Homeland security short stories
Boring web sites attacked
The AP is reporting, “A widespread and unusually resilient computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the Web sites of several government agencies, including some that are responsible for fighting cyber crime.” The BBC reports that similar attacks were experienced in South Korea. Targets included the Department of Transportation and the Federal Trade Commission.
No place is safe from the GAO
The Washington Post reports, “Investigators from the Government Accountability Office over the past year successfully smuggled bomb-making materials into 10 high-security federal buildings, constructed bombs and walked around undetected.” The GAO report of this investigation is not yet available online and, perhaps for good reason, details seem hard to come by this morning.
Teenager resists usual routine
A San Francisco teenager diagnosed with H1N1, who has since recovered, is the most recent of three patients who have demonstrated resistance to Tamiflu. But Medpage reports , “Right now this looks like spontaneous mutation in these patients,” Dr. Fukuda (WHO deputy director) told a press conference today. He said all three patients had the same mutation and all three had “uncomplicated” disease from which they made full recoveries. He added there’s also no evidence of a resistant strain in any of the contacts of the three patients.”
Canadian pigs are being creative
“A new strain of H1N1 flu sickened at least two workers at a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Canadian health officials said. Tests found the strain is different from the pandemic swine flu circulating the globe,” according to Bloomberg.
In retaliation for mean border guards?
Many Canadians perceive “today’s U.S. border officers are meaner,” according to Passport channeling the Globe and Mail. Might the mutating pig virus be a passive aggressive response?
When you are sick in bed, all the websites have crashed, and your Canadian friends are unwilling to visit, you can still listen to the radio
“Ocean conservationist David Helvarg says the Coast Guard’s environmental duties are vastly important to marine life and underappreciated in the U.S. military. Helvarg talks with host Jeff Young about his new book, Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard: America’s Forgotten Heroes. You can read or listen to more from Living on Earth.
“Sixty years ago this summer, a fire occurred that redefined modern forest fire fighting. Bob Sallee was just 17 years old when he joined the smokejumpers, an elite new group of forest fire fighters. On his very first jump he parachuted down to battle the Mann Gulch blaze outside of Helena, Mont. The blaze seemed routine at first – but fueled by high winds the fire suddenly blew up… Soon the crew of 16 was running for their lives.” Hear more from The Story.
Each week from KAMU at Texas A&M there is a new Homeland Security: Inside and Out. This week the topic is “Can Twitter save lives during and after a disasters?”
