The Security Week That Was: A Recap - April 22-28, 2006

Geoff Kohl, editor
Created:

SIW Editor Geoff Kohl gives a weekly surveillance of news shaping your profession


Top Level Shake-up

Central station monitoring company Integrated Alarm is seeing a shake-up at the executive level. The Albany-based company, which has been plagued by falling revenues, will see its two top executives -- Timothy McGinn, chairman and CEO, and Thomas Few Sr., president and vice chairman -- leave the company in May. It may help the company avert its own sale; at least one of Integrated Alarm's investment companies has been calling for the company to put itself on the block.

On the Lighter Side of Things

Andrews Air Force base kicked out all the stops in the search for a perimeter security breach on Thursday morning. Helicopters were put in the air and a full K-9 unit was dispatched in the search for the intruder. Who were they looking for? An Al Qaeda operative bent on attacking Air Force One? A North Korean spy looking for military secrets? Not so fast... This time the culprit seems to have been some sort of large cat -- a bobcat or wildcat, most likely. As of Friday morning, the search for the big meow had yet to bear fruit... or cat litter.

Not as Easy as You'd Think

That's the attitude from many maritime shipping leaders on the topic of automated identification systems (AIS) for maritime vessels. The industry, which has been largely in favor of vessel identification and tracking (there are obvious benefits other than security for these companies) say that there were problems with data set-up and improper installation when the tracking systems were rushed to market. There's also the problem in that many threats do not come from identified vessels, but from smaller vessels like the one that attacked the U.S.S. Cole in the Aden harbor in 2000. Nonetheless, the technology has improved, as have installations, and the Maritime AIS is growing in usage.

Finally, a look at our top read stories of the past week:

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