5/17/2013 8:00 AM
 There is no lack of commercially available tools to counter rapidly evolving cyber threats, but putting them into place and having them work together efficiently can be a challenge. Available tools often are not used because the technology might be difficult to use, might not be widely known, or might be too expensive to be practical. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is planning to help agencies and other organizations put those tools in play, partnering with a nonprofit organization to provide technical and project management support for its National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCOE). The new federally funded research and development center would be the first of its kind dedicated to cybersecurity and would facilitate cooperation between the private sector and the NCCOE. The State of Maryland and Montgomery County, Maryland, are cosponsoring the center with NIST, which will work to strengthen U.S. economic growth by supporting automated and trustworthy e-government and e-commerce. NIST has released an initial notice of its intent to partner with such a center and expects to issue a request for proposals this summer.
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5/16/2013 8:00 AM
Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Todd Park, speaking at a luncheon hosted by TechAmerica, pointed to a speech given by President Barrack Obama at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2012 when the President promised to redouble efforts to go after sex traffickers abroad and at home. According to Park, the White House efforts against domestic human trafficking are starting to bear fruit. As an outgrowth of the Obama initiative, the Ford Foundation has helped to build a tool that uses algorithms to identify signals that an ad is posted advertising an underage child. Efforts to shut down Web sites that contained ads for trafficked children had previously been unproductive because the ads would move from site to site. Law enforcement officers had poured over tens of thousands of online ads posted every week at sites for clues but this was extremely labor intensive.
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5/14/2013 8:00 AM
 The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is kicking off a summer long series of consultations with states, tribal entities, territories, and local authorities across the nation this week with a kick-off workshop in Washington, DC. After the workshop, FirstNet will conduct six regional workshops to meet with each state individually during the consultation process. FirstNet will be soliciting public input from workshop attendees to help in the design of a public safety grade, next generation wireless network that will meet very specific requirements of police, firefighters, sheriffs, and emergency medical services personnel in their regions. “Consultations are an essential step in building working relationships between FirstNet and the thousands of people who are stakeholders in its success,” commented the new General Manager of FirstNet, Bill D’Agostino, in a written press release. “These meetings will provide valuable opportunities to listen and work collaboratively to build the first public safety-grade LTE network.” The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 created the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as an independent authority within National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
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5/10/2013 8:00 AM
Interest in using cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to help in criminal justice policymaking and planning has grown in recent years as state and local budgets have become increasingly strained. Most jurisdictions, however, have not been able to create a sustained capacity to produce and use CBA in decision making and budgeting. Recently, a roundtable discussion was convened to examine the factors that might help agencies draw on CBA in a lasting, meaningful way. In the daylong meeting, people from state policy entities and nonprofit organizations, along with elected officials from four states, discussed strategies for building CBA capacity. Building Cost-Benefit Analysis Capacity in Criminal Justice: Notes from a Roundtable Discussion covers three areas to consider as part of that objective: organizations, staff, and making CBA part of ongoing processes.
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5/9/2013 8:00 AM
 The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) recently enhanced their Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification system to improve communication to registrants and between criminal justice partners. “We decided to personalize the victim notification process,” said Brent Myers, the department’s director of registration and victim services. “We wanted to give options to those registering for notifications.” Whereas victim notifications were previously delivered exclusively via robocalls (automated phone calls), the new system allows IDOC to personalize notifications, giving registrants control over how and when they are notified. …Instead of receiving a phone call for every notification that a person is interested in, they can get a phone call for some notifications, text messaging for others,” Myers explained. There are three different types of notifications, and there are about 35 triggers that fall within each of those categories. Registrants can define how they would like to be notified for every trigger within each category. The system is also valuable for other users within the IDOC, as well as IDOC's external public safety partners. Prosecutors, court staff, defense attorneys, Child Protective Services employees, and child custody representatives use the notification system in carrying out their responsibilities.
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5/8/2013 8:00 AM
 Federal agencies wasted little time shoring up social media security policies after a highly publicized April 23, 2013, hack of the Associated Press' (AP) Twitter account prompted the General Services Administration (GSA) to issue new guidelines. The hacked tweet—which briefly confused the public after falsely claiming the president was injured in an explosion—and GSA’s new guidelines two days later provided all the incentive most agencies needed to avoid being the next AP. The guidelines, issued from GSA's Center for Excellence in Digital Government, offer common sense precautions for avoiding social media hacks. The recommendations cover how to handle hacks when they occur and how to respond to tweets from hacked accounts—all issues raised through the AP incident. Beyond prevention methods—such as using strong passwords and not using the same password across multiple accounts—social media heads at other federal agencies said their policies changed the most in regards to responding to breaches or other hacked accounts. With changes like two-tiered authentication for social media accounts potentially on the horizon, and increased public interaction with federal agencies via social media, it's anticipated that the guidelines will be updated more frequently going forward.
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5/7/2013 8:00 AM
 To facilitate on-going conversations about strengthening the security and resilience of critical infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created a Collaboration Community on “IdeaScale” that will facilitate community input and recommendations. Critical infrastructure is the backbone of national and economic security. It includes power plants, chemical facilities, communications networks, bridges, highways, and stadiums, as well as the federal buildings. DHS collaborates with the public and private sector every day to identify, prevent, mitigate, and respond to attempted disruptions to critical cyber and communications networks. In support of efforts to implement Presidential Policy Directive 21 on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, DHS is encouraging the community to submit comments and ideas using the IdeaScale public dialogue tool—a simple, Web-based forum—so that DHS can build a stronger foundation for securing and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure.
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5/6/2013 8:00 AM
The International Association of Chiefs of Police ( IACP), in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ( OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs ( OJP), U.S. Department of Justice ( DOJ), invites law enforcement, school officials, and allied stakeholders tasked with ensuring school safety to participate in a series of four school safety online trainings: Forming Your Safe School Planning Team, Assessing School Safety, Preparing for a School Crisis, and Responding to a School Crisis. These highly interactive, introductory level trainings are designed to assist in the development of crisis response plans to prevent and respond to events that threaten the safety of school environments. Training topics include:
- Identifying needs, gaps, and strategies to perform a comprehensive school safety assessment
- Identifying potential members, roles, and responsibilities for a safe school planning team
- Revising or creating preparedness strategies within a school safety plan
- Developing crisis response strategies and incorporating them into a school safety plan
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5/2/2013 8:00 AM
On April 12, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), outlined initial steps to implement the recommendations of the National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, part of his Defending Childhood Initiative, to address children’s exposure to violence. As his first action, the Attorney General announced that Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West will oversee the creation of an American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) task force on children exposed to violence. The proposed task force will be a joint effort between DOJ and the Interior, and tribal governments. The task force will focus on improving the identification and treatment of AI/AN children exposed to violence, supporting communities and tribes as they define their own responses to this problem, and involving tribal youth in developing solutions.
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5/1/2013 8:00 AM
An alpha release of the next version of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM 3.0) is now available for community feedback. NIEM is a community-driven, government-wide, standards-based approach to exchanging information developed through collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Since August 2012, the NIEM community has been working on NIEM Version 3.0—the next major release of the NIEM model. NIEM Version 3.0 addresses community-identified needs to date and is open for public review and feedback from April 22, 2013, to May 6, 2013, with access to the full model, including both NIEM Core and all NIEM Domains. The Web page NIEM.gov/version3 is dedicated to all things 3.0, including details regarding NIEM 3.0 scope as well as links to step-by-step guidance on how to conduct a review and how to submit feedback.
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