New UAV to loiter the sky for five years without landing | Homeland Security News Wire Boeing has been given $89 million to build Vulture — a large solar-powered UAV intended to cruise the stratosphere for five years without landing; the idea is to achieve a platform which combines the good qualities of both satellites […]
At the National Press Club, the SANS Institute and GovExec Magazine held a superb two-hour session that broached the controversial, ill-defined and critical issues around Cyber War. It was an excellent discussion with true experts. It would have been worth it to go beyond the time limits, as we ran out of time well before we ran out of questions. What follows is not a transcript but my paraphrased review of what was covered.
Laser-powered, ground-charged UAV stays aloft for hours – Homeland Security Newswire
A UAV is only as good as its power source: if the drone cannot stay over target for long periods of time and must return to base to refuel. A Seattle-based company has demonstrated that it can use a laser beam to charge the UAV’s photovoltaic cells, generating enough power to keep the drone in the air for hours.
Nation’s nuclear power plants prepare for cyberattacks – NextGov
The threat to digital systems at the country’s nuclear power plants is considerable, but the sector is better prepared to defend against potentially devastating cyberattacks than most other utilities, according to government and industry officials and experts.
Are New Orleans’ storm defenses strong enough? – Homeland Security Newswire
It is almost five years since hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and the city is bracing for other attacks to come. In a revamp now nearing completion, the city’s 560-kilometer perimeter has been fortified by toughened levees, cement walls more than 9-meters high, and imposing gates that will grind shut when flood water nears.
In a state as disaster prone as Louisiana has been over the past few years, it’s hard to remember that when something bad does occur, it doesn’t impact everyone. I was reminded of this when I sat down for lunch with two friends in Lake Charles, LA. Southwest Louisiana is truly a world away from the rest of Louisiana. Whether it is the fact that they have a higher elevation from the southeastern part of the state or they are just closer to Texas, this section of the state has always impressed me as having more of its act together than other portions of Louisiana. Back in 2005, I met Lakes Charles Mayor Randy Roach who introduced me to a saying that has stuck with me ever since. He said, “Just hand me a piece of plywood, and we’ll take it from there.”
It’s hard to say what the real ground zero of Hurricane Katrina was. For most Americans, they think of the City of New Orleans. For as awful as each of those events were, similar catastrophes were experienced by St. Bernard and Jefferson Parishes, as well as Plaquemines and Slidell, LA. While the media certainly covered the earth-shattering events that occurred there, it seems to me that the Gulf Coast of Mississippi seems to have been lost in the coverage. The only word I used to describe what I saw back then was very simply Hiroshima. The destruction was beyond catastrophic.
There are few places that you can drive in America where you can go over 50 miles and not hit a traffic light. Such is the stretch of highway along Louisiana Highway 23, running straight through the center of Plaquemines Parish. Located just south of New Orleans, Plaquemines is literally a peninsula with the mighty Mississippi River going right through the center of it. When Katrina struck, surges of water crossed over the levees, parking shrimp boats in the center of the Highway 23 and farmer’s fields while cattle and other farm animals were left dangling in the surrounding trees. It’s an open debate by many Plaquemines residents as to what is worse: the impact of Katrina, the BP oil spill or the drilling moratorium. One thing they can all agree on is their concern about their future.
Over the last decade, America and her allies have done a solid job of beating al Qaeda to a bloody pulp. We’ve hit them with everything we’ve got: troops on the ground; Predator drones in the sky; missiles from the sea; and we’re taking them apart piece by piece on the Web. But it’s not just the government that’s running down al Qaeda. Even U.S. citizens are using some good-ol’-fashioned American initiative; citizens like Shannen Rossmiller, a citizen cyberspy.
Maritime Cargo Scanning: The Wrong Approach for Avoiding Nuclear Attack? — CQ Homeland Security Nonproliferation experts say the congressional mandate to scan all maritime cargo for radiation before it reaches U.S. shores is a woefully ineffective way to ward off a potential attack and threatens to eat up resources that would be better spent elsewhere. […]
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