Dow now at 9,828, down 53 points.

NEW YORK (AP) — Signs of a weaker housing market gave stock investors another reason to be cautious.
Stocks fell Wednesday after the Commerce Department said new home sales dropped for the first time in five months. Sales slid 3.6 percent in September to 402,000 from 417,000 in August, well below the 440,000 analysts had forecast.
Investors also pulled back after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its expectation for the nation’s economic output for the July-September period. Goldman Sachs expects third-quarter gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 2.7 percent, weaker than its earlier forecast of 3 percent.
The government’s report on third-quarter GDP is due Thursday morning.
Analysts said the market’s slide in the past week isn’t surprising given the size of the advance in the past eight months and only mixed economic readings.
“I’m not panicked at the moment,” said Manny Weintraub, president of Integre Advisors in New York. “I don’t think anyone expected a super robust recovery.”
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 77.16, or 0.8 percent, to 9,805.01.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell for the fourth straight day, sliding 15.53, or 1.5 percent, to 1,047.88. The Nasdaq composite index fell 44.22, or 2.1 percent, to 2,071.87.
In another sign of lingering troubles in the financial industry, GMAC Financial Services is in talks with the Treasury Department for a third bailout. The auto and mortgage lender has been among the hardest hit financial firms by rising loan defaults and troubled credit markets. The government already holds a 35 percent stake in GMAC after giving it $12.5 billion in bailout money.
Stocks struggled Tuesday after a disappointing report on consumer confidence stirred worries about the strength of the coming holiday shopping period. Corporate profits have been improving but investors are still waiting for a rebound in sales.
Stocks have been falling most days since hitting their highest levels in a year at the start of last week. A strengthening dollar and falling commodities prices have at times weighed on stocks.
The dollar rose against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Bond prices rose as investors sought safety from a falling stock market. That sent yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.41 percent from 3.45 percent late Tuesday.
Crude oil fell $2.14 to $77.41 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop in oil weighed on shares of energy companies.
Oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd. fell $1.95, or 3 percent, to $62.98.
Home builders fell after the report on new home sales. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. slid 40 cents, or 9.3 percent, to $3.90. Toll Brothers Inc. fell 99 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $16.95.
The drop in new home sales follows a report from the National Association of Realtors last week that sales of existing home sales posted the biggest increase in 26 years in September as investors tried to get ahead of an expiring tax credit for first-time buyers. New home sales make up a smaller part of overall sales than sales of existing homes.
Earnings reports also touched off some worries. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s profit more than doubled in the third quarter as it cut costs and added products, but the company also said it expects operating income will fall in North America in the fourth quarter. The stock fell $3.20, or 19.1 percent, to $13.54.
Drug distributor McKesson Corp. fell $2.16, or 3.6 percent, to $57.46 after the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Apollo Group Inc., parent of the University of Phoenix, fell after the for-profit higher education company said the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an informal inquiry into how it accounts for revenue. The stock fell $12.72, or 17.4 percent, to $60.25.
Five stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 802.7 million shares compared with 650.7 million shares traded at the same point Tuesday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 14.68, or 2.5 percent, to 572.31.
Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 2.5 percent, and France’s CAC-40 slid 2.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.4 percent.

Bloggers, I’ll have more today, if I can get someone from Electric Boat to connect with me at (360) 475-3783. Rachel Pritchett

