• Radiation detection equipment installed in four Mexican ports

    The Megaports Initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy program intended to enhance the ability of ports around the world to detect and interdict illicit shipments of special nuclear and other radioactive materials; Under the initiative, radiation detection gear and protocols were implemented in the Mexican ports of Manzanillo, Altamira, Lazaro Cardenas, and Veracruz, through which 92 percent of Mexico’s containerized cargo pass

  • AQIM leader killed in Mali

    If every cloud has a silver lining, this may be one: Algerian sources say that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the deadliest leaders of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was killed during the 25 June battle of Gao, in which the Islamist Ansar Dine group took over the city of Gao in Azawad, the break-away region in north Mali

  • Measuring DHS effectiveness monitoring chemical plant safety standards

    The events of 9/11 triggered a national re-examination of the security of facilities that use or store hazardous chemicals in quantities which, in the event of a terrorist attack, could put large numbers of Americans at risk of serious injury or death; the GAO issued a report on how DHS ensures compliance with chemical facilities security standards

  • Inmarsat responds: We do not sell telecommunications services to any Iranian entity

    Shurat Hadin, a Tel Aviv-based law firm specializing in litigation against terror sponsors, claims mobile satellite company Inmarsat PLC provides prohibited guidance services to Iranian oil tankers and Iranian military vessels; Inmarsat says these claims are wrong: the company says it seeks to comply with all applicable sanctions laws and regulations, and that Inmarsat does not sell telecommunications services to any Iranian entity, or to any entity on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control list of Specially Designated Nationals

  • Global air control system largely defenseless against hacking

    The ADS-b system, the multi-billion dollar communication system deployed at airports around the world over the last few years, has two major flaws: first, it has no means of verifying who is actually sending a message, which means that a hacker can impersonate an aircraft and send malicious and misleading information to control towers and to other aircraft; second, the position, velocity, and other information broadcast by aircraft is not encrypted and can be grabbed from the air; a presenter at the Black Hat cybersecurity event showed how it is possible to use the information to plot the route of Air Force Phone on an iPad; these two vulnerabilities can be easily exploited by anyone with modest technical skills and about $2,000 worth of electronics

  • By the numbers: Terrorism and the Olympics

    The 2012 Summer Olympic Games open today in London; history offers a warning, but no clear pattern on the true risk of terrorism at the Olympic Games, concludes a new report

  • DHS offers advice on how to survive shooting sprees

    For people who get caught in a shooting spree, such as the one in Aurora, Colorado,  DHS offers a survival plan

  • Critics charge satellite company Inmarsat violates Iran sanctions

    A legal organizations specializing in fighting legal battles against terror sponsors – they say their goal is to bankrupt the terror groups and grind their activities to a halt, one lawsuit at a time – warned mobile satellite company Inmarsat PLC against providing prohibited guidance services to Iranian oil tankers and Iranian military vessels; in 2008, a United States Supreme Court ruling made the determination that individuals or companies that materially support terrorist organizations are liable for the murder and injuries they cause, according to Boim v. Holy Land Foundation

  • Deportation deferment executive order to cost between $467 million and $585 million

    On 15 June the administration issues an executive order deferring deportation against illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as kids by their parents, and who now go to school or have graduated from school; illegal aliens eligible to apply can begin to do so in August, and DHS estimates that in the first year of the program, about a million or so would do so; the processing cost would be as high as $585 million; each applicant will be expected to pay $465 in paperwork processing fee, but even if all do, there will be a shortfall

  • Critics: Obama administration advancing amnesty by executive order

    A new study by an anti-illegal group provides a detailed, 3-year timeline of what the groups describes as the Obama administration’s strategy of carrying out a policy of de facto amnesty for millions of illegal aliens through executive policy decisions

     

  • New U.S. biodedfense R&D network launched

    On Monday, Texas A&M System dedicated a new research center which is part of a national network of centers aiming to develop strategies and products to counter bioterrorism, chemical and radiological attacks on the United States, and better strategies to deal with pandemics; the network will have facilities in Texas, Maryland, and North Carolina; the Texas dedication is the culmination of a Manhattan Project-like program for biological countermeasures, launched in 2004 by the Department of Health and Human Services; the research network aims to develop “rapid, nimble and flexible approaches” to vaccine and therapy development, and train the next generation of professionals to sustain U.S. capabilities in these areas

  • You want to report a pothole? There’s an app for that

    The city of Boston offers residents a new app – Street Bump – which will automatically report potholes they encounter; all the driver has to do is install the app and place the smartphone on the dashboard or in the cup holder; the app uses the phone’s motion detector and GPS locator to report potholes

  • Bill to tighten admission procedures to flight schools

    A bill would require flight schools to check students, including U.S. citizens, against the terrorist watch list before they can be trained to fly aircraft of 12,500 pounds or more

  • Israel, U.K. worried about “anniversary” Olympic attack by Iranian agents

    Forty years ago, during the Munich Summer Olympic Games, terrorists belonging to the Palestinian Black September organization entered the Olympic Village, kidnapped members of the Israeli Olympic team, then killed eleven of them and injured twenty more during a botched German rescue operation; there is worry in Israel and London that Iran, using its own operatives or Hezbollah’s, would try a spectacular 40-year anniversary attack on the Israeli delegation to the games

  • U.S. to send hand-launched UAVs to Kenya to help fight Somali al Shabaab

    The United States will include hand-launched Raven UAV’s in the $41.4 million military aid package to Kenya; the package also includes trucks, communications gear, and rifles for Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda; the military aid aims to help east African countries cope with the growing menace of al Shabaab, a Somali al Qaeda affiliate