International News

15 Farc Hostages Freed (International Herald Tribune) “15 hostages, including three American contractors” and the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, gained freedom on July 2 “after a group of Colombian commandos disguised themselves as rebels and tricked the [Farc] guerrillas into turning the captives over,” reports the Tribune. [View article]

Guantanamo Prisoner Charged in 2000 USS Cole Attack (Waltham, MA, Daily News Tribune) “The Bush administration has charged a Guantanamo Bay detainee”—Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri—“with murder, among other serious charges, in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors,” according to the Daily News Tribune. “… Al-Nashiri was held in a secret CIA prison for almost four years and is one of three detainees the government admits to waterboarding.… He has confessed to the USS Cole bombing, the bombing of a French supertanker and of plotting to bomb another U.S. destroyer, but he says he did so only to make the torture stop.” [View editorial]

Abu Ghraib Inmates Sue Contractors, Claiming Torture (Yahoo! News) “Three Iraqis and a Jordanian filed federal lawsuits Monday alleging they were tortured by U.S. defense contractors while detained at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and 2004,” reports the Associated Press. “The lawsuits allege that those arrested and taken to the prison were subjected to forced nudity, electrical shocks, mock executions and other inhumane treatment. They seek unspecified payments high enough to compensate the detainees for their injuries, and to deter contractors from such conduct in the future.… all four plaintiffs were released from Abu Ghraib without charges after they were held for as long as four years and four months.” The defendants are the contractors CACI International and L-3 Communications, formerly Titan Corp. “Neither U.S. civilian nor military authorities have charged private contractors with crimes at Abu Ghraib.” [View article]

Britain Settles Iraqi Torture Lawsuit (International Herald Tribune) “A major case involving the abuse and torture of 10 Iraqi civilians at the hands of the British military was settled Thursday, with lawyers for the victims saying the Ministry of Defense agreed to pay them just under 3 million pounds (US$6 million),” reports the Associated Press. “The settlement involves the family of slain hotel clerk Baha Mousa and the nine others who suffered injuries during the Iraq war while in the custody of British forces in southern Iraq.” [View article]

Sweden Pays Exonerated Terror Suspect $502,000 (International Herald Tribune) “Sweden will pay 3 million kronor (US$502,000) in compensation to an exonerated Egyptian terrorism suspect”—Muhammed Alzery—“who was handed over to CIA agents and deported in 2001,” reports the Associated Press. “… Sweden believes Alzery’s claim that he was tortured in Egypt. Alzery and fellow Egyptian Ahmed Agiza were handed over to U.S. agents at Bromma Airport in Stockholm six years ago, taken to Egypt and imprisoned on terrorism charges. Alzery was released in 2003 without standing trial after Egyptian authorities dismissed allegations against him.” [View article]

Iraqi Refugees Find Sweden’s Doors Closing (Washington Post) The Swedish city of Sodertalje, known as “‘Little Baghdad,’ … has accepted roughly as many Iraqi refugees [6,000] as the entire United States,” reports the Washington Post. Sweden “has become the new home of 40,000 Iraqis since the war began in 2003. Last year alone, more than 18,000 Iraqi refugees came to Sweden.… But now Swedish officials say they are shouldering too much of the refugee burden and are urgently calling on other countries to do more.” [View article]

Starving African Migrants Found Off Spanish Coast (BBC) “More than 30 African migrants, weak from hunger and thirst, have been rescued off the coast of Spain—but another 15 died,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… Most of the dead were young children … It is the second such incident off the south of Spain in a week. On Monday 14 Africans were presumed drowned after a boat capsized in rough seas. Another 23 people were pulled alive from the water in that incident.… Spain is a major destination for African migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. Thousands of Africans are believed to have died while trying to reach Spain in the past few years. Spain has strengthened offshore patrols and stepped up repatriation efforts, prompting some migrants to attempt longer, more difficult sea routes.” [View article]

Biometrics Show That Many Foreign Detainees Have U.S. Criminal Records (Washington Post) “In the six-and-a-half years that the U.S. government has been fingerprinting insurgents, detainees and ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, hundreds have turned out to have … criminal arrest records in the United States,” reports the Washington Post. “… The records suggest that potential enemies abroad know a great deal about the United States because many of them have lived here, officials said. The matches also reflect the power of sharing data across agencies and even countries, data that links an identity to a distinguishing human characteristic such as a fingerprint.” [View article]

