Adfero Group HSPI

Customs and Border Protection’s recently announced it had received a second Predator-B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Corpus Christi, Texas. As the Los Angeles Times disclosed in a must-read story for anyone interested in eliminating wasteful federal spending, the Corpus Christi-based UAV was one of three Predator UAVs that CBP would be accepting, even though there were not enough pilots to fly the ones that they already had. Why aren’t the budget hawks in Congress doing something about this? What in the world are they thinking?

During testimony on Capitol Hill, Chairman Issa gets into a tense exchange with Secretary Napolitano on what she knew and when she knew it regarding Operation Fast and Furious.

The recently identified “Duqu” worm has raised a whole new set of issues. Seemingly a variant of the Stuxnet malware that got so much of the world’s attention, everyone is trying to figure out what it “means.” Stuxnet opened a new window, and Duqu is only the first of many. The rub is, unlike Stuxnet, which targeted Iranian centrifuges, Duqu may be coming directly at you and your systems.

The phrase “Occupy Movement” has taken over from Occupy Wall Street as the umbrella term for all protest groups. This shift captures not only the geographic differences, but the fact that each Occupy has its own participants, agendas and therefore must be understood as a separate entity. The Occupy movement is looking to the Arab Spring as inspiration. As time drags on, it is likely there will be increased frustration which will lead some to look for more effective or entertaining tactics. The groups with more violent intent will seek to aggravate the police into reacting violently against not only them but the whole crowd, converting far more people to be willing to fight with the police.

For almost four years, disagreements among federal agencies have impeded U.S. participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Card (ABTC) program. The ABTC is meant to expedite the travel of business men and women in the Asia-Pacific region as international trade and travel has grown explosively. Today marks a huge milestone as the House of Representatives passed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Cards Act of 2011. It allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to issue ABTCs to qualified business executives at no cost to the Treasury or taxpayers.

Over the last few weeks, events have led people with interesting points of view to make claims of moral equivalence between actions in and by the United States and actions by others. The first is between the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki by a U.S. drone strike and the planned assassination of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. by agents of Iran. How can any reasonable person suggest that since the United States took out Awlaki, we have no business criticizing Iran for plotting to kill the Saudi Ambassador? Let’s make accurate comparisons and proper analyses as we evaluate events here and abroad.

The world is a better place without Moammar Qaddafi. It’s a wish that most of the planet has wanted to have fulfilled for some time. The brutal dictator inflicted death and suffering not just on his own people but on several continents. Yet, given the manner of his death, the United Nations, members of the international community, and other human rights groups are calling for a full-fledged investigation into the circumstances of his death. Some parties have even alleged that Qaddafi’s death may in fact be “war crime.” There are so many things to debate about the future of Libya, and this issue seems to be the least important.

Occupy Wall Street is not just a protest. It’s an intelligence tool for protest organizers the world over. Protesters inspired by the growing Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City are spreading throughout the United States and the world to challenge the current business and governmental paradigm. That is why corporate leaders and their security teams must be aware of the tactics, information, capabilities and equipment protesters are using. Corporations must not underestimate the resolve of the protesters and their efforts to bring a negative view to the corporate brand name.

Amid all of the partisan bickering over fiscal and tax policy in the Congress during 2011, it has been heartening to see a burst of bipartisan support for reforms to facilitate the travel of low-risk visitors to the United States. There have been at least three major pieces of authorizing legislation introduced in recent weeks as well as a push to reform the Departments of State and Homeland Security as part of the appropriations process. Encouraging and securing international travel does not lend itself to silver bullet solutions, but seeing the Congress increasingly recognize the economic value of travel is a positive development.

When he was running for the presidency in 2007-08, there were not so subtle whispers and inferences made about whether a not-even-one-term U.S. senator from Illinois with no significant executive or security experience was up to the task of being Commander in Chief in a post-9/11 era. There is plenty to debate about the President’s leadership in other areas, but his critics of this area of his job performance look very small and at times, very petty. Through the use of SEAL Team Six, UAVs and other strategic military and intelligence assets, he’s sent an impressive list of bad guys to their ultimate judgment.

