Security & Safety Briefs - March 10-16
The Latest Headlines:
- House Passes Spending Bill With Border-Security Provisions
- DHS Document Outlines Potential Attacks
- D.C. Anthrax Tests Show Up Negative
- TransCore Introduces RFID Driver-Identification Technology
- Senate Confirms Jackson as DHS Deputy Security
- U.S. Says Border Near San Diego Is a Potential Threat
- DHS Document Outlines Potential Attacks
House Passes Spending Bill With Border-Security Provisions
The House passed an $81.4 billion spending package for the Iraq war Wednesday that included provisions to tighten border security, the Associated Press reported.On Tuesday the House in a voice vote had attached a measure that would require states to verify that illegal immigrants were not getting drivers licenses and would allow completion of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, AP said.
House Republicans said the measure would enhance border security and included it in the $81.4 billion spending package, AP reported.
DHS Document Outlines Potential Attacks
The Department of Homeland Security has identified a dozen possible strikes it views as most plausible, including detonation of a nuclear device, a truck bombing or the release of nerve gas, the New York Times reported Wednesday.ther potential attacks include blowing up a chlorine tank, spreading pneumonic plague and infecting cattle with foot-and-mouth disease, the Times said in a front-page story.
The DHS document, known as the National Planning Scenarios, gives estimates of the probable deaths and economic damage caused by each type of attack.
The department did not intend to release the document publicly but a draft of it was inadvertently posted on a Hawaii state government Web site, the Times reported.
DHS’ objective was not to scare the public and the department had no credible intelligence that any such attacks are planned, the paper said. Transport Topics
D.C. Anthrax Tests Show Up Negative
A mix-up at a military laboratory was being blamed for an anthrax scare that closed two sites that handle military mail in the Washington, D.C., area Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.Two military postal facilities in the capital area were closed Tuesday after the apparent detection of anthrax in two pieces of mail.
The two-day scare that recalled the fatal bioterrorism attacks of 2001 turned out to be a false alarm after definitive tests at two facilities came back negative Tuesday for the deadly spores, AP said. Transport Topics
TransCore Introduces RFID Driver-Identification Technology
Transportation technology firm TransCore said Monday it introduced a secure control system combining radio frequency identification and biometrics technologies to identify vehicles and drivers.The wireless system includes a fingerprint biometric device that operates from within the vehicle that is attachable to a keychain.
TransCore said the system is ideal for military bases, nuclear and chemical plants and other facilities that must maintain multiple layers of security and control.
The company said its SmartWatch SecurePass software can use data gathered from vehicle-mounted RFID transponders, biometric devices, proximity cards, badges and other forms of identification.
TransCore provides technologies and related services in areas such as satellite communications and mobile asset tracking, security applications and comprehensive toll-system and processing services. Transport Topics
Senate Confirms Jackson as DHS Deputy Security
The full Senate confirmed Michael Jackson by unanimous consent Thursday to be deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.Jackson had testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee earlier in the week, promising to devote attention to the Transportation Worker Identification Card program and to cross-border trucking issues.
Jackson replaces Admiral James Loy and will serve as the No. 2 department official behind new DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Prior to his nomination, Jackson worked for a Los Angeles consulting firm and had been deputy secretary at the Department of Transportation in President Bush’s first term. In that post he helped to create the Transportation Security Administration.
Jackson is also a former senior vice president of American Trucking Associations. Transport Topics
U.S. Says Border Near San Diego Is a Potential Threat
The U.S. government believes an entry point into the country near San Diego could be a security risk, the Washington Post reported Thursday.An area dubbed “Smuggler’s Gulch” bordering San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, is an inviting area for smugglers, terrorists and drug traffickers, the paper reported.
It said the Department of Homeland Security had recently revealed that al-Qaeda operatives were looking at the Mexican border as a way to get into the United States.
The House recently approved legislation that would boost fencing, giving DHS new authority to oversee the border’s security, the Post said. Transport Topics
