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International News
Strife Continues Over Disputed Iranian Election (BBC) The dispute over Iran’s June 12 election “could rage for weeks or even months,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation.
“According to the official result Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received 62.6% of the vote,” reports the BBC in a separate article. “… Millions of [Iranians] simply did not believe the result.” At least 17 people have been killed in street protests, and “amateur video apparently showing a young Iranian woman”—Neda Agha-Soltan—“dying in Tehran after she was allegedly shot by pro-government militia on [June 20] has caused outrage in Iran and abroad,” reports the BBC in another article.
[View strife article] [View election article] [View video article]
Iran Monitors Web Use and Phone Calls (BBC) “Iran is well known for filtering the net,” and it has “the technology needed to … monitor any communications across a network, including voice calls, text messaging, instant messages, and web traffic,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… Iran is effectively reading every message,” and “the OpenNet Initiative … said women’s rights activists arrested in the nation had been shown transcripts of instant messages they had sent.”
[View article]
Israel’s New Forecast for Iranian Bomb: 2014 (Jerusalem Haaretz) “For 15 years [Israeli] Military Intelligence has been changing its assessment on when Iran’s nuclear program becomes operational. The deadline has been constantly pushed back, from the late 1990s, to the beginning then the middle of this decade, and finally 2009-2010,” reports Haaretz. On June 16, “Mossad chief Meir Dagan [said] that the deadline for an Iranian bomb is 2014, [and] Dagan aligned himself with the CIA, that has repeatedly determined that Iran will reach the point of no return in 2015.”
[View article]
Japan Relaxes Epidemic Guidelines (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, New Straits Times) “The Japanese government has formally revised and relaxed its guidelines for dealing with the new H1N1 influenza, basically allowing every medical institution in the country to see new flu patients and for people with mild symptoms to recuperate at home,” reports the Malaysian National News Agency, citing Kyodo News.
[View article]
All Malaysian Schools to Check for Swine Flu (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, New Straits Times) “All schools have been asked to set up a special unit to check and prevent the spread of Influenza A(H1N1),” reports the Malaysian National News Agency. “… each unit would monitor the situation in their own school, and organise campaigns such as talks on personal hygiene, distributing leaflets and putting up posters on the viral disease and related information.”
[View article]
New Zealand Unable to Contain Swine Flu (New Zealand Herald) “Health authorities are moving to manage rather than contain swine flu as outbreaks in major cities continue to swell …” reports the Herald. “Health Minister Tony Ryall said ‘… we’ve got large numbers of people out there in the community (infected).’”
[View article]
Manitoba, Canada, Tribes Declare Swine Flu Emergency (Vancouver [British Columbia] Sun) “Manitoba's First Nations [Indian] chiefs have declared a state of emergency and are urging the provincial and federal governments to do the same over the swine-flu pandemic,” reports Canwest News Service. “… Grand Chief Ron Evans said [it’s having a] devastating impact … in their communities.”
[View article]
British Utilities Vulnerable to Terrorism or Bad Weather (BBC) “Large parts of the UK’s infrastructure including energy and transport networks are vulnerable to terrorism or bad weather,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation, citing a report from the Institution of Civil Engineers, which “said not enough was being done to ensure such systems could keep going in adverse circumstances.” (See the Quote of the Week.)
[View article] [View report website]
Kenya Opens Maritime Center of Excellence (AllAfrica) Africa’s first maritime center of excellence opened Monday at Bandari Training College in Mombasa, reports the Nairobi, Kenya, Daily Nation. It “will provide training to both maritime officers and civilians on security at sea,” train coast guards, and offer “courses on port operations, fisheries and customs.”
