• Modern-day piracy poses growing threats, challenges

    Forget Captain Kidd, wooden legs, or treasure maps; modern pirates are equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty; on 9/11 we saw what damage a jumbo jet could do when used as a weapon; how about a supertanker as a weapon?

  • Two former DHS leaders on DHS under a new administration

    Amit Yoran and Dwight Williams held important positions at DHS; now in private industry, they offer their view and the challenges the department will face next year

  • Briefly noted

    Pentagon to ask Obama for $581 billion budget for next fiscal year… Security requirements for private aircraft arriving and departing the United States

  • Disease-carrying travelers still a threat

    It is now eighteen months since the Andrew Speaker saga: Despite having drug-resistant tuberculosis, and although his name appeared on no-fly lists, Speaker managed to fly to Greece for his wedding, travel to Italy, and come back to the United States; GAO says some improvements have been made, but problems remain

  • Briefly noted

    ESTA Authorization required for all visa waiver countries as of 12 January… Georgia vet school leak kept quiet… Microsoft infuses “long awaited” with new meaning

  • Turkish ship seized in Gulf of Aden

    Piracy off the Somali coast is becoming a serious problem; so far this year there have been 81 pirates attacks in the region, including 32 hijackings

  • TWIC deadline for Florida -- and the U.S. -- looms

    Florida port workers have until 13 January 2009 to pay the $132 and register for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential card; entry to all U.S. ports will require the TWIC card as of 15 April 2009

  • UAV-based anti-missile defense appears doomed

    DHS’s Project Chloe envisioned a UAV-based system to defend commercial airlines against shoulder-fired missiles; Northrop Grumman tests show the system to be more complex, and costlier, than originally anticipated

  • U.K. passports costs rise by 39 percent to pay for biometrics

    Fingerprinting and facial scanning are costly procedures, and the Home Office attempts to recoup the cost of adding biometric data onto the document

  • New UAV can fly safely close to the ground

    UAVs are useful, but they cannot fly close to the ground because they cannot avoid hazards such as buildings, trees, and power cables; Carnegie Mellon researchers develop a UAV capable of “seeing” — and avoiding — such obstacles

  • Briefly noted

    Massive overhaul of U.S. immigration services planned… USDA awards CRI $50 Million counter-terrorism and security support services contract… Unisys wins DHS contract… European intrusion detection market - what are the future trends?

  • CBP releases trade strategy document

    In fiscal year 2008, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency processed imports worth $2.2 trillion and collected $32 billion in revenue; these figures are only going to grow

  • Briefly noted

    FAA selects avionics manufacturers for nextgen technology… Who will be the next DHS secretary?… Biometrics, interoperability technology help identify criminal aliens

  • Briefly noted

    Australia opens national tsunami warning center… Document requirements announced for visitors to international peace garden… European data breach laws could land in 2011… Aberdeen: Unified threat management can shave IT costs

  • Global Entry arrives in Atlanta

    U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who pre-register for the program may use the Global Entry kiosk as an alternative to the regular passport control line