Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who will be leaving next month to head the University of California system, summed up her term at DHS to the National Press Club on August 27. “Looking back over the past four and a half years,” Secretary Napolitano reflected, “I can say that if there is one […]
From Defense Media Network, here’s a post reminding security officials, and all of us, that “homegrown actors can successfully attack a U.S. target with little or no resources,” as the Tsarnaev brothers did at the Boston Marathon. But here’s the thing: they don’t need Muslim-inspired, not at all. Erroll Southers, author of a new book, […]
Bruce Schneier is really upset about the continuing disclosures of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) monitoring of the Internet (like the one in today’s Wall Street Journal that NSA has been rapped by the secret national-security court itself for collecting “purely domestic communications without sufficient privacy protection.”) “Bluntly,” Schneier writes, “The government has commandeered the […]
The stakes in bomb technology keep rising. Security Management reports that terrorists have now evidently developed an advanced “ingenious” type of liquid explosive. Apparently, clothes can be doused in the explosive which, when it dries, “becomes virtually undetectable by current security measures.” The new bomb threat, seen as “a new and improved version of the […]
The National Biosurveillance Integration Center in Washington, D.C., envisions installing a “video wall” system with six separate monitoring screens that would serve as an example of an impressive technique for monitoring sensitive areas from one place. The six monitoring screens will have a diagonal size of at least 55 inches each. Government Security News doesn’t […]
The U.S. Border Patrol is acquiring three Pointman wireless robots to scoot around the border with Mexico in the area of Nogales, AZ, to discover any illegal cross-border tunnels in the area. These gadgets sound neat – equipped with a mini daytime and infrared camera, they’re only 19 inches wide, 13 inches long, and 5.25 […]
We don’t know what all this stuff does, but we can’t help but be impressed by the U.S. Army’s growing reliance on state-of-the-art hardware and software systems. No doubt the Army’s zeal for efficient, readily stowable technology is filtering into the security scene as well. This photo on the Defense Media Network of Army […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explains the approach the Obama Administration is taking to developing a cybersecurity program. A draft Cybersecurity Framework is expected to be completed in October. “To promote cybersecurity practices and develop these core capabilities,” DHS advises, “we are working with critical infrastructure owners and operators to create a Cybersecurity Framework – […]
Police and security guards are now able to identify synthetic drugs via a software update to Thermo Scientific’s TruNarc, “a handheld analyzer used for onsite analysis of narcotics and other drugs of abuse.” Government Security News reports that TruNarc version 3.1 “provides the capability to identify cannabinoids in final sprayed form and in bulk form. […]
Wow! Border Patrol officers – 67 of them, anyway – are being equipped with “mobile biometric capture devices” that will capture facial images and fingerprints in no time for ready comparison to the 120,000-person watchlist of “known and suspected terrorists.” The devices are manufactured by CrossMatch Technologies, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, or companies producing […]