GSN: Government Security News

Merrimack, NH-based Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has sold 350 of its ONESuit protective hazmat suits to DoD for use at military sites, the company reports. Its suits were part of anti-terrorism materials provided by Strategic Response Initiatives, an anti-terrorism and criminal justice consultancy, with expertise in managing chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents, says S-G. 

Last June 16, when I asked Melissa Hathaway point blank whether she'd like the permanent job of ™Cyber-Security Czar™ for the Obama administration, she leaned in close and told me, ™I'd like the job, but there are several good candidates.™It turns out that Hathaway's instincts were correct, and another candidate has probably beaten her out for the all-important White House cyber-post.

Sarasota, FL-based Cooper Notification, part of Cooper Industries, Ltd., reports that Millersville University has installed and launched Cooperâ€s integrated and multi-layered mass notification system (MNS). Instead of utilizing separate systems to notify the entire campus or segments of the campus community, Millersville, which already utilizes Cooper Notificationâ€s WAVES for broadcasting messages over wide outdoor areas, switched their campus text message and emergency email alert system provider to Cooperâ€s Roam Secure Alert Network (RSAN).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is looking to procure 11 large-scale non-intrusive inspection (LS-NII) imaging systems for various ports of entry. The LS-NII high-energy mobile X-ray systems CBP intends to buy will be installed in the following locations (which are listed below in order of delivery priority):

Coyotes preying on illegals desperate to enter the U.S. across the southwest border are commonplace in both the news pages and popular fiction, but the recent arrest of five persons in Los Angeles has thrown a spotlight on a new, more up-scale wrinkle in the illegal alien rackets. Among those arrested were the former Armenian Consul in Los Angeles and a Beverly Hills immigration attorney. They face federal charges of obtaining and selling to illegal aliens documents called ™letters of refusal,™ which allow the illegals to avoid deportation.

The Department of Justice is planning to ask 1,500 law enforcement agencies at colleges and universities across the country to provide detailed statistics about their personnel, training, compensation, weapons, vehicles, emergency prepar-edness and much more.The departmentâ€s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), has sought permission from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect detailed information from approximately 1,300 four-year campuses and 200 two-year campuses, in what it is calling the 2009-2010 BJS Survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies.

The Government Accountability Office is not satisfied with the conclusion reached by DHS that it will be just as safe to study foot-and-mouth disease â€" the most highly infectious animal disease known to man â€" at a federal research facility DHS plans to build in Kansas as it would be to continue the research on isolated Plum Island, off the eastern tip of New York's Long Island.The GAO devoted a 61-page detailed report to describing the methodology used by DHS, and the evidence DHS gathered, but the congressional auditing agency was clear in its final conclusion: ™Given the significant limitations in DHS' analyses that we found, the conclusion that FMD [foot-and-mouth disease] can be done as safely on the mainland as on Plum Island is not supported.™

The National Biodefense Science Board, an advisory group that provides advice on chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological agents, will hold three public conference calls in August, October and November to discuss “Novel Influenza A H1N1,” according to a notice in the Federal Register on July 31.The same panel, which provides its insights to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will hold an all-day public meeting in the Washington, DC, area on Sept. 25 to discuss the H1N1 influenza and hear reports from several of its working groups. The precise location of that DC meeting has not yet been announced.

When it comes to responding effectively to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives (CBRNE) incidents, the Department of Defense (DoD) may ™lack sufficient capacity in some capabilities,™ and its strategy is not yet coordinated with other relevant federal agencies. That is the assessment of a preliminary evaluation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), in a report entitled Preliminary Observations on Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosives Consequence Management Plans and Preparedness.

A little-known U.S. Customs and Border Protection patrol unit, comprised of Native American trackers who are based on the Tohono-O'odham Reservation, in southern Arizona, is about to get the big-screen Hollywood treatment. The unit is known as the Shadow Wolves, and the film based on their exploits, Call of the Shadow Wolves, is in pre-production, with an October start date scheduled on location in Arizona.

Williamstown, NJ-based COPS Monitoring has appointed Michele Beckett as the companyâ€s new vice president of finance and administration. In her new position, Beckett, a CPA, is responsible for all aspects and quality levels of the accounting department, where she oversees monthly billing, financial statement preparation, payroll and processing. She also manages several other departments including human resources, the mail room and reception.

San Francisco, CA-based Building Protection Systems, Inc. (BPSI), the developer of a system that protects buildings against airborne toxins, is now offering a new mobile trailer CBRN detection system as well.  BPSI's Mobile Sentry One solution was developed at the request of various law enforcement agencies for the protection of VIPs at events in their cities, the company says.