Critical Releases in Homeland Security: April 1, 2015

"The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is conducting the 1:1 Facial Recognition Air Entry Pilot to allow Customs and Border Protection Officers stationed at air ports of entry to use facial recognition technology as a tool to assist them in determining whether an individual presenting themselves with a valid U.S. electronic passport is the same individual photographed in that passport. The operational goals of this pilot are to determine the viability of facial recognition as a technology to assist Customs Border Patrol Officers in identifying possible imposters using U.S. e-passports to enter the United States and determine if facial recognition technology can be incorporated into current CBP entry processing with acceptable impacts to processing time and the traveling public while effectively providing CBPOs with a tool to counter imposters using valid U.S. travel documents. CBP is publishing this Privacy Impact Assessment to evaluate the privacy risks of using facial recognition software at an air port of entry."

This is an unclassified report from the 9/11 Review Commission titled, "The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century." Chapters include: "Baseline: The FBI Today"; "The Sum of Five Cases"; "Anticipating New Threats and Missions"; "Collaboration and Information Sharing"; and "New Information Related to the 9/11 Attacks." The report gives recommendations and key findings.

"On November 24, 2013, Iran and the six powers that have negotiated with Iran about its nuclear program since 2006 (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany--collectively known as the 'P5+1') finalized an interim agreement ('Joint Plan of Action,' JPA) requiring Iran to freeze many aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some international sanctions. The period of the interim deal was to be six months, during which time Iran and the P5+1 would attempt to reach a comprehensive deal on the long-term status of Iran's nuclear program. The main elements of the JPA are requirements that Iran freeze, in effect, its production of enriched uranium hexafluoride containing 20% uranium-235--the form of enriched uranium in Iran's stockpile that has caused the most concern; dilute and convert the 20% enriched uranium and 5% enriched uranium stocks to other forms that would take time to reverse; halt key elements of its heavy-water reactor program that could lead to a plutonium bomb; and provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with additional information about its nuclear program, as well as access to some nuclear-related facilities which are not covered by Iran's IAEA safeguards agreement. The JPA has been seen as slowing Iran's build-up of nuclear material and improving the international community's ability to identify Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons."