DISCLAIMERTHE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT HAS BEEN ASSEMBLED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES AND IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS PROVIDED AS RECEIVED AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT BY THE US SECURITY NETWORK, ANY MEMBER COMPANY, OR PARTICIPATING PUBLIC AGENCIES. INFORMATION MAY BE REPEATED, AS IT IS EXTRACTED EXACTLY AS PRESENTED BY THE ORIGINAL SOURCE |
|
|
|
The U.S. security chief said Wednesday the warnings that he gave the public last week about a possible terror attack before the elections have nothing to do with politics. "We don't do politics at Homeland Security," Tom Ridge said at a news conference, adding that the department's job is to transmit credible information to the public. Those who suggest otherwise have reached "rather cynical" conclusions, he said. With the Boston Harbor behind him, the secretary made the comments after touring the Democratic National Convention site and the security operation command centres. At the first political convention after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, counterterrorism officials set out to make the Democratic gathering a display of security, using both human and technical tools. "Our goal is to deter any potential attack with multiple layers of security," said Ridge, the former republican governor of Pennsylvania. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxHomeland Security Launches "Regional Technology Integration" Initiative in Anaheim, California The Department of Homeland Security today announces the broadening of its new initiative called the Regional Technology Integration (RTI) to the Anaheim, California, urban area. RTI facilitates the transition of innovative technologies and organizational concepts to regional, state, and local jurisdictions.Through the program, managed by Homeland Security’s Science & Technology directorate, four urban areas across the country have been selected to be the initial pilot locations for this program. The Cincinnati, Ohio, urban area was announced in June, 2004, and the other two sites will be announced shortly. All of the selected regions are currently participating in the Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiative and have demonstrated a willingness and capacity to adopt advanced and innovative concepts for emergency preparedness and public safety. “This initiative will help communities strengthen their security posture by speeding the introduction and implementation of new technologies,” said Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science and Technology Charles McQueary. “From detection to prevention, from preparedness to response, we will focus on quickly bringing the best of American innovation to bear on homeland security in a model that can be replicated nationwide.” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx AT&T, Invizeon Deliver Agriculture Emergency Alert System for Georgia AT&T and Invizeon Corp. have been awarded a one-year contract to deliver a first-of-its-kind web-based emergency alert system for use by key agricultural agencies in Georgia in the event of a crisis, such as an animal disease outbreak or contamination of the state's food supply. The system, called CHAIN-EMN, is a secure, reliable, web-based, two-way communication and alert reporting system that can rapidly disseminate information via a range of devices that include telephones, PCs, PDAs, cell phones and other means. Participants can access or receive messages regardless of the device or network carrier they are using. CHAIN-EMN was developed by AT&T Government Solutions, Invizeon and AT&T Labs. The alert notification project is being directed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture for the Agriculture Information Sharing and Analysis Center (AGISAC), a network of federal and state agencies, private sector companies and academic institutions, as well as agriculture associations based in Georgia. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) is implementing the project, which is funded through a Georgia Division of Public Health federal bioterrorism grant. "With this technology, Georgia will serve as a model for other state governments," said Bill Hitchens, Georgia Homeland Security Director. "Our goal is to be prepared to deal with any kind of threat to Georgia's agriculture sector. We're also proud to have established a unique partnership involving three separate state agencies." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx State seeks local schools’ help in preparing for disasters State and federal agencies want to prepare for international disaster, and want to begin with local school systems. Joe Adams, emergency coordinator with the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health in Northwest Georgia, on Tuesday discussed the basics of a plan to use public school buildings as sites to deliver medicine and vaccinations during bioterroristic attacks in the U.S. “If they ever come out with a biological attack, it could quickly go from one family to one city to one county to statewide in a matter of hours or days,” Adams told members of the Walker County school board Tuesday during the board’s regular monthly planning session. The state department is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to manage the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS, the name of the system for distributing the medication. The SNS was formerly referred to as the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, or NPS. