• DHS official in charge of immigrant removal resigns

    On the same day it was reported that hundreds of illegal immigrants facing deportations were released from federal detention because of upcoming sequestration-related budget cuts, the senior DHS official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement. The administration says the retirement of the official, Gary Mead, is unrelated to the decision to release the detainees.

  • RFI for cybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure

    In his 12 February 2013 Executive Order, President Obama called for the development of a Cybersecurity Framework to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure such as power plants and financial, transportation, and communications systems. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the other day issued a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register as its first step in the process to developing that framework.

  • Iran developing plutonium-based nuke capability

    While the world is focusing on Iran’s enriched-uranium nuclear weapons program, evidence has emerged to show that Iran has embarked on a project to make plutonium-based nuclear weapons. This plutonium weapon project is taking place at a facility from which IAEA inspectors have been barred for eighteen months now. Detailed satellite images show that Iran last month has activated the Arak heavy-water production plant, located 150 miles south-west of Tehran. Satellite images of the area around the Arak facility show that numerous anti-aircraft missile and artillery batteries protect the plant — more such missile batteries than are deployed around any other known nuclear site in Iran.

  • Rhode Island bill would require gun owners to register their weapons

    A proposed bill in Rhode Island would require gun owners to register their weapons with local or state police, and would also allow police to file copies of applications for gun purchases sent to them for background checks.

  • iPhones can reveal a lot about their owners to law enforcement

    People assume their iPhones are safe to keep their personal information on. They would be dismayed to realize what law enforcement agencies can find about them on their phone.

  • Scientists: sequestration will damage U.S. science

    The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has once again called on Congress and the president to work together to prevent sequestration, the automatic across-the-board budget cuts that are scheduled to go into effect on 1 March.

  • Water security experts at U Arizona annual conference

    How can Arizona secure a safe, sustainable water supply for its current and future residents? The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center will take on this complex issue at its annual conference on 5 March.

  • DHS awards contract for utility plant at the Kansas biolab

    DHS has awarded a $40 million contract to build a utility plant at a $1.15 billion animal research lab in Kansas. The 87,000 square foot facility will replace an animal research lab on Plum Island in New York and will be used to research deadly animal diseases that affect livestock.

  • With budget cuts looming, ICE releases undocumented immigrants from detention

    With budget cuts hanging over federal agencies, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started to prepare for the cuts by releasing detainees from its detention facilities across the country on Monday.

  • Radioactive leaks at Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation

    Earlier this month, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that a radioactive waste tank at one of the nation’s most contaminated nuclear sites is leaking, bringing more bad news to Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation. The 177 tanks at the plant, which hold millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from plutonium production, are way past their intended 20-year life span.

  • Tennessee considers ways to raise money for homeland security

    A 2011 bill gave the Tennessee government the ability to revoke the license of anyone in the state who did not pay criminal fines and court costs. Lawmakers originally hoped the law would bring millions of dollars in reinstatement fees, money which would be directed to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Only nine counties are complying with the law by notifying the state of violators, and so far the state had collected just $22,425.

  • Domestic terrorism in France more likely in wake of Mali intervention

    Marc Trévidic, France’s most prominent investigative judge dealing with terrorism, warned that the on-going French military intervention in Mali has intensified the threat of terrorist attacks inside France by French citizens of African ancestry. He noted that initially the French security services were mostly concerned with jihadi elements among French citizens of North African Arab ancestry, that is, citizens hailing from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Now, however, more attention is being paid to potential terrorist threats coming from those French citizens whose ancestry is Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, and Niger.

  • Georgia wants to redraw its northern border to tap Tennessee River water

    Lawmakers in Georgia are renewing efforts to claim Georgia’s right to tap into the Tennessee River’s  water supply. The lawmakers hope to achieve this by raising questions about the exact demarcation of the border between the two states.

  • Scientists warn of sequestration’s impact on basic research

    With less than a week left before sequestration is to take effect, America’s research community has repeated its call for an end to the across-the-board cuts to discretionary spending which will restrict the U.S. ability to invest in the basic scientific research. A coalition of American research and education institutions says that it is this basic research which drives innovation and produces economic growth.

  • Major U.K. terrorism trial ends in three convictions

    Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all from Birmingham, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of being “central figures” in a terrorist plot in which, as suicide bombers, they would have carried out an attack which would rival, in scope and destruction, the 7 July and 9/11 terrorist attacks. The prosecution said the three planned to set off up to eight bombs in rucksacks, using timers to detonate the charges. Detectives believe it is the most significant terror plot to be uncovered since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs disguised as soft drinks.