Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Homeland Security Reports I finally got around to looking at DOE's report on the Aug. 14th blackout.  This report should be of interest to anyone involved in infrastructure protection. A new website is up in conjuction with Governor Walker's watershed protection initiative: adoptawaterbody.utah.gov  On November 19th, the US Senate heard a number of reports on agroterrorism: The Bio-Terrorist Threat to Agricultural Livestock and Produce Assessing the Threat to America's Breadbasket Protecting the Nation's Foodchain FDA's Role in Counterterrorism Activities USDA Efforts to Protect Agriculture against Terrorist Attacks In terms of technology, Dr. Colleen O-Keefe stated, There is a serious discrepancy among states in terms of computer technology, mapping expertise, and animal tracking. Additionally, states with the appropriate mapping technology and data collection are the exception, rather than the rule. Accordingly, numerous states don’t have the hardware or software capacity to utilize the technology some states possess. USDA must immediately implement an electronic system to track livestock movements and monitor disease outbreaks. At the very least USDA should identify states, such as members of the Council, to conduct a pilot project of an electronic tracking system that could be duplicated nationwide. Dr. Penrose Albright of the Dept. of Homeland Security discussed technologies that might be used to enhanced agricultural biosecurity. The new engineering building at Utah State University has been completed.  This was part of Governor Leavitt's initiative to expand science and education degrees in Utah which has resulted in new engineering facilities on four state campuses.  Micron is funding a new digital design laboratory in the USU engineering department. 12:37:13 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.