What’s New
 Council on Foreign Relations Warns That First Responders Lack Funding and Preparation “Nearly two years after 9/11, the United States is drastically underfunding local emergency responders and remains dangerously
unprepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil,
particularly one involving chemical, biological, radiological,
nuclear, or high-impact conventional weapons,” says the
Council on Foreign Relations, which on 29 June released a report titled “Emergency Responders:
Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared.” The council’s task force analyzed data from first responders
in numerous fields. “If the nation does not take immediate
steps to better identify and address the urgent needs of emergency
responders, the next terrorist incident could be even more
devastating than 9/11,” states the council. [View
press release] [View
report]
The
Role of ‘Home’ in Homeland Security
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public
policy research arm of the State University of New York system,
has released the transcript of a symposium on public health, one of four in the series The Role of “Home” in Homeland
Security: The Challenge for State and Local Governments.
Speakers at the symposia have included the Executive Director of the American Public Health Association and the Managing Director of Federal Budget
Issues, Strategic Issues, for the General Accounting Office. [View series info] [View public health symposium transcript]
Homeland
Security–Related GAO Publications The
General Accounting Office has released several reports related to key homeland security issues:
An
IT Strategy Could Strengthen Bioterrorism Response
An information technology
strategy could strengthen the abilities of federal agencies
to respond to public health emergencies, says the GAO in a report dated May but released on 30 June. The report analyzes
about 70 planned and operational information systems that
support public health structures. The GAO found that the coordination
of these systems does not formally exist between some agencies.
While the lack of coordination is an acknowledged problem,
integrating the IT systems looks even more difficult because
there is no standardization or even a strategy for standardization. [View report]
Military Needs Better Approach to Spare Part Shortages
In a series of reports—one addressing the Department
of Defense in its entirety and three others focused on the
Army, Air Force, and Navy—the GAO analyzes the military’s
shortage of spare parts despite billions of dollars allocated for their acquisition. The reports recommend that the military develop clear objectives and performance measures in plans to address the shortages. The reports also examine
the impact of increased funding to mitigate the spare parts
issue on the readiness of the Army, Air Force, and Navy.
[View DoD
report] [View
Army report] [View
Air Force report] [View Navy report]
Better
Planning Needed for Military Base Closures and Realignments
The GAO recommends better
planning to account for future reserve enclaves. The report
cites difficulties with the Secretary of Defense’s recommendations for base
realignment and closure since the recommendations do not
account for infrastructure needs, maintenance costs, and
benefits of the realignments. Omission of these factors
from the planning has often led to new infrastructures
larger than that of the bases concurrently closed. [View
report]
National Press
Customs Dogs Hunt for Chemical Weapons (Sky News) “US Customs agents are enlisting man’s
best friend in the war against terror,” according to
Sky News. “Dogs are being trained to sniff out
chemical weapons—and they’re already proving to be better
than machines costing $1m each.” [View article]
New
Guidelines to Beef Up Maritime Security
(Charleston
[SC] Post and Courier) “Trying to strengthen what
some say is the weakest link in the nation’s effort to protect
itself against terrorism, the federal government issued new
rules Tuesday that will force many ports and maritime industries
to beef up security,” reports the Post and Courier.
“Anti-terrorism experts and politicians such as US Sen.
