Columns
The nation deserves a national security certification and licensing program
December 28th, 2007
More and more Americans are accepting that homeland security poses a complex challenge for our nation. Reliable and sophisticated detection equipment, workable security policies and human element integration within the security scheme are essential.
A message from Jacob Goodwin,GSN’s Editor-in-Chief
December 20th, 2007
It's good to see that the Department of Homeland Security is thinking about the unthinkable - a rash of deadly terrorist attacks using improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, against civilian targets here in the U.S.
Addressing the Changing Nature of IT Threats:
November 26th, 2007
Cyber attacks are no longer the work of bored teens defacing Web sites. The bad guys, including those on the inside, have valuable data in their sights. Enterprises large and small face the same considerations in protecting critical, sensitive and personally identifiable information.
President Bush and Chairman Thompson go head-to-head
November 21st, 2007
I suppose it was inevitable that immediately after President Bush proudly unveiled his "updated" National Strategy for Homeland Security on October 10, that Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat from Mississippi and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, would bluntly ask, "What’s new?" in the updated document and then point to his own roster of uncompleted homeland security tasks which he calls his Chertoff To-Do List.
DHS Initiates Chemical Security Regulations
November 21st, 2007
On November 20, 2007 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published "Appendix A," the final installment to the chemical security regulatory program, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), in the Federal Register. Promulgation signifies the department’s intent to commence full implementation of the CFATS program, thus initiating the first "new" security-specific regulation for critical infrastructure and key resources.
SAFETY Act integrated into Federal Acquisition Regulation
November 19th, 2007
Early this November, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the "Councils") released an interim rule (the "Interim Rule") amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") in order to implement the Support Anti-Terrorism By Fostering Effective Technology Act of 2002 (or the "SAFETY Act"). This long-awaited Interim Rule represents a major leap forward for the SAFETY Act program, as now there are uniform rules in place to integrate the SAFETY Act into all federal procurements.
Security in software needs careful scrutiny
October 25th, 2007
In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued executive order 10450, empowering the U.S. Government to strengthen national security through checks that employees of our government were "reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character, and of complete and unswerving loyalty to the United States…" Those background checks illustrated the government’s recognition of a few basic facts: you can’t trust everyone, and even somebody that you can trust today may have underlying weaknesses that can turn him or her tomorrow.
A better way to purchase blast resistant recepticles
July 16th, 2007
A Texas city, located in Denton County, near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), recently purchased bomb resistant trash receptacles as part of its proactive homeland security initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The referenced city wishes to remain anonymous to enhance the level of security its recent procurement represents for the city, its citizens and visitors.
