Homeland Security News

OSI Systems, Inc., a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronics and services, today announced that its Security division, Rapiscan Systems has received cancellation of a $17.6 million order from the U.S. government for multiple cargo and vehicle inspection systems. The original order was announced in October, 2009. As is standard for U.S. government awards, the government maintains the right to terminate a contract in whole or part without implying any fault of the contractor.

Former Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) and former Senator Jim Talent (R-MO), chair and vice chair of the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, today released a report card indicating that the U.S. government is not taking the necessary steps to protect the country from the threats posed by WMD and terrorism.

Of 17 grades, the report card includes three failing “F” grades on rapid and effective response to bioterrorism; Congressional oversight of homeland security and intelligence; and national security workforce recruitment. Fortunately, all three grades could be substantially improved by committed leadership in Congress and the Administration.

“Nearly a decade after September 11, 2001, one year after our original report, and one month after the Christmas Day bombing attempt, the United States is failing to address several urgent threats, especially bioterrorism. Each of the last three Administrations has been slow to recognize and respond to the biothreat. But we no longer have the luxury of a slow learning curve, when we know al Qaeda is interested in bioweapons,” said Senator Graham.

“We are also enormously frustrated about the failure of Congress to reform homeland security oversight. The Department can’t do its job, if it is responding to more than 80 congressional committees and sub-committees. This fragmentation guarantees that much of what Congress does is duplicative and disjointed,” said Senator Talent.

The Report Card also includes “A” grades for achieving specific actions related to a review of domestic programs to secure dangerous pathogens, for finalizing and approving an Interagency Bioforensics Strategy, and for conducting recommended reorganization inside the National Security Council.

In December 2008, the Commission released its World at Risk report with a unanimous threat assessment: Unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013. That weapon is more likely to be biological than nuclear. The Commission identified a series of recommendations and specific actions that Congress and the Administration should take to change the trajectory of risk. Today’s report card evaluates steps taken to implement these recommendations and to protect the United States from the threats of WMD proliferation and terrorism.

The threat assessment was based on multiple factors. There is direct evidence that terrorists are trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction and acquiring WMD fits the tactical profile of terrorists. Terrorists also have global reach and the organizational sophistication to obtain and use WMD. Finally, the opportunity to acquire and use such weapons is growing exponentially because of the global proliferation of nuclear material and biological technologies.

The bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism was created by Congress to address the grave threat that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction poses to the United States. Its report, World at Risk, identified 13 recommendations consisting of 49 actions that Congress and the Administration should take to change the trajectory of risk.

The Report Card assesses U.S. government progress in such areas as the biological threat, nuclear weapons proliferation, government reform, and citizen participation. WMD and Terrorism Commission will issue a much-anticipated Report Card next week, evaluating the government’s ability to protect the United States from the threat posed by WMD and terrorism. More information about the Commission, including the interim report, is available at www.preventwmd.gov.

Advanced Blast Protection, Inc., Florida-based armoring company that manufactures the RhinoRunner™ Bus used by the U.S. Military in Iraq and Afghanistan, has obtained Bankruptcy Court Approval for the sale of all of its assets free and clear of all liabilities. These assets consist primarily of the trade names RhinoRunner and RhinoPAK; customer lists; technical data packages; drawing packages; vehicle and product designs; manufacturing processes and procedures, marketing materials, customer lists, product formulations and patent rights for One-Way™ Glass (the “Assets”). On a cumulative basis since 2004, there has been a cumulative investment in the Assets of in excess of $18 Million and they have generated in excess of $42 Million in sales.

Related post: Homeland Security Market Grossly Overestimated

Twenty-two executives and employees of companies in the military and law enforcement products industry have been indicted for engaging in schemes to bribe foreign government officials to obtain and retain business, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips for the District of Columbia; and Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. Twenty-one defendants were arrested in Las Vegas yesterday. One defendant was arrested in Miami. The indictments stem from an FBI undercover operation that focused on allegations of foreign bribery in the military and law enforcement products industry.

