• Coast Guard works to prevent rising mission-related deaths

    Admiral Robert Papp, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), announced that the service is conducting a comprehensive review and may eliminate certain missions and capabilities, in light of the sharp increase of mission related deaths; in the past two years, fourteen Coast Guard aviators and one Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) member have died in accidents that occurred during routine missions; Admiral Papp is concerned that service members are overburdened by training for too many different skill sets and have had inadequate time to master them; since 9/11 USCG has added missions and capabilities without a corresponding increase in service personnel; Papp cites a helicopter crash in July 2010 that killed three aviators as evidence; the crash occurred during a routine mission in which the team was flying from Astoria, Oregon to Sitka, Alaska

  • Revamping inbound mail security

    After an explosive printer cartridge was found last year en route to the United States in UPS and FedEx shipments, DHS and industry are now collaborating to establish “precautionary” security measures and improve the flow of parcels and packages

  • Mobile biometric screening technology for seaports years away

    A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is still years away from implementing handheld biometric screening devices electronically to verify passengers entering the United States aboard ships; approximately five million people arrive in the United States by sea each year; CBP agents currently conduct inspections aboard ships and lack access to databases to verify passports, travel documents, or passenger information and report their findings which has led to incorrect and untimely updates to national databases; DHS has made procurement of these devices a “high priority,” but believes it will be years before they can be implemented aboard ships; the primary challenge is remotely linking the mobile devices to databases in the maritime environment

  • Largest Moscow airport testing of facial biometric system

    Moscow’s busy Sheremetyevo International Airport recently concluded initial tests of a new facial biometric security system; the system, BROADWAY 3D, relies on a three dimensional surface scan of an individual’s face; the system is highly automated and minimizes the need for human supervision; during its one month of testing, 3,500 people were automatically screened with 100 percent accuracy; BROADWAY 3D is manufactured by Artec Ventures; Sheremetyevo International is Moscow’s largest airport and has seen rapid increases in passenger traffic; last year more than nineteen million people traveled through the airport

  • Risk-based security approach on TSA's horizon

    Several industry organizations are proposing dividing airline passengers into three categories — trusted, regular, or risky — and treating members of each category differently at airports security checkpoints; the categorization of passengers will be done by taking data that the government and the airlines are already collecting about passengers and bring it to the checkpoint

  • Technology for monitoring wine quality to improve airport security

    A university of California Davis professor a magnetic resonance scanner — similar to machines used in medical scanning — to check the quality of wine; he then realized that the method could be used at airports to check bottles and cans for explosives without opening them; “I’m a tinkerer, I like to build stuff,” said Matthew Augustine, a chemistry professor at the school

  • TSA blog does little to allay fears of Domodedovo-like incident

    At Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport a few weeks ago, a suicide bomber walked into the arrivals hall and killed 35 people and injured 168; on its blog, TSA says that one of the measures the agency has instituted — installing behavior detection officers (BDO) at U.S. airports to spot suspicious behavior — would go a long way toward preventing a Domodedovo-like incident in the United States; skeptics beg to differ

  • Pistole takes aim at Mica

    The decision by the TSA to deny an application by Springfield-Branson Airport in Missouri to privatize its checkpoint workforce signals a turnaround in TSA policy; until recently TSA said it neither endorsed nor opposed private screening; TSA would keep contractors at sixteen out of roughly 460 U.S. airports, but would refuse to employ others elsewhere unless clear advantages were made known

  • TSA halts private security screener program

    In an about face, the TSA has halted its private screening program at airports; last December the TSA declared that it was neutral on the program, however last Friday the TSA denied an airport in Missouri its request for private screeners and declared that it would reject all incoming proposals; Representative John Mica, a vocal advocate for the program, was shocked to hear of TSA’s new plan and promised to launch an investigation into the matter; currently less than twenty airports use private security screeners

  • Syracuse mayor determined to use private contractors at airport

    With more than 100 police officers working overtime at the Syracuse airport, the average cost to the city, after salary, pension costs, and Social Security taxes amounts to $63 an hour per officer; the city mayor says that high air fares from the major air carriers affiliated with Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport are mostly due to security costs — and one way to reduce these costs is to replace the officers with a private sector contractor

  • Pirate attack prediction model developed

    A mathematician has developed a piracy prediction model based on wind, waves, currents, as well as on the ground intelligence that could help predict the probability of a pirate attack on a given day; the system would function like a tornado warning system using weather data to project high risk areas on a map; the map could be further refined by adding in real time shipping traffic to indicate which ships are most likely to be attacked; piracy has grown worse in the last year, despite stepped up naval patrols; 80 percent of the world’s cargo still travels by sea

  • Dramatic expansion of DC surveillance camera network

    Washington, D.C. is proposing a plan that would add thousands of surveillance camera feeds from local businesses to the city’s homeland security agency existing command center; the city already monitors more than 4,500 cameras placed in its public transportation system and schools; critics say that this is a poor use of resources and violates civil liberties; cities like New York, London, and Baltimore already employ this practice

  • TSA will not expand private screening at airports

    The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided not to expand a program that would allow airports to replace government security screeners with private screeners; the news comes a month after the agency said it was “neutral” on the program; the private screening program became popular following the uproar over enhanced security pat-downs, which some travelers found intrusive — even though private screeners must follow the very same procedures government screeners do

  • United States susceptible to Moscow-style bombing

    The TSA has invested $212 million to train hundreds of Behavioral Detection Officers (BDOs) in the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program; the program is supposed to train security personnel to notice suspicious behavior by people in crowds, but lawmakers and academics question its value