Google has announced that it will be displaying emergency alert areas on its Google Maps, along with further details about the situation. Depending upon how promptly Google acts and what levels of emergencies it responds to, this is a potentially helpful service for getting quickly into gear should one be declared in your area.

Google’s announcement is available here.

Security work is becoming more of a “first career” choice in contrast to being populated heavily by “former government agency and law enforcement officials,” according to Ray O’Hara, who just wound up a one-year term as president of ASIS International.

In an interview with Whit Richardson, managing editor of Security Director News, O’Hara, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective himself, agreed that a transition to security manning with “no law enforcement background” is well underway. “My sense is we’re well on the way to getting a stable of first-career professionals,” O’Hara said. “In fact, John Turey [director of security for ITT in White Plains, N.Y.], who joins the board in January 2012, has no law enforcement background. Security is his profession, so it’s kind of exciting to see that transition in action with measurable results.”

ASIS International represents more than 37,000 security professionals worldwide.

Picture somebody using a cellphone camera to learn the identity of someone they don’t know – it ‘s increasingly easy to do. Nextgov.com reports that facial recognition, a technique helpful to crime-fighting and security agencies, is becoming available to ne’re-do-wells as well.

“Face searching, says Netgove,  ”is becoming popular in the commercial sector as accuracy improves, cost of the technology decreases and the number of photos uploaded to the Internet skyrockets. In government, authorities appreciate the ability to quickly identify the missing link in a case by finding photo matches online. But the Federal Trade Commission, Congress and academics point to the risk of creating a world where anyone–the good guys and the bad guys–can run a background check on unsuspecting strangers on the street.”

Another scary aspect of our times.

Now there’s another disaster report, to accompany TMI, Bhopal, Deepwater Horizon, etc. A 507-page interim report on the Fukushima nuclear plant accident last march has been released, and anyone responsible for facility security should be delving into it.

Not that it contains that much that’s new, but because much of the “old stuff” about being realistic about risk, and preparing conscientiously in the face of risk, wasn’t learned in Japan beforehand.

“Even for an accident of low probabilities so long as extremely large scale damages are anticipated once it occurs…due consideration should be given to the risks involved and precautionary measures should be taken.

“It was a major shortcoming for the safety of both nuclear power plants and surrounding communities that a nuclear accident had not been assumed to occur as a complex disaster. Disaster prevention programs should be formulated by assuming complex disasters, which will be the major point in reviewing nuclear power plant safety for the future.”

Yes, plan by assuming the worst, and be ready for it. If it never comes, fine. But be ready anyway.

For the frequent flyers among you, here’s word of My TSA, an iPhone and Android app that can make negotiating your most-used airports easier.

Downloadable from Apple’s iTunes store (we don’t know offhand where Android downloads originate), the app can provide airport weather conditions and the wait times at each checkpoint there.

My TSA looks like it’s almost as handy as having a ticket.

Based on what could have been a disastrous incident for Pitney Bowes, but wasn’t, here’s a post from Emergency Management on the elements of a business continuity plan, one that mantains business functionality and security should something dire happen.

No business should be without one, as Pitney Bowes can testify. This post is detailed enough that it will help you tune up an existing plan, or start from scratch. It contains the elements of a plan – the details you’ll have to provide.

It’s likely to take years to accomplish, but federal officials are moving to a secure online identity system in which – like a credit card – you’ll have one on-line identity for access to all federal agencies.

The envisioned system is known as “federated identity management.”  ”Currently,” explains Nextgov,  ”Internet users must create a new account for every service they want to access online, requiring that they deposit personal information all over the place. Sites must shoulder the costs of setting up and maintaining their own independent ID validation systems, and visitors must remember multiple passwords to interact with each agency or business.”

The new system apparently will require the creation of digital identity management companies, very much on the order of Visa and MasterCard today.

Pay some heed to what’s happening on the bioterror security front. CNN is reporting that “recent and proposed budget cuts at all levels of government are threatening to reverse the significant post-9/11 improvements in the nation’s ability to respond to natural diseases and bioterror attacks.”

That ominous advisory is based on a report, “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health From Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism 2011″ from the Trust for America’s Health. Sounds like it needs to be required reading by security officials.

The report is available in PDF format from a link in CNN’s report.

The U.S. Army continues to develop small, handheld radios for use by troops in the field – devices that look attractive for civilian security crews as well.

Army Rangers in Afghanistan are testing Rifleman Radios developed by General Dynamics that have computer interfaces, weigh only two pounds and draw less power than earlier models.

The Rifleman’s range is about 1-1/4 miles. It works in a “mesh networking configuration in which each radio acts as a relay for other radios in the network,” extending their range.

Technology is easing the tension that exists at the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) airport checkpoints – and maybe that has application at other security stations.

Security Debrief reports that TSA is installing recently purchased millimeter wave Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units at 16 airports. The new machines eliminate passenger-specific images while identifying suspicious materials carried in or under clothing.

“The deployment of this technology further strengthens security while also enhancing passenger privacy,” says a TSA spokesperson.