Defense contractor Raytheon announced it will develop a Stand-Off Warning Against Radiological Materials (SWARM) technology for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The award which will be managed by DHS' Domestic Nuclear Detection Office under the Exploratory Research in Nuclear Detection Technology Program could be worth as much as $2.9 million over multiple years. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will lead this effort with a team that includes experts from Los Alamos National Laboratory, ORTEC, MIT and Boston University.

Michael Del Checcolo, vice president of Engineering IDS says, "SWARM will develop a radiation detection and localization approach that uses multiple, mobile and highly distributed sensors. This approach will enable first responders to accurately evaluate a situation and take swift action in the event of a threat to [America's] national security."

The FBI and ATF announced an increased reward for information about four fugitives wanted in connection with a domestic terrorism cell that conducted a range of criminal actions throughout the United States in the name of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF). "The Family", as the cell is dubbed, is responsible for a string of arson attacks between 1996 and 2001, including the largest eco-related arson in history, a $26 million attack at Colorado's Vail Ski Resort in 1998.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of the following four people is now $50,000 a piece. The four fugitives are Josephine Sunshine Overaker, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, Justin Franchi Solondz and Rebecca Rubin.

This spy scandal has not been widely reported in the western press yet, but it should soon be. A high-ranking member of the Estonian Defense Ministry has allegedly been spying for Russia since the country became a member of both NATO and the European Union in 2004. Although he could have been working at some level for the Russians as early as the mid-1990s.

The suspected spy, Hermann Simm, was arrested in September. This is being described as "catastrophic" for the two alliances and the member nations of each. Simm had access to nearly all classified documents passed between the EU and NATO.

One of the three destructive Southern California wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of acres has been blamed on a bonfire. Apparently a group of college students thought they had extinguished their fire early last Thursday (11/13) morning, but winds whipped it back to life.

An audio message purportedly from al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, has popped up on websites used by Islamist extremists. In this message, the speaker attacks U.S. President-elect Barack Obama with very derogatory language. Obama is called a "house negro".

By way of a Wired.com Danger Room post (link below) we find out that the United States Navy has put out a request for information (RFI) relating to concepts for "selectable output weapons". The Naval Air Weapons Center wants a weapon that can be used to inflict just the right amount of damage, or a specific type of damage. Among other requirements, the concepts must be able to provide at least 2 "output modes", and be air to ground configurations.

The U.S. DHS has announced the final rule that will require pilots of private aircraft to send U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) their electronic manifest data relative to all passengers traveling onboard prior to arrival and departure.

The rule mandates that CBP receive the manifest data one hour prior to departure for flights arriving from outside the U.S., or departing from the U.S. The manifest data must be filed through the Electronic Advanced Passenger Information System or an approved alternate system.

The LA Times has an article about how the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center lost power early Saturday as a result of the wildfires burning outside Los Angeles. The hospital thought it would not encounter such a problem because it has its own emergency power plant on site. However, despite being tested last Wednesday the system failed. An investigation into the cause of the problem is underway.