Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

See the following -

Shutdown Of DHS Chemical-Security Program Prompts Strong Words

Douglas P. Guarino | Global Security Newswire | October 4, 2013

The Homeland Security Department's chemical-security program ceased most operations this week as a result of the federal shutdown, prompting concerns about how the government will improve security in the wake of this year's fatal explosion in Texas. Read More »

Storming the Government Castle

Open source software seems like a perfect fit for government IT projects. Developers can take advantage of existing code bases and, it's hoped, mold that code to their needs quickly and at less cost than developing code from scratch. Over the last few years, governments in the U.S. and abroad have been more closely embracing open source. However, agencies at all levels of U.S. government are still wary of open source and can be reluctant to adopt it. It's still not easy for government projects to use open source or for developers employed in the public sector to contribute their work to open source project...

Superbugs Spread Across U.S.

Brian Hughes | Washington Examiner | October 6, 2014

As Americans worry about Ebola, the swiftly spreading virus that has traveled from West Africa to Texas, a more silent killer poses a greater danger...Drug-resistant bacteria killed 23,000 people in America last year and caused 2 million illnesses...

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The Border Patrol Wants To Arm Drones

Philip Bump | The Atlantic Wire | July 2, 2013

Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation from the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Patrol indicate that the agency is close to finalizing payload standards for its drone aircraft. Among the things the CBP might want to use in its unmanned aircraft: "non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize" targets. Read More »

The West Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Was Not A Freak Event

Staff Writer | Scientific American | July 6, 2013

Greenpeace has listed 483 chemical facilities in the U.S. where 100,000 or more would be at risk from explosions Read More »

Too Many Agencies Rely On Costly, Ineffective Training

Brittany Ballenstedt | Nextgov | September 18, 2012

A new report by the Government Accountability Office points out that many federal training programs are duplicative, costly and/or ineffective, and that governmentwide virtual training may be agencies’ best solution to centralizing training and saving money. Read More »

U.S. Open Source Policy Seeks to Leverage Code Reuse

George Leopold | Enterprise Tech | August 12, 2016

The Obama administration has released a new federal open-source policy for improving access to software developed by or for federal agencies. The new policy released this week by Tony Scott, the Obama administration's CIO, "requires new custom-developed source code developed specifically by or for the federal government to be made available for sharing and re-use across all federal agencies"...

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What Happened With The HealthCare.Gov Security Breach

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | September 4, 2014

Hackers breached the HealthCare.gov system in July, according to officials at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security. Federal officials had no evidence of information being compromised, and it's unclear if HealthCare.gov was specifically targeted for the trove of personal and financial information on Americans that it contains...

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What Kind Of Problem Is The ACA Rollout For Liberalism?

Mike Konczal | Next New Deal | October 23, 2013

“This massive IT launch sure came in on time, under budget, and without headaches” is a statement that nobody has ever said. But even controlling for that, Healthcare.gov looks to be having a disastrous launch. Read More »

When It's At The Border, Your Data Is Fair Game — Even On Your Laptop

Philip Bump | The Atlantic Wire | September 10, 2013

Americans are protected from warrantless search in America — but not at the nation's borders. The imaginary line separating the United States from the rest of the world has become a critical demarcation for the privacy of the country's citizens, as new documents from the ACLU and the ongoing Snowden leaks make clear. Read More »

Will Different Medical Devices Call For Different Cyber Standards?

Whitney Blair Wyckoff | FedScoop | October 29, 2014

An increasing number of medical devices, from pacemakers to insulin pumps, include components that could open them to cyber vulnerabilities. So will the Food and Drug Administration start taking into account the differences in these devices as the agency evaluates premarket submissions?...

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