Drone Takedown Authority Would Be Granted Under Senate Proposal
Security and law enforcement agencies would be given new authority to monitor and take down threatening drones under bipartisan legislation proposed by a group of U.S. Senators. A bill introduced by top members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would also direct the Department of Homeland Security to study drone technology and the emerging threats it creates. While technology exists to monitor most small commercial drones and to disable or redirect their flight paths, law often prohibits the use of these techniques. The bill, known as the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018, would give DHS and the Justice Department the authority to monitor and track drones without consent of the operator.
AIS Demonstrates Core And Mobile Core Integrative Communications Technologies
Agile Interoperable Solutions(AIS) announced it will be attending several major industry-specific events in 2018 to demonstrate its CORE and Mobile CORE integrative technologies. AIS will be exhibiting at the Governors Hurricane Conference in West Palm Beach May13-18, the Department of Homeland Security Show in Houston July 5-9 and APCO in Las Vegas August 5-8. With crowds at its booth at the International Wireless Communications Expo in March, AIS sets its sites on several industry gatherings to demonstrate its leading integrative communications technologies.
Northrop Grumman Wins $95 Million Contract From DHS
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a $95 million contract by the Department of Homeland Security?s (DHS) Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) to develop increments one and two of the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system. Northrop Grumman will serve as systems developer and integrator for this 42-month effort. HART is the organization?s next-generation recognition program, replacing the Automated Biometric Identity System (IDENT) built in the 1990s.
Jake Parker -SIA Director of Government Relations- Testifies Before Congress
Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications held the hearing, titled “How Effective Is the Science and Technology Directorate: Stakeholder Perspectives,” to hear the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate’s stakeholders from academia, industry, and the first responder community about their perspectives on the benefits and challenges of working with the directorate at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
NYC Bill Would Force NYPD To Tell Details Of Surveillance Tools
Legislation debated Wednesday before the New York City Council would force the NYPD to disclose some details about surveillance technology such as cellphone-tower replicators, X-ray vans, and license-plate readers. The NYPD also would need to adopt what lawmakers say are privacy disclosures similar to those of the Department of Homeland Security and other municipalities. Under the POST Act —short for Public Oversight of Police Technology— the NYPD would need to publicly disclose each item?s current and future ?impact and use policies,? seek public feedback, and explain whether court permission is needed for deployment.
Congressman: Seaport Biometric Card Deployment ?A Joke?
The biometric cards, called Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWICs), are intended for government workers at the ports. The issue is that when the Department of Homeland Security decided to issue them after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it failed to specify approved card readers or any meaningful guidelines on how they should be used, other than requiring that workers, truckers, and others involved in transportation related to the port had to have them.
DHS Scales Back License Plate-Tracking Surveillance
The Department of Homeland Security has scaled back the scope of contractor requirements for what would have been a nationwide license plate-scanning effort, amid continued uproar over the on-again-off-again project. The new system, announced last month, will compile license plate records from “at least 25 states” instead of all states, DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a May 1 modification of the contract requirements.
