America Security News.- President Barack Obama and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, right, leave a joint news conference in Mexico City, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2013. Credit to AP Photo

Last week, Mr. Obama returned to capitals in Latin America with a vastly different message. Relationships with countries racked by drug violence and organized crime should focus more on economic development and less on the endless battles against drug traffickers and organized crime capos that have left few clear victors. The countries, Mexico in particular, need to set their own course on security, with the United States playing more of a backing role.READ WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

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Lockheed Martin said to Financial Times that the US government’s spending cuts would reduce its sales for the year by $825m, as it became one of the first big military contractors to put a figure on the impact of the across-the-board reductions. READ WHOLE ARTICLE IN FT

The Americas Security News.- President Fernandez de Kirchner in front of Falkland Malvinas Islands painted like the Argentine national flag

According to The Sunday Times, Argentina is developing missile technology that could threaten the Malvinas/Falkland Islands.

The british newspaper has learnt that military scientists in Argentina are building a rocket capable of being fired into space to an altitude of about 250 miles. Experts believe such technology could, in time, develop into a missile with a range of up to 372 miles.

This would put it easily within range of the Falklands, which are about 300 miles from the Argentine mainland, and could transform the balance of power in the south Atlantic.

Lord West, the former security minister and first sea lord, said he believed the only logical reason to develop such technology was to threaten the Malvinas/Falklands.

The Americas Security News.- Michael J. "Mike" Rogers

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.), said Sunday that recent reports about Chinese hacking show the U.S. is losing a global cyber war. “We get [hit] every single day by a whole series … of attacks, everything from criminals trying to get into your bank account or steal your identity, to nation states like China who are investing billions and hiring thousands,” he said. READ MORE HERE

The Americas Security News.- A Taser used by police in Brentwood includes a video camera. Photo credit: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

The San Francisco Police Commission is studying the Taser´s issue and  just finished holding the last of three community forums to gather public feedback. Nearly all the testimony was strongly opposed to the use of Tasers in San Francisco. READ MORE HERE: San Francisco Police does not fancy Tasers.

The Americas Security News.- Vice President Joe Biden and the gun control panel. Photo Credit AP Photo/Susan Walsh

The Obama administration is considering funding many more police officers in public schools to secure campuses, a leading Democratic senator said, part of a broad gun violence agendathat is likely to include a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips and universal background checks.

The school safety initiative, one of several under consideration, would make federal dollars available to schools that want to hire police officers and install surveillance equipment, although it is not nearly as far-ranging as the National Rifle Association’s proposal for armed guards in every U.S. school. READ MORE HERE

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Computer users are being advised by security experts to disable Oracle Corp.’s widely used Java software after a security flaw was discovered that they say hackers are exploiting to attack computers.

“Java is a mess. It’s not secure,” said Jaime Blasco, Labs Manager with AlienVault Labs. “You have to disable it.”

Java, which is on hundreds of millions of PCs around the globe, is a computer language that lets programmers write software using just one set of code that will run on virtually any type of computer.

It lets Web developers make sites accessible from browsers running on Microsoft Corp. Windows PCs or Macs from Apple Inc.

Computer users access those programs through modules, or plug-ins, that run Java software on top of browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. READ MORE HERE

The Americas Security News - Spending cuts in Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense DoD will impose a freeze on hiring civilians, cut operating costs on military bases and take more immediate steps to reduce spending in preparation for the possibility that U.S. Congress will fail to reach a deal to avert billions of dollars in additional cuts,  DoD officials said on Friday.   If  the White House and the Congress  do not an agreement, the Pentagon would be subject to $52 billion in cuts this fiscal year — about 10 percent of its non-war-fighting budget.

If no agreement by March 1, the DoD would have seven months to erase the $52 billion from its current budget because the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.  Cuts could affect defense programs, such as ship maintenance, purchase of new weapons and the military training programs.

A memo released Thursday by the Pentagon instructs all DoD forces and agencies to curtail spending on training, travel, office expenses and conferences. It also gives officials the authority to fire temporary workers.

The hiring freeze alone could have a significant impact on the economy in the Washington DC region (including Viriginia and Maryland). The Defense Department employs about 800,000 civilians worldwide, but many are concentrated locally.

FBI long distance firearms training is out of fashion.Photo Credit H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

The FBI has quietly broken with its long-standing firearms training regimen, putting a new emphasis on close-quarters combat to reflect the overwhelming number of incidents in which suspects are confronting their targets at point-blank range.The new training protocols were formally implemented…READ MORE HERE