Fritz Hollings fear that terrorists could use freighters to
smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States
or target tankers and cruise ships for attacks.” [View article]
Subject
of Anthrax Inquiry Tied to Anti-Germ Training (New York Times) “Three years ago, the United States
began a secret project to train Special Operations units to
detect and disarm mobile germ factories of the sort that Iraq
and some other countries were suspected of building, according
to administration officials and experts in germ weaponry,”
reports the New York Times. “The heart of the
effort, these officials said, was a covert plan to construct
a mobile germ plant, real in all its parts but never actually
‘plugged in’ to make weapons.” To design the unit, “the government turned to Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, then a rising star in the world of biological defense but more recently publicly identified by the Justice Department as ‘a person of interest’ in the anthrax investigation.” [View article]
Homeland Security
Chief Could Be Presidential Successor (Washington
Times) “Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
could be added to the presidential line of succession as part
of” an antiterrorism “protection measure gathering bipartisan approval across Capitol Hill,” reports the Washington Times. “The bill quietly passed the Senate [on 27 June] before the Fourth of July recess and has broad support among House leaders.” [View
article]
Rep. Weldon Wants to Unify Homeland Funding Control (Federal Computer Week) “Power over the funding for homeland security is still spread among more than a dozen congressional committees, and
that’s a mistake, according to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.),” reports Federal
Computer Week. “‘Congress has to step up to the plate [and] develop a homeland security committee with full jurisdiction over the dollars,’ said Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a
member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, which
does not have the financial authority.” [View article]
Homeland Security Spending Boosts California Tech Sector (New York Times) “To
much of Silicon Valley, the government’s mandate to improve
homeland security looks as if it could be the next-best thing” to bringing back “the dot-com heyday.” But “a technology push, stimulated by government, … is expected
to create a lucrative market in computer hardware and software
for surveillance, data collection, data analysis and cybersecurity.”
[View
article]
Geological Survey Maps Are Homeland Security Treasure (Federal
Computer Week) “The US Geological Survey, with
its massive collection of the most comprehensive maps of the
United States, has become an unlikely partner in the war against
terror,” according
to “Marty Eckes, senior policy adviser” for
the Geological Survey, reports Federal Computer Week. The agency “has the
only maps showing the entire infrastructure of the United States.” [View article]
Thousands
Blame Government for Lost, Stolen or Damaged Luggage (USA Today) “Airline passengers have filed 6,700 complaints with the government about lost, stolen or damaged luggage in the six months since the Transportation Security Administration took on the job of screening fliers’ checked bags,” reports
the Associated Press. “The agency has paid almost $39,000
to settle about 485 claims. About 145 were denied, and 47
were withdrawn. The rest of the complaints—more than 6,000
—are pending.” [View article]
Survey Looks at Airport Security (Lincoln Journal Star) “The traveling public has largely adjusted to new airport
security measures and considers them reasonable, according
to a University of Nebraska at Omaha survey released Tuesday,”
reports the Associated Press. “The survey of 775 Midwest
Airlines passengers at the airline’s hub at General Mitchell
International Airport in Milwaukee covered three days in late
February and quizzed air passengers on a number of topics
concerning flight safety and courtesy.” [View
article]
International Press
Cops Doubt Value of Spy Cameras (Toronto Globe and Mail) “Police can envision limited domestic uses for an urban surveillance system the Pentagon is developing
but doubt they could use the full system, which is designed
to track and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a city,”
reports the Associated Press. “Dubbed ‘Combat Zones That
See,’ the project is intended to help the US military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.”
[View
article]
Mackenzie Institute Says Canada Is a Haven for Terrorism (Vancouver Sun) “Canada has allowed terrorists to move [there], fund raise for their activities and violently repress others
from their home countries who oppose them, according to a
new study on terrorism … from the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute,” which “says 15 out of 80 identified international terrorist
groups have members or significant supporters in Canada,”
reports the Vancouver Sun. [View article]
Malaysia
Drops U.S. as Partner in New Regional Antiterror Center
(Hindustan Times) “Malaysia has dropped the United States
as a partner in a regional anti-terrorism centre that was
opened on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said,”
reports Agence France-Presse. “Stressing [that] the decision
to go solo was not ‘politically motivated,’ he said Washington
had indicated it was keen to co-operate closely with Malaysia.… But bilateral ties have been strained recently by Mahathir's strong criticism of the US-led war on Iraq.”
[View
article]
Somalia Candidate Wants Antiterror Role for His Country (East African Standard) “A member of the Somalia peace
and reconciliation process wants a US backed plan for combating
terrorism in the region extended to the war torn nation,”
reports the East African Standard. “Jama Hassan Khalif
who has joined the growing list of presidential candidates
in Somalia said [on 1 July] that partnership with regional countries on subduing terrorism would help restore stability in the
region.” [View
article]
India Warns West Against Double Standard on Terrorism (Hindustan Times) “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president M. Venkaiah Naidu and Indian Law and Commerce Minister Arun
Jaitley warned Western governments against double standards
on terrorism at a meeting” in London, reports the Indo-Asian News Service. “Both had strong words on what they saw as two-faced policies on terrorism. The leaders spoke at a meeting organised by the Overseas Friends of the BJP
Sunday.”
