• FDA hires 1,300 new doctors and scientists

    Staffing drive, launched just five months ago, will result in an estimated 10 percent increase in the FDA’s work force

  • DNA firms step up security over bioterrorism threat

    Until recently, designer DNA companies were rather relaxed about who was buying their products, and many refused to check their orders for potentially dangerous DNA sequences; this is changing, and the industry association in which many of these companies are members is leading a drive to increase security

  • Asking fundamental questions about the homeland security agenda

    The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks should occasion a debate about fundamentals, not merely a tactical, short-term security issues; such fundamental issues have to do with how the United States fits increased security from natural and man-made disasters into a liberal, democratic, free-market system characterized by federalism and checks-and-balances

  • France delays Big Brother database

    The French government, in an effort to fight crime and juvenile delinquency, launched a police database aimed at gathering information on suspects as young as thirteen; civil libertarian groups protested the scope of the information to be gathered, and the government, for now, has relented

  • DHS: Progress and priorities, I

    Since its creation more than five years ago, DHS has made significant progress — uneven progress — in protecting the United States from dangerous people and goods, protecting the U.S. critical infrastructure, strengthen emergency response, and unifying department operations

  • Terrorism: What the next president will face

    Richard Clarke, special editor of a new volume on the terrorist threat the United States is facing: “Like the cold war, this struggle is ideological at its root and will likely take many years to end. As with the cold war, however, skillful management could eventually cause the threat to go away, not with a bang but with a whimper”

  • U.S. gets a C grade in WMD report

    A blue ribbon panel of former high security official says terrorism threat remains real, and that the U.S. government’s efforts to counter WMD threats leave much to be desired

  • Rethinking strategy for finding bin Laden

    The effort to bring Osama bin Laden to justice has so far failed; there are many reasons for that: Half-hearted efforts by the Pakistani authorities; failure to win the hearts and minds of tribal leaders in Pakistan’s Northwest Territories; limits Pakistan imposed on direct U.S. action inside Pakistan; the invasion of Iraq, which consumed vast resources which otherwise would have been invested in the effort against al-Qaeda; and more; U.S., Pakistan, are now rethinking the strategy

  • U.S. military pushes for offensive cyber warfare capabilities

    U.S. officials have been reluctant to militarize the electronic medium, but a recently declassified report and electronic attacks on Georgia have set off an intense discussion among senior Pentagon officials about going on the offensive

  • Yucca Mountain project clears another hurdle

    The Yucca Mountain nuclear storage project moves forward, as NRC says it would conduct an in-depth review of the government plans

  • Debating how to shore up U.S. infrastructure

    As federal, state, and municipal governments justifiably look to the private sector to help rebuild the aging U.S. infrastructure, they must make sure that the public interest in affordable and accessible infrastructure does not take a back seat

  • Chertoff: Neglect threatens infrastructure

    DHS secretary Michael Chertoff says that lack of investment in U.S. infrastructure “[is] kind of like playing Russian roulette with our citizens’ safety”

  • The H-1B program: Mend it, don't end it

    Any required labor-market test must facilitate extraordinary alacrity; delays of years, months, or even weeks are unacceptable; similarly, H-1B workers should be paid the same wage as their U.S. counterparts: The H-1B program should not be a means by which “cheap foreign labor” is imported

  • Urgent inquiry as more personal data missing in Britain

    Another data loss blunder in Britain, as a disc containing the personal details of 5,000 employees of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), who may include many prison officers, went missing

  • New York State gives company 45 days to fix problems

    New York State awarded M/A Com a contract for building the infrastructure for the statewide wireless network for first responders; the contract was to be completed by December 2006; state comptroller office, citing the delay and nearly 20 other deficiencies, gives company 45 days to fix problem or see its contract revoked