The 16 indictments unsealed today represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The indictments unsealed today were returned on Dec. 11, 2009, by a grand jury in Washington, D.C.

In connection with these indictments, approximately 150 FBI agents executed 14 search warrants in locations across the country, including Bull Shoals, Ark.; San Francisco; Miami; Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; Sarasota, Fla.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Sunrise, Fla.; University Park, Fla.; Decatur, Ga.; Stearns, Ky.; Upper Darby, Penn.; and Woodbridge, Va. Additionally, the United Kingdom’s City of London Police executed seven search warrants in connection with their own investigations into companies involved in the foreign bribery conduct that formed the basis for the indictments.

“This ongoing investigation is the first large-scale use of undercover law enforcement techniques to uncover FCPA violations and the largest action ever undertaken by the Justice Department against individuals for FCPA violations,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. “The fight to erase foreign bribery from the corporate playbook will not be won overnight, but these actions are a turning point. From now on, would-be FCPA violators should stop and ponder whether the person they are trying to bribe might really be a federal agent.”

“Corrupt payments to foreign officials to obtain or retain business erode public confidence in our free market system and threaten to undermine foreign governments,” said U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips. “These indictments set forth serious allegations and reflect the Department’s commitment to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who try to advance their businesses through foreign bribery.”

“Investigating corruption at all levels is the number one priority of the FBI’s Criminal Division,” said Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “In this era of global commerce, the FBI is committed to curbing corruption at home or overseas. Companies should prosper through honest business practices, not the practice of back room deals and bribery.”

The indictments allege that the defendants engaged in a scheme to pay bribes to the minister of defense for a country in Africa. In fact, the scheme was part of the undercover operation, with no actual involvement from any minister of defense. As part of the undercover operation, the defendants allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent “commission” to a sales agent who the defendants believed represented the minister of defense for a country in Africa in order to win a portion of a $15 million deal to outfit the country’s presidential guard. In reality, the “sales agent” was an undercover FBI agent. The defendants were told that half of that “commission” would be paid directly to the minister of defense. The defendants allegedly agreed to create two price quotations in connection with the deals, with one quote representing the true cost of the goods and the second quote representing the true cost, plus the 20 percent “commission.” The defendants also allegedly agreed to engage in a small “test” deal to show the minister of defense that he would personally receive the 10 percent bribe.

The indictments charge the following executives and employees of the various companies in the military and law enforcement product industries:

* Daniel Alvirez, 32, and Lee Allen Tolleson, 25, the president and director of acquisitions and logistics at a company in Bull Shoals, Ark., that manufactures and sells law enforcement and military equipment;
* Helmie Ashiblie, 44, the vice president and founder of a company in Woodbridge, Va., that supplies tactical bags and other security-related articles for law enforcement agencies and governments worldwide;
* Andrew Bigelow, 40, the managing partner and director of government programs for a Sarasota, Fla., company that sells machine guns, grenade launchers and other small arms and accessories;
* R. Patrick Caldwell, 61, and Stephen Gerard Giordanella, 50, the current and former chief executive officers of a Sunrise, Fla., company that designs and manufactures concealable and tactical body armor;
* Yochanan R. Cohen, aka Yochi Cohen, 47, the chief executive officer of a San Francisco company that manufactures security equipment, including body armor and ballistic plates;
* Haim Geri, 50, the president of a North Miami Beach, Fla., company that serves as a sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries;
* Amaro Goncalves, 49, the vice president of sales for a Springfield, Mass., company that designs and manufactures firearms, firearm safety/security products, rifles, firearms systems and accessories;
* John Gregory Godsey, aka Greg Godsey, 37, and Mark Frederick Morales, 37, the owner and agent of a Decatur, Ga., company that sells ammunition and other law enforcement and military equipment;
* Saul Mishkin, 38, the owner and chief executive officer of an Aventura, Fla., company that sells law enforcement and military equipment;
* John M. Mushriqui, 28, and Jeana Mushriqui, 30, the director of international development and general counsel/U.S. manager of an Upper Darby, Penn., company that manufactures and exports bulletproof vests and other law enforcement and military equipment;
* David R. Painter, 56, and Lee M. Wares, 43, the chairman and director of a United Kingdom company that markets armored vehicles;
* Pankesh Patel, 43, the managing director of a United Kingdom company that acts as sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries;
* Ofer Paz, 50, the president and chief executive officer of an Israeli company that acts as sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries;
* Jonathan M. Spiller, 58, the owner and president of a Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., company that markets and sells law enforcement and military equipment;
* Israel Weisler, aka Wayne Weisler, 63, and Michael Sachs, 66, owners and co-chief executive officers of a Stearns, Ky., company that designs, manufactures and sells armor products, including body armor;
* John Benson Wier III, 46, the president of a St. Petersburg, Fla., company that sells tactical and ballistic equipment.

