• 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

  • Napolitano announces stimulus package grants

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano announced $380 million in ARRA grants — $150 million for port security, $72 for transit security, and $166 million for fire station construction

  • Fujitsu asks terrorists whether they would use its software for WMD

    Fujitsu runs a patching site for Sun Microsystems’ Solaris Unix variant; the company asks end-users to fill out a survey before downloading the latest patch, and the first question asks whether the customer would be using the patch to build WMD; even if you admit to building a nuclear bomb, Fujitsu allows you to download the patch; either Fujitsu targets really honest terrorists, or the company wants to use the information in its advertising (as in: “5% of our customers are terrorists who use our software to build weapons of mass destruction”)

  • ASIS International offers standards and guidelines for the security industry

    ASIS standards and guidelines address issues concerning the protection and management of assets — both physical and human — which are common to all sectors of society

  • Clayton Consultants on kidnapping and ransom

    In many developing countries, kidnapping the family members of rich individuals and then asking for ransom has become a small industry; a specialist offers ideas about what to do to prevent kidnapping — and deal with it when it happens