Yahoo! News
Britain to recruit spies from video game
Thu Oct 18, 3:06 AM ET
One of Britain's intelligence agencies will embed advertisements into popular video games this month in a bid to attract new recruits, The Times reported on Thursday.
The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's intelligence listening post, will embed the adverts as billboards in video games including "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent" in a bid to attract "computer-savvy, technologically-able, quick-thinking" recruits.
"We find increasingly we have to use less conventional means of attracting people ... to go beyond glossy brochures and milk-round stalls," a GCHQ spokeswoman told the newspaper.
The advertisements will not be written into the games themselves, but will instead be fed into them while they were played on personal computers or Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles connected to the Internet.
"We will monitor the results from this campaign and are ready to change our recruitment methods ... We know we can't stand still," the spokeswoman said, adding that GCHQ hoped to "plant the idea in the heads of younger players".
The Times said that GCHQ declined to specify how much the month-long campaign would cost, but cited industry sources as saying it would likely cost in the low tens of thousands of pounds.
Britain's other intelligence agencies have slowly emerged from the shadows in recent years -- the country's foreign intelligence service MI6 placed its first-ever advertisement for jobs in a newspaper in May, and in recent years it has launched its own website and accepted job applications online.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Police Listening Devices in Use on London Streets
BBC NEWS
Bugs used to fight London gangs
Listening devices and hidden cameras are being used by police in London to help infiltrate gangs of youths.
Detectives hope the hi-tech gadgets - which can be placed in cars, homes or on street corners - can help yield vital intelligence.
The technology is already deployed in Lambeth, south London, where a number of teenage gangs are based.
A police spokesman said the devices are used to gather information but any evidence is not admissible in court.
Police have admitted difficulties in breaking into tight-knit groups, which often include teenagers, and identifying key figures and activities such as drug dealing or gun violence.
Such "covert tactics" have only previously been used against organised criminal networks and terrorist organisations.
A police spokesman declined to say how the technology is used by police because details would harm "operational requirements".
The admission of the Metropolitan Police's tactics against gangs came as the force released figures showing gun crime had risen 10% in the last six months.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams said: "You will be aware of some of our surveillance capability.
"It is using these sort of facilities and seeing if they are acceptable and we can apply them locally."
How can we help the rising cohort of people... and stop them becoming the gang members of the future
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
Dept Com Williams said police were also having problems getting witnesses to come forward, especially in cases investigated by Operation Trident, which deals with gun crime among the black community.
Criminal gangs from other countries - including Nigeria, Jamaica, Turkey, Ukraine and Brazil - have been found to be operating in London this year.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said more effort needed to be made to stop youngsters joining gangs.
"How can we help the rising cohort of people, they are maybe 11 or 12, and stop them becoming the gang members of the future?
"The idea that people have of gangs is of a very organised Cosa Nostra (the Mafia's nickname). You are in it for life or not. That is not what these are."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7050493.stm
Published: 2007/10/18 16:21:20 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Bugs used to fight London gangs
Listening devices and hidden cameras are being used by police in London to help infiltrate gangs of youths.
Detectives hope the hi-tech gadgets - which can be placed in cars, homes or on street corners - can help yield vital intelligence.
The technology is already deployed in Lambeth, south London, where a number of teenage gangs are based.
A police spokesman said the devices are used to gather information but any evidence is not admissible in court.
Police have admitted difficulties in breaking into tight-knit groups, which often include teenagers, and identifying key figures and activities such as drug dealing or gun violence.
Such "covert tactics" have only previously been used against organised criminal networks and terrorist organisations.
A police spokesman declined to say how the technology is used by police because details would harm "operational requirements".
The admission of the Metropolitan Police's tactics against gangs came as the force released figures showing gun crime had risen 10% in the last six months.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams said: "You will be aware of some of our surveillance capability.
"It is using these sort of facilities and seeing if they are acceptable and we can apply them locally."
How can we help the rising cohort of people... and stop them becoming the gang members of the future
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
Dept Com Williams said police were also having problems getting witnesses to come forward, especially in cases investigated by Operation Trident, which deals with gun crime among the black community.
Criminal gangs from other countries - including Nigeria, Jamaica, Turkey, Ukraine and Brazil - have been found to be operating in London this year.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said more effort needed to be made to stop youngsters joining gangs.
"How can we help the rising cohort of people, they are maybe 11 or 12, and stop them becoming the gang members of the future?
"The idea that people have of gangs is of a very organised Cosa Nostra (the Mafia's nickname). You are in it for life or not. That is not what these are."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7050493.stm
Published: 2007/10/18 16:21:20 GMT
© BBC MMVII
They would be mayor...
