Workplace violence is an important threat; it also demonstrates how much security departments can add value to the company, rather than simply be a cost.  While corporate security departments are often seen as a necessary evil cost center with little to contribute but managing the gate guards – manned by knuckle-dragging former law enforcement and military personnel without a clue about “real business” – they actually can be an important part of the company’s self perception and management and a critical source of time-sensitive information and analysis.

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Sen. Schumer calls out Napolitano over elimination of anti-terrorist Coast Guard unit - NY Daily News Sen. Chuck Schumer called out Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Sunday, protesting an Obama Administration plan to eliminate an anti-terrorist Coast Guard unit that keeps watch over the city's harbor.

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Robust homeland security market in 2010 - Homeland Security Newswire The homeland security market has continued its rapid growth in spite of the global economic slowdown, growing by a healthy 12 percent. Increased government spending, growing public awareness, and rise in private sector spending has contributed to the rising demand of homeland security products and services.

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Smiths Detection, Lufthansa Cargo & Covenant Team up to Provide All-in-One Air Cargo Solution - Benzinga Smiths Detection, Lufthansa Cargo and Covenant Aviation Security, LLC, will provide an all-in-one TSA-approved security solution for the freight forwarding, air cargo shipping and logistics industry in the United States. These services, which include ground handling, security screening and equipment, warehousing, training and transportation, will enable shippers and forwarders to meet TSA screening mandates with this one-stop supply chain and air cargo security offering.

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NIST Issues Expanded Draft of Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy For Public Review and Comment - Smart Grid Blog The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued today the second draft of its Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements.

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Border Fence Plagued by Glitches, Long Delays - Associated Press An ambitious, $6.7 billion government project to secure nearly the entire Mexican border with a ''virtual fence'' of cameras, ground sensors and radar is in jeopardy after a string of technical glitches and delays.

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KEPHART: Underwear bomber warning – Washington Times The 9/11 Commission recommendations on border and aviation security eerily predicted an attempt such as that made Christmas Day by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. One of the key phrases from the commission’s report is that “for terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.” This plot has made clear to [...]

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US Senate condemns hacking of Google in China - AP A resolution approved by senators Tuesday night urges China to investigate and explain the e-mail attacks. It also describes ways that lawmakers say China restricts freedom of the press and free expression on the Internet.

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The House Science subcommittee on Technology and Innovation held a hearing today on next generation passenger screening technologies, or at least, I thought that was its purpose from the title of the hearing. But for Subcommittee Chairman Rep. David Wu (D-OR), the purpose seemed to be something else.

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Intel chief: Al-Qaida likely to attempt attack in next 3 to 6 months - Chicago Tribune Al-Qaida can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday.

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On Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) lashed out at Senate Republicans for their on-going procedural holds on a number of the Obama Administration’s nominees for critical positions at the Pentagon, DHS and elsewhere. The only measure that counts in the homeland arena is doing the job, and it’s long past time for the Senate to do its job when it comes to voting on a number of critical nominees.

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E-Verify urged for Baltimore County - HS Newswire At the urging of construction unions, Baltimore County Council members are pushing for a new requirement that contractors working for the county verify the immigration status of their employees or risk losing county business.

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Southers Letter to the Editor: Failed T.S.A. Nomination - NY Times Re “Still Waiting at the T.S.A.” (editorial, Jan. 25): Regarding my unsuccessful nomination to be the head of the Transportation Security Administration, there would have been no utility in providing false testimony, knowing that F.B.I. headquarters possessed my own 23-year-old written statement to challenge the veracity of my information.

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Global Warming is Now Officially Considered a Threat to U.S. National Security - Homeland Security Digital Library For the first time, Pentagon planners in 2010 will include climate change among the security threats identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review , the Congress-mandated report that updates Pentagon priorities every four years.

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Delays prompt White House to propose deep cut in secure border initiative - NextGov President Obama proposed slashing by more than a quarter the fiscal 2011 budget for the Homeland Security Department's massive border security project, which relies on high-tech equipment to look for illegal immigrants, because of long development delays.

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Much recent talk and writing has focused on the continued need for “real” public-private sector cooperation in the cyber realm. Everyone quotes the famous statistics that 70 percent (or 80 percent, even 90 percent) of our critical infrastructure is owned or controlled by the private sector, and all of that is highly dependent on cyber means to do business. How can the government protect this private infrastructure it if it does not own it?

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If the last several weeks haven’t been bad enough for the Obama Administration, they are about to get even worse. On Monday night’s CBS Evening News, Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian will profile a number of serious problems at the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS).

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House leaders move swiftly to launch probe of hackers - NextGov.com House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, have demanded "an immediate and comprehensive assessment" of how computer hackers were able to attack nearly 50 House Web sites Wednesday night after President Obama's State of the Union speech.

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Charles Krauthammer – The handling of the Christmas Day bombing suspect: the scandal grows – washingtonpost.com The Justice Department acted not just unilaterally but unaccountably. Obama’s own DNI said that Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by the HIG, the administration’s new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group. Perhaps you hadn’t heard the term. Well, in the very first week [...]

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Change is in the air at the House Homeland Security Committee. While its Chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), is firmly in place, the people running his Subcommittees are going through a round of musical chairs.

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