• Terrorist incidents, fatalities outside Iraq increase in 2008

    The security situation in Iraq improved in 2008, but outside Iraq there were more terrorist incidents and more fatalities as a result of these incidents; Pakistan is rapidly being engulfed by terror: in 2007 there were 890 incidents which killed 1,340 people; in 2008, 1,839 incidents which killed 2,293 people

  • U.S. Navy nears decision on Littoral Combat Ship

    The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will help the U.S. Navy counter growing “asymmetric” threats like coastal mines, quiet diesel submarines, global piracy, and terrorists on small fast attack boats; two teams — one led by General Dynamics, the other by Lockheed Martin — compete for a contract that could be worth more than $30 billion when all is said and done

  • Organized crime threat to U.S. economy, national security

    After 9/11, many law enforcement and intelligence agencies turned their attention to the fight against terrorism; a new report from CRS says that evolving organized crime threatens U.S. national security and the economy as it grows increasingly transnational

  • Chertoff: biological weapons biggest terrorist threat

    Chertoff: “The natural ingredients of a biological threat are not difficult to come by, and it’s just a question of the know-how in terms of fabricating them to make a weapon”

  • Many U.S. naval bases not prepared for terror attacks

    Auditors visited 22 of 66 naval installations last year and found only one base that adhered to the Navy directive requiring an antiterrorism plan

  • Gordon Brown unveils new Pakistan policy

    Brown, calling the area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border “breeding ground for terrorism,” unveils new strategy to enhance security there

  • Petraeus to Pakistan: The enemy is not India, but home-grown extremists

    Petraeus says Pakistan should get over its fixation on India as enemy No. 1, and recognize instead the growing danger to Pakistan’s existence from home-grown Islamic extremists

  • Taliban renews opposition to polio vaccination

    Taliban in Pakistan’s northwest territories and Afghanistan renew their campaign against vaccination of children against polio; clerics describe vaccination as “Western plot”; Taliban fighters have attacked vaccination teams in Pakistan’s Swat valley; Islamic clerics in northern Nigeria have embarked on similar campaign

  • Piracy boosts maritime security business

    In London, the business capital of the world’s maritime industry, firms shape decisions on arming ships and negotiating with pirates

  • IAF's fighter jets intercept Delta Airlines plane for lack of communication

    A state of emergency declared at Ben-Gurion Airport after Delta Airlines airplane headed to Israel failed to contact control tower due to technical problem

  • Seeing through concrete, clearly

    Insurgents and terrorists fight from within civilian structures, making it difficult for soldiers and first responders to respond without injuring many civilians; DARPA wants a solution which would allow soldiers to look through concrete walls and give them a detailed picture of a building’s interior — right down to the fixtures

  • Manipulating Google searches as counter-terrorism tool

    The U.K. government will train pro-West Islamic groups to game Google searches in order to fight the influence of radicals; search engine optimization techniques will make moderate Islamic groups come up first in Google searches

  • U.K. Home Office terrorism advisory site offered link to a porno site

    On Monday, a new EU regulation went into effect mandating that ISPs store details of user e-mails and Internet calls; a Home Office site contained a link for citizens who felt the measure was too intrusive, and who would want to send the Home Office a complaint about it; trouble is, those who clicked on the link were sent to a Japanese porno site

  • DARPA wants stealthy 3D building-interior mapping kit

    SWAT teams, special forces units, and first responders often are called upon to storm buildings in which terrorists hide; would it not be better if these units had up-to-date, accurate pictures of the insides of the structures they are about to storm? DARPA thinks it is a good idea

  • Sudan attack: update

    Israel used “dozens of aircraft” to destroy an Iranian arms convoy in Sudan in late January; UAVs were used for BDA (bomb damage assessment); sources: there was another Israeli attack in Sudan, in early February, and an attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden