The Democrats of the House Committee on Homeland Security, led by Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) have all urged the Department of Homeland Security to develop final rules to help improve air cargo security.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (or the 9/11 Act) ordered the Department to complete the rule by August 15. The law was crafted in response to the 9/11 Commission's findings that air cargo screening is crucial to making our skies more secure from the threat of terrorism.

Passenger and cargo planes carry more than 23 billion pounds of freight, packages and mail each year.   Americans first became aware of the terrorist threat to air cargo in 1974 when a bomb was planted in the cargo hold of TWA Flight 841. This awareness increased after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Commission's findings that while passengers' luggage was screened, oftentimes cargo traveling on the same planes was not.

"The American people expect the Department of Homeland Security to develop a system that recognizes the threat unscreened cargo presents to the flying public," said Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson. "It is essential that we secure our air cargo as quickly as possible to continue efforts to make America safer."

The Democratic members have asked the Department to explain the delay in issuing the rule and provide a firm date when the final rule will be issued.

It's that time of year again--late summer means severe weather is here. Do you know the difference between the types of severe weather alerts?

Tropical Depression. An organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 38 mph (33 knots) or less.   Sustained winds are defined as one-minute average wind measured at about 33 ft (10 meters) above the surface.

Tropical Storm. An organized system of strong thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 39-73 mph (34-63 knots).

Hurricane . An intense tropical weather system of strong thunderstorms with a well-defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher.

All Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal areas are subject to hurricanes or tropical storms. Although rarely struck by hurricanes, parts of the Southwest United States and the Pacific Coast experience heavy rains and floods each year from hurricanes spawned off Mexico. The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June to November with the peak season from mid-August to late October.

The FDNY PECB program is intended to electronically replicate the existing Portable Command Board functionality with several added capabilities. These include wirelessly backhauling PECB information to the FDNY Data Center; providing for central storage; forwarding of that information to the FDNY Operation Center at FDNY Headquarters; and packaging the PECB in a rugged, easily deployable, transportable, self-contained unit. "Our team is focused on providing a set of tools to incident commanders that aid in firefighting as well as in improving the safety of personnel working in this hazardous environment," said Andy Zangle, vice president and FDNY account manager with iXP Corporation.

"Our incident command solution tracks firefighters and EMS personnel working at inherently chaotic emergency incidents, and Raytheon's track record of providing excellent solutions to its customers will serve the FDNY in meeting its objectives. We are excited to have Raytheon as a member of our team."