Around the country, in different areas of homeland security, individuals, companies and government agencies are taking innovative actions to better prepare for the unthinkable. The early results are very promising.

The battles were many and sometimes bitter, but in the end budgets were up for the fiscal year.

The danger from uninspected maritime cargo containers was the focus of election charges, but issues confronting border and port security go much further—and are getting new attention.

Republican National Convention in New YorkCity, 66 federal, state and local agencies, led by the US SecretService (USSS), prepared for the worst: a possible terrorist attack;violent protests; and anarchists who could have brought the cityto ahalt.

When HSToday last looked at the world’s first injectable radio frequency identification chip specifically designed for human use in September’s article “Security under the skin,” VeriChip was still awaiting clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical use within the United States.

In 1993, David Boyd participated in the first federal interoperability project in San Diego County, Calif., while working at the Justice Department. He learned then that “it might take 30 days to get the technology in place, but two years to get everyone on the same sheet of music.”

We asked state directors for their perspectives on DHS and the status of homeland security. The results were surprising.

James W. McMahon could easily see himself slipping into Secretary Tom Ridge’s shoes that March 1, 2003, morning. McMahon may be director of the New York State Office of Public Security today, but he brings 38 years with the state police office to the chair, 10 of which were spent as the head of 5,600 employees.