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Move to OK commercial drone flights over people

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government-sponsored committee is recommending standards that could clear the way for commercial drone flights over populated areas and help speed the introduction of package delivery drones and other uses not yet possible, The Associated Press has learned.

The Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits most commercial drone flights over populated areas, especially crowds. That ban frustrates a host of industries that want to take advantage of the technology.

"Every TV station in the country wants one, but they can't be limited to flying in the middle of nowhere because there's no news in the middle of nowhere," said Jim Williams, a former head of FAA's drone office who now advises the industry for Dentons, athn international law firm.

 

Cellular network providers also want to loosen restrictions so drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, can inspect cell towers, which often are in urban areas. Amazon's vision for package deliveries entails drones winging their way over city and suburban neighborhoods.

Full article: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f23e06137ac1406eaa16342ebb772c6f/apnewsbreak-move-ok-commercial-drone-flights-over-people

Bob Janusaitis has been accepted in the Executive Master of Public Service Administration at the Bush School of Government and Public Service

 

March 22, 2016 Edmonton,, Alberta, Canada

Bob Janusaitis has been accepted in the Executive Master of Public Service Administration at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Bob will begin the inaugural program in the summer of 2016.

China, Russia Planning Space Attacks on U.S. Satellites

Critical space infrastructure faces crippling missile strikes, small satellites, lasers.

 

China and Russia are preparing to attack and disrupt critical U.S. military and intelligence satellites in a future conflict with crippling space missile, maneuvering satellite, and laser attacks, senior Pentagon and intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the Air Force Space Command, said the threat to U.S. space systems has reached a new tipping point, and after years of post-Cold War stagnation foreign states are focused on curbing U.S. space systems.

 

Full article: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-russia-planning-space-attacks-on-u-s-satellites/

DOJ expected to charge 5 Iranians in 2013 hacking of New York dam

The Department of Justice is expected to announce charges against up to five Iranians believed to be tied to the 2013 hacking of a New York dam, a law enforcement source told Fox News.

The DOJ is expected to make the announcement sometime in the coming days, according to the source. The individuals are believed to have connections within the Iranian government.

The hackers allegedly infiltrated the control system of the Bowman Ave Dam in Rye Brook, N.Y., which is about 20 miles outside New York City, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The breach raised fears of the vulnerabilities of the United States' infrastructure to foreign hackers. It also came at a time that the Iranians were on the offensive in attacking U.S. banks.

Full article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/10/doj-expected-to-charge-5-iranians-in-2013-hacking-new-york-dam.html?intcmp=hpbt2

CYBERCOM says cyberattacks on infrastructure coming

Gen. Joseph L. Votel (left), head of the Special Operations Command, has been nominated to become the commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group. Lt. Gen. Raymond A. Thomas.

The commander of the U.S. Cyber Command warned last week that he expects a major cyberattack on critical infrastructure in the United States in the future.

“It is only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if’ we’re going to see a nation-state, group or actor engage in destructive behavior against critical infrastructure in the United States,” Adm. Mike Rogers, Cyber Command chief and director of the National Security Agency, warned in a speech March 2.

Full article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/9/inside-the-ring-infrastructure-cyberattacks/?page=all#pagebreak

 

How America’s Electric Utilities Can Speed Recovery From Cyber-Induced Blackouts

Released: 4-Mar-2016 9:00 AM EST
Source Newsroom: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Newswise — The recent cyber attack on Ukraine’s power grid highlights a new challenge for the United States: not only protecting our electric system against such attacks, but also ensuring that utilities can rapidly restore power if the grid goes down.

Decades of experience with hurricanes and other natural hazards has helped utilities hone their ability to restore power in Superstorm Sandy and other massive blackouts. However, sophisticated cyber adversaries could strike the grid in entirely different ways, by corrupting the integrity of utility control systems and disrupting other vital grid operations and components.

The challenges for restoring power after such attacks will be starkly different as well. In Sandy, power companies from as far away as California could send power restoration teams to the stricken region, safe in the knowledge that their own utilities would escape the storm. A nationwide cyber attack will strip away that sense of safety and fray the mutual assistance system that lies at the heart of the U.S. power restoration system.

Full article: http://www.newswise.com/articles/how-america-s-electric-utilities-can-speed-recovery-from-cyber-induced-blackouts

Next-Generation Public Safety

The next-generation fire suit could have a multitude of technological features.

Manuel Navarro has a relatively simple request. He would just like to know: Where is everybody?

“For years we’ve talked about knowing precisely where our firefighters are within an incident, and no one has come up with the best way to do that,” said Navarro, a division chief in the Menlo Park, Calif., fire department. He also serves on the technology council of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “We go on the radio and say, ‘Do you have all your people?’ But we don’t know where those people are. They may not know it themselves. For us, that is a massive safety issue.”

For years technology has been promising to fix the issue but, like many in the first responder community, Navarro has been less than impressed. “Just about every firefighter has an iPad,” he said. “But if I get to an active incident and you have your nose down in the computer not watching what is going on, I’m going to be talking to you later. You aren’t there to take pictures and take notes.”

Full article: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/A-New-World-in-Public-Safety.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_content=email&utm_campaign=What%27s%20Next%20in%20Public%20Safety%20Response&utm_term=Next-Generation%20Public%20Safety

Two Houston dams among 'extremely high risk'

Photo: Mayra Beltran - Evelyn Merz, of the Sierra Club, walks the banks of the dam at Addicks Reservoir on the south side of the dam, which releases water into Buffalo Bayou in Houston.

On a typical day near Houston's Barker and Addicks reservoirs, it's quite beautiful in the 26,000-acre recreational green space.

But then it rains.

The two dams are among six in the nation deemed "extremely high risk" by the US Army Corps of Engineers, according to Houston Public Media. They are located on either side of the Katy Freeway at Highway 6.

Full article: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Two-Houston-dams-among-extremely-high-risk-6875135.php?cmpid=fb-mobile

Emergency Medical Services Could Require Overhaul to Meet Modern Realities

(TNS) - The North Dakota emergency medical services system may need to undergo a structural shift to cope with changes to the medical and cultural landscape, experts and stakeholders said Tuesday during a meeting in Dickinson.

Tom Nehring, director of the division of EMS and trauma at the North Dakota Department of Health, said the current model for EMS has been in place for a little more than 40 years, and said volunteers have always been the “backbone” of the state’s rural delivery system.

That model, he continued, is “not a sustainable mode either near-term or far-term.”

“We’re already starting to see failures,” Nehring said. “We are facing a growing, potentially dangerous, crisis.”

Full article: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Emergency-medical-services-could-require-overhaul-to-meet-modern-realities.html

We Could Not Look the Survivors in the Eye if We Did Not Follow this Lead

By James Comey

Sunday, February 21, 2016, 9:03 PM

 

James Comey is director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The San Bernardino litigation isn't about trying to set a precedent or send any kind of message. It is about the victims and justice. Fourteen people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and bodies ruined. We owe them a thorough and professional investigation under law. That's what this is. The American people should expect nothing less from the FBI.

The particular legal issue is actually quite narrow. The relief we seek is limited and its value increasingly obsolete because the technology continues to evolve. We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist's passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That's it. We don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land. I hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that. Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. Maybe it doesn’t. But we can't look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this lead.  

Full article: https://www.lawfareblog.com/we-could-not-look-survivors-eye-if-we-did-not-follow-lead