Adfero Group HSPI

The airline industry in the United States is a significant portion of our critical infrastructure and it is on brink of implosion with little more than the occasional mention in the news. This week United and Continental airlines announced significant reductions in their fleets to try to staunch the financial hemorrhage. Lesser air carriers are fast approaching cessation of operations, while six or seven carriers have already shutdown.

Folks in Washington think that they not only have all the answers, they think they don’t have to leave town to get them. They’re wrong – Washington does not have all the answers. There is no issue that that truism is truer for than understanding the challenge of securing the nation’s broken borders. And, there is no place to understand border problems better than Nogales, Arizona.

CQ Homeland Security’s Dan Fowler profiles Carbon Motors Corporation, a new automaker designing the first purpose-built car for law enforcement.

Recently CQ Homeland Security did a wrap-up story on the House Homeland Security Committee’s series of hearings on the topic of “resiliency.” The hearings were an effort by the Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), to highlight the serious economic effects that we create when we focus exclusively on the “detect-prevent” side of homeland security and short-change the “respond-recover” aspect. One comment in the story in particular is noteworthy.

Martin Ficke, Former ICE Special Agent for the New York Region and Security Debrief contributor, discusses the dangers of counterfeit medicines and how they present a threat to personal safety as well as international crime.

Last week the Travel Industry Association released a study showing that air travel hassles have cost the economy over $26 billion because passengers avoided taking some 41 million trips over the last 12 months. Security is only a portion of those travel hassles, to be sure, but it is an area (unlike fuel prices) where passengers should feel their concerns are being heard, if TSA’s new Checkpoint Evolution is an indication.

I’m surprised not to have seen reporting in the mainstream or at least security-oriented media about a significant leadership change at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The long-time No. 2 man at ICE, John Clark, recently retired and was succeeded by John Torres, a very respected agent who has held a number of leadership positions at ICE. The change is more important than individuals only; it represents a significant evolution for ICE as a cohesive and maturing law enforcement agency.