Security
Senate Vote Paves Way For Passage Of Ports Bill
     The Senate voted 98-0 this week to pass a maritime security bill. But Republicans and Democrats first had to work through an amendment dealing with the scanning of all cargo abroad. The language, rejected by a vote of 37-61, would have required the Homeland Security Department, within four years, to scan all containers before they arrive at U.S. ports. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged passage of an amendment that he said he offered out of frustration. He raised the specter that a nuclear bomb could be smuggled into a U.S. seaport using a cargo container. "I have offered this amendment after years ... of trying all the other ways to get Homeland Security and, frankly, our two bodies to act," he said. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota were among the opponents. They said Republicans want complete cargo scanning but do not favor the Democratic plan to get to that point. Also this week, the House passed a bill that calls for 700 miles of fencing, as well as cameras, ground sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles, along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cyber Security
Hiring Decision For Cyber Chief Near, Official Says
     A Homeland Security Department official assured members of Congress that the agency is close to hiring a cyber-security czar. Undersecretary for Preparedness George Foresman said at a House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee hearing that Homeland Security is doing a background check on a candidate now and expects to make the announcement soon. Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., called an upcoming cyber czar announcement "the best news we've had this morning." The position was announced more than a year ago. Foresman said hiring someone for the position has been his top priority since becoming undersecretary in January, but several candidates recruited from industry dropped out of contention. Some lawmakers expressed frustration that the post has remained unfilled. "That the position and others remain vacant conveys a clear lack of appreciation for the nation's real and mounting cyber threats," said full committee ranking Democrat John Dingell of Michigan.

Security
Official Defends Work To Detect Liquid Explosives
     The new chief of science and technology at the Homeland Security Department said he is accelerating efforts to find technology to keep liquid explosives off airplanes. During a House hearing, lawmakers questioned Jay Cohen, who took over the science and technology directorate last month, on why developing detection tools for liquid technology has not been done faster. Interest in the devices heightened after a foiled bomb plot in London last month. Cohen said that after the plot, he asked industry to propose detection devices. More than 40 proposals have been received. Approved devices would qualify for certification under a program that shields contractors from liability in the event that their technologies do not prevent a terrorist attack. "Those that work we will put on the fast track in an acquisition program," he said.

Security
Leaders Of 9/11 Panel Decry Inaction On Group's Ideas
     The co-chairmen of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks chided the federal government for failing to implement programs and technologies that would make the country safer. Former New Jersey Republican Gov. Thomas Kean and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the so-called 9/11 Commission, criticized the Homeland Security Department and Congress for having a "lack of urgency" five years since the attacks. "The basic point is, for me, that five years later ... there is still so much left undone," Kean said. Hamilton added, "I just want to see a sense of urgency brought to this." Kean said recommendations from the commission that seemed the "most elementary," such as distributing homeland security grants based on risk, still have not been implemented.

E-Commerce
Sen. Frist Seeks Vehicle To Move E-Gambling Bill
     Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is making a last-minute attempt to attach to a defense bill language that would target the $12 billion online gambling industry. Negotiators now say they probably will complete action on the defense bill next week. Frist, R-Tenn., is eyeing it as a way to move anti-gambling legislation that has stalled in the Senate. In July, the House passed a comprehensive measure to ban most forms of online gambling. Supporters contend that this year represents the best opportunity to target the industry because of the political fallout from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Abramoff was instrumental in helping defeat an Internet gambling ban on the House floor in 2000. But the House measure has stalled in the Senate because of opposition from unidentified senators sympathetic to gambling interests. According to an aide, Frist has decided to push for a truncated version of the House bill.

Civil Liberties
Group Hopes To Quash Tech-Related Bills This Year
     As lawmakers scramble to finish the work of the 109th Congress, a privacy and technology watchdog group is worried about passage of several bills that it says could threaten Internet privacy or civil liberties. The Center for Democracy and Technology released a list of nine technology-related efforts it wants to see blocked this year. At the top of the list is a bid to legalize a program that grants anti-terrorism wiretaps without warrants. CDT staff counsel Nancy Liben said the bill would let the National Security Agency turn its "vacuum cleaner technology on a communication going into and out of the U.S. as long as it targeting no one in particular." CDT also expressed concerns over bills aimed at curbing sexually explicit content online and protecting children from online predators. And the group opposes a measure on data breaches that it said would not do enough to protect consumers.

Telecom
Sen. Stevens: Net Neutrality May Kill Telecom Bill
     Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens acknowledged that his telecommunications legislation is unraveling. "Net neutrality was the most hotly debated portion of our communications bill, and it is the subject that is holding up the communications bill," the senator said at a confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who has been nominated for a second term at the agency. The measure would not mandate network neutrality regulations to bar high-speed Internet providers from blocking or degrading competing content. But it would require the agency to examine the issue and protect the rights of consumers to access Web sites unimpeded. The lack of stricter neutrality safeguards, however, has splintered the Senate and the communications industry. The issue "may well lead to its total defeat this year after 19 months of work on that bill," Stevens, R-Alaska, said of his measure.