"Bonding Times"
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced chemical companies to think differently about security, a fact of life that was reinforced by a March report from the U.S. General Accounting Office which warned that U.S. chemical facilities could be attractive targets to terrorists. Improving security at chemical facilities remains a significant challenge, as small companies within the supply chain do not have the means to implement new security measures, and the level of information sharing within the chemical industry remains poor. Working under the mistaken assumption that terrorists will target big chemical facilities, small chemical companies have failed to make enough improvements to security, says Greg Holton, a security expert at Crisis Management Worldwide. Theresa Grant, director of information security at Dow Chemical, says that smaller partners in the supply chain that fail to take security seriously can make larger chemical firms vulnerable as well. A handful of initiatives, including the Chemical Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), have been established to confront these problems. The ISAC, which was formed in April 2002 with the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), allows security information to flow back and forth with efficiency between the NIPC and individual chemical companies. The ISAC will be operated by the American Chemistry Council's Chemical Transportation Emergency Center. The American Chemistry Council has also established the Responsible Care cybersecurity team, a program that includes a focus on IT security and preventing hacker attacks on networks at chemical facilities.
www.csoonline.com
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"Security Is Name of the Game at the Ballpark"
Major League Baseball (MLB) has been making security a priority at its ballparks since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says MLB security chief Kevin Hallinan. At ballparks across the nation, incidents quietly play out that are of interest not just to MLB security officials, but to local and federal authorities like the FBI. For example, on Sept. 9 of this year, a television cameraman at a Baltimore Orioles game noticed that a man with a dark, bushy beard was walking throughout the upper deck of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Md., before a game, taking pictures of the stadium's structure with a disposable camera. After taking many pictures--and none of the playing field--the man inconspicuously left the stadium before the game began. The television cameraman and his friends videotaped the man, then decided to contact the local police, who asked that a copy of the videotape be made for the FBI and Baltimore City Police. Authorities have been unable to identify the man, but have distributed a still-shot picture of the man to ushers and other personnel at Baltimore's stadium. Hallinan notes that it is not uncommon for baseball fans to take pictures of MLB stadiums, but a law enforcement source says it is troubling that the unidentified photographer at Camden Yards left the stadium before the game began. FBI spokesman Barry Maddox says that the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the Camden Yards incident.
www.washingtonpost.com
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"Event Security Organizers Take Team Approach to Tournament Security"
The key to successfully providing security for large events is organization, says Eric Mehl, tournament director for the 84 Lumber PGA Classic, which is being held this week at Nemacolin Woodlands in Pennsylvania. Security for the event is being provided by the PGA, Pennsylvania State Police, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office, several local police forces, a private security firm, and Nemacolin Woodlands officials. Mehl says that the security effort began by speaking with the PGA and determining what security needs they required. "Then we started to identify all the areas we needed to secure: roads, private hospitalities, the players village," says Mehl. Security for the Nemacolin Woodlands resort is being handled by Nemacolin itself, while a private security firm has been contracted to provide security for the location where the tournament is actually being held. The security firm is providing 20 security personnel for the tournament, and the State Police and Fayette County Sheriff's Office are supporting the effort with about 50 police officers on hand at any given time. In addition, at least four local municipalities are contributing police officers to the security effort, and volunteers are helping to provide security at vendor locations and along the fences. A total of 12 security personnel will be patrolling the event grounds during the night.
www.heraldstandard.com
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"Schools Focus on Security"
Officials at Loveland Schools in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area use a pair of school resource officers (SROs) to help provide security. The two SROs complement high-tech security measures in Loveland's district, which encompasses 4,240 students, but school officials believe that the SROs do more to prevent school violence than the security technology. One of Loveland's SROs is Fred Barnes, who beat out roughly 600 other SROs to win the "Ohio School Officer of the Year" award. Some schools in the Cincinnati area have implemented an array of security technology, including surveillance cameras, access-control, motion detectors, and electronic monitoring of windows and doors. While making the rounds at school, Barnes--a veteran policeman--is equipped with a loaded handgun, Mace, and stun stick. Barnes communicates via walkie-talkie with the local police department. Barnes also trains staff members at Loveland on security issues, holds presentations, and oversees secret security tests at the schools.
www.enquirer.com
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"Software Helps Banks Comply With Patriot Act"
Banks, investment firms, insurance companies, stock and commodities exchanges, and other organizations thought a likely channel for illicit cash must comply with the USA Patriot Act, which requires collection of information on all customers in order to verify their identity and ensure they are not on terrorist watch lists, by Oct. 1. Most banks are ready to meet the deadline but find compliance increasingly difficult with three constantly updated lists of terrorist suspects required for customer checks. Software vendors are offering anti-money-laundering applications meant to make compliance with the Patriot Act easier. Celent Communications estimates companies will spend $632 million on anti-money-laundering hardware and software through 2005. The best systems will allow companies to connect customer data with seemingly unrelated transactions to detect patterns and determine suspicious activity. The software should also reduce the amount of customer screenings by pointing out the transactions most likely to be money laundering schemes.