The death of Libya’s long-ruling dictator at the hands of rebels is cause for celebration in Libya. Libyan reactions notwithstanding, it is perfectly legitimate for policymakers in Washington to ask whether the end of the Qaddafi regime is in the United States’ interests. The knee-jerk reaction that any sort of democracy anywhere in the Middle East, even if short-lived, is in U.S. interests, must be tempered with a less emotional and more analytical approach to looking at events in the context of how they impact American objectives in the region.

Today, we released an issue brief on Mexico and the triple challenge of crime, terrorist tactics, and narco-insurgency. The issue brief is released in conjunction with a Homeland Security Policy Institute/U.S. Army War College event, “The Hybrid Threat: Crime, Terrorism and Insurgency in Mexico” to be held today at 2pm.

The Obama administration has made admirable and high-profile efforts toward export control reform. The President issued a November 2010 Executive Order establishing an Export Enforcement Coordination Center (EECC), to be housed within the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the efforts of the multiple federal agencies responsible for enforcing our export control laws. Despite this, the EECC still has no apparent public presence.

In this era of budget austerity, telework is an effective way to reduce agency costs and increase productivity. Recognizing these benefits, federal agencies have implemented telework policies and an increasing number of employees are taking advantage of the option. At the same time, however, teleworking presents significant security challenges. Agencies can reduce telework risks through the use of Trusted Computing.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and a commander in Iran’s Quds Force had been charged in New York for their alleged roles in a plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, represents a brazen escalation in Iran’s struggle for regional dominance. But Iran’s willingness to use brutal means to achieve its foreign-policy goals is nothing new: Since the creation of the Islamic Republic, U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly identified terrorism as one of the regime’s signature calling cards.

By Ken Blackstone
In 1973, Judge John C. Beatty, Jr. was the first to order the use of the polygraph in the management of convicted sexual offenders. Today, the number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. and its territories exceeds half a million and they are all under some form of management. Scientifically based studies have concluded that the carefully administered, “forensic” polygraph exam, conducted properly and optimally by a qualified examiner, is 89 to 92 percent accurate. However, when any reduction from the disciplined rigors of forensic polygraph examination occurs, the reliability of the results can and must be called into question.

Like a lot of Americans, I have been watching the Occupy Wall Street drama over the past couple of weeks. Many of these Wall Street folks look like well-intentioned people exercising their first amendment rights. Others look like the kinds of counterculture “revolutionary” people who the law enforcement community was forced to deal with back in the 60s and 70s. Let’s make no mistake about it – underneath some of this protest behavior there will be a small number of violent individuals looking for an opportunity or a reason to act out.

By Rob Strayer
The arrest of a dual Iranian-American citizen for soliciting a Mexican drug cartel member (who turned out to be a DEA informant) to commit a terrorist act on U.S. soil is notable for what it says about the drug cartels’ use of flagrant violence and the intentions of the government of Iran. This plot confirms long-held fears about transnational narco-trafficking enterprises – that their channels for moving drugs, money, and weapons across the U.S. and other borders could also be used to smuggle terrorists or weapons of mass destruction into the United States.

The nexus between drugs and terrorism is growing at a rate far faster than most policy makers in Washington, D.C. choose to admit, and far fewer will even talk about. In many ways this is not an entirely new threat; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has testified over the past thirty-five years on the important role drugs play in funding terrorist organizations and insurgencies around the world. Many in our government, at all levels, simply do not understand the looming threat posed by the confluence of drugs and terror; therefore, they continue to ignore it.

The Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) Preparedness, Response, and Resilience Task Force released its latest in a series of reports intended to inform policymakers on issues surrounding the achievement of national resilience. The report, entitled “Operationalizing Resilience,” recommends that policymakers use a systems-based approach to developing the integrated frameworks associated with the National Preparedness System called for in PPD-8. The Task Force also recommends that risk management practices be used as the underlying business case for preparedness efforts at all levels and across all sectors.