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This Wednesday, April 22, 2009 four senior DHS nominees will appear before the US Senate for their confirmation hearings. These four individuals are part of the first wave of Obama Administration senior executives, following the confirmations of Secretary Napolitano and Deputy Secretary Lute, selected to take the reigns of key DHS components and lead it for the next four-plus years. Here are some questions for them.

By Allan Lengel
As unemployment rises, as the economy sinks and as hate groups try to use the Obama election as a recruiting tool, America and federal agencies like the FBI and ATF must not forget or take lightly these domestic hate groups or the fringe members or the “lone wolf” wannabes. You just never know what they’re capable of. Just ask the Oklahomans.

The tea parties on April 15 are an important warning sign – they demonstrate the growing discontent of those middle Americans who have never demonstrated before. Demonstrations are an important means of expression. However, if those in shirt and ties are now willing to demonstrate, it is simply a matter of time and citizen frustration that will drive more serious and police-challenging protests.

Since 9/11, while continuing its primary mission of enforcing U.S. controlled substances laws, DEA has supported U.S. counterterrorism efforts by prioritizing narcoterrorism cases—drug-trafficking cases linked to terrorism— and by implementing other policies and actions, such as collecting terrorism related intelligence from confidential informants and foreign partners.

Admiral Allen lists some of the blogs he reads regularly, and we are delighted to see Security Debrief as part of that list.

Eight federal law enforcement agents died that morning, along with 160 other Americans. That figure includes 19 small children who were in the daycare center. In total 168 lives were lost at the hands of a disgruntled and radicalized homegrown terrorist. No, he was not from a distant land, he and his accomplice were born and raised right here in America.

Many border security projects have suffered from the sloth, or indifference, of the senior political leaders responsible for their success. Far too often, senior leaders were unwilling to assume direct and full responsibility for their agency programs, and instead, delegated responsibility down to more junior, and less qualified, government officials, who then delegated responsibility down still further.

Earlier this week, First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by DHS Headquarters to say “Thank you” to the men and women of DHS for their recognized and often unrecognized work to secure America.

The recent pirate attack on the MAERSK ALABAMA generated a great deal of reporting and discussion on how to respond to the future pirate threat. The officials responsible for the security of the U.S. often find themselves in this dilemma; too many threats and not enough resources to counter all of them.

Security Debrief contributor, and former head of the DEA, Asa Hutchinson debated pro-legalization activists today on CNN as to whether legalizing drugs would reduce violence on the southern border.

Yesterday, the administration announced a new “border czar” and a raft of new and ongoing border security initiatives to battle the smuggling cartels. It still not clear what the scope of the czar’s authority will be and how he will interface with all the folks working on the border.

In 2004, a task force chaired by homeland security experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and The Heritage Foundation (and consisting of representatives from academia, research centers, the private sector, and congressional staffs) presented its conclusions in “DHS 2.0: Rethinking the Department of Homeland Security.” Their report evaluated the capacity of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fulfill its mandate as set out in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

Every now and then a “no-win situation” can be made worse by what a person says, how they say it, or what they do not say at all. This is the situation facing DHS following a recently issued report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”

The new DHS Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute’s first trip outside the country is to Canada this week. That makes perfect sense: Canada and Mexico are our two closest neighbors and for DHS as a border agency they are, manifestly, the two most important foreign countries to deal with.
What makes little sense, however, is that she is travelling to Ottawa by way of Buffalo, New York today. One can only hope this is not a sign of problematic things to come.

There has been a lot of news about the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis’ (I&A) April 7, 2009 assessment on “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” Some of these news – rather commentary – reports have expressed concern with the assessment’s characterization of “rightwing.” Having read I&A’s report, I have to admit, some of the media outlets have a point.

News reports indicate that DHS Secretary Napolitano will announce Alan Bersin as a Counselor to the Secretary today with the informal title of “Border Czar” focusing on the Southwest border and the escalating violence in the region. So who’s now responsible for particular operations in the Southwest region at DHS HQ? And isn’t this similar to the original structure of DHS — the “Border Czar” then was Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security.

President Obama has nominated David Heyman as DHS assistant secretary of policy. Around Washington, Heyman is well known as one of the nation’s most respected homeland security analysts. Those of us who know him well, know that he is well-qualified for the challenges ahead.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano visited El Paso, Texas, today to highlight major DHS efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration and cross-border trafficking, which resulted in more than one million apprehensions of illegal aliens in fiscal year 2008—including nearly 800,000 along the Southwest border. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed 369,000 illegal immigrants from the United States during the same time period, a 27 percent increase from fiscal year 2007.

How is the air cargo industry preparing itself to implement the U.S. Government’s mandate for screening 100 percent of all international inbound cargo aboard passenger aircraft by August 2010? That’s the number one question for the air freight industry as it faces the challenge of meeting the 2007 Homeland Security law. Listen to an expert panel of security and industry experts in this exclusive webcast discuss how the air cargo mandates will impact security and trade.

The risk of electromagnetic pulse devastation is greater than ever. Why does Washington dismiss it? That’s the question asked and answered in recent article in the American Legion magazine that highlights the findings of the National Commission chartered by Congress to assess the EMP threat. A nuclear weapon detonated in space could wreck havoc on the electronic components of our national infrastructure.