DHS

Juliette N. Kayyem, the Massachusetts homeland security adviser, was in her office in early February when an aide brought her startling news. To qualify for its full allotment of federal money, Massachusetts had to come up with a plan to protect the state from an almost unheard-of threat: improvised explosive devices, known as I.E.D.’s.

We live in a different world than we did before September 11, 2001. We are more aware of our vulnerabilities, more appreciative of our freedoms and more understanding that we are personally responsible for the safety of our families, our neighbors and our nation.

Would-be hurricane fighters hoping to stop a future Katrina before it makes landfall should aim to wound, not kill. The goal should be to re-route hurricanes and ease their fury, rather than try to stop them forming in the first place.

In New York City, the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to assist in gathering intelligence information during routine inspections and emergencies. In November, the Associated Press reported that in New York, Homeland Security was testing a program called the Fire Service Intelligence Enterprise (FSIE) to help identify "material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities."

The lobster is at the forefront of the next new weapon in the war on terror: a handheld device that could help Homeland Security agents see through wood, concrete and steel. Technology based on the crustacean's uncanny ability to see through dark, cloudy, deep sea water is guiding scientists funded by the government in the early stages of developing a ray that one day could be used by border agents, airport screeners and the Coast Guard. David Throckmorton, a project manager in Homeland Security's Science and Technology division, says a California company has developed a handheld prototype called the LEXID (Lobster Eye X-ray Imaging Device) that can see through walls.

A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time. Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office (NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and domestic law enforcement and rescue agencies use imagery and communications intelligence picked up by U.S. spy satellites.

Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people's privacy. Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don't need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.

The fake October news conference held by the Federal Emergency Management Agency was not the first time a Homeland Security public affairs official has acted like a reporter by asking questions during a briefing.

The Homeland Security Department intends to begin scanning all 10 fingerprints for foreign visitors starting Nov. 29 at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, department officials said Tuesday. Foreigners visiting the United States on visas must have a digital photograph taken and a scan of their two index fingers under the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program. DHS has built a database of 90 million fingerprints in the four years the program has been in operation.

ome Homeland Security professionals may soon begin their training in a Phenix City classroom. Chattahoochee Valley Community College announced Friday that it will offer an associate degree in applied science and a certificate in Homeland Security beginning in January -- the first of its kind in the state.