Google=NSA, Drills, Raytheon, Homeland Security, Boeing +

CIA enlists Google's help for spy work (Google is NSA/NSA is Google)

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3652494.ece

Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects.
Agencies such as the National Security Agency have bought servers on which Google-supplied search technology is used to process information gathered by networks of spies around the world.
Google is also providing the search features for a Wikipedia-style site, called Intellipedia, on which agents post information about their targets that can be accessed and appended by colleagues, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The contracts are just a number that have been entered into by Google's 'federal government sales team', that aims to expand the company's reach beyond its core consumer and enterprise operations.In the most innovative service, for which Google equipment provides the core search technology, agents are encouraged to post intelligence information on a secure forum, which other spies are free to read, edit, and tag - like the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Depending on their clearance, agents can log on to Intellipedia and gain access to three levels of info - top secret, secret and sensitive, and sensitive but unclassified. So far 37,000 users have established accounts on the service, and the database now extends to 35,000 articles, according to Sean Dennehy, chief of Intellipedia development for the CIA.

Beyond Patriot: The MEADS Program SD&D Phase

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/34b-development-contract-signed-for-meads-0639/?camp=newsletter&src=did&type=textlink

The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS program aims to replace Patriot missiles in the United States, the older Hawk system in Germany, and Italy’s even older Nike Hercules missiles. MEADS will be designed to kill enemy aircraft, cruise missiles and UAVs within its reach, while providing next-generation point defense capabilities against ballistic missiles. MBDA’s SAMP/T project would be its main competitor, but MEADS aims to offer improved mobility and wider compatibility with other air defense systems, in order to create an linchpin for its customers’ next-generation air defense arrays.

Public health drill conducted at church (TX)

http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b551fff140d13404

ANGLETON — Terrorist activities, pandemic influenza and disease outbreaks such as smallpox or meningitis — these events that affect public health are a concern to everyone.A local program was conducted Saturday for those seeking to be involved in protecting themselves and their families.The Brazoria County Health Department, in conjunction with Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, had a three-hour community health preparedness drill Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Angleton, 237 E. Locust.Community participants walked through the planned preparedness activities.No training was necessary and participants received a token of appreciation. Families and individuals learned ways the public health system would operate if a mass medication distribution is ever needed.....

Responders test coordination skills (DICE Update)

http://www.fcw.com/online/news/152076-1.html

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies converged in southern Virginia last week to demonstrate and test the interoperability of the communications systems that will need to work together for the agency’s disaster response plans to succeed. FEMA has expanded its repertoire of scripted response plans, from 44 in 2006 to more than 240 now. It has also increased the number of agencies it coordinates with in creating scripted scenarios for such exercises, from four to 31, said Glenn Cannon, assistant administrator of FEMA's Disaster Operations Directorate. The exercise, hosted by the Northern Command’s Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) at Fort Monroe, Va., is an example of one of several ways that FEMA and its coordinating agencies have sought to improve their performance. Other measures include a national communications plan and the National Response Framework. “We don’t want to wait until we are in the middle of an event to call our friends at DOD and say, ‘You know, now we need some help,’ ” Cannon said. “This exercise is all about how we pull together the capabilities in a whole government approach to a disaster,” Gen. Victor Renuart Jr., Northcom’s commander, said during the event

Emergency Personnel In Toronto Hospital Undergo Live Mass Casualty Simulation (update)http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010493046

Toronto, Canada (AHN)-- It was scene straight out of an emergency worker's worst nightmare.
Picture more than a hundred wounded people running and screaming frantically as a "dirty bomb" explosion triggers a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 401 - Canada's busiest highway - with plumes of radioactive dust rising in the air.
If you were a nurse or a doctor, what would you do?
About 100 allied health professionals, security, social work and other crisis support planners, as well as hospital administrators, risk managers and educators participated in Saturday's live mass-casualty exercise designed to test the emergency preparedness plans of Ontario hospitals and their communities

Space radiation could rule out Mars mission
But experts say further research may produce new ways to handle the risks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23885949/

Dangerous levels of radiation in space could bar astronauts from a mission to Mars and limit prolonged activity on the moon, experts now caution.
However, more research could reveal ways to handle the risks that radiation poses to space missions.....The magnetic field of Earth protects humanity from radiation in space that can damage or kill cells. Once beyond this shield, people become far more vulnerable....

A return to the moon (Hah! yeah sure, like a man went there 40 years ago)

Boeing Rotary UAV Aims To Set Records

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/aw033108p1.xml&headline=Boeing%20Rotary%20UAV%20Aims%20To%20Set%20Records

The record attempt flights will include a hover out of ground effect at 15,000 ft. and an 18-20-hr. flight with a 300.-lb payload. Together they form the final milestones of the Phase 1 demonstration which began in August 2003. Supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the tests are intended to prove that a purpose-built, clean-sheet large vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air system (VUAS) can truly go the distance compared to other rotary UAVs that are generally derived from existing manned helicopters.

NSC, Cantel Medical to Market Pandemic Flu Defense Kits

http://www.ohsonline.com/articles/60318/

Cantel Medical Corp. (Little Falls, N.J.) and the National Safety Council (Itasca, Ill.) announced a joint marketing and distribution agreement to help businesses and other organizations prepare for the threat of a flu pandemic and similar infectious diseases. Under the agreement, Cantel, a provider of infection prevention and control products to the medical and dental markets through its Saf-T-Pak and Crosstex business units, will manufacture NSC/Saf-T-Pak co-branded Flu Defense Kits and other product configurations that will include Crosstex face masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, and surface disinfecting products.
Cantel and NSC will co-market these products, along with providing planning and educational services, to more than 50,000 NSC members that represent a broad spectrum of industries and more than 8.5 million employees....

New strategies for new disasters (update)
Events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have brought disaster to ITs doorstep. But many companies are still applying old strategies to new disaster scenarios. March 31, 2008 (Computerworld) Here's a tricky question: Could your company operate during a flu pandemic?
Nearly 3,000 financial services organizations tested their answers to that question with a disaster drill last September. The exercise showed that the financial sector could continue to operate during a pandemic, but it also revealed stress points throughout the industry. For instance, many recovery plans laid the groundwork for employees to telecommute -- a smart move in a scenario that could leave thousands homebound -- but the existing infrastructure couldn't handle the increased traffic.
"When you have [so many more] people working from home, the Internet is going to slow to a crawl, and that's if it's even recoverable in all parts of the country," says Nick Benvenuto, managing director and global head of business continuity at Protiviti Inc., a risk management consulting firm in Menlo Park, Calif. ...

Homeland security a fishing boon

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2008/03/31/5149086-sun.html

Starting next month, when the 2008 fishing charter season opens, it's expected anti-terrorism patrols will reel in U.S. fishing boats that cross into Canada over the invisible border on the lakes and return to American waters.

