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| A Primedia Property | |
| February 10, 2005 | Vol. 1 No. 3 |
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Table Of Contents Bush's Homeland Security budget includes DHS facelift Bush proposes huge jump in IT spending Nevada turns to drivers for Homeland security University named regional center for terrorism research ADVERTISEMENT iCLASS Meets Government Standards HID supports GSC-IS V2.1 with fully-compliant iCLASS contactless smart card readers that are available to output the FASC-N in multiple configurations, providing versatility to support both existing and new access control systems. Standard communication protocols make it easy to replace existing access control card readers with HID GSC-compliant card readers. http://www.hidcorp.com/products/iclass/ In the News Bush's Homeland Security budget includes DHS facelift President Bush, in crafting the Department of Homeland Security's budget for 2006, has shortchanged programs such as port security and local municipalities, experts contend. The budget plans to consolidate several major programs and grants while creating several offices to improve strategic planning and deter a domestic nuclear attack. The Bush administration is requesting $41.1 billion for DHS in fiscal 2006, a 7 percent increase over the fiscal 2005 level. Some of the money will come as a result of an increase in airline ticket prices. Fees for a one-way flight would jump by $3, to $5.50, or to $8 for a one-way flight that has more than one stop. The higher fees would mean that passengers would be paying for about 90 percent of the cost of the aviation security program that the federal government took over after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, up from about 60 percent today. The budget proposes to consolidate various Homeland security screening and credentialing programs into a new Office of Screening Coordination and Operations, which would be responsible for several high-profile programs, such as the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology system, the department's Secure Flight effort and the Transportation Worker Identification Credentialing program. DHS wants to establish a Targeted Infrastructure Protection program to dole out grants for port, rail and surface transportation security. The program would provide $600 million in grants during fiscal 2006. This would eliminate the Port Secrity Grant Program -- which has many up in arms. "Unfortunately, the proposed federal budget the Administration released yesterday literally removes port security as a separate line item and leaves gaping holes in funding for the dredging needs of U.S. ports," says Kurt Nagle, president and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). At the borders, an extra $125 million would be spent to improve border screening for nuclear weapons and dirty bombs and to improve coordination of nuclear screening programs at cities nationwide. However, the budget ignores Congress' authorization of the addition of 2,000 Border Patrol agents in 2006. The proposed budget only funds 210 new positions. The budget would alter the formula for grant funding to state and local municipalities. Under the new budget, funding would be dispersed based on risks and vulnerabilities, as opposed to population levels. Overall, the budget sets aside $3.6 billion to train and equip first responders. It also proposes to create a Domestic Nuclear Detection Office with a budget of $227 million. The office will develop, acquire and support domestic efforts to detect and report attempts to import, assemble or transport nuclear explosive devices, fissile material, or radiological material intended for illegal use. Bush proposes huge jump in IT spending Spending on information security technologies at the Department of Homeland Security will rise by 10.3 percent, to $303.7 million, in fiscal 2006, according to President Bush's budget plan. The IT spending increase next year will outpace that for the overall Homeland security budget, which will grow by nearly 4 percent; however, IT represents only 0.74 percent of the total department expenditure planned for 2006. Here are some of the IT programs in line to receive new funding: * $4.7 million to support maintenance and operations of the IT infrastructure to ensure continuous communications and continuity of operations. * $2.5 million to develop and deliver enterprise tools to track compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act and other programs, and to monitor continuity-planning implementations as well as to automate systems certifications and accreditations. * $2.5 million for the Metadata Solution Center for Excellence that supports the department's implementation of the President's National Strategy for Homeland Security. Identifying metadata and establishing common metadata standards for electronic information relevant to Homeland security represent key enablers for information sharing. * $2.5 million for the Solutions Engineering Center of Excellence, which designs and implements the core service components required to institute the department's IT strategy. * $6 million for a smart-card initiative to provide a common set of credentials for physical and cyber identification for department employees. Nevada turns to drivers for Homeland security Nevada officials are enlisting the state's taxicab and limousine drivers to increase the number of people looking for suspicious activity in one of the nation's top travel destinations. About 25,000 laminated cards are being distributed as part of the state's Homeland security efforts, George Togliatti, director of the state's public safety department, told The Associated Press. The cards list examples of suspicious activity, along with law enforcement contact information. "It empowers people to be the eyes and ears, to assist law enforcement," says Kim Evans, department spokeswoman. "It's really a cheat sheet to remind folks about what to watch for as well as important phone numbers in each region." The cards ask drivers to be on the lookout for "overly curious, nervous or cautious individuals; unusual behavior of drivers or delivery personnel; suspicious packages and storage devices; people who are taking photographs or making diagrams of high-profile targets." Las Vegas has been considered a terror target since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when it was determined that Mohammed Atta and his hijackers made trips there before their suicide attacks on New York City and Washington. Two video tapes obtained by the Justice Department suggest terrorists have evaluated the security of some Las Vegas casinos. While the city's hotel-casinos have stepped up security efforts after Sept. 11, it's the first time taxi drivers have been asked to actively participate in looking for suspicious activity in Las Vegas, which saw a record 37.4 million visitors last year. University named regional center for terrorism research Stanford University has been named the first Regional Visualization and Analytics Center to perform basic science and technology research to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in identifying and thwarting terrorist threats to the nation. DHS established the National Visualization and Analytics Center (NVAC) in 2004 to provide scientific guidance and coordination for the research and development of new tools and methods to manage, visually represent and analyze data and information. "In order for the national center to be successful, we must harness the nation's expertise in the field of visual analytics," says NVAC director Jim Thomas. Stanford's contract calls for it to perform research on network traffic analysis for intrusion detection; cognitive and perceptual principles supporting reasoning with space and time; and methods to support exploratory analysis of graphs in relational databases. Researchers will develop methods to analyze network traffic patterns in order to identify compromised systems. The work is expected to lead to better protection of the nation's computing infrastructure, and to prevent sensitive information stored on people's computers from being accessed and abused. News You Can Use February 28, 2005: * The deadline for Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, requiring a common identification standard for all federal employees and contractors. Read how one technology company is tackling the issue in an article from the December issue of GOVERNMENT SECURITY, entitled "Identity Lab". It is available at www.govtsecurity.com Procurement Watch
Events Feb. 23-25 ACC/AAAE Airport Planning, Design and Construction Symposium Reno, Nev. Organizer: American Association of Airport Executives www.airportnet.org natalie.fleet@airportnet.org Feb. 23-25 March 1-3 March 3-6 March 6-12 March 7-10 March 9-12 March 10-11 New Announcements from GOVERNMENT SECURITY magazine Coming in the February issue: How Far Have We Come? Examining progress since Sept. 11, 2001 Now on www.govtsecurity.com December 2004 Browse our latest issue at your leisure |
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