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Third phase of rail security pilot to begin next week The Transportation Security Administration next week will begin the third phase of an experimental rail-security program. Passengers traveling on Connecticut's Shoreline East commuter train may pass through a specialized railcar equipped with on-board screening technology. The purpose of the third phase is to test existing technologies to screen passengers and baggage for explosives while the train car is in motion. Tests of the technology "have been successful thus far, and screening passengers for explosives while on a moving train will allow us to learn even more about the tools we have at our disposal to enhance rail security," said Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department undersecretary for border and transportation security. www.govexec.com xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSmooth start on port security New port and ship security measures that went into effect last week don't mean U.S. ports are impervious to terrorism, but they do bring a higher level of scrutiny to ships entering this country and people coming and going from port facilities. Fortunately, the new hurdles didn't bring about the delays and disruption that some in the maritime industry had predicted. Many foreign ships and ports have been slow to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code and the U.S. Maritime Transportation Security Act, raising questions about what the deadline might do to trade. But problems didn't materialize, even though scarcely more than half of the 22,000 ships that are subject to the requirements had complied as of the July 1 deadline. Only 19 ships were turned away from U.S. ports during the first five days the rules were in place. None was turned away from New Orleans. Nationwide, 30 ships were detained in port because of security questions. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Biometrics Beyond Terrorism Since Sept. 11, 2001, biometrics technology has taken center stage in the global effort to secure borders and catch terrorists. Government projects are finally getting the green light, and that means that measures like fingerprint scans, hand geometry and retina scans will soon become part of our everyday reality. As a result--and in spite of plenty of privacy concerns--the consumer market will soon see a flood of biometric applications. "The big programs are getting funded and moving forward, and that's noteworthy because if everyone is getting face-scanned and fingerprinted at the airport, people are going to become more comfortable with the technology," says Raj Nanavati, a partner with the International Biometrics Group, a New York-based research outfit. "That's going to make it much easier for the business sector to use biometrics." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Officials to Rewrite Terrorism Brochure Authorities agreed to rewrite training guidelines for a program that would teach firefighters and workers who regularly go into homes to report signs of terrorist activity. The decision to scrap 5,000 printed brochures came a week after civil rights advocates criticized the plan. The new guidelines will remove references to particular ethnic groups. The brochure cautioned that ``multiple adult males living together, usually of Middle Eastern appearance and between the ages of 18 and 45, with little or no furnishings'' could signal international terrorism. It also called for workers to report signs of drug trafficking and child sex abuse. ``You don't want to focus, for a number of reasons, on any one group,'' said Joyce Dawley, regional director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and co-chairman of the task force overseeing the program. ``A number of different groups out there are willing to hurt people.'' Authorities planned to present a list of revisions to Arab-American leaders on Friday, said Taleb Salhab, president of the Arab-American Community Center of Central Florida. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxState, locals want integrated threat databases The federal government should continue to integrate the systems they use to distribute terrorist threat information to local law enforcement agencies and state homeland security offices, state and local officials told Congress this week. Congress wants to make sure that there is a real-time, two-way flow of information between federal and state and local governments, said Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on technology, information policy, intergovernmental relations and the Census. At a Tuesday hearing, state and local officials explored ways that federal agencies can improve collaboration with them to counter real or perceived terrorist threats. Mark Zadra, chief of investigations with the Florida Office of Statewide Intelligence, said the federal government needs to continue to pull together the systems established to distribute threat information to make it easier for state and locals to compile such information. “We don’t need to get on the Internet and check 120 different sites. The federal government needs to help us integrate these systems,” Zadra said. State and local governments currently receive threat information through a number of systems, including the Homeland Security Information Network, Regional Information Sharing Systems program, the FBI’s Law Enforcement Online and other networks. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Senators push for stronger federal biodefense workforce Two senators introduced legislation last week to ensure that the nation has enough public health personnel to respond to an infectious disease outbreak or a bioterrorist attack. The Public Health Preparedness Workforce Act, introduced by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill, last Wednesday, is designed to provide financial assistance for students who are pursuing health-related degrees and intend to enter a governmental public health agency. "An important priority for the next decade is to ensure that our nation has an adequate number of competent professionals to provide essential public health services," Durbin said. "The public health scholarships and loan repayment program we are proposing ... will help us ease the public health workforce shortages before we have a crisis on our hands." Public health and civil service advocacy groups were quick to praise the bill. |
|
Please forward your feedback to JIMKING@xxxxxxxx or call at (404) 525-9991. |