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Home Safety Council Partners With Department of Homeland Security in Support of Citizen Corps
Announced today, the Home Safety Council (HSC) and Department of Homeland Security's Citizen Corps will collaborate to promote community emergency preparedness and home safety. To recognize this partnership during National Preparedness Month, the organizations held an official signing ceremony at Chicago's Navy Pier today. The Home Safety Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping to prevent injuries within the home, and Citizen Corps, a grass-roots initiative to engage people across America in hometown security and emergency preparedness, will embark on this partnership in a joint mission to raise public awareness and participation in home safety at the national, state and local levels. The collaboration will also focus on encouraging safety education, training and volunteer programs in local communities throughout the nation. "Protecting our homeland starts with implementing proper safety practices within our own home," said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. "By aligning with Citizen Corps, the Home Safety Council will help to arm the American people with home safety education and resources to help prevent the millions of home-related injuries that occur each year. We are honored to be affiliated with such an important initiative."
biz.yahoo.com
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FBI, Homeland Security Warns of Terrorist Probing of VA Hospitals
The FBI and the Homeland Security Department issued a nationwide terrorism bulletin Friday warning that al Qaeda may target Veterans Affairs hospitals. No credible intelligence exists about a specific threat against VA hospitals, but, according to the bulletin, there were reports of suspicious activity at medical facilities across the country, including "possible reconnaissance activities" this year at military medical facilities in Bethesda, Md., and Aurora, Colo. The bulletin was "informational." It was "not driven by threat reporting, and we encourage all those that work in or visit these facilities to be assured that there is a high level of security already in place," the Associated Press quoted Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse as saying.
www.cnsnews.com
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Red Cross on standby for relief to Florida
Local Red Cross crews are on standby for what could be one of the more devastating storms to strike the United States coastline. As of Thursday evening, Hurricane Frances was centered 355 miles southeast of West Palm Beach, moving northwest at about 10 mph. The storm is forecast to make landfall just north of Miami. And though the storm will make landfall hundreds of miles away from Galveston County, it has still gotten the attention of local disaster relief workers and local emergency management personnel. “All of our volunteers are on call and ready to lend a hand where we are needed,” said Melissa Rangel, spokeswoman for the Houston Area Red Cross, which also includes the offices in Galveston County. “In fact, we are calling all our volunteers now, making sure everyone is prepared at the moment we need to move.”
texascitysun.com
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TSA Extends Registered Traveler Program To Reagan National
The Transportation Security Administration on Friday extended its Registered Traveler pilot program to American Airlines' operations out of Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington. This fifth Registered Traveler test site follows similar programs in Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. The National Airport pilot program also follows last week's announcement that the agency will replace its troubled Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) program with Secure Flight, a program with similar goals but that's designed with heightened sensitivity to the privacy issues that doomed CAPPS II. American, which already is participating in the 90-day Registered Traveler pilot program at Boston's Logan International Airport, will now direct travelers who have already passed a voluntary screening process that began last month to a biometric kiosk where they provide a fingerprint and iris scan for identity authentication and proceed to the checkpoint for screening. In August, American invited its Washington-based American Advantage frequent fliers to enroll in the Registered Traveler program by providing the TSA with information, including name, address, phone number, and date of birth, along with biometric identifiers such as fingerprints and iris scans. TSA then conducted a security assessment of each volunteer, including analysis of law-enforcement and intelligence data sources and a check of outstanding criminal warrants.
informationweek.com
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EPA scout plane on lookout for toxic chemicals at GOP convention
The massive effort to protect the GOP convention has meant bringing in special units from some surprising places -- including a scout plane belonging to the Environmental Protection Agency. What's the EPA doing in the counter-terrorism business, let alone in the air? The answer is that a toxic chemical doesn't care whether it is released by terrorists or by accident, and that the best way to track such choking poisons is from high, high above. Ten years ago, a chemical plant exploded outside of Sioux City, Iowa, killing four people and forcing the evacuation of 4,000 residents in a wide swath of Iowa and Nebraska. Hazardous-materials teams struggled to track the drifting cloud of ammonia without endangering themselves.
