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India's Tata Group, U.S. company to manufacture defense equipment
India is worried about China’s growing military might; Indian companies see an opportunity here, and more and more of them are looking to enter the defense market — with U.S. companies as partners; the U.S. government, too, is intensifying its defense cooperation with India
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DHS proposed FY2009 budget request: Highlights
DHS requests $50.5 billion in funding for FY 2009, an increase of 6.8 percent over FY2008; big ticket item: $1.3 billion request for department-wide efforts to counter IED threats
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CBP hails C-TPAT 2007 achievements
DHS’s Custom and Border Protection agency says that Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program made major contributions to U.S. security in 2007 by keeping a close eye on the supply chain bringing goods into the U.S.
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Under certain assumptions, ANWR drilling helps U.S. energy independence
Depending on the assumption we bring to the issue, additional 36 billion barrels of oil and 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas would be added over current reserve estimates; this would result in limiting oil imports and increase America’s energy security; but — and this is an important “but” — many assumptions must hold for this to be the case
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TSA launches aviation security blog
TSA launches a blog — Evolution of Security — aimed at encouraging conversations and exchanges between the traveling public and the agency’s experts on matters pertaining to air travel security
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CCAT looking to fund new military technologies
CCAT is seeking funding applications for technologies which support the smart unmanned ground robotics initiative; technologies of interest to the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC); and force health protection
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Lawmakers charge FEMA ignored evidence about trailers' health risks
Lawmakers charge FEMA with manipulating scientific data about the potential danger posed by a toxic gas emitted in trailers still housing tens of thousands of survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita; more than 40,000 trailers are still being used by families displaced by Katrina in August 2005 and Rita weeks later
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New direction charted for wartime contracting
Government watchdog organizations say the cost of the war in Iraq has ballooned, in part, because of the dearth of trained acquisition professionals assigned to the theater and the failure of federal agencies to establish a uniform set of procurement policy guidelines
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Fingerprint scanning pulled from Valley schools
Arizona school district began to fingerprint students without notifying parents, or asking for the parents’ permission; the parents rebelled, the State Senate is discussing a bill to outlaw such fingerprinting, and the school district retreated: Fingerprinting will stop, and the fingerprint database will be deleted
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NSA, other spy agencies enlisted in effort to address cyber vulnerability
Prepare for another heated NSA-domestic spying debate: The Bush administration issues secret directive on 8 January — informally known as the “cyber initiative” — expanding the intelligence community’s role in monitoring Internet traffic; the goal is to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies’ computer systems
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U.S. school bus system vulnerable to attack
Billions of dollars have been invested in shoring up security for ports, railways, motor coaches, and air travel — but practically nothing has been done to improve security of buses carrying millions of children every day to and from school; President Bush gave TSA a year to develop a national assessment of school bus security, but TSA has yet to develop such a plan
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GAO critical of DOE's handling of Russian nuclear scientists program
In 1994, the U.S. Department of Energy established the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) program to engage former Soviet weapons scientists in nonmilitary work in the short term and create private sector jobs for these scientists in the long term; GAO finds problems in how the program was managed, and questions accuracy of reported achievements
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OMB wants privacy review details in FISMA reports
U.S. government agencies will have to provide more details about the privacy reviews they conduct as part of annual reporting in compliance with FISMA
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FBI takes biometrics database proposal to U.K.
FBI, U.K. National Policing Improvement Agency in talks over the U.K. joining the FBI’s ambitious Server in the Sky database project; new database, in which the FBI plans to invest some $1 billion, will track down the world’s most wanted criminals and terrorists
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New York City wants feds to install more bioterror sensors
New York City wants more bioterror sensors installed on city streets; DHS, which funds 90 percent of the program, says it is willing to install a few of the units now, at a cost of $100,000 each, but that it would rather wait for new, improved sensors before paying for a city-wide roll out
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More headlines
The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
“The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States
As President Donald Trump guts the main federal office dedicated to preventing terrorism, states say they’re left to take the lead in spotlighting threats. Some state efforts are robust, others are fledgling, and yet other states are still formalizing strategies for addressing extremism. With the federal government largely retreating from focusing on extremist dangers, prevention advocates say the threat of violent extremism is likely to increase.
The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
How DHS Laid the Groundwork for More Intelligence Abuse
I&A, the lead intelligence unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) —long plagued by politicized targeting, permissive rules, and a toxic culture —has undergone a transformation over the last two years. Spencer Reynolds writes that this effort falls short. “Ultimately, Congress must rein in I&A,” he adds.