Access Control | Identification

News

Private security contractors vs military in Iraq: GAO studies the comparative cost
Fri, 2010-03-19 01:32 PM
The use of Blackwater and other private security contractors in Iraq and other war zones has been controversial for years, but what has usually been left out of the debate is the “comparative cost of...
DHS tells Congress about its outreach to ethnic and religious communities
Thu, 2010-03-18 02:05 PM
The DHS official in charge of the department’s civil rights and civil liberties activities testified before a House subcommittee on March 17 about her office’s ongoing outreach to Arab American,...
The other border war: Profiles of corruption
Wed, 2010-03-17 04:20 PM
While narco-war rages along the Mexican border, are border agents and other DHS officials being turned to the Dark Side?Recently, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’...
Streamlined process unveiled for requesting background checks during emergencies
Wed, 2010-03-17 10:07 AM
In order to speed up the process of performing background checks on individuals who will work with children, the elderly or disabled persons, government officials in states where emergencies or major...
DHS unveils tribal consultation and coordination plan
Tue, 2010-03-16 03:11 PM
DHS has unveiled an initiative for increased consultation and coordination with federally recognized tribes across the U.S., which it says “builds on current tribal partnerships to protect the safety...
Trilogy Networx wireless networking locks get thumbs up from Devils Thumb Ranch
Tue, 2010-03-16 03:02 PM
Amityville, NY-based Alarm Lock Systems, Inc. (ALS), a Napco Security Group company, reports that its Trilogy Networx electronic locksets, designed to communicate wirelessly over any size network,...
Alvarado’s GateLink provides entry control at Australian Open
Tue, 2010-03-16 02:58 PM
Chino, CA -based Alvarado Manufacturing's GateLink Validation system provided spectator entry control at this year's Australian Open, held this past January, the company wants you to know.This year's...
SecuGen launches the iD-SERIAL fingerprint reader
Tue, 2010-03-16 02:56 PM
Santa Clara, CA-based SecuGen, an optical fingerprint device vendor, has unveiled its new iD-SERIAL fingerprint reader.The company describes iD-SERIAL as a complete biometric system that captures,...
Andrews Int’l partners with D3 Security Management Systems
Mon, 2010-03-15 02:35 PM
Los Angeles-based Andrews International, which characterizes itself as the largest privately owned U.S. full-service provider of security and risk mitigation services, has entered into a partnership...
HTS integrates license plate recognition software with Simac’s Sphynxx
Mon, 2010-03-15 02:30 PM
Rishon LeZion, Israel-based Hi-Tech Solutions Ltd. (HTS), a developer and provider of optical character recognition (OCR) computer and vision systems, is integrating its license plate recognition (...
Bulgarian Customs employs AS&E's ZBV Z Backscatter Van
Mon, 2010-03-15 02:25 PM
American Science and Engineering, Inc. (AS&E) reports that the National Customs Agency of Bulgaria is now using the company's Z Backscatter Van (ZBV) mobile X-ray inspection system.The ZBV will...
TSA to randomly survey 25,000 air travelers each year
Fri, 2010-03-12 01:05 PM
TSA is planning to ask about 1,000 random travelers at each of 25 U.S. airports to complete a customer satisfaction survey each year that will ask questions about screening equipment, procedures and...

News Analysis

TSA explosives detection procurement plan 'practical, thorough, and comprehensive,' says OIG report issued before Fl
The narrowly averted tragedy of Flight 253 has forced a wide-ranging reexamination of DHS' anti-terrorist activities, and it has reordered airport explosives-detection-equipment acquisition priorities. A report by the DHS Office of Inspector...
Puerto Rico Ports Authority awards Rapiscan 10-year cargo scanning contract
Torrance, CA-based Rapiscan Systems, Inc., a supplier of security inspection solutions, reports that it has been awarded a 10-year contract from the Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA) to provide a complete turn-key solution for the scanning of all...
AES joins with Siemens Government Services to protect Army installations
Peabody, MA-based AES International Corp. reported that it will become a subcontractor under Reston, VA-based Siemens Government Services, Inc., to assist with the maintenance of access control point (ACP) equipment at U.S. Army installations, both...
CNL and Pelco form technology partnership
CNL, a developer of physical security information management (PSIM) software, and Pelco, Inc. by Schneider Electric, a designer and developer of next-generation video and security systems, have formed a technology partnership.Specifically, CNL is...
Former NSA deputy director joins Proximex advisory board
Sunnyvale, CA-based Proximex, the developer of products for the physical security information management (PSIM) market, has announced that William Crowell, a security consultant and a former Silicon Valley CEO and NSA deputy director, has joined the...

Commentary and Opinions

OPINION / Using good technology to find bad people

By Jonathan McDonald

Many government organizations are charged with combating terrorism, identifying criminals and effectively applying immigration policies. All these activities require that persons of interests (and organizations and networks) be accurately identified. Identification is an extremely complex process that is only compounded by increasing data volumes, complex relationships, and tightly coupled application and data architectures.

Case Study / Letter bomb discovered in local post office in Israel

A resident of the northern Israeli city of Migdal Haemek received two letter bombs by post earlier this month. The woman who received the packages, whose name has not been released, felt the packages were suspicious and called the police.

Although she said she was not under threat and could not understand who could have sent her the bombs, she was vigilant enough to alert the professionals.

The officers who arrived on the scene, called in the police IED unit to examine the letters and bomb techs determined that they were, indeed, letter bombs.

OPINION / Layered airport security needs to move beyond the checkpoint

By Don Steinman

In a recent statement, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas wrote, "Our nation’s aviation security relies on a multi-layered approach that includes information sharing, enhanced technology and security screening. On Christmas day, that system failed."

Moving beyond the checkpoint

OPINION / Visual modeling of faces for security applications

By Jennifer Tidy and Parham Aarabi

Virtual aging of photos is often used by law enforcement for finding and capturing fugitives, abducted or lost individuals, or even terrorists.  However, on some occasions the photos are either unrealistic or inaccurate.  Furthermore, these photos are often generated by combining multiple stock photos (i.e. hair from stock photo 1, eyes from stock photo 2, etc.). While such a feature cut-and-paste method may be easy to do, it does not often produce the most realistic results.

The Fort Hood shooting and the Christmas Day bomber personify the gaps in homeland security

By John Byrnes


Current systems are failing us
Current systems in place to identify and manage individuals like Major Nidal Malik Hasan, whose alleged massacre took the lives of 13 soldiers and wounded 29 others, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian national on Northwest Flight 253 to Detroit on Christmas Day are not working! 

 

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