Center of Excellence

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is offering a little congressional support to a proposal to establish a homeland security graduate school at the National Defense University (NDU) at Washington’s Fort McNair. The vice chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and member of the Armed Services Committee added language to last week’s fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill (HR 1815) to “express the Sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security should establish” the National College of Homeland Security at NDU. (more…)

A 68−year−old Pennsylvania man was arrested on charges he tried to build a bomb and sell it to an agent he thought was a member of al Qaeda, officials said Monday, May 23. Ronald Allen Grecula of Bangor, PA, was arrested Friday, May 20 in Houston, TX, during a meeting with undercover FBI agents, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. During that meeting, Grecula indicated willingness to build and sell an explosive device that was to be used against Americans, officials alleged in court documents. He has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically al Qaeda,

The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday, May 20, moved closer to approving an experiment to manipulate the genes of the smallpox virus for the first time since the disease was eradicated 25 years ago. The experiment, one of several proposals about smallpox that advanced Friday, is intended to speed the development of tests to detect the virus and of drugs that could treat it, officials said. The action was prompted in part by concerns that the virus could be reintroduced to the public, either accidentally or through terrorism. A spokesperson said the agency’s governing body approved the experiment “in principle.” (more…)

The government has revoked the license of the Pennsylvania pilot in charge of the small plane that strayed to within three miles of the White House on May 11, forcing the panicked evacuation of thousands of people from the executive mansion, Capitol and Supreme Court. (more…)

Citing “serious homeland security and public safety implications,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is urging the public to report anyone displaying or distributing counterfeit law enforcement badges. The warning comes in the wake of an ICE seizure of more than 1,300 counterfeit police badges in New York earlier this week. According to ICE, the badges resembled those of “many different federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies around the nation, including those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the New York Police Department.” ICE said its agents have begun an investigation “to determine the intended recipients of these badges and to track down any counterfeit badges that may have fallen into the wrong hands.” The agency is asking the public to report any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline, operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The number is 1-866-DHS-2ICE.

Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw said he was standing in his carport outside his house in northwest Washington on Tuesday when he saw two F-16 fighter jets circling a small single-engine plane and forcing it away from the downtown area of the capital. The White House and Capitol were evacuated because of the encounter with the aircraft, which news accounts said was apparently provoked by a private pilot who wandered into restricted airspace around the city. The evacuations were called off and an all-clear signal given moments later when the intruder was identified as non-hostile. (more…)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office for Domestic Preparedness and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security offer the first Homeland Security Master’s Degree in the United States. The MA program is offered at no cost to eligible local, state, and federal officials. The degree is fully accredited and provides leaders with the knowledge and skills to:

* Help mayors and governors make improvements in Homeland Security preparedness, by conducting “real world,” actionable policy development work.

Join your fellow technical and workforce development instructors across our state to discover new and innovative ways to improve IT education. This one-day event features several industry speakers in various disciplines of IT to share the impacts, challenges, growth and demands of technology in their businesses.

The Transportation Security Administration announced last week that it will be launching a $20 million program, called the Port Security Training Exercise Program (PortSTEP), later this month to test the ability of ports and port communities to respond to terrorist attacks undertaken from the water. (more…)

If a Web posting Monday is authentic, followers of Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are willing to attack the White House or the Vatican if their leader so orders, The Associated Press reported. (more…)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to include more outsiders in its planning, according to a new report. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report posted online Monday concludes the department has made “considerable progress” in its planning efforts but the involvement of outside stakeholders has been limited. (more…)