Morning Security Brief: WikiLeaks, Int'l Air Cargo Security, Next Gen Drones, Interoperable Com, & Ruffalo the Extremist

♦  Another intelligence dump by the whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks has shown, once again, U.S. information security practices leave much to be desired. "A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats," reports The New York Times. "The disclosure of the cables is sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict."

♦ Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's attempted attack against air cargo planes in October has led to a United Nation's push for stricter cargo security rules. "The U.N. agency that oversees aviation is pushing new guidelines for cargo security to counter al-Qaida's new mail-bomb strategy, but is stopping short of calling for 100 percent screening of packages, as pilots and some U.S. lawmakers have urged," reports the Associated Press. "The proposed changes by the International Civil Aviation Organization concentrate on 'supply-chain security,' or checking outbound shipments before they even reach the airport. A draft of new guidelines will go out to all 190 member countries in the next few weeks, the agency says. Governments are increasingly worried about cargo security as the holiday season swells the number of packages moving around the world."

♦ Defense contractors are working on a revolutionary generation of drones to assist in the U.S. war on terrorism. "The new sensors enable flying drones to listen in on cell phone conversations and pinpoint the location of the caller on the ground. Some can even 'smell' the air and sniff out chemical plumes emanating from a potential underground nuclear laboratory," reports The Los Angeles Times. "'Reconnaissance is 'now the centerpiece of our global war on terrorism,' said David Rockwell, an electronics analyst with aerospace research company the Teal Group Corp. 'The military wants to have an unblinking eye over the war zone.'"

♦ The post-9-11 campaign to ensure first responders and law enforcement officers can talk to each other on their own radios during a crisis has succeeded in the Washington, D.C. area—well sort of. "The Justice Department this month is rolling out a new state-of-the-art interoperable tactical communications system in the national capital region. Called IWN, for Integrated Wireless Network, the new system addresses long-standing problems with existing legacy radio systems highlighted by communications failures on Sept. 11 and during Hurricane Katrina," reports The Washington Times. "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes some of the federal government's largest law enforcement agencies - and which is responsible for leading national efforts on interoperable communications - will not be a part of it, however." Agencies within DHS, the Times reports, did not have the authority to mandate component parts, like Customs and Border Patrol, modernize their communication systems.

♦ Actor Mark Ruffalo also ran afoul of Pennsylvania's Office of Homeland Security and found himself included in an intelligence bulletin on possible threats to state infrastructure. "The 'Zodiac' actor arranged showings for 'GasLand' earlier this year and voiced his concerns about the practice in relation to the national water supplies," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "But his efforts to raise awareness and demand a stop to natural gas drilling reportedly attracted the attention of officials from Pennsylvania's Office of Homeland Security - and he recently discovered it had landed him on a terror alert watchlist."