Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using social media tools in their efforts to prevent and solve crime, but in doing so they sometimes risk breaking the law themselves, reports Rutrell Yasin in Government Computer News.

FBI Special Agent Gunpat “Gunner” Wagh advised an audience of law enforcement officials to consult with attorneys when planning an investigation to be sure they have any needed warrants or other authorization to do whatever they’re planning.

“If people are pushing information out there, so it’s open source, and we are sifting through it [looking for potential threats] then I don’t think that there is a big [privacy] issue,” said Tom Wilkins, executive director of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau’s Intelligence Division in the article. “When police start digging, then you’ve got privacy issues.”

Read more @ fcw.com

Following the severe catastrophes experienced around the world in 2011, organizations now have an opportunity to learn lessons from these events and reduce the adverse impact of future incidents on their balance sheets.

These are the conclusions of a new paper published the other day by Marsh. The paper says that the scale of the catastrophes experienced in 2011 exceeded previous loss-modeling predictions and has challenged established thinking on the nature of risk. The paper says that, post-2011, companies need to re-examine their risk management strategies and introduce new methodologies to strengthen their operational and financial resilience.

Read more @ www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Only nine states in the United States have taken comprehensive steps to address their vulnerabilities to the water-related impacts of climate change, while twenty-nine states are unprepared for growing water threats to their economies and public health, according to a detailed state-by-state analysis of water readiness released the other day by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The report ranks all fifty states on their climate preparedness planning, and is accompanied by an interactive online map showing the threats every state faces from climate change.

The new NRDC report, “Ready or Not: An Evaluation of State Climate and Water Preparedness Planning,” outlines four preparedness categories to differentiate between the nine best-prepared and most engaged states with comprehensive adaptation plans (including California, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), from those states that are least prepared and lagging farthest behind (including Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Virginia, and Texas).

Read more @ homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Robots have become a critical security and intelligence component of 21st century warfare. As a result of their proven success in combat, the types of missions that robots perform are rapidly expanding on and off the battlefield. This proliferation of practical robots highlights the leadership position of the United States in the global robotics industry and the importance of maintaining it.

Indeed, robotics is one of the two most promising areas of scientific innovation and economic growth in America right now. (Biogenetics is the other.) In the not-so-distant past, the United States enjoyed great economic and technological success with automobiles, aviation, agriculture and information technology. In the near future, robotics has the same potential to be an economic engine that carries the nation forward, providing a foundation for significant enhancements and employment opportunities in defense, research and other critical sectors.

Read more @ nextgov.com

When FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate tweets about space weather warnings, people sometimes reply and ask if they should don aluminum hats. Although the thought of severe weather in space might sound like a plot from a science fiction novel, the threat is real — and could potentially cause widespread blackouts and shut down the electric power grid for an extended period of time.

Experts have said the effects from a major storm would be much worse than Hurricane Katrina — picture hundreds of communities without power, which would mean no water, communications would eventually go down, and commerce would come to a halt.

Extreme space weather is a low-probability but high-impact event. It has come onto emergency managers’ radar within the last few years and is now being added into planning efforts at federal and state agencies. And now is the time to work it into preparedness activities. Solar weather works in 11-year cycles, and a solar maximum is expected in May 2013, meaning there’s an increased chance for an extreme event.

Read more @ emergencymgmt.com