[View article]
Swiss Data Protection Chief Criticizes U.S. (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) “The head of Switzerland’s data protection commission says the United States’ war on
terror is undermining personal privacy,” reports Neue
Zürcher Zeitung.
“Hanspeter Thür has called for tighter controls
on the campaign against terrorism and for more money to safeguard
individual rights. He accused the Bush administration of pursuing
a repressive policy which placed little value on data protection.”
[View
article]
Saudi Prince Urges Look
at Roots of Terror (Arab News) Saudi “Interior Minister Prince Naif has said that in confronting terrorism the Kingdom must address its
root causes, which were to be found in the beliefs of the
terrorists,” reports Arab News. On Tuesday,
“in his opening speech to the Shoura Consultative Council,
Prince Naif said that the questions arising from the arrests
of suspects in Madinah and Makkah should be: ‘Why are these
things happenings? What are the motives behind them?’”
[View article]
Australia
No Longer Safe, Says Prime Minister (Brisbane Courier-Mail)
“Prime Minister John Howard has warned that the Government
cannot guarantee the security of Australians at home or abroad,”
reports the Courier-Mail. On 1 July, Howard “described international terrorism as the unavoidable
downside of globalisation.” [View article]
Migration Institute Supports ‘Smart’ Border (Ottawa
Citizen) “A
new US report gives a qualified thumbs up to the ‘smart’ border accord for making both the United States and Canada more secure
places to live than they were before the 9/11 terrorist attacks,” reports the Ottawa Citizen.
The report, released Monday by the Migration Policy Institute, “says the 30-point plan signed three months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks marked a major break from Washington’s
unilateral bent.” [View article]
Four
Islamist Extremists Nabbed in Yemen (Middle
East Online) “Four fugitive Islamist extremists
were arrested in Yemen on Sunday, security sources said, amid
an ongoing offensive to track them down in remote southern
mountains,” reports Middle East Online. “‘The four men were among six people arrested in the Sarar region, near Jabal Hatat,’ a security source said, adding that two were found to be ordinary citizens and released.” [View article]
State and Local News
Maryland Governor Forms Office to Fight Terrorist Plots (Baltimore Sun) “Borrowing
a page from the White House’s agenda, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. reinforced his administration’s commitment to anti-terrorism
efforts [on 1 July] by forming a Governor’s Office of Homeland Security,” reports the Sun. “The governor tapped Dennis R. Schrader, a former Howard County councilman and county executive candidate, to
run the office—created through an executive order signed
by Ehrlich at a State House ceremony.” [View
article]
Missouri:
Emergency Training Is Continuous (St.
Joseph News-Press) “Area disaster preparedness officials are using part of their summer to become even more
trained in responding to emergencies in their communities,”
according to the News-Press. “The State
Emergency Management Agency courses run the gamut, from health
concerns in conjunction with weapons of mass destruction to
assisting senior citizens during disasters.”
[View article]
New
York: Holes in State’s Net (New York Post) “Problems with Albany’s computer security are leaving the personal information of state employees and residents vulnerable to ‘cyberterrorists,’ it was charged” Monday, reports the New York Post. “A study released by Assemblyman Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) found that nine of 13 surveyed state Web sites are using outdated software lacking adequate security.” [View
article]
Oklahoma: Bioterrorism Test in Oklahoma City (KOCO-TV) “Scientists began a bioterrorism test in downtown
Oklahoma City Sunday to track how gas would move through the
city if it was ever attacked,” reports the Associated
Press. “The ongoing experiment, done with scientists
from the U.S. Defense, Energy and Homeland Security departments, monitors how gas could be detected, said Jerry Allwine, project
coordinator with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.” [View article]
Private-Sector News
Cyber-Vendor
Accountability Pushed (EWeek)
“The greatest threat to the nation’s data networks today
is not nascent cyber-terrorism lurking in the shadows but
rather technology vendors unwilling to invest adequately in
security, experts told Congress last week,” reports EWeek.
