Ground / Mass transportation

Growing concern over transportation of hazardous materials
Security measures for handling toxic chemicals should apply not only to the nation’s 15,000 chemical plants, but also the rails and trucks transporting them; too bad there are no meaningful security measures
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GE, Siemens in port security collaborative effort
Two conglomerates create joint venture to manufacture tamper-proof devices to track the 60 million cargo containers being ferried across the oceans every year
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Travel industry praises new DHS-State passenger screening initiatives
The travel industry, usually grumpy about security initiatives, welcomes the administration’s latest travel security initiatives
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Unisys receives large TSA IT contract despite steep overbilling on early version of contract
Overbilling is not exactly unknown among government contractors, but Unisys “overbilling on a large (nearly $1 billion) TSA IT contract” the company charged three times per-hour than what it said it would surprised even jaded Washington veterans; still, TSA has just given Unisys another contract to complete the work it did not finish on the first contract (the work was not completed because the money allocated to it ran out; the money ran out because the company overbilled, etc.)
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Live test of ePassports begins at San Francisco International
In second live test of its kind, four countries cooperate in testing ePassports, their readers, and the software which operates the system
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Growing investment in airport IT services, including biometric check-in
Airport-related IT services and products constituted a $2.5 billion market in 2005; the growing interest in biometric travel documents will increase the size of this market in the next three years
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Questions raised about traveler screening programs
Remember the nine-month old Pennsylvania toddler who was not allowed to board a plane with her mother because her name was on the TSA No-Fly list? And Senator Ted Kennedy is still being pulled over every time he walks through a security line; who is on this list, anyway?
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Smith installs IMS EDS at three additional airports
Innovative EDS company installs IMS-based detectors in more of the country’s airports
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PierPASS to use active RFID to secure trucks at California seaports
Trucks entering two of California’s — and the nation’s — largest ports to be equipped with active RFIDs for added protection
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Promising Aussie company benefits from emphasis on explosive detection
We like restless, innovative companies, and this Australian company is intellectually restless and innovative company — and what also helps, is that it is in a growing homeland security subfield
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Travel industry says security requirements harm business
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TSA looking for ideas on seals for air-borne cargo containers
TSA’s new emphasis on air cargo security leads it to seek information on cargo and package seals
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GE Puffer Machine to be installed in forty busy airports
At times there is a mismatch between technology and how it is described: The Web page describing GE’s innovative puffer machine, an explosive particles detector, used to carry the header: “California Screening”; the juvenile header was removed, and the technology gains new adherents in the nation’s airports
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Cruise operators to offer on-line booking to comply with DHS new security requirements
DHS wants cruise operators to give it passenger lists at least twenty-four hours before the cruise sails; new on-line booking may help the industry meet this requirement
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Government, airlines tighten security to meet potential flu pandemic
Government and airlines are taking early measures to cope with avian flu pandemic; some critics say more needs to be done, but all agree that preparations are much better than was the case in Katrina
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