Britain Warns 11 Countries About Visa Requirement (BBC) The British “government has warned 11 countries that their citizens will need visas to visit the UK unless they ‘significantly reduce’ the risk they pose,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “Listed are Brazil, Namibia, South Africa, Malaysia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Swaziland, and Trinidad and Tobago.” [View article]

British Police Want to Ban Online Sales of Ambulances and Police Cars (London Telegraph) “Terrorists may be planning to launch suicide bomb attacks in Britain using former [National Health Service] ambulances and police cars bought on auction website eBay,” the Association of Chief Police Officers has warned, reports the Telegraph. The police chiefs want legislation to stop the sales. [View article]

U.S. Removes Uranium From Iraq (Yahoo! News) “The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program—a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium—reached” Montreal on July 5 “to complete a secret U.S. operation,” reports the Associated Press. “… 550 metric tons of ‘yellowcake’—the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment—” were removed to Canada. “U.S. and Iraqi authorities … had worried [that] the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.” [View article]

White House Sees Satisfactory Iraqi Progress on 15 of 18 Benchmarks (Yahoo! News) The White House says “in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq’s efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are ‘satisfactory.’” (See the June 27 newsletter.) “… The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press, determines that only two of the benchmarks—enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues—are unsatisfactory.” [View article]

Biometric Assurance Group Fears Fingerprint Errors in British ID Cards (BBC) The Biometric Assurance Group “says [that] the number of false [fingerprint] matches … could run into [the] tens of thousands,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. The British government is looking into the claim but rejects the “call for iris scans to be used as a back-up to fingerprints.… iris scans were [originally] to be part of the biometric data stored on the cards” but were rejected because of their cost. The Biometric Assurance Group “also raises concern about the security of the ID card database, pointing out that officials will be able to access it with just a username and password.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda Groups Leaving Iraq for Sudan and Somalia (Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Gulf News; New York Times) “Some groups [in the] Al Qaida terror network in Iraq have started leaving the country” for “hot spots in Africa like Sudan and Somalia, security sources tell Gulf News. A key reason” that the Al Qaida Organisation in Mesopotamia is leaving “is the intensity of the latest military strikes launched by Iraqi and US forces … ‘I believe this is the beginning of the complete withdrawal of Al Qaida from Iraqi territory,’” Major General Hussain Ali Kamal, head of the Investigation and Information Agency at the Interior Ministry, told Gulf News. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, “renamed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” has “grown into one of the most potent Osama bin Laden affiliates,” transformed “from a nationalist insurgency to a force in the global jihad,” reports the New York Times. (See the Quote of the Week.) [View Gulf News article] [View NY Times article]

Pentagon Says Taliban Has Regrouped in Afghanistan Amid Worsening Security (Fox News; Reuters AlertNet) “The Taliban has regrouped after its initial fall from power in Afghanistan and the pace of its attacks is likely to increase this year,” according to the Associated Press, citing a Pentagon report. “… the report said that despite U.S. and coalition efforts to capture and kill key leaders, the Taliban is likely to ‘maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks and bombings in 2008.’” (See the Statistics of the Week.) And “worsening security in Afghanistan is creating more” problems for humanitarian workers “and making the delivery of much needed assistance even more difficult,” reports Reuters, citing UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes. “Millions [of Afghans] have fled to neighbouring countries, many more were internally displaced and on top of all that, floods and drought have added to the misery.” [View AP article] [View Reuters article]

Thailand Stages Tsunami Drill (Channel NewsAsia) “Sirens blared Monday across the resort isle of Phuket as Thailand tested its new tsunami warning system …” reports Agence France-Presse. “Sirens on 79 towers across Phuket and in five neighbouring provinces rang out … as more than 1,000 tourists, students and emergency workers joined a brief evacuation of Thailand’s world-famous beaches.… Phuket and five nearby seaside provinces were hit by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, which killed 5,400 people in Thailand alone … The coastal towers are linked to the National Disaster Warning Centre, where officials monitor reports of earthquakes while studying data from a US-donated deep-sea buoy that registers changes in the sea level.” [View article]

New Generation of Antibiotics Needed, Says British Report (Scotsman) “Superbugs are leading Britain back into a ‘pre-antibiotic era’, when simple infections wiped out entire populations,” according to the Scotsman, citing a new report by the Royal Society of Medicine. “It said the battle against drug-resistant bacteria was being undermined by failing medicines and by policies that focus only on disease-control measures and restricting antibiotic use.” [View article]