By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON
NATIONAL AIRPORT
General Dynamics Electric Boat is the newest tenant in the Port of Bremerton’s industrial park.
Port commissioners signed the lease Tuesday evening.
The debut of a major Navy contractor at the port prompted commissioners, who once talked about diversifying Kitsap’s employment base away from the military, to begin talking about creating a defense campus at the port’s Olympic View Industrial Park.
“I just think it’s a great opportunity for us to look forward to more business with military contractors at our airport,” Commissioner Bill Mahan said. The industrial park is directly across Highway 3 from the port’s Bremerton National Airport.
Said Commissioner Cheryl Kincer, “I’ve been promoting a defense campus out at our port for quite some time.”
The company will occupy roughly 9,000 square feet of space in a building constructed by the port with no committed lease agreement, and which stood empty for a year and a half in the recession. That’s about a third of the available space in the building.
The port was under tremendous public pressure to get a tenant for the building, and the relief was evident Tuesday.
“We are so pleased to have a firm of this stature join us at the Port of Bremerton,” port Chief Executive Officer Cary Bozeman said.
The Groton, Conn.-based company could be in its new digs by New Year’s.
It will pay $7,648 in monthly rent to the port. Safe Boats International remains the industrial park’s biggest tenant.
The lease could be as long as for eight years, if all the options are taken.
The port paid a 4 percent commission to a Boston commercial real estate company to arrange the deal, which was still being worked on just a few hours before Tuesday evening’s meeting.
Bids were hurriedly received by the port to make the new quarters ready for Electric Boat. Drury Construction of Poulsbo was the low bidder, saying it could do the work for about $93,000.
Uses will include office functions, warehouse storage, research and development, assembly, welding, painting and materials fabrication, according to port documents.
Bozeman seemed confident that the arrival of Electric Boat at the port would create more jobs. “It’ll definitely bring new, good-paying jobs.”
But the two high-ranking Electric Boat managers at Tuesday’s port meeting refused comment when asked if the move to the port comes at the expense of the company’s operations within Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, is an addition to its present local operations, or is a consolidation of other Electric Boat operations in Puget Sound.
A company spokesman in Groton is expected to give more details today.
Electric Boat has had a presence in Kitsap County dating back to the 1980s, when its teams at the Bangor submarine base worked on the Ohio-class subs.
Since 2003, Electric Boat has had a permanent presence at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where its employees work on conversions of the Trident subs.
Almost all of the work done by the company involves submarines. Its primary operations are the shipyard in Groton and a submarine hull fabrication and outfitting facility in Quonset Point, R.I.
It employs about 10,700 people. The vast majority of Electric Boat’s work is in the United States, but it has done some work in the United Kingdom and in Australia, according to a spokesman.
The company was founded in 1899 to do work on an experimental sub.

By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON NATIONAL AIRPORT
General Dynamics Electric Boat will lease more than 9,000 square feet of new office and industrial space at the Port of Bremerton’s industrial park.
Port commissioners are expected tonight to approve a lease that had its final touches put on just this afternoon.
Known to most just as Electric Boat, the company is best known for its conversion work on the Trident subs at the Bangor submarine base, and for its construction of the Virginia Class subs.
The company has had a presence in Kitsap going back to 2003. It’s new lease allows it to continue its local work for the Navy.
Port commission President Cheryl Kincer said, “We have long believed that cfreating a (Department of Defense) campus at the port is an idea with great potential for creating well-paying jobs and boosting the Kitsap economy.”
A complete story will follow.

Bloggers,

The tenant at the new building at the Port of Bremerton is General Dynamics Electric Boat, for those of who who did guess earlier. More coming.

