Editor’s notes

The economy has been bad - that’s no secret. Today, I confirmed that economic factors have impacted the security industry’s largest association, ASIS International, and in late June the organization laid off some of its staff.
I spoke with Eileen Smith, vice president of marketing for ASIS, and she confirmed the layoff event in June. [...]

As it turns out, CFATS legislation may not be “dead” after all. Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee unanimously voted to approve an amendment to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (H.R. 2868).
The amendment would extend the existing Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards by three years to October 4, 2013 and [...]

Back in May, the Government Accountability Office issued a report on the threats facing the nation’s cruise lines. While officials maintain there haven’t been any credible evidence threatening cruise ships, the GAO found that cruise ships remain high-prestige symbolic targets for terrorists. I had an opportunity to interview Charlie Mandigo, director of fleet security [...]

Last year we conducted a survey asking our readers what risks they were most concerned about. And, nearly half (49 percent) of you responded that workplace violence topped the list.
“With the domestic issues we have in this country, both economically and financially, concerns about workplace violence far outweighs and is more prevalent than threats [...]

There were riots in the streets of Oakland, Calif. last night following an involuntary manslaughter conviction of a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer for shooting a 22-year-old unarmed black man on January 1, 2009.
That sentence carries a maximum four-year sentence.
But some in Oakland expected a tougher penalty for the former police officer, [...]

Full-body scanners supposedly make people nervous. And that makes sense. Individuals don’t tend to like having their bodies exposed, in any form, especially to strangers. However, a new book, Skating on Stilts: Why We Aren’t Stopping Tomorrow’s Terrorism, tackles the “real” reason the TSA hasn’t been able to deploy full-body scanners, despite the fact that [...]

Once in a while, I go to YouTube to check out what kind of security-related videos might be making its way through the cybersphere. But with the upcoming holiday, I decided to narrow my search to see what kind of Fourth of July videos might be up there. I found several public service announcements from [...]

Guns issues are always a hot topic but they’re about to get even hotter. On June 28, the Supreme Court ruled that cities and states must abide by the Second Amendment and cannot restrict individuals from owning guns. In a 5-4 vote, the justices determined it’s unconstitutional for states to ban individuals from possessing firearms. [...]

The Department of Homeland Security has reached several milestones recently. I just received a press release that DHS now checks 100 percent of passengers flying domestically and internationally against government watch lists through the Transportation Security Administration’s Secure Flight program. When I mentioned this to my colleagues, they nearly in unison expressed surprise that this [...]

I just finished listening to the Webcast of John Pistole’s second round of committee hearings, this one before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (you can watch too, just click on the ‘view archive webcast’ link).
It’s looking pretty good for Pistole, I must say. The chairman of the committee, Sen. Joe [...]