Homeland Security News

Week in Review
2010: Topics for homeland security discussion
The only thing we can say for sure about 2010 is terrorists, criminals, and mother nature will surprise us at some point during 2010; still, based on what we do know, we offer a short list of topics we predict will dominate the homeland security discussion in the coming year – from whole-body scanners to 100 percent air cargo screening to social Web sites to communication interoperability to the consequences of climate change (or is there a climate change?)


Major homeland security challenges and initiatives of 2009
The year which ends tomorrow saw many homeland security-related challenges – the short list would include more cybersecurity attacks on U.S. (and European) infrastructure, military, and commercial assets; more wide-spread flooding and more intense storms; North Korea openly testing nuclear weapons, and Iran continuing its determined march toward the bomb; intensified war against terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan; and renewed threats to air travel, as exemplified by the Nigerian terrorist's attempt to bring down a commercial airline over Detroit; DHS launched many initiatives, and re-fashioned many existing policies, to meet these and other challenges


Air travel security reviews under way after airliner attack
The Obama administration has launched a review of two aspects of air travel security – the effectiveness of the no-fly watch list and explosive detection; critics take issue with DHS secretary Napolitano's assertion that the air travel security system “worked”


Renewed calls for Full Monty scanning in wake of underwear bomber attack
There is only one technology that could have detected the explosives hidden in the Nigerian terrorist's underwear: whole-body scanning; TSA already has 40 of these machines installed in 19 U.S. airports; trouble is, in June the U.S. House of Representatives voted 310 to 118 to pass a measure that prohibits the TSA from using whole-body imaging as a primary means for screening passengers; security experts say that privacy concerns notwithstanding, these machines, which offer anatomically correct images of the human body, should now be deployed as the primary scanning technology at airports


First case of highly drug-resistant TB found in U.S.
The first case of extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB is found in the united States; one of the U.S. leading experts on tuberculosis says about the patient: "He is really the future.This is the new class that people are not really talking too much about. These are the ones we really fear because I'm not sure how we treat them"


Programmer hoodwinked CIA, pentagon into buying bogus anti-terror code
A con man, sensing the U.S. government's post-9/11 desperation for more intelligence on terrorist activities, was able to persuade the Pentagon, CIA, and other government agencies to pay him millions of dollars for software which was supposed to decipher operational instructions to terrorists hidden in al Jazeera's broadcasts



Israel's military avatar: Robots on the battlefield, I
With self-detonating grenades, thinking bullets and robot warriors, humans on the frontline could soon be a thing of the past When armies clash in the not-too-distant future, remotely operated robotic weapons will fight the enemy on land, in the air, and at sea, without a human soldier anywhere on the battlefield. The first robotic systems are already being used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other armies across the world, and only budgetary constraints seem to be keeping science fiction from becoming reality.


Israel's military avatar: Robots on the battlefield, II
With self-detonating grenades, thinking bullets and robot warriors, humans on the frontline could soon be a thing of the past; Israel's military industries develop robotic systems to aid soldiers in the field, but also to ward off threats from afar


FBI issues a new code breaking challenge
The FBI posts its annual code-breaking challenge on its Web site; this is the longest code-breaking challenge to date; the FBI says that the code-breaking task is similar to work being done in its labs


A 79-year-old unlicensed blimp enthusiast runs afoul of FAA
A 79-year old unlicensed pilot-inventor from Oklahoma built a blimp in his backyard; the last trial flight ended with the blimp coming down on an interstate motorway, causing traffic disruption; the FAA found that the blimp-happy septuagenarian does not have a flying license, medical certificate, or air-worthiness documents for his craft; undaunted, Marvin Polzein says: “"I know myself. I'll get back on it again. I'll make the corrections, and we'll try it again"








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