Morning Security Brief: Laptop Searches, Former PM Blair's Security, Bus Depot Access Control, Database Errors, & Guard Murdered

♦ The authority of the government to detain and search a person's laptop at U.S. borders without suspicion is once again being challenged. "In a federal lawsuit to be filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York, the plaintiffs allege that the Department of Homeland Security policy violates constitutional rights to privacy and free speech," according to The Washington Post. "At issue is the government's contention - upheld by two federal appeals courts - that its broad authority to protect the border extends to reviewing information stored in a traveler's laptop, cellphone or other electronic device, even if the traveler is not suspected of involvement in criminal activity. In the government's view, a laptop is no different than a suitcase."

♦ Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair may cancel a book signing event this week because of security costs. "He suggested the event, at the Waterstone’s store in Piccadilly, could be canceled because he did not want to 'put everyone through a lot of cost and hassle' and it 'is not as if we need to do it,'" reports The Telegraph. "Mr Blair labelled as 'sad,' people who to disrupt the book signing but indicated he may cancel it amid evidence other hostile groups, including the British National Party, could join protesters." Over the weekend, anti-war demonstrators at a book signing in Dublin threw eggs and shoes at Blair, although no "missiles" hit the former prime minister.

♦ The New York Police Department's antiterror cops are investigating lax security at a Hoboken, New Jersey, bus depot after a man was caught stealing a bus last week. It wasn't the first time, bragged Darius McCollum, who said he had stolen 150 buses over the last decade, reports The Daily News. According to McCollum and the News, the Trailways bus depot left their gates open and their buses unlocked with the key in the ignition. "Trailways did not respond to requests for comment Monday - but it appears it is paying attention since security has been tweaked," the News reports. "Security experts say buses and big-rig trucks could be tempting targets for terrorists because they attract less attention from law enforcement officers."

♦ A federal database mistake at the El Paso Intelligence Center led cops to draw their guns on and arrest an innocent couple they believed had stolen the plane they were in. "The mistaken Aug. 28 arrest of John and Martha King, who own a flight training company in San Diego, was allegedly caused by the failure of EPIC, a much criticized unit of the Drug Enforcement Administration, to erase faulty data that the King’s Cessna 172 was stolen, according to an account by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association," reports The Washington Post's SpyTalk blog. 'It was the second time the single-engine plane had been wrongly reported stolen and its pilot held at gunpoint at an airport, AOPA reported." Mr. King said that he was not bothered by the detainment, but he was upset that so many guns were trained on his wife when law enforcement confronted them.

♦ Five suspects, including the shooter, have been arrested in the murder of a grocery store security guard over the weekend in Atlanta. "Tuesday, police nabbed the person they say pulled the trigger and killed Ingles security guard David Casto -- 19 year old Nakitta Holmes," reports MYFOXATLANTA. "A family member says Holmes was apprehended around midnight in Sugar Hill. Casto was gunned down late Sunday night during armed robbery of the Cumming supermarket." Police say the robbery was an inside job and that Casto was murdered execution style.