Dual-Benefit Solutions

DHS Advances Fingerprinting Technology (Government Computer News) “The Homeland Security Department is working with the departments of Defense and State, the FBI and the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as technology vendors to develop a new generation of 10-finger ‘slap capture’ units for fingerprint collection,” reports Government Computer News. Homeland Security Secretary “Michael Chertoff’s decision [last] summer to require 10-fingerprint records of foreigners crossing the borders … will bring the DHS’ Ident database of two-fingerprint records, which it inherited from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in synch with the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.” [View article]

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Federal News

US-VISIT Ready at Land Borders (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department has installed biometric entry facilities at all [154] fixed ports of entry as part of the federal government’s program to strengthen border controls for visiting foreigners,” reports Federal Computer Week. The U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology “program collects digital photos and fingerprint scans of travelers’ index fingers and compares them with photos and fingerprint scans of known terrorists and other criminals on watchlists.… US-VISIT has processed more than 44 million visitors” and “has spotted and apprehended nearly 1,000 people with criminal or immigration violations.” [View article]

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Deadlines Extended The 31 December 2005 deadline for implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has been eliminated. The initiative will require travelers within the Western Hemisphere to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or reenter the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has proposed new deadlines of 31 December 2006 for all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda and of 31 December 2007 for all land border crossings. [View announcement]

DHS Seeks Public Comment on Safecom (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department wants to know what the public thinks about interoperable emergency communications among state and local public safety departments,” reports Federal Computer Week. In “the Safecom Interoperability Baseline Survey, DHS is collecting comments to measure the state of interoperability among state and local agencies. In a Federal Register notice, DHS set a Feb. 17, 2006, deadline for public comment.” [View article] [View Federal Register announcement]

U.S. Space Tourists Would Face Security Checks (New Zealand Herald) “Paying customers on commercially run flights to space would have to meet security requirements, but would not have to pass specific medical tests, according to draft US regulations,” reports Reuters. “… The FAA is seeking public comment on its recommendations, issued last week, for pilots and passengers participating in privately run space ventures.” [View article] [View Federal Register announcement]

Agencies Face Deadline to Resolve Security Clearance Logjam (Government Computer News) “The Office of Management and Budget is requiring agencies to take several steps aimed at reducing a growing backlog of personnel clearance cases, including using an updated electronic verification system by March 2006 that will keep track of security clearances across the government,” reports Government Computer News. [View article]

TSA Seeks Business Plan for Registered Traveler (Federal Computer Week) “The Transportation Security Administration is seeking industry advice on extending the Registered Traveler voluntary passenger-screening program nationally,” reports Federal Computer Week. TSA is giving vendors until 20 January “to respond to a request for information for the program, which is scheduled to start operating nationwide” on 20 June. “The agency wants a new business model that includes processes, technologies and services to implement the program.” [View article]

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National News

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Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor (Washington Post) A CIA program known by its initials, GST, keeps “expanding in size and ambition despite a growing outcry at home and abroad over its clandestine tactics,” reports the Washington Post. GST comprises “dozens of highly classified individual programs … allowing the CIA to capture al Qaeda suspects with help from foreign intelligence services, to maintain secret prisons abroad, to use interrogation techniques that some lawyers say violate international treaties, and to maintain a fleet of aircraft to move detainees around the globe,” and “to mine international financial records and eavesdrop on suspects anywhere in the world.” [View article]

Justice Dept. Defends Spy Program (USA Today) “The Bush administration outlined an unflinching defense of the president’s recently disclosed domestic spying program in a letter to Congress asserting that the action is a ‘reasonable’ strategy to secure the nation during a time of war …” reports USA Today. “‘Foreign intelligence collections, especially in the midst of an armed conflict in which the adversary has already launched catastrophic attacks within the United States, fits squarely within the “special needs” exception to [the] warrant requirement,’ Assistant Attorney General William Moschella wrote.” [View article]

