• DHS releases FY2009 guidance for $3 billion worth of grants

    FEMA requests applications for 14 programs for which it has allocated $3 billion; funded programs concentrate on state and local governments and strengthening community preparedness

  • CBP releases trade strategy document

    In fiscal year 2008, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency processed imports worth $2.2 trillion and collected $32 billion in revenue; these figures are only going to grow

  • Cyberattacks target U.K. national infrastructure

    The computer systems of critical businesses in the United Kingdom, such as power companies and large financial institutions, are being repeatedly probed to steal information or uncover weaknesses that could take them down

  • The priorities of DHS's Science and Technology Directorate

    DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate is known for its restless, entrepreneurial spirit; it has a $830 million dollar budget, and 250 projects under development at any one time

  • Train as you fight

    To be effective, the training of soldiers and policemen must be done with training conditions resembling the conditions the trainee will face in a real fight; a policeman or soldier will not have time to warm up and stretch before a real encounter; they will also not be fighting wearing shorts, T-shirts, and tennis shoes; the real fight will not stop when they feel pain or discomfort

  • Where is James Bond when we need him?

    The villains James Bond was fighting — Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Blofeld — looked improbable in the 1960s; these miscreants of globalization — part master criminal, part arms smuggler, part terrorist, part warlord —are now the stuff of reality

  • U.S. debates creating domestic intelligence agency

    A new RAND study examines the benefits of creating a domestic intelligence agency; research group offers a break-even analysis of the various counterterrorism organizational options

  • Satellite program canceled; intelligence community uneasy

    Congress has shelved a Pentagon program to buy two commercial imagery satellites; in 2005 the Pentagon pulled the plug on a major component of the Future Imagery Architecture system; U.S. intelligence community fears intelligence gaps will open

  • Briefly noted

    Deadly plague found in Grand Canyon… IG: USDA monitoring system improves IT security… France’s DGA issues multinational contract for lightweight UAV radar tech… Thales completes acquisition of U.K. encryption specialist… N.J. safer, but not safe from terrorists

  • Debate over safety of taser-proof vests

    A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head

  • HHS offers legal shield to anthrax manufacturers, distributors

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers legal shield to manufacturers and distributors of anthrax vaccines and treatments under a “public health emergency” to be in effect until the end of 2015

  • Interpol plans facial recognition database to catch suspects

    Every year more than 800 million international travelers fail to undergo the most basic scrutiny to check whether their identity documents have been stolen, Interpol has warned; the organization plans a massive face-recognition database

  • Debate over safety of taser-proof vests

    A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head

  • TSA meets initial screening cargo goal

    Congress has mandated through the 9/11 law that 50 percent of cargo on passenger carrying aircraft be screened by February 2009 and 100 percent of cargo be screened by August 2010; TSA says it currently screens all cargo on narrow body, passenger-carrying aircraft; these account for more than 90 percent of all passenger carrying aircraft in the United States

  • Unsettling lack of security at Level 4 Biosafety Labs

    Biosafety labs (BSLs) handle the world’s most dangerous agents and diseases; only BSL-4 labs can work with agents for which no cure or treatment exists; there are five BSL-4 labs in the United States, and GAO conducted a study of these labs’ perimeter security; you are not going to like what the GAO found