The Securing America’s Ports Act (H.R. 5273) was signed into law on Jan. 5 by outgoing President Donald Trump. The new law requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop a plan to scan all commercial and passenger vehicles entering the U.S. at land ports of entry using large-scale imaging technology. The act, which was introduced by former Rep. Xochitl Torres-Small (D-N.M.), says the port security plan shall inventory the current non-intrusive inspection systems, provide cost estimates to achieve 100 percent scanning, and review the impact on wait times at the border from the increased scanning. Currently, DHS scans about 15 percent of commercial vehicles and 1 percent of passenger vehicles entering the U.S. and plans to increase those rates to 72 and 40 percent respectively in the next few years.
President-elect Joe Biden
has named Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall as his homeland security advisor on the White House National Security Council. She is currently a distinguished professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. During the Obama administration, she served as deputy secretary at the Department of Energy from Oct. 2014 to Jan. 2017, and before that, served four years on the NSC, first as special assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs, and then for a year as White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. She also served at the Defense Department during the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia from 1994 to 1996. When Biden was a U.S. senator, she served as his chief advisor on foreign and defense policy.
…Russ Travers will serve as Sherwood-Randall’s deputy. Travers, a 42-year veteran of the intelligence community, most recent government service was as acting director and principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He resigned last March under pressure by then-acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
…Biden also named current National Security Agency cyber chief Anne Neuberger as his top official on the NSC for cyber security and emerging technologies. The re-establishment of a top cyber security position at the NSC is in line with Biden’s announcement in December that cyber security will be a top priority for his administration. Neuberger is the director of the NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate, reporting to Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, who is the NSA director. The Cybersecurity Directorate achieved its initial operating capability in Oct. 2019 and has been led by Neuberger the entire time.
The Coast Guard short range recovery helicopter program in has delivered four more MH-65E helicopters, bringing to 14 the number of aircraft converted to the “E” configuration, which includes reliability and capability improvements for the Automatic Flight Control System, enhanced digital weather/surface search radar, integration of a robust C4ISR suite, and modernization of the digital flight deck. The Coast Guard is also completing a Service Life Extension program to the MH-65 fleet to add 10,000 flight hours to the platforms.