Congress Didn’t OK Spying Authority, Says Daschle (USA Today) “The use of warrantless wiretaps on American citizens was never discussed when Congress authorized the White House to use force against al-Qaeda after the Sept. 11 attacks, says former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle,” according to the Associated Press. “In an article printed [on 23 December] on the op-ed page of The Washington Post, Daschle also wrote that Congress explicitly denied a White House request for war-making authority in the United States.” [View article] [View Daschle commentary]

NSA May Have Expanded Domestic Spying on Its Own (New York Times) “The National Security Agency acted on its own authority, without a formal directive from President Bush, to expand its domestic surveillance operations in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to declassified documents released Tuesday,” reports the New York Times. [View article]

Supreme Court Approves Transfer of Padilla to Civilian Court (CNN) “The Supreme Court ordered terrorism suspect and U.S. citizen Jose Padilla transferred from military custody Wednesday to stand trial in Miami, Florida,” reports CNN. “The brief order came at the request of the Bush administration, which had been blocked by a federal appeals court from moving ahead with the transfer.” [View article]

DHS Faulted by Internal Audit (Washington Post) The “Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by severe management and financial problems that contributed to the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, according to an independent audit released” on 28 December, reports the Washington Post. DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner aimed “pointed criticism at one of DHS’s major entities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” citing its “overburdened resources and infrastructure” and “programs … still not being managed properly.… The report found … that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to maintain proper financial records; that much of the department’s technology infrastructure remains fractured and ineffective; and that DHS faces ‘formidable challenges in securing the nation’s borders.’” The report “also reiterated complaints about poor coordination between the border patrol and immigration investigators.” [View article] [View report]

Brown’s Turf Wars Sapped FEMA’s Strength (Washington Post) Hurricane Katrina “exposed FEMA as a dysfunctional organization” and turned its director, Michael Brown, “into a symbol of government ineptitude,” reports the Washington Post. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “deterioration is … emblematic of the turf battles that have plagued the rest of the department,” reports the Washington Post in the second of a series about DHS. “Brown acknowledged that the agency deteriorated on his watch. But he blamed its decline on the mammoth reorganization that forced FEMA into the new department, and on his constant setbacks once inside.” [View article] [View first article in series]

Report Faults TSA Security Contracting (Washington Post) “Transportation Security Administration officials rushing to hire airport passenger screeners after Sept. 11, 2001, may have violated contracting regulations by failing to track spending while telling a contractor to ‘do whatever was necessary’ to meet congressional deadlines,” says a report prepared by the Office of Inspector General at the Homeland Security Department, according to the Washington Post. “… Soon after awarding a $104 million contract in February 2002 to hire 30,000 screeners, the under-staffed agency demanded significant changes to the contract that would eventually push the price of the deal to more than $741 million. TSA officials then moved forward with no planning ‘or adequate cost control,’ the report said.” [View article]

Justice Dept. Terror Research Deemed Ineffective (Washington Times) “Intelligence specialists at the 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices assigned to identify terrorist activity and assist in prosecutions are not coordinating their efforts and lack guidance,” according to the Washington Times. “… The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said that although the research specialists … have made ‘valuable’ individual contributions to counterterrorism efforts, … they relied on policy guidance that was ‘outdated and disorganized,’” and the “analyses developed by the specialists were not centrally reviewed or widely disseminated within the Justice Department.” [View article]

Untrue bin Laden Satellite Phone Story Still Circulates (Washington Post) “The allegation that news organizations leaked information about Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone, thus shutting down a valuable source of intelligence that might have prevented the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has long been a prime case study cited by government officials seeking to impose greater restrictions on the news media,” reports the Washington Post. But “upon closer examination, the story turned out to be wrong. Bin Laden’s use of a satellite phone had already been widely reported by August 1998, and he stopped using it within days of a cruise missile attack on his training camps in Afghanistan.” [View article]