DHS Rolls Out Final Passport Rules to Boost Security

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11571950/
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department announced Friday the final rule for the land and sea portion of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), a core 9/11 Commission recommendation for strengthening U.S. national security.According to DHS, "The WHTI final rule requires travelers to present a passport or other approved secure document denoting citizenship and identity for all land and sea travel into the United States."The document requirements will be effective June 1, 2009."We are on course to implement and enforce the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative which is an important step forward in securing the homeland," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in a statement.

Raytheon Co. Lands FBI's Top Spy Chief

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/03/raytheon-co-lan.html

Raytheon Co., the multibillion-dollar defense contractor, today announced it has hired Timothy Bereznay — a 30-year FBI veteran and former FBI counter-intelligence chief — to run the company's "FBI strategy" in the Intelligence and Information Systems division in Garland, Texas.

Raptor = Satellite Killer?

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/raptor-satellit.html

F-22 Raptor stealth fighters were originally designed for dogfights with Soviet MiGs. But they've been promoted as everything from IED-jammers to bombers to supersonic spies. There's one role, however, that's eluded the gazillion-dollar jet: satellite killer.
Until now, that is. Our pals at Ares report:

'Al Qaeda' Under Every Bed, NEADS, Israel Drill, +

* This almost defies parody, bogeymen in caves - elusive to a trillion dollar military apparatus,...soon every American will look like an 'Al Qaeda' operative, this is even too stupid for a SNL skit. Next, let's have kids turn in their parents if they say bad things about the Government...

Al Qaeda recruits ‘western' fighters: CIA
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=410876
Passengers wait to pass through a security checkpoint in Texas. CIA Director Michael Hayden said Al Qaeda was training 'operatives that wouldn’t attract your attention if they were going through the customs ...

WASHINGTON -- Al Qaeda is training fighters that "look western" and could easily cross U.S. borders without attracting attention, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Sunday.
The militant Islamist group has turned Pakistan's remote tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan into a safe haven, and is using it to plot further attacks against the United States, Mr. Hayden said.
"They are bringing operatives into that region for training -- operatives that wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles (airport outside Washington) with you when you were coming back from overseas," Mr. Hayden said during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press.
"(They) look western (and) would be able to come into this country without attracting the kinds of attention that others might," Hayden said, without offering further details.
The United States went to war in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities in order to to crush al Qaeda and hunt down its chief, Osama bin Laden, who Hayden confirmed was still believed by the United States to be hiding in the rugged Afghan border area.....

Northeast Air Defense Sector Receives New Commander (NEADS)http://readme.readmedia.com/news/show/Northeast-Air-Defense-Sector-Receives-New-Commander/117873

The current vice commander of the Northeast Air Defense Sector, Col. John Bartholf, will become it's next commander in a ceremony at 2 p.m., April 4 at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, N.Y.
Col. Dawne Deskins, currently the deputy commander of support at NEADS, was selected by the New York Air National Guard to become the next vice commander of the unit. Colonel Deskins will assume vice commander duties during the April 4 change of command ceremony as well.
The vice commander's job is held by a member of the New York Air National Guard (NYANG), while the commander is an Active Duty Air Force Officer.
Colonel Bartholf was selected by leadership at NEADS’ higher-headquarters, located at First Air Force at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. He will replace the outgoing commander, Col. Clark Speicher, who will retire in a separate ceremony April 5 at 3 p.m. at Griffiss.
According to First Air Force, the competition for this coveted position was stiff. The senior officer applicants were top-quality Airmen with many accolades and accomplishments to their credit.
NEADS manages air defense in the United States east of the Mississippi.
The future of NEADS is bright, Col. Speicher said. As the current NEADS vice commander, Col. Bartholf has the requisite experience and demonstrated leadership to lead the organization into the future as an indispensable partner of the U.S. Theater Air Control System as we work collectively to protect our citizens from threats of all types.
In August 2003, Col. Bartholf was selected to be the NEADS operations group commander and served in that capacity for over a year. April 2005, he was selected to be the NEADS vice commander.
He deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq, as the deputy operations group commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing where he earned a Bronze Star. The colonel is a command pilot with more than 2,700 flight hours.
In 1995, Col. Deskins separated from active duty Air Force and joined NEADS and the NYANG. At NEADS, in a variety of positions including Mission Crew Commander, flight commander, assistant director, Sector Operations Control Center and chief, Exercise and Analysis. Col. Deskins currently serves on the Sector Battle Staff as a NORAD Battle Commander.
NEADS is one of two North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) air defense sectors in the Continental United States (CONUS) and reports directly to First Air Force and the CONUS NORAD region, both collocated at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
NEADS is responsible for the aerospace defense of the eastern United States and supports NORAD’s Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment and NORTHCOM’s homeland defense missions.....

Barak authorizes nationwide emergency drill (Iran prep)http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3525509,00.html

Defense establishment, government and cabinet all to participate in exercise simulating crisis situation as part of upcoming national emergency drill to be held in April. Drill part of implementation of lessons from Second Lebanon War
Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized on Sunday evening the plans for a national emergency drill, which is scheduled to take place in two weeks time.

The exercise, which will be led by Barak's deputy Matan Vilnai, was conceived as part of the lessons learned following the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and will incorporate all government offices and public bodies.

The drill will simulate a series of emergency situations and require those participating – ranging from localmunicipalities, schools, firefighters and paramedics, the IDF Home Front Command and even the cabinet itself – to respond to the developing events.

The Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv took part in a drill simulating a chemical missile attack several days ago.

Both Home Front Command and Health Ministry officials stressed the importance of preparing for any possible scenario


Russia to Hold Strategic Aviation Exercise (update)
http://www.plenglish.com/Article.asp?ID=%7B93973A32-D629-4458-8C20-8AED6EBFCA09%7D&language=EN

Moscow, Mar 30 (Prensa Latina) Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers will conduct military exercises in northern Russia from March 31 to April 4, a military source confirmed Sunday.
Russian Air Force spokesman Colonel Alexandr Drovishevski said the maneuvers will include high-risk flight drills.

Russian expert warns of bird flu pandemic
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080328/102434951.html

Today is my Birthday! I am sipping pink champagne, my favorite, My birthday wish? Not to need a blog like this anymore....

