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Homeland Security Launches Critical Infrastructure Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with local private sector and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today launched the first Homeland Security Information Network-Critical Infrastructure (HSIN-CI) Pilot Program in Dallas, Texas with locally operated pilot programs in Seattle, Indianapolis and Atlanta to follow. The pilot program will operate throughout the course of this year to determine the feasibility of using this model for other cities across the country. The HSIN-CI pilot program, modeled after the FBI Dallas Emergency Response Network expands the reach of the Department?s Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) initiative--a counterterrorism communications tool that connects 50 states, five territories, Washington, D.C., and 50 major urban areas to strengthen the exchange of threat information--to critical infrastructure owners and operators in a variety of industries and locations, first responders and local officials. As part of the HSIN-CI pilot program, more than 25,000 members of the network will have access to unclassified sector specific information and alert notifications on a 24/7 basis. ?The Homeland is more secure when each hometown is more secure,? said Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. ?HSIN-CI connects our communities ? the government community to the private sector community to the law enforcement community -- the better we share information between our partners, the more quickly we are able to implement security measures where necessary.?
www.dhs.gov
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Bioterror drill finds strengths, scary gaps
Charlotte's smallpox disaster drill didn't leave uptown in flames, but it sure came close. The exercise threw plenty of simulated twists and turns at participants over 36 hours this week: a deadly train wreck, a building collapse and a power failure that disrupted computers in the city's emergency operations center. Titan Corp., the San Diego-based company that created and ran the exercise, will provide a report card on the region's performance some time next month. But after a day and a half of dealing with a mock terrorist attack that spread smallpox to more than 100 victims, city and county officials said they learned a lot about what they're ready to handle -- and what they're not. "It was probably the best learning experience, outside of a real event, that we've ever had," said Wayne Broome, Mecklenburg County's emergency management director. The good: More than a dozen local agencies worked well together in the county's emergency operations center, making the tough decisions required by the scenario. Some agencies are relatively new to this type of disaster drill, such as the county health department and hospitals.
www.charlotte.com
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Israel helps to make Georgia a nanotech world center
Israeli expertise in nanotechnology is making international waves - reaching all the way to the southern part of the United States. In Georgia, local scientists together with several major technical institutes in Israel are combining state funding and brainpower to create a nanotechnology research center. Nanotechnology, the creation and use of the very smallest of particles, is on the cutting edge of science, and is expected to help mankind discover cancer at very early stages, improve detection of dangerous gases and aid in repairing gene damage. Now the state of Georgia, together with Georgia Tech University is investing $81 million to go toward the construction and operation of a world-class nanotechnology research center. With a projected operating date of 2007, the 160,000-square-foot facility will feature 30,000 square feet of clean rooms necessary for the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. The center would be the most advanced nanotechnology facility in the Southeast, on par with similar facilities planned or under construction at MIT, Cornell, Stanford, and the University of California at Berkeley.
www.israel21c.org
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Police youth camp offers peek into law enforcement
Eighty-five high school juniors and seniors from across the state are learning about law enforcement during the 34th annual American Legion State Police Youth Week. Sponsored by the American Legion, the week-long camp at Scotland School for Veterans' Children teaches youth about law enforcement. Participants are treated as if they are new recruits to either law enforcement or the military, and the week resembles a boot camp. The teens get instruction about the branches of the military and law enforcement, intended to both challenge them as individuals and help them know whether they would like to pursue one as a career. The camp offers leadership courses, firearms instruction, helicopter demonstrations and countless drills and activities. "Each level of law enforcement is different." said Col. Dave Evans, program director. "Each level needs to be explained to the kids." While the camp is staffed by members of the American Legion and members of the state police, many professionals donate time. Demonstrations are given by the FBI, Game Commission, crime scene investigators and officials of the federal prison system.
www.publicopiniononline.com
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Blindsided
The Defense Department's electronic networks, the nervous system that controls America's military muscles, bristle with more than 3 million desktop computers. It is a battlefield so big that even the soldiers who defend it say it's beyond their control. Vast streams of data and commands, from the mundane to the most secret and restricted, pulse through more than 1,500 internal networks and 100,000 data servers. And at numerous locations, this behemoth connects to the Internet. These connections help America project its military might across the globe. But they also open the military computer network to attack. And it is attacked ferociously. Once every 12 minutes. Most attacks fail. Digital assailants bombard the networks with worms, viruses and other digital artillery, known as "exploits," 47,000 times a year. Most don't penetrate the outer defenses. Rings of sensors and firewalls detect and destroy electronic invaders. The military network, though an enticing target for hackers, spies and enemy states, remains mostly impenetrable, its defenders say. But now and then, something slips past.
