Adfero Group HSPI

The problem here is not simply that Blackwater USA’s personnel killed three guards. Even more troubling is the fact that the State Department, in not addressing such incidents, was tacitly endorsing and therefore facilitating a culture among its security details that placed no premium on life.

Who is in favor of illegal immigration? The obvious answer is no one. However, all of the now defeated candidates running for office in the state of Virginia thought otherwise.

The Hispanic elephant in the living room that nobody wants to talk about is this: Those who call for greater enforcement of immigration laws rarely acknowledge that the entire agent force of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is about 6,000.

Although some Judiciary committee members expressed concern about Mukasey’s views on certain types of interrogation techniques they considered torture, the Justice Department deserves a strong leader.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a dozen people were arrested yesterday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles’ downtown garment district. The link between drug smuggling and counterfeit goods operations with the financing of terrorist activities is well known [...]

Last week, Rep. Peter King – chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security – released a report on the progress of the SAFE Port Act, One Year Later. The report analyzes DHS’s implementation of the bill, focusing both on both its successes (the Secure Freight Initiative) and its shortcomings (the Transportation Worker Identification Credential [...]

The future direction of homeland security will increasingly turn to these Three Rs: Risk (analysis and mitigation); Resilience; and Radicalization.

On September 21st, New York Governor Spitzer’s unexpectedly announced that New York would issue driver’s licenses to illegal aliens – signaling the latest challenge to the REAL ID law. Unbeknownst to Gov. Spitzer at that time, his brazen proclamation would wither under the intense and ruthless national immigration debate. Gov. Spitzer immediately found himself under siege not only within the State of New York, but also from a large and vocal national constituency.

Narcotics, in and of itself, is a significant threat to the United States, not only because of the damage it causes within our society but also because it is a source of funds to finance other criminal and terrorist activity. But the thought that these organizations could utilize this access and knowledge to enter a weapon — be it biological, chemical or radiological — is and continues to be a major concern of federal law enforcement.

There’s been a lot of discussion about what FEMA did wrong with its “fake” news conference. And rightly so. However, there should also be some discussion about what DHS did right in handling the fallout.

Working with the media can be – will be – stressful during an emergency situation, but as the FEMA breakdown showed, they will be part of any real crisis situation, like it or not.

As the former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), I was interested and concerned to see a story in Sunday’s Washington Post with the headline “Venezuela Increasingly a Conduit for Cocaine.”

Security Debrief is a multi-contributor blog comprised of seasoned professionals who have worked at all levels of homeland security and law enforcement.