Author Archive

Zack Phillips

Features

Staying On Track

Keeping tabs on foreign visitors as they arrive has been a surprising information technology success. Noting their departure promises to be much harder.

Defense

DHS office seeks to coordinate anti-bomb efforts

The Office of Bombing Prevention doesn’t cut red and green wires, but it tries to cut red tape for those who do.

Defense

Video: A Feel For Numbers

A video report on the uses -- and abuses -- of data in the fight against terrorism.

News And Analysis

Erasing IEDs

The Office of Bombing Prevention doesn’t cut red and green wires, but it tries to cut red tape for those who do.

Defense

Homeland Security issues contract for presidential transition planning help

Nonprofit group will organize a bipartisan advisory panel and develop a plan to prepare for the next administration.

Features

A Feel For Numbers

What if we fought terrorism using hard data instead of gut feelings and partisan politics?

News

Watchdog finds DHS division improperly transferred funds

Directorate failed to meet the legal requirements for pooling funds from multiple appropriations accounts, GAO says.

Defense

Economist warns against vague statements on security threats

Officials should make sure any information they provide is backed by data analysis, rather than gut feelings, researcher says.

Defense

Lawmakers concerned over slow pace of anthrax vaccine acquisition

Health and Human Services spokesman says department plans to issue a request for proposals by the end of the year.

Defense

Watchdog finds gaps in DHS visitor tracking program

Officials at risk of repeating past failures unless they develop a more detailed plan for new, biometric-based system to record exits by air.

Features

Thick or Thin

Homeland Security officials wrestle with the best way to spread grant money among cities and states.

Defense

FEMA looks to private sector for disaster provisions

New third-party system will be the primary focus of the agency’s logistics operation in fiscal 2008, official says.

Features

A Closer Look

Features

No-Bid Worries

DHS finds itself defending companies that get its contracts.

Features

Big Contracts, Big Problems

Lead systems integrators are in the hot seat as major programs flounder.

News And Analysis

Shuffling Supplies

FEMA turns to the private sector to make sure disaster areas get ample provisions—and fast.

Management

Spiraling Into Control

An intriguing DHS program fills safety gaps fast with low-cost technology.

Features

Security Theater

There’s little downside to being alarmist about terror, so we spend too much on measures that evoke feelings of security without actually improving it.

Managing Technology

Spiraling Into Control

An intriguing DHS program fills safety gaps fast with low-cost technology.

News And Analysis

Big Round Numbers

From radiation treatment to smallpox vaccines to port security, do agencies really know how much is enough?