Homeland security

A common picture for SBI-Net

Details are becoming available on the upcoming common operating picture for the Secure Border Initiative Network.

The COP will accept inputs from sensors, real-time and near real-time internal and external databases and intelligence and communications systems in a service-oriented architecture, said Kia Evans, a spokeswoman for the Customs and Border Protection bureau. As for output, the system will present "border sensor data, incursion alerts, fusion of sensor tracks, automated scene understanding, own-force tracking, apprehension and identification data," Evans said.

"The output of the COP will be graphical, textual, include data presentations to decision-makers, and (to) external systems associated with control of the nation's borders," she told Washington Technology.

Deepwater managers get personal

Taking a personal approach to respond to growing criticism of contracting in the Integrated Deepwater Systems project, Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, called the chief executives of prime contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. to his headquarters on Jan. 19.

In a two-hour meeting, Allen, Lockheed's Robert Stevens and Northrop's Ronald Sugar discussed objectives and goals for the $25 billion modernization project, Allen told the House Coast Guard and Transportation Subcommittee. Topics included program management and oversight, technical authority designation, use of third party assessments and consolidation of Coast Guard acquisition under one directorate.

Los Alamos cybernightmare

Lawmakers threatened to shut down Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico following reports of continuing physical and cybersecurity breaches at the lab. In the most recent incident, a subcontractor employee took 200 hard-copy pages of classified documents and 400 electronic classified documents to her home, which she shares with an accused drug dealer. The documents were discovered by local police following a domestic disturbance at the home.