Homeland Security

Week in Review
Holiday cheer from – and for – those on the frontline
Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan posts holiday greetings from Afghanistan; what do U.S. soldiers carry with them in the war zone? “The only possessions these soldiers had were what they could carry on their back and holiday cards from school children from across our beautiful nation”


Obama to name Howard Schmidt as cybersecurity coordinator
Howard Schmidt chosen as the White House cybersecurity coordinator; Schmidt, a former Bush White House official, will coordinate cybersecurity policy across the federal government, from the military to civilian agencies; questions remain as to whether his authority will be commensurate with the responsibilities he assumes


Obama administration makes stopping nuclear terror key goal
The administration, in its February 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, will declare that stopping nuclear terrorism is its central aim on the nuclear front; countering nuclear terrorists -- whether armed with rudimentary bombs, stolen warheads, or devices surreptitiously supplied by a hostile state – will become a task equal to the traditional mission of deterring a strike by major powers or emerging nuclear adversaries; shift in nuclear emphasis would mean devoting less money to modernizing bombers, missiles, and submarines, and more to surveillance satellites, reconnaissance planes, and undercover agents.



46 out of 56 U.S. states and territories not in compliance with REAL ID
The original deadline for compliance with the Real ID Act was May 2008; 56 U.S. states and territories were not in compliance as of that date, so DHS extended the deadline to 1 January 2010; as the deadline approached, DHS realized that 46 of the 56 states and territories were not in compliance, so the deadline has been extended yet again, to April 2011; as of October 2009, 25 states have approved either resolutions or binding legislation not to participate in the program


Tadpole-shaped dirigible to help in communication, surveillance missions
Florida company shows unmanned dirigible which will fly at 65,000 and 70,000 feet; the "Stratellite" will use similar technology to the that used by the Graf Zeppelin in the 1930s; homeland security applications include vessel tracking and cargo container surveillance; littoral (shore-proximate) surveillance for ports, waterways, coastal trails, and urban environments; ancillary border surveillance activity, and more


U.S. Army working to encrypt UAV video feeds
The Army is scrambling to secure the live video feeds from its UAVs from being intercepted by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan; Raven drones will be retrofitted with encryption technology as early as this month; the U.S. Air Force has known for more than a decade that the live video feeds from its unmanned aerial vehicles can be intercepted by the enemy but opted not to do anything about it until this year.



A first: Arizona firm punished under hiring law
For the first time in Arizona, a company employing illegal immigrants has been punished for violating the law; the company has its business license suspended for ten days and was put on a 3-year probation; the punishment is symbolic because the company is already out of business


Food facilities failing to register with FDA
The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires food facilities -- exempting farms, retail facilities, and restaurants -- to register with the FDA; the FDA had expected about 420,000 domestic and foreign food facilities to register because of the 2002 law; according to an FDA spokesman, as of 14 December, 392,217 facilities had registered -- 157,395 in the United States and 234,822 foreign facilities that export to the United States


Contractor surge: 56,000 contractors to accompany the 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan
The Obama administration's decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan is just one aspect of the surge; these troops will be accompanies by up to 56,000 additional contractors; as of September, the Defense Department had 104,101 contractors employed in Afghanistan



Large dams linked to more extreme weather patterns
A new study looked at the magnitude of the biggest storms near 633 of the world's largest dams before and after construction; they found that in many places the level of precipitation in the most extreme rainfall events grew by an average of 4 percent per year after a dam was built, with the relationship especially strong in semi-arid regions


DARPA scientists seeking lightning on tap
DARPA is seeking proposals for how to create lightning on demand; agency says the purspose is to protect property and other assets from lightning damage, or "advances in... science relating to lightning"










The Homeland Security News Wire is an e-information service providing a daily report and a
comprehensive Web site with news on and analysis of the business, technology,
and policy of homeland security. To receive your free copy of the daily report, sign up here.

Advertising: advertise@newswirepubs.com
Sales / advertising phone: 503.546.9977
Sales / advertising fax: 503.280.8832
Editorial communication: editor@newswirepubs.com
General communications: info@newswirepubs.com


To unsubscribe, click "SafeUnsubscribe" below
If the link below does not work, please send a blank message
to info@newswirepubs.com with "unsubscribe" in the subject line