NGA Eying Power Grid, Drills, Homeland Security Watch

U.S. spy agency seeks data on power grid (NGA)

http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Briefing/2008/03/28/us_spy_agency_seeks_data_on_power_grid/7981/

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- The agency that manages data from U.S. spy satellites is exploring ways to map the nation's entire electric grid as part of efforts to protect infrastructure.The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wants to create an "electric energy infrastructure dataset," including the geographical locations of all transmission lines, power plants, substations, and generating units, to show the way power flows through the system and where the control points are, the agency said this week in procurement documents....
Regional Disaster Exercise (ND)

http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=17028

A terrorist attack in Williston was played out on March 27th on paper as responders from across the region gathered in Minot for a Region Response Exercise.The exercise allows law enforcement, fire departments, ambulance services, hospital and health care responders to access planning and resources in the event of a massive disaster."When we start in the planning process, tabletops work to identify need. So we can sit back and say `This plan is here, but does it work?` and by playing it out in a tabletop we can say `Yes, this plan works` or `Hey this plan needs some tweaking or maybe we need to have some agreement in place,` " says Alan Hanson, the Fire Chief in Williston.The state will compile information from the discussion and issue a "Development After Action" report within the next few months.

Counties practice pandemic flu response (IN)

Exercise allows officials to discuss roles, responsibilities

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/News01/803280349

PLYMOUTH -- Efforts continued Wednesday to make sure officials in Marshall, St. Joseph, Pulaski, Fulton and Elkhart counties are ready if and when a pandemic flu hits Michiana.Officials from the Marshall County Health Department and local hospital, security, American Red Cross, animal health and elsewhere gathered Wednesday afternoon to participate via telephone with the other counties in a pandemic flu tabletop exercise.Each group worked through modules provided by the Purdue Homeland Security Institute to test area preparedness. The three-hour exercise discussed roles and responsibilities, how local plans reflect the means to administer limited amounts of vaccine and to list issues that could include a medical surge capacity, alternative care sites and home care for those infected.

Only a drill: Emergency responders plan simulation

http://www.evesun.com/news/stories/2008-03-28/3979/Only-a-drill-Emergency-responders-plan-simulation/

NORWICH – A group of about 70 professionals and volunteers will participate in a simulated emergency test set to take place in central Chenango County sometime during the week of April 6-12.
The exact time, place and date are being withheld intentionally in order to make the drill of local responders as authentic as possible. The event will serve to test the reactionary skills of state, county and municipal fire, police and emergency management officials, Chenango Memorial Hospital, the Chenango County Department of Public Health and a handful of other organizations...

A 'hospital' that's run entirely by robots!

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=40806 Washington, Mar 28 : The new 5 million dollars medical and surgical simulation training centre located at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in East Baltimor, which opened in March, has some very unique new staff members - robots

DARPA wants a quantum entanglement revolution

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/26422

Microfluidic Systems to Show Automated Biological Agent Detection Technology to U.S. House of Representatives http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080328/aqf059.html?.v=34

* It's time to get out of the US...ASAP!

Daniel Webster College Teaches Homeland Security

http://www.nhpr.org/node/15638
Daniel Webster College in Nashua is breaking new ground.
It's the first college in New England to offer an undergraduate degree in homeland security.
The academic trend to educate students in the field of counterterrorism is growing nationwide.
But critics say colleges are capitalizing on a fad and fear

Ft. Monroe DICE, Pandemic Drills, + News

Exercise tests communication in event of domestic crisis

http://www.wvec.com/news/military/stories/wvec_military_032708_ft_monroe_exericse.73f7166.html

HAMPTON -- This week at Fort Monroe, 150 participants from 32 federal, state and local agencies are practicing for the next big domestic crisis.
The DICE, short for Department of Defense Interoperability Communications Exercise, is designed to test new software and other communications systems in a realistic tactical setting. Basically, it will see if first responders and various layers of government can talk to each other in a time crunch.
“Let’s make sure now when we’re not responding to an incident that we can communicate with each other, which means we can all do our jobs better and help people out,” said Captain Casey Collins (USN), Joint Task Force Civil Support Chief of Staff.
It could be a terrorist attack like 9-11. It could be a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Curt Shaffer, Assistant to the Hampton City Manager, believes vital lessons were learned from both catastrophes.
“Our capabilities are vastly improved, but we have a long way to go,” he said.
The DICE is being staged by the Fort Monroe-based Joint Task Force Civil Support.
The group falls under United States Northern Command, and was created in the wake of 9-11 to protect the United States homeland and support civil authorities during domestic emergencies.
Northcom’s Commander, Air Force General Victor Renuart, says the nation’s communications systems are “light years” ahead of where they were a few years ago. He says the country is safer, yet challenges remain.
“We have to find a way to integrate local responders with state responders with federal responders,” said Renuart.
While training like the DICE is important, Joint Task Force Civil Support also responds to real-world situations; most recently sending a planning team with expertise in chemical, biological, nuclear and high-yield explosives to last fall’s massive southern California wildfires.

Exercise to test 'dirty bomb' response (Toronto CA)

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/357101

A staged exercise will be held on Saturday to test the ability of the Toronto area emergency system to deal with a fictional dirty bomb explosion.
The simulation, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., will involve both the Ajax-Pickering Hospital and Scarborough Centenary Hospital east of Toronto.
The goal is to see how health care professionals manage a large patient load resulting from a dirty bomb explosion on Highway 401.
The fictional scenario will involve crash victims and hundreds of people who panic when they hear that a van crashed while carrying a crude bomb that created a plume of radioactive dust.
Organizers will watch to see how hospital staff deal with a large influx of people looking to be checked for radiation exposure, among other issues.
The "actors" for the exercise will primarily be students from Centennial College, George Brown College, The Michener Institute, the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.

Public Health conducts epidemic drill (WI)

http://www.forestcitysummit.com/articles/2008/03/27/latest_forest_city_news/latestnews03.txt
SUMMIT PHOTO BY BOB FENSKE Volunteers dispense "medication" during a drill conducted by the Winnebago County Public Health Department in Forest City Thursday.

FOREST CITY - The streets near the Forest City Senior Citizen Center were filled with vehicles and pedestrians Thursday afternoon as residents tried to secure medication needed to combat a serious epidemic. Yes, IT WAS JUST a drill, but it was an important one."You hope you never have to have the real thing," said Winnebago County Public Health Director Jayne Shaffer, whose agency ran the drill, "but there's nothing more important than being prepared."The fact that the drill was held on a blustery day when snowflakes fell added authenticity to the drill that saw scores of volunteers dispense "medication" to hundreds of Forest City residents."We're not going to be able to pick the weather if the real thing happens," Shaffer said, "so we decided to go ahead with it."

