Government

Arizona turns to wireless border security
Arizona equips its police units along the U.S.-Mexican border with wireless connection to the Internet
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Texas Emerging Technology Fund awards $2.25 million to local companies
The State of Texas has established a fund to support emerging technologies offered by local companies
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Federal IT spending to reach $6.3 by 2011
The need for interoperability and the threat of hacking will drive the steady growth in government IT spending
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EAGLE contract will save DHS $40 million
The 25 EAGLE contracts DHS has awarded would help the department streamline and standardize its IT operations, but will also save it about $40 million a year it now pays other agencies for various services
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New York City's security grants have been cut, but not those for chickens in Delaware
New York City’s security grants have been cut, but not those for chickens in Delaware
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DHS adds $10 million to antiterror programs of NYC transportation system
DHS received a lot of criticism for cutting more than $80 million from New York City’s antiterrorism grants; the department has now added $10 million to the city’s transportation system’s security plan
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Construction begins on DHS’s NBACC at Ft. Detrick
In several states — Kentucky, Missouri, Massachusetts — there are heated debates about construction of level 3 BioLabs: There is a lot of money and many jobs in these projects, but citizens are worried about lethal pathogens escaping the labs; while these debates go on, the plans for building a large, multi-agency biolab in Fort Detrick, Maryland, are on schedule, and DHS has began construction of its own, $130 million component of the project
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HSIEC awards grants to three innovative Illinois companies
Northwestern University’s center for homeland security entrepreneurship awards three grants to innovative Chicago-area companies
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Globecomm Systems awarded GSA schedule
A specialist in satellite-based communications solutions receives GSA schedule
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UNLV counterterrorism institute spends $9 million with little to show for it
More problems for UNLV — but for a change not with its men’s basketball team: A mysterious counterterrorism institute on campus has spent nearly $9 million with but little to show for it
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Engineering partnership in $750 million FEMA housing inspection contract
FEMA has awarded a new $750 million contract to a joint engineering venture to provide housing inspection services — on short notice — to the U.S. government in areas affected by disasters
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U.S. to buy $165 million worth of anthrax medicine from HGS
After fourteen years, HGS has their first product sale; the company is experimenting in anthrax therapies and the U.S. government is buying; 20,000 doses to be exact
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DHS on SBInet RFP: "Transformational," "audaciously ambitious"
DHS issues its long-awaited SBInet RFP accompanying the release with language some industry insiders consider a bit over-drawn
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North Carolina intensifies efforts to make state hospitable to defense and security start-ups
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Oracle Surveillance is now Securityhunter
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The long view

To prevent Iranian nukes, a negotiated deal better than a military strike: David Albright
David Albright is the founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), and author of several books on fissile materials and nuclear weapons proliferation. In a testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, and an interview with Deutsche Welle on Thursday, Albrights says that there is every reason to be suspicious of Iran because it has cheated on its obligations in the past and has been uncooperative on an ongoing basis. Iran has also built many sites in secret, so any agreement with Iran should have extra insurance — a more powerful inspection and verification tool to try to ferret out any secret nuclear activities or facilities that Iran would build. Still, a negotiated deal, if it includes sufficiently robust inspection and verification measures, would be a more effective way than a military strike to make sure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.
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How to verify a comprehensive Iran nuclear deal
With the negotiation between the P5+1(the United States, European Union, Britain, France, Russia, and China) and Iran resuming yesterday (Wednesday) about a set of parameters for an eventual Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the shape of a final deal about Iran’s nuclear program has emerged. Many important provisions of a final deal, however, remain to be negotiated in the coming months. David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, says that a critical set of these provisions involves the adequacy of verification arrangements which would be in place to monitor Iran’s compliance with a deal. Tehran’s long history of violations, subterfuge, and non-cooperation requires extraordinary arrangements to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is indeed peaceful.
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Fusion centers, created to fight domestic terrorism, suffering from mission creep: Critics
Years before the 9/11 attacks, law enforcement agencies throughout the country, alarmed by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, began to monitor and investigate signs of domestic terrorism. That increased monitoring, and the need for coordination among various law enforcement agencies, gave rise to the fusion centers. A new report, which is supported by current and former law enforcement and government officials, concludes that post-9/11, fusion centers and the FBI teams which work with them shifted their focus from domestic terrorism to global terrorism and other crimes, including drug trafficking.Experts say that at a time when the number of domestic terrorism threats, many of which are linked to right-wing extremist groups, is surging, law enforcement must refocus their attention on the threats from within.
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Lack of evidence-based terrorism research hobbles counterterrorism strategies
The Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland estimates that groups connected with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State committed almost 200 attacks per year between 2007 and 2010. That number has increased to about 600 attacks in 2013. As terrorism becomes more prevalent, the study of terrorism has also increased, which, in theory, should lead to more effective antiterrorism policies, and thus to less terrorism. The opposite is happening, however, and this could be partly due to the sort of studies which are being conducted. The problem: few of these studies are rooted in empirical analysis, and there is an “almost complete absence of evaluation research” concerning anti-terrorism strategies, in the words of a review of such studies.
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CBP IA Operation Hometown reduces violence and corruption: Tomsheck shuts it down -- Pt. 5
Operation Hometown appears to be yet another example in a series of programs at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) demonstrating blatant dysfunctionality and mismanagement within the Department of Homeland Security. Meticulously designed to target border violence and corruption among CBP employees, Operation Hometown was labeled a success in reaching its stated objectives. CBP Internal Affair’s (IA) James F. Tomsheck,however, shut the program down. As Congress and President Obama debate various aspects of a new federal immigration policy,few politicians are willing to acknowledge the serious problems at CBP Internal Affairs – but they should, as these problems may directly impact the success of any or all new immigration reforms.
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California drought highlights the state’s economic divide
As much of Southern California enters into the spring and warmer temperatures, the effects of California’s historic drought begin to manifest themselves in the daily lives of residents, highlighting the economic inequality in the ways people cope. Following Governor Jerry Brown’s (D) unprecedented water rationing regulations,wealthier Californians weigh on which day of the week no longer to water their grass, while those less fortunate are now choosing which days they skip a bath.
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Arizona turns to wireless border security

Texas Emerging Technology Fund awards $2.25 million to local companies

Federal IT spending to reach $6.3 by 2011

EAGLE contract will save DHS $40 million

New York City's security grants have been cut, but not those for chickens in Delaware

DHS adds $10 million to antiterror programs of NYC transportation system

Construction begins on DHS’s NBACC at Ft. Detrick

HSIEC awards grants to three innovative Illinois companies

Globecomm Systems awarded GSA schedule

UNLV counterterrorism institute spends $9 million with little to show for it

Engineering partnership in $750 million FEMA housing inspection contract

U.S. to buy $165 million worth of anthrax medicine from HGS

DHS on SBInet RFP: "Transformational," "audaciously ambitious"

North Carolina intensifies efforts to make state hospitable to defense and security start-ups

Oracle Surveillance is now Securityhunter

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Who's online

The long view

To prevent Iranian nukes, a negotiated deal better than a military strike: David Albright

How to verify a comprehensive Iran nuclear deal

Fusion centers, created to fight domestic terrorism, suffering from mission creep: Critics

Lack of evidence-based terrorism research hobbles counterterrorism strategies

CBP IA Operation Hometown reduces violence and corruption: Tomsheck shuts it down -- Pt. 5

California drought highlights the state’s economic divide