Viscount Awarded Contracts to Secure Sites for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Viscount Systems (OTCQB:VSYS), a leading provider of IT-based security software and services, today announced that it has been awarded additional contracts to secure U.S. Federal Government facilities in Washington, D.C., and Ohio for the Department of Homeland Security ? United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
$7M In New Surveillance Cameras To BeIinstalled On Boston Buses
Privacy SOS Despite the fact that the crime rate on public transit systems in Boston is declining , the MBTA has just announced that it intends to install brand new surveillance camera systems inside hundreds of buses throughout the city. The Boston region’s millions of commuters and hundreds of thousands of residents can once again thank the federal Department of Homeland Security for yet another hit to our privacy. From Boston Magazine : The MBTA is retrofitting 225 buses in its fleet with new high-tech cameras that show the insides of the vehicles from multiple angles. Not only will the transit authority be able to get a better look at who’s riding the bus, but each installation includes a four-screen monitor housed at the front of the vehicles, affording other riders utilizing the transit system a chance to see what’s happening during their commute. So far, only 10 vehicles have been retrofitted with the new devices, but MBTA officials said by summertime 215 more vehicles will feature the same updated technology. Money to pay for the cameras came in the form of a federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The MBTA is relying completely on the nearly $7 million allocation to purchase and install the cameras and multi-view surveillance screens. The T spent none of its own money on this particular project, officials said. According to the Boston Magazine report, the system enables MBTA police to wirelessly link into the surveillance cameras on each bus, raising […]
Seattle Latest City To Install DHS Surveillance Equipment
Seattle Latest City to Install DHS Surveillance Equipment Add Seattle to the list of local governments taking money from the Department of Homeland Security to put their citizens under federal surveillance. Seattle newspaper The Stranger reports : If you’re walking around downtown while looking at a smartphone, you will probably see at least one — and more likely two or three — Wi-Fi networks named after intersections: “4th&Seneca,” “4th&Union,” “4th&University,” and so on. That is how you can see the Seattle Police Department’s new wireless mesh network, bought from a California-based company called Aruba Networks, whose clients include the Department of Defense, school districts in Canada, oil-mining interests in China, and telecommunications companies in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps wiring the city with high-tech, federally funded surveillance equipment is what Seattle mayor meant when he described the city’s budget as “a moral document. It puts resources behind our vision of the city we want to see.” Apparently, part of those resources are coming from the federal government and they are earmarked for use to putting the city under the vision of the Department of Homeland Security. When pressed for details about his department’s new monitoring agreement with DHS, Seattle Police Department Detective Monty Moss said he “is not comfortable answering policy questions when we do not yet have a policy,” as reported by The Stranger . The paper continues: But, Detective Moss added, the SPD “is actively collaborating with the mayor’s office, city council, law department, and the ACLU on a […]
Source thenewamerican.com
FBI Exploring New Facial And Behavioral Recognition From Surveillance Cameras
(Before It’s News) B4INREMOTE-aHR0cDovLzIuYnAuYmxvZ3Nwb3QuY29tLy1kcU4zZmMtcW0zSS9VbnZ1bTYxeWlwSS9BQUFBQUFBQVZuOC83NXFBd2tNN0xIUS9zMjAwL0NDVFYtY2FtZXJhLW9uLXBvbGUtMzAweDIwMC5qcGc= image credit: freefotouk/Flickr Madison Ruppert Activist Post The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly considering new video analytic software that would enable identification of suspects in videos and still imagery based on both facial and behavioral recognition. This type of technology has been under development for quite a while, with a patent awarded for behavioral recognition software last year. Indeed, it has been said that the future of CCTV is in the field of behavioral recognition and so-called “remote biometrics.” However, the system that the FBI is working on could also scan footage against records of objects and places in addition to people, in order to detect possible suspects and their location. “The FBI is currently undertaking a major issue study of video and digital image processing and video/digital image analytic capabilities to identify current capabilities, assess gaps, and develop a roadmap for the FBI’s future video analytics architecture,” the bureau stated in a contracting notice published on Oct. 30. Contractors are to submit written proposals by Nov. 13 and up to 30 vendors will be invited to present their technology at FBI headquarters on Dec. 11. Unlike the facial recognition systems that are increasingly being rolled out across the United States with the FBI’s help , this technology would analyze backgrounds. The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, is funding research on more accurate long-distance facial recognition technology . The new technology would compute “the degree of similarity among pedestrians, graffiti designs, buildings in […]
Source beforeitsnews.com
Biometric Exit Improvement Act: Wrong Solution To Broken Visa And Immigration System
