Morning Security Brief: Virtual Fence Boondoggle, Lasers, iPhone Biometrics, World Cup Security Strike, & Times Square Bomber

♦ U.S. taxpayers will have shelled out $15.1 million for each mile of virtual fence constructed when it is finished, a sliver of what was originally envisioned. "The federal government set aside $833 million for the fence of cameras, sensors and other barriers in 2007, and the vast majority of that money, at least $800 million, has been spent on a sliver, in Arizona, of the nearly 2,000-mile southern border," according to the Associated Press. "About $20.9 million has been used on the northern border." The original plan was to erect the virtual fence across the southern borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and a slice of Texas for $1.2 million a mile.

♦ The pace of technology often outpaces regulation. Case in point:The Spyder III Pro Arctic laser, according to AOL Daily Finance. The powerful laser can burn skin, damage the eye, and cause flammable objects to burst into flames. "Many are upset that such a laser can be purchased over the Internet for less than a Kindle," writes Nikolay Tsintsadze. "They argue that such products are no less hazardous than firearms, and unlike guns, there are no mandatory background checks for buyers of lasers." According to Tsintsadze, manufacturers of lasers like the Artic do not have to tell their buyers of the device's dangers, check the age of the buyer, or limit the laser's power.

♦ The police officers of Brockton, Massachusetts, are experimenting with a new iPhone application that will allow them to take suspect photographs in the field and check whether that person is in police databases. Police Chief William Conlon tells The Patriot Ledger that "officers can take a photo of a suspect, upload it into a secure network where it is analyzed then learn – often within seconds – who the person is. Conlon said the handheld iPhone device will likely be used by the gang unit initially until the department can get more of the devices through grants." The application isn't only limited to facial recognition and can allow officers to capture fingerprints and iris scans.

♦ The security firm accused of causing the security guard strike at World Cup stadiums says the labor dispute is the tournament's local organizing committee's fault. Stallion Security Consortium says the local organizing committee set the private security guard's pay rate that has led to strikes across the country. "Whilst Stallion is precluded by the contract's confidentiality clause from divulging specifics, the company can confirm that the rate of remuneration paid to its security guards was determined by the LOC and was based on rates recommended in the PSIRA tariff," the company states. "In fact, in respect of match-day guards, Stallion successfully negotiated the LOC upwards to time-and-a-half on the PSIRA tariff."

♦ Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was charged yesterday on 10 terrorism and weapons charges for his attempt to detonate an SUV-bomb in Times Square in early May. "The indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan added five charges to the original case against the 30-year-old Shahzad and also detailed in greater depth his alleged financing, saying Shahzad had received a total of $12,000 from the militant group through cash drop-offs in Massachusetts and Long Island," according to the Associated Press.