• Wireless sensors to monitor bridges' health

    There are about 597,000 bridges exceeding 20 feet in length on public roads in the United States; more than 50,000 of them were found to be deficient in load-bearing ratings; wireless sensors embedded in the bridge’s concrete will monitor structure’s health

  • TSA orders Qinetiq security system

    The U.S. Transportation Security Administration orders a dozen of SPO units from Hampshire-based Qinetiq as part of a campaign to bolster airport security; SPO units are cameras which use millimeter wave technology combined with software algorithms to screen people one at a time — and do so from a distance of a few meters

  • Day of ultra-clean engine nears

    One of the major obstacles facing the development of ultra-clean car engines is the need for permanent-magnet electric motors to operate well at temperatures up to 200 degrees Celsius; Iowa researchers offer a way to create such magnets

  • Passengers on Israel-to-Canada flight become ill with Noro virus

    Several passengers on Air Canada flight become severely ill with gastroenteritis; 75 of the 201 passengers kept in isolation at Toronto airport for further examination

  • Breakthrough: Acoustic cloak theoretically possible

    Invisibility cloak — deflecting microwaves around a cloaked object and restoring them on the other side, as if they had passed through empty space — has already been demonstrated; Duke researcher now shows that an acoustic cloak is theoretically feasible: Sound waves would travel seamlessly around the cloaked object and emerge on the other side without distortion; submarines could be hidden from sonar

  • Coast Guard demands $96.1 million Deepwater refund

    The Deepwater program, aiming to replace aging vessels, is the Coast Guard’s largest acquisition program; Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were awarded to contract, but the agency now charge the two companies with delivering defective boats that do not meet requirements; it wants some of of its money back

  • CN expands rail holding, banking on increasing northern oil production

    As the price of oil increases, the attractiveness of extracting oil from oil sands in Canada’s northern regions increases apace; CN acquires yet more rail to ensure rail links to Alberta’s oil sands region

  • Weapon-grade plutonium shipped cross-country

    The Department of Energy plans to scale down U.S. nuclear weapons program by consolidating special nuclear materials — read: weapon-grade material — at five federal sites by the end of 2012 and reducing the square footage and staff within those sites by 2017; nuclear materials will have to be shipped from different labs around the country to these five sites

  • State Department argues vicinity RFID technology would bolster border security

    State will use vicinity RFID technology in new passport cards; technology allows cards to be read from about twenty feet; privacy advocates and champions of alternative technologies charge the decision poses serious risks to privacy

  • CAST launches new air safety Web site

    The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) was formed in 1998; the voluntary association comprises government agencies, airlines, aircraft manufacturers, additional aviation industry members, employee representatives, and others who have a stake in commercial aviation security; after nine years of safety initiatives, the partnership says that the fatality risk of commercial air travel in the United States has been reduced by 83 percent

  • D.C. area flight restriction to be imposed during State of the Union Address

    The Federal Aviation Administration, at the request of DHS and the Pentagon, will be modifying the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and Washington Metropolitan Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ) with additional flight restrictions on 28 January 2008

  • CBP Creates New Position to Protect U.S. Agriculture

    In the face of an avalanche of unsafe food stuffs being imported from China, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) creates a new position — Deputy Executive Director for Agriculture Operational Oversight — and appoints Kevin Harriger to the post

  • E-manifests for trucking to go into effect

    By 11 February, trucks entering Alaska will have to submit e-manifests detailing their cargo — and do so before the truck arrives at the border crossing; by 11 May, no truck will be allowed into the U.S. unless the shipper has filed an e-manifest with DHS

  • Gordon Brown on national biometric IDs

    The debate in the U.K. over the wisdom and effectiveness of a national biometric ID rages on, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown weighs in; he says: “We shouldn’t rule out a way to protect people’s identities”

  • Trial begins for laser-jamming systems on commercial airlines

    Three American Airlines Boeing 767-200s which fly daily round-trip routes between New York and California will be equipped with BAE’s anti-missile laser jammers this spring; part of DHS $29 million trial