Rachel Pritchett

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An economic incentive package that appears tailored to bring a massive Boeing assembly facility to North Charleston crossed its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, winning approval in a state Senate committee.
The Finance Committee OK’d low-interest construction bonds and incentives that include a sales tax exemption on fuel used in test flights. To qualify, a company would have to bring at least 3,800 full-time jobs and at least $750 million in investment to the state over seven years.
“We’ve got an opportunity before us now … to bring jobs to our people that are so desperately needed,” said committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.
The measure, which does not name a specific company, was headed next to the full Senate and leaders believe it could be approved this week.
The lawmakers are meeting as Boeing decides where to site a second assembly line for the 787 airliner. Everett, Wash., also is competing for the facility.
Sen. Robert Ford said legislative leaders have instructed lawmakers not to discuss the company because the situation is too sensitive.
“Of course, for any district in the world, it would be a major, major employment opportunity,” said the Charleston Democrat, whose district includes Boeing’s existing North Charleston plant which makes fuselage sections for the 787.
The five-part legislation, which expands existing law, includes sales tax incentives that would exempt fuel used in test flights and flights to transfer aircraft between manufacturing facilities. It would also exempt computer equipment purchases and allow a qualifying company to immediately pay no sales tax on construction materials, rather than wait for a 2011 phase-in.
It would ensure the company could negotiate with state officials to pay little corporate income taxes for 10 years. It deletes the minimum pay requirement from the break already allowed for companies investing less and creating fewer jobs.
The proposal would also allow the state to issue up to $170 million of economic development bonds that would allow a company to build using a lower interest rate, making the project cheaper, if approved by the Legislature on a two-thirds vote.
Business leaders praised the proposal.
“I think if what we believe is going to happen happens, without talking about a name, this is almost as big as” Michelin’s expansion and BMW’s move to South Carolina more than a decade ago, said Otis Rawl, president of the state Chamber of Commerce. “This is another one of those marquee companies that puts South Carolina not only on a national map but a global map.”
Rawl said it’s the first time legislators have addressed economic incentives in a special session.
“The fact that we’re here sends a message to whoever the prospect is,” Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said about an impending announcement, while declining to name a company. “We’d have walked to Columbia for that.”
Senators did not discuss a price tag for the incentives, and business leaders declined to do so.
“The fiscal impact of the project itself far exceeds what state’s putting in this thing,” said South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance president Lewis Gossett. “It’s going to be a net gain, when you’re talking something on this scale in manufacturing.”
John Cawley, the economic development coordinator for North Charleston where Boeing is considering building a second production line, declined to comment on the economic incentives, saying he did not know what they were.
He also said he could not comment on any Boeing plans for the city.
Boeing announced in August that it was seeking permits to expand its North Charleston plant, but said it was simply a procedural step because of the lead time required to secure permits.
Last month, plant workers voted against continued union representation.
Boeing has said it plans to make a decision on a second assembly line in the coming weeks.

