Following up on a recent interview I did with analysts from market research firm INPUT, who concluded that nationwide interoperability for first responder communications systems is likely still a decade away, I spoke with Cisco Systems’ Director of Homeland Security Chris Josephs.

Josephs agrees progress has been slow. But he says ...

A few weeks after former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge told me that the biggest deficiency in homeland security is public safety communications, analysts at market research firm INPUT released a report that says nationwide interoperability for first responder communication systems is probably 10 years away.

Here’s an interview with ...

Somalia’s first freely-elected president talks about the war raging in his country, his views on the U.S.-led Global War on Terrorism, and how the Internet may help educate and unite his nation.

Darman is a U.S.-educated engineer who wants to deploy distance learning, Internet-enabled health care, and advanced border security technologies ...

Dan Verton traveled to New York City to investigate security preparedness six years after 9/11. Here’s what I learned.

Identity management isn’t just about network access anymore. It’s quickly become one of the most important aspects of overall homeland security. In this mini-Webumentary, I talk to several experts about the role of identity management in homeland security and where the technology is going in the future.

This is a Red ...

This is a trailer for a Webumentary I’m producing for HSToday Magazine. It looks at the current state of homeland security preparedness in New York City six years after 9/11. The program airs on 9/17 at www.hstoday.us, and shortly thereafter right here on PodTech.

In the wake of the deaths of two New York City Fire Fighters at an abandoned building near Ground Zero, the issue of interoperable broadband communications for first responders has once again taken center stage. But some are asking why it is still an issue six years later.

To get some ...

Here’s a 90-second trailer for a video I’m producing for HSToday Magazine, titled “ID Confirmed: The Role of Identity Management in Homeland Security.” The video will cover homeland security issues ranging from biometrics to identity management.

Regardless of what “critical infrastructure” you own or operate, it’s basically a facility. And all facilities have five common atttributes that security professionals need to be able to monitor and maintain.

Sam Zamani, the Chief Technology Officer of COMDEX Inc., discusses his company’s ability to monitor the health and status of ...

In this revealing interview about the current state-of-the-art and future of identity management, Charles Scruggs, the Vice President of Identity Management and Information Assurance at American Systems in Washington, D.C., offers a brief overview of exactly what is possible today from a technological perspective and the lengths to which some ...

Former FEMA chief, Michael Brown, talks to Homeland Defense Week about his new role as a corporate advisor to InferX Corp., a developer of data mining technologies for homeland security and critical infrastructure operators, and his view of homeland security today.

This edition of The Listening Post from Homeland Defense Week focuses on the latest news surrounding the security of electronic voting systems.

I’ve covered e-voting for more than three years, going back to my news reporting days and the first revelations that electronic voting systems were wide open security nightmares waiting ...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the appeals of two inmates at Guantanamo Bay. They’re probably bonafide terrorists, but it still matters that they’ve been detained indefinitely without charges and without being officially classified as enemy combatants. That’s the type of system America does not represent.

Here’s a historical ...

This is a training and awareness presentation based on Dan Verton’s book, The Insider: Best Practices Edition.

The FBI recently used spyware to track down a bomb threat suspect. And while it did so under the guidance of a court order, the bureau has refused to comment on the precise capabilities of its spyware application, known only as the Computer Internet Protocol Address Verifier.

This raises a number ...

You won’t believe who is hosting the Web sites of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations.

The number of Americans killed fighting terrorists and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan is now 3,628 and counting. But, apparently some U.S. Internet Service Providers don’t care enough to look into who some of their ...

Iran’s terror-sponsoring government is taking aim at the U.S. gaming industry by promoting a new video game that developers openly proclaim “supports a culture of martyrdom.”

This raises the stakes for the U.S. and its allies in terms of the long-term ideological struggle we face with radical Islamic terrorists. Will we ...

Sentrillion is a new company that has some big homeland security responsibilities, like upgrading and maintaining the technology used to secure both the northern and southern borders of the U.S.

In this episode of Homeland Defense Week’s Listening Post, I talk with the Reston, Va.-based company’s CEO, Jack Larmer, and its ...

This is from The Ops Center on Homeland Defense Week. It is a brief introduction to the insider threat to proprietary and classified data, based on my two books, The Insider: A True Story and The Insider: Best Practices Edition.

The incidents discussed actually happened. The piece, like the book, is ...

Let’s face it. There’s no chance in hell that a serious question by a professional journalist is going to make it on the air during the upcoming CNN-YouTube Democratic Debate on July 23rd.

I prefer to be on PodTech anyway.

So, here’s my question to the Dems. It’s a serious one that ...

Here’s a follow-up to my story on Symantec Corp.’s problems in China. It looks at how the U.S. IT industry is handing over sensitive technologies to the oppressive Chinese regime in return for access to the Chinese market. It also looks at China’s growing economic espionage program targeting U.S. corporate ...

What can we learn from Europe’s experience with terrorism and why we should all be concerned about our own government’s inaction.

Cybersecurity research and development at the nation’s top R&D oranization in the Department of Homeland Security gets 1 percent of the budget. And the DHS acknowledged today that it doesn’t even have an innovation program focused on cybersecurity R&D.

China wants Symantec to pay damages to about 50,000 Internet users whose computers failed when the company issued a flawed anti-virus update in May.

Homeland Defense Week’s Dan Verton thinks China should pay the U.S. for the mountains of proprietary technology it has systematically stolen from U.S. companies during the past ...