All of the defendants except Giordanella were arrested yesterday by FBI agents in Las Vegas. Giordanella was arrested in Miami, also by FBI agents.

Each of the indictments allege that the defendants conspired to violate the FCPA, conspired to engage in money laundering, and engaged in substantive violations of the FCPA. The indictments also seek criminal forfeiture of the defendants’ ill gotten gains.

The maximum prison sentence for the conspiracy count and for each FCPA count is five years. The maximum sentence for the money laundering conspiracy charge is 20 years in prison.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., following announcement of the U.S. Department of Justice, immediately issued statement denying any knowledge of wrongdoing:

Through media reports today, we became aware of the Justice Department enforcement actions which were taken yesterday and which made reference to an employee of our company. We have no information beyond what has been reported and are prepared to cooperate fully with law enforcement in their investigation into this matter.

5th Annual CBRNe Conference is taking place on Jan. 19 – Jan. 21 at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, 210 Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta, GA, 30303. The conference addresses the challenges of improving national preparedness and consequence-management strategies and explores ways to support federal- and state-level efforts to better prepare the U.S. for possible threats. Participants explore the latest technologies that offer protection from some of the world’s deadliest agents. The panel moderated by Dr. DeMeo includes: Pavel Castulik, Ph.D., former R&D senior director of weapons of mass destruction at the University of Brno in the Czech Republic; Lew MacDonald, district chief of special operations with the Saint John Fire Department and federal project advisor with the Research and Technology Initiative Canada (CRTI); Lt. Col. Jeffrey Allen, former commander of the 781st Joint Task Force in the United States; Lt. John Cassidy, R.N., a supervisor for the Hazardous Materials Response Team with the Fire Department of New York; James Bradshaw, Ph.D., RST’s senior research scientist; and Charles Milligan, Ph.D., program area manager focusing on military weapons of mass destruction defeat at The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.

A program to detect plutonium and uranium in US ports has stalled because the US has run out of Helium 3. Helium 3 is a light non-radioactive isotope of helium that is formed when tritium decays. Helium 3 is a crucial raw material for the screening machines that were to be utilized in shipping ports for the detection of nuclear weapons.

GateKeeper USA, Inc., a Maryland company developing proprietary detection and identification technologies for the maritime container industry, announced that it is unaffected by the recent shortage of Helium 3:

“The shortage of Helium 3 does not have any effect on GateKeeper USA’s CAMS devices ability to detect radiation, as GateKeeper USA is not reliant on this antiquated method of detection.”

The whole body imaging systems manufactured by Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc. are ready for deployment in airports and other government facilities. These systems are designed to clearly detect non-metallic items hidden under clothing, such as the powdered explosives used by the attempted airline bomber Christmas day.

Brijot’s passive millimeter wave imaging systems do not emit radiation or energy at people during the screening process. Instead, they only receive naturally occurring millimeter waves from the human body, and any items hidden on someone’s body will show up in clear contrast in displayed images. The resolution of the images is deliberately set low to keep from showing anatomical detail to satisfy public’s privacy concerns.

Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc. announced the launch of two new solutions in Brijot’s suite of people screening technology — SafeScreen™ and MobileScan™, addressing the key deployment-related issues—throughput, portability and footprint size.

With its small footprint, SafeScreen was specifically designed to address the infrastructure and operational challenges currently faced by many airports and other facilities that have limited space to incorporate large-scale technologies that typically have slower throughput and larger footprint and power requirements. SafeScreen is highly compact and can be coupled with existing passenger screening solutions for an added layer of security to enhance primary screening capabilities and throughput. It detects smaller objects, offers a low total cost of ownership and requires minimal training and maintenance.

MobileScan, the industry’s first fully portable whole body imaging system, is a self-contained unit on wheels. It can be easily moved, plugged in and operational within minutes of arrival at any location without changing the existing infrastructure. MobileScan is ideal for both primary screening and secondary screening, or for use in conjunction with intelligence for random screening.

Both systems, built on Brijot’s patented GEN 2 millimeter wave technology, readily detect metallic and non-metallic items concealed objects under or in a person’s clothes such as liquids, explosives, weapons, drugs or cash without emitting any radiation or energy, making the systems safe, while also protecting personal privacy, since no anatomical details are revealed. SafeScreen is immediately ready for acquisition by government agencies and will be available to resellers and their end-users later this year. MobileScan is in full production and generally available.

Terremark Worldwide, Inc., a provider of managed IT infrastructure services, has launched cloud-enabled disaster recovery services. Terremark’s Virtualized Disaster Recovery solution provides disaster recovery solution, which supports a variety of operating systems and enterprise applications and databases, customers protection for their business-critical environments without the cost or complexity of maintaining the server, networking, and facility infrastructures at a secondary site. This service is based on a Terremark’s platform and takes advantage of the company’s highly secure, top-tier data center facilities to deliver reliable, repeatable and predictable solutions that reduce recovery times to a matter of hours at a much lower cost than that of traditional disaster recovery services.

“Our cloud-based disaster recovery offering is more than just a remote-replication solution; it is a complete cloud-based site redirection service that incorporates the enterprise-class services necessary to run IT operations securely in the event of a disaster declaration. Terremark’s physical and information security, trusted personnel, proven solution framework and industry-leading connectivity to global networks make the service a DR/COOP solution our customers can trust when a disaster strikes,” said Tom Mays, Terremark’s Senior Vice President for Advanced Data Solutions.

Terremark’s Virtualized Disaster Recovery, based on NetApp storage and VMware’s vSphere technologies, offers a diverse set of reliable options with array-based, host-based, and application-based replication options, support for physical or virtual source servers, and is suitable for customer environments that range from the most basic to the most sophisticated. On-demand managed security services like intrusion detection, log aggregation, firewall services, and on-demand managed backup services protect customer applications and data at similar or higher levels of security than required in their production environments.

The Homeland Security Appropriations Bill is focused on securing our nation’s borders and preparing for any potential disaster. The conference agreement totals $42.776 billion of discretionary budget authority for fiscal year 2010, $2.648 billion, or 6.6 percent, above fiscal year 2009.

Priorities in the bill are focused on five major goals:
1) Securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws;
2) Protecting the American people from terrorist threats and other vulnerabilities, and ensuring the Department is nimble enough to address future threats;
3) Preparing for, responding to, and recovering from all-hazards;
4) Supporting our State, local, Tribal, and private sector partners in homeland security with resources and information; and
5) Giving the Department resources to strengthen financial, procurement, IT systems, and other management tools that it needs to succeed; eliminating or reducing programs that are ineffective or duplicative.

Bill Total
2009 Enacted: $40.128 billion
2010 President’s Request: $43.071 billion (includes Coast Guard Overseas Contingencies)
House Passed: $42.617 billion
Senate Passed: $42.927 billion
Homeland Security Market: $42.776 billion
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