http://www.gsnmagazine.com en http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/872.html July 1, 2008 The Science and Technology Directorate of DHS has issued its latest round of topics for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program for fiscal year 2008, which seeks faster ways to perform DNA sequencing to detect bio-threats, better ways to protect buildings from blast attacks, and more. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/871.html July 1, 2008 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new grant program under which it plans to award up to $40,000 to each of six different state or local food regulatory agencies to develop innovative ways to integrate food defense strategies -- aimed at thwarting terrorist attacks on the food supply -- into more traditional food safety and inspection methodologies. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/869.html June 30, 2008 The U.S. Air Force has decided to extend four existing security contracts by seven months each, without competitive bidding, to enable the four incumbent vendors to continue providing base security installations for Air Force personnel in Southwest Asia and around the world. The four contractors, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, of Carson, CA; L-3 Communications, Government Services Inc., of Chantilly, VA; ECSI International, Inc. of Clifton, NJ; and Abacus Technology, of Chevy Chase, MD, have been providing sensors, radars, thermal imagers, integrated command and control equipment and various support services under the existing contract, which would have expired in August 2008, but will now be extended to April 2009. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/866.html June 30, 2008 A new report from the Government Accountability Office warns that the State Department must plan for potentially significant staffing and facilities shortfalls caused by changes in the Visa Waiver Program. Under the VWP, citizens from 27 countries can travel to the U.S. visa free. The report indicates the potential elimination or suspension of the VWP could cause dramatic increases in visa demand -- from around 500,000 (the average number of people from VWP countries who obtain a U.S. visa each year) to as many as 12.6 million (the average number of people who travel to the U.S. from VWP countries each year) -- that could overwhelm visa operations in the near term. To meet visa demand, State officials said they could need approximately 45 new facilities, which GAO estimates could cost $3.8 billion to $5.7 billion. GAO also estimates State would need substantially more staff, including around 540 new foreign service officers at a cost of about $185 million to $201 million per year. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/863.html June 30, 2008 The D.C. Pretrial Services Agency, a federal agency that likes to boast that it is ™widely recognized as a leader in the pretrial field,™ plans to begin using an innovative technique called ™ocular testing™ to determine if a defendant awaiting trial has been using cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, PCP or marijuana. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/868.html June 30, 2008 Customer: Eurotunnel Company: Extreme CCTV Burnaby, BC, Canada The Problem: Spanning 50 kilometers, with 37.8 kilometers running underneath the English Channel, Eurotunnel is the longest underwater tunnel in the world. The tunnelâ€s severe environment, characterized by high pressure air flows, dust, humidity, ambient salinity and darkness, had made the implementation of effective security particularly difficult. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/862.html June 25, 2008 Lights. Action. Camera. The Infrastructure Information Collection Division at DHS is going Hollywood.The division, a unit of the departmentâ€s Office of Infrastructure Protection, under Assistant Secretary Robert Stephan, plans to produce a 20-minute high definition video that explains its overall role in collecting, protecting and sharing infrastructure data, as well of the roles of three of its key programs: http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/features/news-analysis/860.html June 25, 2008 Thanks to a $523,500 grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the Government of Brazil seeks technical assistance from a U.S. firm to help it improve its cargo monitoring capabilities at its seaports and develop what it calls an ™Intelligent Cargo and Intelligent Network Port Logistics Chain.™