National News

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The Next Terrorist Attack (MSNBC) “Al Qaeda has an active plot to hit the West,” reports Newsweek. “The United States knows about it but doesn’t have enough tactical detail to issue a precise warning or raise the threat level, says Vice Admiral (ret.) John Scott Redd, who heads the government’s National Counterterrorism Center.” [View article]

Some U.S. Nuclear Weapons Parts Misplaced (Reuters) “Some facilities that handle the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile misplaced classified bomb components under their care, according to an Energy Department audit,” reports Reuters. “The department’s Inspector General also found there was confusion at the facilities over who was responsible for keeping track of weapons parts and recommended changes in how to better safeguard the parts.” The “National Nuclear Security Administration … said the parts … were later found.” [View article]

Terror Suspect List Yields Few Arrests (Washington Post) “The government’s terrorist screening database flagged Americans and foreigners as suspected terrorists almost 20,000 times last year. But only a small fraction of those questioned were arrested or denied entry into the United States,” reports the Washington Post. “… Slightly more than half of the 20,000 encounters last year were logged by Customs and Border Protection officers, who turned back or handed over to authorities 550 people … David Sobel, senior counsel with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy organization, said the numbers ‘suggest a staggeringly high rate of false positives with respect to the identification of supposed terrorists.’” Inclusion on the list indicates that “a person must be ‘a known or suspected terrorist such as those who finance terrorist activities, are known members of a terrorist [organization], terrorist operatives, or someone that provides material support to a terrorist or terrorist organization,’ said Michelle Petrovich, a spokesman for the Terrorist Screening Center. According to the Justice Department’s inspector general, the database contained at least 235,000 records as of last fall.” [View article]

Unprecedented Role for the National Guard (MSNBC) “The Pentagon is asking National Guard troops and their families to make sacrifices like never before in Iraq and other hot spots … Gen. George Casey … acknowledged that the Guard’s wider role puts unprecedented pressure on the lives, careers and relationships for troops once considered mostly weekend warriors.… Casey told The Associated Press on Sunday that the military will push ahead with a plan announced in January for National Guard deployments of no more than a year, with troops spending five years at home before redeployment. Currently, Guard members are returning to the battlefield after only 3½ years at home.” [View article]

As Biodefense Research Booms, Reward Is Weighed Against Risk (Fort Worth [TX] Star-Telegram) “More than 400 university laboratories alone are involved in biodefense research, up from a handful just a decade ago,” reports the Star-Telegram. “Many research labs work with infectious agents such as Ebola, anthrax, West Nile virus, Q fever, tularemia and avian flu, as well as emerging drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.… But there is grumbling in the scientific community among researchers who feel that they have been ‘drafted’ into working on national defense. And watchdog organizations say that the facilities conducting research have proliferated to extremes, increasing the risk of accidents or security breaches and making oversight more difficult for federal agencies. Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project in Austin, says that government oversight is not stringent enough, that laboratory security is suspect and that accidents sometimes go unreported, or worse, are covered up.” [View article]

Contractors Seek Delay in USAID Vetting System (Government Executive) “The Professional Services Council, an Arlington, Va.-based contractors association,” on Monday “asked the U.S. Agency for International Development to delay implementing a system designed to deny funds to individuals or groups associated with terrorism,” reports Government Executive. (See last week’s newsletter.) “The new Partner Vetting System will collect basic personal information on nongovernmental organizations, contractors and other groups and individuals with potential access to USAID funds. The data will be checked against government databases to identify potential links to terrorist organizations or activities.” [View article]

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International News

Bush Warns of ‘Nuclear Holocaust’ if Iran Gets Atomic Weapons “Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust,” President Bush told an American Legion convention in Nevada on Tuesday. “… once Iran had nuclear weapons, it would set off a nuclear arms race in the region.” [View transcript]

Abu Ghraib Officer Gets Reprimand (USA Today) “A military jury on Wednesday reprimanded the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, sparing him any prison time for disobeying an order to keep silent about the abuse investigation,” reports the Associated Press. “The jury had acquitted Army Lt. Col. Steven Jordan a day earlier of all three charges directly related to the mistreatment of detainees at the U.S.-run prison in Iraq. Those verdicts absolved Jordan, 51, of responsibility for the actions of 11 lower-ranking soldiers who have already been convicted for their roles.” [View article]

