• Google making search more secure

    Google is enhancing its default search service for signed-in users; over the next few weeks, many users will find themselves redirected to https://www.google.com (note the extra “s”) when they are signed in to their Google account; this change encrypts their search queries and Google’s results page

  • Underage cartel recruits increasingly prosecuted by local courts

    In the past when Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would catch teenagers smuggling narcotics, the agency would hand the case over to federal prosecutors, but Border Patrol has entered into a new arrangement with local prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney General’s office to send cases directly to local courts for prosecution

  • Federal court blocks portions of Alabama immigration law

    Last week a federal judge blocked enforcement of several provisions of a controversial Alabama immigration law

  • Qaddafi killed – 42-year rule over

    See video

    There are reports from Libya that Col. Muamar Qaddafi was killed while trying to escape his besieged hometown of Sirte; NATO says that a convoy of several vehicles was attacked as it was trying to make its way out of the city, and that when rebel forces approached the destroyed cars, they found Col Qaddafi in one of the vehicles; there are conflicting reports about whether he was killed by NATO airstrike on the convoy, or killed by rebel forces which pulled him out of his car

  • GAO report: DHS data mining puts personal information at risk

    A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that DHS and its sub-agencies do not properly protect personal information when conducting counterterrorism investigations

  • Arab Spring is different thing for different people

    New research shows true picture of what and who is behind the political uprisings; although the idea of the “Arab Spring” is accepted by a large proportion of people in Arab countries, the reasons they are aligning themselves with it are very different and have grown more diverse the longer it has gone on

  • Fences make good neighbors

    Often, peace depends on boundaries — well chosen, not arbitrarily set — that separate groups; boundaries that give groups some amount of autonomy can serve to mitigate conflict where people naturally seek to live near others of their own group

  • FBI training elite deep-diving counterterrorism unit

    To bolster its counterterrorism capabilities, the FBI has created an elite group of special agents trained to track terrorism underwater

  • DHS limits employees outside activities

    Last week DHS announced that it was considering a policy that would limit the outside activities of its federal employees

  • New Jersey approves two Tasers under stricter safety regulations

    Following the increasingly controversial use of Tasers in which several individuals died after being stunned, New Jersey has approved of two new Taser models that comply with new safety standards

  • Civil rights groups urge Supreme Court to rule against GPS tracking

    In advance of the Supreme Court hearing on the use of GPS tracking by law enforcement agencies, several civil liberties groups are urging the court to rule in favor of privacy rights

  • Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through

    Earlier today, the initial phase of prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place; Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since — even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — returned to Israel in exchange for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; in total, 1,027 Palestinian (1,000 men and twenty-seven women) will be released in the exchange; the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • DC officials receive priority disaster phone access

    During major disasters or a terrorist attack, phone lines quickly become inundated with traffic which makes it nearly impossible for residents to make calls or send texts; to ensure that local officials have the ability to communicate during disasters, DHS recently issued special calling cards to members of the Washington, D.C. City Council that allow their calls to take priority during moments of heavy phone traffic

  • The Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange

    If everything goes according to plan, then this coming Tuesday will see Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since – even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — return to Israel in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails (1,000 men and twenty-seven women); the deal was reached after both Israel and Hamas agreed to major compromises; analysts say that one of the main reasons prompting Israel to show more flexibility was the desire to “clean the table” of troublesome and divisive issues in preparation for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • Little progress despite $3.4 billion spent on food safety programs

    In the past decade the U.S. government has gone to great lengths to secure the nation’s food supply against terrorists, but more than $3.4 billion later it has little to show for its efforts; despite all the government spending, key food safety programs and counter-terror policies have been bogged down by a murky, convoluted bureaucratic process