U.S. News - department-of-homeland-security

Updated

May

2013

1:09pm, EDT

Feds say they will reform student visa system to get officers updated information

By Pete Williams and Erin McClam, NBC News

Department of Homeland Security officials said Friday that they are improving the student visa system after a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev re-entered the country with an invalid visa.

The officials said the department was “reforming the student visa system” to make sure customs and border officers get almost instant updates on visa information.

Azamat Tazhayakov, a Kazakh student and friend of Tsarnaev, re-entered the United States in January with a visa that was no longer valid because he had stopped attending classes at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. That information was apparently not relayed to customs officers.

Tazhayakov, 19, was among three friends arrested earlier this week and charged with helping remove evidence from Tsarnaev’s dorm room or with lying about it to federal authorities.

Tazhayakov had attended classes with Tsarnaev.

Foreign students living in the United States to attend college must obtain a visa known as an F-1. The government issued 385,000 of them and denied 154,000 in 2010, the most recent year for which statistics are available, according to the State Department.

This story was originally published on Fri May 3, 2013 12:26 PM EDT

Aug

2012

7:47am, EDT

Report: US government weighs using battlefield blimps at Mexico border

A sandstorm blows past an inflatable blimp inside Forward Operating Base Joyce in Afghanistan's Kunar Province in June.

By NBC News staff

Dozens of surveillance blimps now being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq could be deployed on the border with Mexico under a new joint initiative by the American military and border patrol officials, the Wall Street Journal reported.

If tests overseen by the military over the next few weeks are successful, the Department of Homeland Security would deploy 72-foot-long, unmanned surveillance blimps to help trace drug traffickers and those trying to enter the United States illegally, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The helium-filled drones have drifted over military bases throughout Afghanistan and Iraq for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Often floating some 2,000-feet above above ground, they are equipped with cameras, infrared sensors and other hardware to help keep an eye on militants, insurgents and troops in battle, according to the newspaper.

Border Patrol unveils first new strategy in 8 years

With bases in Afghanistan shutting down, the aircraft are part of an enormous trove of military equipment set to leave the country over the next two years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Heavily armed boats from Texas are now patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande. NBC's Charles Hadlock reports.

Drug smuggling tunnels discovered between US and Mexico

If the tests go well, the military could give Homeland Security dozens of blimps and surplus equipment worth $27 million, the newspaper reported. Border officials are already using military hardware along the border with Mexico, such as unarmed Predator drones, the Wall Street Journal said.

The surveillance drones were being offered free of charge, Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition, told the paper.

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