• Russia spending $1.6 billion to bolster transportation security

    The Russian government announced that it would spend about $1.6 billion over the next three years to beef up transportation security; roughly $410 million will be spent on increasing metro security; Transportation Minister Igor Levitin says the metro is the weakest link in security efforts; there are 300 entrances in the Moscow metro alone; last year two female suicide bombers detonated bombs in Moscow’s busy metro system killing forty people and injuring more than 100; Moscow has the second busiest subway system in the world, second only to Tokyo

  • New DHS budget includes more money for airport scanners

    As lawmakers are trimming the budgets of many programs and agencies in an effort to reduce the deficit, funding for airport scanners has increased; overall discretionary funding for DHS has grown 0.7 percent to $43.2 billion, and includes more funding for full-body scanners; the Obama administration’s budget request allocates $77 million for the purchase of 275 additional full-body scanners; each scanner costs $280,000 and the additional order will bring the total number of scanners deployed at U.S. airports to 1,275; the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has introduced new software that projects a non-gender specific image to ease concerns over privacy issues that sparked a backlash last year

  • Arizona legislators thwarted by TSA

    The TSA has thwarted the effort by Arizona legislators to require airports statewide to hire private firms instead of relying on the federally procured screening agents; Phoenix officials support TSA chief John Pistole’s rejection of all incoming security contracting proposals

  • Chechen warlord claims responsibility for Moscow airport bombing

    Doku Umarov, the notorious head of the Chechen extremist group Caucasus Emirate, claimed responsibility for the 24 January suicide bombing at Moscow’s airport that left thirty-six people dead and 180 injured; Umarov promised further attacks and spoke of his organization’s ability to carry out operations “whenever and wherever [they] want”; Umarov’s group is also responsible for the March 2010 bombing in the Moscow Metro and derailing a train in November 2009; Caucasus Emirate seeks to establish a Muslim nation in the Caucasus region and expel Russia

  • 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