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New Orleans to get new homeland security intelligence-sharing system
A new computer system will provide police with federal data on terrorism suspects, while also giving the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies access to local agencies' information on suspects nationwide. New Orleans' government was set to link up to the system, known as Joint Regional Information Exchange System, on Friday. Matthew E. Broderick, chief of the federal Department of Homeland Security's intelligence-sharing center, was to announce the connection with Col. Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director, at an afternoon news conference. Broderick said the system will give local police the benefit of expanded terrorism information, while giving Broderick's office the ability to share data among police departments.
www.heraldtribune.com
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Homeland Security's RIdge asks US Congress for two-year deadline extentionon biometric passports
With almost no country reporting an ability to meet the U.S. October deadline for machine-readable passports with biometric identifiers, two of the U.S.'s top officials?Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge?have asked Congress to extend the deadline for the enhanced passports by an additional two years. The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (EBSA) established October 26, 2004, as the deadline for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to begin issuing machine-readable passports with biometric identifiers (as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Both men have asked Congress to extend that deadline to Nov. 30, 2006.
www.secureidnews.com
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Homeland Security unveils test system to screen rail passengers
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday unveiled a test system to screen Amtrak and commuter rail passengers for explosive material before they board trains, saying that even if the system proves successful, it would only be used in the event of a specific threat of attack. During the 30-day trial, passengers at the train station in this Washington suburb will be asked to arrive five to 10 minutes early so they and their bags can be screened. Some 1,000 passengers a day ride Amtrak and the Maryland commuter rail service, MARC, from the New Carrollton station. While the Washington Metro subway system goes through the station, Metro passengers will not be screened. Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, said the system is not intended to be used at every commuter rail system around the country. "The purpose of this pilot program is not to put out a new uniform inspection requirement for passengers in the transit environment," Hutchinson said. "The purpose of this is to test the screening systems in the passenger rail environment so that in the event there is a specific threat or a specific need, we have the knowledge, the capability, to put inspection in place."
www.kansascity.com
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Professors to unveil homeland security research
Researchers from a dozen Florida universities, organizers said, are to unveil their homeland security discoveries and inventions at the Florida Tech Transfer Conference in St. Petersburg, May 17-18. The Tampa Bay Technology Forum and Florida Research Consortium said Hangi Zhuang, a professor of electrical engineering at Florida Atlantic University, will present his findings on human face prediction and reconstruction. Zhuang, the organizers said, has developed a method to build databases of photographs to be used to predict the future appearance of an individual. "This technology may offer enormous benefits to homeland security now and maybe facial reconstructive surgery processes in the future," said Jeanie McGuire, director of technology transfer for Florida Atlantic University. The organizers also used Luis Garcia-Rubio as an example of conference attendees. The professor of marine science at the University of South Florida has developed technology that can be used for in-the-field analysis of biological warfare agents present in drinking water, food supply and blood samples. Scientists said the technique could have even broader applications.
southflorida.bizjournals.com
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House panel sets vote on protecting airplanes from missiles
A House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee last week took the first step toward requiring that commercial airliners be equipped with defenses against shoulder-fired missiles and toward reducing the number of those missiles in circulation. Florida Republican John Mica, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee, panel ranking Democrat Peter DeFazio of Oregon and New York Democrat Steve Israel recently joined forces to draft a bill, H.R. 4056, that proposes long-term and short-term steps to address the longstanding threat of shoulder-fired missiles. "The bill represents a compromise," Mica's spokesman said.
www.govexec.com
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FBI, Mexico probing gangs' use of fake police IDs
Criminal gangs based along the U.S.-Mexico border are using forged Mexican police credentials to engage in drug trafficking, kidnappings and murder, justice officials in both countries said on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Mexican Attorney General's office said the agency was studying a warning by the FBI, which says it has information that known drug cartel members have been using counterfeit Mexican law enforcement credentials. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said the infamous Arellano Felix drug cartel, based in the city of Tijuana, as well as other cartels may be involved in the scam.
