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Marines in Iraq demand LE System's laser-based crowd control system
Dazzler creates a wall of blinding green light that forces drivers away from senstive areas; while the brass favor a B.E. Meyers-produced device, the troops on the ground prefer LE; safety officials put their foot down
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Magal wins a $6 million contract to secure Israeli army bases
Deal follows recent successes with U.S. water authorities, banks concerned about underground tunnelling, and a Scottish hospital; company will install perimeter detection and command and control systems
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DARPA seeks to replicate black ice for use in Iraq
Envisioned mobility control system would force enemies to slip, while a reversal agent applied to U.S. vehicles permits effortless apprehension; companies interested in developing “polymer ice” have until April to respond
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Northrop teams up with RADA in Israeli missile defense bid
Israel will choose a winning plan within a month, and so Northrop positions itself tactically by teaming up with a major Israeli defense company; Skyguard system uses a deuterium fluoride laser to shoot down rockets; RADA Electronics moves beyond avionics
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Smiths joins Birmngham U. to develop next-generation IMS systems
Ion mobility spectrometery has already proven itself in Smiths Detection’s Sentinel portals, but all agree that improvement in chemical detection is neccesary; £1 million project will take a close look at ionization chemistry
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Congress looks to expands America's K-9 ranks
Canine Detection Improvement Act of 2007 sets out standards for an increased push at explosives detection; airports and other critical infrastructure suffer from a lack of trained dogs; “breed American” is the new watchword, as congressmen try to take the German out of German shepherd
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NYPD refuses to use $140 million subway radio system
Long overdue and overbudget, the system is troubled by widespread interference and decrepit cabling; E.A. Technologies and Petrocelli Electric struggle to explain the problem
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Greater U.S. scrutiny of foreign investment in sensitive industries
The repercussions of the controversial DPW deal of early 2006 are very much with us, as the Bush administration scrutinizes much more closely many more foreign investment deals, and conditions approval of some of them on national security “mitigation” agreements
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London Olympics to sport photometric stereo facial recognition technology
Intriguing approach uses a single camera and multiple sequential flashes to develop a “facial skin signature”; software uses slightly differing shadows to generate a 3D image of higher quality than conventional facial recognition systems; skin color and tone can both be identified
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Sun Microsystems offer shipping containers for secure data storage
Stackable and easily shippable system holds eight server racks, a cooling system, and other critical appurtences; both DoD and FEMA see useful applications; airlifting to war zones a major possibility
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Bioscrypt snatches up A4Vision in stock swap
Deal brings together Bioscrypt’s strength in fingerprint algorithims with A4Visions’s 3D facial recognition technology; company will now offer off-the-shelf finished readers for both finger and 3D face biometrics; investors add another $8 million to the venture
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Ball Aerospace proposes asteroid-busting robots
The collective action problem aside, saving the planet may be more important than saving the homeland; basketball-sized drones would swarm the asteroid, with some exploding while others listen to vibrations; Ball looks for funding and promises a three year delivery date
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British researchers marry lip-reading to video analytics
Government hopes that software will enable them to solve crimes based on conversations gleaned from CCTV; tracking the head and lip remain a challenge, but progress is being made; Asian and African languages present difficulties
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EU seeks feedback on communications infrastructure security
Officials see risk in growing interdependancy from terrorists and other criminals; natural disasters also in play; EU commission lists ten policy objectives and invites stakeholders to email their responses
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NYC to allow citizens to upload photos during 911 and 311 calls
Breakthrough concept relies on established technology to help diffuse information; photos of suspicious individuals can be quickly uploaded to dispatch authorities; citizens protect infrastructure by keeping their eyes (and apertures) open
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The long view
Walking the Artificial Intelligence and National Security Tightrope
Artificial intelligence (AI) presents nations’ security as many challenges as it does opportunities. While it could create mass-produced malware, lethal autonomous weapons systems, or engineered pathogens, AI solutions could also prove the counter to these threats. Regulating AI to maximize national security capabilities and minimize the risks presented to them will require focus, caution and intent.
Sediment Movement During Hurricane Harvey Could Negatively Impact Future Flooding
Enormous amounts of sediment, or sand and mud, flowed through Houston waterways during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, due in part to modifications made by humans to bayous, rivers and streams over the past century. Harvey was the largest rainfall event in U.S. history, and it moved 27 million cubic meters of sediment, or 16 Astrodomes, through Houston waterways and reservoirs. This could seriously impact future flooding events and be costly to the City of Houston.
100th Anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake: Is Japan Ready for the Next Big One?
Japan is marking 100 years since a devastating earthquake triggered a widespread inferno in Kanto, a region that includes the capital, Tokyo. Most of the tens of thousands of victims perished in the fire. seismologists put the likelihood of another major quake beneath the Kanto region of Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures at 70% in the next 30 years.
The Causes of the 1931 Yangtze River Deluge
In the summer of 1931, an unprecedented calamity unfolded along the Yangtze River basin in eastern China—the 1931 Yangtze River flood, known as one of history’s deadliest natural disasters. This cataclysmic event submerged a staggering 180,000 km2, affected 25 million lives, and claimed over 2 million lives. What caused this monumental flood?
Human Destruction of Floodplains Significantly Increases Flood Risks
A study of human destruction of natural floodplains highlight the critical role floodplains play in wildlife preservation, water quality, and the reduction of flood risk for people. “The bottom line is that the world is at greater flood risk than what we realized, especially considering what effect human development has had on floodplains,” says an expert.