Secure the U.S. Against EMP Attack (Christian Science Monitor) “Detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude, causing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), … could destroy any system dependent on electricity or the flow of electrons,” write Mansoor Ijaz, chief executive of Crescent Technology Ventures, and Lieutenant General James Abrahamson (retired) in the Christian Science Monitor. “… Evidence is mounting that EMP weapons have caught the eye of countries with clandestine nuclear weapons programs, and equally nefarious geopolitical agendas.… Reducing both the real and perceived vulnerabilities of our power and telecommunications systems to an EMP threat will lessen the willpower of our enemies to undertake such a potentially devastating attack.” [View commentary] [View EMP Commission report]

DHS Issues ‘Dirty Bomb’ Cleanup Guidelines (Chicago Tribune) “A terrorist attack using a crude nuclear device or a ‘dirty bomb’ could leave anywhere from a building to many square miles contaminated--perhaps even uninhabitable,” reports the Associated Press. “Now the government has issued cleanup guidelines that some critics maintain would expose people returning to such a site to high cancer risk. The guidelines issued Tuesday by the Homeland Security Department would allow cleanup standards that in some cases would be far less stringent than what is required for Superfund sites, commercial nuclear power plants and nuclear waste dumps.” [View article]

Munich Chronicles Pursuit of Terrorists (New York Times) In his latest film, Munich, Steven Spielberg tells “the story of a campaign of vengeance that Israel purportedly brought against Palestinian terrorists in the wake of the 1972 Olympics,” reports the New York Times. “… The film’s title suggests that this is the story of what happened at Munich in September 1972, and it is, though only in part.” It mostly “takes place in the immediate aftermath of Munich, after 11 Israeli hostages were murdered by members of a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September.… the film pivots on five Israeli agents, who, recruited to exact revenge by a country that will officially deny their existence, zigzag Europe as they hunt suspects over months and then years.” [View movie review]

Hurricane Response Shows Gaps in Public-Private Coordination (Government Executive) “America’s giant corporations have their own emergency-management systems, separate from and parallel to the government’s,” reports Government Executive. If their “assets survive intact, they can help fill a tremendous public need during disaster-recovery efforts, if the private and public sectors can bridge their differences and work together.” Working to bridge the gap “is Ern Blackwelder, a senior vice president of the advocacy group Business Executives for National Security, whose initiatives in mobilizing corporations for homeland-security missions have been hailed … as a national model.” [View article]

Fraud Allegations Cast Shadow on Katrina Aid (Washington Post) “Nearly 50 people have been indicted in connection with a scheme that bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Red Cross program to put cash into the hands of Hurricane Katrina victims,” reports the Washington Post. “… Seventeen of the accused worked at the Red Cross claim center in Bakersfield, Calif., which handled calls from storm victims across the country and authorized cash payments to them. The others were the workers’ relatives and friends.” An Associated Press report in the Post stated that Government Accountability Office audits of Katrina aid will look for not only abuses but also “missed opportunities to get discounted rates for commonly purchased items such as office supplies and clothing.” [View Red Cross article] [View GAO article]

DHS Opens Retired Professor’s Mail (Lawrence [KS] Journal-World) “A retired Kansas University professor says the federal government has been poking into the mail he receives from abroad. Grant Goodman on [19 December] showed the Journal-World a recent letter he had received from a friend in the Philippines; it apparently had been opened, then re-closed with green tape bearing the seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a message that it had been opened ‘by Border Protection.’ … A spokesman for the agency … said he didn’t know how often the agency opened mail from abroad. And he wouldn’t discuss the criteria for opening letters.” [View article]

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International News

North Korea Gathers Material for Nuclear Bombs (London Times) “North Korea is working to restart a reactor that would produce enough plutonium to make 10 atomic bombs a year,” reports the London Times. “… Siegfried Hecker, former director of the US government’s top secret Los Alamos laboratory, … said the North Koreans reprocessed 8,000 fuel rods to make up to 14kg (30lb) of plutonium last summer, despite taking part in six-party talks hosted by China to end their weapons programme. ‘They have the plutonium,’ he said. ‘We have to assume the North Koreans can and have made a few nuclear devices.’” [View article]

