Security cuts and reports on new vulnerabilities!

Today in the News:

Report: Carry-on bomb could flood N.Y. tunnel Commuter rail tunnels to New Jersey said vulnerable to sabotage


Senate Plan Cuts Security Funding for Big Cities - Friday , June 30, 2006

WASHINGTON — Major cities that compete fiercely for annual counterterror funding face a $12 million cut next year under a spending plan approved by a Senate panel Thursday.

The proposed funding drop follows bitter protests from the two cities targeted in the 9/11 terror attacks after the Homeland Security Department last month slashed their annual share by 40 percent.

The Senate Appropriations Committee also agreed to delay requirements for passports or other secure documents from travelers — including Americans — entering the U.S. from Canada or Mexico until June 2009.

The changes were part of an overall $31.7 billion Homeland Security spending blueprint for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The plan would boost security funding by $715 million more than what the White House requested, and $1.4 million beyond current spending levels.

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But it would reduce spending for the nation's high-risk big cities from the $757 million in 2006 to $745 million in fiscal 2007. The White House had requested $838 million for such cities in 2007.

Last month, New York and Washington officials howled after watching their 2006 funding levels drop by 40 percent while cities like Omaha, Neb., got a boost.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate spending plan doesn't cover needs for New York "or anywhere else."

"This drop in funding starts us off already in a hole," Schumer said.

The spending plan also would delay a controversial border security program for 17 months as lawmakers said the Bush administration appears unable to meet its initial January 2008 deadline. The program would require passports or a small number of other tamper-resistant identification from travelers who now enter the U.S. from Mexico and Canada using birth certificates and drivers' licenses.

The bulk of the money in the spending plan is targeted for the Coast Guard and for transportation and border security programs.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who oversees the panel's homeland security spending, said the plan makes sure the funding "is concentrated on the greatest threats facing our nation: border security, preventing the use of weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence gathering capacity."

He said the plan will be considered by the full Senate as soon as lawmakers return from a weeklong July 4 recess.

The House approved a $32 billion Homeland Security spending plan in early June.

What you can do for your country? Or what you might be forced to do...

Bush plans to increase size of U.S. military

U.S. Selective Service Prepares Test of Military Draft

"WASHINGTON — The Selective Service System, which has remained in existence despite the abandonment of conscription three decades ago, is making preparations to tests its draft machinery in case Congress and President George W. Bush need it, even though the White House says it does not want to bring back the draft."

VA chief calls draft beneficial, but ...

Then Nicholson backtracks on comment, saying he doesn’t support a callup
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:44 p.m. ET Dec 21, 2006
NEW YORK - President Bush’s secretary for Veterans Affairs said Thursday that “society would benefit” if the country brought back the military draft, then clarified that he doesn’t support such a move.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson spoke a day after Bush said he is considering sending more troops to Iraq. The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that its position had not changed.

Nicholson, who served in Vietnam, was in New York to announce a partnership with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to help homeless veterans find housing.

A reporter suggested that the all-volunteer armed forces attract a disproportionate number of minorities and people trying to lift themselves out of poverty, and asked Nicholson if the draft should be reinstated to make the military more equal.

“I think that our society would benefit from that, yes sir,” Nicholson said.

The secretary recalled his own experience as a company commander in an infantry unit that brought together soldiers of different backgrounds and education levels, noting that the draft “does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving.”


He later issued a statement saying his comments had been misconstrued and that he does not support bringing back the draft.

Nicholson, a graduate of the military academy at West Point, N.Y., served eight years on active duty as a paratrooper and Ranger-qualified Army officer, then 22 years in the Army reserve. He has held the VA post since February 2005.

Bush said he has not made up his mind about whether to send more troops to Iraq. No timetables or totals have been outlined publicly, but by some accounts roughly 20,000 troops could be added to the 140,000 already there.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16318530/

Bird Flu could wipe out 62 Million

Flu 'could wipe out 62 million'

1918 killer flu 'came from birds'(Full Story)

A global flu pandemic could kill 62 million people, experts have warned.
The 1918 pandemic claimed 50 million lives, and experts in The Lancet predict the toll today would be higher than this, despite medical advances.

The world's poorest nations would be hardest hit, fuelled by factors such as HIV and malaria infections, the Harvard University researchers believe.

Yet developing countries can least afford to prepare for a pandemic, which needs to be addressed, they say.

Killer strain

Lethal global flu epidemics tend to occur three or four times a century.

Some scientists believe a new one may be imminent and could be triggered by bird flu.

So far there have been only 258 cases of the latest strain of avian flu, H5N1, recorded in humans.

But the fear is that this strain could mutate and spread quickly and easily between people, triggering a deadly pandemic.


The burden of the next influenza pandemic will be overwhelmingly focused in the developing world
Lead researcher Professor Christopher Murray

It is estimated between 50,000 and 700,000 people could die in the UK if such an event occurred.

To forecast how big the global death toll might be, Professor Christopher Murray and his team looked back at the events of the 1918-20 Spanish flu pandemic.

When they extrapolated the mortality rates then to the global population of 2004, they estimated 51-81 million people could die from a similarly severe outbreak and gave a median estimate of 62 million.

And 96% of these deaths would occur in the poorest countries, where there is overcrowding and access to medical care is limited, they predict.

Professor Murray warned: "The burden of the next influenza pandemic will be overwhelmingly focused in the developing world.

"Focusing on practical and affordable strategies for low-income countries where the pandemic will have the biggest effect is clearly prudent."

Dr Neil Ferguson, a UK flu expert at Imperial College London, St Mary's, said: "Access to vaccines, antivirals, and antibiotics for the most vulnerable populations is clearly part of the solution."

But he said it might be more pragmatic to focus on public health measures such as school closure, household quarantine and mask-wearing, although more evidence is needed to show if these can delay or reduce the effect of a pandemic.

"The evidence for non-medical interventions will be eagerly awaited," he added.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6199717.stm