 cameras posted in and near the financial district, an area of about 1.7 square miles

  • Grappling with the pirate problem

    The Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, and the Gulf of Aden, are among the most sensitive choke points in global commerce; trouble is, the stable, the comparatively wealthy Southeast Asian countries that line the Malacca Strait have committed their naval and coastal forces to stamping out hijackings and piracy, but the Gulf of Aden is bordered by poor or dysfunctional countries like Djibouti, Yemen, and particularly Somalia

  • Briefly noted

    Raytheon awarded contract for exploratory nuclear detection research… Navies may get tougher on piracy after tanker seizure… U.S. donates nuclear detection equipment to Nigeria

  • China bravely denies space espionage charges

    China has been engaged in a vast, well-coordinated, and resourceful espionage campaign against U.S. and and European governments and companies; the systematic stealing of Western military, scientific, and industrial secrets aims to help China short-cut its path to global political and economic hegemony

  • Security alliance calls financial incentives for cyber security

    The Internet Security Alliance calls for the incoming Obama administration and Congress to give information technology companies financial incentives for improving cybersecurity defenses, including providing funding in research and development and shielding them from liability caused by cyberattacks

  • Briefly noted

    Obama administration looks to fill more than 300 IT positions… Larger inmate population is boon to private prisons… More attacks on critical infrastructure?

  • Modern-day piracy poses growing threats, challenges

    Forget Captain Kidd, wooden legs, or treasure maps; modern pirates are equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty; on 9/11 we saw what damage a jumbo jet could do when used as a weapon; how about a supertanker as a weapon?

  • Two former DHS leaders on DHS under a new administration

    Amit Yoran and Dwight Williams held important positions at DHS; now in private industry, they offer their view and the challenges the department will face next year

  • Briefly noted

    Pentagon to ask Obama for $581 billion budget for next fiscal year… Security requirements for private aircraft arriving and departing the United States

  • Continued growth for aerospace, defense despite economic slowdown

    Revenues for electronics /C4ISR companies in the U.S. defense market are projected to be worth $298 billion in 2015; Europe and the United States account for more than 80 percent of the world’s aerospace and defense revenues

  • Biosafety Lab-Level 4 dedicated in Galveston, Texas

    The $174 million, 186,267-square-foot lab will employ 300 people; the lab is one of two approved in 2003 by NIH (the second is being built in Boston); critics question placing a BSL-4 lab on a barrier island vulnerable to hurricanes

  • Anti-bioterror programs may make U.S. more vulnerable

    There are 14 BSL-4 labs in the United States (6 already in operation; 3 completed but not yet operational; 5 under construction), and 15,000 scientists authorized to work with deadly pathogens; critics argue that by vastly increasing the number of researchers and labs authorized to handle deadly substances, the government has made the U.S. more vulnerable to bioterror attacks

  • DHS to regulate ammonium nitrate

    Ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil commonly is used as an explosive in mining and has been used by terrorists — such as Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma; DHS proposes to regulate its use