• Breakthrough: day of terahertz remote sensing nears

    Terahertz (THz) wave technology, has great potential for homeland security and military uses because it can “see through” clothing and packaging materials and can identify immediately the unique THz “fingerprints” of any hidden materials; a major breakthrough opens the way for detecting hidden explosives, chemical, biological agents, and illegal drugs from a distance of twenty meters

  • GAO: TSA is yet to conduct risk assessments for U.S. transportation systems

    GAO criticizes TSA for taking its time conducting comprehensive risk assessments across the transportation sectors it is responsible for securing; according to the GAO, DHS still does not use a comprehensive risk management framework to secure intermodal facilities across aviation and surface transportation sectors

  • U.S. unveils Caribbean basin security plan

    The deteriorating situation in the Caribbean region reflects the drug trade’s deep entrenchment, with high murder rates becoming a fact of life in the tourist havens that traffickers use as transit points for South American drugs bound for Europe and the United States; Caribbean islands had one of their bloodiest years on record in 2009

  • Engineers to enhance crane-mounted cargo scanning system

    VeriTainer, a venture-backed specialist in crane-based radiation detection technology for scanning shipping containers, enters into a three-and-a-half years, $4 million n R&D agreement with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to enhance the gamma and neutron detection sensitivity of the company’s radiation scanners

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  • Cruise ships may be required to hand over passenger reservation data

    Security experts worry about a waterside attack using a waterborne improvised explosive device; such an attack could conceivably come while the ship was in transit or docked at port; to address this worry, DHS will require cruise ships departing and entering the United States to provide Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with passenger reservation data

  • IATA launches safety information exchange

    Four aviation organizations — the International Air Transport Association, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Commission of the European Union — sign an agreement to create an international aviation safety data exchange; the four organizations will now start work on a way to standardize safety audit information and ensure compliance with local privacy laws and policies

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  • TSA adds AS&E's X-ray inspection systems to qualified air cargo screening list

    Screening cargo on air planes is promising to be big business, and companies rush to have their screening cargo machines certified by TSA; AS&E has its Gemini 6040, Gemini 7555, and Gemini 100100 X-ray inspection systems added to TSA’s certified cargo screener list

  • The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex uses a variety of means to detect WMD

    The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex uses the latest — together with the simplest — technology in trying to prevent weapons of mass destruction from being smuggled through the port; among these means used: a $3 million high-tech screening ship, a radiation-detecting helicopter and a badge-carrying black Labrador retriever that can sniff out chemical and biological weapons

  • U.K. shipper complies with "known shipper" requirements by installing Avigilon surveillance system

    Avigilon helps Airberg conform with government-regulated security requirements, saving more than £700,000 each year; additional benefits include protecting the shipper’s facility from theft and vandalism and minimizing the loss and damage of goods

  • Incentives for private industry, risk-based inspection for cargo containers

    There is no consensus on the number of cargo containers entering U.S. ports each year — the figures quoted range from 11.6 to 15 million; there is a consensus, however, that implementing the Congressionally mandated 100 percent inspection of these containers is a Herculean task; some suggest instead a risk-based inspection combined with more incentives to the private sector to make containers secure

  • U.S.-bound ship cargo to get more scrutiny

    The goal of screening 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo containers is may not be reached any time soon, but new cargo-reporting requirement stipulates that ocean carriers and importers submit additional details about U.S.-bound cargo twenty-four hours before it is loaded onto vessels in foreign seaports

  • Researchers propose a new way to scan cargo containers

    In 2007 the U.S. government set itself the goal of screening all aviation cargo loaded onto passenger planes and all maritime cargo entering the country for both explosives and nuclear materials; this is an ambitious goal: there are more than ten millions containers entering the United States every year through sea ports and land border crossings, and there are more than 28,000 commercial flights

  • 2010: Topics for homeland security discussion

    The only thing we can say for sure about 2010 is terrorists, criminals, and mother nature will surprise us at some point during 2010; still, based on what we do know, we offer a short list of topics we predict will dominate the homeland security discussion in the coming year – from whole-body scanners to 100 percent air cargo screening to social Web sites to communication interoperability to the consequences of climate change (or is there a climate change?)

  • U.K. forwarders “not surprised” by U.S. climbdown on 100 percent container scanning

    U.K. shippers say that rather than push back the deadline for 100 percent screening, as requested by DHS, the U.S. government ought to undertake a pragmatic review of the whole 100 percent screening initiative and create a revised program on a risk assessed, commercially practical, and technologically feasible basis

  • Freight forwarders urge TSA to create security standards

    A recent DHS inspector general report highlighted weaknesses in TSA’s inspection of air cargo, and mad six recommendation for improvement; professional forwarders agree, but also say that the inspection process should be made more transparent and that inspectors should communicate with forwarders more openly