Indonesia Safe for Tourists, Says U.S. Ambassador (Antara News; Google News) “Indonesia is now safe for foreign visitors, US ambassador to Indonesia Cameron Hume said” on Wednesday, reports Antara News. “The United States lifted a warning against travel to Indonesia in May, citing ‘objective improvements’ in the security situation,” reports Agence France-Presse. “But the arrest of 10 terror suspects with a cache of powerful bombs in South Sumatra between June 28 and July 2 underscored that the danger remains.” [View Antara article] [View AFP article]

EU Challenges Italy Over Roma Fingerprinting Plan (EU Business) European Union “Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot demanded an explanation from Italy Monday about its controversial scheme to fingerprint” the country’s Roma population, also called Gypsies, reports Agence France-Presse. “Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni promised” a full report and said that the fingerprinting would be carried out by police “with the cooperation of the Red Cross.” Maroni assured Barrot that the head of UNICEF had accepted the Italian plans, which Maroni “said were necessary to get Roma children into schools or pay them social welfare.” [View press release]

Report Urges EU Security Network to Pool Intelligence (Dublin Irish Times) A new report urges the European Union to “set up a network of anti-terrorism centres … to share intelligence gathered by secret service agencies to tackle terrorism” and “to beef up security measures to protect citizens from the threat of a biological or nuclear attack from terrorists by screening more freight arriving at ports and conducting background checks on transport employees,” reports the Irish Times. The “confidential report titled Freedom, Security, Privacy—European Home Affairs in an Open World … was discussed [Tuesday] at the EU interior ministers meeting in Cannes [France].” [View article]

National News

Bush Signs Bill Overhauling Eavesdropping Rules (Yahoo! News) “President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in suspected terrorism cases,” reports the Associated Press. “… Bush signed the measure … following nearly a year of debate in the Democratic-led Congress over surveillance rules and the warrantless wiretapping program Bush initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” [View article]

Advocates and Law Students Defend Illegal Immigrants and Day Laborers (Washington Post) “Immigrant day laborers … have the same right as any worker to sue employers for unpaid back wages, even if they are [in the United States] illegally,” reports the Washington Post. All workers “are entitled to recover unpaid wages, regardless of immigration status.… Officials of the National Day Labor Organizing Network in Los Angeles said a survey of day-laborer sites in 25 states found that half of all workers had been underpaid or not paid at least once.… Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, all workers are entitled to be paid minimum wage and overtime for work performed.… Many jurisdictions … have laws or court rulings that clearly extend wage and hour rights to immigrants, regardless of legal status.” The “era of mass immigration that has fueled demand from foreigners and businesses seeking help navigating U.S. immigration statutes and has created a generation of law students intimately familiar with the issue,” reports the Post in a separate article. “… At least 50 law schools offer immigration clinics, which usually give students the chance to represent indigent immigrants who have no right to court-appointed lawyers,” and “membership in the American Immigration Lawyers Association has nearly doubled since 2003.” [View advocate article] [View law students article]

Urban Hazmat Modeling Is Limited, Says GAO “Local first responders still do not have tools to accurately identify right away what, when, where, and how much chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) materials are released in U.S. urban areas, accidentally or by terrorists,” according to the Government Accountability Office. The equipment they use “cannot predict the dispersion of these materials in the atmosphere. No agency has the mission to develop, certify, and test equipment” that would do the job. [View GAO summary]

DHS News

Urban Security Grant Program Poorly Measures Risk, Says GAO The Homeland Security Department “has constructed a reasonable methodology to assess risk and allocate funds” under the Urban Areas Security Initiative, reports the Government Accountability Office. “However, DHS’s current risk analysis model does not measure vulnerability for each state and urban area. Rather, DHS considered all states and urban areas equally vulnerable to a successful attack and assigned every state and urban area a vulnerability score of 1.0 in the risk analysis model, which does not take into account any geographic differences.” [View GAO summary]

