• The H-1B program: Mend it, don't end it

    Any required labor-market test must facilitate extraordinary alacrity; delays of years, months, or even weeks are unacceptable; similarly, H-1B workers should be paid the same wage as their U.S. counterparts: The H-1B program should not be a means by which “cheap foreign labor” is imported

  • L-3's millimeter wave scanning technology tested at ten U.S. airports

    Two technologies — backscatter X-rays and millimeter wave — compete in the airport security scanning market; TSA is currently testing millimeter wave at ten airports, and the fact that the technology is faster than its rival may make it the scanning technology of choice

  • Detecting disease in less than 60 seconds

    Traditional testing for disease outbreak or bioterror attack can take days — even weeks — to confirm a diagnosis and isolate those infected; we may not have that much time, and University of Georgia researchers develop a quicker virus identification method

  • Bay Area's FasTrak road tolls easy to hack

    Toll transponders can be cloned, allowing fraudsters to travel for free while others unwittingly foot the bill; more seriously, criminals could use the FasTrak system to create false alibis by overwriting one’s own ID onto another driver’s device before committing a crime

  • Facial recognition trials at Manchester Airport

    Five gates at Manchester Airport will be equipped with face recognition devices; gates can only be used with people from the United Kingdom and EU who are over 18 and hold a new-style chipped passport

  • American Airlines, TSA end weeklong feud

    TSA inspector at O’Hare used an air temperature probe attached to the exterior of seven unattended American Eagles to hoist himself onto nearby jet bridges and access the planes; sensitive devices had to be recalibrated, resulting in delays

  • NYC airports to get $400 million for explosive detectors

    Responding to post 9/11 federal mandates, three New York City-area airports invested about $400 million in security upgrades; the federal government has agreed to reimburse the airports for the expenses

  • All is not clear with the Clear "fast pass" program

    TSA suspended Verified Identity Pass (VIP) from the Registered Traveler program because one of VIP’s computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program; the lap top was found, and TSA reinstated VIP; Priva technologies, locked in a legal battle with VIP over trademarks, is unhappy

  • New U.K. center's mission: Use science to make world safer

    The Institute for Security, Science and Technology at Imperial College London will scour the research world for innovations which would make the world safer

  • Rapiscan in $27 million inspection system contract

    Maker of container inspection system receives $27 million order for its flagship cargo and vehicle inspection system

  • DHS rejects Texas county border fence idea

    Cameron County’s, Texas, proposed to build miles of combined border wall and levee along the border’s southernmost point; DHS rejects proposal, saying it is not feasible

  • NASA awards general aviation technology prizes

    NASA wants to encourage innovations that would lead to aircraft that are safer, more affordable, easier to fly and also have less of a negative impact on the environment and on the communities that surround airports

  • European rail freight transport to double by 2030

    The use of European rail for freight transport will double by 2030; use of intermodal traffic to grow much more; increased continental trade and congested roads drive freight to rail

  • Drug smugglers now use minisubs; terrorists may use them, too

    Colombian drug smugglers now use “semi-submersibles” to smuggle drugs into the United States; counterterrorism officials fear that what drug runners now use to deliver cocaine, terrorists could one day use to sneak personnel or massive weapons into the United States

  • Verified Identity Pass gets back to RT business

    TSA suspended company from the Registered Traveler program after one of its computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program, was lost; lap top was recovered and handed over to TSA for forensic review; company now allowed to register passengers