www.informationweek.com
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Bush creates new terrorist information center
President Bush Tuesday added another layer to the government's growing list of agencies and organizations charged with fielding information on suspected terrorists. In a press briefing, senior administration officials said the new Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), established at Bush's order, would ensure that government investigators, airline passenger screeners and other agents work from "the same unified, comprehensive set of anti-terrorist information." The organization is envisioned as a delivery center for terrorist intelligence that is collected by other agencies, most notably the FBI and the CIA. Those agencies have created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), which is responsible for collecting and analyzing terrorism-related intelligence from around the world.
www.govexec.com
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"Business Instant Messaging Raises Security Concerns"
Some companies are opting to disallow the use of instant messaging (IM) by their employees, citing increased regulatory and security liabilities as their reasons. Not unlike email, IM has proven to be an easy and effective form of communication between employees, but a growing number of employers in the legal, healthcare, and financial services fields are becoming increasingly concerned with the liabilities that IM can bring. Financial services companies are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 17a-4 to record, audit, and be able to retrieve all of their electronic communications. Although most already have systems in place to keep track of email, most companies have yet to find ways to monitor and retrieve IM communications. Some financial services companies, like Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, acknowledge IM's usefulness while reducing their liability by restricting employees' use of IM to business purposes only. In the legal industry, professionals have expressed concerns that IM communications may pose a threat to attorney-client privileged information. Meanwhile, the health care industry is worried that IM technology may expose their systems to outside viruses and may threaten the confidentiality of patients' health information. While some companies are attempting to make the most of IM by implementing policies to restrict its use, experts say it will likely take most businesses several years before they can find solutions to the challenges posed by IM technology.
twincities.bcentral.com
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"Identity-Theft Bill Is Seen as Feeble"
Some consumer advocates object to identity-theft bills being considered by congressional lawmakers, saying the federal proposals would void stronger state laws that are already in place. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which was approved by the House last week, would enable consumers to obtain free copies of their credit reports each year and would allow people to place "fraud alerts" on their credit reports. The Senate's identity-theft bill is similar to the House legislation, but it would prohibit financial services companies from sharing certain customer information with affiliates.
online.wsj.com
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"Coast Guard Seeks Permanent Security Zones Around Power Plants"
The U.S. Coast Guard, which patrols the nation's waterways, wants to make the temporary security zones around nuclear power plants created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks permanent. Currently, boaters are banned from parts of rivers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Schuylkill River near the Limerick Generating Station, the Susquehanna River near the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, the Forked River near the Oyster Creek Generation Station, and the Delaware River near the Hope Creek Generation Stations. The Coast Guard wants to make the security zones permanent and shut off water access to 68 power plants across the country. The NRC has already prohibited water access to the Three Mile Island reactor and cooling towers outside Harrisburg, Pa.
www.ap.org
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"Containing Terror"
Security experts are concerned that the six million cargo containers shipped to the United States could become objects of terrorism, since only 5 percent are x-rayed or visually inspected by government officials. While inspectors examine containers considered high-risks, others are reviewed by technological devices that track containers and detect intrusions. Savi Technology and others have developed electronic seals for the main latches of containers, and acts as a radio frequency identification tag and detect breaks in magnetic fields around the seal. Savi and Qualcomm have been testing the seals' connection to satellite tracking systems technology, which they hope to market to shippers and government agencies. While this technology is expected to improve security, Savi claims that more can be done and working to create "smart" containers with multiple sensors throughout the container in order to alert shippers that tampering is going on elsewhere on the object. However, critics contend that even the best technology can fail, which they hope will prompt the government to hire more inspectors to examine containers by hand.
www.technologyreview.com
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Cities say they haven't seen anti-terror funding yet
The U.S. Conference of Mayors Wednesday released the results of a survey finding that 90 percent of cities have not received any of $1.5 billion in U.S. funding approved this year to help first responders prepare for a terrorist attack, according to a report in The New York Times. The survey, conducted last month among almost 170 cities, also found that more than half of local governments had not been consulted by state officials over how U.S. counterterrorism funding would be spent, the Times reported. During a press conference yesterday in New York, mayors criticized state governments, not Washington, for the delays in receiving funding. "Nine-one-one does not ring at the statehouse; it rings at city hall," said Mayor James Garner of Hempstead, N.Y. "Cities are the first to respond in a crisis, but last in line for funds. We need direct funds," Garner said.
www.govexec.com
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Homeland Security to work on terror alert system
The Homeland Security Department plans to refine its terror alert system. It hopes to give state and local governments more guidance on how to react to increases in the alert status. Meetings with state and local officials are set for next month. State and local governments have complained that the threat information they get is too vague, leaving police and other authorities unsure how to respond. A spokesman for Homeland Security said the threshold for raising the alert level is higher than it used to be. He said it would take a greater threat to raise the level from the current yellow to orange.
www.news8austin.com