Two Bombs in India Kill 42; 19 More Bombs Found (International Herald Tribune) “The police continued to find and defuse bombs throughout the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Sunday, a day after a pair of synchronized explosions ripped through two popular gathering spots, killing at least 42 people and wounding scores of others,” reports the International Herald Tribune. The additional bombs were “all fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags--at bus stops, movie theaters, road intersections and pedestrian bridges. The police said each of the bombs contained ball bearings and ammonium.” [View article]

U.S.-Funded Security Makes Uranium Theft at Russian Facility ‘Impossible’ (Yahoo! News) “$25 million worth of security measures at … Podolsk’s Luch Scientific and Industrial Association, paid for by the United States” have, according to “one institute official … made any future theft ‘impossible,’” reports the Associated Press. In 1992, “a worker at the Russian nuclear research center in Podolsk smuggled more than three pounds of weapons-grade uranium out the doors” but was caught by police. [View article]

Wildfires Devastate Greece and Spark Search for Blame (Forbes) Wildfires “have burned nearly a half-million acres and killed 64 people in five days in what Greece’s president [Karolos Papoulias] called a ‘national catastrophe,’” reports the Associated Press. “… The government, which declared a state of emergency over the weekend, said arson might have been the cause of the fires, and several people have been arrested. A prosecutor on Monday ordered an investigation into whether arson attacks could come under Greece’s anti-terrorism and organized crime laws.… The main opposition Socialist Party leader George Papandreou accused the government of fabricating conspiracy theories about the fires.” [View article]

Iraqi Concerned Citizens Program Fights Terrorists “The citizens of Iraq are fighting back against terrorists in one” Sunni-dominated area south of Baghdad, according to the U.S. Defense Department. U.S. paratroopers are “fighting the enemy with information from hundreds of citizens who have pledged responsibility for the security of their neighborhoods.… There are now more than 500 registered members of the Concerned Citizens Program who have volunteered to protect their villages and roads while they await training for the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police forces.” [View article]

Defense Dept. Sends Weapons Auditors to Iraq (Government Executive) “The Pentagon is sending a team of investigators to Iraq because of the growing number of cases of fraud and other irregularities in contracts involving weapons and supplies for Iraqi forces,” reports the Associated Press. (See the August 10 newsletter.) [View article]

GAO Says Goals for Iraqi Govt. Are Not Being Met (Yahoo! News; Houston Chronicle) “The Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush’s Iraq war strategy, congressional auditors have determined. The Associated Press has learned the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline.” “The Pentagon has asked that some of the negative assessments be revised,” reported the Associated Press in a separate article. [View Yahoo! article] [View Chronicle article]

Iraq Orders 1 Million Pilgrims to Leave (ABC News) “More than 1 million pilgrims were ordered to leave the Shiite holy city of Karbala [Iraq] on Tuesday and police imposed a curfew after two days of violence including raging gunbattles between rival militias claimed at least 35 lives during a religious festival,” reports the Associated Press. “Nearly 200 people were wounded, security officials said, and the government sent reinforcements from Baghdad to quell growing unrest and help clear the city.” [View article]

Military Alone Can’t Beat Taliban, Says Gen. Cone (Boston Globe) “Military force alone is unlikely to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, [Maj. Gen. Robert Cone] said Thursday, noting that most insurgencies end with a political solution,” according to the Associated Press. Cone “is in charge of equipping and training Afghan security forces to take over from international troops.” [View article]

Taliban Releases Last South Korean Hostages (MSNBC) “Taliban militants on Thursday released the final seven South Korean captives they had been holding, bringing an end to a six-week hostage drama,” reports the Associated Press. (See the August 3 newsletter.) [View article]

Bird Flu Spread Between Humans (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “Bird flu has spread between several humans, according to a new study of deaths in Indonesia last year,” reports the Age. “When seven members of a Sumatran village family died in May last year, the spread of H5N1 avian influenza from person to person was suspected but could not be confirmed. But a study of the outbreak by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle has, for the first time, proved the virus spread between a cluster of people.” [View article]

