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Assistance To Firefighters Grants Round 17 Aid 285 Departments
Secretary Tom Ridge today announced 285 grants to fire departments throughout the United States in the seventeenth round of the Fiscal Year 2004 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The grants will ultimately total approximately 8,000 awards worth nearly $750 million in direct assistance to firefighters throughout the country, demonstrating Homeland Security’s commitment to ensuring that America’s firefighters have the resources they need to protect their communities. “President Bush and I strongly support the critical mission of our nation’s firefighters. Through these funds, we will ensure that our nation’s emergency responders have the equipment and training they need to respond to all hazards,” said Secretary Ridge. “We recognize the importance of the Fire Act Grants to our nation’s fire departments and we will continue to work closely with the fire service community to meet their needs,” added C. Suzanne Mencer, Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP). This seventeenth round of grants provides $24,108,937 to help local fire departments purchase firefighting equipment, fund firefighter health and safety programs, enhance emergency medical services programs, and conduct fire education and prevention programs. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is administered by the Department’s Office for Domestic Preparedness in cooperation with the Department’s United States Fire Administration.
cms.firehouse.com
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Department of Homeland Security launches Ready Business
The US Department of Homeland Security has officially launched its new Ready Business promotional campaign which it is running in partnership with the Advertising Council and a variety of business organisations. The following is the text of the launch DHS press statement: “This is an extension of Homeland Security's successful Ready campaign, which has helped millions of individuals and families prepare for emergencies, focuses on business preparedness. Ready Business will help owners and managers of small to medium-sized businesses prepare their employees, operations and assets in the event of an emergency. "The terrorist attacks of 9-11 and more recently hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan showed that disastrous events can paralyze business operations," said Tom Ridge, Secretary of Homeland Security. "Ready Business was created to help encourage every business to develop an emergency plan, thereby making our nation and our economy more secure."
www.continuitycentral.com
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Homeland Security adds fee to international student registration
International students applying to study at Syracuse University will now have to pay a little extra to support a new database which monitors their student status. The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, implemented by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year, requires international students to enter a variety of information about themselves, including enrollment status. Beginning Sept. 1 of this year, however, prospective students applying for nonimmigrant visas have to pay a $100 fee to register for the mandatory database. "To shut off that pipeline (to education) by imposing additional fees is quite the wrong way to encourage communication between people of different countries and the U.S.," said Michael Smithee, associate director of the Lillian and Emanuel Slutzker Center for International Services at SU. The federal government began developing this system in the late 1990s as part of an effort to strengthen national security by ensuring visitors with student visas are actually pursuing an education. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, though, sped up the process. Congress authorized $36 million to ensure the database's creation, but made it clear that the program would have to find future funding elsewhere. That elsewhere has become the pockets of the student applicants. "This is not an unreasonable fee," said Ernestine Fobbs, spokeswoman for Homeland Security, adding that it accounts for less than 1 percent of the average tuition of a public university.
www.dailyorange.com
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Homeland security officials look at protecting schools
Alabama homeland security officials are asking schools to "dust off" evacuation plans following the recent terrorist attack on a school in Russia. State Homeland Security Director Jim Walker said today that the September First massacre at the school in Beslan in southern Russia strengthens his belief that terrorists may be more likely to pick a small-town target than a big-city skyscraper or government building. Schools in Alabama developed evacuation plans after the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Two students there killed 13 people and then took their own lives.
www.wkrn.com
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TSA to extend 'registered traveler' program
The Transportation Security Administration announced this week that it would continue a pilot program in 2005 that allows people to voluntarily submit their biographical and biometric information in order to speed through airport screening operations. The Registered Traveler pilot program operates at five airports across the country, allowing participants to avoid sometimes lengthy screening lines by passing through a kiosk that asks for biometric information, such as a fingerprint or iris scan. Critics, however, remain concerned about how TSA will manage the program and ensure privacy, how passengers can resolve disputes, whether the effort will really improve security and how much the program will cost. "TSA plans to continue to conduct a pilot technology program in 2005, in a limited number of airports, to test and evaluate the merits of the Registered Traveler concept," the agency announced Tuesday in a Federal Register notice. The administration anticipates as many as 40,000 people to register. It also plans to conduct a representative survey of participants in 2005, and interview key stakeholders at select airports. All surveys and interviews will be voluntary and anonymous.
