GSN: Government Security News

McLean, VA-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) reports that it has been awarded a prime contract by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) to provide “comprehensive technical and operational support services.”

Vancouver, BC-based Avigilon has been named a founding partner of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4), located at the University of Southern Mississipp. Established in 2006, NCS4 is a recognized leader in addressing potential threats and risks to the safety and security of sporting events, the company says in a statement.

ADASHI, software from Ann Arbor, MI-based OptiMetrics, Inc., a developer of CBRN hazard decision-aid software for both military and civilian use, has been installed in every emergency response vehicle fielded by the Santa Clara County, CA, fire department.

Gemalto has reintroduced USB flash drives to the government market with its new, completely secure flash drive, the Smart Guardian (SG) FIPS, which meets certification requirements established by the U.S. Government and is therefore a permitted USB device.USB flash drives had been banned from the government by the Department of Defense (DoD) in November 2008, after it was discovered that a worm virus known as “Agent btz” was spreading itself by copying itself to USB flash drives. When the drive was plugged into a secured computer, the worm would replicate itself again; this time on the PC. The worm seriously degraded computer performance by then copying itself to multiple programs.

The Department of Stateâ€s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is seeking grant applications from non-federal agencies and organizations, including universities and nonprofits, prepared to sponsor 20 Afghan participants in a two-week visit to the Washington, DC. The visit will focus on counter-narcotics programs and strategies. The program, launched in 2007 and called the Good Performers Initiative, will introduce 20 Afghan participants, selected by their provincial governments, to leaders and organizations in the U.S. focusing on counter-narcotics and development strategies in Afghanistan, according a recent announcement of the grant's availability.

The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has demonstrated autonomous operations by multiple ™swarms™ of unmanned air and ground vehicles, unattended ground sensors, video cameras and other devices linked together in an intelligent network. The swarms were powered by EdgeFrontier platform technologies from Morgantown, WV-based Augusta Systems, Inc. The recent demonstrations, which Augusta said were carried out “successfully,” were held at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facility on Wallops Island, VA.

The Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with its plans to build a new consolidated headquarters for DHS at the St. Elizabethâ€s campus in Southeast Wash-ington, but it is also planning to build new buildings, roadways and open green space at its current headquarters location at the Nebraska Avenue Complex (NAC) in Northwest Washington.The ongoing use of the Nebraska Avenue site is part of a DHS master plan to consolidate 28,000 DHS employees currently housed at approximately 48 locations into ap-proximately eight locations, according to a notice posted by the General Services Ad-ministration (GSA) in the Federal Register on November 3.

Santa Clara, CA-based Avenda Systems, an identity-aware network security specialist, reports that interoperability testing between Great Bay Software's Beacon Endpoint Profiler and its eTIPS network access control (NAC) platform has been completed successfully. The combined products offer an endpoint discovery and network security solution that gives customers the ability to control who and what types of devices are allowed on their networks, according to an Avenda statement.

Noting that many government agencies are currently upgrading or replacing their installed physical access control systems (PACS) to meet new personal identity verification (PIV) requirements, the Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council is offering a white paper detailing the types of authentication mechanisms available for PACS to identify people who are entering different areas. The white paper, Authentication Mechanisms for Physical Access Control, details authentication mechanisms beyond those in the NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-116, A Recommendation for the Use of PIV Credentials in Physical Access Control Systems. 

The DHS Office of Health Affairs is soliciting comments on its Proposed Guidance for Protecting Responders' Health During the First Week Following a Wide-Area Anthrax Attack. The document is available to view or download here.

In the wake of last Septemberâ€s flooding in Georgia, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in a joint statement, assured “foreign nationals here legally” that they were also eligible for disaster aid. In fact, in some circumstances, foreign nationals here illegally are eligible for aid, too.

Billerica, MA-based American Science and Engineering, the X-ray detection specialist, reports that it has received a $18.2 million order for multiple OmniView Gantry cargo and vehicle Inspection Systems for Saudi Arabia Customs border security. The order was made by the Al Zamil Group, whose interests span the industrial, petrochemical, and service sectors.

Tewksbury, MA-based Raytheon Company has delivered its mobile nuclear radiation detection dystem (MNRDS) to Florida's Department of Transportation. MNRDS is mounted in a sports utility vehicle, the company reports, and it provides the ability to detect and identify nuclear radiation in mobile and stationary operations using advanced spectroscopic technology.

The average compensation for U.S. security professionals stands at $102,000, up two percent from last year. The median salary is $90,000, up four percent from 2008.  Those are findings from the recently released 2009 U.S. Security Salary Survey Results, from ASIS International, the well-known trade organization for security pros. More than half (56 percent) of the ASIS survey respondents work for privately-held companies, a sector reporting an average compensation of $98,000 and a median salary of $85,000. 

FEMA has run out of patience with the small Village of Chauncey, in southern Ohio.Unless the village takes the required steps to enforce its floodplain management regulations by Nov. 6, FEMA will suspend the communityâ€s eligibility under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Lenexa, KS-based ICOP Digital, Inc., the digital surveillance specialist, has announced that Gettysburg National Park Service (NPS) and Pinnacles NPS have purchased the ICOP Model 20/20-W digital in-car video systems.

Middlesex, NJ-based IndigoVision reports that its IP-CCTV solution has been integrated together with access control and intruder detection at one of Madridâ€s newest hospitals. Opened in 2008, the Infanta Sofía Hospital is located in San Sebastián De los Reyes and was built by the Madrid Regional Government as part of plans to improve healthcare services for towns in Northern Madrid.

Monmouth Junction, NJ-based Infinova has named Mark Wilson as vice president of global marketing. His mission will be to focus on strengthening Infinova's position in the security and surveillance market through a series of marketing programs targeted at business growth, according to a company statement.

The intelligence community (IC) takes seriously its responsibilities to keep Congressional intelligence committees ”fully and currently informed” of significant intelligence activities, and has appropriate notification procedures and practices in place. That was what the general counsel to the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told the Subcommittees on Oversight and Investigation and Intelligence Community Management of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligenceâ€s (HPSCI) in testimony last week.

With the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic well underway in the U.S., DHS†Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed what officials call a “significant emphasis on reducing the threat to health and safety posed by the trafficking of counterfeit, unapproved, and substandard pharmaceuticals,” particularly counterfeit anti-viral drugs and counterfeit H1N1 vaccines. That was what senior officials from ICE, FEMA and the Office of Health Affairs reported in written testimony earlier this week to the House Committee on Homeland Securityâ€s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats,Cybersecurity and Science & Technology.