Airborne Combat Engineer

SmartCheck pilot test

... the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) is now conducting a...pilot test of the [SmartCheck Personnel Screening System, manufactured by American Science and Engineering, Inc. (AS&E)] at Sky Harbor International Airport (or "SHIA"--now that's an ironic acronym, huh? Interesting coincidence.) in Phoenix, Arizona to see just how good the system is, and just how well travellers/airline passengers will tolerate it. Smartcheck will be utilized as an optional secondary screening method. A "screenee" will be be able to choose between SmartCheck and a pat-down.

[DC @ Defense Review]

Micro magnetometer detects rifle 30 meters away

mPhase Technologies (OTC:XDSL) is developing two nano-based technologies including a MEMS micro-magnetometer and nano-battery, promising dramatic improvements in defense and homeland security applications, contributing to improving size, sensitivity and low cost.

Networks of sensors will be able to deploy at sporting events or high traffic entrances eliminating the need for costly bag searches.

[Defense Update]

NRC says reactors can't be made plane-crash-proof

Making nuclear power plants crash-proof to an airliner attack by terrorists is impracticable and it's up to the military to avert such an assault, the government said Monday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a revised security policy, directed nuclear plant operators to focus on preventing radiation from escaping in case of such an attack and to improve evacuation plans to protect public health and safety.

"The active protection against airborne threats is addressed by other federal organizations, including the military," the NRC said in a statement. (The FAA is also implied.)

Daniel Hirsch, president of the Community to Bridge the Gap, a nuclear watchdog group that had urged the NRC to require physical barriers to keep planes from hitting reactors, called the security measures "irresponsible to the extreme."

[JH, AP, 30JAN07]

If you live anywhere near such a facility, good luck!

How about at least one guy with radar and an anti-aircraft missile launcher?

Granny defends bird bath with gun

A 75-year old granny who only knew her handgun fired 8 shots (not the caliber) defended the base of her birdbath from theives who had already taken the birdbath fountain and were returning for the base.

When asked why she felt it was necessary for her to bring a gun out to stop the thieves, Burks said, "How else am I supposed to stop them? I'm 75, I can't fight like I used to. I could've taken both of them when I could still fight."

Police could the thieves and charged them with "petit larceny."

[Pahrump Valley Times, 12/14/2006]

You go, Granny! If everybody would react like that, there would be a lot less crime in this country.

Automated Targeting System (ATS)

Without notifying the public, federal agents for the past four years have assigned millions of international travelers, including Americans, computer-generated scores rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals.    

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.

The scores are assigned to people entering and leaving the United States after computers assess their travel records, including where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.

The program's existence was quietly disclosed earlier in November when the government put an announcement detailing the Automated Targeting System, or ATS, for the first time in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules.

[Houston Chronicle, 30 NOV 2006]

Kerry's bedtime story

See the carton at Cowboy Blob's.

Part II of "Path to 9/11" airs

Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, the Republican co-leader of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, consulted on the project. Yesterday, Kean said, "I think they did a pretty good job." The Lone Patriot, one of the few who actually read the commission report, agrees:

"... no amount of script rewrites will change the fact that al-Qaida rose and flourished on Clinton's watch, fueled by indecision and perceived lack of American resolve. Opportunities to inflict a mortal wound on al-Qaida by killing or capturing its leader were repeatedly missed or blown."

Those trying to protect the legacy of Bill Clinton and his staff obviously don't agree (or don't want history to remember them that way). They must be pleased that only 13 million households watched it. The Manning brothers football matchup drew a bigger share.

"Once it's shown in its entirety," Kean insisted, "people in both administrations are going to be unhappy." [quote from another article]

Five years after 9/11, the World's only superpower still has not brought the culprit to justice, and there's plenty of blame to spread widely.

Robert Young Pelton, author of Licensed to Kill -- Privitizing the War on Terror and now Licensed to Kill -- Hired Guns in the War on Terror, appearing on Fox this AM, says it was a very simplified version of events, but the Clinton Administration did have multiple opportunities to take out Osama bin Laden, but elected not to do so.  He quotes a CIA paramilitary man who watched ObL every day in Sudan as saying a single bullet could have prevented 9/11.

He suggests encouraging privitized military units to go in and get him. Use the $25 million reward on his head to encourage them. ObL just needs to be found dead one day.

AP, 9/12/2006

Deep Query Manager

[LINK] Deep Query Manager by Bright Planet

Government agencies are using Deep Query Manager (DQM) to monitor the net for terrorist activities.

It's considered "Google on steroids."

Sign the Protect Our Borders petition

Jen @ Collection of Thoughts encourages us to sign this petition.

Minutemen help authorities

AP reports:

Volunteers for an effort to patrol the Mexican border reported their first sighting of suspected illegal immigrants, resulting in 18 arrests, authorities said Sunday.