All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

WASHINGTON--The Conficker Internet virus has infected important computerized medical devices, but governmental red tape interfered with their repair, an organizer of an anti-virus working group told Congress on Friday.

Rodney Joffe, one of the founders of an unofficial organization known as the Conficker Working Group, said that government regulations prevented hospital staff from carrying out the repairs.

Joffe, who also is the senior vice president for the telecom clearinghouse Neustar, told a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that over the last three weeks, he and another Conficker researcher identified at least 300 critical medical devices from a single manufacturer that have been infected with the computer virus.

The devices were used in hospitals to allow doctors to view and manipulate high-intensity scans like MRIs and were often found in or near intensive care unit facilities, connected to local area networks with other critical medical devices.

"They should have never, ever been connected to the Internet," Joffe said.

Read full post…

The electric grid system that keeps the United States humming is worth more than $1 trillion and keeps the lights on for more than 300 million Americans. But recent reports have suggested it's also increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks as utilities tie grid-monitoring control systems to open networks like the Internet.

Federal regulators have complained they do not have enough authority over the electric grid networks. Now, in the wake of news of grid infiltrations by Chinese and Russian spies, some members of Congress are prepared to hand them that power.

Matching bills were introduced in the House and the Senate on Thursday to increase the authority of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to secure the electric grid. The bills were introduced by Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chair the Homeland Security committees in their respective chambers.

Read full post…

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to some health care providers noting procedures to be followed if the swine flu outbreak eventually makes quarantines necessary.

DHS Assistant Secretary Bridger McGaw circulated the swine flu memo, which was obtained by CBSNews.com, on Monday night. It says: "The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines."

Read full post…

Conservatives are up in arms about a report from the Department Of Homeland Security entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic And Political Climate Fueling Resurgence In Radicalization And Recruitment." (Here it is, in PDF form.)

The report is "one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS," writes Michelle Malkin, who deems it a "piece of crap report" that serves as "a sweeping indictment of conservatives."

Coverage of the report presently occupies both the top spot on the Drudge Report and a prime second location, where it comes with a picture of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the words "SHE IS WATCHING YOU."

The "Key Findings" section of the report opens with these words: "The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment."

Read full post…

The Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies have released a bulletin reminding local law enforcement (as if it wasn't already crystal clear) that the inauguration could present an enticing target for potential terrorists.

But the bulletin states that there is currently no credible threat information related to the Jan. 20 event.

---

Click Here For All Of CBSNews.com's Special Inauguration Coverage

---

The DHS has no plans to adjust any of the national threat levels but is reminding the public to remain vigilant.

Read full post…