Department of Homeland Security

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Invisible Mexican Border Fence All But Doomed

Homeland Security to decide soon on project's fate

(Newser) - If the "virtual border fence" being constructed along the Mexican border was visible, there still wouldn't be much to look at. The high-tech project has been allocated $1 billion over the last 5 years, but has produced just 53 miles of unreliable coverage along the 2,000-mile border—a...

Feds Tracked Online Sites for Evil Plots

Before inauguration, DHS kept tabs on Facebook, others

(Newser) - The Department of Homeland Security monitored the social network postings of millions of Americans during the Obama inauguration, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has found. DHS set up a “Social Networking Monitoring Center” that kept tabs on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, DailyKos, and NPR, looking for potential conspiracies...

Feds Secretly X-Raying Cars, Drivers

'Drive-by snooping' latest assault on privacy, say critics

(Newser) - Federal investigators are randomly X-raying vehicles and their drivers in a hunt for terrorists and crooks, triggering howls of outrage from privacy advocates. "This really trips up the creep factor because it's one of those things that you sort of intrinsically think the government shouldn't be doing," says...

Want to Visit the US? That'll Be $14, Please

Starting today, tourists from 36 countries charged fee

(Newser) - Starting today, visitors to the US will be required to pay what some are calling a “tourist tax.” Anyone entering the US without a visa will have to pay a whopping $14 to do so, Yahoo reports. The EU lamented this unbearable burden yesterday, calling it “inconsistent...

Drones Now Guard Entire US-Mexico Border

Fourth to launch tomorrow from Texas

(Newser) - From Afghanistan to ... Arizona. With the launch of a fourth drone tomorrow, the entire 2,000-mile US-Mexico border will now be guarded by Predator B drones, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. And by the beginning of next year, a total of six should be operational, outfitted with night-vision...

Security of the Future: Track Terror Intent in Faces

Project seeks to use biometric clues to point out bad guys

(Newser) - It sounds like something out of Minority Report, but Homeland Security scientists are actually working on a projects they think will be able to identify potential terrorists based on the way they blink, breathe, or balance their weight. Researchers are testing a variety of biometric sensors, in the hopes of...

Attacks on US Hit All-Time High
 Attacks on US Hit All-Time High 
May 27, 2010 8:51 AM CDT

Attacks on US Hit All-Time High

Homeland Security memo predicts 'increased frequency'

(Newser) - Attempted attacks against America have reached an all-time high, according to the Department of Homeland Security. "The number and pace of attempted attacks against the United States over the past nine months have surpassed the number of attempts during any other previous one-year period," reads the unclassified DHS...

New Airport Scanners Stacked Up In Storage

Homeland Security took 7 months just to order them

(Newser) - Dozens of full-body airport scanners are gathering dust in storage more than a year after the administration provided Homeland Security with the funds to pay for them. It took the department 7 months just to order the 150 screening machines included in last year's stimulus bill. More than 100 have...

Homeland Security Agents Keep Losing Their Guns

Nearly 300 went missing from 2005 to 2008

(Newser) - Homeland Security agents lose a surprising number of firearms every year, mostly in negligent, preventable incidents, an internal report says. DHS agents lost 289 guns between 2005 and 2008. Common examples include agents leaving weapons in bowling alleys and the restrooms of fast-food restaurants, on car bumpers, truck beds, or...

Judge Gives Bernard Kerik 4 Years in Jail

Term for former NYPD chief is harsher than prosecutors sought

(Newser) - A federal judge sentenced disgraced NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik to four years in prison today, berating him for trying to exploit 9/11. The sentence was harsher than the 27 to 33 months the prosecutor had recommended in Kerik’s plea bargain, in which he admitted to eight charges, including lying...

Critics Decry $58M San Diego Border Fence

Wall designed to block already inhospitable mountain region

(Newser) - Critics are still gnashing their teeth over the Otay Mountain border fence, a 3.6-mile barrier that’s among the most costly and, according to detractors, least necessary ever built. The recently completed $57.7-million fence stands atop an inhospitable mountain just east of San Diego, and critics doubt that...

Number of Illegal Immigrants Falls Nearly 1M

Bad economy and tougher enforcement combine

(Newser) - The number of illegal immigrants in the US plummeted again last year, dropping from 11.6 million to 10.8 million, says the Department of Homeland Security. That’s the second consecutive year it’s fallen, the LA Times reports, and the sharpest drop in at least 30 years. A...

Detroit Bomber Bought Return Ticket

Nothing about ticket would have raised red flag

(Newser) - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's intention may have been to gain a one-way ticket to paradise by blowing up a Northwest Airlines flight, but the terror suspect purchased a return ticket, congressional aides were told yesterday. It had been widely reported that Abdulmutallab had bought a one-way ticket, something experts said should...

Ignore 'Privacy Ideologues,' We Need Body Scans
 Ignore 'Privacy Ideologues,' 
 We Need Body Scans 
Michael Chertoff
Jan 1, 2010 9:42 AM CST

Ignore 'Privacy Ideologues,' We Need Body Scans

Passengers are at risk without them, says Michael Chertoff

(Newser) - For one former director of homeland security, it's a no-brainer: President Obama must ignore "privacy ideologues" and put full-body scanners at the nation's airports. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time before al-Qaeda strikes successfully with plastics explosives, writes Michael Chertoff. The notion that these imagers amount to "...

Napolitano Backtracks, Says System Failed

Homeland Security chief changes stance; visa oversight probed

(Newser) - Facing a storm of criticism for saying "the system worked" in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Janet Napolitano reversed course today. "Our system did not work in this instance," the Homeland Security secretary said. She added, "No one is happy or satisfied with...

'Attempted Act of Terrorism' Triggers Higher Alert Level

White House: In-flight incident was 'attempted act of terrorism'

(Newser) - The US government has raised the terror alert level for airline flights to orange, the second-highest designation, after today’s incident involving a passenger on a Detroit-bound jet that the White House says was "an attempted act of terrorism." Earlier, a 23-year-old Nigerian claiming ties to al-Qaeda tried...

Salahis Invited to Capitol Hill ... Through Front Door

Party crashers haven't been subpoenaed. Yet.

(Newser) - The House Committee on Homeland Security has asked the couple who crashed last week's White House state dinner to testify on Thursday. Tareq and Michaele Salahi have not confirmed that they will appear, and testifying could complicate their plans to auction off the story of how they infiltrated the theoretically...

Kerik Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case

Plea bargain carries suggested sentence of 2-3 years

(Newser) - Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty today to lying to the White House and said he would also admit to tax crimes. The plea bargain, which applies to an anticipated eight charges, includes the prosecution's suggestion that the sentence be between 27 to 33 months in...

Swine Flu-Wary Telecommuters Could Floor Internet

Report finds surge in demand might make telecommuting unfeasible

(Newser) - Telecommuters hunkering down at home because of swine flu could overwhelm Internet networks in the coming weeks, a federal watchdog reports. The report earlier this week found that no guidelines are in place to deal with any surge in demand caused by a spike in workers telecommuting and students going...

US Fails to Make Sure Foreign Visitors Leave

Dallas bomb plot highlights thousands who overstay visas

(Newser) - Hosam Maher Husein Smadi came to the US legally on a tourism visa. But the 19-year-old Jordanian stayed after it had expired and then, allegedly, tried to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. That case has sparked calls from both parties for a better system for tracking foreign visitors, the New ...

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