“Increasingly, industry insiders are seeking ways to
make vendors accountable for their products.”
[View article]
Biotechnology’s Capital Spin (Chemical
& Engineering News) “President George W. Bush opened the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual
conference last week with a call to action for the biotechnology
industry on issues ranging from terrorism to Medicare reform
to hunger in Africa,” Chemical & Engineering News
reports. The organization also booked Food and Drug Administration “Commissioner Mark McClellan
and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge as speakers.
Both officials emphasized the connection between science and
public policy, and both pledged to increase government support
for the sector.” [View
article]
Some
See ‘Business as Usual’ in Homeland Security IT Efforts (Government
Computer News) “Policy lags behind the desires
of federal officials striving to integrate disparate systems
to share data to support the nation’s war on terrorism, speakers
and attendees at the Information Sharing for Homeland Security
conference said” Monday, reports Government
Computer News. “There is an emerging sense of business as usual, one senior intelligence community IT official said.” [View
article]
Homeland Defense System Pilot Project in Beaumont, TX (PRNewswire) The Homeland
Defense, Inc., affiliate of E-Smart Technologies will install the Biometric Verification–Homeland Defense System along with some of the company’s subsystems—the
Super Smart Card identity verification and sure credentialing
subsystem, the Robotic Eye video surveillance and emergency
response subsystem, and the AutoTrafficCop port protection
subsystem—in the port of Beaumont, reports PRNewswire. [View
article]
Homeland
Security Dept. Flooded With Antiterror Tech Plans (Government Executive) “The Homeland Security Department has received more than 3,300 responses to
[May’s] solicitation of a wide array of innovative counterterrorism
technologies, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on
Monday,” according to National Journal’s Technology Daily. “‘There are several million dollars available
to the private sector,’ Ridge said during the first meeting
of the department’s 18-member Homeland Security Advisory Council. ‘What we’re looking for right now is some off-the-shelf technologies that we may use in a variety of different venues.’”
[View article]
Port Security Award Sets Precedent for Federal Funding (Business
Wire) The Department of Homeland
Security has awarded more than $28 million
for an Operation Safe Commerce pilot project aimed at
securing the nation’s ports, setting a precedent for federal
grant funding of state and local homeland security initiatives, according to Business Wire, citing a report released by Input, a market
intelligence resource for companies doing business with the government. [View
article]
Markland to Acquire BioDentity (Business
Wire) In response to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s selection of facial recognition as the blueprint by
for integrating biometric identification information into passports
and other machine-readable travel documents, Markland Technologies, an integrated security technology company, intends to acquire BioDentity to
complement its biometric portfolio and help expand
its current services at U.S. borders, according to
Business Wire. [View
article]
Commentary
Everyone’s
Fight (Arab News) “The arrest of one of the two men suspected
of masterminding the triple suicide bombings in Riyadh in
May is a significant victory in the fight against terrorism
and a major blow to the Al-Qaeda network,” says Arab News. “Altogether, some 50 people suspected of involvement
in terrorism, including four women, are now in custody following
a series of raids by the security forces. Clearly the net
is closing in around the terrorists.” [View commentary]
California Cyberprivacy
Law: A Needed Wake-up Call (CNET News)
“A new California statute designed to protect the public
from identify theft delivers the first in a series of warning
shots to companies to get serious about protecting vital electronic
information,” says Nick Akerman. “For the first
time, government regulations will require organizations to
be open about security breaches, which traditionally have
gotten swept under the rug—or addressed without much fanfare.”
[View commentary]
Portrait
of a Wahhabi (FrontPage Magazine) “On Thursday, June 26, I testified
before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, chaired by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz),” writes Stephen Schwartz, author of The Two Faces of Islam. “My topic was ‘Wahhabism and Islam in the U.S.’ I outlined the outrageous degree to which Saudi-funded Wahhabi extremists, who are supporters
of terrorism, have come to dominate Islam in the U.S. My testimony was not greeted with enthusiasm by James Zogby, the phony civil rights leader
who heads the ‘Arab American Institute.’”
