Homeland Security News Wire – The Business of Homeland Security

U.S. Army considers blimps as anti-missile defense

The U.S. Army is testing blimps for detecting, tracking, and shooting down cruise missiles; the radar-equipped aerostats are tethered balloons resembling blimps

Soteria chooses Sikorsky

Soteria -- a consortium bidding for a U.K. search and rescue helicopter contract -- has selected the Sikorsky S-92 as its preferred mission aircraft

Orsus forms users group in the situation management market

First meeting of users group brings together core users of Situator to share best practices, ideas for product development

Aerovironment wins a $2.1 million Phase 2 contract for tiny fluttering UAV

Aerovironment wins more money to develop its Nano Air Vehicle; the tiny, insect-size robot, flies and hovers using flapping wings like a hummingbird

Rat-like rescue robot uses whiskers to feel its way through rubble

Researchers developed rat-like robot which can crawl through -- and under -- rubble in search for victims trapped under collapsed buildings; robot uses long plastic whiskers at the side of its head to detect objects and radio back to a control center

European researchers create largest quantum key distribution network

Researchers from several European institutions unite in creating the largest quantum key distribution network ever built; a big step toward practical implementation of quantum encryption

U.K. high-tech sector worried about defense budget cuts

Groups representing the U.K. high-tech sector say the government's plans to cut funding for major weapons systems would cut 2 to 3 percent out of the U.K.'s engineering and skill base

U.S., Spain in safer-flight agreement

The United States and Spain have formalized a program that identifies high-risk travelers Airport before they can board a flight to the United States

Oshkosh wins $1.06 billion monster truck contract

Oshkosh Corporation beat out several competitors to win a $1.06 billion Marine Corps contract to build the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle, a blast-proof truck for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan

Shape of things to come

Researchers develop ways for humans to use bat-like sonar vision

A team of Spanish researchers has developed a method of giving humans the power of echolocation or "biosonar" -- used by bats for flying at night; first responders, search-and-rescue teams will be able to "see" through smoke, bodies, walls

New underwater laser robot network to protect U.S. coast line

Co-operating underwater robots rapidly identify and communicate potential threats in murky waters

New laser weapon is easier on the eyes

U.S. soldiers manning checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan are now equipped with lasers which temporarily blind drivers of vehicles speeding toward the check point; earlier lasers at times injured U.S. soldiers

Sanctions on North Korea

U.S. designates North Korea's NCG as a nuclear-proliferation violator

NCG is a North Korean nuclear-related company in Pyongyang; today, the U.S. Department of State froze the assets of the and took other measures to isolate it from the U.S. financial and commercial systems

Sanctions on North Korea

U.S. treasury targets North Korea's missile proliferation network

U.S. Treasury invokes Executive Order 13382 to freeze the assets of Hong Kong Electronics; since 2007, the company has transferred million so f dollars worth of missile equipment to North Korea

In the trenches // Jon Shamah

KISS helps winnow biometric technologies

Fingerprints still appear to have the edge among biometric technologies; standardization drives down prices and increases choice of vendors, but it reduces the variety of metrics and the languages by which they are described

More Headlines

Center based at Wash U. medical school gets millions for biodefense research

A center based at Washington University's medical school will receive $37 million over five years to continue its research into biodefense and infectious diseases. The funding from the National Institutes of Health was announced Wednesday. The funds will support the study of new or better ways to fight diseases that could be used in a bioterrorism attack. Researchers at the St. Louis lab seek improved ways to prevent and treat anthrax, West Nile fever, and plague. The school says there are 10 other regional centers of excellence in the nation. They also focus on providing scientific expertise to first responders if there is an infectious disease-related emergency.

Inside story of Somali pirate attack

As he looked at the radar screen Captain Andrey Nozhkin immediately feared the worst. A small vessel was closing fast from the stern

Napolitano swears in DHS advisory council members

DHS secretary Janet Napolitano swore in sixteen members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) today during her first meeting with HSAC in Albuquerque, N.M.

North Korea fires two more missiles

North Korea apparently fired two short-range missiles on Tuesday (26 May). Of course this only adds to the world's concern about the secretive Communist nation's intentions after it tested a nuclear device Monday and launched three other short-range missiles.

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative goes into effect 1 June

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires all citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or depart the United States from within the Western Hemisphere.

U.S. military looks to boost ranks of cybersecurity experts

There are war games being conducted at West point, but this time they are cyberwar games. They are just one example of a heightened awareness across the military that it must treat the threat of a computer attack as seriously as it does an attack carried out by a bomber or combat brigade. There is hardly an American military unit or headquarters that has not been ordered to analyze the risk of cyberattacks to its mission -- and to train to counter them.

The long view

U.S. bolsters Hawaii's missile defense

North Korea is expected to fire a missile toward Hawaii around 4 July; the Pentagon places additional interceptors, and radar is prepared.

Nuclear matters
Debate over alternatives to Yucca Mountain project

The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project is being deliberately starved for funds by the Obama administration; some argue the United States should use UREX reprocessing technology to reprocess waste (this was the Bush administration's preference); MIT and Harvard scientists say it is perfectly safe to store nuclear waste above ground for 60 or 70 years, while working on a better alternative to UREX .

Guest column
How soon they forget: Organizational memory and effective policies // Jon Shamah

Large organizations, either in the private sector or public sector, always have a churning of staff; the problem is that within one or two cycles of churn, anecdotal knowledge, and other unwritten information, just gets lost from the organizational memory; when something bad happens, few people know those solutions which have proven to work in the past and those that have failed miserably.

The food we eat
Schneier: no need to worry about terrorists poisoning food

Security maven Bruce Schneier says that fears of food-based bioterrorism are exaggerated: The quantities involved for mass poisonings are too great, the nature of the food supply too vast, and the details of any plot too complicated and unpredictable to be a real threat.

Close Quarters Combat // Tzviel (BK) Blankchtein
The suicide bomber

Suicide bombers are a fact of life, so we must learn how to deal with them; there are ways to identify them, and ways to disable them and prevent them from carrying their deadly mission; doing so is not easy or simple, but it can be done.

Somali pirates benefit from a global network of informers

These are not your father's pirates: Somali pirates benefit from information sent to them by informers planted in key shipping hubs around the world; this information includes vessels' cargo, layout, and route -- and is transmitted early enough to allow the pirates enough time to practice their assault based on the information they received.

Stimulus package
Initial $50 million of stimulus package for airport security awarded

DHS announced the award of the first $50 million out of a total of $1 billion made available by the stimulus package for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); money will fund explosive detection systems and advanced technology X-ray units that will streamline baggage screening at U.S. airports.