www.govexec.com
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DoD Biometrics outlines standards development approach
Department of Defense (DoD) Biometrics today released its roadmap for developing standards to support biometric technologies across the Department. The publicly-available DoD Biometric Standards Development Recommended Approach document presents findings and recommendations based on extensive input from numerous DoD stakeholders. "Biometric technology is an important component of the identity protection and management vision for the Department of Defense," said David M. Wennergren, Chair, DoD Identity Protection and Management Senior Coordinating Group. "As such, the development of biometric standards is critical to the Department's successful use of biometric technologies." "There is an urgent need for the Department of Defense to leverage information technology to the greatest extent possible, particularly with respect to U.S. efforts in the Global War on Terrorism," said John D. Woodward, Jr., Director, DoD Biometrics Management Office. "Working closely with our partners, DoD Biometrics is committed to achieving greater interoperability by developing national and international biometric standards to maximize the technology's use "
www.secureidnews.com
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Coalition Launched to Promote U.S. Port Security
Terminal operators, vessel operators, port associations, shippers and other stakeholders responsible for handling the eight million cargo containers that enter the U.S. each year announced today that they are joining together as the Coalition for Secure Ports to advocate for enhanced maritime security. The Coalition will immediately initiate a campaign to educate policymakers and the public on steps that have been taken to improve port and cargo chain security since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as identify actions that the government, in cooperation with private sector stakeholders, can take now to further improve the security of the nation's marine transportation system. "Today's ports, vessels, and the entire marine transportation system are more secure than before 9/11 due to the concerted efforts of government, the private sector, and our international trade partners," said Basil Maher, President and COO of Maher Terminals and President of the National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE). "Yet too much is at stake for the nation to be lulled into a false sense of security. Over 95 percent of the nation's import cargo moves through America's 361 seaports each year, and the maritime industry contributes more than one trillion dollars to America's annual GDP. We need to continue to make smart, sophisticated, technology-based improvements to ensure the security of this system."
biz.yahoo.com
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Md. First To Spend Security Funding On Religious Institution
Maryland becomes the first state in the nation to spend a portion of its federal homeland security funding allotment on a religious institution. Gov. Bob Ehrlich pledged more than $130,000 Thursday in homeland security money to enhance safety at some Baltimore-area Jewish institutions, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported. Suicide bombings are a terrorist's staple overseas, where car bombs are a weapon of choice -- they are easy to make, deadly and extremely destructive. Since Baltimore, and cities like New York and Washington, D.C., have enhanced security around obvious targets, a concern grows over so-called soft targets. "I think there has been a tendency to focus on the high-value targets like the United States Capitol, and really no emphasis [has been] given to soft targets all over the country -- like the elementary schools like we saw in Russia," said John Pike, a security expert. Ehrlich also considers Jewish religious institutions a soft target. He's funneling federal homeland security dollars to two Baltimore-area Jewish community centers and a synagogue to help them protect against terrorism and other forms of aggression, Collins said.
www.thewbalchannel.com
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U.S. Cybersecurity Office May Relocate
The House will propose moving cybersecurity offices from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House as part of the intelligence reorganization, according to draft legislation obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The bill, expected to be introduced Thursday, would place cybersecurity into the White House budget office. The change reflects frustration among some Republican lawmakers about what they view as a lack of attention paid to cybersecurity by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Some technology companies also have expressed similar concerns, but industry lobbyists reacted cautiously Wednesday to the proposal. "DHS deserves the opportunity to demonstrate its effectiveness before taking this step," said Tom Galvin, a vice president at Verisign Inc., an information security firm. But he said he understood the frustration among some in the industry and in Congress. The Department of Homeland Security considers equally important the protection of the nation's physical structures, such as bridges and buildings, and computer networks, which regulate the flow of electricity, phone calls, finances and other information. Many leading technology companies have urged the Bush administration to pay greater attention to cybersecurity, arguing that a shutdown of vital networks could lead to sustained power outages and other serious disruptions. "The fact that this is even being discussed reveals an incredible level of unhappiness and frustration over how DHS has handled cybersecurity," said Roger Cressey, a former White House cybersecurity adviser.
www.washingtonpost.com
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Senate confirms Goss as next CIA director
The Senate Wednesday confirmed Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., as the next CIA director on a 77-17 vote. Forty-nine Republicans joined 28 Democrats in voting "yes" to confirm Goss. The 17 "no" votes against Goss all came from Democrats. In explaining his "no" vote, Senate Intelligence ranking member John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Wednesday that when Goss was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he had protected the administration and blamed intelligence failures on Democrats. Acknowledging Goss' pledge to be non-partisan as CIA director, Rockefeller said: "I must vote on his record. I cannot vote on his promise." Florida Democratic Sens. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson voted for Goss' nomination.
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