Concerns over bioterrorism grow – Homeland Security Newswire
Recent concern about the growing threat of bioterrorism attacks that could strike cities throughout the world has led governments, militaries, and the biopharmaceutical industry to a heightened state of alert.
Security Experts Say No Nuclear Option for Al Qaeda – CQ Homeland Security
The nightmare scenario that keeps homeland security officials awake at night — the detonation of a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil — is unlikely enough to be safely relegated to the land of dreams, a pair of prominent security experts said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill forum.
Regulators: N.J. nuclear plant employee was an Islamic jihadist – Homeland Security Newswire
A New Jersey man accused of joining al Qaeda in Yemen spoke openly of militant views while working at American nuclear plants, according to a report by the inspector general of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that proposes tightening personnel security rules.
Investigation Into Anthrax Attacks Continues – CQ Homeland Security
The Government Accountability Office has accepted a request from Congress to open an inquiry into the FBI’s handling of the anthrax attacks on lawmakers and the media in the fall of 2001. The request was part of an ongoing push from Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., to investigate the government’s response to the incident.
Treaty to Trim U.S. and Russian Nuclear Stockpiles Heads to the Senate Floor – CQ Homeland Security
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday approved a new strategic nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, moving one of the administration’s top foreign policy priorities to the Senate floor. By a 14-4 vote, the panel approved the New START accord, which would restrict each country to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads — a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002.
DHS Nuclear Office Misled Congress on Radiation Detector, GAO Finds – CQ Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security office charged with developing nuclear smuggling countermeasures essentially misled Congress over the course of several budget requests, saying that it was still planning on deploying radiation-detecting equipment for a project that was discontinued in 2007, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
Counter-Bioterrorism Reform Plan Looks Promising, Experts Say – CQ Homeland Security
The Obama administration has struck out in a bold, new direction by announcing an overhaul of the production of countermeasures to bioterrorism and pandemic disease, observers say, adding that the plan’s more prosaic recommendations might be as important as its eye-catching items.
As an article by Security Management’s Matthew Harwood reminds us, Homeland Security has not “taken seriously the threat that a high-altitude detonation of a nuclear weapon could fry the nation’s power grid[.]” Dr. Michael J. Frankel is executive director of the EMP Commission, which was created in 2001 to study the national security threat an EMP attack could pose to the United States. If anything, Frankel underplays the scope of the threat. The catastrophe would not stop at our borders, and the Earth would likely recede into the “new” Dark Ages.
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. […]
Back in 2006, before George W. Bush’s approval ratings dropped through the basement into somewhere around the fourth circle of hell, it made political sense for the congressional Democrats to attack the Republican administration on cargo security. They were fighting to regain control of Congress and had to show that they, too, were capable of protecting the American people from another terrorist attack. They found themselves an effective–if inaccurate–sound bite in accusing the administration of screening a mere 5 percent of cargo coming into the country. But are they seriously going to continue this bizarre effort? Even President Obama’s Administration thinks this is a terrible idea.
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