Local exercise addresses mass-distribution of medicines (AK)

http://www.sitnews.us/0308news/032708/032708_stockpile.html

Ketchikan, Alaska - In cooperation with the State of Alaska Division of Public Health, public officials from Ketchikan and Southeast Alaska communities attended a "Strategic National Stockpile" tabletop exercise in Ketchikan on March 25th.
The purpose of the exercise was to discuss the receiving of pharmaceuticals and supplies should there be a need for mass-distribution of medicines in the event of pandemic influenza, a public health emergency, or other health related event where mass-distribution of pharmaceuticals would be necessary

Virtual Worlds Help Public Safety Officials Practice for Real-Life Threats

http://www.govtech.com/gt/261426?topic=117693

"The aim of the exercise was to see if the state could constantly train people in setting up emergency clinics," explained principal investigator Dr. Peter Yellowlees, a professor of psychiatry at UC-Davis, whose research interests include the use of virtual reality for health education on the Internet. "One big advantage is that they could do this training 24/7 from wherever they are, and you don't have to recruit patient volunteers."
Yellowlees isn't alone in seeing the potential of using virtual reality simulation to train first responders, medical personnel and emergency management officials. Across the country, researchers are exploring how simulations can augment training efforts. Much of the impetus is coming from the growing use of simulation in medical training. Most medical schools are incorporating simulation in their curricula and measuring its effectiveness.
Another driving force is the U.S. Department of Defense, which for years has been funding research about computer simulation for war fighting and medical purposes. Research to support military operations done by organizations such as the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center is being customized for homeland security exercises"

Preparing for a Plane Crash: Disaster Drill at Tucson International Airport

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8077320&nav=14RT

While authorities cannot always predict a terrorist attack; it's something they can't prepare for enough. On Wednesday emergency responders from all over Tucson gathered at Tucson International Airport for a mock plane crash that involved at least 150 participants. FBI agents, police, firefighters, medical technicians and others worked together to react to the near real 5 hour disaster drill.
Bodies were scattered all over the desert landscape along with debris from the plane. Volunteer victims participated by playing dead or faking serious injuries that were made to look real with make-up. First responders had to take care of the wounded victims and decide who would be sent to University Physician's Hospital, which also participated in the drill

Exercise in Audubon Park to include mock explosion (LA)
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/emergency_response_exercise_in.html

Introducing Iarpa! It's Like Darpa, But for Spies.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-04/st_alphageek

FEMA,USJFCOM, UAV/Robotics Watch, DHS Terror Scam, +

AP: FEMA preps for 'Nuclear attacks, invasions and suicide bombings in the United States' in abandoned town (Thanx to I.S.R.)

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/AP_New_Mexico_town_hosts_FEMA_0326.html
A once-abandoned town in the middle of the New Mexico desert now is victim to "more bombings than Jerusalem ... more terrorist attacks that Baghdad," the Associated Press reports.
A video report profiles Playas, NM, a full-scale training ground for Federal Emergency Management Agency classes that give law enforcement agencies experience dealing with all manners of disasters.
"Just a few years ago it was a ghost town abandoned after a large mining company pulled out," the AP's Rich Matthews reports. "Today, it's a training ground for the unthinkable: Nuclear attacks, invasions and suicide bombings in the United States."......

USJFCOM

Workshop looks at strengthening capabilities in the urban environment
http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/podcasts/2008/pod032508.html

U.S. Joint Forces Command’s Joint Concept Development and Experimentation Directorate’s Joint Urban Operations Office wrapped up a workshop in Alexandria, Va. last week co-sponsored with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
The "Strengthening Capability Workshop: Complex Operations in the Urban Environment" ran March 19-20 and addressed the use of "soft power" requiring civilian involvement and expertise to support the U.S. government’s future engagement in complex urban environments. Representatives from numerous U.S. government departments and NATO attended the event.
The term "soft power" applies to means of diplomacy, strategic communication, foreign assistance, civic action, economic reconstruction and development. A number of breakout discussions and panel discussions during the two-day workshop dealt with this concept.

Spy-in-the-sky drone sets sights on Miami

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1929797920080326?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

- Miami police could soon be the first in the United States to use cutting-edge, spy-in-the-sky technology to beef up their fight against crime.
A small pilotless drone manufactured by Honeywell International, capable of hovering and "staring" using electro-optic or infrared sensors, is expected to make its debut soon in the skies over the Florida Everglades.
If use of the drone wins Federal Aviation Administration approval after tests, the Miami-Dade Police Department will start flying the 14-pound (6.3 kg) drone over urban areas with an eye toward full-fledged employment in crime fighting.

Another view: time to consider the human dimension of using robots ...

http://www.pennwellblogs.com/mae/2008/03/another-view-time-to-consider-human.html

"Last month I posted a blog item headlined Autonomous arms race: gentlemen, start your robots, in which I took a university professor in Sheffield, England, named Noel Sharkey to task for views on military robotic technology he presented in a keynote address to the Royal United Services Institute.The gist was I believe robots are, and will be, valuable tools for military planners. Professor Sharkey, on the other hand, says not so fast; we need to take a closer look at the human issues of deploying military robotic technology before we go much farther down this road."

MiG-31 interceptors to hold live firing exercises in Siberia

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080325/102147896.html

MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - Up to 20 long-range interceptors will conduct launches of guided missiles during a tactical exercise in Siberia on Wednesday, a Russian Air Force spokesman said.
The live firing drills, involving MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors from an air regiment based in the Chita Region, will be held at the Telemba firing range.
"During the exercise, MiG-31 interceptors will fire missiles at airborne and ground targets at night and during the day," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said. "About 20 combat jets will participate in the drills."

NASA Awards Simulation and Software Support Contract

http://sev.prnewswire.com/aerospace-defense/20080326/DC1762426032008-1.html

NASA has awarded a five-year, $49 million contract to L3 Communications - Titan Group of Niceville, Fla., to provide simulation and software technology support at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.....

Infrastruct Security's Homeland Defense Division Addresses Security Issues Facing Critical Infrastructure http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/3/prweb797104.htm

"To mitigate the threat of individuals attacking a facility Infrastruct Security is introducing Silent Guardian, a Non-incendiary Directed Energy System (NiDES). The US Military uses this system to repel adversaries without causing harm. In over 10 years of Military use, this system has proven 100% effective. The deployment of a NiDES enables critical infrastructure facilities to respond immediately and effectively to adversaries seeking unauthorized access to the facility or restricted areas. The NiDES also operates safely in hazardous chemical environments. Whereas response with incendiary devices, such as a firearm, could inadvertently result in an explosion or other incident, the NiDES is intrinsically safe. The NiDES provides effective means of defending an attack without the risks associated with incendiary weapons, and it avoids unintentional casualties that may otherwise result from an incident response.
The TechnologySilent Guardian is a Directed Energy system that uses Non-incendiary millimeter wave technology and laser technologies to deliver security response at the speed of light. The power of this solution is in the provision for active, instantaneous response using precise, non-incendiary force, without the damage potential of kinetic weapons....

