-
$200,000 grant for upstate N.Y. fire department
Last week the city of Tonawanda in western New York received nearly $200,000 from DHS to purchase new firefighting equipment; the money will be used to purchase harnesses, ropes, victim removal devices, enhanced air supply equipment, and a new communications system; funding comes from the DHS Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program; the grant comes at a critical time as the city is struggling with its budget; several local fire departments nearby also received grants last month including those in Rochester, Youngstown, and Ridge-Culver
-
-
Relying on technology to prevent another WikiLeaks
After the WikiLeaks scandal leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents from military networks, the U.S Intelligence Community (IC) is grappling to find the right balance between information sharing and protection; IC’s information sharing executive says the government is relying on technological solutions to protect data while also sharing information across intelligence agencies; technological solutions will be implemented in a two-pronged approach over the next two years; implementation of these additional security measures is on schedule and the IC’s chief information officer expects to be able to assign security certificates to IC personnel by the first quarter of FY2012
-
-
Half of EPA's radiation warning system in California defective
The defective sensors are part of EPA’s RadNet detection system which was created to provide an active warning system that would alert scientists and public health officials of any elevated levels of radiation so they can warn the public or take other protective measures; half of California’s twelve sensors have been sending data with “anomalies” to the EPA’s main laboratory; the faulty data results in delays of up to several hours; officials say that the sensors are fully functional and that the delays are a result of “glitches” in satellite transmissions; there are several other radiation sensors in the United States operated by local, state, and federal agencies
-
-
Washington nuclear sensors capable of detecting faintest amounts of radiation
The radiation detectors developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington are so sensitive that they can detect trace amounts of radioactive material from hundreds of thousands of miles away; far from being a public health concern, the amount of radiation from Japan detected on the west coast of the United States was far less than what individuals receive from natural sources and is testament to the sensors extraordinary sensitivity; officials say that the PNNL’s sensors are a hundred times more sensitive than other radiation sensors; the PNNL facility is capable of picking up the faintest amounts of radioactive elements produced by nuclear reactions from the vast amounts of air particles in the world
-
-
San Francisco to regulate private biological agent detectors
Some firms have begun selling building owners and companies untested devices designed to detect anthrax and other biological agents, but city officials are worried that these will generate false alarms; in San Francisco city officials estimate that responding to a false alarm generated by a biological agent detector could cost as much as $700,000; legislation has been introduced to regulate these devices; the bill would require those who have biological agent detectors to pay an annual fee and owners would also be fined as much as $10,000 for false alarms; if passed, owners would have ninety days to register with the city
-
-
States continue to fight REAL ID
The battle against the REAL ID act rages on as states continue to oppose implementing REAL ID standards; under the law states would have to remake their driver’s licenses, restructure their computer systems, and create new intra-state data sharing networks; nearly half of the states in the country have enacted anti-Real ID bills including Maine, Alaska, South Carolina, Arizona, and Oklahoma; DHS issued its third reprieve giving states an additional twenty-one months to observe the law; the National Governors Association welcomed the decision; with the recent economic downturn and many states facing budget shortfalls, many states are struggling with the costs of implementing REAL ID standards
-
-
NATO to take command over stalemated campaign
Agreement has been reached for NATO to take over command of the Libya campaign from the U.S. Africa Command; the question of command and control has been resolved, but the questions about strategy and direction of the operation have not; it is not easy to see how, short of a ground intervention by an outside force, the operation can escape the current stalemate
-
-
Keeping it in perspective
The question we should ask about nuclear power is not whether or not it has risks; every mode of power generation comes with its own risks; rather, the questions we should ask are: How do the risks of nuclear power measure relative to the risks of other power generation methods? Was the disaster in Japan proof that nuclear power plants are riskier than we thought — or did the disaster provide evidence for the opposite conclusions: aging plants absorbed unprecedented blows — a double whammy of an 8.9 earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami; a series of mistakes by plant operators — mistakes which came on top of years of wrong decisions about back-up systems and redundancy — and yet, the plants survived: there was no meltdown; there was but little release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere; some would be moved to say this is a pretty good record under the circumstances
-
-
Obama: Coalition cannot militarily force Gaddafi to leave
