• Apathy a "central threat" to nuclear security, says expert

    Corey Hinderstein, the vice president of the International Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, looks back on the progress made in securing loose nuclear material in the ten years since 9/11; more specifically, Hinderstein discusses the likelihood of al Qaeda obtaining a nuclear bomb or nuclear material, bolstering security at medical and industrial facilities that have stockpiles of low-grade nuclear material, and the dangers of apathy

  • The "lost decade" of cybersecurity: adversaries outpace cyber-defenses

    Anup Ghosh, the founder and CEO of Invincea, a firm that specializes in developing cybersecurity solutions, discusses the failures of the U.S. government in cybersecurity, emerging technologies that can help keep networks safe, and the havoc that terrorists can wreak via a cyberattack

  • Congress should permanently authorize chemical security bill

    Calvin Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council and a former U.S. Congressman, discusses the efforts to date of the chemical industry to secure its facilities, the need for Congress permanently to authorize a regulatory regime, and the fallacies of a one-size fits all approach to chemical security

  • Counter-terrorism expert: Domestic radicalization "blown out of proportion"

    David Schanzer, the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security and an associate professor in Public Policy at Duke University, discusses the over inflation of the threat from domestic radicalization, ways to prevent young Muslim Americans from becoming radicalized, and the opportunity that the Arab Spring has presented the United States

  • NYPD works with suburban police to stop terrorism

    In the ten years since 9/11, the New York City police department (NYPD) has worked to forge closer ties with local police departments in an effort to stop terrorist attacks; “The idea is to add rings of security,” explained chief inspector John Hodges of the Westchester County police; “What’s changed since 9/11 is New York City has learned that people who might want to bring something into New York City will have to infiltrate from somewhere outside,” he said

  • Detecting bioterror attacks

    About 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in the thirty largest cities in the United States; the government has deployed a secret system of biosensors to detect bioterror attacks; the location of the sensors, and the pathogens they search for, are kept secret so terrorists would not be able to tamper with the sensors or evade them (officially, even the list of cities where the system is deployed is kept secret)

  • DHS awards $19 million to nonprofits for security

    On Tuesday DHS announced that it had awarded nearly $19 million to nonprofit organizations around the country that are considered to be at high risk of terrorist attack.

  • Mitigating mail-borne threats

    Mark V. Michel, the U.S and Canada business development manager of PowderSafe, a firm which specializes in developing mail processing security systems, recently spoke with Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow; in the interview, Michel discusses the continued threats from mail-born substances, why even a hoax letter can still be damaging, and methods to mitigate the threat

  • U.S. agencies are still struggling with information sharing

    It is nearly ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and U.S. intelligence agencies are still struggling to strengthen the information sharing networks that proved broken that September day; according to the latest CRS report, “there remain many institutional and procedural issues that complicate cooperation between the two sets of agencies”

  • Prez security dome over Martha's Vineyard

    On a typical summer day, about 700 small private planes land on Martha’s Vineyard, bringing rich vacationers — mostly from New York City — to what locals call The Rock; not while the president is on the island vacationing, though: The FAA Temporary Flight Restriction is in place over the island for the duration of the president’s vacation

  • DHS unveils new terrorism awareness ads

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled new television ads Wednesday for the public awareness campaign “If you see something, say something”; Napolitano said the videos are not intended to be alarmist, nor do they suggest only a vague threat, as did the security alert “color code” of years past

  • Bill calls for all utility plant worker background checks

    Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) will introduce new legislation that would require all major utility plants to run background checks on its employees; the bill would require FBI background checks on all employees of all major utility plants, strengthening the current requirement which mandates such checks only at nuclear power plants

  • DHS's new terrorist database rankles privacy groups

    A new DHS plan to create its own version of the FBI’s terrorist watch list that is exempt from the Privacy Act has privacy groups concerned; under the proposed plan, DHS would create the Watchlist Service which would bring the FBI’s suspected terrorist list in-house and expand on it

  • Mumbai bombings tied to homegrown group

    Indian government officials have focused on domestic terror, indicating that last month’s triple-bombing in Mumbai was the work of a homegrown group, the Indian Mujahideen; the same explosive formulation was used in these attacks as was used in other attacks where responsibility was claimed by The Indian Mujahideen

  • DHS slow to crack down on ammonium nitrate sales

    U.S. lawmakers are becoming frustrated with DHS for its slow implementation of regulations on ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a key ingredient in dangerous homemade explosives like the one used in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; Congress initially passed legislation tightening control on the sale of the fertilizer in 2008, but DHS has yet to implement such regulations and three years later is only now publishing a set of “proposed” rule