Interferon Patterns May Be Clue to Flu Risk (London Times) “A Canadian study of patients who contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) … found that the pattern of interferon activity that each patient showed was closely linked to how sick he became,” writes “Science Notebook” columnist Anjana Ahuja in the London Times. “… The researchers” at Toronto’s University Health Network “identified two distinct patterns in the way interferon was expressed by genes. Patients who suffered mild to moderate symptoms showed one pattern; patients who fell severely ill or later died displayed the other. ‘… we think that these patterns may apply to illnesses caused by flu viruses …’” said “Mark Cameron, the lead author of the study.” [View article]

New Force to Guard Saudi Oil Facilities (Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Gulf News) “Saudi Arabia has begun setting up a new 35,000-strong specialised security force to protect its oil facilities from potential attacks,” reports the Financial Times. “The move underlines the kingdom’s growing concern about the security of its installations in the face of threats from Al Qaida to attack oil facilities, and rising tensions between Iran and the US. There have been fears that military confrontation between Iran and Washington could provoke Tehran to retaliate against US interests across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia. Recruitment” is up to “more than 5,000 personnel, who are being trained in the use of new surveillance equipment and crisis management under a programme managed by US defence group Lockheed Martin.” [View article]

France Bars Holy Water on Aircraft (London Guardian) “Inspectors at Tarbes-Lourdes airport in France stopped passengers taking holy water on the Vatican’s new pilgrim flights, saying it was a security threat like any other liquid,” reports the Guardian. “The water came from a grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared.… But the Vatican had foreseen such an eventuality and put a bottle of holy water on each seat.” [View article]

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United Nations News

Iran Is Producing Less Nuclear Fuel Than Expected, UN Says (Houston Chronicle) The International Atomic Energy Agency “said [yesterday] that Iran was producing less nuclear fuel than expected and praised Tehran for ‘a significant step forward’ in explaining past atomic actions that have raised suspicions,” reports the Associated Press. [View article]

UN Reports Record Afghan Drug Cultivation (Yahoo! News) “Afghan opium poppy cultivation exploded to a record high this year, with the multibillion dollar trade fueled by Taliban militants and corrupt officials in President Hamid Karzai’s government, a U.N. [Office of Drugs and Crime] report said,” according to the Associated Press. “The raw material for heroin grows on 477,000 acres of Afghan land, a 17 percent increase from last year’s record 408,000 acres, the U.N. report said. The amount of Afghan land used for opium has surpassed the total used for coca cultivation in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined.” [View article]

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DHS News

DHS Upgrades Databases (Government Computer News) “The Homeland Security Department has unveiled several important upgrades to databases that collectively contain tens of millions of personal immigration and travel records,” reports Government Computer News. “Some of the changes are intended to foster information sharing among organizations inside DHS and with outside government agencies. Others aim to reorganize the databases for easier internal use.” [View article]

TSA Takes on Hats On August 4, the Transportation Security Administration revised its screening procedures for head coverings. All members of the traveling public are permitted to wear head coverings (whether religious or not) through the security checkpoints, subject to possible additional security screening, which may include a pat-down search of the head covering. If necessary, the passenger will be offered the opportunity to remove the head covering in a private screening area. [View press release]

Lessons Learned Information Sharing Site Promotes National Preparedness Month September is the fourth annual National Preparedness Month, focused on back-to-school planning, business preparedness, multicultural preparedness, and home and family preparedness. The Lessons Learned Information Sharing website has created a National Preparedness Month resource page to share information about these issues. Many topic-specific resource pages on the site also feature special sections highlighting information related to National Preparedness Month, planning, or community preparedness. “To access the National Preparedness Month page, please log onto LLIS.gov and click on National Preparedness Month under Featured Topics.” [View website]

SBI photo

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Other Federal News

NIEM: The New Public-Safety Language (Federal Computer Week) “Many state and local law enforcement officials eagerly joined an early federal effort to use Extensible Markup Language to streamline data exchanges within the law enforcement community,” reports Federal Computer Week. “Several regions shot ahead of the pack and began incorporating a federally designated Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM), only to find [that] the Justice and Homeland Security departments are now pushing a different framework, the National Information Exchange Model. Federal officials released last month the second production version of NIEM, which moves the framework closer to the concept’s original purpose, which was to cover a broad range of homeland security-related activities. NIEM goes beyond law enforcement by also applying to emergency response, disaster management, the screening of people and cargo, and international trade.” [View article]