[View
commentary]
Grateful
for the Patriot Acts (Washington Dispatch) “To civil-liberties alarmists, Viet
Dinh is a traitor. To me, he is an American hero,” writes
Michelle Malkin. “Dinh, 35, is widely known—and reviled—as the primary architect of the Patriot Act. Until May,
he was an assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal
Policy in John Ashcroft’s Justice Department. (He stepped
down to return to his law school post at Georgetown University.)
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Dinh told The Christian Science Monitor, ‘our nation’s ability to defend itself against terror has been not only my vocation but my obsession.’”
[View
commentary]
Upcoming Events
Featured Events
Safeguarding Australia: Frontline Issues (31 July–1 August; Canberra) The Australian Defence Studies Centre is presenting a conference about how Australia
should address its vulnerabilities from the federal to local
levels. Decision making and beneficial technological advances
regarding homeland security will also be discussed. Speakers
will include top-level representatives of government
departments and agencies and nongovernment institutions dealing
with homeland security. Additionally, professionals from first-responder
communities will speak. The conference is aimed at a
broad range of people, including scientists, business execs,
intelligence analysts, health care professionals, and military
officials. [View conference website]
 Critical
Incident Recovery
(15–16 September; London) SMi’s inaugural
conference on critical incident recovery is the sister conference
to SMi’s hugely successful conference on homeland security.
The new conference will cover the post-incident activity from
a terrorist or strategic attack. It will address current thought
on the planning for and responses to terrorist attacks, lessons
learned from previous attacks, and how these lessons have
been implemented in planning for any future incidents. The
conference includes speakers from government organizations,
health authorities, law enforcement agencies, and financial
and commercial institutions. Attendees will have the opportunity
to learn not only how to plan for a terrorist attack but also
how to respond effectively and efficiently to such an event.
For more information contact Teri Arri at +44 (0) 207-827-6162.
[View
conference website]
Homeland
Security/Combating Terrorism Conference (27–31 October; Albuquerque, NM) Sandia National Laboratories, the Isleta Police Department, the University of New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Justice, and New Mexico Tech University have teamed up with
national, state, county, and local police, fire, and emergency
medical agencies to organize “Tribute to America’s Heroes
Week.” Activities will include a Homeland Security/Combating
Terrorism Training Conference for public safety personnel nationwide.
[View
website]
Additional
Events of Interest
Terrorism, Security and Corporate America (9
July; Washington, DC) At the National
Press Club, the Conference Board will announce findings from
a joint study sponsored by the American Society for Industrial
Security International, presenting the experiences of more
than 330 corporate security directors, risk managers, and
security officers in a wide variety of American firms. The
findings show spending patterns according to company size
and type of company and will include a special look at the
soaring costs of insurance and risk management. For more information
call Vicki Contavespi at (703) 518-1466 or Frank
Tortorici at (212) 339-0231. [View website]
International
Cargo Security Summit (16–17 July; Chicago)
This conference will address the practicalities of managing
security risks throughout the supply chain and how effective
counterterrorism measures can be employed by all cargo transporters
and by related third parties. [View
conference website]
 Bioterrorism
Preparedness and Response
(21 July; Los Angeles) Harvard Medical
School, Harvard Medical International, Harvard School of Public
Health, and Key3Media Group, Inc., will host the last in a
series of educational workshops preceding the BioSecurity
2003 conference. Representatives from government, defense,
medicine, and academia, as well as public policy makers and
public health officials, will participate in targeted workshops
hosted by leading experts in the areas of preparation and
response, information technology and evaluation of new technology
for first responders to terrorism events, and bioterrorism
outbreak intervention strategies. [View
conference website]
MIT
Summer Session Course on Combatting Bioterrorism: Organizational
Response (21–23 July; Cambridge,
MA) The threat of bioterrorism requires a coordinated
response that challenges the ability of public and private