Secure Border Initiative Plan Still Falls Short, Says GAO The Secure Border Initiative expenditure plan for 2008 is more detailed than that for 2007, but it still does not meet all 15 congressional criteria, according to the Government Accountability Office. “The Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act required an expenditure plan that satisfies the 15 conditions” before Customs and Border Protection can “obligate $650 million of the approximately $1.2 billion appropriated for CBP fencing, infrastructure, and technology.” Only 7 criteria were met; 7 were partially met; 1 was not met at all. [View GAO summary]

DHS Should Finish Integrating Cyber-Operations, Says GAO (NextGov) “The Homeland Security Department has failed to follow two of three recommendations issued by a special task force last year to integrate operations to improve response to disruptions of voice and data networks during emergencies,” according to NextGov, citing a report by the Government Accountability Office. A DHS task force “recommended merging the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which analyzes cyber threats and disseminates warning information, with the National Coordination Center and the National Coordination Center Watch.” DHS moved the coordination center next to CERT but was reluctant to merge the organizations. [View article] [View GAO summary] [View Focus on CERT]

Community Policing in Muslim Communities This Homeland Security Institute report was approved by the Homeland Security Department for public release and is now available on the institute’s website. [View report]

Other Federal News

Passport Data Are Unsecured, Says State Dept. Inspector General (Government Executive) “The State Department has failed to provide adequate controls to prevent unauthorized access to individuals’ passport files,” reports Government Executive, citing an inspector general’s report. “… The department has not established the proper policies, procedures and disciplinary actions to prevent employees and contractors, as well as those in other agencies, from accessing files in the” Passport Information Electronic Records System used by the Bureau of Consular Affairs. The system “compromises citizens’ privacy and leaves their personal information vulnerable to theft.” It “contains records for about 127 million passport holders”: “name, date of birth, Social Security number and citizenship status for applicants and family members.” [View article]

FBI Headquarters Doesn’t Meet Federal Security Standards (Wired) “A Senate Appropriations Committee report notes that the [FBI’s] headquarters ‘does not meet the … criteria for a secure Federal facility capable of handling intelligence and other sensitive information,’” writes Wired “Danger Room” blogger Noah Shachtman. [View blog] [View Senate report]

Congress Gets BioShield Update The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday issued its annual report to Congress on public health emergency preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, stating its progress in implementing Project BioShield. [View press release] [View report] [View Focus on BioShield]

U.S. Looks to Sci-fi Killer Robots for Terror Fight (Scotsman) America’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Army Research Office have “signed a £1.6m [about $3.2 million] deal with” iRobot—“which has developed other robots for the military”—to design “a tiny robot able to move under its own power and change shape so it can get through gaps less than half an inch wide,” reports the Scotsman. The United States “has not said what it wants the robot to do but its specification says: ‘Often the only available points of entry are small openings in buildings, walls, under doors, etc. In these cases, a robot must be soft enough to squeeze or traverse through small openings, yet large enough to carry an operationally meaningful payload.’” [View article]

Energy Dept. Tests Remote Explosives Detector (Government Computer News) “The Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory can now detect explosives at distances exceeding 20 yards using new photoacoustic spectroscopy methods that use a laser and a device that converts reflected light into sound,” reports Government Computer News. “The technique involves illuminating a target sample with an eye-safe, pulsed light source and allowing the scattered light to be detected by a quartz crystal tuning fork. The method enabled researchers to detect trace explosive residue using lasers 100 times less powerful than those of competing technologies. By using larger collection mirrors and stronger illumination sources, researchers believe they can achieve detection at distances approaching 109 yards.” [View article]

United Nations News

UN Investigator Calls for Higher Standards of Justice at Guantanamo (Google News) “Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions, … expressed concern for the six ‘alien unlawful enemy combatants’ currently detained at the US naval base in Cuba who face war crimes charges under special military tribunals.… ” reports Agence France-Presse. “‘These trials utterly fail to meet the basic due process standards required for fair trial and international humanitarian and human rights law,’ he said.” Alston also “called for the government to make public the investigations of” the cases of five inmates who died at Guantanamo. But he added that the United States is a model for justice around the world and is obligated to do everything it can to comply with the highest standards. [View article] [View UN press release]

State and Local News

Kentucky Man Charged With 198 Counts Involving Explosives (Ashland, KY, Daily Independent) Clarence Lyons “is facing more than 200 criminal charges,” including “198 counts of criminal possession of a destructive or booby trap device, after a search of his home revealed several inert hand grenades and additional explosives,” reports the Daily Independent. Lyons, 61, was also “charged with two counts of obstructing a highway, resisting arrest, first-degree wanton endangerment and third-degree terroristic threatening” after he illegally tried “to close a county road” on July 4. [View article]

