Security

BENGHAZI, Libya - Face down on a roof inside the besieged American diplomatic compound, gunfire and flames crackling around them, the two young Libyan guards watched as several bearded men crept toward the ambassador's residence with semiautomatic weapons and grenades strapped to their chests. "We are finished," one of the guards says he remembers thinking. Both are veterans of the ragtag revolutionary forces that toppled Moammar Kadafi. Over the last year, while assigned by their militia to help protect the U.S. mission in Benghazi, the pair had been drilled by American security personnel in using their weapons, securing entrances, climbing walls and waging hand-to-hand combat.

In response to the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the Los Angeles Police Department said there would be an increased security presence at and around Dodger Stadium on Monday night. The Dodgers are playing host to the San Diego Padres in the first game of a three-game series. “We believe Dodger Stadium has been a safe place,” officer Sally Nadera said. “This is to reassure the people that Dodger Stadium is safe.” Before the terrorist attack in Boston, the LAPD had no plans to increase security at the ballpark, according to Nadera.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who sits at the center of the nation's immigration debate, pushed back Wednesday against congressional demands to tighten border security further before creating a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Napolitano argued that border security had "never been stronger. " She said the Obama administration had deported a record number of people, had increased the number of border agents to a record 21,300 and cut illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.

A death threat against Roger Federer, in the form of an Internet posting, has resulted in the tightening of security around the tennis star in China, according to reports. Federer is scheduled to play in a Masters Series event in Shanghai, starting Monday. A tournament official told the Shanghai Youth Daily that the recent threat was being taken seriously and that security around Federer would be upgraded. A posting late last month on the Chinese website baidu.com by a user with the screen name "Blue Cat" contained a death threat against Federer and a graphic image of an execution, the AFP news agency reported.

An Energy Department investigation has alleviated fears that a significant amount of plutonium was missing from a national laboratory, but it has also heightened concerns about flaws in the system for controlling the U.S. stockpile of weapons materials. The investigation began in February, shortly after a routine inventory at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico found a plutonium shortage estimated at 2.

As it closes in on 1 billion users, Facebook has formed partnerships with five security software outfits to crack down on pfishing schemes. Facebook said Wednesday that Microsoft, McAfee, Trend Micro, Sophos and Symantec will join the fight to keep its users from sharing links to sites that install malware. Facebook also has its own tools in its arsenal and a vast database of malicious URLs. Facebook users, who number more than 900 million, post a ton of links, some from blacklisted sites.

A call for a "no-ride" list to tighten security on Amtrak passenger trains, floated this week by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), has drawn cautious responses from Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . Schumer on Monday called on the U.S. government to expand its Secure Flight Program , which cross-checks air travelers against a security watch list, to keep anyone on the no-fly list off trains....

Re "Security at LAX Highest Since 9/11," Dec. 24: How is more security created by giving only limos and taxis, but not private cars, curbside access? Peter Heiman Malibu

The fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie on Tuesday prompted concerns about the security of the border area  in rural Cochise County, Ariz., where he died.  In neighboring Santa Cruz County, Sheriff Tony Estrada said crime had fallen sharply along the border in recent years, due to a steep drop in illegal immigrant traffic as well as increased Border Patrol staffing. But violent clashes are not uncommon in isolated areas used by drug traffickers and bandits who prey on illegal immigrants.

The Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone contacts for at least 300 students who applied for admission to Cal Poly Pomona six years ago were unintentionally disclosed online, according to the university. The personal information remained on the university server and was accessible to the public for about five years, school officials said. The applicants were notified last week and urged to contact credit reporting agencies, school officials said. The personal information, which did not include financial data, was "mistakenly put in a publicly accessible folder on a university server in November 2003, and Google and other search-engine companies mined the data," according to a statement released by Tim Lynch, senior media communications coordinator for Cal Poly Pomona.