organizations to cooperate under stress. This course examines
the various institutional and professional obstacles to cooperation
and strategies to overcome them. The course, taught by Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Security Studies Program affiliates
and public health experts, reviews the historical experience
and outlines the policy alternatives. [View course website]
Local
Response to Terrorism: 9-11 Lessons Learned
(28–30 July; Arlington, VA)
This conference will bring together teams of high-level policymakers
from local jurisdictions to learn from Arlington County’s
experiences in responding to the terrorist attack on the Pentagon
and to work as a team to analyze the response capacity within
their own jurisdictions. [View conference website]
Understanding Terrorism: Philosophical Issues (11–13 September, Los Angeles) This conference brings together
scholars to explore philosophical issues generated by critical
reflection on terrorism and other questions in an environment
of open inquiry and dialogue. [View
conference website]
ASIS
International 2003 Seminar & Exhibits (15–18
September; New Orleans) At this conference
sponsored by the American Society for Industrial Security
International, security professionals will find everything
pertinent to their security beat. Participants will find 135
educational sessions, organized into ten areas of interest,
including a special emphasis on homeland security and tracks
on crisis and emergency management, physical security, information
security, legal issues, management, investigations, crime
and loss prevention, human resources, and certified protection
professionals. [View conference website]
Mass
Spectrometry in Homeland Security: Past, Present and Future
(16–18 September; Knoxville, TN)
The goal of this workshop is to raise the awareness among
mass spectrometrists, the wider scientific community, policy
makers, and funding sponsors of mass spectrometry’s prominent
past and current roles in national security, as well as to
highlight recent and yet-to-come advances that will make it
an even more important national security technology. The workshop
will foster interaction among those involved to help chart
a course forward for the use of mass spectrometry in homeland
security. [View
conference website]
 Homeland Security—Weapons of Mass Destruction (Nuclear and Chem/Bio
Terrorism) (25–26 September; Washington,
DC) An intensive conference and exhibition with plenaries
and workshops led by global experts from government and industry.
[View conference website]
 Maritime
Security Expo Europe (1–2 October; Hamburg,
Germany) This event will include a high-level pan-European
conference with more than 2,000 buyers expected from throughout
Europe, the United States, and Asia and over 100 exhibitors
from around the globe. [View
conference website]
Fall
2003 Biometrics Summit (15–17 October;
Las Vegas, NV) This conference is run by the Advanced
Learning Institute. Visit www.aliconferences.com
or call (312) 362-9100 to register; mention special
processing code CAL.
Maritime
Security Expo USA 2003 (29–30 October;
New York) This event will feature a 2-day
international conference and exhibit hall showcasing state-of-the-art
technologies, products, and services. An expected 2,500
attendees from 30 countries and over 200
exhibitors from around the world will participate.
[View conference website]
International Assn. of Emergency Managers (15–19
November; Orlando, FL) This year’s
conference will stress the importance of private-sector and
public-sector disaster preparedness and homeland security
collaboration. Planned sessions include “Public Health
and Emergency Management,” “Profiles of Successful
Corporate Emergency Management Programs,” “Military
Resources for Disaster Preparedness,” and “The Latest
in Emergency Management Research.” [View
conference website]
Calls for Papers
Workshop on Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition: Imagery
and Data Fusion (15–17 October; Washington,
DC) Papers are invited on the use of fusing data with
images in homeland security, among other topics. Last date
for abstract submission is 15 July. Contact Jim
Aanstoos (General Chair) at chairman@aipr-workshop.org
or Elmer Williams (Program Chair) at programchair@aipr-workshop.org.
[View
conference website]
37th Midyear Topical Meeting of the Health Physics Society
(8–11 February 2004; Augusta, GA)
Papers are invited on “Air Monitoring for Homeland Security,”
among other topics. Last date for abstract submission is 1
August. Contact Sue Burk at sburk@burkinc.com
or Lori Strong at lstrong@burkinc.com.
[View
conference website]
This
week’s Newsletter is sponsored by
www.bloomreport.com
“What
every individual should know and can do to help their family
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