Site Map - Intelligence

11/29/2007 - This product, like stun guns and pepper spray and other options on the market, is meant to give security and law enforcement officers a choice that is not a lethal weapon.

11/29/2007 - A method for restricting movement into or outside of a designated zone by use of electronic tracking and alarm technology.

11/29/2007 - Someone who smuggles Chinese nationals into the United States or other countries.

11/29/2007 - Mention Latin America to the average person, and thoughts of salsa dancing and rain forests may come to mind. Mention the region to corporate executives and kidnapping is likely to be their first thought.

11/29/2007 - The majority of respondents to an online Security Management poll approve of the government initiative to establish a National Intelligence Director (NID) and a National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Opinion was divided, however, on the 9-11 Commission's call to make intelligence funding levels public.

11/29/2007 - Proactive. Preemptive. Preventive. These have been industry watchwords for at least the last decade, as security professionals recognized the need to implement security before an incident occurred and not to let security be event-driven. But since 9-11, event-driven security has been reborn. Now, the term relates to the ramping up of security preemptively to fend off a terrorist attack that might target a specific industry, location, or event.

11/28/2007 - In early September, four men in suburban Carácas disguised themselves as police officers and kidnapped the mother of Ugueth Urbina, a baseball pitcher from Venezuela who plays for the Detroit Tigers. The outcome of the incident was unknown at press time. That's just one example of how, in the globalizing marketplace, corporate executives and other high-profile personnel and their families are at constant risk of abduction.

11/28/2007 - How security is integrated into public spaces was the topic of a symposium held by the American Society of Landscape Architects. Among the examples discussed was the well-known Battery Park City, a 90-acre planned community at the southern tip of Manhattan, which incorporates military fortification strategies and technologies developed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Plans for the Washington Monument, which include about 800 shade and flowering trees that will double as vehicular barriers, were also discussed, as were security design features at the Chicago Federal Plaza. Topics included balancing building security with design, historic preservation, and liability concerns; security design after 9-11; design guidance to reduce potential terrorist attacks; and new standards and technologies. In one paper that discusses balancing building security with other factors, presenters offer tables on important security planning considerations, such as how to harden historic walls without sacrificing original materials and the importance of standoff distance and setback requirements. A document, available via SM Online, provides abstracts of the presentations.

11/28/2007 - Much of the fear of "dirty bombs" is a fear of the unknown. Security managers who wish to educate employees can turn to a fact sheet from the National Academies and the Department of Homeland Security. It explains what dirty bombs are and are not, what they do, what danger they present, and how people can protect themselves. @ To download the sheet, go to SM Online.

11/28/2007 - After a ten-year plunge, the average national rate of U.S. property crime leveled off in 2003. Property-crime rates nudged higher from 2002 to 2003 in households in the northeast, south, and midwest. The rate declined slightly in the west, but that region maintains by far the highest rate of property crime. @ More data is available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Crime Victimization 2003.

11/28/2007 - Two new reports look into changing responsibilities of federal law enforcement. One explores the transfer of the Federal Protective Service (FPS) to the Department of Homeland Security, noting that although FPS's mission has expanded, it does not have a transformation strategy to address this expanding mission. A second report analyzes the FBI's transformation to increase its focus on homeland security. Have the FBI's efforts to combat drug, white-collar, and violent crime suffered as a result? The results are mixed, say GAO auditors.

11/28/2007 - Fed Ex likes to say that it runs the tightest ship in the shipping business. It's the Coast Guard's mandate to run the tightest ship in the ship business, however, and to that end it is developing an automatic identification system (AIS) to monitor ships traveling to and through U.S. waters. A GAO review shows various challenges, such as whether local port authorities are willing to pay for some of the cost of the infrastructure needed to make it work.

11/28/2007 - Adding to the many experts speaking out on how to improve intelligence and information sharing, David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, recently testified before the House Committee on Government Reform that Congress must closely oversee government reorganization of the intelligence community. Congress should also reexamine its committee structure in light of the reorganization of homeland security duties in the executive branch, Walker testified , echoing a key recommendation of the 9-1l Commission.