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President Obama announced today his intention to nominate John Morton to be the Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

I spent last weekend reading Bioviolence: Preventing Biological Terror and Crime, Barry Kellman, Cambridge, 2007 (reviewed last year by Foreign Affairs). I am impressed with the deep analysis and research that Professor Kellman has put into this issue. I understand his definition of Bioviolence as, “human interaction causing a disease or pathogen to attack mankind in some way that would not have naturally occurred.” Being an attorney and law professor, he categorizes the crime as Species Treason- a crime committed by man against mankind

The U.S. Secret Service has two missions—criminal investigations and protection. Criminal investigation activities, which have expanded since its inception as a small anti-counterfeiting operation at the end of the Civil War, now encompass financial crimes, identity theft, counterfeiting, computer fraud, and computer-based attacks on the nation’s financial, banking, and telecommunications infrastructure, among other areas.

A week ago, the Air Force Research Institute (AFRI) in conjunction with the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) held an all-day symposium on security in Africa. The symposium was notable on several accounts.

Last week the Blackwater empire – about two dozen subsidiaries in all – announced that it was changing its names. The training facility, Blackwater Lodge and Training Centre, which tackles much of the training and operational burden, will now be US Training Centre Inc., while the holding company will now become the more Zen-like, Xe.

While President Obama is having lunch today with the political leadership of our closest neighbor and ally, Canada, the situation to our south has continued to deteriorate.

Mexico has pretty much always been a rough-and-tumble place. In recent years, however, the security environment has deteriorated rapidly, and parts of the country have become incredibly violent. It is now common to see military weaponry such as fragmentation grenades and assault rifles used almost daily in attacks.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center indicates surprisingly low approval among Americans for the new president’s handling of the war on terror.

The congressional mandate to scan 100 percent of all cargo coming into the United States has questionable security value and will assuredly disrupt the global supply chain process, further undermining American commerce, jobs and the economy at a time when the U.S. economy is already struggling.

Security Debrief contributor Rich Cooper is interviewed in a Government Executive article examining the implications of removing FEMA from under the Department of Homeland Security. Cooper discusses the failures of FEMA following Hurricane Katrina, but reminds readers that it was an unprecedented event.

There was a small, but significant, flurry of reporting of what was effectively a non-event in the legal prosecution of the Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe) employees in relation to the Nisoor Square incident of September 2007.

According to an online magazine, the choice for the new director of FEMA is down to a shortlist of veteran state emergency management professionals. Not clear what the choice says about the shoe every one is waiting to drop—FEMA in or out of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Since the end of World War II, Congress and Presidents have debated, formulated, and revised administrative responsibilities for emergency management.” Some of the important questions that have been the subject of debate over the past 60 years, and that are particularly relevant today in the “FEMA In or Out” debate, include:

Reports by inspector generals carry a lot of weight in Washington. They point out problems, inefficiencies and improper or illegal behaviors that go on in federal programs or by some of its employees or contractors. While it’s often easy to point out faults, recommending solutions can often fall upon deaf ears especially when the remedy provider is the same party who is charged with keeping a watchful (and often investigative eye) on you. That’s what makes the latest DHS IG offering so interesting.

Security Debrief contributor Julie Myers Wood, former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, published an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times proposing a potential solution to California’s looming prison inmate overpopulation problem. Wood suggests that the state make use of “Rapid Repatriation” — which would allow for the early release of certain non-violent criminal inmates who are not U.S. citizens — provided that they voluntarily agree to deportation.

Today’s New York Times business section carries an unusual story “Playmobil Finds Fun in the Police State” about a security check point toy that is causing some dismay among parents as being unsettling and too lifelike. Perhaps this opinion comes as no surprise on a blog dedicated to security, but such controversy over a rather trivial toy is a troubling barometer that our society is still far from prepared for the next terrorist attack.

TARP and the wider push to stimulate the economy have little, at first blush, to do with homeland security or counterterrorism. However, for the companies in this space, the contractors, it could have a significant impact.

Let it never be said that giving out Christmas presents has to happen just one day a year. In fact, it can occur any time the Congress and President are in the spending mood and, boy oh boy, are they in the spending mood. DHS has not been ignored when it comes being a ‘stimulator’ for the nation’s ailing economy.

Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, raised alarms today that E-Verify provisions may have been stripped from the massive stimulus bill that will soon face a final vote before going to President Obama’s desk.

James Carafano examines Arnold Bogis’ take on President Obama’s plans for homeland security.