China's Space Program Could Bolster Country's Military, Japanese Analysts Say

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341989,00.html

TOKYO — China's evolving space development should be closely watched for its potential impact on the country's military buildup, a Japanese Defense Ministry think tank report said Thursday.
"It is likely that China will continue to actively engage in space development in the years ahead, given that such development serves as a vital means of achieving military competitiveness against the United States...and raising national prestige," the report compiled by the ministry's National Institute for Defense Studies said.
The East Asian Strategic Review 2008 said, "The organizations involved in China's space development program share strong ties with the People's Liberation Army and a large proportion of the satellites launched and operated by China are believed to be used for military purposes."
"Although China has consistently advocated a ban on the development of weapons in space, this (space development) may be just an attempt to put a check on the United States."

Homeland Security Department terror trucker training a waste, Rep. Weiner

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/26/2008-03-26_homeland_security_department_terror_truc-1.html

The Homeland Security Department has a secret weapon in the war on terror: truckers.
The federal agency has doled out $63million since 2004 to train truckers on how to spot a terrorist on the road or at a rest stop....

The Counter Terrorist Magazine to Sponsor GovSec, U.S. Law and Ready 2008

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/03/prweb798094.htm

Resarchers simulate the threat of a pandemic influenza

http://www.ptemag.com/pharmtecheurope/Latest+News/Resarchers-simulate-the-threat-of-a-pandemic-influ/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/503595?contextCategoryId=45298

Taiwan Invasion/China, CDC Pandemic, Drills, +

Taiwan Plans Drills Simulating China Invasion -AFP

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080325%5cACQDJON200803250343DOWJONESDJONLINE000110.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=Taiwan%20Plans%20Drills%20Simulating%20China%20Invasion%20-AFP

TAIPEI (AFP)--Taiwan's defense ministry Tuesday unveiled plans to hold annual war games simulating a Chinese invasion of the island, despite president-elect Ma Ying-jeou's pledge to ease tensions with Beijing.
According to draft plans, this year's war games will begin with a computerized drill in April and peak in September with a large-scale live-fire military exercise, the ministry said.
"The exercises are aimed to counter the growing Chinese communist threat," defense ministry spokeswoman Chi Yu-lan said, without providing further details....

See also: Pentagon Admits Mistaken Arms Shipment (Taiwan)

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080325/D8VKMPC80.html

CDC says pandemic drills hone decision-making tools (update)

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/mar2508exercise-jw.html

Mar 25, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – Recent pandemic influenza response exercises have helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) improve its tools for making policy decisions quickly, according to senior CDC officials.
Before a large-scale exercise conducted earlier this month, the agency set up a "planning cell" of leaders who were insulated from the need to respond immediately to events so they could think carefully about policy issues raised by the emergency, officials said. In the exercise, on Mar 11 and 12, the new group made a noticeable impact on the CDC's ability to make decisions, according to Dr. Richard Besser, director of the CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.
"One thing I was struck by was that we did a much better job of reaching decisions quickly, and it's critical that in a crisis we do that," Besser said in a recent interview about the results of the exercise.
The latest exercise—the fourth in a series that began in January 2007—featured a simulated emerging US epidemic sparked by a traveler from Southeast Asia infected with a mutated H5N1 virus. The March exercise dealt with days 6, 7, and 8, during which cases climbed from 273 to well above 300, with a 10% fatality rate. The exercise had states seeking guidance on when to close schools and take other "community mitigation" steps, while the CDC shipped antiviral drugs to the states and decided to screen air travelers in an effort to slow the virus's spread to places like Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. (For a story on the exercise, see link below.)
Escaping 'the tyranny of the urgent'CDC spokesman Von Roebuck said the idea for the new planning group stemmed from previous pandemic exercises. In some of them the CDC designated a special team to assist staff members actively engaged in the response, which proved to be very helpful, he explained. "This idea helped spawn and make the planning group a more formal entity for pandemic response," he added.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, deputy director of the CDC's Influenza Division, said the aim in setting up the planning cell was to free leaders from some of the immediate pressures of the situation so they could think more deliberately about policies.
"What we recognize is that in the midst of a large event, there's a tyranny of the urgent that overcomes the groups, where there's a constant need to respond and react," Jernigan said. "And we felt it was vitally important to have a group of people that were removed from the constant pressure of the urgent so they could have a thoughtful approach to the development of policy on the fly."
The "plans unit" consists of 12 to 15 planning experts and subject-matter experts, who can call on other specialists when needed, Jernigan said. They unit includes specialists in influenza, quarantine, healthcare quality, communications, logistics, and legal issues. Their assignment is to deal with issues that require a more thoughtful approach, such as steps that "are costly, require multiple partners for implementation, or could lead to a strategic change in direction," he said.
Jernigan said the approach "may not be a novel concept," but using it in responding to a large-scale infectious disease event is new for the CDC. "It will help to assure that we're not missing in our forecasting of potential problems but also are not forgetting to come up with all the options in the midst of the crisis," he said.
The CDC is training specialists in other areas so that the planning-cell approach can be used in responding to other kinds of emergencies, such as bioterrorist attacks, not just a flu pandemic, Jernigan added.
Dealing with regional differencesBesides demonstrating the value of the approach, the latest pandemic exercise yielded some lessons about information flow and about tracking of containment efforts, according to Besser and Jernigan.
Besser said the exercise marked the first time a state health department—Georgia's—participated with the CDC in a pandemic drill. A resulting observation was that "we have work to do regarding information flow," he said. "It's critical that we all have a common operating picture, that we're viewing the same set of information and the same facts. We made a lot of progress in terms of the operating picture at the CDC, but we need to work on systems for sharing information at the state and local level."
Besser said there were some technical glitches in data transferring and video conferences. In addition, "We need to revisit some of our thoughts about how we would be sharing information with states and locals."
The exercise also showed that the CDC needs to pay more attention to the fact that a flu pandemic will unfold in different ways and at varying rates in different parts of the country, according to Besser.
"What you see with a pandemic is that states aren't affected in a uniform fashion, and not all areas within a state are affected the same," he said. "We need to develop a system for tracking what kinds of containment strategies are being used in what parts of the country—who's using a case-by-case strategy, who's using the community mitigation strategies. We want to identify what is working and what is not, so that as new areas are affected, we can make evidence-based recommendations."
Jernigan said the agency is working on a way to characterize the different "intervals" or phases of a pandemic. The plan is to include that information in guidance for state and local health officials, in the hope that it will help them with decisions such as when to begin community mitigation steps.
The CDC plans to conduct another large-scale pandemic exercise in September to extend the scenario used in the previous four. "In the September exercise we're going to be shooting to have more states playing with us in real time," said Besser.
He said the agency intends to run a pandemic exercise that will simulate a sizable share of CDC employees being out sick with the flu, but it remains to be decided whether that challenge will be included in the September event. "It's critical to decide what functions we won't be doing as an agency and how critical functions are covered," he said.