Van Packed With Gas and Wires Linked to New York Bombing Suspect (New York Daily News) “A van loaded with gasoline cans, wires and switches” in Brooklyn “may belong to a suspect”—Yung (Mark) Tang—“already in federal custody for alleged bomb-making,” reports the Daily News. [View article]

NYPD TRACS Boats Detect Radiation (WCBS-TV News, NY) The New York City Police Department “is dramatically stepping up its war against seaborne terrorist threats” with the use of “a ‘TRACS’ boat”—“a $1 million lean speedboat” that “has the unique capacity to detect even the most minute traces of radiation to prevent one of the city’s top security nightmares—the smuggling of radioactive material that could be used to make a dirty bomb,” reports CBS. “… This is one of two boats of its kind in use by the NYPD” and “looks like any other NYPD launch” to blend in with other patrol boats. “Ultimately the city will have 10 TRACS boats.” [View article]

NYPD Hires New Antiterrorism ‘Scholar in Residence’ (USA Today) Marc Sageman is the new “terrorism guru for the New York Police Department,” reports the Associated Press. Sageman is “billed by the NYPD as its first-ever ‘scholar in residence,’” and his assignment is “to teach terrorism workshops to investigators and be a sounding board for a team of NYPD analysts formed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to assess future threats against the city.… Sageman’s residency … began in May and will last a year, with a private foundation paying his $180,000 salary.… Sageman’ latest book [is] ‘Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-first Century.’” [View article]

State Terror Liaison Officers Watch for ‘Suspicious Activity’ (Denver Post) “Hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and even utility workers have been trained and recently dispatched as ‘Terrorism Liaison Officers’ in Colorado and a handful of other states to hunt for ‘suspicious activity’—and are reporting their findings into secret government databases.…” reports the Denver Post. “‘Suspicious activity’ is broadly defined in [liaison officer] training as behavior that could lead to terrorism: taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value, making measurements or notes, espousing extremist beliefs or conversing in code.” [View article]

Washington, DC, Adds to Surveillance System (Los Angeles Times) Twenty-one “streaming video feeds from 4,775 surveillance cameras around the nation’s capital are projected across three screens and monitored at all hours,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (See the May 2 newsletter.) “… the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency can monitor video from four city agencies—covering streets, schools, housing projects, parks and roads—for threats and other nefarious activities.… Soon, [Mayor Adrian] Fenty hopes, the system will include feeds from 5,625 cameras run by eight agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department.” [View article]

New Jersey Works on 9/11 Curriculum (Newark, NJ, Star-Ledger) New Jersey on July 2 kicked “off a yearlong effort to develop curriculum and resources for teachers faced with a dual challenge of teaching the history and context of the terrorist attacks in communities that witnessed them,” reports the Star-Ledger. Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, who was chairman of the 9/11 Commission, addressed the initial conference. He mentioned the work of the commission and the “widespread blame meted out for security lapses and policy failures [but] also implored [the educators] to tell students about the courage and action that arose from the attacks.” [View article]

Private-Sector News

Five IT Companies Fight Cyber-Terror (Network World) The “Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet … is a nonprofit organization created by Cisco, IBM, Intel, Juniper and Microsoft to address what it calls multi-product security threats,” reports Network World. The consortium will promote “faster responses to threats” and “let vendors and customers work together on global IT security threats and resolve them in a government-neutral way.” [View article]

Big Bucks in Govt. Biometrics (Government Executive) “Private companies and lobbyists … see major national security benefits, as well as the potential for big bucks, in helping agencies verify individuals’ identity,” reports Government Executive. “Federal programs like the one created by Real ID are being promoted by, and helping to boost, an industry that specializes in producing identity documents and collecting biometrics such as fingerprints and iris scans. Real ID does not have a biometrics requirement, but some industry officials think that it eventually will. The estimated value of potential contracts to implement so-called federal identity-solutions programs has more than doubled since 2006, rising from $890 million to $2 billion this year.” [View article]

