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| A Primedia Property | |
| February 24, 2005 | Vol. 1 No. 4 |
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Table Of Contents Chertoff takes Homeland Security reins Industry experts question supply chain security Laboratory harnesses cosmic rays to fight terror 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 Chertoff takes Homeland Security reins The U.S. Senate confirmed federal judge Michael Chertoff as the nation's second Homeland security secretary last week. Chertoff, 51, has promised to balance protecting the country with preserving civil liberties. The 98-0 vote came nearly two weeks after Chertoff, who replaces Tom Ridge, faced questioning from Democrats about detaining foreigners against their rights immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Few expected Chertoff to face widespread opposition in the Senate. But his confirmation was delayed by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, to protest being denied Justice Department information about the treatment of terror suspects at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Chertoff takes over the 180,000-employee Homeland Security Department following new regulations that replace salaries based on workers' seniority with a merit pay system. The regulations are being challenged in federal court by four labor unions that represent the employees. Chertoff named John F. Wood as Chief of Staff and Brian R. Besanceney as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. Wood most recently served at the Department of Justice (DOJ) as Counselor to the Attorney General, where he oversaw the Department's Civil, Civil Rights, Antitrust, Tax, and Environment Divisions and DOJ's civil terrorism litigation. Industry experts question supply chain security Experts responsible for managing the world's supply chains fear global commerce remains vulnerable to potentially substantial disruption, with the weakest security gaps occurring before cargo ever reaches shipping docks, a recent study says. The study, conducted by The Journal of Commerce and Unisys, surveyed 650 supply chain professionals. More than 75 percent of them say the greatest weakness in supply chain security lies within the first links of the chain: where cargo is loaded or en route to seaports. The Department of Homeland Security, as well as government agencies around the world, has begun taking steps to improve cargo security by developing standards for non-electronic container seals. The department has also sponsored a wide-ranging real-life study called Operation Safe Commerce, a pilot program that brings together private business, ports, local, state and federal representatives to pilot new technologies and processes for tracking and securing cargo entering the country. The program uses a range of existing technologies to monitor the movement and integrity of containers through the supply chain. "An overwhelming majority of supply chain professionals believe that it is possible to achieve efficiency and security simultaneously," says Peter Regen, vice president of Global Visible Commerce at Unisys. "It is this belief that is driving the public and private sectors to find a way to balance the need for greater security with the demands of shareholders." Laboratory harnesses cosmic rays to fight terror Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a muon cosmic ray screening device that can accurately detect smuggled nuclear weapons and materials in any vehicle or container, the Chicago Tribune reports. The device would provide, according to Los Alamos officials, an enormous advantage over X-ray scanning equipment, which can generate dangerous amounts of radiation and cannot penetrate lead containers and other shielding. Several test models of the scanner have been built and successfully operated, and work on a full-sized prototype has begun, the laboratory says. Large enough to scan a 50-foot trailer truck or a 20-foot-long ship container, the new device would cost about $1 million each and could be used for screening vehicles at border crossings or ship cargo at major ports. Its essential parts are two sets of parallel tubular sensors constructed so that large trucks and other vehicles could drive through or the sensors would fit over ship containers. The Department of Homeland Security has been approached about the muon cosmic ray device but has made no decision yet on its deployment. News You Can Use PIV FIPS 201: * Standing for Personal Identity Verification, it is the first in a three-phase standardization approach enacted by The National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) to develop a smart card-based employee identification standard. Read how personal identity verification is coming along in the government in an article from the February issue of GOVERNMENT SECURITY, entitled "Verifying Personal Identity." It will be available at www.govtsecurity.com next week. Procurement Watch
Events Coming in March: March 1-3 March 3-6 March 6-12 March 7-10 March 9-12 March 10-11 March 10-12 March 10-16 March 14-16 March 14-17 March 16-18 March 17-18 March 28-April 1 New Announcements from GOVERNMENT SECURITY magazine Coming in the February issue: First Responder Technology Tools to aid those on the front lines On www.govtsecurity.com February 2005 Will be available next week |
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