Disaster drill conducted by MCRHC

http://www.mcpress.com/articles/2008/03/24/news/news09.txt
Mitchell County Regional Health Center conducted a mass casualty disaster drill with area emergency response agencies on Saturday, March 15, 2008. The scenario was a bomb detonation during a youth lock-in at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Osage. The drill was funded with a Hospital Preparedness Program grant from the federal government.

Top guns descend for training drill (NYC)
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/03/25/2008-03-25_top_guns_descend_for_training_drill.html?ref=rss
If you see a few Black Hawk helicopters or Bell Jet Rangers zoom over your house Tuesday, don't be alarmed.
Some 14 choppers from a range of law enforcement and military branches will be conducting a "fly-in" as part of a monthly aviation summit to be held at the Nassau County Police Department's Aviation Bureau in Bethpage Tuesday morning.
The whirlybirds will fly in together to be on hand at the monthly meeting of the STARCOM Task Force. The task force is comprised of representatives from the Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester police departments, as well as the NYPD and Port Authority Police Department and the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware state police departments.
Altogether, there will be 300 members of the various law enforcement and military agencies at the meeting.
The training exercise, which is not open to the public, will focus on interagency cooperation when it comes to "air-sea rescues and terrorism" along the Eastern seaboard, said Lt. Kevin Smith, a Nassau County Police spokesman.

Textron Systems Adaptable Radiation Area Monitor Designated as a . Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology http://www.infobolsa.es/v2002/Noticias/noticias_titulares2.asp?srv=&FechaNot=20080324&Fuente=IBNW&clasif=C&numnot=104621

Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology 24/03/2008 20:15:00 Business Wire US7812581087 Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc.(NYSE:TXT) company, today announced that the U.S.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has designated its Adaptable Radiation Area Monitor (ARAM) as a Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology under the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act (SAFETY Act).ARAM is a state-of-the-art spectroscopic monitoring system which operates in fixed locations or within vehicles or backpacks, detecting and identifying radioactive materials as well as medical and industrial isotopes that may be used to make dirty bombs or radiological weapons.ARAM can be deployed as the ARAM Spectroscopic Portal, ARAM RadTruck, ARAM RadBoat and ARAM RadPack, giving customers several solutions that can be used as standalone radiation monitors or easily networked in a comprehensive security program on land and at sea.In addition, ARAM has the ability to accurately detect and identify minute quantities of radioactive materials in real time, even while moving at speeds as fast as 50 miles per hour."Receiving the SAFETY Act designation for our ARAM technology provides recognition that our system can perform as an effective, reliable and safe tool in the fight against terrorism," said Tom McNamara, senior vice president of Textron System s Advanced Solutions Center....

General Dynamics, Harris, L-3 Gain Most From Iraq War (Update1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agA5ID.LQxb8

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- General Dynamics Corp., Harris Corp. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. benefited most among the Pentagon's 25 largest military suppliers from five years of conflict in Iraq, based on a combination of war-related sales and stock gains.
General Dynamics and Harris, the Melbourne, Florida-based maker of combat radios, both tripled in stock price in the five years ended March 20, the anniversary of the war's start. L-3, which provides translators, rose 164 percent. Their gains beat the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index, which rose 52 percent, and the S&P Aerospace and Defense Index, which more than doubled.....

Beckstrom is NCSC first director

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45998-1.html?topic=homeland

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Homeland Security Department, Thursday named entrepreneur and author Rod Beckstrom as the first director of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). (coming soon to your 9/11 truth forums)

India/China War Games, US Iran Prep, FCS, ST Micro, + News

India, China considering joint military exercise between air forces http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/India_China_considering_joint_military_exercise_between_air_forces_/articleshow/2891208.cms





NEW DELHI: In a sign of broadening of their defence cooperation, China and India are now considering holding a joint military exercise between their air forces. The two countries held their first-ever joint army exercise in a ground-breaking confidence building measure at Kunming in China's Yunnan province in December last year. "We favour scaling up the military-to-military ties with India and as part of the efforts the two countries are holding talks for joint military exercise between the air forces," Chinese Defence Attache in New Delhi Li Chao.....

US and Bulgarian Armies Start Joint Drills
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=91597
The joint military drills of the US and Bulgarian armies called "Trakiyska Prolet (Thracian Spring) 2008" is going to take place between April 6 and April 9, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry announced. ...

USS Gonzalez participates in multinational exercise Mavi Balina '08
http://www.eucom.mil/english/FullStory.asp?art=1654

Battle Over Proposal To Speed FCS
$20B Effort May Drain Stryker Upgrade, Future Vehicle Funds
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3442308&c=FEA&s=CVS
The Pentagon's No. 2 official and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) want the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to detail their vehicle plans, concerned the services are spending billions of dollars on equipment without sufficient planning and possibly creating costly redundancies.
A March 19 memo, written by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense-Comptroller, comes as U.S. Army leaders negotiate with Congress for $20 billion in additional funding to speed by two years the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, the comptroller and OMB want to know by July 18 what vehicles are being bought, for which missions and for how much money. They also want the services to submit a future acquisition plan and funding profile through 2020, according to the memo......

STMicro launches speedy chip to detect bird flu
http://www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSSIN217265

SINGAPORE, March 24 (Reuters) - Europe's top semiconductor maker, STMicroelectronics (STM.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), said it has developed a portable chip to detect influenza viruses including bird flu in humans. The device, which functions as a mini laboratory on a chip, can screen and identify multiple classes of pathogens and genes in a single diagnostic test within two hours, unlike other tests available on the market that can detect only one strain at a time and require days or weeks to obtain results.The chip can differentiate human strains of the Influenza A and B viruses, drug-resistant strains and mutated variants, including the Avian Flu or H5N1 strain.There have been 236 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain, according to the World Health Organisation, though it remains mainly a bird virus.

ST sees new high growth opportunities in the healthcare market, especially in areas like patient care," said Francois Guibert, STMicro's Asia Pacific chief executive, at a briefing in Singapore on Monday marking the commecial launch.The VereFlu Chip was developed by the Franco-Italian chipmaker together with Singapore's privately held Veredus Laboratories after more than a year of research. The application underwent extensive evaluation trials at Singapore's National University Hospital last year.It allows users to process and analyse patient samples -- comprising human blood, serum or respiratory swabs -- on a single disposable thumbnail-sized microchip

This crisis could bring the euro centre-stage
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/092dc918-f942-11dc-bcf3-000077b07658.html
We know the credit crisis is a clear and present threat to the global economy. But its most important long-run legacy may not be economic, but geopolitical...