[View article]
Viet Nam, Laos, and Thailand Ease Border Crossing (Viet Nam News) “Trucks and buses can now operate without stopping at borders along the East-West Corridor following an agreement that was signed this month between Viet Nam, Laos and Thailand,” reports the Viet Nam News. “The agreement was considered a great success in implementing the Cross Border Transport Agreement … in the Greater Mekong Sub-region … each participating country may issue licences to 500 trucks and buses for cross-border transport of goods and tourists to vitalise transportation and tourism activities. As a result, licensed cargo trucks and buses from Thailand and Laos can drive into Viet Nam along the corridor without stopping, and vice versa.”
[View article]
U.S. and Spain Agree to Expand Scientific Cooperation The United States and Spain on Wednesday agreed to expand science and technology cooperation in order to enhance security and combat transnational threats.
[View press release]
National News
Being on Terror Watch List Keeps Few From Buying Guns (CNN) “When people on the government’s terrorist watch list have tried to buy guns or explosives in recent years, the government has let them the vast majority of the time.…” reports CNN, citing a new report from the Government Accountability Office. (See the Statistics of the Week.) “‘Under current law, there is no basis to automatically prohibit a person from possessing firearms or explosives because they appear on the terrorist watch list,’ wrote the GAO’s director of homeland security and justice issues, Eileen R. Larence.”
[View article] [View GAO summary]
Securing Critical Infrastructure Needs Holistic Approach (Government Computer News) “Securing the nation’s and the world’s increasingly critical, connected and diverse information infrastructure requires a holistic view of cybersecurity, rather than a focus on specific technologies, threats and delivery vectors, according to” a cyber-security seminar last week, reports Government Computer News. “… Much of our cybersecurity resources are focused on remote network penetration and securing data from theft, [James] Richberg said. Although these are critical issues, focusing on any one aspect of cybersecurity leaves our enterprises vulnerable to other lines of attack.” (Richberg is “acting assistant director of national intelligence for cybersecurity in the Office of the National Intelligence Director.”)
[View article]
Adversarial Risk Analysis The Institute for Homeland Security Solutions has published a new research brief, “Adversarial Risk Analysis: Decision Making When There Is Uncertainty During Conflict,” by David Banks of Duke University. [View brief (138KB PDF)]
DHS News
DHS Won’t Use Satellites for Domestic Surveillance (Washington Times) “The Homeland Security Department said Tuesday that it will not use satellites for domestic-terrorism surveillance,” but “the technology can continue to be used to respond to natural disasters,” reports the Washington Times. The National Applications Office (see the Oct. 5, 2007, newsletter) “was created by the department in 2007 … and was authorized to expand the technology’s use for the prevention and response to a terrorist attack,” but the program “was never operational.”
[View article]
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General Aviation Presents a Limited Threat, Says DHS (Government Executive) “The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general [Richard Skinner] said Wednesday [that] the national security threat posed by general aviation is ’limited and mostly hypothetical,’” reports Government Executive. “General aviation accounts for 77 percent of all domestic flights and includes air cargo transport, emergency medical flight operations, flight school training, and corporate and private aviation.”
[View article]
New Radiation Detectors Are Not Much Better, Say GAO and Natl. Research Council (Washington Post; NextGov) “Federal investigators say the government’s next generation radiation detectors are only marginally better at detecting hidden nuclear material than monitors already at U.S. ports, but would cost more than twice as much,” reports the Washington Post. “… The Department of Homeland Security has said the new machines it is developing can distinguish between kitty litter and dangerous radioactive material and produce fewer false alarms than the current ones. The new [ones] are also better at detecting lightly shielded material. But the machines perform at about the same level when detecting radiological and nuclear materials hidden in a lead box or casing, the most likely way a terrorist would try to sneak the materials into this country, the Government Accountability Office said.” A National Research Council report echoed the GAO findings on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press.
[View Post article] [View GAO summary] [View AP article] [View NRC report]
Can Science Fiction Help Homeland Security? (Wired) “The more you think about far-fetched terrorism possibilities, the more outlandish and scary they become, and the less control you think you have,” writes Wired “Security Matters” blogger Bruce Schneier, referring to the Homeland Security Department’s occasional interaction with science fiction writers (see the June 8, 2007, and May 29, 2009, newsletters). “This causes us to overestimate the risks.” But “more risk analysis” can lead to examination of lower-level risks, causing us to underestimate risk. When “science fiction writers” help us “think differently about security” and not just imagine new threats, that’s a good thing, he says.
