• Investigators find gaps in port security program

    GAO finds flaws in DHS’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program; a 2005 GAO report found many of the companies were receiving the reduced cargo scrutiny without the required full vetting by DHS; there were some improvements, but much remains to be done

  • Autonomous underwater vehicle demonstration

    Partnership Runs Deep - this is the name of the 2008 AUV expo and demonstration beginning today in Rhode Island; technologies for all aspects of underwater operations will be discussed and demonstrated

  • Ballast-free cargo ship design to reduce invasion of non-native species

    As worries about non-native species invading the great Lakes mount, Wolverines researchers develop ballast-free cargo ship design; at least 185 non-native aquatic species have been identified in the Great Lakes, and ballast water is blamed for the introduction of most

  • Egypt installs CCTVs along Suez Canal

    A small motor boat approached an American cargo ship, chartered by the U.S. Navy, sailing through the Suez Canal; after the small boat refused to turn away and kept approaching, warning shots were fired, killing one Egyptian; the canal authorities now install CCTVs along the waterway

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  • Florida port deploys Coda Octopus's Underwater Inspection System

    Coda Octopus UIS uses Coda Echoscope, a real time 3D sonar technology; port’s public safety and bomb squad divers will be using the system on their small patrol vessels

  • Goal of making maritime transportation greener may be difficult to achieve

    The goal of making maritime transportation greener would be difficult to achieve; not all refineries have the capacity to provide the right fuel in the right quantity and concentration, therefore not enough of the more environmentally friendly fuel is available at all ports of the world

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  • EPA to help ports become greener

    Ports are vital to the U.S. economy; port-related activities also pose major environmental challenges, and the EPA wants to help ports and their transportation network in reducing air emissions, improving water quality, and protecting the health of communities near port facilities

  • Fear of dirty bomb threat as U.K. ships plutonium to France

    Sellafield had an ambitious, £473 million plan: Make new nuclear fuel out of mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides recovered from used fuel; the plan flopped, and the company had to turn to its chief competitor, French firm Cogema, to fulfill its orders for the fuel material; trouble is, shipping the material to France on an unarmed ferry is dangerous, as the material could easily be used to make a dirty bomb

  • TSA tests ferry radiation sniffer at Galveston

    Tests began last Thursday; equipment was able to find small amounts placed in TSA vehicles; each sniffer costs $150,000, and are sensitive enough to detect the radiation in someone who has been injected with radioactive dye for a medical procedure two weeks after the injection

  • San Antonio International Airport designated "first landing" airport

    The new status will allow private aircraft coming into the United States from foreign countries to fly directly to the airport and clear customs; boon to local businesses

  • Maryland leaders worry about shift in DHS priorities after elections

    Because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, the Baltimore metro area and Washington suburbs are particularly vulnerable to terrorist activity, Maryland leaders say; they want attention to security increased, not decreased

  • Coast Guard, US-VISIT expands biometrics-at-sea to Florida Straits

    Since the program began in November 2006, the Coast Guard has collected biometric data from 1,526 migrants and prosecuted 118 of those migrants; program was tested in the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and judged successful, is now being expanded to the Florida Straits

  • World's first thermal glider takes off

    The world’s first thermally powered robotic vehicle takes off; the new glider draws its energy for propulsion from the differences in temperature — thermal stratification — between warm surface waters and colder, deeper layers of the ocean

  • Northrop Grumman, L-3 awarded EPX contract

    EPX aims to create a shore-based, manned aircraft which will provide intelligence, surveillance, and targeting (ISRT) support to carrier strike groups

  • CBP hails C-TPAT 2007 achievements

    DHS’s Custom and Border Protection agency says that Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program made major contributions to U.S. security in 2007 by keeping a close eye on the supply chain bringing goods into the U.S.