News / Analysis
America’s quest for homeland security includes the development of federal programs to protect our aviation, maritime and ground transportation sectors, efforts to detect a “dirty bomb” before it can emit deadly radiation, the search by the FBI for Muslim terrorists and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, his Al Qaeda followers and Islamic extremists pursuing jihad.
Credit squeeze has yet to hit the homeland security biz
October 2nd, 2008
News reports and commentaries about the pending financial meltdown are filled with doom-and-gloom predictions about its impact on every crack and crevice in the U.S. economy, but experts on the homeland security sector have yet to see much negative impact in that arena. Last Thursday, I spoke with six keen observers of the sector’s financial landscape and was pleasantly surprised to hear that, at least in the short-term, the credit crunch that is squeezing Wall Street investment firms, major insurance companies, national banks and retail businesses up-and-down Main Street, has yet to be felt among the companies selling security products and services to government customers.
Industry Day briefing Oct. 2 in Arlington for would-be TSA integrators
October 1st, 2008
TSA will hold an Industry Day briefing in Arlington, VA, on Oct. 2 for companies hoping to assist the agency by installing, deploying and testing security equipment at airports, ports, terminals, cargo facilities and other locations. The briefing, which will take place at the Residence Inn Arlington hotel in Pentagon City, will “familiarize the bidders with the scope of work, address procurement process, and familiarize the bidders with the proposal requirements,” according to a notice posted online by TSA on Sept. 30.
Former CIO takes on a new IT Security challenge
September 29th, 2008
Hord Tipton, the Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Interior, was sitting at a departmental ceremony a few years ago where he was about to receive a special award, when the award presenter stood at the microphone and offered some sage advice: To be successful in the federal government, any Chief Information Officer had to "get into bed" with the department’s Chief Financial Officer.
Security zones for cruise ships in Port of Mayaguez, P.R.
September 26th, 2008
The U.S. Coast Guard plans to establish fixed and moving security zones that will surround every cruise ship that enters and exits the Port of Mayaquez, on the west coast of Puerto Rico.
NRC denies petition calling for stepped-up anti-terrorist preparations
September 24th, 2008
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has tossed out a petition submitted by two nonprofit government-oversight groups that would have required the nation’s nuclear power plants to demonstrate periodically that they’re prepared to withstand severe forms of radiological sabotage inflicted on their facilities by terrorists.
Honeywell develops agricultural fertilizer that won’t detonate
September 23rd, 2008
Honeywell International has introduced a new ammonium-
nitrate-based agricultural fertilizer that can help cabbage, tomatoes, strawberries and oranges grow, but does not detonate when mixed with fuel oil.
Russian "hacktivists" used Turkish botnets to attack Georgia
September 23rd, 2008
Many of the cyber attacks that were launched against government computers in the nation of Georgia -- which coincided with the real-world military attacks by Russia against that country last month – were actually carried out by computers sitting in Turkey that had been captured by Russian "hacktivists" and drafted into huge, unwitting botnet armies.
Success Story: 3M Mobile
September 23rd, 2008
Customer:
Swiss Border Police (Grenzwachtkorps)
Company:
3M
St. Paul, MN
The Problem:
Traditionally, the Swiss Border Police (Grenzwachtkorps) manually check travel documents and communicate information to central operations staff using radios. However, with an estimated 50,000 fans attending each of the 31 matches in stadiums for the EURO 2008 soccer tournament in Switzerland and Austria -- and millions more flocking to these countries by train for local parties -- officers knew they had to find a secure border management system that could assist frontline border operations staff by capturing the right data quickly, accurately and reliably in areas of mountainous terrain without radio or cell phone connectivity.
