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Air Force closes all seven battle labs
With budget pressures mounting, Air Force can no longer afford the investment; Air Force Space Battlelab, Command and Control Battlelab, and Air Warfare Battlelab among those receiving the axe
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GVI Security Systems wins Guatamalan border security contract
Despite a history of disappointing earnings, Samsung subsidiary sees strength in the Latin American video surveillance market; deal follow another with a Puerto Rican casino
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Israeli students develop UAV on UAV refueling algorithm
Technicians at Technion use a camera attached to the end of a refueling pipe to calculate docking movement; in-air refueling a must if UAVs are to take on long-haul tasks
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CommerceGuard deployed to Port of Portland
Installation is first on the west coast; success follows introduction of version 3.0 of this popular container security system and sale of minorty share to Samsung
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DHS to offer $1-2 million in tunnel-sensing technology
Concerned about illegal immigration, government asks private sector for a solution; sensors, IT, and geospatial imaging to play a role; temperature differences between soil within the tunnel and without may be a key indicator
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Europeans plan to monitor airline passengers in flight
System marries video and audio analytics technology to individual passenger profiles in order to preempt terrorist activity; microphones pick up Koranic recitations while tiny cameras look for signs of nervousness
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DOD issues final RFID rules
Generation One tags to be permitted through 1 March; write-once, read-many Generation Two tags required thereafter; DoD rejects calls to eliminate RFID requirements for inexpensive shipments
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Munich airport deploys license plate recognition system
GeoVision wins the conract to improve the airport’s parking control system; license plates are scanned on entrance and exit, thereby obviating the need for tickets and cutting down on personnel; frequent fliers rejoice
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India dumps airport Backscatter machine
Revealing images upset socially conservative security guards; cultural values often underappreciated by security officials
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TSA finds most railroad security measures inadequate
$7 million study finds advanced explosives and screening methods suffer high false positive rates; yet traditional methods such as X-rays and canines suffer from poor economies of scale; study may upset congressional plans to boost railroad security spending
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GAO hammers US-VISIT program
Government Accountability Office criticizes DHS for failing to strengthen exit procedures at land crossings, inability to resolve redundancies with WHTI and other programs; Congress dinged for oversight failures
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UAVs struggle to access civilian airspace
Civilian air authorities demand collision-avoidance systems before permitting flight; high rates of operator error worry other pilots; American and European authorities meet to develop technical standards for such a system; industry mourns NASA’s Access Five program
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Florida police challenge FAA over UAV regulatory authority
Palm Bay attempts to launch a Cyberbug to help with patrols, but FAA and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association object; police say FAA lacks authority to regulate what they call a model airplane; Cyber Defense Systems waits for a ruling
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IED conference scheduled for April
Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization to hold a three-day conference in Leesburg, Virginia; event open to industry and academia, but attendees must possess secret clearances; Ike Skelton to give the keynote address
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Industry heavyweights come out for NAIS briefing
Nationwide Automatic Identification System contract may eventually be worth as much as $165 million, but executives suspect that the project will lead into work on the Command 2010 project; Boeing, L-3, SAIC, and others attend a briefing
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The long view
Calls Grow for U.S. to Counter Chinese Control, Influence in Western Ports
Experts say Washington should consider buying back some ports, offer incentives to allies to decouple from China.