Dow now at 9,874, up 6 points.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are zigzagging as investors weigh mixed reports on home prices and consumer confidence.
A decision Tuesday by IBM Corp. to double its stock-repurchase plan gave a boost to the Dow Jones industrials but the Nasdaq composite index fell. Falling stocks outpaced those that rose.
Stocks began the day higher following a report that home prices in 20 major metropolitan markets rose for the third straight month in August. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index gained 1 percent in August from July.
Home prices fell 11.4 percent from a year earlier, which was a smaller drop than economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted. The year-over-year slide has slowed since February, indicating the housing market is stabilizing.
Investor sentiment took a hit after a report from a private research group caused worries that consumers might not be ready to spend this holiday season. Consumer strength is considered vital to a recovery in the economy.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell unexpectedly to 47.7 in October — its second-lowest reading since May. Analysts predicted a reading of 53.1.
Even if the index had met expectations, consumer confidence is still weak and remains one of the most worrisome problems facing the economy. A reading above 90 signals solid footing for the economy, and a measure above 100 signals strong growth.
The market’s swings come as stocks have fallen in four of the past five days.
The Dow led major stock benchmarks after IBM, one of the 30 companies that make up the index, said it added $5 billion to its stock repurchase fund. The total now stands at $9.2 billion.
Economic data remain a focus for investors, especially consumer spending. Many of the companies that have reported third-quarter earnings are posting profits that are ahead of forecasts but many consumers are worried about their jobs and are holding back spending.
“When I look at the consumer, I think that is the next big test,” said Dave Hinnenkamp, chief executive KDV Wealth Management in Minneapolis. “We’ve passed a big test on the earnings front.”
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.38, or 0.4 percent, to 9,907.34. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.70, or 0.1 percent, to 1,067.65, while Nasdaq fell 13.21, or 0.6 percent, to 2,128.64.
Bond prices rose ahead of the government’s latest auction, pushing yields lower. The Treasury is auctioning off $44 billion in two-year notes Tuesday afternoon. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.50 percent from 3.56 percent late Monday.
Traders are getting a fresh dose of earnings reports. United States Steel Corp. fell $2.74, or 6.8 percent, to $37.84 after reporting that it lost money for a third straight quarter as demand waned because of the struggling global economy.
Credit card processor Visa Inc. reports after the market closes. Its results should provide insight into whether consumers are back in stores and spending money. Visa rose $1.43, or 2 percent, to $74.21.
Stocks have struggled in recent days as the dollar has been strengthening, which tends to push the prices of commodities lower. Commodities are traded in dollars, so a stronger dollar makes it more expensive for foreign investors to buy into the market.
The Dow fell 104 points Monday after a drop of about the same size Friday. It was the first consecutive triple-digit loss for the Dow since mid-June.
Fears of an overheated market have also been contributing to the slide in the week since major indexes hit their highest levels in more than a year. The market has been surging with little pause since March, and analysts have been saying for months that stocks are due for a consolidation.
Investors are also looking to the government’s first reading on economic output for the July-September quarter. The report on gross domestic product due Thursday is expected to signal an end to the recession that began in December 2007. Economists predict the economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies.
Crude oil rose 77 cents to $79.45 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
IBM, the biggest driver of the Dow, rose $1.24, or 1 percent, to $121.35.
Four stocks fell for every three that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 628.5 million shares compared with 686 million shares traded at the same point Monday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slid 0.18, or less than 0.1 percent, to 593.50.
In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.1 percent, and France’s CAC-40 slipped less than 0.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.5 percent.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Workers in more than half of U.S. households will likely be unable to retire at 65 at the same lifestyle they enjoy today, a new study says.
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College says its latest analysis of household financial status shows 51 percent are at high risk of falling short of having enough money in retirement. That’s up from 44 percent in 2007.
The center’s National Retirement Risk Index was developed with funding from Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
The index was first released in June 2006, when 43 percent of households were at risk of falling short of their preretirement standard of living. The measure was formulated using the Federal Reserve’s 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances, a triennial survey of U.S. households, which collected detailed information on households’ assets, liabilities and demographic characteristics.
In the past year, plummeting home values and investment losses in retirement accounts have combined to make matters worse.
“We are clearly facing a retirement crisis — one that will continue to grow as younger workers age,” said the Center for Retirement Director Alicia H. Munnell, in a statement. “To overcome today’s retirement challenges, people need help understanding financial topics so they can make reasonable financial choices throughout their lives.”
To come up with the latest index results, the center used the Federal Reserve’s 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances and factored in the $7 trillion decline in equity holdings and the $3 trillion drop in housing values over the past year.
Those two asset sources are key to providing workers with adequate retirement income today since most workers do not have an employer provided pension plan. Instead, they must rely on their own savings and home equity.
The center concludes that even if the stock market bounces back, home values are unlikely to return to pre-recession levels.
As Social Security’s full retirement age moves to 67, life expectancy increases and retirement savings continue to remain at inadequate levels, the outlook will get worse over time, Munnell concluded.
Retiring won’t become impossible, but it will require some thoughtful planning, said John Carter, president of Nationwide Financial Distributors Inc. Carter said many workers will need to save and invest more, reduce debt and work longer to maintain their standard of living in retirement.

By The Associated Press

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Tuesday:

BEIJING — China’s investments overseas nearly tripled from a year earlier to $20.5 billion in the third quarter as companies snapped up mining and oil assets, government data showed. Beijing is encouraging its companies to invest abroad to diversity an economy driven by exports and investment and to take advantage of sharp declines in asset prices due to the global economic crisis. Outward investment for the July-September quarter more than doubled versus the previous quarter, the Commerce Ministry said. Its figures do not include investment in bonds and other financial instruments.

