Better, Faster Biodetection Around the Corner, Official Says – CQ Homeland Security
Federal researchers are developing a revolutionary new method of biodetection that they say could identify nasty germs in a matter of hours, not weeks or months, and possibly save thousands of lives during a biological outbreak or attack.
After what can only be described as months (if not years) of delays, bureaucratic inertia, internal turf battles and outright bewilderment if the program would ever finally come to be, DHS formally released its selected standards for the voluntary private sector program. Whether because of bureaucratic exhaustion or because they couldn’t find another reason to delay it, the formal announcement about the standards has finally been made. It is long past due. While there is no surprise as to the selected standards, given they were identified more than a year ago, the fact that it has taken this long to formally issue them is a powerful message by itself.
At the Defense Daily Cyber Summit today, Dawn Meyerricks, Deputy Director for Science and Technology at NSA stated without hesitation that cyber security is NOT the same as Information Assurance (IA). Many of us gave her hearty “amens.” Meyerricks made numerous other important points, and when questioned on differences between government agency perspectives on cyber, she said differences between various experts were in dire need of resolution.
If you can’t see a threat, or describe it in terms that the average person can understand or appreciate, is it really a threat? That was the challenge put before 200+ scientists, physicists, meteorologists and other very technical specialists at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This highly unique assembly gathered to discuss the emerging concerns regarding increasingly dramatic changes in our universe’s space weather. This is not about meteor showers, alien invasions or Texas-sized asteroids colliding with the Earth; it is about how our sun and planet interact with one another.
New concerns arise over body scanners – Chicago Tribune
As the government begins deploying whole-body imaging machines to replace metal detectors at airports nationwide, some security experts worry that the new technology could make it easier, not harder, to sneak weapons and explosives onto airplanes.
By Steve Serrao
Having visited and worked in many fusion centers across the nation, I often wonder how much attention is given to a basic question: Are we conducting analysis or not? The answer to the question of whether the centers conduct analysis varies widely, and it is partly dependent on whether the fusion center’s goal is to provide strategic-intelligence analysis or serve as a tactical operational data-sharing operation. Fusion centers that have decided to perform both data fusion and analysis need the appropriate staff and resources assigned. There must be a division of analytical labor.
Louisiana’s Emergency Agency “Following” Hundreds Of Citizens On Twitter To Gather, Distribute Oil Spill Info; Embrace Of Social Media’s 2-Way Potential Is Model For Govt. – In Case of Emergency
In the weeks since Deepwater Horizon explosion, the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) has found itself in the middle of an evolving and unprecedented crisis. And, the agency has been relying on its new Twitter feed @GOHSEP, which has become a vital communications platform and resource.
Survey: Cloud computing to make huge strides by 2020 – NextGov
Mobile computing will outpace desktop technology in the next 10 years if challenges to access, security and interoperability are overcome, according to a study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project released on Friday.
There is great debate on the possibility, existence, inevitability and reality of Cyber War. Some say we are in the midst of one everyday. Others say that this is just technologically enabled espionage, nowhere near a “war.” Those that think this is all a tempest in a teapot were dealt a blow recently when it was revealed that a special NATO Commission led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is warning that the next aggression against a NATO member country will probably come via the cyber realm.
It has been over a month since the tragic Deepwater Horizon explosion, and at this writing, oil continues to pour into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and onto adjacent land and marsh areas. It is clear that the oil companies worked diligently to produce technologies that could bring oil from deep wells to the surface. It is also clear that they did not develop, on a parallel track, the multi-layered technologies needed to stop and respond to an emergency on the deep ocean sea floor. It is like trying to repack your parachute while in a freefall.
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