X-47B manhunter drone could fly next year, to carry laser weapons and more
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/03/x47b_unmanned_a.php (update)


The manhunters are coming. Air Force pal and defense contractor Northrop Grumman has been tinkering with this X-47B drone since early in this century, but now things are getting serious. How serious? The sophisticated radio-controlled jet might be flying off aircraft carriers as early as next year. Besides calling the beast a “manhunter,” the company plans to equip the unmanned plane with air-to-air missiles, laser and microwave firepower (called “directed energy and rechargeable weapons”) that can take out enemy missiles.

Dynamics Research to simulate patients for Army training
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2008/03/24/daily3.html

Universal Detection Technology Invited to Present Its BSM-2000 Anthrax Detection System to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Securityhttp://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0378023.htm

Pandemic flu training to be offered April 1 http://www.wickedlocal.com/gloucester/news/lifestyle/health/x1670185356

Northrop Grumman UAV/DEW, Carlyle to buy Booz, Iran War Perp, + News

Northrop Crafts Multimission N-UCAS
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/NUCAS032108.xml&headline=Northrop%20Crafts%20Multimission%20N-UCAS
Northrop Grumman officials are promoting their unmanned strike aircraft being designed for the U.S. Navy as a “first-generation” unmanned combat aerial system (UCAS) with capabilities that include early missile defense intercepts.
The initial platform for a new strike fighter design is based on the company’s X-47B, but Northrop researchers are actually assembling an internal system that could fit into a variety of airframes, according to Scott Winship, vice president and program manager of Navy UCAS. The aircraft would incorporate “marinized low observability” and air-to-air refueling as well as advanced sensors, targeting and weapons.
However, Winship contends that a mix of fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35s and Northrop’s UCAS would be a far more powerful combination than Boeing Super Hornets teamed with the UCAS because of the F-35’s ability to penetrate foreign air defenses in combination with the unmanned aircraft.
With surprising candor, Winship identified important new capabilities for the unmanned strike aircraft including boost-phase intercept (BPI) of enemy ballistic missiles soon after launch and the carriage of new, compact, directed-energy weapons. He said options will include both laser and high-power microwave (HPM) weapons. Lasers are seen as a key BPI weapon while HPM is critical to electronic attack......

Carlyle Group May Buy Major CIA Contractor: Booz Allen Hamilton http://www.alternet.org/rights/80020/

The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity funds, may soon acquire the $2 billion government contracting business of consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the biggest suppliers of technology and personnel to the U.S. government's spy agencies. Carlyle manages more than $75 billion in assets and has bought and sold a long string of military contractors since the early 1990s. But in recent years it has significantly reduced its investments in that industry. If it goes ahead with the widely reported plan to buy Booz Allen, it will re-emerge as the owner of one of America's largest private intelligence army.

Emergency Drill (FL)

http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/16908296.html

Jackson Hospital got an unexpected rush of patients today.
It might have looked like a major medical emergency, but it wasn't. Jackson County officials were conducting a health emergency response drill. Even though there are no signs of it happening anytime soon, health officials have been warning about the possibly of a widespread infection disease outbreak for years now. if Drill instructor Greg Grant says Jackson County Hospital wants to be prepared if such an event does occur.
"This is going to help us a lot. This is our first drill that we've done that has been multi-situational, so were testing every skill we have in the building."
Jackson County hospital’s Rosie Smith says the drill simulates real life scenarios with actors. "We have received in the drill information that there is a pandemic flu outbreak moving west from Tallahassee into Jackson County, so we are fully operating are incident command structure to help us prepare for this disaster."
Emergency crews are responding to the situations with their normal protocols to see what works and where they're lacking.
In addition to helping emergency responders get prepared for an epidemic community response team, Evan MCallister says this drill is also helping volunteers.
"In any major event you always have volunteers wanting to come out and help and in many times those volunteers become victims themselves."
Responding to a real life epidemic would incorporate every emergency agency in the area, from fire departments to citizen volunteer groups. That's why Jackson County Health Department’s Alice Pate says they are all taking part in the drill.
“I'm from the health department, working with the hospital, trying to mesh our programs together so we can better serve the community," she said.
Officials say making sure everyone knows what to do is a major part of containing an infectious outbreak. Officials say they will use the information they gain from the drill to help improve their response procedures.

Facing the Horrors of Distant Battlefields With a TV and Console

An image from Activision’s video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Its creators derived some of its imagery from videos of battles in the Middle East that have been posted on YouTube
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/arts/television/19duty.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin
During the Vietnam War major television networks regularly broadcast real-life images of fighting in jungles, cities and swamps. Just as television was becoming this country’s dominant mass medium, Americans came to perceive through their screens at least a bit of the confusion and pain of the battlefield.
That’s over now. By the Gulf war, television had mostly been reduced to retransmitting officially sanctioned images of precision munition strikes. These days, it is almost impossible to find scenes of actual ground combat on television.

Hazmat exercises IL
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/photos/853602,gallery-hazmat21.photogallery
Eli Good entered the gymnasium at the College of Lake County ready to work. One by one, the Grant High School senior approached the injured men and women on the floor, assessing their medical condition and assigning care priority based on severity of their injuries. Good and her classmates in firefighter and paramedic classes at the Lake County Technology Center got the opportunity to join local fire departments and military units in a full-blown terrorism exercise that took over CLC's gymnasium for several hours Thursday morning.

Israel, U.S. commanders test 'extreme' scenarios in joint drill
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966560.html
The Israel Defense Forces and the United States European Command (EUCOM) completed a military headquarters training exercise in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. The exercise was part of Juniper Falcon, an ongoing series of training exercises conducted by the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Israel. The four-day exercise was held at the Aviv camp, situated near the Palmach History Museum in Ramat Aviv. Officers from the IDF General Command and from the Israel Air Force and Israel Navy participated in the exercise.

Guard prepares for deployment within 2 years (VT)http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/NEWS01/803190313/1009Brig. Gen. Michael Dubie, commander of the Vermont National Guard. The Vermont National Guard is planning for a "large-scale deployment" to the Middle East within the next two years, the force's commander said Tuesday. More than half the Guard's 4,000 soldiers and airmen have spent time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East and Asia during the past five years. Most have completed their missions and returned home. Guard leadership is expecting the Pentagon to summon Vermonters to war again, said Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie. "We are preparing for a future deployment," he said. "If things continue the way they are, it's very possible we'll have a large-scale deployment in the state of Vermont in the next two years. We have indications that probably in the next two years they're going to want us to go somewhere. We need to continue to prepare to deploy."

