Federal Protective Service moves out of immigration bureau (10/29/09) — GovExec.com The embattled Federal Protective Service, which is responsible for guarding government buildings, has been transferred from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau to the National Protection and Programs Directorate. It is still part of the Homeland Security Department.
By Rich Cooper and David Olive
After a long, protracted confirmation process, Dr. Tara O’Toole was confirmed by voice vote in the U.S. Senate last night to be the new DHS Under Secretary for Science & Technology. She begins the task of leading the Research & Development agenda at the only DHS cross-functional component.
Hendra virus infects horses and bats – but the fatality rate among human beings coming into contact with the animals is high because there is no cure for it; the virus and its relative, the Nipah virus, are so lethal that the United States consider them a homeland security threat; there is fear that terrorists may infect bats and then release them near population centers.
We need a holistic approach that coordinates the strategy around guns, gates and guards to protect physical infrastructure with our strategy to protect our networks, SCADA systems and cyber infrastructure. Though we can’t seem to move beyond creating strategies and engaging in planning – recent arrests in the United States demonstrate our adversaries aren’t as bureaucratic.
While there has been a sustained effort to protect the energy industry, particularly nuclear facilities, from terrorist attack, in the run-up to the Global Environmental Conference in Copenhagen later this year, another threat is emerging – environmental protesters.
They say the first step in battling addiction is admitting you have a problem. Congress has yet to take that step in facing its problem with homeland security grant funding. On Tuesday, FEMA’s Deputy Administrator, Timothy Manning, testified in the House Homeland Security Committee on FEMA’s attempts to measure the effectiveness of the DHS grants program. The Committee’s main criticism concerned the lack of methodologies and metrics for measuring the program’s effectiveness.
I received a truly scary briefing on the incredible magnitude of the existing cyber threat that runs the gamut from individuals to nation-states. We must understand that just being in compliance with federal or state laws does not equal security. We must get better at cybesecurity.
Michael Braun, former Chief of Operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, testified before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control regarding the Taliban’s involvement in drug production and trafficking.
The Senate gave overwhelming approval Tuesday to a final $42.8 billion fiscal 2010 Homeland Security spending bill after an extended protest by Republicans over the removal of provisions during closed-door conference talks among House and Senate appropriators.
FreightScan, LLC, a leader in the development and deployment of innovative technology solutions for the freight and logistics industry, will debut its newly developed FS100P automated dimensioning system for cargo scanning at the Air Cargo Americas 2009 show.The FS100P, a part of the FS100 family of cargo scanning products, is intended for use by small cargo and package operations that need to capture dimensions and images of cargo in a smaller scan area in one second’s time.
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