• DHS asked to help shield Port of Hueneme from the effects of sequestration

    The Port of Hueneme is the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Sequestration-related budget cuts mean the port’s six CBP and two Department of Agriculture inspectors can no longer work on Saturdays, or work overtime. This means that ships arriving at the port now have to wait outside until inspectors are available – at a cost to carriers of between $25,000 and $50,000 per day depending on the size of the ship. Port authorities and local businesses are worried that it will not be long before carriers direct their ships to other ports.

  • Growing tensions in Iran-al Qaeda relationship

    What began two years ago in Syria as one more manifestation of the pro-democracy Arab Spring, has soon deteriorated into an inter-communal conflict between Sunnis and Shi’as. This change in the nature of the Syrian conflict found the Shi’a forces in the Muslim world – Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah – siding with the beleaguered Alawite regime of President Assad, at the same time that the Sunni forces in the Muslim world, including al Qaeda, were offering increasing political and material support to the Sunni-based anti-regime insurgency. Growing tensions between Iran and al Qaeda were the inevitable result.

  • Google’s assault on privacy: a reminder

    A year ago, on 1 March 2012, Goggle launched its privacy-eroding policy of combining and collating users’ information across all of Goggle’s products. Google offers no opt-out option. Forcing consumers to share every aspect and nuance of their Internet practices with the company was not enough for Google. Yesterday, the attorney generals of thirty-eight states reached an agreement with Google concerning Google’s practice of spying on Wi-Fi users. The company sheepishly admitted that its Street View Vans collected 600GB of user data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks, and was fined a measly $7 million.

  • CBP sends out furlough notices to agency employees

    The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has started sending furlough notices to its employees, the result of the agency’s need to cope with a 5 percent sequestration-related reduction in salaries and expenses. Border patrol agents say the cuts will hobble efforts to make the border more secure.

     

  • Budget cuts lead to uncertainty for military schools

    The sequestration has hit many federal agencies, but Defense Department schools and other military education programs  have more questions than  answers as to how the federal budget cuts will affect them.

  • The benefits of multi-state catastrophic risk pool

    A modeling platform from Kinetic Analysis Corp. enabled researchers to drill deeply into large volumes of storm-related data spanning nine states and 140 years. Study finds that multi-state catastrophic risk pools offer significant benefits in major tropical events.

  • Facebook’s Likes expose intimate details, personality traits of millions

    Research shows that intimate personal attributes can be predicted with high levels of accuracy from “traces” left by seemingly innocuous digital behavior, in this case Facebook Likes. Study raises important questions about personalized marketing and online privacy.

  • UN: Hamas rocket, not Israeli air strike, killed BBC Gaza journalist's family

    UN says that a BBC journalist’s son and two other family members who were killed during the first hour of last November’s Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza, were not killed by an Israeli air strike, as was assumed. Rather, the family was killed by a misfired Hamas rocket.

  • Air Force, DoD curtailing air activity

    Federal budget cuts are starting to take their toll. Department of Defense (DoD) comptroller Robert Hale has sent out updated travel guidelines to DoD employees, which take account of  the $46 billion being cut from the Pentagon’s budget. In addition, training flight hours will be cut by 18 percent, which comes out to approximately 203,000 hours.

  • Missouri looking for ways to fund infrastructure repairs

    As is the case in other states, Missouri faces “a huge backlog of repair and maintenance needs” in its infrastructure, in the words of a state lawmaker. Lawmakers debate bond issue, increase in state sales tax, and other measures to fund the necessary repairs.

  • Nigerian Islamic militants execute seven Western hostages

    Ansaru, a Nigerian Islamist militant group which is an off-shoot of Boko Haram, said it has killed seven hostages it captured in the northern Nigeria province of Bauchi last month. The hostages are from Italy, Britain, Greece, and Lebanon.

  • Gun manufacturers take action against states which passed tough gun laws

    Gun manufacturers are starting to push back against strict gun laws in some states by refusing to sell their products to law enforcement agencies in these states, or to employees of these agencies. So far, more than 110 specialty manufacturers of firearms have joined the movement, which calls itself the Firearm Equality Movement.

  • June workshop on approaches to CBRNE incidents

    NIST-organized workshop will explore ways to improve an all-of-government approach that increases resilience to international chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive (CBRNE) incidents.

  • Bin Laden's son-in-law captured, will appear in NYC court this morning

    Usama bin Laden’s son-in-law, who is one of al Qaeda’s top spokesmen, has been captured overseas and charged in the United States with conspiracy to kill Americans, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Administration’s sources said he was apprehended “some time ago,” without giving specifics. Abu Ghaith is dues to appear today (Friday) in a federal court in New York City to face the charges. Some GOP lawmakers criticized his court appearance, saying he should have sent directly to Guantanamo.

  • White House cancels award to Egyptian activist after her anti-Semitic tweets come to light

    The Obama administration planned on giving Samira Ibrahim, an Egyptian democracy and women-rights activist, an award – she and eight other women were selected to receive the International Women of Courage award from Michelle Obama in a White House ceremony today — but decided to put the whole thing on hold after it has emerged that Ibrahim sent crudely anti-Semitic and anti-American messages to her Twitter followers.