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State and Local News

Two Years After Katrina, New Orleans Struggles (Time) “One-third of the city’s pre-Katrina population of 450,000 is still living somewhere else, many never to return,” reports Time, citing “New Orleans’ halting economic recovery.” The port has rebounded, and the medical sector is slowly recovering, but tourism is precarious. But according to “Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau … ‘The single biggest overall problem [is] the inability of federal, state and local authorities to effectively manage an accelerated recovery plan.’” [View article]

Panel Says Va. Tech Failed to Respond to Cho Warning Signs (Washington Post) “The long-awaited report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel contains a wealth of new details about the life of Seung Hui Cho, the troubled 23-year-old senior who murdered 32 students and faculty before turning a gun on himself,” reports the Washington Post. “It cites confusion about state and federal privacy laws, weak enforcement of regulations over the purchase of guns and inadequate funding of the state’s mental health system as contributing factors to the deadly rampage. But the report … reserves its most damning conclusions for Virginia Tech itself, accusing the university of a systemic failure to respond to Cho’s two-year history of mental health troubles on campus or to communicate effectively on April 16.” [View article] [View report (13.8 MB PDF)]

Unknown to Va. Tech, Cho Had a Disorder (Washington Post) “Fairfax County [VA] school officials determined that Seung Hui Cho [see the April 20 newsletter] suffered from an anxiety disorder so severe that they put him in special education and devised a plan to help, according to sources familiar with his history, but Virginia Tech was never told of the problem,” reports the Washington Post. “The disorder”--“selective mutism”--“made Cho unable to speak in social settings and was deemed an emotional disability … When he stopped getting the help that Fairfax was providing, Cho became even more isolated and suffered severe ridicule during his four years at Virginia Tech, experts suggested.… officials at Virginia Tech were never told of his condition” because “Fairfax officials were forbidden from telling them. Federal privacy and disability laws prohibit high schools from sharing with colleges private information such as a student’s special education coding or disability” and “prohibit colleges from asking for such information. The only way Virginia Tech officials would have known about Cho’s anxiety and selective mutism would have been if Cho or his parents told them about it and asked for accommodations to help him.” [View article]

911 Calls Overwhelm California (Los Angeles Times) “An explosion in calls from cellular phones has overwhelmed critical parts of California’s 911 system, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost calls and lengthy waits to reach dispatchers even as crimes or potentially deadly emergencies unfold,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Wireless 911 calls statewide have jumped roughly tenfold since 1990, to more than 8 million last year. Cell calls now make up the majority of all 911 calls, and key emergency agencies are struggling to adapt.” [View article]

Phoenix Airport Security Adds Black Lights and Magnifying Glasses (Scottsdale, AZ, East Valley Tribune; Phoenix Arizona Republic) “Trained Transportation Security Administration” inspectors at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport checkpoints are now “armed with magnifying glasses to spot doctored IDs and black lights to examine holograms on driver’s licenses or passports, … looking for suspicious boarding pass holders,” reports the East Valley Tribune. In addition, “Phoenix will spend up to $90,000 so airport police officers can undergo behavior-recognition training that is used in many airports worldwide,” reports the Arizona Republic. [View Tribune article] [View Republic article]

Arizona and DHS to Test Advanced Driver’s Licenses Arizona and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will launch a project to enhance the security of state driver’s licenses so that they could serve as acceptable alternative documents for crossing U.S. land and sea borders under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, similar to the projects DHS has undertaken with Vermont (see last week’s newsletter) and Washington state (see the March 30 newsletter). [View press release]

Tighter License Rules Hit Illegal Immigrants (Stateline) “The handful of states that issue licenses to illegal immigrants are stepping up efforts to combat fraud and identity theft,” reports Stateline. “That means stricter rules for ensuring immigrants live in-state and are who they say they are. In the last year, North Carolina and Tennessee stopped issuing licenses to illegal immigrants altogether. Meanwhile, New Mexico’s motor vehicle agency enlisted the Mexican government to help the state check the identity of would-be drivers. Maine is working to start limiting licenses to in-state residents, after decades of resisting. Only seven states--Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington--allow undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses.” [View article]