The Obama administration is continuing to send mixed messages about the direction, purpose, and effect of the U.S.-led missile strikes on Libya, with conflicting statements from the top about Col. Qaddafi’s grip on power five days into the campaign; the coalition’s air dominance has been achieved, but administration officials have not offered a clear picture as to what the no-fly zone is expected to yield; the president reiterated that the coalition does not “have military tools at our disposal in terms of accomplishing Qaddafi’s leaving,” though he has said it is U.S. policy that Qaddafi should go; Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa spoke by telephone Sunday night with assistant secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman; no details were released
-
-
Madison County, IL receives $260,000 in DHS grants
Two fire departments in Madison County, Illinois were recently awarded more than $260,000 in federal grants; the grants come as part of DHS’ Assistance to Firefighters program and goes toward the purchase of new safety gear and firefighting equipment; the Wood River fire department will receive $223,556 to help pay for a high-volume foam monitor as well as foam that will be used to put out chemical fires; the Rosewood Heights Fire Protection District will receive $37,050 to procure thirty sets of new protective fire suits
-
-
Air dominance is achieved, but confusion of goals deepens
As the coalition forces achieve air dominance over Libya, the lack of clarity over the campaign’s goals becomes even more apparent; the Security Council authorized the use of force to prevent Gaddafi from killing a large number of civilians, and U.S. and French planes were thus within the UN mandate when they attacked Libyan ground units trying to attack rebels’ positions; but if the rebels go on the attack against the Libyan military, would coalition forces provide close air support? Would the coalition begin to arm and train the rebels — because if they do not, then Gaddafi will not be dislodged from power; as importantly: the support for Gaddafi comes from certain tribes, and the opposition to him is also tribal, although not exclusively so; we should not delude ourselves: if the rebels gain the upper hand, we should expect massacres and atrocities to be committed by some rebel groups against members of tribes loyal to Gaddafi; what do the coalition forces do then? Their mandate is the prevent the wholesale killing of civilians, but does this mean killing by Gaddafi loyalists only, or is the mandate broader than that?
-
-
GAO scrutinizes DHS financial management system
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has thrown a wrench in DHS’s long-running effort to modernize its financial management system, upholding a protest of the department’s most recent award; the decision could be significant for agencies reevaluating their IT programs in the wake of a slate of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviews launched last year
-
-
Military action continues, operation's goals still unclear
The military operation against the military assets of Col. Gaddafi continued Monday, but with lesser intensity than the attacks over the weekend; it is still not clear what the end goal of the military operation is — and it now appears that one of the reasons for the lack of clarity are divisions within NATO over the aims of the operation and who should be in charge; there are two camps within NATO which are uncomfortable with the idea of the organization running the campaign: Turkey and Germany — the former is the only Muslim member of NATO, the latter, owing to its past, always reluctant to support the use of force — are worried that NATO, under the leadership of England and France, would push for more expansive goals for the operation; France is worried that NATO — an organizations operating on the basis of unanimity, so all twenty-eight members have to agree on every move — would be swayed by those members who are not enthusiastic about the operation to limit the operation’s scope
-
-
U.S. reconsiders nuclear plant sites amid safety review
Following the nuclear crisis that occurred in Japan as a result of a massive earthquake and tsunami, the United States is undergoing a thorough safety review of existing plants that may affect where new plants are located; President Obama ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct a comprehensive safety review of all nuclear plants in the United States; observers are particularly concerned with the Indian Point nuclear power station located forty miles north of New York City; if an accident were to occur, up to twenty million people, including eight million in New York City, would have to be evacuated
-
-
Analysis: More questions than answers
It is not clear, exactly, what targets have been attacked — and what is the overall goal of the campaign; Libya does not have an army the size of Iraq’s circa 2003, but an attack by 124 cruise missiles is on the limited side — and the numbers of planes involved is also on the small side; if what we know about the weekend air campaign is accurate, then there is not enough in it materially to weaken Gaddafi and his forces, nor is there anything in it to strengthen those who oppose him; we must conclude, then, that the campaign is more a part of a complex bargaining process with Gaddafi than a serious effort to topple him from power; it would be wise for NATO leaders to be clearer about the goal of the campaign against Gaddafi: democratic public opinion would demand it, and the Arab world, watching the West’s every move, should not be allowed to have unrealistic expectations about what it is we are trying to achieve
-
More headlines
The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”