Dual-Benefit Solutions

New York City Wireless Network Connects Agencies (New York Times) New York City’s “new $500 million high-speed wireless secure data network … known as Nycwin, was built by Northrop Grumman and by summer’s end will include about 400 cellular antennas covering 95 percent of the city,” reports the New York Times. City agencies will “use network-connected hand-held devices and tablet computers to increase efficiency and flexibility: Soon, police officers will be able to view photographs of suspects from their cars, fire chiefs will be able to watch live video of fires taken from traffic helicopters above, and housing inspectors will be capable of looking up building plans while on location.… The need for a shared and secure network has been a priority since at least Sept. 11, 2001, when police and fire officials could not communicate at the World Trade Center because their radios operated on different frequencies. Though Nycwin does not yet handle voice calls, it sends data about 50 times faster than the networks now used by emergency workers and lets all city departments share information more easily.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

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. Security Specialist Course (July 15-18, Springfield, VA; August 19-22, Huntsville, AL) This course teaches the security specialist how to properly protect classified information (including intelligence information related to the terrorist threat) in accordance with Executive Order 12958 and Information Security Oversight Office Directive One and addresses additional areas of personnel security, information security, and information systems security. [View course website] Disaster Animal Response Training (August 15-17, San ***, CA; August 25-27, Phoenix; October 7-9, Everett, WA; October 24-26, Salt Lake City; November 7-9, Leesburg, VA) The Humane Society University course familiarizes participants with disasters and provides the background necessary to become effective emergency animal relief responders. The class includes two days of mixed classroom and hands-on instruction and a long half-day of specialized tabletop exercises. [View course website]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) (July 21-24; Washington, DC) Attendees of this event will gain a clear understanding of key biometric objectives and take home a series of proven methods, processes, and approaches for achieving desired results from their biometric initiatives. They will hear about real biometric applications and best practices from those who have successfully implemented biometric systems in government. [View conference website] Implementing Privacy Protections in Government Data Mining (July 24-25; Washington, DC) The Homeland Security Department’s Privacy Office is presenting a public workshop to bring together academic, policy, and technology experts to explore the privacy impacts of government data mining, methods of validating the accuracy and effectiveness of data-mining models and rules, and the role of anonymization tools, automated audit controls, and other privacy-protective strategies. Panelists will discuss the best practices for government data mining. [View event website] 3rd System of Systems Conference (August 11-12; Gaithersburg, MD) The conference will stimulate scientific, technical, and professional interest in systems of systems and bring together members of the system-of-systems community including acquisition professionals, program managers, scientists, engineers, and policy makers spanning government, academia, and industry and provide a forum to share experiences, best practices, and research in the management, engineering, and support of system-of-systems solutions. [View event website] 2nd Annual Missouri Conference on Coordinated School & College Safety & Security (August 14-15; Branson, MO) The conference will feature lessons from Breslan and Columbine and workshops on topics such as school shootings, surveillance cameras, bullying, and gangs. [View event website] 2008 Homeland Security Symposium and Exhibition (September 9-10; Arlington, VA) The conference will cover new directions in protecting infrastructure systems, FEMA policy and management, presidential candidates’ vision for homeland security, immigration, procurement, and small business. [View event website] 2008 Safe and Secure Schools: Superintendents Lead the Way (October 8-10; Chicago) This conference, designed for school system superintendents, security directors, and teams, will show through in-depth conversations and practical advice how to effectively lead a public school system that is both open and secure and how to best communicate to the community that all children are safe at school. [View conference website] Virginia Hazardous Materials Conference and Expo (October 13-17; Hampton, VA) This event, sponsored by the Virginia Association of Hazardous Materials Response Specialists in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, features over 60 educational workshops and an exhibition area featuring the latest products and technology for the hazardous materials industry. [View event website] American Public Health Assn. Annual Meeting & Expo (October 25-29; San Diego) This year’s theme is “public health without borders.” The meeting will address current and emerging health science, policy, and practice issues in an effort to prevent disease and promote health. [View event website] U.S. EPA Emergency Preparedness and Prevention & Hazmat Spills Conference (October 26-29; Richmond, VA) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presents an all-hazards conference for government and industry with education, training, and networking. [View event website] (October 28-30; San Antonio) The conference will address emergency planning, prevention, and response in the energy and maritime industries, including oil and hazmat spills, environmental concerns, port security, and marine fire and salvage. [View event website] Fourth NBC International Conference & Exhibition (October 28-30; Brno, Czech Republic) The conference will cover both military and civil response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents, discussing the strategic and practical issues and challenges. [View event website]