• IG: TSA's financial data jeopardized by lax controls

    Inspector General reports finds that TSA’s financial statements are vulnerable to tampering; TSA does not review computer accounts to ensure people who have left the agency are locked out, and does not check the privileges associated with each active account regularly to ensure that level of access remains necessary

  • Puffer machine, RIP

    The puffer machines were once thought of as a good solution for airport security: passengers would walk through a portal in which a blast of air would dislodge particles off their clothes and bodies to detect traces of explosives; things have not worked out, and TSA pulls the plug on the futuristic device

  • U.S., Canadian land, sea travelers to face new entry requirements

    The last part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) kicks in Monday; U.S., Canadian land and see travelers entering the United States will have to present a passport or other approved documents; air travelers have already been doing so since 23 January 2007

  • Auto-EDS explosive detection system to be tested at Waco airport

    The Transportation Security Administration has chosen two small airports — Waco Regional Airport in Texas and Hyannisport, Massachuseets — to test a new explosive detection system

  • New security measures on passenger planes may hurt cherries growers

    About a quarter of the cherries grown in Washington state — some 1.3 million 20-pound boxes — are flown in the cargo hull of passenger planes to Pacific Rim countries like Japan and Korea; growers of highly perishable crops like cherries worry that a new requirement that all cargo on U.S. passenger flights undergo a security scan could create lengthy delays, leaving crops to rot in hangars as they await inspection

  • France opens naval base in the Gulf

    President Nicolas Sarkozy today opens the first French military base in the Gulf; France is eying multi-billion dollar deals for nuclear reactors and sophisticated weapons for countries in the region

  • Shipping executive calls for armed federal security on U.S. ships

    Liberty Maritime Corp.’s Philip Shapiro calls for Congress to remove the legal barriers to arming ships so that they may provide their own security

  • Heavier passengers to pay more for flying

    Air cargo flies this way: if something is twice the weight, you pay twice as much; airline industry analysts say that the day of passengers paying according to their weight may not be far

  • London airport in trials of facial recognition security

    Stansted Airport outside London is testing security gates with facial recognition software as the first part of an eventual roll out of the new security gates to ten more U.K. airports

  • Secure Flight launches today

    Secure Flight is the third version — you may recall CAPPS and CAPPS II — of the U.S. federal government’s decade-old effort to screen commercial airline passengers for risk against terrorist watch lists; it launches today

  • Boat made from carbon nanotube composite fibers for coastal security

    The administration’s 2010 budget cuts the U.S. Coast Guard’s budget, so it is good that a Washington state-based company is building a boat made entirely with carbon nanotube enhanced pre-impregnated composite fibers; the 16 meter boat will weigh less than 3,630 kg, fully equipped; this is approximately 75 percent less than fiberglass boats of the same size, and 33 percent less than conventional carbon fiber boats

  • U.S. ships will be required to post guards when sailing near Somalia

    The U.S. Coast Guard will require U.S.-flagged ships sailing around the Horn of Africa to post guards and ship owners to submit anti-piracy security plans for approval

  • Somali pirates benefit from a global network of informers

    These are not your father’s pirates: Somali pirates benefit from information sent to them by informers planted in key shipping hubs around the world; this information includes vessels’ cargo, layout, and route — and is transmitted early enough to allow the pirates enough time to practice their assault based on the information they received

  • U.S. Coast Guard budget reduced by $20 million relative to 2009

    USCG supporters fret over cuts in the Coast Guard budget; the cuts would have been even deeper had it not been for a slight injection of stimulus package funds and the inclusion of DoD supplemental money of $241 million for Operating Expenses Appropriation in support of Overseas Contingency Operations

  • Initial $50 million of stimulus package for airport security awarded

    DHS announced the award of the first $50 million out of a total of $1 billion made available by the stimulus package for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); money will fund explosive detection systems and advanced technology X-ray units that will streamline baggage screening at U.S. airports