Two stories that arrived at almost the same time this morning, and one from earlier this week.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/11/afp-apologises-plastic-explosive-in-suitcase-sydney-airport The Australian Federal Police left a suitcase with 230g of plastic explosive at the Sydney airport. It was used in a bomb sniffing dog exercise and forgotten. It was found three weeks later after someone gave the bag to a woman as replacement for lost luggage and she wondered about the stuff she found in it when she got home. Lucky she didn't run into the AFP dog at the airport. http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2014/09/researcher-loses-job-nsf-after-government-questions-her-role-1980s-activist The US Office of Personnel Management have accused an NSF program manager of lying about her activities in the 1980s based on evidence which they will not disclose. She's been dismissed from her position at NSF as a result. This is possibly part of a Snowden inspired "toughening" of standards. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-09-09/security-clearance-contractor-to-lose-govt-work That's the contractor who cleared Snowden and the Navy Yard shooter, submitted over half-a-million fraudulent clearance investigations, and lost 25,000 personnel files of Homeland Security employees to a cyber-attack last month. Are we all feeling safe, yet? -- rec --
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