[View blog]
Other Federal News
HHS Funds Research for New Way to Make Vaccine The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a $35 million contract to Protein Sciences Corporation to study a new technology, recombinant influenza vaccine. Using this method, vaccine candidates, clinical investigational lots, and commercial-scale vaccine production may be available faster than by using regular vaccine production methods. Because the basic cells can be frozen and stored indefinitely, manufacturing large quantities of a vaccine is also faster.
[View press release]
Defense Agency Plans EMP-Resistant Network (NextGov) “The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to install a presidential network in the Washington area this year that will be able to survive an attack by a nuclear weapon that generates a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse,” reports NextGov. The pulse “can burn out circuit boards and other electronic devices … [see the Aug. 22, 2008, newsletter] The agency started work on the network in 2008.”
[View article]
Obama Extends Nuclear Proliferation and North Korea States of Emergency On June 18, President Obama ordered continuation of “the national emergency declared on June 21, 2000, … with respect to the risk of nuclear proliferation created by the accumulation of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the Russian Federation.” On June 24, he extended the year-old national emergency “constituted by the current existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula.”
[View proliferation press release] [View North Korea press release]
Defense Dept. Establishes Cyber Command (Government Computer News) “Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a much-anticipated order June 23 establishing the U.S. Cyber Command, which will assume responsibility for the defense of the military’s portion of cyberspace,” reports Government Computer News. “The new Cybercom will be a subunit of the U.S. Strategic Command and will be commanded by the director of the National Security Agency.”
[View article] [View Focus on Cyber-Warfare]
Private-Sector News
Clear Lanes Calls It Quits (San Francisco Chronicle) “Clear”—“the program that ushers pre-screened travelers through airport security lines faster”—“shut down Monday night, leaving only this statement on its web site: Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available,” reports the Chronicle. “… Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass,” had an “estimated 250,000 members.” (See the June 24, 2005, newsletter.)
[View article]
State and Local News
Lancaster, PA, Cameras Watch Public Places (Los Angeles Times) “Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and [Lancaster’s] many tourists,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “… Lancaster outsourced its surveillance to a private nonprofit group that hires civilians to tilt, pan and zoom the cameras—and to call police if they spot suspicious activity. No government agency is directly involved.”
[View article]
Winnebago County, IL, Uses Reverse-911 After Ethanol Spill (Rockford [IL] Register Star) “Winnebago County’s outdoor warning sirens were not sounded after the derailment and explosion” on June 19 because “the new outdoor-warning siren system, which features a chemical spill alert … was too new for people to know the difference between the tornado warning and the chemical spill warning and the area evacuated was too concentrated,” reports the Register Star. The county “decided to use the county’s reverse 911 calling system instead and send fire personnel door to door.”
[View article]
Richmond, VA, Automates 911 Response to Alarms (Government Technology) Instead of making a phone call, alarm-monitoring companies now can transmit data directly to Richmond’s 911 system, reports Government Technology. The data are “processed by the 911 center’s computer aided dispatch system as a call-for-service that appears immediately in the operator’s dispatch queue ready to be assigned to first responders.” (See the Jan. 30 newsletter.)
[View article]
Bozeman, MT, Stops Asking for Job Applicants’ Web Passwords (KBZK-TV, Bozeman) “The City of Bozeman has decided it will no longer ask job applicants for social networking user names and passwords following a worldwide outrage to the hiring policy,” reports KBZK-TV, but those “already given by previous applicants will remain the confidential property of the City.” A waiver statement that applicants had to sign requested “their user names and log-in information and their passwords” to social networking websites.