Pedestrians Lose Perks at Busy San Diego Border Crossing (Government Executive) “Pedestrians at the nation’s busiest border crossing”--California’s San Ysidro pedestrian bridge--“are losing conveniences because of security measures that critics say amount to an unnecessary crackdown,” reports the Associated Press. “Last summer, U.S. Customs and Border Protection closed a special *** that whizzed bicyclists past a pedestrian line and spared them a wait that often lasts more than an hour. At about the same time, the agency said people with wheelchairs, canes and crutches could no longer cut to the front of the line.” Now “the agency is targeting [the] pedestrian-only bridge that crosses 30 ***s of traffic, but has been the scene of stabbings and muggings. It also gives smugglers a birds-eye view of what vehicle inspectors are doing below, authorities say.… Closing the bridge at the San Ysidro border crossing would require many of the 20,000 pedestrians who cross the border daily to walk nearly a mile more to cross Interstate 5 on an overpass where two narrow sidewalks straddle four ***s of cars, taxis and buses.” In response to an outpouring of protest, “CBP officials have been trying to strike a compromise with business and civic leaders.” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

FEMA Looks to Private Sector for Disaster Provisions (Government Executive) “Texas has decided that it cannot count on the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help in a disaster” and so its “emergency management division has made arrangements with big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot to provide water, ice and other critical supplies to its citizens in a crisis,” reports Government Executive. “After what happened with hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the assumption now is that FEMA will provide nothing”--and FEMA approves because this scenario “actually illustrates the overhaul of FEMA’s realigned logistics program, which is beginning to take shape. The most salient change is an increased reliance on the private sector--the outsourcing of much of the agency’s logistics to a contractor or contractors that will be in charge of acquiring, storing and moving emergency supplies. This arrangement, known as third-party logistics, is common in many industries and should make FEMA’s supply lines shorter and quicker” because “basics such as tarps and generators are so widely available that the agency does not necessarily need to own them.” [View article]

Intergraph Consortium Guarded Pan American Games Intergraph emergency incident response, planning, and reporting solutions contributed to the safety of the 2007 Pan American Games July 13-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attended by more than 5,600 athletes from the Americas and 1.3 million spectators. All National Public Safety Office operations relied on the emergency response and security system delivered by Intergraph and a consortium of security and intelligence providers. Sisgraph, a representative of Intergraph in Latin America and the Caribbean, delivered the software system and provided training and support for the 15 command and control centers. The implementation also included the management of security events and units, as well as integration with the local police and fire brigades. [View press release]

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Dual-Benefit Solutions

Loser Dogs Get Second Chance With Foreign Counterterror Forces (Washington Post) Some Americans’ dogs “are finding second chances through the war on al-Qaeda,” reports the Washington Post. “In a 16-week program jointly run by the Justice and State departments,” six dogs “transformed themselves from losers to potential lifesavers. Each canine teamed up for training in [Virginia’s] Shenandoah Valley with a Moroccan law enforcement official. They would join more than 700 American dogs who have been deployed with foreign counterterrorism forces.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

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Education The Homeland Security Institute lists these education programs as a service to readers who may be interested; it does not endorse them or their courses. New education listings are posted for four weeks. Hospital Disaster Life Support II (September 10; Washington, DC) The ER One Institute at the Washington Hospital Center is holding a refresher course on hospital disaster management response principles for those who want to renew their Hospital Disaster Life Support certificate. The course combines classroom discussion of all-hazards response issues with a hands-on exercise simulation involving a complex mass-casualty incident in an emergency department setting. The course goal is to improve personnel expertise in responding to and coordinating hospital mass-casualty incident response. It provides 16 CNE/CEU and ACHE/CME credits. [View course website] Transit System Security Courses (November 2007–September 2008; various locations) The Federal Transit Administration’s training schedule for 2007-2008 offers courses and seminars at locations around the country, covering Transit System Security, Effectively Managing Transit Emergencies, Transit Explosives Incident Management, Transit System Security Design Review, and Transit Response to Bus and Rail Hijackings. [View course website] Command and General Staff Functions for Local Incident Management Teams (November 11-16; Emmitsburg, MD) The U.S. Fire Administration will train a designated team of fire, emergency medical services, public works, public health, and/or law enforcement personnel from a larger and generally more populated area, typically within a single jurisdiction (city, county, or region). They would be activated to manage an incident requiring a significant number of local and mutual aid resources. [View conference website]