Terror Stalks India’s Booming Tech Industry (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “A suspected militant raid on one of India’s top science universities has confirmed fears that the country’s booming information technology sector could be a new target for terror groups,” reports Reuters. “… A professor was shot dead and four other people were wounded last week when an unidentified gunman drove on to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus in the southern city of Bangalore, India’s tech capital, and opened indiscriminate fire from an automatic rifle outside a conference hall.” [View article]

Peru Declares State of Emergency After Attack (Miami Herald) “Peru’s president declared a state of emergency in six jungle provinces and promised to stamp out the nation’s remaining Shining Path guerrillas after suspected rebels killed eight police officers in an ambush,” reports the Associated Press. “Under Peruvian law, a state of emergency suspends civil rights, such as the right to assembly, and gives police and the military sweeping powers to enter homes and conduct searches. President Alejandro Toledo” in late December “decreed a two-month state of emergency in six coca-producing provinces in the central jungle.” [View article]

Rebels Attack Infrastructure in Colombia (Miami Herald) “Leftist rebels blew up another power tower in southwestern Colombia on Wednesday, leaving 400,000 people without electricity,” reports the Associated Press. “… The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, began to sabotage the infrastructure in Putumayo state over the weekend. Eight oil wells, an oil pipeline and at least three energy pylons have been blown up with dynamite since” 30 December. [View article]

British Terror Suspect Faces Extradition to U.S. (BBC) “A British terror suspect can be extradited to the US, a judge at Bow Street Magistrates court has ruled,” reports the BBC. “US authorities say Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, tried to set up a camp in Oregon between 1999 and 2000 to train people to fight in Afghanistan. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has up to two months to approve the extradition of Mr Aswat, of Dewsbury, Yorkshire. Mr Aswat, who denies the charges, was deported from Zambia in August after he was arrested and held in Lusaka jail.” [View article]

Dutch Police and Army Form Joint Antiterror Squad (Expatica) “The police and the army in the Netherlands have established a new unit to deal with incidents involving terrorists or organised crime,” reports Expatica. “… The new squad has been named Dienst Speciale Interventies” (the Special Intervention Service). [View article]

Belgian Banks Want Guidelines on Reporting ‘Suspicious’ Transactions (Expatica) “Belgian banks are urging the government to draw up clearer guidelines over the reporting of financial transactions in the so-called war against terror,” reports Expatica. “In the past few years, banks have reported some 1,000 suspicious transactions” a year. Several “were linked to terrorism.… The banks must also report any suspect transactions.” However, “banks are bound by privacy laws and it is difficult to determine what transactions should be considered” suspicious. [View article]

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State and Local News

Boston Subway Farecards Will Track Riders’ Movements (Boston Herald) “Over the coming year,” the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority “will install automated fare collection equipment at every subway station and on every bus, allowing riders to pay easily with taps of special smart cards in their names,” reports the Boston Herald. “But each transaction with the plastic CharlieCards will be recorded electronically, creating a record of where users were at a particular time on a particular day. Those records could be subpoenaed by cops, courts or even lawyers in civil cases.” [View article]

Terrorism Drill at Boston Airport Reveals Flaws in Response (Yahoo! News; Boston Herald) “An anti-terrorism drill at Logan International Airport” on 4 June “revealed flaws in law-enforcement’s ability to respond to an attack,” reports Yahoo! News. A Department of Homeland Security “report analyzing the outcome of ‘Operation Atlas’ found that the agencies’ response was lacking in some areas. Ambulances were slow to respond to the simulated threat due to tight security restrictions around Logan and confusion over who was in charge,” and “poor communication between state and local police and mismatched computer programs also hampered law-enforcement’s response.” Furthermore, “Security experts … said the rest of the nation is just as unprepared,” reports the Boston Herald. [View Yahoo! article] [View Boston Herald article]