Email Print PDF Several Members of Congress recently released the Biometric Exit Improvement Act in an effort to enhance the U.S.’s security and immigration system. However, the law triples down on a costly policy that adds little real security. Instead of feel-good but ineffective strategies, Congress should reconsider the biometric exit requirement and push the Administration to faithfully execute the U.S.’s existing immigration laws. Biometric Exit Has Consistently Not Been Implemented The requirement for an integrated entry-exit system has been in place since the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. In the following years, several other bills were passed that called for an entry-exit system, with increasing requirements for biometric technology, leading to the creation in 2003 of US-VISIT, a program focused on developing a biometric entry-exit system. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 explicitly required and called for the acceleration of US-VISIT’s efforts to create an automated biometric entry and exit data system. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made progress on the entry portion of US-VISIT, the exit system largely went nowhere. Congress repeated its demand for a biometric exit system in 2007, setting a deadline of 2009. That deadline came and went with only two small pilot programs. Since then, DHS has continued its slow move to meet this requirement in what the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has called “a long-standing challenge for DHS.” [1] The Biometric Exit Improvement Act would be at least the third law to call […]
Source www.heritage.org
DHS To Test Face Scanning Cameras At Tri-City Hockey Game
Source: TriCityHerald … It is planned to be used by the U.S. government to test the capabilities of facial recognition software that is available or in the prototype stage. Eventually, state-of-the-art facial recognition technologies could be used to identify terrorists and criminals in public areas, according to the national lab in Richland. The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate works to make technology available to agencies ranging from local police offices to the U.S. Border Patrol, Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. PNNL previously has collected video at the Toyota Center for work with the Department of Homeland Security. But past video either has not captured members of the public or has been too low resolution to identify faces. Hockey fans who don’t want to be on the video will be given options to avoid the cameras. Read More…
Source www.blacklistednews.com
Dedrone Launches DedroneOnTheMove for Fight Against Unauthorized and Malicious Drones
Dedrone announced the launch of its latest airspace security solution, DedroneOnTheMove (DedroneOTM). This solution expands Dedrone’s suite of offerings for agile, modular, adaptable, battle-proven counter-drone defense for expeditionary forces deployed in volatile or high-risk environments. DedroneOTM was developed in partnership with several Dedrone customers, partners and world-renowned defense suppliers like Supacat, and it will be on display at Eurosatory from June 17-21 in Paris.
Drone Incursions at Major Events Are on the Rise. How Technology is Working to Prevent Them
The 2023-24 football season that came to a close last week once again shone a spotlight on the rising security threats present at large-scale events. The sport, one of the largest in the world, is best enjoyed live, but the nature of live events means they can be interrupted for any number of reasons. Despite massive resources in place, even the Super Bowl itself isn’t immune to unexpected interruptions, such as a power outage that notably stopped 2013’s game for just over half an hour.
DHS S&T Announces Track 3 of the Remote Identity Validation Tech Demo Challenge
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced the launch of Track 3 of the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD). Held in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Laboratory, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), RIVTD is a series of technology challenges to evaluate the ability […]
USPTO Grants Shooter Detection Systems Two New Patents for Innovative Gunshot Detection Solutions
Shooter Detection Systems announces the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted two additional patents to its portfolio of indoor gunshot detection technologies, Patent No. US 11,604,248 (Low Power Gunshot Sensor Testing) and Patent No. US 11,688,414 (Low Power Gunshot Detection). SDS’s engineering team has long acknowledged the importance of improving energy efficiency in life-saving technologies.
iProov to Provide Contactless Travel Entry for Eurostar as Part of Railway Innovation Initiative
iProov announced that its technology will be used to improve the speed and safety of train travel. Rail passengers using Eurostar services will be the first to take advantage of a facial biometric corridor to enable contactless journeys. The walk-through system will allow customers to complete ticket checks and border exit processes at St Pancras International station without needing to come into contact with people or hardware.
Pathway to Violence: Recognize and Identify
How to recognize and identify potential threats in your workplace that precede an attack. This webinar references the Department of Homeland Security?s Pathway to Violence model and applies it to the workplace.
General John F. Kelly to Present Keynote Address at GSX 2019
ASIS International announced that General John F. Kelly, U.S. Marine Corps will present a keynote address on Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at the 2019 Global Security Exchange (GSX). The presentation is titled Geopolitics and Security. As a 4-Star General, as well as former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and White House Chief of Staff, General Kelly has provided leadership in protecting the United States throughout his distinguished career.