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Public-Private Partnership To Develop Homeland Security Traffic Solutions
Siemens Energy & Automation today announced it has reached an agreement with E-ViEWS Safety Systems of Agoura Hills, Calif., to join a public-private partnership for the development of E- ITS products and services supporting the emergency responder community. Siemens' partnership role will be administered by Siemens ITS, its Intelligent Transportation Systems unit based in Austin, Texas. E-ITS is a term developed by E-ViEWS to identify the use of intelligent transportation systems applied to emergency response in line with Department of Homeland Security guidelines.
biz.yahoo.com
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Homeland Security Spending $350M On Secure Network
Department of Homeland Security IT has signed one of its biggest business-technology contracts with Northrop Grumman Corp. to create the department's proposed Homeland Secure Data Network. The contract has been valued at as much as $350 million if all options are exercised by the end of 2005. Department officials want a modern IT infrastructure over which they can send classified information. Such a network would be an integral part of plans to consolidate five legacy wide area networks into just one. According to Homeland Security, the network would significantly enhance the department's ability to interact with other classified networks while simultaneously eliminating its dependence on external networks. It's being designed to be scalable in order to respond to increasing demands for the secure transmission of classified information among government, industry, and academia.
www.informationweek.com
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ID Theft a Taxing Question
Theft of their personal information and credit card numbers are key concerns for those who refuse to file their tax returns electronically, according to a study to be released next Monday. This year, 30 percent of taxpayers said they would file online, and 55 percent said they would do so next year. A full 92 percent of online filers said they do it because they get their refunds faster. The survey of 2400 Internet users by TrustE, a non-profit privacy certification and education organization, and shopping comparison site BizRate.com, was completed the week of April 5. The next largest segment in the survey, 27 percent, use accountants or tax professionals who file for them, while 21 percent said they preferred the hands-on paper approach. Fear of sending financial information over the Internet kept 18 percent from e-filing, with another 14 percent unwilling to risk identity theft.
www.internetnews.com
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DOD sets up group to test biometrics
The Defense Department announced today the formation of the Test and Evaluation Biometric Working Group to push best practices for biometric testing and evaluation. DOD?s Biometric Fusion Center said the working group is composed of various Defense agency personnel and members of each of the armed services. The first monthly meeting will take place today and tomorrow in Bridgeport, W.Va. "The Biometrics Fusion Center is proud to support national security and global war on terrorism," said Sam Cava, director of the center, in a news release. "We?re working hard to provide the DOD warfighter community with reliable, responsive and timely information on biometric technologies. To do this, we must work with all of the relevant stakeholders to develop state-of-the-art testing methodologies."
www.gcn.com
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Watch out, mobile hackers about
Millions of mobile phone users could have their handsets hacked into and their personal numbers, diary and pictures stolen, it emerged yesterday. Mobiles with Bluetooth technology, which uses radio waves to send messages to similarly equipped phones or laptops, could have their signals intercepted in a process known as 'bluesnarfing'. Bluetooth normally requires the two devices to agree to the 'pairing'. However, a computer security firm has claimed a hacker could bypass the safeguard and access any Bluetooth phone within 80 yards, just by using a simple programme on a laptop.
www.ebcvg.com
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Feed regulations not yet enforced
As fears of mad cow disease rippled across the country three months ago, the nation's top health official announced stringent rules that would prohibit farmers from giving cows potentially high-risk feed, saying Americans must "never be satisfied with the status quo." But, in fact, the status quo remains. Despite the urgent tone of that January announcement, the proposed rules have yet to go into effect, and farmers can use the risky feed with impunity. Instead, a series of bureaucratic complications and scientific questions -- prompted by complaints from industry groups and outside safety specialists -- arose within the US Food and Drug Administration. Review committees were formed and continue work to this day on issues such as how to dispose of the prohibited feed. To become enforceable, the rules must be published in the Federal Register, a daily compendium of federal government actions. In January, federal health officials said it would be only a matter of days. But, to date, they have not appeared.
www.boston.com
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Homeland security stocks rise on terror fears
Bad news in Iraq and fears there could be more bombings such as those in Madrid last month was good news for homeland security stocks on Tuesday. A $1.2 million contract awarded to Canada's Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. <SSY.TO> from an unspecified defense contractor also helped drive shares higher as investors bet the deal signaled more were on the way. "You've got all this testimony about 9/11 and you have the threat of terrorism out there," said Tim Heekin, director of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners. "If terrorism is in the forefront, then it's (not unexpected) that these stocks should be going up."
www.forbes.com
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Ex-Justice officials oppose domestic intelligence agency
Former Justice Department officials on Tuesday told the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that the government should focus on reforming the FBI rather than creating a new domestic intelligence service. A staff report from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks released Tuesday outlined pervasive problems at the FBI that spanned several administrations prior to the attacks, such as the failure to manage data and share information with other federal agencies. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former Attorney General Janet Reno testified before the commission Tuesday morning during a hearing on law enforcement, counterterrorism and intelligence collection prior to Sept. 11. The 12-page staff report cited FBI deficiencies from the early 1990s until the Sept. 11 attacks, even though senior Justice officials consistently said they were implementing reforms.
www.govexec.com
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Deadline is set for rail cargo security
Rail shippers on July 12 will have to start sending electronic manifests identifying their cargo before reaching the first stop, the government said on Tuesday. The rule will help customs officials identify rail shipments that pose a potential terrorist threat. The rule was delayed because the government had to adapt its computer software. July 12 is the first deadline for rail shippers calling at 24 ports of entry. Those that call at four ports of entry in Maine have until Aug. 10, and those calling at three ports along the Mexican border have until Sept. 9. Congress ordered the changes last year because of fears that terrorists could smuggle chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons into the country.
seattlepi.nwsource.com
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Attendees Determine Outcome of Simulated Homeland Security Crisis
Attendees at The McGraw-Hill Companies' Homeland Security Summit and Exposition will have a unique opportunity to participate in an audience-interactive crisis simulation. This crisis simulation, created by Colonel Randall J. Larsen, USAF (Ret), Founder and CEO of Homeland Security Associates, LLC, will span the two-day conference and use simulated news clips, intelligence reports, and Homeland Security Council briefings about an unfolding security crisis. The audience will participate and make actual decisions through the use of real-time, wireless polling devices. "Most exercises and simulations focus on the problems of today," said Colonel Larsen. "The audience-interactive simulation planned for the Homeland Security Summit, set 3-4 years in the future, will demonstrate the major improvements in prevention and response that can be made if the right organizations, systems and technologies are fielded."
biz.yahoo.com
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