CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 10, 2026--
Twenty-five years after 9/11 reshaped aviation security, a new national survey finds most Americans believe the buildings where they work never got a comparable upgrade. The data lines up with what security directors have said for years. Only 21% of Americans believe physical security has significantly improved since 9/11. 76% say everyday office buildings never got investment on par with aviation and a majority of Americans say addressing upgrades is urgent.
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“We have spent 25 years upgrading aviation security with the latest technologies but have not kept pace in the spaces where most of us live and work. Keycard and badge technology is 30 years old. It is completely unintelligent. These headline breaches this summer are a warning about the need to upgrade physical security in our buildings, and Americans are saying it is urgent,” — Tina D’Agostin, CEO of Alcatraz AI, who helped shape physical security efforts for Chase Center and Salesforce Tower while at Johnson Controls, a $23.6 billion company and the global leader in physical security solutions
The YouGov survey arrives as the industry heads into GSX 2026 in Atlanta, September 14 to 16, and follows a summer of security breaches at Harvard, UCLA, the Empire State Building and 30 Rockefeller Center. Three of the four incidents involved tailgating: an unauthorized person following someone with a valid credential through a secured door. In each of those cases, the access-control system did exactly what it was built to do. The badge had no way to register the second unauthorized entry. The Empire State Building case was different: two intruders defeated a physical lock rather than a credential, and a security camera did not catch them on a restricted floor hours before anyone responded. They weren't apprehended until they livestreamed the breach to nearly two million followers.
The data behind the doubt
“On September 11, I was installing access control systems in Los Angeles; today, decades later, the systems going into buildings haven't fundamentally evolved, while the vulnerabilities have gotten more complex. The advanced tools to close these security gaps already exist, but too many companies still underinvest in physical protection. We have the capability to prevent the next major catastrophe—we just need the will to implement it, ” said Bobby Louissaint, Head of Business Development, Alcatraz.
Louissaint, a security expert who has spent decades testing security systems and technologies for Fortune 20 companies, says leadership often considers security a one time investment in technology. “Most companies go in thinking they’re going to pay for the security when they stand up the building and they’re never going to have to pay for it again. Unfortunately, the equipment gets old like everything else does and until something goes wrong, they don’t make another investment to enhance or keep up the existing security system they have. Security directors understand the urgency behind upgrading technology but struggle to get allocation in the budget where security is often an afterthought.” says Louissaint.
Alcatraz at GSX 2026
Alcatraz will be at GSX 2026 in Atlanta at booth #1339, September 14–16, where the company's team will be showcasing new real time tailgating analytics, visitor profiles, and Rock Cortex platform.
About the Research
This survey was conducted by YouGov among 2,000 U.S. adults (18+), September 1–3, 2026. Results were weighted to U.S. Census benchmarks on age, gender, race/ethnicity, education and 2024 presidential vote choice, using a sampling frame built from the American Community Survey. The credible interval is +/-2.62 percentage points.
About Alcatraz
Alcatraz is known as the Face ID of physical spaces. Alcatraz is an AI-powered physical access control company headquartered in Cupertino, California. Its flagship product, the Rock, replaces badge-based and legacy biometric security with fully anonymized facial authentication and real-time tailgating detection. Alcatraz is trusted where security standards are highest and certifications hardest to earn: hyperscale data centers, financial institutions, airports, and nuclear and energy infrastructure. Its technology protects professional sports teams from the NBA to the NFL, Fortune 100 companies, universities, stadiums, and private individuals. Of the 17 hyperscale operators headquartered in the U.S., over half use Alcatraz to help secure their spaces.
79% of Americans say physical security has not significantly improved since 9/11
The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the fast-approaching midterm elections.
Also, Trump has pledged to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.
Trump also said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections. The comments were a striking acknowledgment from Trump about the conflict as his Republican administration faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran grinds on with no conclusion in sight.
Here's the latest:
The lawsuit cites a statute dating back to the Civil War that forbids armed federal officers from approaching voting sites. It says that law conflicts with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin’s statement earlier this month that ICE Agents could appear at polls in November in response to specific threats or while pursuing suspects.
The groups, and the city of Denver, which also joined the suit, ask that a federal judge in Washington forbid the department from sending agents to polling places.
Democrats have long worried that Trump will send ICE to polls to try to scare voters away in November. Several Trump administration officials have denied this would happen, though some of the president’s allies have openly called for him to take that step.
