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Oxford City outfits housing employees with tracking and recording badges
New technology allows rent collectors to quietly raise the alarm during a confrontation; push a button and an open channel is created; conversations are recorded for legal purposes; Connexion2, Vodafone, and Identicom provide the technology
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Federal government moves forward with national fusion centers
New rules will streamline security classifications from 100 to six, removing a major obstacle to the implementation of an effective information sharing environment; new Interagency Threat Assessment Coordination Group to be based at DHS
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ERF Wireless to build $5 million network for Louisiana police and public
Unique deal bolsters Louisiana State Police communications while also serving poorer rural areas; local banks, who will also have access, will foot most of the bill, but the police will provide the towers; a unique financing arrangement provides a model for other company’s seeking a PR boost
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Arizona defense industry looks to the past and future
Experts say the state is well-positioned to take advantage of increased spending on missile defense and other advanced systems; should these receive the axe under the new Democratic congress, older contracts for ATK and General Dynamics, among others, will keep the economy afloat
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FCC declines to consider Cyren Call's public safety band proposal
Improving communication among first responders and rescue units is a pressing topic, and one proposal, advanced by Cyren Call, calls for allocating 30 MHz in the 700 MHz band for public safety purposes; the wireless industry opposes the plan, and the FCC says it contradicts the wishes of Congress
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Homeland Integrated Security Systems's Cyber Tracker to monitor NY school buses
GPS-plus devices include sensors that monitor everything from internal temperature to vehicle speed; school districts want to avoid another Chowchilla while keeping eyes on their drivers
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Virginia asks emergency responders to use common language
Approach takes HSPD-5 and NIMS requirements seriously by asking agencies to abandon 10-codes; confusion often resulted during inter-agency responses due to different associated meanings
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Criticism continues of Congressional formula for state terror funds disbursement
If a camel is a horse designed by committee, than the grants DHS gives states for terror preparedness are more a camel than a horse; the reason: The formula for allocating these grants was designed by a committee — a Congressional committee, that is
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Department of Education awards emergency preparedness grants
Seventy-four schools will receive a total of $23 million for staff training and equipment purchases
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ShotSpotter technology deployed to Minneapolis
Sensors immediately tell police the exact location of a fired shot; technology based on acoustic detection of muzzle blasts; data to aid criminal prosecutions
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Canadian government announces annual air security revenue, expenses
Deficits projected as security costs, number of travellers, mount; government plans to hold dwindling program surplus as check against future costs
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In-Q-Tel names new chief executive
Christopher Darby takes the reigns at the CIA’s venture capital arm; background in cybersecurity; succeeds Amit Yoran
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9/11, Katrina anniversaries highlight radio interoperability problems
Government grants have done little to improve municipal communications; New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Tulsa provide models of ongoing difficulties
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DHS launches information-sharing program with states
More information should lead to more effective law enforcement, and DHS next month will begin to share some of the information in its files with the states; first will be the personal and biometric information collected from travelers in the US-VISIT program; DHS also said that the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. reached 11 million
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States to DHS: Either fund the Real ID Act, or drop it
Congress gave states a May 2008 deadline to equip their citizens with driver’s licenses with biometric information and RFID techonlogy; U.S. citizens without such licneses will not be able to enter federal buildings, open bank accounts, or purchase airline tickets; states balk at the cost of the project, telling the federal government to fund it or drop it
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The long view
East Texas Sits on a Goldmine of Lithium, but Questions Loom Over How the State Will Regulate Mining and Production
As the U.S. pushes to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, Texas companies prepare to capitalize on the state’s emerging lithium industry.
The Justice Department Lets 90-Year-Old Regulations on Silencers Fade Away
The Trump administration let a judge block longstanding registration requirements on silencers and short-barreled guns like sawed-off shotguns. But the new legal landscape is murky.
The Long Afterlife of QAnon Conspiracy Theories Haunting American Politics
Started on the online forum website 4chan in 2017, QAnon spread false, far-right theories on social media about a shadowy cabal of satanic pedophiles among the political elite, which Donald Trump was purportedly fighting alongside a mysterious ally named “Q.” While Q stopped posting in 2022, the movement did not disappear. Its conspiracy theories seeped from the margins into mainstream American politics, and the movement’s vocabulary quickly began to appear in official government circles at the start of Trump’s second term. Official uses of Q language have invigorated conspiracy theorists to advance new theories, undermining public health, governance, and civil society.
Sharia, Freedom, and the American Way of Life: A Response to Daniel Brubaker
Sharia alarmists see the illiberal elements in Islamic law as a reason to outlaw all of it — in fact, they call for outlawing not just Islamic law, but more categorically “today’s Islam,” as incompatible with American liberty. But this reasoning could be turned against nearly any group. Reformist arguments have not yet won the day in Islam, but they are being seriously discussed among Muslims around the world. If they eventually do prevail, it will be in part because more Muslims come to see freedom as a noble and genuine ideal worth embracing. And that, in turn, will be possible only if freedom is understood to mean not only freedom from Islam, but freedom of Islam as well.
Can the Midterms Be 'Stolen' On Jan. 3? It's Complicated.
President Trump’s demands in 2020 that Vice President Pence do “the right thing” have prompted speculation that he or his allies will attempt a similar gambit in 2026. Jan. 3 is the day the old Congress ends and the new one begins: Only the swearing-in process still stands between the winners and their seats. This vulnerability lately has filled some commentators and activists with fear. Panic about a ‘rogue clerk’ is likely unwarranted—but it’s worth paying attention.
Nuclear Weapons: The Global Outlook in An Unstable New Era
The stalled US–Iran negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and President Donald Trump’s announcement of a US-Saudi nuclear agreement have put nuclear weapons back in the spotlight. But the threat of nuclear breakout has been growing for several decades.