India Runs Joint Military Drills
http://www.plenglish.com/Article.asp?ID=%7B43344D7C-B001-47DC-974F-A4CCC2AFBE9B%7D&language=EN
New Delhi, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) Military Observers from 94 countries witnessed the military exercise Blazing Chariots by Indian infantry and air forces at Pokhran shooting range in the Rajasthan desert.










Attorneys argue anthrax libel case filed against New York Times
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--anthrax-hatfill0321mar21,0,7625415.story
* But let's not talk about Judith Miller of the NYT participating in "Dark Winter" a pre-9/11
Anthrax drill with James Woolsey.........http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=75&contentid=3523

9/11 PMC Insiders Reap Rewards, Anthrax, Drills + News

Gunning for profits from Iraq, Afghan wars

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gunning_for_profits_from_Iraq_Afghan_wars/articleshow/2879373.cms
NEW DELHI: The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 came as manna from heaven for the aerospace and defence industry based in the US and Europe. After the 9/11 attacks, this sector was in the doldrums, with aircraft orders plummeting and an uncertain security atmosphere. However, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have become a period of super-profits for those involved in manufacture and sale of armaments and air-fighters.

The world's top five armament and aircraft companies based in the US — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics — have seen their profits zoom up by anything between 100% and over 600%. Boeing, the biggest of them all, had revenues of over $66 billion in 2007, and a profit of over $4 billion. The top five weapons and aircraft makers sold over $188 billion worth of weaponry between them, making combined profits of over $13 billion last year.......

Russian Bear bombers to hold exercises in Far East
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080319/101667831.html

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers will conduct exercises in Russia's Far East on March 20-22, the Air Force said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Crews of an air regiment, equipped with Tu-95MS bombers, will participate in planned flight drills and long-range patrols over the Pacific," the statement said.

Military exercises begin in Russia region

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12494495&PageNum=0

YEKATERNINBURG, March 19 (Itar-Tass) - Joint exercises of aviation and air defence troops of the Volga-Urals Military District and the Urals air force and air defence formations began in the Volga and Urals regions on Monday.
The military district’s spokesman Konstantin Lazutkin told Itar-Tass that the commander of the Volga-Urals Military District, General Vladimir Boldyrev, supervises the exercises.
The goal of the manoeuvres is improvement of the teamwork during control of aviation and air defence troops on the Central Asian track, Lazutkin said.
The two-stage exercises will continue until the middle of April.

Three-Minute Anthrax Sensor
A new detector uses living cells that light up in the presence of airborne bioterror agents, such as anthrax and smallpox.http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20431/

Living sensors: At the heart of a new system for detecting airborne bioterror agents is a CD-size disc with 16 chambers at its perimeter. Particles from the air are collected in the chambers, where they’re exposed to immune cells with antibodies specific to particular agents. If the target agents are present, the cells emit blue light. The light in this image is a simulation; light emitted by cells in the chambers is too faint to be picked up by conventional photography, but it is picked up by light meters in the device. Credit: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

A sensor system that can rapidly detect six potential airborne bioterror agents, including anthrax, is now on the market. The detector relies on living immune-system cells genetically engineered to emit light when exposed to a particular contaminant. From sampling the air to getting a readout from the cells, the detection process takes only three minutes. The company selling the sensor, Innovative Biosensors, of Rockville, MD, is marketing it for use in airports and other buildings, including laboratories where research on dangerous pathogens is performed.
Time is of the essence when detecting bioterror agents. Bacteria like anthrax are infective within two to three minutes of exposure, so the faster a building can be evacuated and the agent contained, the better. "We're harnessing the fastest pathogen identification system there is," says James Harper, a researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where the technology was developed by Todd Rider beginning in the late 1990s. "In the body, B cells bind to pathogens and respond in a second," says Harper......

University tests disaster readiness with faux anthrax attack (MO)

http://media.www.studlife.com/media/storage/paper337/news/2008/03/19/News/University.Tests.Disaster.Readiness.With.Faux.Anthrax.Attack-3274863.shtml

University administrators, St. Louis Department of Health officials and more than 200 campus volunteers collaborated in a public health drill Tuesday that simulated the distribution of medication at Mallinckrodt in the event of a terrorist anthrax attack, and tested the University's emergency text-message system.

HHS includes online services in pandemic communication drill

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/mar1908exercise.html
"The session was held on Mar 17 at HHS headquarters in Washington, DC. Representatives from online avian-flu information services such as Avian Flu Diary, FluTrackers, FluWiki, WebMD, and CIDRAP News participated in the exercise along with those from several national media organizations, including ABC News, National Public Radio, and Reuters."

Emergency personnel practice for bioterror attack (CA)

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=7df6fae1-02e4-41a5-b525-c59dc1d31f7d&k=97390

VANCOUVER - At 6:30 a.m. Monday morning a radiation signature was detected in a shipping container at the Port Vancouver. Just after noon an improvised bomb containing radioactive material exploded leaving a dozen people injured and contaminated.
This scenario was cooked up by the federal Centre fo Security Science to let federal and local emergency personnel practice for a real bioterror attack....

Pentagon's Cyborg Insects All Grown Up

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/for-years-now-p.html

For years, now, Pentagon-backed researchers have been trying to create cyborg insects that could serve as living, remote-controlled spies. The problem is, those modified bugs never survived long enough to be useful. Now, Georgia Tech professor Robert Michelson says he's managed to get the bug 'borgs to live into adulthood.
DARPA's Hi-MEMS program aims to implant place micro-mechanical systems [MEMS] "inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis," the agency explains. That way, as the bugs get older, tissues grow around -- and fuse together with -- the tiny machines.

NEW MISSILE WARNING SATELLITE BUILT BY LOCKHEED MARTIN PROGRESSING IN CRITICAL TEST PHASE http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=18437

PressMediaWire) SUNNYVALE, Calif., , March 19, 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] announced today that the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) spacecraft is progressing through a series of key tests that will demonstrate the integrated satellite's readiness to enter the critical environmental test phase in preparation for launch in late 2009.
SBIRS is designed to provide early warning of missile launches, and simultaneously support other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace characterization. The test phase, known as Baseline Integrated System Test (BIST), is conducted at Lockheed Martin's Space Systems facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. and is designed to characterize the overall performance of the GEO-1 satellite and establish a performance baseline prior to entering environmental testing

General Dynamics awards contract to ICx Technologies

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/03/17/daily19.html

ICx Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it won a contract from General Dynamics Robotic Systems to install radars in five vehicular robots that conduct random patrols around Department of Defense warehouses, airfields, ammunition supply depots and port facilities.
Westminster, Md.-based General Dynamics Robotics Systems has been developing vehicles under an Army program called mobile detection assessment and response system intruder detection radar sensor.