Roster change
Helen Wood has been appointed chairwoman of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction
Helen Wood has been appointed chairwoman of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction.
Wood is director of the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She was appointed to the panel based on her vision for using the subcommittee to forge partnerships among federal agencies involved in disaster management and due to her extensive experience directing the use of Earth-observing satellites to provide operational hazard support services.
Some key areas of focus for the subcommittee include:
* Collecting, managing and disseminating disaster information in an integrated fashion.
* Exploitating dual-use systems and fusing classified and unclassified data streams for disaster-reduction applications.
* Supporting the Bush administration's Disaster Assistance and Crisis Response e-government initiative, which involves creating a customer-centric Web portal that will deliver information and services for dealing with disasters.
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The Transportation Department last week announced that the following individuals will serve as federal security directors at their respective airports:
* Allan Hoehl, New York's LaGuardia Airport. Hoehl is a retired New York City police officer who most recently served as a three-star chief and commanding officer in the department's Patrol Borough Manhattan South office.
* Earl Morris, Salt Lake City International Airport. Morris most recently served as deputy commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety. He also was a member of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command for the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Utah Police Academy, where he graduated No. 1 in his class.
* Kenneth Jarman, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Jarman, a retired Army colonel, most recently worked for Mevatec Corp. as manager of homeland security programs and a consultant to the Defense Department. His last assignment in the Army was as director of human source intelligence operations at the Pentagon. While in the Army, he served as the U.S. Army Alaska Garrison commander at Fort Greely. In that capacity, he was responsible for airport operations at the base, including airport security, safety and law enforcement.
The position of federal security director was created under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, signed by President Bush in November 2001. The new directors will provide a clear line of authority for security at the nation's airports.
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Peter Neumann of SRI International has received the 2002 Computer System Security Award, which is given annually by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency. Granted for outstanding contributions toward the advancement of computer security technology, it is generally considered the most prestigious award in the area of information security and assurance.
Since the 1960s, Neumann has helped define many of the fundamental principles in building secure computer and communications systems. He has energized and led debates on national issues related to security, reliability, human safety and trustworthy design. He has participated in several National Academy of Sciences studies, including two that produced highly regarded reports: "Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age" (1990) and "CRISIS: Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society," a report on U.S. cryptographic policy published in 1996. His book, "Computer-Related Risks," is in its fourth printing.
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