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GAO raps Project 25 interoperability grants
Federal government has spent $2.15 billion on expensive but uncompatible radios; a lack of strategic vision
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LAPD rapped for lax oversight of anti-terror unit
Auditors criticize Anti-Terrorist Intelligence Section for failuring to properly screen officers; management criticized for failing to excercise appropriate supervision of this controversial unit
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Florida cities unveil technology wish lists
Cities from Miramar to Pembroke Pines get ready to spend their Urban Areas Security Initiative dollars; metal detectors and mobile traffic light manufacturers will find opportunities in the Sunshine State
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Body armor business booms
Companies such as Ceradyne and Armor Holding post large gains after DoD spends $5 billion in five years to protect troops; smaller companies find niche markets in custom-wear, police
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USBX reports heavy merger activity
Explosives detection and video surveillance among segments under consolidation; M&A increased 50 percent overall last year, says research firm
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DHS makes twenty-two small business awards
Winning companies will receive up to $100,000 to refine their ideas; contracts given in WMD detection, ground sensors, mobile biological assays, emergency pre-planning software systems, and simulation training
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Securities investors bullish on homeland security
New York Society of Security Analysts kicks of conference with confidence; Federal Reserve weighs in
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Fifty percent growth expected for homeland security market
Homeland Security Research Corporation issues a hefty report; individual sectors scrutinized by size and growth potential
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War on terror harms police recruiting
High salaries in the private sector and reserve call-ups drain local police forces; Springfield police department finds itself thirty-five officers short of authorized strength
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DHS releases $194 million in emergency management grants
States can use the money for equipment, training, and salaries; California, Texas, and New York are the big winners
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Chesapeake Innovation Center struggles
Interim director resigns as CIC confronts looming budget problems; calls mount to take the center under private management; new leadership reaches out to Northrop Grumman and others; loss of NSA contract a major blow
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Top 100 DHS contractors announced
Government Security News provides its annual rankings; Hurricane Katrina may have skewed the results toward environmental cleanup companies; Shaw Environmental, Bechtel, and C2HM Hill Constructors lead the pack
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Congress takes a serious look at Cyren Call
After an FCC rejection in November, the Commerce committee revisits the idea of creating a national wireless network for first responders; John McCain offers his support; critics, angry about the idea of giving away valuable spectrum, gird for battle
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Maine lawmakers revolt against Real ID Act
State is first in the nation to pass a resolution demanding the act be repealed, but eight others are considering it too; legislators upset over $185 million cost and doubt the program’s utility; privacy advocates call it a national nightmare
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DHS announces 2007 grant levels for Infrastructure Protection Program
Transit Security Grant Program, the Port Security Grant Program, the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, the Trucking Security Program, and the Buffer Zone Protection Program see mostly gains
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The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
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.”