Sunday Forum: They would be mayor
Mark DeSantis and Luke Ravenstahl explain why they should be elected
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MARK DESANTIS: Let's change the city's insider politics and the way it does business
I want to be mayor of Pittsburgh not for my own fame and not because I think it would be fun, but because I want to solve the real and formidable problems we're now facing. Because I want to change the back-room, closed-door, insiders-with-access politics that have shaken our faith in city government. And because I love this crazy, beautiful city.
Mark Desantis , a high-tech businessman and consultant, is the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh (www.desantisformayor.com).
Being mayor isn't something to play at or put on my resume. It's a calling. A commitment. Something I feel in my head and my heart and my gut.
I believe in Pittsburgh. And I know you do, too. But we can't unleash this city's true potential until we deal with its problems honestly and directly.
If I sometimes sound negative, I don't mean to. I'm just facing some unfortunate realities. Because that's what you have to do as mayor. Real leaders don't smile and tell you everything's going to be all right in the end. They don't shrink from tough problems. They face them head-on.
And I promise you: If we face Pittsburgh's problems head-on, if we join together and really work at them, we can solve them.
We can improve public safety by placing new emphasis on community-oriented policing, getting more officers out of the stations and onto the streets, returning to merit-based promotions and instituting the kind of broken-window policing that worked so well in New York City and other communities.
We can reduce our crippling $500 million pension debt -- and ensure that our retirees get the money we owe them -- by devoting all gaming revenues and nonprofit contributions to the pension fund, and by requiring all new city employees, starting with me, to participate in defined contribution plans.
We can create a thriving economy by getting government off the backs of our citizens and our businesses, collecting fewer and fairer taxes, emphasizing the birth and growth of new businesses and providing opportunities to all Pittsburghers -- especially minorities -- through micro-lending and entrepreneurship programs.
We can make our government and our budget reflect economic reality by reducing spending, consolidating some city and county services, learning to do more (and better) with less and reducing taxes to increase our population and create new jobs.
The financial realities we're facing pose a tremendous challenge. But they also provide a tremendous opportunity, a chance to forge a new and responsive and transparent city government.
This is a critical moment in Pittsburgh's history, one that calls for a new and different kind of leader: someone with a record of success in private business and public service. Someone who's started companies, created jobs, mentored students and helped launch small businesses. Someone who's worked for a senator and advised a president. Someone who understands how business and government work. Someone who wants to apply the full depth of his knowledge and breadth of his experience to a city he loves and wants desperately to improve.
On Nov. 6, for the first time in more than 50 years, we'll have the chance to chart a bold new direction for this city, a clear choice between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.
We can do more of the same -- just cheerleading and happy talk and hope that all our problems one day magically disappear -- or we can take a chance and strive for something better. We can once more accept the enabling timidity of wishful thinking, or we can rise up to embrace the undaunted courage of visionary change.
I know the path we should take. I'm ready to lead us upon it. And I'm asking you to follow me.
LUKE RAVENSTAHL: I'd focus on financial responsibility, job creation and public safety
Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side, I witnessed a phenomenon that changed me forever. I watched sons and daughters say goodbye to their families as they left the city they love to find jobs.
Luke Ravenstahl is the mayor of Pittsburgh and the Democratic candidate for mayor (www.lukeformayor.com).
When it was my turn to decide, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh. I chose to follow the path of public service, to implement changes to our policies and programs. Changes that will not only keep Pittsburgh's families here and together, but will also grow our city again.
Over the last year we have faced some unique challenges. We managed through a difficult time following the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor. I have proudly carried on many of his programs, while creating an aggressive agenda of my own to move Pittsburgh forward. My strategy for Pittsburgh's renewal and resurgence focuses on three fundamental objectives: financial responsibility, job creation and public safety.
We have just had our 2008 budget unanimously approved by Pittsburgh's financial oversight board. This is proof positive that my administration is bringing responsible, common-sense financial management back to city government. We have eliminated $150 million more in expenditures than the Act 47 plan recommended. As a result, our projected spending over the next five years is more than $100 million below what is called for in the plan.
Our savings will allow us to create a pay-as-you-go program for capital improvements. This program will move us away from the credit-card mentality of the past by not issuing new debt.
As the financial health of our city continues to move forward, so too do our efforts in job creation and economic development. Today, there is more than $3 billion in investments and job creation in Pittsburgh. From major corporate headquarters on the South Side, to new skyscrapers Downtown, to new development in our East End, North Shore and Uptown, evidence of progress can be seen everywhere.
We are making city government business-friendly. That's a big change from the days when doing business in the city involved climbing mountains of red tape. We are working closely with job generators and economic engines like our universities and medical centers. If a business idea is created here, we want it to stay here. To enhance these opportunities, I have put a number of programs in place: residential tax abatement, urban redevelopment programs that reward green building practices, a streamlined permitting process and money to rebuild neighborhood business districts.