PARIS — Facing France’s worst agriculture crisis in 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to provide 1 billion euros in bank loans for cash-strapped farmers and promised to push the European Union to offer more aid. Speaking at a meeting with farmers in the Jura region of eastern France, Sarkozy said the aid package was in response to a crisis in French farming, which has seen prices for production shrink 20 percent over the last year as demand decreased amid the global credit crunch. Besides loans, he also pledged 650 million euros in other aid for the country’s farmers. The aid announcement comes after weeks of protests by farmers in France and across Europe, upset at falling prices for milk, cereals and other agricultural commodities that has shrunk their revenue.

LONDON — European stocks finished flat with investors uninspired by mixed reports on home prices and consumer confidence in the U.S., the world’s largest economy. Britain’s FTSE 100 closed up 0.2 percent at 5,200.97, Germany’s DAX edged up 0.1 percent to 5,635.02 and France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.01 percent to 3,743.95. European markets had risen in morning trading, driven by oil stocks after the oil company BP’s third-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations, but those gains dwindled after a private research group reported that U.S. consumer confidence fell in October as job prospects remained bleak, fueling speculation that an already gloomy holiday shopping forecast could worsen.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania’s economy rebounded in the third quarter, technically lifting it out of recession, although activity remains well below year-ago levels, official data showed. Statistics Lithuania’s preliminary estimate for a 6 percent increase against the second quarter beat most analysts’ expectations. The agency said activity was boosted by the agricultural sector. Some analysts were skeptical, however, and the Copenhagen-based bank questioned the Lithuanian agency’s use of constant and current prices to arrive at the quarterly change in gross domestic product.

ROME — Italy’s financial police visited 76 Italian branches of Swiss banks and related offices to ensure they are correctly reporting their financial transactions, officials said. The police and Italy’s tax authority said the effort was part of the country’s efforts to recover million in taxes from income held illegally abroad. Some 100 financial police agents checked the offices “particularly at risk” in a first wave of visits to guarantee the “precise and punctual” reporting of financial transactions to Italian authorities. Switzerland has recently been forced to relax its venerated banking secrecy laws after a series of flaps, including the admission by the UBS bank that it helped wealthy Americans use foreign accounts to hide assets from the U.S. tax authority.

BERN, Switzerland — UBS AG manager Mark Branson, who last year apologized for the bank’s assistance to U.S. tax evaders, has been appointed to the board of Switzerland’s financial services authority. Branson will head FINMA’s division for banks as of Jan. 1, 2010, the group said in a statement. Branson in 2008 apologized to a U.S. Senate panel for UBS’ assistance to U.S. tax evaders and announced that the bank would accelerate its withdrawal from the U.S. cross-border business. He was chief financial officer of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking at the time. Under intense legal and political pressure from Washington, the Swiss government agreed earlier this year that UBS will divulge names of some 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of dodging taxes through secret bank accounts.

TOKYO — Japanese shares closed lower following Monday’s losses on Wall Street, sending financial issues tumbling amid renewed concern about the health of the banking system. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 1.5 percent to close at 10,212.46 points. The broader Topix index closed down 1.7 percent at 895.48. Investors dumped shares after U.S. stocks fell Monday and anxiety grew about the market overheating given the troubles still facing major Western economies and a number of financial companies.

MUMBAI, India — India’s central bank kept key interest rates unchanged, but warned that inflation will rise faster than previously expected as the economy recovers and drought pushes up food prices. The Reserve Bank of India said in its quarterly policy review that headline inflation will likely hit 6.5 percent by March. That’s higher than its July prediction of 5 percent, and considerably higher than its medium-term inflation target of 3 percent. It reaffirmed its prediction of 6 percent economic growth, with an upward bias, for the fiscal year ending in March. The bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged is in line with expectations, but leaves unanswered the questions of when and how fast India will begin to unwind the huge monetary stimulus it pumped into India’s economy.