www.govexec.com
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Justice Department Announces New Violent Crime Reduction Initiative
Attorney General John Ashcroft, Deputy Attorney General James Comey, and Carl J. Truscott, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced today a new federal initiative aimed at reducing crime in fifteen U.S. communities. This initiative has placed teams consisting of ATF Agents, U.S. Marshals, DEA agents and federal prosecutors in each selected city over the past several weeks. The goal of the program, called VCIT, or Violent Crime Impact Teams, is to have the ATF-led teams work with local law enforcement to identify and arrest the most violent offenders in each city. The identified communities include: Albuquerque, NM; Baltimore, MD; Chattanooga, TN; Tampa, FL; Miami, FL; Richmond, VA; Greensboro, NC; Tulsa, OK; Pittsburgh, PA; Las Vegas, NV; Columbus, OH; Philadelphia, PA; Los Angeles, CA; Tucson, AZ; and the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia region. "The violent-crime rate has plunged to the lowest level in 30 years, but we view these impressive results as just the beginning. We are determined to drive down violent crime everywhere -- especially in those places where habitual offenders are concentrated and communities live in fear of the violent and predatory," said Attorney General John Ashcroft. "Our goal is to make an immediate impact in these communities by targeting repeat offenders with tough prosecutions, and tough sentences. The Violent Crime Impact Teams will shift the balance of power in crime-plagued neighborhoods away from habitual offenders and toward the law-abiding citizens who live and work there."
biz.yahoo.com
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A closer look at biometrics
The time when a person's written signature was taken as proof of their identity is long gone. Anyone who has opened a bank account recently knows that financial institutions demand a wide range of documentation before they are willing to process the application. With fraud against consumers rising, most of us don't mind jumping through some hoops to prove who we are, even if it is a bit of a drag at times. Some people joke that it would be easier to have a bar code printed on the back of your neck so companies could just scan you in and find out who you are. Many government agencies and businesses agree - except they are not joking. There's no need for a bar code, though, as the human body itself provides more than one unique characteristic. Fingerprinting has been with us for quite some time, but biometric technology now allows for fingers, faces, irises and even smells to be scanned and stored in vast databases. The government plans to make this new technology a part of our lives. It says biometric identification will help stamp out terrorism and all manner of fraud and that innocent people have nothing to fear. Let's look at some of the benefits, and the potential risks.
www.vnunet.com
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Terrorism Training Pays Off in Other Ways
We haven't seen a large-scale terrorist strike since 9-11, but it's important to be prepared just in case. That preparation is paying off in other ways, as we saw Wednesday . The attacks of September 11, 2001 were a wake-up call for emergency responders across the nation. As a result, the federal government has helped local authorities prepare in case terrorists strike again. Huntsville Fire and Rescue is no exception. "We're just reaping benefits from homeland security money for terrorist attacks that apply to other situations," says Jay Gates of Huntsville Fire and Rescue. Situations like Wednesday's chemical leak at the cargill plant in Decatur. About 15,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid leaked around a drain valve. There was some cause for concern, but the public was never in danger, thanks in part to quick-acting emergency crews, including those called in from Huntsville. "Decatur did a wonderful job. We were over there in a standby situation, and with that money, we were able to do that. Millions of dollars in homeland security money has helped purchase equipment crucial to effective emergency response," says Gates. A recent bio-terrorism drill in Huntsville illustrated how homeland security money is invested, preparing emergency reponders for the real thing.
www.whnt19.com
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Largest ISPs Attack 'Zombies'
The country's largest e-mail account providers called yesterday for a worldwide industry assault on "zombies," personal computers that have been unwittingly commandeered by spammers and used to send out unwanted e-mail and malicious programs. The Anti-Spam Technical Alliance, which includes America Online Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and EarthLink Inc., urged all Internet providers to police their networks more aggressively and cut off machines suspected of being launching pads for spam. By some estimates, hundreds of thousands of computers around the world have been infected with software that lets them be used without their owners' knowledge. Such machines now account for as much as 40 percent of all spam. Large Internet providers typically monitor traffic on their networks and pinpoint machines that are sending out inordinate amounts of e-mail. When such machines are found, some Internet providers block their Internet access until their owners come forward, at which point they are given help to remove the software code used by the spammers before being reconnected. The zombie problem, said representatives of the group, is going largely unchecked because other Internet providers are not taking such action.
www.washingtonpost.com
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DHS improves foreign student tracking program, according to GAO
The Homeland Security Department has taken many effective steps to improve the web-based Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, according to a new General Accounting Office report. The agency has successfully streamlined the process of collecting and recording information on foreign student and exchange visitors, the watchdog agency said in its report (GAO-04-690). Several key improvements were the increased staffing and training of the Help Desk, the use of new software, and regular meetings being held within the department and with educational representatives. Indicators such as system availability, response time, capacity, and resource usage showed that requirements are being met, the report indicated. But not only are key performance requirements being met, requests for systems changes are declining and "officials representing educational organizations generally see performance as having improved," it went on. Between January and June 2003, more than 20 critical and high-priority system change requests were reported in a six-week period. However, between June and December 2003 only two were filed. This dramatic decline shows the effectiveness of the initial changes, GAO said.
www.govexec.com
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