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New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, new events will be moved to the Upcoming Events page) Global Security Challenge USA Semi-Final 2007 (September 5; Arlington, VA) In the Global Security Challenge competition, the most promising security-technology innovations can win a $500,000 grant, sponsored by the Technical Support Working Group of the U.S. Government. This year’s U.S. Semi-Final is hosted together with Mississippi State University and includes speeches from Jay Cohen, Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science & Technology, and leaders from Lockheed and Smiths Detection. [View conference website] 2007 Homeland Security Symposium and Exhibition (September 5-7; Arlington, VA) This event, produced by the National Defense Industrial Association, will look at the future of homeland security, homeland defense, and related issues and highlight detailed updates of selected key homeland security programs. It will also provide an interactive forum on doing business with the Homeland Security Department and give the small business constituencies an opportunity to have their issues addressed. [View conference website] Realizing IPv6: Unleash the Benefits of the Next Generation (September 19-20; Reston, VA) This educational and interactive conference sponsored by the Digital Government Institute will explore the business case and return on investment and how to successfully transition to Internet Protocol version 6. It will identify and break down real operational issues and explore the solutions powered by the next-generation Internet. Government experts and industry leaders will discuss what it means to have true network-centric organization. [View conference website] Recovering From Disaster (October 17; Washington, DC) This public workshop is organized by the National Research Council–National Academies’ Disasters Roundtable and will feature presentations by experts from the hazards research, policy, and practitioner communities on key topics related to disaster recovery; it will include audience discussion. [View conference website] Detection Technologies 2007 (November 1-2; San Diego) This 11th conference for experts in technologies for detection and identification of biological and chemical agents and threats will explore the latest research and development as well as ready-to-market technologies and systems. [View conference website] (November 7-8; Baltimore) The Mid-Atlantic All Hazards Forum is a public-private partnership of Mid-Atlantic states and private corporations. Focusing on readiness, response, and recovery, the forum will help build communication and forge relationships between states in the Mid-Atlantic region. [View conference website] FireRescue Conference & Expo (November 7-10; Las Vegas, NV) This conference features training for leadership and an exhibit hall with the latest apparatus, equipment, product demonstrations, and national manufacturers. New this year are advanced leadership sessions and a healthy & safety education track. [View conference website] 2007 Preparing for Pandemic Influenza Training Conference (November 13-14; Arlington, VA) Medical and public health leaders will stress the importance of national, state, and local preparedness to respond to a pandemic so as to ensure the health and safety of our people. The conference will address three crucial areas: How real is the pandemic threat today, and how should you prepare to respond? How can an influenza impact your community or business, and what measures should you take to ensure business continuity? What is the best approach to properly communicate an outbreak to your staff, community, other agencies, organizations, and private institutions? [View conference website] Port Security 2007 (November 13-15; Los Angeles) The theme of this year’s conference is “Protecting the homeland’s ports by integrating force initiatives, technology and compliance standards.” Port officials will gather with their community, find out the latest mandates, and learn about new technology. [View conference website] 2007 Scientific Conference on Chemical & Biological Defense Research (November 13-15; Timonium, MD) This unclassified conference will consist of papers and poster presentations. Attendees will include government (military and civilian), academia, and industry representatives and will feature the Transformational Countermeasures Technology Initiative. [View conference website] EPA Region 4 Chemical Emergency Conference (November 15-16; Tampa, FL) This Environmental Protection Agency conference is co-located with Clean Gulf 2007. Topics will include EPA reimbursement of local government expenditures for chemical emergency cleanups under Superfund, Homeland Security Grants and NIMS compliance, the E-Plan, strengthening response through collaboration and partnerships, Hurricane Katrina lessons learned, and the EPA’s program for risk management plans under the Federal Clean Air Act, section 112(r). [View conference website] Maritime Security Expo (November 27-28; New York) This conference will cover the SAFE Port Act and the latest technology, products, and service in maritime, port, and intermodal security. [View conference website] Water Facility Security Conference (November 27-28; Arlington, VA) This conference will discuss pre- and post-disaster emergency preparedness and response. It will cover water protection methodologies and techniques, including ways to identify and mitigate problems. Industry experts will discuss how to respond and recover and how to best communicate to customers or staff. [View conference website]

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Calls for Papers TIEMS 2008 (June 17-19; Prague, Czech Republic) The theme of the International Emergency Management Society’s 2008 conference is “Global Cooperation in Emergency Management.” The deadline for submitting the title and abstract is November 9. [View conference website]

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