• Researchers find anthrax can grow and reproduce in soil

    Anthrax has the unexpected ability to grow and reproduce while lurking in soil — increasing the deadly bacteria’s chances to infect cattle and other mammals; researchers have found that the spores can attack a common soil and water amoeba, Acanthamoeba castellanii, turning these single-celled organisms into anthrax incubators

  • Bangladeshi national arrested for trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank

    A 21-year-old Bangladeshi national, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, was arrested by FBI agents after he attempted to detonate what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Federal Reserve Bank building on Liberty Street, Manhattan; the device, however, was a fake provided to him by undercover FBI agents who had been tracking his activity, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force said Wednesday afternoon

  • Sen. Rockefeller asks Fortune 500 CEOs for cybersecurity best practices

    Last month, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) sent a letter to the CEOs of fortune 500 companies asking them what cybersecurity practices they have adopted, how these practices were adopted, who developed them, and when they were developed; many saw Rockefeller’s letter as an admission that the Obama administration does not have a basis for trying to impose cybersecurity practices on the private sector through the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, now stalled in Congress

  • New app uses scattered public information to put together a digital footprint of individuals, organizations

    A new app application can collect scattered online clues to provide a picture of individuals or organizations; the application draws on public data sources in order to put together a graphical digital footprint

  • New book discusses on immigration issues in Arizona

    In a new book, State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown over the American Dream, JeffBiggers that SB 1070 has changed the way people look at Arizona, and that the history of revolutionary politics in the state has been forgotten; Biggers wants people to remember the political figures of the past – for example, the liberal Morris K. Udall and the conservative Barry Goldwater — who made Arizona prominent in U.S. history and politics

  • U.S. to help Libya create an elite anti-terror force

    The Obama administration has received a tacit Congressional approval to reallocate about $8 million from Pentagon operations and counterterrorism aid budgeted for Pakistan to Libya, for the purpose of building an elite Libyan force over the next year – a force that could ultimately rise to about 500 troops; the post-Qaddafi Libyan government does not have meaningful military and law enforcement forces at its command. Instead, it relies on several armed militias to maintain law and order in different parts of the country

  • Evidence suggests that three-strikes law does not deter crime

    Contrary to what police, politicians, and the public believe about the effectiveness of California’s three-strikes law, researchers have found that the get-tough-on-criminals policy voters approved in 1994 has done nothing to reduce the crime rate; a criminologist finds that decline in alcohol consumption is most responsible for decreasing crime rate

  • Different technologies aim to replace dogs as explosives detectors

    Bomb-sniffing dogs are the best and most popular way for airport security quickly to detect anyone planning to bring explosives to an airport; scientists are trying to change that; Dr. Denis Spitzer and his colleagues, for example, are working on a sensor that will detect vapors of TNT and other explosives in very faint amounts; the device they are trying to create would replace dogs as the top bomb detecting method in the field

  • Clinton says she was responsible for consulate security

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday night that she bore the ultimate responsibility for the security of U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world, and as such was responsible for any security failures that were exposed by the 11 September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi; Clinton said, however, that the administration’s evolving story about what exactly happened at the consulate was attributable to “the confusion you get in any type of combat situation”

  • States may join feds in regulating infrastructure cybersecurity

    Dealing with cybersecurity issues relating to U.S. inmfrastructure has largely been a federal responsibility, carried out through the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Requirements (NERC-CIP)’ the limitations of these requirements have led state regulators to consider increasing state role in infrastructure protection

  • Rehabilitating historical structures using laser scanning technology

    The Carmel Mission Basilica in California is undergoing a restoration using cutting-edge laser scanning technology; earlier this year, engineers the from Blach Construction Company  teamed up with CyArk, a non-profit foundation that digitally preserves historical sites, to shoot laser beams at and within the basilica to create precise digital maps of the building from different angles

  • Sequestration-related defense budget cuts in 2013 to increase from $50.5 to $60.6 billion

    Defense contractors are already worried about $50 billion dollars which would be cut from the defense budget on 3 January 2013 if the White House and Congress fail to reach an agreement on a deficit reduction plan; budget analysts point out that due to a provision in the Budget Control Act, another $10 billion will be added to that amount, bringing the total in defense cuts in 2013 to $60.6 billion

  • Water level gauges failed during Hurricane Isaac

    As Hurricane Isaac beat down on New Orleans, the damage it caused was nowhere near as severe as that of Katrina, but it lasted longer than most people expected and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it provided a field test of a multi-billion dollar investment in flood protection

  • NIST awards $9 million to promote online security and privacy

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last month announced more than $9 million in grant awards to support the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC); five U.S. organizations will pilot identity solutions which increase confidence in online transactions, prevent identity theft, and provide individuals with more control over how they share their personal information

  • Mayor suggests student fee to hire more police, firefighters for local college’s sporting events

    Morgantown, West Virginia mayor Jim Manilla wants to hire more police officers and firefighters to deal with street fires, riots, and other incidents following West Virginia University sporting events, and he wants the students to pay for it