Move to Digital TV May Help First Responders (Government Computer News) “A budget reconciliation bill, approved by the House” in December “includes a new $1 billion federal grant program for police and fire agency interoperable communications to be funded by the public auction of radio spectrum,” reports Government Computer News. “The program … allocates funding for the new program from the sale of radio spectrum that will be freed when television broadcasters shift to high-definition television.” [View article]

Ohio: Unable to Produce Visa, German Teen Is Jailed (CNN) “High school student Manuel Bartsch” of Gilboa, OH, “is facing deportation to his native Germany after discovering that his American step-grandfather never completed paperwork eight years ago to make his stay legal in the United States,” reports the Associated Press. Bartsch “played on the football team at Pandora-Gilboa High School, worked odd jobs around farms and was popular with girls, all the while thinking he was a U.S. citizen.” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

Federal Contractors’ Employees Must Get Background Checks (Government Computer News) “The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council [on Tuesday] issued an interim rule directing agencies to require contractors to submit to the same background investigations federal employees go through under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12,” reports Government Computer News. “The interim rule is backdated to Oct. 27, 2005, so all solicitations issued and all contracts awarded on or after that date must include new language requiring contractors to adopt the same procedures feds installed Oct. 26.… The interim rule applies to all contractors and subcontractors that have access to federal facilities or federal information systems.” [View article]

DHS Extends Deadline for FirstSource Proposals (Government Computer News) “The Homeland Security Department has pushed back the due date for proposals for its FirstSource contract to Jan. 23. Proposals had been due Jan. 10,” reports Government Computer News. “DHS released the request for proposals Nov. 18. FirstSource, a five-year, $3 billion, small-businesses-only contracting vehicle, will furnish DHS with a range of interoperable IT equipment and software. Companies with a maximum of 150 employees are allowed to bid as primes on FirstSource.” [View article]

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Education

The Homeland Security Institute lists these education programs as a service to readers who may be interested; it does not endorse them or their courses.

Emergency Management Readers for College Courses Two new books by Irmak Renda-Tanali and Claire B. Rubin with syllabi are intended for college-level courses: Managing Change Through Post-Event Evaluations, a textbook on emergency management and homeland security, and Catastrophic Event Prevention Planning, which introduces students to the concepts of emergency and disaster management. The books may be ordered from Pearson Custom Publishing; call (800) 428-4466. Syllabi may be purchased from the authors; email Irmak Renda-Tanali at rendatan@comcast.net or Claire B. Rubin at cbrubin@comcast.net.

SANS MS Degree in Info Security Management The SANS (sysadmin, audit, network, security) Technology Institute is offering a master of science degree in information security management, designed to help a candidate become the highest-ranking management employee in an information technology security shop. In the government this is often called the designated approving authority or information assurance manager. In industry, titles such as chief security officer or chief information security officer are sometimes used. Besides the strong writing skills the Global Information Assurance Certification Gold program produces, the cohort training includes teamwork and oral presentation practice. [View program website]

Scholarships Available for One-Week Intensive Course in Complex Systems (9-13 January; Cambridge, MA) The New England Complex Systems Institute course has partial scholarships to attend a one-week course on complex systems concepts and methods, to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Applications should be sent to programs@necsi.org. Scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-served and need basis. Members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. [View program website]

Postdoctoral Positions Available to Study Complex Global Systems The New England Complex Systems Institute is seeking applicants for postdoctoral appointments in the study of complex global systems. The areas of study include the global economy, world health, global peace and conflict, environment and ecology, and global communication and social systems. Experience with modeling techniques and computer simulation tools is desirable. [View program website]

