HOMELAND SECURITY
14 Nov 07. Raytheon Company has signed a contract with the U.K. Home Office to develop and implement the nation’s ‘e-Borders’ project, an advanced border control and security program. The program will collect and analyze passenger and crew data, provided by carriers (air, sea and rail), of all journeys to and from the U.K. in advance of their travel. It will support an intelligence-led approach to operating border controls, by identifying those involved in abuse of U.K. immigration laws, serious and organized crime and terrorism. The e-Borders program will build upon the country’s current pilot program for border control and expand it into a fully flexible, scalable and robust e- Borders capability within two years. “International growth and border security are major growth areas for Raytheon, and we believe today’s announcement is testament to our strength and ability to grow in these markets,” said Mike Keebaugh, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business. “We look forward to working closely with the Home Office to deliver an integrated, secure border for the 21st century.” As the prime contractor for the e-Borders contract, Raytheon is responsible for systems integration, travel services and overall project management, drawing upon its extensive development and production base in the U.K. as well as the company’s worldwide technology resources.
07 Nov 07. Ness Technologies, Inc. has completed the development of its NessCMS Crisis Management System. NessCMS is a multidisciplinary solution for crisis preparedness and management. NessCMS creates a real-time integrated situation picture, and enhances crisis control and management. The system enables faster and better responses to emergency situations, and it optimizes rescue operation planning and resource allocation. The announcement was made at Defense & Security 2007, the tri-service Asian defense and internal security event for land, sea and air, being held in Bangkok, Thailand. NessCMS addresses all emergency and security requirements from the municipal level up to the regional and national levels. NessCMS can be built according to the specific needs of each country, and it can be easily customized to reflect each nation’s operational environment and operational concept. NessCMS covers the full breadth of the crisis team, from governmental bodies, rescue crews and emergency service organizations to police, firefighters, ambulances and others. NessCMS is based on Ness Technologies’ existing building blocks, including the company’s AwareNess emergency management system and ICCS integrated command and control system, among others. NessCMS displays a single, accurate, and updated situation picture at all levels, at any given time. The system creates, analyzes and manages an integrated situation picture built from diverse data sources, supports the situation assessment process, and plans response. NessCMS supports execution and control processes, and assigns, directs and monitors the required resources. It investigates and reconstructs events via data storage and recording capabilities, supporting debriefing and training of decision-makers at all levels. NessCMS seamlessly connects to legacy systems at various local, regional and national agencies.
08 Nov 07. Police body urge shooting debate. A police watchdog has called for a public debate over the policy to shoot suspected suicide bombers on sight. In its final report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the IPCC said the shooting came after ‘very serious’ but avoidable mistakes. Its investigation revealed 17 witnesses said they had not heard police shout a clear warning before firing. The body’s chair said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair had tried to prevent its investigation. The body made 16 recommendations but said the Met had already begun acting upon them. It also revealed investigators had asked the Crown Prosecution Service to look at possibl