Adfero Group HSPI

Despite the passage by Congress this weekend of the controversial Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property, or PRO-IP Act, there is still not enough being done to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The potential profit from trafficking in counterfeit goods continues to outweigh the penalties and enforcement resources presently in place that act as deterrence.

The U.S. Coast Guard has always been on the cutting edge of communications. At a time when its mother agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is still struggling with simply putting video online, the Coast Guard has long since developed its own channel on YouTube. Years ago, the Coasties recognized the value of gathering photos [...]

There haven’t been many “insider” books about how DHS has functioned but a good one has appeared. The Closing of the American Border was published last week by Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations and formerly with the Financial Times. It’s a detailed look at the policies and programs deployed after 9/11 to deter and detect terrorists hoping to use our transportation systems against us.

Cool video of the world’s first car designed by law enforcement for law enforcement.

Try putting lipstick on this pig: when it comes to safe, clean, and reliable water services, we’re about to screw ourselves (and the world). According to a new report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), unless the U.S. changes its current approach to domestic and international water policy, the “global water challenge will soon become a global water crisis.” Unfortunately, they’re spot on.

The U.S. Coast Guard says that the “Coast Guard Report,” a blog which is not affiliated with the U.S. Coast Guard, simplified and mischaracterized information provided by Admiral Thad Allen during a Department of Defense sponsored Bloggers Roundtable regarding potential distinctions between bloggers and traditional journalists. (Security Debrief had published a repost of the Coast Guard Report’s comments.)

Reports that Al Qaeda is imploding are vastly exaggerated.

The financial crisis continues to spread, within the past two weeks, we have seen the fall of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG in the US alone. (In the United Kingdom HBOS has fallen, with others on rocky ground, and in Australia Macquarie Bank is likewise at risk.)

These are fiscal events, and many in the security and law enforcement arenas (for the two are different, despite the perceptions of many that expertise in one translates to expertise in the other) are thinking about their own personal finances, but not about the implications for their operations.

Stepping out of the Newseum’s “G-Men and Journalists” exhibit, you’re left to reflect on this notion that John Dillinger was ever held up in American popular culture as some kind of folk hero. That Sixties-era radicals, who planted bombs in our neighborhoods, are embraced in some quarters today as, to use the words of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, “valued members” of the community. On the grotesque line of logic that leads some anti-government extremists to hold up Timothy McVeigh as a martyr.

As flames engulfed the hotel, which is popular with foreigners including diplomats and also rich Pakistanis, police said there were still people trapped inside.

As more and more supplies are coming into the areas affected by Hurricane Ike and these items are being distributed to people in need — we are starting to get some of the first reports of people abusing the offered services.

Yesterday, in an event at the National Press Club, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), along with the Heritage Foundation, released Homeland Security 3.0: Building a National Enterprise to Keep America Safe, Free and Prosperous. This report, the third of its kind, presents 25 recommendations aimed at improving homeland security across the board.

DHS announced new partnership with Sesame Street to teach kids emergency preparedness lessons everyone should know.

President Bush said Wednesday that the attack on the U.S. embassy in the capital of Yemen was a reminder that the United States remains “at war” with ideological extremists.

The constant threat of another terrorist attack, organizing the more than 87,000 governmental organizations who share the responsibility of homeland security, and facing the upcoming questions regarding FEMA, the Patriot Act, and border security are among the issues facing the next President.

While the response to Ike was unimaginably better than that to Katrina, public officials are still too quick to “trash FEMA.” This does no one any good in the given environment. It only makes things harder. There is enough anxiety and pressure to go around.

Islamist militants have attacked the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa with a car bomb and rockets, causing “multiple casualties,” an embassy spokesman said. Sixteen people, including six soldiers, six militants and four bystanders, were killed in the twin car bombing, the interior ministry said.

Our hearts go out to the families dislocated by the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike. Going back now, however, isn’t the answer. The mayor of Galveston is literally begging residents to stay away, noting that the city cannot possibly provide a safe environment and is nearing a health crisis. Folks returning are only adding to that crisis.

Evolving pictures and video tell the predictable story about citizens in Galveston who chose to ignore dire warnings to evacuate … going from clowning photo opps on the sea wall as Ike roared in to video of flattened homes and businesses and residents in distress.

Following recent months of aggressive immigration enforcement by DHS, it may surprise some that it would announce a time-out in immigration enforcement. Yet, DHS properly did that when it announced today that it would cease enforcement operations in the Texas regions that are implementing mandatory evacuations in anticipation of Hurricane Ike’s arrival. In logically exercising its law enforcement discretion, DHS announced that there would be “no DHS immigration enforcement operations associated with evacuations and sheltering.” And this makes sense.