[View article]
DHS Tells Nashville to Focus on Dangerous Immigrants (Christian Science Monitor) “Some undocumented immigrants swept up on minor charges such as fishing without a license won’t face federal detention. Instead, they’ll be released on their own recognizance under an Obama administration directive to a Nashville, Tenn., sheriff who charged 6,000 people with immigration crimes over the past” 2½ years, reports the Christian Science Monitor. (Four of them were arrested for fishing without a license.) The “order by Immigration and Customs Enforcement … could affect at least some of the 66 US law enforcement jurisdictions that are part of” the 287(g) program that “deputizes local police to act as de facto immigration agents.” (See the May 16, 2008, newsletter.)
[View article]
Dual-Benefit Solutions
U. of Illinois Studies ‘Second Life’ for Emergency Training (Chicago Chi-Town Daily News) “The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health is recruiting public health workers to participate in emergency preparedness training—in Second Life,” reports Chi-Town Daily News. The “study will gauge whether the popular virtual reality game can be used for simulations of life-and-death situations like terrorist attacks and epidemics.”
[View article]
Blimps for Cellphone Relay and Surveillance (Global Post) “Governments around the world are using helium-filled airships as surveillance platforms to track enemies or spot smugglers,” reports the Global Post. “At the same time, commercial and university engineers are testing the potential for airships to serve as floating relay stations for broadband or cellular communications.”
[View article]
Natl. Labs’ Research Benefits to Private Sector Uncertain, Says GAO (Government Computer News) “The Energy Department runs or funds 17 national laboratories, all of which produce scientific research that private industry and others use to develop new technologies,” reports Government Computer News. The department, “however, doesn’t have adequate reporting measures in place to quantify how much success it is actually having getting these findings put to commercial use, the Government Accountability Office” states.
[View article] [View GAO summary]
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Education
The Homeland Security Studies & Analysis Institute lists these education programs as a service to readers who may be interested; it does not endorse them or
their courses. New education listings are posted for four weeks.
Don’t Drink the Water (September 14-15; Arlington, VA) This workshop and simulation of a community illness outbreak and water contamination incident will prepare participants to deal with such a situation using guidance and tools developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.
[View class website]
Incident Management (September 15; Arlington, VA) This workshop gives an overview of incident command and management systems, designed for those working in the private and public sectors. Participants will be instructed in the principles of incident preparedness, response, and recovery, for both natural disasters and man-made events. This workshop uses group interaction and hands-on, scenario-based mechanisms for practical, comprehensive learning and organizational sharing.
[View class website]
Frontline Disaster Planning (September 22-23; Arlington, VA) This interactive workshop focuses on handling mass casualties and establishing alternative care sites and the processes involved in establishing organized systems to limit the loss of life: coordination, collaboration, and communication with police, fire, emergency medical services, hospitals, community emergency response teams, and other community resources. The workshop will identify planning, guidance, and tools needed to ensure an effective community agency, health, and medical care response.
[View class website]
National Defense University Foundation and National Defense Industrial Association Seminars (Ongoing; Washington, DC) The foundation and the association sponsor frequent hour-long seminars at the Capitol Hill Club.
[View seminar list]
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New Upcoming Events
(Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page)
CBRN Resilience 2009 (July 8-9; London) This conference will cover chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents and such aspects as initial response, decontamination, restoration and recovery, and business continuity.
[View event website]
Northern Border Highway Carrier Conference (August 19; Buffalo, NY) The conference will cover Free and Secure Trade, sealing, the Automated Commercial Environment and E-manifest, highway carrier minimum-security criteria, validation and revalidation of a highway carrier, activities of Partners in Protection and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, and more topics specifically for northern border highway carriers. Attendance is limited to people representing highway carriers certified by the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.
[View event website]
| (September 22-24; Tampa, FL) Supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency, the conference and expo focus on biometric technologies for homeland security, identity management, border crossing, electronic commerce, and other applications in 2½ days of presentations, seminars, and panel discussions with the participation of internationally recognized experts in biometric technologies, system and application developers, information technology business strategists, and government and commercial officers.
[View event website]
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