Finally, my public safety action plan is making our streets among the cleanest and safest in the country. We must be responsible for the safety and conditions of our city and our people. I am putting more officers on the street -- more than 100 since I became mayor -- and keeping them there through beat-cop programs and by investing in technology that allows them to report from the field.
I have doubled the budget to demolish condemned structures that are hazards in our neighborhoods. I have asked my staff to proactively market the city's Side Yard Program, which, by encouraging ownership, empowers residents to turn blight into beauty.
Pittsburgh has talked for many years about ways to retain its young people as a means to secure a bright future. It is now time to make those plans a reality.
Making Pittsburgh the city we all want it to be will require hard decisions and boundless energy. Most of all, though, it will take us working as a team. It is my goal to make Pittsburgh the kind of place that my future children and grandchildren will choose to call home, just as I have.
First published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mark DeSantis and Luke Ravenstahl explain why they should be elected
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MARK DESANTIS: Let's change the city's insider politics and the way it does business
I want to be mayor of Pittsburgh not for my own fame and not because I think it would be fun, but because I want to solve the real and formidable problems we're now facing. Because I want to change the back-room, closed-door, insiders-with-access politics that have shaken our faith in city government. And because I love this crazy, beautiful city.
Mark Desantis , a high-tech businessman and consultant, is the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh (www.desantisformayor.com).
Being mayor isn't something to play at or put on my resume. It's a calling. A commitment. Something I feel in my head and my heart and my gut.
I believe in Pittsburgh. And I know you do, too. But we can't unleash this city's true potential until we deal with its problems honestly and directly.
If I sometimes sound negative, I don't mean to. I'm just facing some unfortunate realities. Because that's what you have to do as mayor. Real leaders don't smile and tell you everything's going to be all right in the end. They don't shrink from tough problems. They face them head-on.
And I promise you: If we face Pittsburgh's problems head-on, if we join together and really work at them, we can solve them.
We can improve public safety by placing new emphasis on community-oriented policing, getting more officers out of the stations and onto the streets, returning to merit-based promotions and instituting the kind of broken-window policing that worked so well in New York City and other communities.
We can reduce our crippling $500 million pension debt -- and ensure that our retirees get the money we owe them -- by devoting all gaming revenues and nonprofit contributions to the pension fund, and by requiring all new city employees, starting with me, to participate in defined contribution plans.
We can create a thriving economy by getting government off the backs of our citizens and our businesses, collecting fewer and fairer taxes, emphasizing the birth and growth of new businesses and providing opportunities to all Pittsburghers -- especially minorities -- through micro-lending and entrepreneurship programs.
We can make our government and our budget reflect economic reality by reducing spending, consolidating some city and county services, learning to do more (and better) with less and reducing taxes to increase our population and create new jobs.
The financial realities we're facing pose a tremendous challenge. But they also provide a tremendous opportunity, a chance to forge a new and responsive and transparent city government.
This is a critical moment in Pittsburgh's history, one that calls for a new and different kind of leader: someone with a record of success in private business and public service. Someone who's started companies, created jobs, mentored students and helped launch small businesses. Someone who's worked for a senator and advised a president. Someone who understands how business and government work. Someone who wants to apply the full depth of his knowledge and breadth of his experience to a city he loves and wants desperately to improve.
On Nov. 6, for the first time in more than 50 years, we'll have the chance to chart a bold new direction for this city, a clear choice between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.
We can do more of the same -- just cheerleading and happy talk and hope that all our problems one day magically disappear -- or we can take a chance and strive for something better. We can once more accept the enabling timidity of wishful thinking, or we can rise up to embrace the undaunted courage of visionary change.
I know the path we should take. I'm ready to lead us upon it. And I'm asking you to follow me.
LUKE RAVENSTAHL: I'd focus on financial responsibility, job creation and public safety
Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side, I witnessed a phenomenon that changed me forever. I watched sons and daughters say goodbye to their families as they left the city they love to find jobs.
Luke Ravenstahl is the mayor of Pittsburgh and the Democratic candidate for mayor (www.lukeformayor.com).
When it was my turn to decide, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh. I chose to follow the path of public service, to implement changes to our policies and programs. Changes that will not only keep Pittsburgh's families here and together, but will also grow our city again.
Over the last year we have faced some unique challenges. We managed through a difficult time following the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor. I have proudly carried on many of his programs, while creating an aggressive agenda of my own to move Pittsburgh forward. My strategy for Pittsburgh's renewal and resurgence focuses on three fundamental objectives: financial responsibility, job creation and public safety.