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Upcoming Events

January

Homeland Security for Networked Industries (9-11 January; Disney World, FL) The conference will focus on issues of network security for three interconnecting critical infrastructure industries: telecommunications, transportation, and utilities. An expo floor will demonstrate the latest network security technologies, products, and solutions on the market and introduce network security companies dedicated to issues and solutions for homeland security. [View conference website]

Forbidding Science? Balancing Freedom, Security, Innovation, & Precaution (12-13 January; Tempe, AZ) Should controls on dual-use technologies be imposed at the research stage? How should the regulatory framework for the control of research risks be modified to address health, safety, social, economic, and ethical concerns? What should be the role of scientists in self-regulating scientific research? Is there a constitutional right to conduct scientific research in controversial areas? What is the role and utility of precaution, risk analysis, and technology assessment? What should be the role of the public and local governments? This conference, hosted by the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the Arizona State University College of Law, will explore whether and how restrictions on scientific research should be imposed. [View conference website]

2006 Railway Security Forum and Expo (30-31 January; Washington, DC) Railway Age, the Association of American Railroads, the American Public Transportation Association, the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, and the Railway Supply Institute will hold their second annual conference on freight and passenger rail security. It will cover best practices, emergency preparedness, hazmat shipments, security technologies, and more. [View conference website]

February

Airport Security Planning Courses for General Aviation (13-14 February, Columbus, OH) Ohio University and Robinson Aviation will hold two courses for general aviation facilities. For further information, please visit www.ohiou.edu/gasecurity/. [View course website]

5th Annual Critical Infrastructure Resilience & Infrastructure Security for the Built Environment Congress & Expo (15-17 February 2006; Washington, DC) This event will bring together government and industry officials from around the world to discuss and formulate solutions to protect the homeland. Issues such as physical security, cyber-security, standards, interoperability, biometrics, threat and vulnerability assessments, research and development efforts, and first responder requirements will be discussed. [View conference website]

March

Radiological Device and Nuclear Event Symposium (7–9 March; Richmond, VA) The symposium will be a forum for government and industry to discuss radiological and nuclear threat materials, their specific hazards, and capabilities for detection, protection, decontamination, and medical response; present results from recent Defense Dept. and Homeland Security Dept. research and development studies; display new equipment, software, algorithms, and procedures for dealing with radiological and nuclear incidents. Contact Joseph Roehl at (540) 729-3927 or jroehl@scentczar.com. [View conference website]

May

General Police Equipment Exhibition & Conference (2-4 May; Leipzig, Germany) This is a fully closed specialized trade fair with accompanying international congress, meetings (partly open) and lecture programs catering to the police and allied security markets. With its exhibition and fringe events, it promotes the interministerial and interdisciplinary transfer of information between government offices and frontline forces; advising the security community on new products and product developments together with current trends in education and training; and enhancing public security, the fight against terrorism and increased homeland security. [View conference website]

June

6th International Conference on Complex Systems (25-30 June; Quincy, MA) This conference will investigate the properties or characteristics that appear to be common to the very different complex systems now under study and will encourage cross-fertilization among the many disciplines involved. [View conference website]

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Calls for Papers

International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (26-28 September; Cambridge, UK) The theme of the 11th symposium is “Coalition Command and Control in a Networked Era.” It is sponsored by the U.S. Defense Department Command and Control Research Program. Abstracts, outlines, or initial draft papers must be submitted by 30 January via email to ccrts-iccrts@dodccrp.org. [View conference website]

Managing Evacuation: Ripple Effects of Terrorism and Natural Disasters (3-4 May; Shepherdstown, WV) This conference is designed to initiate a dialogue among local officials, scholars, and practitioners in the related fields of disaster management, homeland security, criminal justice, and emergency management. Submissions are due by 15 January. [View conference website]

Military, Aerospace, Space and Homeland Security Packaging Issues and Applications (6-8 June; Washington, DC) The International Microelectronics and Packaging Society is sponsoring a Topical Workshop and Tabletop Exhibit. Deadline for abstracts is 10 February. [View conference website]

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