• GAO: TSA lax on U.S. security of commercial trucking, buses

    Billions of dollars have been invested in improving air travel security; critics charge that ground transportation security has been treated as an after thought; there are more than a million U.S. companies which help transport 65 percent of the daily freight across the United States; busing companies carry 775 million passengers a year, more than the airline industry; GAO says both trucks and buses operate virtually free of security restrictions

  • DHS to focus on employers in new immigration emphasis

    The new policy will aim enforcement efforts at those who hire illegal workers; DHS says immigration raids will continue

  • Chemical company wants to limit disclosure on plant explosion

    An explosion in a chemical plant in West Virginia plant killed two employees and raised fears about the safety of chemical plants located near residential areas; the plant owner, citing a terrorism-related federal law, is trying to limit what the federal chemical safety agency can disclose to the public

  • Napolitano unveils DHS efficiency review initiative

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano unveils an efficiency review initiative that will examine ways to make the department more efficient in six areas: acquisition management, asset management, real property management, employee vetting/credentialing, hiring/on-boarding, and information technology

  • The notion that cybercrime exceeds drug trade is a myth

    The number of $1 trillion — as in “cybercrime now generates $1 trillion a year for cybercriminals” — appears to be a myth, even it if is repeated by IT security and communication companies

  • U.S. intelligence chief: Mexico not on brink of collapse

    There is a debate among different U.S. intelligent services about how close to a collapse Mexico is; Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, says the drug cartels’ escalating violence is a product of their weakening state not their strength

  • U.K. government plans to monitor online social networks

    For the last three years, intelligence services in the United States and the United Kingdom have been examining the idea of keeping a close tab on communications made among members of social networks; the U.K. Home Office denies having plans for such monitoring, but critics are not convinced

  • Denmark, Sweden ahead of U.S. in new global IT report

    Denmark and Sweden are better than the United States in their ability to exploit information and communications technology; this good news for the United States: it climbed one spot from No. 4 in 2007 to No. 3, and the report says the United States was well placed for a technology-driven recovery as it has the top scientific research institutions in the world and best collaboration between universities and industries

  • Sudan attack demonstrates new U.S.-Israel counter-Iran policy

    Israeli aircraft, with U.S. logistical and intelligence support, attack and destroy an Iranian arms convoy in Sudan; arms were part of an effort by Iran to resupply Hamas’s forces in Gaza

  • Indian security firms: IPL could have been held in India

    Cricket is near religion in India, but fear of terrorist attacks forced the organizers of the high profile Indian Premier League (IPL) to shift the competition from India to South Africa (this is like moving NFL games to, say, Bulgaria); a coalition of Indian private security firms says the move was unnecessary

  • Hi-G-Tek, Trojan Defense work on global nuclear threat early detection

    Hi-G-Tek and Trojan Defense collaborate on developing a global nuclear threat early detection and warning system; the wireless sensor is designed for rapid reporting of WMD in global shipments

  • Taliban continue campaign against cellular service in Waziristan

    Taliban and al-Qaeda militants believe that the CIA and U.S. military rely on cellular communication intercepts to track and kill members of the two organizations; Taliban leaders warned Pakistan not to expand the cellular network in the areas under Taliban control; those networks already in place must be shut down overnight

  • Napolitano unveils new border security initiatives

    With the increasing lawlessness and violence in Mexico spilling into the United States, DHS launches new security initiative along the U.S.-Mexico border — and inside Mexico

  • U.S., Germany to collaborate in homeland security research

    U.S., Germany sign a research and development collaboration agreement which will see secret U.S. laboratories open to German scientists

  • U.K. to train workers in counter-terrorism

    Home Office says 60,000 U.K. workers will be trained in counterterrorism so they can assist in responding to terror incidents; the trained workers will augment the existing force of 3,000 dedicated counterterrorism police officers