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Community colleges taking homeland security education lead
With classes like Terrorism Risk Assessment and Radioactive Materials already in course catalogs, community colleges are stepping up efforts even further to cement their position as the country's homeland security education leader. Almost unheard of even five years ago, homeland security classes are now offered nationwide. Surging interest after Sept. 11, 2001, has fueled new degree programs and a building spree of homeland security training centers.About 20 community college presidents from around the nation will gather in Washington, D.C., this weekend to develop a long-term strategy and national standards for such classes.Leaders say their schools are filling a need for homeland security education in an era of terrorism marked most recently by ricin and anthrax scares.
www.pennlive.com
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?The Homeland Security Advisory System: Improving Preparedness through Effective Warning?
The System?s color-coded warnings have become the primary means by which the federal Government communicates directly to the public?rather than to and through State and private sector officials?its bottom-line judgment on the risk of terrorist attack at any given time. An increase in the national threat level indicates a heightened risk of attack on our homeland and, as a result, may have direct implications for personal safety and far-reaching effects on personal behavior, including travel and spending patterns, with corresponding effects on economic conditions. The reliability, timeliness, and relevance of the System?s national threat warnings must, therefore, be unquestioned. There is, however, little understanding of how the national threat advisory system actually works. This hearing is intended to give Members and the public a better understanding of how the System operates, including the manner in which threat indications are brought to bear on the decision whether the national threat level should be adjusted. In addition, this hearing will give Members an opportunity to explore possible refinements to the System in order to tailor its warnings more closely to the regions and critical infrastructure sectors that may be at risk. Chairman Cox has introduced H.R. 3266, The Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act, which would require that HSAS warnings specify the regions or economic sectors to which they pertain.
www.iwar.org.uk
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Homeland Security Bill Would Give Doctors Police Powers
Maryland's General Assembly is considering a bill that would let physicians carry guns and make arrests as members of county homeland security teams. The bill, sponsored by two Frederick County senators, was proposed by Frederick County Sheriff James Hagy. He said the Maryland Police Training Commission and sheriffs throughout the state support the measure. Hagy said Wednesday the bill would ensure that someone schooled in biological, chemical and radiological weapons is among the first responders to a terrorist attack. "He obviously would bring an expertise to the table that we in law enforcement don't have," Hagy said.
www.thewbalchannel.com
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Ag official: Homeland Security depends on farmers, ranchers
Hearing from farmers and ranchers is an integral part of protecting the nation's food supply from a terrorist attack. Jeremy Stump, director of Homeland Security for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told a crowd of about 75 people Tuesday morning that any future terrorist attack will come to the nation's heartland, but he said programs implemented since the Sept. 11 attacks are designed to prevent, or at least, quickly react to any future incidents. "But we need to hear from you about what isn't being done or what needs to be done," Stump said at a breakfast meeting at the Best Western Regency Hotel in downtown Greeley. His talk was a prelude to the three-day Colorado Farm Show, which concludes Thursday at Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley. Stump outlined the various measures the USDA has implemented since Sept. 11 aimed at protecting the nation's agricultural industry and food supply. That industry represents $1.24 trillion or 12.4 percent of the national gross domestic production. "Our agricultural food industry is the largest in the world and is highly concentrated at some points," Stump said, making it a prime target for any terrorists who aim to cripple the nation's economy."
www.greeleytrib.com
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Demand grows for government-only computer network
They said it could not, and should not, be done. A call made after Sept. 11, 2001, for a closed government intranet, impenetrable to outside cyber attacks, withered after experts balked at the potential cost and said it would not include key non-federal players in the event of an attack. But two years later, Sprint built it anyway, and now demand is rising among federal agencies for the company's "Peerless IP," a "government grade" Internet-protocol-based intranet that in many ways resembles the original GovNet proposal. "The thought was, 'Gee, I don't think this could ever be done,'" said Anthony D'Agata, vice president and general manager of Sprint's government systems division. But the Sprint technology is "pretty consistent" with the GovNet idea, he said.
