• AT&T increases reward in cable vandalism to $250,000

    Late last eek vandals cut fiber optic cables in three California counties, disrupting communication and commerce; AT&T increases reward for information which will lead to capturing the vandals

  • Lieberman wants U.S.-Mexico border security funding in supplemental

    President Obama has submitted a $83.4 billion supplemental request to Congress which contains $66 million in additional aid to Mexico’s anti-drug efforts (Congress has already allocated about $700 million to Mexico — including $300 million in the recently enacted fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill); leading senators say more should be done to shore-up border protection, and they propose an amendment to the supplemental which would add $550 million in border security funding

  • Officials ponder the lessons of Columbine

    Next week will mark ten years to the Columbine High shooting; hundreds of millions have been invested in school security, but money is drying up, and emphasis on campus security is weakening; some say say simpler, cheaper measure would be best in any event

  • Protection from terrorism affects far reaches of Montana

    When you think of terrorism and preparations for terrorist attacks, you think of big cities; the remote precincts of Montana, however, are not exempt; the local inhabitants, who foot the bill for local homeland security, want to know whether rural dams are really terrorist targets

  • DHS adds $100 million to emergency food bank

    DHS secretary Napolitano announces $100 million in stimulus package funds for Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP); EFSP, created twenty-six years ago, has so far distributed more than $3.4 billion in federal funds for food and shelter

  • IAF's fighter jets intercept Delta Airlines plane for lack of communication

    A state of emergency declared at Ben-Gurion Airport after Delta Airlines airplane headed to Israel failed to contact control tower due to technical problem

  • Iran makes a major step toward the bomb

    Iran inaugurated its the country’s first nuclear fuel production plant, allowing it to produce enough plutonium for two bombs a year; at the same time it is increasing the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges; Iran already has enough enriched uranium for one bomb

  • CBP unveils plan to modernize U.S. land ports of entry

    Funds from the stimulus package — $720 million to be exact — will be directed toward address infrastructure needs at ports of entry

  • Seeing through concrete, clearly

    Insurgents and terrorists fight from within civilian structures, making it difficult for soldiers and first responders to respond without injuring many civilians; DARPA wants a solution which would allow soldiers to look through concrete walls and give them a detailed picture of a building’s interior — right down to the fixtures

  • White House to coordinate cybersecurity efforts

    White House to coordinate securing networks government-wide, identifying more than 250 requirements in an on-going 60-day review of federal cybersecurity initiatives

  • Manipulating Google searches as counter-terrorism tool

    The U.K. government will train pro-West Islamic groups to game Google searches in order to fight the influence of radicals; search engine optimization techniques will make moderate Islamic groups come up first in Google searches

  • Texas electrical grid's operator says he is on watch for hackers

    Bob Kahn, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: “We are constantly modifying and upgrading our protections as technology advances, business requirements change and new threats emerge”

  • SBAC to U.K. government: don't starve successful sectors

    The Society of British Aerospace Companies tells government investment in defense and aerospace should be increased; more investment should go to science, technology, engineering, and maths education

  • Aussie government in $43 billion fast Internet scheme

    The economic slowdown found private Australian telecommunication companies unwilling to fund a high-speed national broadband network, a network which Kevin Rudd’s government believes is essential for the country’s economic competitiveness; the government is stepping in, saying it would invest at least $21.9 billion of taxpayers’ money to get the project going

  • Hackers of U.S. electrical grid left behind "sleeper" software programs

    The U.S. electrical grid has been penetrated by sophisticated hackers who left behind “sleeper” software programs which could be remotely activated to disrupt the system; the intelligence community says it is the work of Russian and Chinese government operatives