A deadline for the Trump administration to decide whether about 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador can remain protected from deportation has passed without any public announcement, raising hopes among many for another six-month extension while also sowing confusion.
The Department of Homeland Security has been quiet about its plans, leaving attorneys and advocates scrambling to decipher what might happen next to Salvadorans who’ve been raising families in the U.S. for decades.
On Thursday, Homeland Security issued a statement saying the department would make an announcement “at an appropriate time” and that Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador would stay in effect until then. The department issued the same statement during Wednesday’s deadline.
“Let’s be clear: this is not an official extension or decision by DHS as to the fate of TPS for El Salvador,” Ben Johnson, who directs the American Immigration Lawyers Association, posted Wednesday on social media. The Trump administration is leaving TPS holders, their families and their employers in limbo, he said.
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It would be for those whom the White House alleges were overcharged by the Biden administration for exchange fees.
The promise comes after Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections and as affordability has become a central issue for voters heading into November.
“The relief begins with refunding everyone who was overcharged and the rebates are going out in just a few weeks,” Trump said in a recorded address released on the White House X account Thursday.
In a fact sheet, the White House claimed former President Joe Biden’s administration “accumulated a significant surplus of funds that were not used to benefit the Americans who paid these higher premiums.”
It’s unclear where the money for the rebates would come from and whether it requires congressional approval for disbursement.
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There were no noted dissents in the brief order.
It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The new map was drawn to help Republicans gain an additional seat.
The Supreme Court order came hours after a federal judge allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Missouri’s battle over its congressional districts has spanned more than a year and spawned confusion over which districts will be in place for voters.
The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the fast-approaching midterm elections.
The decision appears to clear the way for use of the old maps.
It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the pivotal November elections. The maps were drawn to help Republicans gain an additional U.S. House seat.
It’s the second time the high court has refused to intervene to keep the Trump-backed maps in place.
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Trump’s “dividend” payments wouldn’t be true dividends. But he’s not the first politician to use labels that stretch the realities of certain policies.
Franklin Roosevelt called Social Security an “old-age insurance system.” But insurance involves premium payments from policy holders financing claims to those same customers. In Social Security, existing workers’ taxes are immediately paid out to older beneficiaries.
Barack Obama pitched his 2009 economic “stimulus bill.” Most of it was tax cuts and direct aid to state governments after the 2008 financial crash. It was more a stabilizing effort than a stimulus.
Republicans call the estate tax, adopted under Democrat Woodrow Wilson, the “death tax” and often suggest it applies broadly. The current exemption is $15 million ($30 million per couple), meaning only inheritances above that are assessed. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that fewer than 1 out of 1,000 deaths yield any federal estate tax.
That would fully reopen the strait and allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf. President Trump said Wednesday that oil prices likely won’t come down until after the U.S. midterm elections in November.
The jump has pushed the price of a gallon of regular gasoline to an average of nearly $4.28 across the United States, according to AAA. That’s up nearly 34% from a year earlier and is not only costing people more at the pump but also through higher prices for all kinds of products that move by truck to store shelves.
Investopedia, a leading online source of information about the financial markets, defines “dividends” as “periodic payments made to shareholders from corporate profits.”
That doesn’t apply to direct payments or indirect payments (such as tax credits) from the U.S. Treasury Department to taxpayers. The government is not a for-profit enterprise. Furthermore, the treasury has run an annual deficit every year since 2002 — the first fiscal year following President George W. Bush’s first tax cuts. Since there’s no surplus to divide, that means any payouts would have to be backed by debt instruments that would add to the federal operating deficit and total debt.
The current year’s deficit stands at about $1.8 trillion. The total debt surpassed $40 trillion earlier this year.
Investopedia, meanwhile, also says this about dividend payments: “They can make a stock more attractive to investors but may also signal that a company isn’t doing enough to generate better returns.”
Working to keep the majority in Congress, Republicans at the midterm convention in Dallas are showcasing their chief legislative accomplishment — the sweeping package of tax breaks, social service cuts and immigration enforcement President Trump signed into law.
A year on, what’s known as the One Big Beautiful Bill — or, the “Big Ugly Bill,” as Democrats call it — has produced mixed results. Millions of people have received enhanced tax breaks, while millions are also losing access to federal food aid and health care. More immigrants are being arrested, many deported, some dying during the process.
House Speaker Mike Johnson calls it the kind of “common sense” governing that Republicans plan to do more of, if voters return them to power.