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s oil minister says OPEC is not expected to raise output before its members achieve “100 percent” compliance with production quotas. Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah also told reporters that current oil prices are “very good,” and that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would hold a special meeting if oil hits $100 per barrel. The oil producing bloc, which includes Kuwait, has not changed its output targets since the end of last year when it said it was lowering production by 4.2 million barrels per day from September 2008 levels to shore up collapsing oil prices. While prices have since more than doubled, reaching $79 per barrel on Tuesday, OPEC quota compliance has been faltering. OPEC is scheduled to meet Dec. 22 in Angola.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Cargo handler DP World says trade volumes appear to be stabilizing after suffering their worst slump in decades because of the economic downturn. The world’s fourth-largest port operator says overall third-quarter cargo container volumes are down 6 percent versus a year earlier. That is a slower decline than the 10 percent drop the Dubai company reported in the first half. Despite expected challenges in the fourth quarter, the company says it is on track to meet market expectations. Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf says the company is “beginning to see early signs of stability across the industry.” DP World runs ports in 32 countries worldwide.

By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON NATIONAL AIRPORT — It appears the Port of Bremerton has finally found a major anchor tenant for its new 25,500-square-foot building, which has been standing empty for a year and a half.

Commissioners meeting Tuesday evening are expected to approve the lease with the company.

Final lease negotiations were still under way Monday, and a draft news release from the company was still in the approval process. For those reasons, port leaders declined to officially name the tenant.

This is known:

The tenant is a national Navy contract that already has done work in Kitsap County. If port commissioners approve the lease, the company will occupy about a third of the building at Olympic View Industrial Park, across Highway 3 from Bremerton National Airport.

About 3,000 square feet will be for office space and about 6,000 square feet will be for warehousing, according to Tim Thomson, the port’s director for real-estate and industrial park development.

The lease term could be up to eight years.

Tenant uses, besides office space and warehouse, could include research and development, assembly, welding, painting and metal fabrication, according to port papers.

If the deal goes through — and there is little reason to expect that it would not — the port would begin immediate work on tenant improvements to the building’s interior. The cost of those improvements to what now is an interior shell is not yet known, according to Thomson.

The tenant, expected to officially be named within days, could move in before the end of the year.

Port leaders have taken a lot of heat from the public for constructing a major building that stood empty for a long time. But Commissioner Bill Mahan said it’s not unusual in commercial real-estate circles to have a major space require time to fill, especially when the economy tanks right when the building is coming online.

Mahan said of Tuesday night’s vote among the three commissioners to approve the lease, “I’m voting yes, and I would be willing to predict that they will vote yes, too.”

Thomson is being credited with attracting the major tenant, and his job title recently was changed to reflect the port’s strong wish to lease the building.

He was glad to finally have a tenant so close to signing. He said he’s been working with the company with a name very familiar to many here for months.

“It’s great for the port. It’s good for the community,” Thomson said. But “it’s not leasing the whole building. I still got a lot of work to do.”

Port Chief Executive Officer Cary Bozeman said that the port may be able to officially announce the tenant Tuesday.

By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
PORT TOWNSEND
Intellicheck Mobilisa has received a $4.5 million contract from the Navy to continue work on development of high-tech buoys in north Puget Sound.
The Port Townsend company that specializes in wireless security systems has been working on a series of security buoys that can provide a high-capacity communications network grid to monitor marine environments for environmental and homeland-security purposes, including measuring water quality and detecting oil spills and dirty bombs.
Intellicheck Mobilisa began pilot testing the security buoys in 2008 with the help of the U.S. Department of Defense and the University of Washington. The system currently is set up in the north Puget Sound.
The additional money will buy more buoys and enlarge their capacity to find potential dirty bombs.
“The wireless security buoys project has been recognized by the Department of Defense as a vital source for waterway and port security and environmental monitoring,” said Nelson Ludlow, chief executive officer of Intellicheck Mobilisa. “This additional funding allows us to continue building on our already proven technology, and to expand our research and development efforts.”