• How far should government go to make the Web secure?

    If hackers take over a nuclear plant’s control system, should the president order the computer networks shut down? If there is a terrorist attack, should the government knock users off other computer networks to ensure that critical systems stay online? Should the government be able to dictate who companies can hire and what they must do to secure the networks that affect Americans’ daily life?

  • Kansas City International Airport again to receive stimulus dollars

    Kansas City International Airport will receive a $9.3 million stimulus package grant for new and enhanced closed circuit television systems; the airport’s new inline baggage screening system is already completed so it was not eligible for funding

  • OSI Systems gets a $25 million deal from TSA

    OSI Systems receives $25 million from TSA for advanced imaging technology; the order is placed under the terms of its recently awarded, $173 million contract with TSA

  • DHS, FBI worried about home-grown terrorists

    The risk of al-Qaeda has not disappeared, but in a testimony on the Hill, Napolitano and Mueller say that the United States is facing an increased risk from home-grown terrorists and radicalized immigrants

  • Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach receive $15.3 million in security grants

    Grants to help improve security at ports, support implementation of TWIC program; the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach account for more imports and exports traffic than any other U.S. port

  • New baggage screening tech ahead for Port Columbus

    Columbus International Airport to install a new, $51 million baggage screening system; $35.2 million will come from TSA-distributed stimulus package funds

  • Philadelphia schools deploy sex offender screening software

    Adults wishing to enter schools in the Philadelphia area are now screened to make sure they are not sex offenders; the V-Soft solution created by Houston-based Raptor Technologies can also warn administrators or police of problem students, fired employees, and parents in custody disputes

  • California faces major decision on dams

    California already has upward of 1,000 dams that provide water supply, flood control, and hydropower, but California growing water shortages; last month Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger insisted he would not sign off on any major overhaul of the water system without money for new dams and reservoirs

  • New Hampshire firms fight bioterrorism

    New Hampshire’s overall food and beverage industry is spread over 93 facilities, and contributes more than $707 million in value added to the state’s economy; the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, and awareness of public anxiety about food safety, lead food companies in the state to keep a close eye on their products

  • Fundamentalists' fundaments: how serious is the suicide bum-blast threat?

    An al-Qaeda’s follower stuffed his bum with explosives and blew himself up next t the Saudi antiterror chief (the chief was only slightly injured); how serious is this new bum-bombers threat? Experts are divided: some say the arse-blast method poses a new threat to air travel, while others argue that the kaki-kamikaze is nothing to get anyone’s bowels in an uproar about

  • Missile defense system that might just work

    The Obama administration’s decision to scrap the Bush administration’s plan to place ballistic missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and replace it with short-range defensive systems closer to Iran, makes sense; instead of making a political point to Russia, the U.S. might now have in place a defensive system that works

  • Vermont recalls new biometric licenses

    Some of Vermont’s biometric driver licenses were recalled after flaw is found

  • DSIT Solutions in $5 million contract for underwater surveillance

    The company’s diver detection sonar system employs long-range underwater security; the system automatically classifies, tracks, and detects any alleged threat approaching a protected site

  • Revelations about Iran's facility raise questions about U.S. intelligence

    Both the 2003 “slam dunk” assertion about Iraq’s WMDs, and the 2007 NIE’s conclusion that Iran had “halted” its nuclear weapons work, were absurdities; we should worry about the fact that they came to the surface — and influenced policy

  • U.K.'s ubiquitous camera network to be made smarter

    U.K. researchers develop behavioral recognition software which will focus CCTVs in public places — and on public transportation — on people behaving in a suspicious or odd manner; developers say their software would have spotted a man carrying a samurai sword to a bus in Leeds — which he used to attack the bus driver