We have just had our 2008 budget unanimously approved by Pittsburgh's financial oversight board. This is proof positive that my administration is bringing responsible, common-sense financial management back to city government. We have eliminated $150 million more in expenditures than the Act 47 plan recommended. As a result, our projected spending over the next five years is more than $100 million below what is called for in the plan.
Our savings will allow us to create a pay-as-you-go program for capital improvements. This program will move us away from the credit-card mentality of the past by not issuing new debt.
As the financial health of our city continues to move forward, so too do our efforts in job creation and economic development. Today, there is more than $3 billion in investments and job creation in Pittsburgh. From major corporate headquarters on the South Side, to new skyscrapers Downtown, to new development in our East End, North Shore and Uptown, evidence of progress can be seen everywhere.
We are making city government business-friendly. That's a big change from the days when doing business in the city involved climbing mountains of red tape. We are working closely with job generators and economic engines like our universities and medical centers. If a business idea is created here, we want it to stay here. To enhance these opportunities, I have put a number of programs in place: residential tax abatement, urban redevelopment programs that reward green building practices, a streamlined permitting process and money to rebuild neighborhood business districts.
Finally, my public safety action plan is making our streets among the cleanest and safest in the country. We must be responsible for the safety and conditions of our city and our people. I am putting more officers on the street -- more than 100 since I became mayor -- and keeping them there through beat-cop programs and by investing in technology that allows them to report from the field.
I have doubled the budget to demolish condemned structures that are hazards in our neighborhoods. I have asked my staff to proactively market the city's Side Yard Program, which, by encouraging ownership, empowers residents to turn blight into beauty.
Pittsburgh has talked for many years about ways to retain its young people as a means to secure a bright future. It is now time to make those plans a reality.
Making Pittsburgh the city we all want it to be will require hard decisions and boundless energy. Most of all, though, it will take us working as a team. It is my goal to make Pittsburgh the kind of place that my future children and grandchildren will choose to call home, just as I have.
First published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 am
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Very Comforting...
By Jeanne Meserve
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Screeners failed to find most of the fake bombs smuggled by plainclothes investigators through checkpoints at two major airports from late 2005 until last fall, the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday.
art.screener.gi.jpg
The TSA now conducts daily testing, which has led to improvements at airports across the country, the agency said.
Investigators successfully smuggled 75 percent of the fake bombs through checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport in California, and 60 percent through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in Illinois, according to a report obtained by USA Today. In tests at California's San Francisco International Airport, where a private company conducts inspections, 20 percent of the contraband made it through security.
The TSA confirmed the results but said the tests, conducted in fiscal year 2006, prompted the agency to change its protocols. Taking a cue from the experiences in San Francisco, the TSA now conducts daily testing, which has led to improvements at airports across the country, the agency said.
The agency conducts 2,500 tests a day nationwide, said spokeswoman Ellen Howe. "There are tests literally in every lane, every shift, every day," she said. The TSA does not release test results, but she said the increased tests have shown an overall improvement.
The agency's Office of Investigations conducted the tests in question from October 2005 to September 2006, Howe said. Investigators posed as passengers, concealing fake bombs, bomb components and weapons in their clothing and carry-on bags as they went through security screening.
The TSA conducted about 70 tests in Los Angeles, 75 in Chicago and 145 in San Francisco.
The government has conducted similar testing in the past, with similarly poor results. Repeated tests by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General led the Government Accountability Office to conclude that better technology would improve security.
The TSA said it's working to deploy improved machinery such as X-ray machines that can better distinguish between harmless objects and bombs. However, the agency also has worked to emphasize the search for bomb components, said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley.
Some 30,000 screeners, renamed as transportation security officers, underwent training in fall 2005 to detect such components. The TSA chief also increased weekly training from three to four hours, Howe said.
San Francisco's practice of continuous testing has become the norm, Howe said. With constant testing, it becomes second nature to find components, she said. "We have to keep challenging screeners; we have to keep changing it up," she said.
In the past, San Francisco screeners were criticized when it was learned they had advance warning of the testing and used the airport's security cameras to follow investigators to checkpoints.
More recently, Richard L. Skinner, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, disclosed that screeners at Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi had advance notice of tests in 2004, and were given descriptions of undercover investigators and the type and location of items to be sneaked through checkpoints.
Skinner said he's expanding his probe of possible cheating to include other, unnamed airports.
In addition to the physical tests of airport checkpoints, the TSA uses "threat image projection," which digitally inserts images of "threat objects" such as knives and bomb parts into X-ray machine images of passengers' bags. The system is intended to train screeners and keep them alert. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
CNN's Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/10/18/airport.screeners/index.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