www.alertnet.org
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Wireless hackers might hit home networks
Parked outside a swank Narberth, Pa., block, it took a computer consultant about five minutes to electronically thumb through several houses' worth of long-distance access codes, personal mail and hotel receipts - complete with credit-card numbers. In a single mile, only 12 of 58 houses with wireless computer networks had any security measures to keep hackers out, a local indicator of an impending national boom in identity theft, government officials worry. "Everyone talks about how great wireless networks are, but no one talks about security issues," said Naomi Lefkovitz, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees identity fraud. "People just think it's exciting, and they don't think about how it could be used for less than positive ideas." With households adding second and third computers - a desktop PC in a teenager's room, say, along with the family computer and mom's laptop - wireless services have exploded from 4.5 million homes in 2003 to almost 7 million this year, according to the Yankee Group, a Boston research team that tracks computer use. Using a box called a router and a radio-wave technology called "wi-fi," people link their PCs wirelessly to each other and to the Internet.
www.dailypress.com
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New system helps fight ag bioterrorism
The key to minimizing impact is early detection and accurate diagnosis. The earlier the detection and diagnosis, the earlier the response; the earlier the response the lower the impact. That's the basic philosophy whether dealing with a human disease like cancer or one in plants like karnal bunt of wheat. Or an occurrence of bioterrorism. It is that preparedness for a possible agricultural bioterrorism attack and a detection system put into place by the USDA and Homeland Security that will allow for the rapid detection and diagnosis of a possible bio agent - introduced either into a plant or an animal production system. That is the essence of a paper a Kansas State University professor presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle. Under the network, the United States is divided into five regions - each region delineated based on ecological considerations, plant criteria with respect to agriculture and natural plant systems. Within each region is a diagnostic center that serves as the hub for that region and is tied into a laboratory in each state assigned to that region. "In most literature it is referred to as the state triage lab," Stack said. "That's just a clearing house for samples that are submitted with problems."
www.zwire.com
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Sasser virus slows Internet
A new computer worm has snarled thousands of computers around the world, causing Internet traffic to slow. Unlike many computer viruses, the Sasser worm doesn't come in the form of an e-mail attachment. Instead, Sasser sneaks into vulnerable computers via communications ports ? completely unseen to the average user. It's only once the computer is infected that Sasser makes its presence known. "You might find that your computer starts to reboot itself or shut itself down repeatedly," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for anti-virus software firm Sophos PLC. Fortunately, the virus does not destroy or alter data on infected machines. Sasser takes advantage of a security flaw in two versions of Microsoft Windows operating system: Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The flaw is related to a part of the operating system known as the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service, or LSASS. Microsoft issued a security bulletin about the LSASS vulnerability on April 13 and included information on how to fix the problem by downloading additional software from the company. But the worry is that many computer users still have not installed the software patch. Anti-virus companies first detected Sasser on Saturday, but some computer security experts say they've been expecting a worm like Sasser ever since Microsoft's security bulletin was issued last month. "We've been looking for a worm that would take advantage of that vulnerability," said Peter Allor, director of X-Force Intelligence, an Atlanta, Ga., computer security research group. "But we expected a much better variety than this one."
www.thestar.com
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Security Upgrade for Nation's Nuclear Labs
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected today to outline a sweeping upgrade of security at the nation's nuclear weapons sites, a move that reflects growing concern over the facilities' vulnerability to terrorist attack. The planned actions include the closing of several nuclear facilities, an improvement in cyber security for sensitive data and an overall strengthening of gates, guns and locks throughout the nuclear weapons complex, sources said. The nation's two major nuclear weapons labs ? Los Alamos in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California ? each will get key upgrades to site security, sources said. But Abraham is expected to stop short of completely removing plutonium from Lawrence Livermore. A post-Sept. 11 review of security at the nation's nuclear weapons sites showed that highly trained teams of terrorists could puncture existing fences, walls and vaults with relative ease. Once inside, they could create improvised nuclear bombs that could destroy a lab and surrounding communities.
www.latimes.com
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