www.govexec.com
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Yeager Airport Uses Recognition Systems Biometric HandReaders to Secure Control Tower
At Yeager Airport, HandReaders restrict access to the control tower, which is located in the airport terminal, and also to the HVAC system and other sensitive equipment. The control tower doors are opened about every five minutes around the clock. The HandReaders are all networked to the airport's central security system computer. One of the HandReaders is used as the master for enrollment purposes. The airport also uses proximity cards for sixty other control points throughout the airport. A video surveillance system is tied to airport alarms. "It has been the consensus since 9-11 that using biometrics as an access control validation is the way to go," emphasizes Atkinson. "Sen. Rockefeller, the ranking member of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, held a Senate Hearing on aviation and airport security in Morristown. Since vendors were present, we were able to see a biometrics demonstration and learn about hand geometry." The airport has its own police force and they administer all of the access control equipment. Yeager Airport's tower previously required 24-hour police protection for access control. This cost the airport $1,200 per day. The HandReaders have eliminated the need for guards, saving the airport a substantial sum on access control.
www.tmcnet.com
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NCSC Launches New Cargo-Security Training for Organizations Faced with Meeting Government Requirements
The National Cargo Security Council (NCSC), the leading organization for supply chain security professionals in all commercial and government sectors, today announced that it is launching new cost-effective educational training programs to help organizations comply with a slate of major Homeland Security policies enacted since Sept. 11, 2001. The seminars are designed to address practical, cost-effective ways for organizations to comply with new security-minded requirements from several different but inter-related major government bodies:
-- The Congressionally mandated Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA);
-- The Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT);
-- The U.S. Coast Guard's Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 - Navigation and Navigable Waters;
-- International Maritime Organization's International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) policy.
"Whether you're a major manufacturer, retailer or logistics service provider, today you're confronted with a bewildering array of new Homeland Security policies, especially if you're involved in international trade coming into the United States," said NCSC Chairman David Jones, CPP, Corporate VP-Security & Loss Prevention for Tommy Hilfiger USA Inc., Cranbury, N.J. "NCSC is proud to offer these important training tools, which augment our other educational initiatives, such as the Certified Supply Chain Protection Professional (CSCPP) program we announced last month."
www.manufacturing.net
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Old computers: An IT department liability that's costing more
Resellers of old computer equipment say they will no longer accept used equipment without charging for erasing hard drives to ensure they aren't held liable for exposing sensitive data. Marc Sherman, chairman and CEO of WindsorTech Inc. in Highstown, N.J., a used IT equipment reseller, charges companies a flat $8.75 fee for performing a basic audit of used computer equipment and $10 to $30 for erasing disk arrays, depending on the disk's size. "As the business developed over the years, we've gone into a world where data security is critical," he said. "The whole thing now is we're in a situation where we're reluctant to buy equipment unless we're fully indemnified. Otherwise, it puts us in a very dangerous situation. "It's been an educational process for IT users. The information on a computer doesn't belong to the company. It belongs to the customer," he said.
www.computerworld.com
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New Nukes at U.S. Border
The border patrol has decided to go nuclear against those who want to sneak barrels of mustard gas, bales of marijuana or bundles of bucks into the country. Starting early next week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, agents will start testing a nuclear scanning device, called a Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis system (PDF), that will show a border agent the molecular construction of all materials in an 18-wheeler without the agent having to open the truck. The $10 million system, which CBP installed in an old cotton field next to the Ysleta border crossing near El Paso, Texas, shoots pulsed neutrons through a cargo container's walls. Items in the trailer react to the mini-bombardment by emitting gamma rays. The machine then reads the gamma ray signature to create a three-dimensional rendering of the inside of the container. The CBP's traditional X-ray machines create a two-dimensional, gray-scale picture that shows the comparative density and shape of items. A border-protection agent then has to interpret the murky X-ray, just as a doctor does with a human X-ray.
www.wired.com
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Agencies urged to develop teleworker corps for emergency situations
The Office of Personnel Management released updated emergency guides last week, emphasizing the need for agencies to have plans for employees to work from home during emergencies. OPM also released guides for the families of federal employees and managers. The udpated emergency preparedness guides from OPM stress the need for agencies to have plans that allow "the business of government to continue during emergency situations." The guides stress that telework is an effective method that would allow employees not selected to go to the Designated Continuity of Operations facilities during an emergency to continue their work. Agencies are supposed to develop a cadre of teleworkers who will learn to work off-site electronically and supervisors who can manage employees remotely. Eliminating paper and automating reports whenever possible will help employees to experience functioning in a virtual office.
www.govexec.com
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