Adfero Group HSPI

As part of is ongoing outreach on QHSR, DHS hosted another Bloggers Roundtable to talk about the third portion of its homeland security dialogue.
It is too early to speculate, but based on previous behavior at DHS as well as other extensive quadrennial reviews that have occurred elsewhere, it’s fairly obvious at what’s going to happen at the end of the rainbow. Reorganization is in the future and it will have lots of insights, diverse stakeholder inputs, analysis and documentation to guide it.

Before an assembled audience of invited guests and American Red Cross personnel, DHS Sec. Napolitano rolled out her most definitive description of what American preparedness and resilience should be. Heralding the successful close of National Preparedness Month 2009, she went to great lengths to stress that preparedness is not just DHS’ job or that of FEMA’s. Rather it is a “shared responsibility” that every American, community, enterprise and organization are owners of.

By Stewart Baker
According to Stratfor the terrorist who attacked Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was able to get through security searches because he hid the IED in what the organization delicately describes as his “anal cavity.” Of course it’s hard to do much damage with the amount of explosives you can get in there, so the attack only lightly wounded the prince.

Last night I got an email from Pittsburgh related to the protests that Western Pennsylvania residents can expect to see over the next few days with the G-20 Summit in town. Here’s hoping that everything goes peacefully but I have to ask myself, “Is this event worth the costs to the area?”

Why did it take so long for the Obama Administration to name a chief for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, one of the nation’s premiere federal law enforcement agencies? One reason might be that the initial appointment of a “Border Czar” in the DHS Policy shop diminished the power of the CBP Commissioner to do his or her job. Another might be worries about the Administration’s commitment to immigration enforcement. No one wants to volunteer for failure.

Brad Elrod, the manager of global supply chains for Pfizer, one of the world’s leading drug producers, says that any company shipping valuable cargo — especially cargo that requires climate controls — should participate in TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Program. It’s the only sure way to control the integrity of your product, he said.

By Douglas Doan

The good news is that the Secretary Napolitano is, finally, starting to focus on the growing problem regarding how over a $ 1 billion of Stimulus funding was quietly diverted from its intended purpose and is being squandered. But stay tuned to this one – nasty congressional hearings could be just around the corner

While the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh does not begin until tomorrow, protestors are already making their presence know in the city. Here’s an idea, let them hang. That’s it… Let them hang there.

The arrest of Richard Cramer earlier this month is very disturbing news for many reasons. Cramer was arrested by DEA on September 4th for his participation in a conspiracy to provide members of a Mexican drug cartel with information and background on U.S. narcotics enforcement activities.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted a survey of its top performing confidential sources a couple years ago, and asked them to list in order of importance the factors that allow global drug trafficking cartels [and terrorist organizations] to succeed. At the very top of the list for every respondent was the single word— ‘CORRUPTION.’

Perhaps the most compelling feature of the Pittsburgh preparations for G20 has been the apparent attitude in Pittsburgh of, “It won’t happen here.” This attitude is dangerous – the local government can argue that it took all necessary precautions to warn people of the threat, but even with less than a month to go the warnings and preparation advice was basically to, “prepare as though it’s a snow day,” and to “have pre-drilled boards available for the windows” just in case.

At this morning’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on the report of the WMD Commission former Senator Bob Graham started his testimony by highlighting the critical need for congressional reform of the homeland security oversight process. The continuing question is whether Senate and House leaders who can actually change the oversight jurisdiction of other committees are listening to former Senator Graham and other bi-partisan thought leaders.

This week my hometown of Pittsburgh will play host to the world as the G-20 Summit comes to the City of Champions. Along with hosting an array of the world’s top leaders to talk about the challenging issues of our time (e.g. the economy, environment, etc.), thousands of protestors will also be descending upon the city of three rivers to share their perspective on things.

The Virginia Military Institute hosted a conference on the role of the National Guard and Reserves in homeland security. Lots of great discussion, but I guess my biggest take-way is how little has changed since 9/11; how much there is left to be done; and how little momentum there is get where we need to be.

IBM hosted a superb conference for its defense clients in Europe this past week. Several key issues discussed were the proper balance between security and privacy, the need for information sharing, and importance of a public education campaign to achieve real cyber “personal hygiene.” Numerous different approaches were raised and considered, each coming from the experiences and the different governments and cultures represented.

In response to an act-of-war situation, we probably would not want to send a police department to a foreign land. Conversely, sending an Army to handle a police action is probably not a good idea or at least a good use of resources. This brings me to my concern for putting the military on the U.S. borders to handle the immigration issue that faces our nation. It’s a bad idea.

By Guest Contributor Jena Baker McNeil

Congress just got back from recess and it makes me wish it was summer. The fall legislative agenda leaves much to be desired. Eight years after the attacks of 9/11, you would think that Congress would be thinking smarter about homeland security. But the agenda is filled with lots of bad bills, bumper sticker legislation that doesn’t make Americans any safer.

With the completion of the Task Force’s Report on the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) now done we have a pretty good idea of how of the oft-maligned terror warning system is going to be restructured. In the eight years since 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, we are finally beginning to put the hard-earned lessons into policies, protocols and operations that can better guide current and future homeland leaders of every sector.

Eight years ago I, like the rest of America, was shocked by the events of Sept 11th 2001. The attacks changed our Nation, and for me, it was personal. At the time, I was serving as the Military Assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.

Mexico recently took a dramatic step in the war on drugs, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. In the midst of battling the drug cartels that grow fat on the profits of drug abuse and addiction, not to mention all of the violent crime that accompanies drug trafficking, the Mexican Government has sent a clear message. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong message. It is the message of surrender.