“Shamefully, not one Democrat voted for it,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said Wednesday during the convention’s opening night.
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Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, who’s attending the GOP midterm convention as he seeks his second term, is among the Republicans embracing Trump’s proposed payout to American adults.
“Comment how you will spend your $5,000 Trump Dividend when Republicans win in November,” he posted on X, eliciting mostly positive responses from his online followers.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1932 wave election in the Great Depression. But Marshall faces a surprisingly energetic challenge for reelection from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist congregation.
Marshall did not expound on the cost of Trump’s idea or how it should be carried out legally. The president doesn’t have appropriations power under the Constitution. That power rests with Congress.
The price of U.S. crude oil rose above $100 for the first time Thursday since May with no end in sight in the U.S.-Iran war.
The price for Brent crude, the international standard, rose above $105 a barrel. U.S. stock futures fell, with the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Nasdaq off by 1.1%.
A report showed that inflation in the U.S. remains stubbornly high on the wholesale level.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by one-quarter point to try to tame inflation in the European Union. Stock indexes in Europe fell, with Germany’s DAX down 0.7%.
Market in Asia closed lower with the exception of Japan.
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The theoretical $5,000 payments Trump pitched would mean money going directly in Americans’ wallets. But Americans’ also are on the hook for an indirect outlay that’s almost as much: interest payments on the U.S. debt.
The national debt recently crossed the $40 trillion mark. Each year, the federal government pays interest to the investors who’ve financed that debt.
According to Treasury Department data, that interest expense for fiscal year 2026 will come to about $1.27 trillion. Using the Census Bureau’s 2026 population estimate of 340.3 million people, that comes to a per capita share of $3,732 or almost three-quarters of the payout Trump pitched.
Marc Goldwein, the senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank in Washington, said Trump has no authority to send money to Americans without approval from Congress.
Goldwein added that dividends are something companies pay when there’s a surplus, but the U.S. is running $2 trillion annual deficits and has $40 trillion in debt.
“The idea that we’ve had fiscal success is backwards and bordering on laughable,” he said. “We don’t have surpluses to give away.”
A federal judge has allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing Thursday for Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a tense and twisting legal battle over whether new congressional districts supported by President Trump can be used in the November election.
Missouri’s top court previously ordered Hoskins not to use a Trump-backed map in the general election. But U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark on Tuesday barred Hoskins from using anything other than the new map Trump supports.
The state Supreme Court then ordered Hoskins to appear for a contempt hearing Thursday for not following its orders.
State attorneys representing Hoskins had asked Clark to halt the contempt hearing. But Clark declined to do so.
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Joe Lonsdale, a prominent Republican donor and activist, is among the Trump allies panning the president’s latest promise to send money directly to Americans.
“I am hugely in favor of winning the midterms, and love much about this (administration),” he wrote on X, “but am strongly against bread and circus bribes.”
It’s not just Republicans descending on Dallas for the midterm convention — Democrats are there too as they try to convince voters that the reality of Donald Trump’s second presidency doesn’t match the spectacle of his made-for-TV event.
“This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, said Wednesday morning.
Besides Pritzker, several leading House Democrats were traveling to Dallas for events, as well. And Texas Democrats hope the spotlight on the state ends up benefiting their candidates.
James Talarico, a Texas state lawmaker who's running against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a closely watched Senate race, held a food drive Wednesday at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas. He compared volunteers’ work with Republicans’ festivities.
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Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections.
Oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than 3%, pushing international Brent crude past the $100 threshold for the first time since July as salvos between the U.S. and Iran escalated.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”
The comments were a striking acknowledgment from Trump about the conflict as his Republican administration faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran grinds on with no conclusion in sight.
Trump, in an exchange with reporters before traveling to Dallas for the midterm Republican convention, added that he believes Iran will finally relent after the pivotal elections are held in the U.S.
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President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November.
The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” Trump said during the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas. “It will be called the Trump Dividend.”
He likened the payments to a corporation’s distributions to shareholders, citing “our tremendous strength and success economically.”
Within an hour, Vice President JD Vance appeared to try to walk back Trump’s proposal — at least in part — by suggesting the dividend payments would not go to the wealthy. Vance suggested it could be paid for by U.S. tariff revenues, though the suggested payment dwarfs what the U.S. has taken in through the protectionist measures.
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President Donald Trump leaves the RNC Midterm Convention, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump attends the RNC Midterm Convention, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Eric Lee/Pool photo via AP)
President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican convention, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