www.govexec.com
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NASA Technology Helps Investigators In Florida Abduction Case
Two NASA facilities, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Ala., and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., provided technological assistance for law enforcement agencies investigating the abduction of an 11-year-old girl in Sarasota, Fla. Both NASA centers have unique capabilities to enhance video. MSFC uses a software program called Video Image Stabilization and Registration System (VISAR), and KSC has a new image-analysis facility.VISAR was created by MSFC employees, Dr. David Hathaway, a solar physicist, and Paul Meyer, an atmospheric scientist, to aid their space-program research. VISAR's first law enforcement investigation was in 1996, when it helped the FBI analyze video of the bombing at the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta. Since then Hathaway and Meyer have worked on dozens of criminal cases with police and the FBI.VISAR works by turning dark jittery images, captured by home video, security systems and video cameras in police cars, into clearer stable images that can reveal clues for investigators. It does what other image-stabilization processes cannot: correct for changes in orientation and size. The system was used during the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation.
www.nasa.gov
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Pentagon Calls Off Voting by Internet
The Pentagon has canceled plans to collect votes over the Internet from military personnel and civilians abroad for this fall's presidential election because of security concerns. The $22 million pilot project was intended to be used by about 100,000 voters from 50 counties in seven states. State election officials said they were told late Wednesday that it would not be used to count votes included in election results. Computer-security specialists released a report last week saying the Internet and personal computers are so inherently vulnerable that the entire election could be undermined. That report was followed by requests from the overseas wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties not to be used as "guinea pigs" in a system where their votes might not be secure. Overseas voters will be able to cast Internet ballots as part of a test intended to learn more about online voting. But to cast an actual vote in the presidential election, they will have to fill out and return the traditional paper absentee ballots.
www.washingtonpost.com
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Coast Guard Faces Increasing Security Challenges
Like every governmental agency and military service, the Coast Guard had to do some re-evaluation after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and is working hard to close gaps in the nation's waterway security. Vice Adm. Terry Cross, commander of the Coast Guard's Pacific Area, addressed the West 2004 Conference held at the U.S. Naval Institute Feb. 3. Cross said that while the Coast Guard was not necessarily any better prepared to meet the terrorist challenge than any of the other services or agencies from a force structure or capabilities perspective, the service did have two big advantages after the attacks. "Early on, we were able to generate a rapid response by simply diverting boats, ships, aircraft and people from other missions, because we already knew what to do," the admiral said. "Secondly, our unique set of authorities, relationships, and capabilities was a good match with those needed to accomplish the maritime homeland security mission." Still, Cross told the group, the Coast Guard was not well prepared in all ways, and that gaps in the service's capabilities became apparent. Those gaps led to the Coast Guard publish the Maritime Strategy for Homeland Security in December 2002. The strategy set four goals for the service: to increase awareness, improve prevention, and provide better protection, and improved response, Cross said.
www.defenselink.mil
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G-K High School security system keeps students under a watchful eye
Make sure to smile the next time you're walking in or around Genoa-Kingston High School, because someone could be watching you. A security system at the new high school tracks the movements of people inside and outside the building. "This is as cutting-edge as you can get," Jim Slater, director of buildings and grounds, said. The system includes 33 cameras inside the school and another eight filming movement on the exterior. The cameras transmit video feeds back to Slater's office. He can view shots from multiple cameras at one time on a computer screen. "I don't think there's many factories or facilities that have the camera system to where we're at," Slater said. The system also is set to start recording once cameras spot any type of movement when the school is closed. Everything is recorded digitally. Slater is sent an alert message on his office computer if movement is tracked after school hours. He can then call up the footage of the movement. According to Slater, the district received a grant of $50,000 for security funding about four years ago. The district was required to match that grant.
www.daily-chronicle.com
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Group targeting cyber-criminals gets a new home
The Nevada Cyber Crime Task Force has a new home in its hunt for hackers and cyber criminals. The new, larger "cyber-laboratory" is located in North Las Vegas near the task force's old lab site that was housed in the Energy Department complex at 232 Energy Way. The group's new base of operations offers more space for forensic laboratories, training and includes on-site evidence vaults, FBI Special Agent Alan Peters said. "We've been growing since we started in 1999, and the new lab allows us to really bring all the agencies in under one umbrella," said Peters, who added that the exact location of the lab is confidential. "Before we had only enough space for three or four chairs in areas of the lab, but now we can fit 30 in the forensic sections." The multi-agency task force got its first true base of operations in December 2001, after the group was created by an act of the 1999 Legislature to investigate the growing number of computer-related crimes. Along with the FBI, the task force also includes Metro, North Las Vegas and Henderson Police, the Nevada Department of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Service inspectors and the attorney general's office.
www.lasvegassun.com
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