Rich Cooper

A Shocking Place for Private Sector Engagement – FEMA

October 18, 2010

The center of gravity for private sector engagement at DHS is at FEMA. Five years ago, if you had told me I would say those words, given all of my experiences at DHS and especially after my deployment during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I would have told you that you were nuts. To say FEMA has become a far more welcoming place for the private sector to interact with would be an understatement. But how did this happen? How did FEMA turn around the hostile cultural and operational attitude towards the private sector?

The End of the Other Gulf Disaster: Administration Lifts Moratorium on Deepwater Drilling

Rich Cooper |

October 13, 2010

The consequences of this year’s biggest catastrophe – BP’s oil spill – will be with the region and the country for a considerable time, but it’s not the only man-made catastrophe that should give us reason for concern. The other man-made disaster as many in the Gulf Coast would call it was the Obama Administration’s moratorium on deep-water drilling. That highly prescriptive action unleashed a set of economic dominoes that many people I spoke with during my recent visit to the Gulf thought caused more economic damage than the oil spill itself. As my friend George Swift, the President and CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Partnership for Economic Development (SWLA Partnership), shared with me in late August, “You don’t shut down the whole airline industry because one plane crashes.”

Results are in (kind of): I'll Buy Olive's Lunch

Rich Cooper |

September 23, 2010

As luck would have it, the question of all questions about TSA would not be the first questioned asked. It instead would be the last. Presiding at today’s hearing, Chairwoman Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) had the honor of asking the question on the future of unionizing the Agency’s Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). As regular readers of Security Debrief know, my friend and fellow Catalyst Partner, David Olive and I made a bet about what the first question would be at TSA Administrator John Pistole’s first appearance before the House Homeland’s Subcommittee on Transportation Security & Infrastructure Protection. Unfortunately for me, that question came at the very end of the hearing and not at the beginning, as I had bet.

The Message was Loud and Clear: Senate Hears Terrorist Threat in America is Growing

Rich Cooper |

September 23, 2010

At a full hearing of the Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee with DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller and NCTC Director Michael Leiter, the message delivered was loud and clear. The risk of smaller scale, more individualized attacks by al Qaeda and its sympathizers within the United States is growing. Period. There should be no more blissful ignorance to our operating environment in America. It can not be afforded.

Lunch is Riding on Bennie Thompson’s First Question for Pistole

Rich Cooper |

September 22, 2010

Like any office space, there is plenty of banter back and forth between my colleagues and me at Catalyst Partners. While we make the arbitrary sports bets with one another, we also, from time to time, will make a bet on which member of Congress is going to ask the nastiest question at a Congressional Hearing; who will come unglued to rail at a witness; and so forth. This week, my friend and fellow Catalyst Partner David Olive and I bet lunch on what topic House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson will open the hearing with: TSA and unions or cargo screening? Cast your vote here before the hearing.

What I Hope Kevin Costner Says Before the House

Rich Cooper |

September 21, 2010

It’s not at all unusual for a Hollywood celebrity to make an appearance on Capitol Hill. Whether they are advocating for a particular cause or issue, their public visibility has the ability to shine a greater light on a particular subject matter than what might otherwise be offered. That’s why I greet the news that Oscar winner Kevin Costner is serving as a witness before the House Homeland Security Committee with some cautious enthusiasm. At the Wednesday hearing, Costner will be just one of several witnesses that hopefully will provide some lessons learned from what has been and continues to be the disaster with no end – the Gulf oil spill.

Keep DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier

Rich Cooper |

September 15, 2010

By a resounding and expected margin, Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was defeated for re-election by Council Chairman, Vincent Gray. While I am not a District resident or a Fenty fan, I was impressed with his results and more importantly, the people he put into positions of authority. For as much as I liked what Michelle Rhee, his hand-picked Schools Chancellor, did to fix the disaster known as DC Schools, it was his Police Chief, Cathy Lanier, who I think has done an outstanding job. Her leadership of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has been inspiring on so many levels. I think she has shown herself to be an excellent leader in protecting the safety and security of the District’s citizens.

GOP Takeover and the Future of Congressional Oversight

Rich Cooper |

September 10, 2010

Depending upon who you talk to, there are anywhere between 88 to 122 Congressional Committees with DHS oversight. No other Cabinet department or agency in the federal sphere has near the obtrusive oversight problems that DHS has. With midterm election polls forecasting significant losses for Democrats and a prospective GOP takeover of the House of Representatives, it begs the question, “What will change?”

Lighting the Fires of Hate in Gainesville

Rich Cooper |

September 8, 2010

It never ceases to amaze me the people who proclaim to be representatives of God but are so willing to unleash hate. Such is the ministry of Rev. Terry Jones and his Gainesville, FL church. In what can only be accurately described as an incendiary act, on Saturday evening, September 11, Jones and his church will burn copies of the Quran, the holy book of Islam.

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