Amtrak

I'm getting a little burned out by all the public discussion regarding whole body imaging technology and the TSA changing its pat-down procedures. I recently wrote this story about the National Opt-Out Day protest efforts for our Newswire, and it appears that the protests didn't cause security delays (or didn't at Logan Airport anyway). Frankly, I'm really sick of reading and writing about this stuff, so I'm not going to, but I did want to mention an important aviation security milestone that was reached this week.

I received this press release from the Department of Homeland Security stating that 100 percent of airline passengers on flights within or bound for the United States are being checked against government watchlists.

“The threats we face in the aviation sector are real and evolving, and we must confront them with strong and dynamic security measures,” said TSA Administrator John Pistole, in a statement. “Secure Flight bolsters our efforts to be more intelligence-driven and risk-based in our approach to aviation security. Our industry partners’ strong commitment to security was critical to reaching the full implementation of this vital counterterrorism program ahead of schedule.”

Hopefully this effort will contribute to the TSA being more informed about what passengers need additional screening. Don't forget, airlines were previously held responsible for checking passengers against government watchlists, so hopefully putting this task under the TSA will streamline the system and help make sure passengers who pose threats are more easily identified.

While I'm very disappointed not to be attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Denver, Colo. this week, there seems to be some great news coming out of the conference on the first day.

For instance, I just got a press release from DHS regarding a speech given by Secretary Janet Napolitano (I missed an opportunity to see Napolitano?! Curses for the conference being so close to ASIS). On the bright side, it seems as if Napolitano and I are very much on the same page because the majority of her speech was about DHS's commitment to improving information sharing with state and local law enforcement through...guess what?

Yep, you guessed right: Fusion centers (in case you doubt my obsession, I mean, commitment to the topic of fusion centers, just refer here, here, here and here).

In addition, she also discussed how DHS will promote fusion centers moving forward:

Secretary Napolitano also outlined the ways DHS is strengthening these partnerships—from creating a new program management office to coordinate the Department’s support of fusion centers to collaborating on the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) initiative that trains frontline officers across the country to identify and document activities possibly linked to terrorism-related crime.

And, to follow more news coming out of the show you can, of course, turn to Twitter: #IACP