Adfero Group HSPI

Last week I attended the Reform Institute’s Symposium in New York City on the private sector’s role in resilience for our national and economic security. For nearly two days, the Reform Institute brought together thinkers and private sector leaders from the Fortune 500 and elsewhere across a range of industries (supply chain, financial services, telecommunications, energy, etc) to share their experiences and perspectives on ‘resilience.’ Instead of echoing their individual corporate marketing messages (“all is wonderful if you’re me”), the private sector presenters offered a forthright and unvarnished report card on themselves, their industry and state of resilience today.

You don’t have to be a PR expert to expect that the words “nipple” and “pliers” composed in the same sentence of any afteraction report is likely to end badly.

As violence stemming from human rights activism in Tibet spreads, outsiders are trying to determine the cause of the unrest. The Tibetans wished to protest the occupation and their treatment at the hands of the Chinese. The Chinese did not want that to happen, and so moved swiftly to suppress peaceful protest. When peaceful protest is forbidden, violent protest will eventuate. There is one more step in the chain; when violent protest is forbidden and suppressed, an insurgency will start. The introduction of mobile telephony to Tibet will only enable the insurgency to operate more effectively, but by using methods unpredictable and unforeseen by the Chinese authorities.

Getting local law enforcement involved in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws is a controversial but unquestionably effective step in in terms of controlling our borders. Section 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act was created to authorize state and local law enforcement officers to receive training to enforce immigration laws. The cross designation provision is [...]

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is hoping that Congress will do away with the Real ID Act of 2005, a law establishing minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards that are intended to be used for federal purposed (such as passenger screening at U.S. airports). Alexander mimics many of the common critiques and concerts associated with Real ID, yet the criticism is largely misplaced.

Protests over the Chinese occupation of Tibet have already resulted in a number of deaths – some estimates place the total upwards of 120. The 2008 Olympics have created the perfect platform for those opposed to the Tibetan occupation to make their discontent known. The most obvious symbol of the Olympics is the torch, and securing the torch during the traditional relay journey is a task whose difficulty cannot – and should not – be underestimated.

Over the past week we have run a series of suggestions by Randy Beardsworth, former Assistant Secretary for Strategic Plans at the Department of Homeland Security, advising the next Administration on the DHS transition. Below is a recap of all five suggestions:

The Bush Administration is making progress in cyber security through the creation of a new interagency group to gather information and assess cyber security breaches to various federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense. According to a report by the Washington Post, the White House has selected Rod A. Beckstrom to head up the interagency group, which will be based in the Department of Homeland Security.

Across the country there is significant anxiety building up in anticipation of the latest release of a prized commodity. No, I am not talking about the latest version of the Apple I-Phone or the latest edition of the X-Box. It is bigger than that. And you will not see the throngs of people lining up around the block like you saw for tickets to the March Madness Tournament or the Hannah Montana concert. Rather, on April 1, 2008 you will see a mass rush of U.S. employers to the nearest U.S. Post Office or Federal Express store as they flail away to get their H-1B applications to DHS.

Today’s posting concludes a five-part series outlining recommendations to the next Administration on the Department of Homeland Security’s transitioning, advising against any sort of forced reorganization attempt.

In a recent interview, Secretary Chertoff talked about FEMA’s core mission as being ‘emergency management’ yet since the hurricanes of 2005, we have allowed a steady mission creep to occur with FEMA to involve a range of things besides ‘emergency management.’ Today on the Gulf Coast and in other communities in the US (e.g., Kansas, Tennessee, California, etc) FEMA employees will be working with state, local, tribal, NGOs, private sector members and regular citizens to aid the ‘recovery’ efforts in communities that have been struck by disasters. Those efforts involve urban planning and a range of other issues that have some intersection with emergency management but these efforts are not at the core of FEMA’s goal of being the ‘world’s preeminent emergency management agency.’

Today’s post is the fourth recommendation in a five-part series outlining recommendations to the next Administration on the Department of Homeland Security’s transitioning.

Despite the President’s budget to limit port security grant funding to $210 million for FY’09, the Senate passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2009 Congressional Budget Resolution last week (March 14) by a vote of 51-44. Originally, port security grant funding was not in the President’s budget but cam about out of a bipartisan effort to ensure security funding was a priority in the Congressional budget. To move the funding where it is today has not been an easy task, and we now must focus to ensure the grant program can sustain our security levels

Continuing the series on DHS’s Transition that offers advice to the next Administration, today’s recommendation focuses on the important role that career leaders will play in ensuring continuity within the Department.

The riots in Lhasa, Tibet, over the weekend, and the methods used to quell them, highlight the most important issue in Public Order operations: the underlying problem and source of the dissatisfaction must, over time, be addressed. If it is not, the disaffected start to feel disenfranchised and have no option but to protest in order for their voices to be heard – and those protests often turn into violent riots. Suppressing this expression of discontent will only force the disenfranchised to use more violent forms of protest (more commonly known as terrorism), whilst allowing it and facilitating it enables the authorities to control the venting of discontent in a safe manner.

As Congress continues to debate legislation to provide colleges and universities with federal dollars to pay for improved campus security, violence continues on our campuses. As 2007 marks the most violent year in history for college campuses, school administrators cannot afford to wait for Congress to act.

The new President’s ability to implement his homeland security agenda, and perhaps his larger agenda could be lost if the Department and new administration fail an early test.

The U.S. House of Representatives continues its gamesmanship with national security. For a body that has been trying to prove its bona fides to protect the American people, it’s an odd strategy. With echoes of Groundhog Day, House Leadership chose to pass legislation that has no chance whatsoever winning the support of the Senate (and therefore no chance whatsoever of becoming law) and retired for another vacation.Meanwhile, the ability of the Intelligence Community to do its job remains hampered. And the message to the private sector? Next time your government asks for your support, run away as fast as you can.

DHS, more so than any other department, cannot afford an aloof, take-no-prisoners approach to the transition. Most departments have a strong bureaucracy and established processes that can temper the whims of an ill chosen transition team. DHS has neither the strong bureaucracy nor the established processes. Based on my own experience during the transition effort to initially set up DHS, as well as decades in public service, I will offer five pieces of advice for the next president’s DHS transition team, laying out one each day over the next several days.

The benefits afforded by the SAFETY Act protect not only the enterprise, the “Seller” but also the Seller’s suppliers, contractors, and “downstream users” (i.e., customers). This creates a valuable market advantage over competitors that do not have SAFETY Act protections. As of early 2008, there were more than 200 products and services that had received SAFETY Act protections.