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Today, one of the most significant threats to the United States (and the world) is Iran’s nuclear weapons ambition. Last week on Capitol Hill, General Petraus listed Iran as key to the top two security concerns facing Central Command. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert voiced his similar concern directly to President Bush during his visit to Israel earlier this month. Egyptian and Saudi Arabian leaders also expressed their worries about Iran’s nuclear program when Bush met with them on his trip to the Middle East. Is it time for the President to take decisive action?

There is a tendency for us as Americans to think that improving the status of homeland security means deploying more Border Patrol Agents and better trained TSA screeners. However, there are instances when the DHS uses its regulatory authorities to advance security in a way that is flat wrong. Requiring airlines to play a pivotal role in US VISIT EXIT is one such example. DHS recently issued the US VISIT EXIT proposed rulemaking which makes little sense and flies in the face of the successful pilot program the Department has undertaken.

On Wednesday (May 28, 2008), ABC Television announced that it will be broadcasting a series that will “focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.” Entitled “Border Security USA,” the series will cover operations around the US with Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) Officers, US Coast Guard, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other parts of the Department of Homeland Security that work to safeguard the nation. Working with DHS, the show’s cameras will be given unprecedented access to take viewers along for the ride to see what these people do, how they do it and what difference they make.

This is another instance where human rights abuses and the arrogance of security forces turn the oppressed against the security forces (and supporting governments), hampering the ability of the police and army to successfully do their jobs (in this case, prosecute the war on drugs).

As the GAO report shows, C-TPAT is not perfect. As with so many areas of homeland security, there are still a number of challenges that must be addressed and improved. Most critical among them is the lack of systematic follow-up by Customs and Border Protection officials to ensure that full implementation of their security requirements are met before granting benefits. Anyone who reads this report, however, will be struck by the degree of improvement C-TPAT has undergone since it was formally adopted, as well as the sophistication of DHS’s overarching risk-based approach to security. It is the very opposite of the model called for by some critics, who want to replace this model with the so-called 100 Percent model.

I am an increasingly frequent visitor to DC, and am increasingly struck by the ever-offensive posture of the law enforcement entities in the nation’s capital. Three incidents spring to mind: the obvious use of armed response personnel in some convoys, the lack of manners displayed by the personnel on duty outside the White House, and the imminent arming of the Metropolitan police with rifles for patrol.

As Chairman of the Safe Commerce Coalition, I’ve spoken to a number of audiences lately about the issue of cargo and supply chain security. I find myself often having to remind folks that when we stood up the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, we had a two-fold mission when it came to border security. First was to secure the borders. The second mission, which is sometimes forgotten, is to maintain the free and efficient flow of commerce and people.

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Every organization, regardless of whether it’s in the public or private sector, has its forward-leaning parts. In those parts of the organization, they often operate with three key factors in their operational culture – they foster an open dialogue with multiple parties; they willingly engage the public; and have operational transparency.  But then there are [...]

On Monday afternoon (May 19, 2008), I had the opportunity to participate in another Bloggers Roundtable with DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA Administrator David Paulison. The theme for our discussions was the Department’s preparations for Hurricane Season 2008 and the readiness of the hurricane prone states/communities and their citizens for Mother Nature’s potential fury.

During my 25 years in the public sector including my tenure overseeing preparedness at DHS and now through my involvement in similar issues in the private sector, there has been so much progress in our nation’s preparedness and response capabilities, but America has a long way to go. Here are my thoughts on how to proceed.

With just days before the official opening of Hurricane Season 2008, Sunday’s Washington Post Outlook Section provided an excellent guest editorial on the role of preparedness. Written by John Solomon, the piece (“It’s an Emergency. We’re Not Prepared”) offers a citizen’s view of where we are as a nation in our readiness to deal with the next disaster.

Spencer Hsu has a good article in the Washington Post that highlights the political schizophrenia that exists among the political class in this country with regard to illegal immigration. In the abstract, the majority of Americans demand that government crackdown on illegal immigration. In the concrete reality of such crackdowns, American communities and local economies can be gravely disrupted, producing inevitable outcries from local politicians.

Each day, airports work to ensure that air travel is safe and secure. In fact, it is the industry’s number one priority. Partnering with airlines; tenants; the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); and federal, state and local law enforcement, airports are working aggressively to enhance security. Last week, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced the “Biometric Enhancement and Airport Vulnerability Reduction Act of 2008,” which would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a study on how airports can transition to biometric control systems for airport workers who have unescorted access to secure or sterile areas of the an airport.

Yesterday, Colombian officials announced that they were extraditing 14 suspected drug traffickers to the United States to face a host of charges ranging from conspiracy to import to cocaine manufacturing. Within the law enforcement and drug control community, the Colombian government’s move is unprecedented. The country has long maintained a tradition of refusing to extradite even its most notorious drug cartel leaders.

Recently, I came across an editorial titled “Vigilantes at ICE” that was critical of ICE worksite enforcement initiatives, indicating that the agency was operating outside its intended mission – national security – and specifically, was failing in its goal to protect the U.S. from the next terrorist attack. The editorial was personally insulting to me and greatly mis-represented reality. Although resources are limited, no one has forgotten the “core mission” of national security that is the number one priority for ICE and the Department as a whole.

When former Secretary Tom Ridge departed DHS, the international registered traveler program was placed on hold with the new leadership focused on a range of other significant international travel issues. However, CBP continued to press the case for its risk management tool and DHS approved the initiative earlier this year which was branded Global Entry and announced in April of this year. To truly succeed in fulfilling its potential, however, the Global Entry program will need a number of important enhancements.

Resiliency is emerging as the underlying theme for protecting infrastructure, integrated in both policy drafting and boots-on-the-ground tactics across a number of different transportation industries. Two recent conferences – one focusing on the maritime industry and one on the trucking industry – illustrate that to move towards resiliency, there needs to be a solid infrastructure established by the government as well as a business incentive for industries to take action.

Despite the stereotypes in the media, not every terrorist is going to look like he or she comes from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. They don’t have official “Member of the International Brotherhood of Terrorism” identification cards. They will say things like, “I just need to get a job to feed my family” rather than “Will you help sneak me across the border so that I can blow up the Pentagon?” They will look like Middle Eastern in some cases, yes, but they will also look German or French or Canadian or American or Mexican in others. They will look like me and you.

A raft of organizations in Denver are being represented by the ACLU in suing the City of Denver and the Secret Service, in order to establish where and how they can exercise their rights to protest or promote a range of issues during the upcoming Democratic Convention.