• Doctors develop a list of those allowed to die in a catastrophe

    Physicians, government agencies draft a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients would be treated - and which would not — during a pandemic

  • U.S. hospitals could not handle terror attack

    Inquiry into the disaster preparedness of hospitals in several major U.S. cities conclude that they are — and will be — incapable to handle even a modest terrorist attack in those cities; one reason for for the lack of hospitals’ capacity: the Bush administration’s cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals overwhelm emergency rooms with patients suffering from routine problems, leaving no capacity to absorb and treat disaster victims

  • IBM joins Next Generation Identification (NGI) system team

    NGI, the FBI’s new multi-modal, state-of-the-art biometrics system to be used by state, local, and federal authorities, will store fingerprints, palm prints, iris, and facial recognition information; it will accommodate other biometric modalities as they mature

  • Secret wiretap warrants double since 9/11

    A Justice Department report shows FISA warrants for counterterrorism, espionage cases up

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  • Malicious hardware may be next hacker tool

    Next threat on the computer security front: Malicious hardware; malicious hardware is more problematic because it is more difficult to detect; China is already using an early, and simple, version of malicious hardware in its massive military and industrial espionage campaign against Western countries and companies

  • The Harris RF-1033M

    Land Mobile Radio for direct, secure multi-agency communications across multiple frequency bands

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  • BAE Systems and communication interoperability

    BAE’s First InterComm device, also called the Vehicle Communications Assembly (VCA), is small enough (8.625” x 8.625” x 2.5”) to be easily mounted inside first responder vehicles; once installed, the VCA relies on vehicle power

  • Robots in search-and-rescure competition

    A robot competition takes place in Germany this week; the robots compete with each other in how well they traverse, autonomously and without any input from handlers, through a maze resembling the aftermath of a natural disaster; robots sniff out toy dolls that either emit CO2, give off heat, make noise, or move

  • Stolen military items available for sale online

    GAO investigators buy dozens of prohibited military items on eBay and Craigslist; some of the time would be of direct help to terrorists and insurgents

  • Government admits accidents at Plum Island biolab

    The biolab on Plum Island, off the tip of Long Island, is the only lab allowed to do research on the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease; DHS officials admit that since 1978 here have been several accidental releases of the virus into cattle in holding pens

  • FCC approves national mobile alert system

    U.S. wireless carriers will transmit to their subscribers alert and emergency messages during disasters; carriers will transmit text-based alerts to their subscribers; as technology evolves, the CMAS may eventually include audio and video services to transmit emergency alerts to the public

  • Underwater ears offer information about hurricane strength

    MIT researchers find that hydrophones planted on the ocean floor can “listen” to hurricanes as they form; the sound hurricanes make varies with their intensity — so early listening to hurricanes would help first responders better prepare

  • SyTech Corporation and communication interoperability, I

    The lack of communication interoperability among first response, rescue teams, and law enforcement during the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina was only the most dramatic and poignant demonstration of a persistent and debilitating flaw in U.S. agencies’ planning for disaster — and performing during disaster; communication interoperability is essential not only in disasters, but for routine, every-day operations of law enforcement; SyTech’s comprehensive approach to interoperability offers a solution

  • DHS grants Maine Real ID extension

    Unless a state received a Real ID extension from DHS, then the driver’s licenses it issues to its residents must be Real ID-compliant by 11 May or state residents will not be able to board a plane, open a bank account, or enter a federal building; Maine’s application was not to DHS’s liking, so the state missed the extension application deadline; DHS decided to give the state 48 hours to comply