• Emergency cleanup plans for potential Cuban oil spill

    With Cuba set to begin offshore drilling, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pressing the United States to immediately begin developing emergency plans to assist Cuba in the event of a major oil spill

  • Mexican border agents cross into U.S. again without permission

    A national watchdog group warns that incursions along the southern border by the Mexican government could be a serious potential security threat

  • WikiLeaks hit by cyberattack

    On Tuesday night, the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks suffered from a cyberattack that crashed its homepage; the attack comes shortly after the group released nearly 134,000 additional State Department cables

  • U.S. makes nuclear fuel available to other countries

    The United States announced the availability of a reserve stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for use in nuclear fuel; the LEU is derived from down-blended surplus military material; the LEU will be made available to countries interested in nuclear power generation, thus making it unnecessary for these countries to develop their own uranium-enrichment technology

  • Mexican trucks cited for 1 million violations since 2007

    Trucks transport roughly $275 billion worth of goods — or 70 percent of the total — that pass between the United States and Mexico annually; the trucks from Mexico, however, often fail to meet U.S. safety standards

  • U.S., Canada to share hazard risk assessment software tool

    Hazus, or “Hazards U.S.” is a risk assessment software tool for emergency management professionals that combines science, engineering, and geospatial information technology to estimate potential loss of life and property damage from disasters and natural hazards; FEMA is using it and now Canada will, too

  • DHS cracks down on sham universities

    DHS officials are cracking down on sham universities that make millions of dollars by preying on foreign students, especially those from India, with promises of student visas; in January, officials shut down Tri-Valley University in California on suspicion of visa fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering; officials believe that the university made millions of dollars by giving foreign nationals illegally obtained student visas

  • Mexico accidentally invades U.S.

    On Tuesday, the Mexican Army accidentally “invaded” the United States when thirty-three of its soldiers mistakenly crossed the border into Texas in Humvees; the soldiers were driving in a convoy consisting of four Humvees when they realized they had started driving on a bridge over the Rio Grande where they could not turn their vehicles around until they entered the United States

  • Where have Libya's antiaircraft missiles gone?

    U.S. government officials fear that more portable anti-aircraft missiles may have slipped into the wrong hands or been sold in the black market after rebels in Libya raided one of Colonel Muammer el Qaddafi’s munitions depots; late last month rebels captured the city of Ga’a which contained an ammunition depot that housed Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems, lightweight surface to air missiles known as Manpads; in the ensuing chaos, the depot was raided and crates of weapons disappeared with no record of where they went

  • State Department to begin tracking its personnel

    The U.S. State Department will soon be able to track the movement of its staff as they conduct diplomatic missions in dangerous areas in countries like Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan; using the Blue Force Tracker system, the State Department will be able to monitor its personnel’s movements via a small transmitter attached to a vehicle, aircraft, or a person

  • Senators concerned about terrorists entering U.S.

    U.S. lawmakers have lingering concerns about the ability for terrorists to enter the country following last week’s Senate hearing that investigated how two Iraqi nationals with terrorist ties were able to enter the United States and live in Bowling Green, Kentucky for several years; A Government Accountability Report (GAO), released on the same day as the hearing, found four critical gaps in preventing terrorists from entering the United States

  • Five years on: Israel-Hezbollah 2006 war

    Five years ago today, a war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah after Hezbollah fighters made a foray into Israel, killing several soldiers and carrying the bodies of two of them back into Lebanon; despite the uneven scale of death and damage — Israel has inflicted much more damage on Hezbollah and Lebanon — the war was initially perceived as an Israeli defeat because Israel was unable to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets into Israel during the entire conflict; more recently, though, this initial conclusion has been revised somewhat, with some analysts pointing out that the Israel-Lebanese border has been quiet during the past five years — the longest period it has been so quiet; a respected Israeli military analyst says that the 2006 war was an Israeli failure — and unless Israel changes its definition regarding who the real enemy is, the next Israel-Hezbollah war will be and Israeli failure as well

  • ICE chief: Israel's inclusion on terror watch list a "mistake"

    DHS officials are now saying Israel’s inclusion on a list of countries that promote, produce, or protect terrorists was a mistake; John Morton, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said, “The addition of Israel to the list—- was based on inaccurate information provided to the OIG during the course of its audit”; a May 2011 report contained an appendix which lists “specially designated countries” that promote terrorism; the list instructed ICE agents to pay special attention to, and investigate more thoroughly, individuals from these countries arrested by ICE; ICE spokesperson suggested that Israel was included not because its government supports terrorism, but because some individual Israelis do pose a terror threat; 1.5 million of Israel’s 7.5 million citizens are Arabs

  • Palestinian non-violent resistance will challenge Israel

    In the last twenty years, the Palestinians launched two violent campaigns — intifadas — against Israeli occupation; both intifadas — the first in 1988, the second in 2000 — were forcefully suppressed by Israel; a Palestinian scholar, now teaching in the United States, has long advocated a peaceful, Gandh-like resistance as a better way for the Palestinians to achieve their national goals; he argued that the indiscriminate killing of Israeli civilians was not only a moral stain on the Palestinian national movement — it is also counter-productive, because it gave Israel reasons to respond with overwhelming force and continue to portray the Palestinians as unwilling to be partners in peace; the Palestinian leadership ignored him in the past, but appears to be listening to him now; Israel is anxious

  • U.S. and Kenya open talks to resume direct flights

    The United States is resuming talks with Kenya to discuss the reopening of direct flights between the two countries; due to fears of terrorism from neighboring Somalia, in September 2009 U.S. officials cancelled a Delta Airlines flight just hours before the fully-booked plane was schedule to depart; the flight would have been the first direct link between the two countries since the late 1980s