Security Briefs - Oct. 29 - Nov. 5
The Latest Headlines:
- TSA Expected to Extend Fingerprinting Deadline
- Ridge Releases $2.2 Billion in Anti-Terror Grants
- U.S., EU Seek Common Border Security Guidelines
- Pennsylvania Using New Tool to Track Hazardous Cargo
- Company Shuts Down Truck Via Satellite
- FBI Has Doubled Agents Assigned to Terror
- Ridge Releases $2.2 Billion in Anti-Terror Grants
TSA Expected to Extend Fingerprinting Deadline
The Transportation Security Administration is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register Friday a new regulation that as expected would postpone the previous schedule for fingerprinting and named-based criminal background checks for hazardous materials drivers, TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser told Transport Topics.TSA had planned to begin the requirement on Nov. 3, but has said it would move the deadline to April 1 after trade industry groups and state governments protested the deadline was not workable.
State governments are expected to be required to process the fingerprinting as part of criminal background checks.
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Ridge Releases $2.2 Billion in Anti-Terror Grants
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge released $2.2 billion in grants on Monday, the largest anti-terrorism grants ever, Newsday reported.However some large states have complained that when Congress approved the Homeland Security Department's budget in late September, it required each state get at least $16.6 million in grants and each territory $5.5 million.
Under the system, Wyoming, the least populous state in the country, got more than seven times as much per capita as California, the state with the most people.
And American Samoa, a U.S. territory 3,000 miles west of Hawaii, received nearly 20 times as much per capita as New York State.
However, lawmakers from small states such as Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) defended the system because many of these states are home to chemical plants and other potential terrorist targets, the article said. Transport Topics
U.S., EU Seek Common Border Security Guidelines
The United States and the European Union plan to develop common guidelines for border security to combat terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported.Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the aim would be to establish a global security standard.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily said the United States and the EU would seek common biometric identification methods, such as fingerprints and digital photographs, that could be included in travel documents to combat passport forgeries. Transport Topics
Pennsylvania Using New Tool to Track Hazardous Cargo
Pennsylvania has become the first state to implement the Regional Agile Port Intermodal Distribution System, which uses global positioning satellites to keep track of any military cargo or hazardous materials moving by ship, truck or rail, WGAL-TV reported on its Web site.The system is already used by the military and federal law enforcement. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency will use it to monitor vehicles moving through the state and help police investigating potential terrorist activity.
PEMA said the system would allow it to better respond to accidents along rail lines, highways and ports. Transport Topics
Company Shuts Down Truck Via Satellite
Satellite Security Systems said Monday it had demonstrated the first wireless remote shutdown of a fully loaded moving tanker truck.The company said in a release that it used satellite communications from its headquarters in San Diego to disable a truck in Sacramento, 530 miles away.
The release also said the California state government could vote as early as January on legislation that could require hazardous material haulers to have truck disabling devices and global positioning systems installed. Transport Topics
FBI Has Doubled Agents Assigned to Terror
The number of FBI agents assigned to terrorism more than doubled just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a Justice Department report released Monday.In the last full fiscal year before the attacks, about 2,100 agents worked in FBI counterterrorism programs.
After the terror attacks, the number of FBI agents working on terrorism rose to 4,680 and those assigned to other crimes fell from 6,800 to just under 4,000, the report said.
It also said the attacks have consumed more than 3.9 million hours of work by FBI agents and support personnel. Transport Topics
