Site Map - Government

11/14/2007 - "We deliver for you," the U.S. Postal Service likes to say in its ads. Delivery of physical security for its facilities hasn't been as regular, however. GAO site visits to 13 "core facilities revealed a number of security problems," including unaccounted-for keys, deactivated alarms, unlocked gates, unsecured stamps, and employees without ID badges. On the positive side, the USPS has specified security requirements for core facilities and has made gains in carrying these out. @ SM Online has the GAO report on the audit.

11/14/2007 - Property owners and security professionals should look at risk assessment in a holistic context, according to a new report prepared at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School on behalf of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Read the NIST report, Risk Analysis for Extreme Events: Economic Incentives for Reducing Future Losses .

11/14/2007 - Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff was nominated to be the next head of the Homeland Security Department.

11/13/2007 - A recent report from the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research & Development of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security has proposed six recommendations for consideration by the Department of Homeland Security. These include the creation of an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security in the department; and the development of a program and budget that will help the nation reach the goals of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. @ Cybersecurity for the Homeland is available at SM Online.

11/13/2007 - President Bush is asking Congress to redirect $152 million to shore up cybersecurity vulnerabilities at government agencies.

11/13/2007 - Los Alamos National Laboratory has rolled out the Journal of Physical Security, a scholarly, peer-reviewed publication that publishes articles which "use the scientific method or other rigorous approaches to understanding, modeling, developing, testing, or evaluating any aspect of physical security." The inaugural issue offers five papers. Electronic subscriptions are free. SM Online has more information on subscribing.UPDATE: The Journal of Physical Security is now published by Argonne National Laboratory.

11/13/2007 - USDA sets up a Web site explaining the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

11/13/2007 - Everyone's heard complaints about industry and government not sharing information with each other. So it's refreshing when word arises of effective communication between the public and private sectors. At January's inauguration of President Bush for his second term, the Secret Service's actions were a model of cooperation, according to private security companies with which they worked.

11/08/2007 - Federal agencies are not consistently implementing the basics of information security, such as performing periodic risk assessments, developing and maintaining up-to-date security plans, creating and testing contingency plans, and evaluating and monitoring the effectiveness of security controls, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). @ Protecting the Federal Government's Information Systems and the Nation's Critical Infrastructures is at SM Online.

11/08/2007 - Federal agencies are not consistently implementing the basics of information security, such as performing periodic risk assessments, developing and maintaining up-to-date security plans, creating and testing contingency plans, and evaluating and monitoring the effectiveness of security controls, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). @ Protecting the Federal Government's Information Systems and the Nation's Critical Infrastructures is at SM Online.

11/08/2007 - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has submitted to the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) "inaccurate and misleading" information about the state of its information-security programs, according to a report prepared by an assistant inspector general for audit with the Department of the Treasury, who undertook a review of the IRS's process for monitoring its program- and system-level security weaknesses. @ Go to SM Online for more on the report. .

11/08/2007 - A paper from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines technical acquisition and formatting requirements of biometric credentials for Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, which calls for identity credentials that are interoperable between agencies. @ Link to NIST Special Publication 800-76, Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification, at SM Online.

11/08/2007 - On the authority of a 2000 law that amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Department of Energy (DOE) has issued regulations that will allow the department to impose civil penalties on contractors for breaches of information security.