Security

The U.S. and Iraqi infantry soldiers walked in a staggered formation Thursday through northwestern Baghdad's Ghazaliya district, with its chocolate-colored villas and orange trees. With the new year, Iraq was now in charge of its own security, including places like this -- a mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhood that had been the site of raging gun battles during the country's sectarian war, which lasted for most of 2006 and 2007.

As owners of one of the oldest ferry services in America, Tom and Judy Bixler steer their craft across the narrow Tred Avon River dozens of times each summer day to link two sleepy Chesapeake Bay towns known for crabs, not jihadists. "The ferry goes pretty slowly," Judy Bixler said of the seasonal service, which dates back to 1683. "It's not like someone could commandeer it and go anywhere." But under a little-known domestic security program, the Bixlers and about 1.

A lawyer for Texas state troopers says a security system intended to detect intruders at the governor's mansion wasn't working the night that an arsonist set fire to the building. The system was supposed to sound an alarm to troopers stationed in a carriage house behind the mansion if someone got over the property walls. The Department of Public Safety cut back its security at the 152-year-old mansion last year after Gov. Rick Perry and his wife moved out at the start of a $10-million renovation job. Only one trooper was on duty when the fire broke out June 8, causing extensive damage.

Managers of an atomic power plant in Sweden used janitors to guard the facility when the alarm system was malfunctioning, according to a critical report from the country's nuclear watchdog. In a statement on its website, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said managers at the Oskarshamn plant had cleaning and maintenance staff help guard parts of the plant's perimeter because some motion sensors were not working. It said the workers had no security guard training.

The freed captain of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near Somalia last month called Thursday for military protection and armed crew members to thwart attacks in dangerous waters. Capt. Richard Phillips, skipper of the Maersk Alabama, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it was the "responsibility of the U.S. government" to protect any ship flying an American flag, through military escorts or onboard squads of highly trained security forces.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden conferred with Iraqi leaders here Monday as police reported four bombings that killed 10 people. Biden, a frequent visitor to Iraq as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi and Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih. Abdul Mehdi said they discussed implementation of a security agreement that took effect Jan. 1. The accord sets a three-year time frame for full withdrawal of American forces.

Ethiopia handed over security duties Tuesday to a Somali force, raising fears that the Horn of Africa country could collapse into chaos if an Islamic extremist group moves to seize power. The Ethiopian pullout after a two-year deployment was widely welcomed by Somalis who had viewed the troops as an occupying force, but the Ethiopians also provided a measure of stability.

The swearing-in of Barack Obama came off without a security-related hitch Tuesday, but underneath the calm veneer, federal authorities were intensively investigating a report that a group of Somalia-based militants wanted to launch some kind of inauguration-related attack.

In village after village, the pattern is the same. Sinister "night letters" threaten tribal elders considered loyal to the government. The local girls school is forced to close down -- or goes up in flames. Those bold or reckless enough to travel by road risk ambush, abduction or worse. Alarmed by the tightening Taliban grip on huge swaths of Afghan countryside, U.S.

OMG! POTUS keeps his BB. After facing down his top security advisors, President Obama won the right Thursday to be the BlackBerry user-in-chief. Under an arrangement with security aides, Obama will get a new BlackBerry loaded with software approved by U.S. intelligence officials that lets him communicate with friends, family and close associates without fear of hackers reading his e-mail.