Guidelines have been proposed pertaining to how explosives-detection dogs should be trained and certified, among other issues. There’s still time to comment on the drafts.

To find out what’s at risk in Iowa, read the full interview with David L. Miller, administrator, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.

Computer security in government needs help, and NIST has stepped up to the plate with Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems.

Iowa State University conducted a survey and found that only 30 percent of companies monitor the content of outbound e-mails. See further findings online.

Find out how the Energy Department is preparing to prevent and respond to nuclear attacks in the United States.

An FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin piece discusses various cognitive biases that lead investigators astray, and offers strategies to combat them.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police has an antibullying program that can reduce the teasing that can lead to violence.

A wide range of intentional and accidental threats must be countered to protect the U.S. food supply; learn more from this Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report.

Measuring and predicting losses that might occur from unconventional weapons is rife with difficulties, as this GAO report discusses.

The GAO gives recommendations to the Defense Department on how to improve the response to an attack on mail facilities.

Privacy issues that arise when companies outsource services involving clients’ personal health information are examined in this GAO report.

A port security bill (H.R. 4954) was signed into law by President Bush becoming P.L. 109-347. The law requires that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) develop and implement a strategic plan to enhance maritime security.

The law requires that mine operators adopt and maintain an accident response plan for when miners are trapped. Under the law, the plan must include redundant local communications systems, emergency air supplies, escapeways, emergency training, and wireless communications systems to allow contact between trapped miners and officials on the surface.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), which authorized a government program that kept business insurance for terrorist attacks affordable, would have expired in 2005.

The bill would have made it illegal for health insurance providers or group health plans to use genetic information as a factor in providing service or establishing premiums.

The bill would have made it a crime to enter a secure area of a seaport under false pretenses, forcibly interfere with an authorized law enforcement action, provide false information during a boarding, or willfully disable a passenger vehicle.

The bill would have prohibited intentionally copying a program onto a computer to commit a crime or to obtain or transmit personal information with the intent to defraud or injure another person or to cause damage to another’s computer.

The bill would have prevented reprisals against government workers who publicly released information regarding waste, abuse, or gross mismanagement in the federal government.

The bill would have required that the government dole out first-responder funds based on risk. This differed from the current funding scheme which follows an equal-distribution approach, with all jurisdictions receiving funding even if those funds are not needed. The bill was designed to provide more funding for metropolitan areas that face greater risks of terrorist attack and less for rural areas.

The bill would allow employees to exceed that 15-day time limit if the failure to contest results from “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” H.R. 739 would also have allowed employers with 100 or fewer employees and a net worth of $7 million or less to collect attorney’s fees if they prevailed in a dispute with OSHA.

The bill would also have required that information brokers set up reasonable procedures to verify the accuracy of information they collect, assemble, or maintain. H.R. 4127 would have prohibited information brokers from obtaining or attempting to obtain personal information through false pretenses

Under the measure, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have developed a strategic plan to coordinate information regarding the implementation of standards for transmitting, coding, and protecting consumer health information.

A third of higher-education institutions has experienced a data loss or theft—in particular grades and exam questions—in the last year, with nine percent reporting a loss or theft of student personal information, which could affect millions of university students.