Adfero Group HSPI

The treatment of protestors as the enemy at National Significant Security Events is the most counter-productive action law enforcement could think of. If one is running a policing effort during a NSSE, surely the principal information tool during the final hours before an event and during that event is the population itself. However, by treating all protestors as potential terrorists and critical threats, police significantly reduce the likelihood that protestors will “see something, say something,” because the police have chosen a confrontational relationship rather than a collaborative one.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Despite the fact that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, it became accepted wisdom that the weaving together of counterterrorism efforts at the local, state, and federal levels is critical, a decade later, there is a consensus among the police intelligence commanders for the fifty-six largest American cities that the nation lacks an adequate understanding of the counterterrorism intelligence enterprise. This was a finding in our just-released research brief — “Counterterrorism Intelligence: Law Enforcement Perspectives.”

The Bay Area Transit Police, amusingly known as BART, show that law enforcement still doesn’t understand the value — and challenges — of social media. The police force reacted to planned flash mobs by shutting down cell phone service in the BART stations. Hey, if you can’t talk to one another, how are you going to organize, right? Thank God BART wasn’t around when the Founding Fathers were trying to hammer out the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps the transit agency would have drummed the unruly bastards out of Philadelphia before they could dream up the First Amendment.

The elaborate extortion bomb hoax in Sydney is an active reminder that extortion and kidnap for ransom are very real threats. This threat is real, not only in Australia but globally. Extortion through terror is often dismissed as some form of Latin American phenomenon, but that simply isn’t true. If something can be imagined, it can be done.

I recently published a piece on the terrorist attacks in Oslo, Norway, which killed 76 people. Similar to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building bombing in Oklahoma in 1995, after the attacks in Oslo, many believed it was the work of Islamist terrorists. As we are finding out, however, that was not the case.

The tragic bombing and shooting in Oslo on the same day will be used as a case study for many reasons, not least our exposure to the random element, the individual acting alone and off the grid. His intentions and background notwithstanding, one of the significant lessons for government, corporations and others is that of the effect of simultaneity – the conduct of a series of operations or activities simultaneously.

Social media posts are becoming the new digital fingerprints for law enforcement, providing critical tips and leads on criminal activity. Yet most law enforcement agencies aren’t monitoring or using social media sites to gather intelligence. If an individual in your business district began shouting threats at the crowds, how long would it take for police to be notified and respond? How quickly would your agency respond to the same threats voiced over Twitter, Facebook or the other social media channels?

If you have been following the news reports concerning ATF’s Operation “Fast and Furious,” you are acutely aware that CBP agent Brian Terry was killed in the line of duty and some of the weapons found at the scene have been traced back to what is now known as “Operation Fast and Furious.” For various political reasons, including conspiracy theories, there has been and continues to be a feeding frenzy by reporters and commentators on both the left and the right. Everyone needs to take a step back, take a deep breath and look at the facts.

It is hard to argue that local, state, and federal counterterrorism operations are not still a work in progress. While working together, law enforcement agencies at all levels have combined to thwart a number of plots since 9/11, many challenges that frustrate cooperation still perplex the national counterterrorism enterprise. The remedy is a new organizational culture that places a premium on building trust and confidence between federal, state, and local counterterrorism efforts.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has complained on more than one occasion that Republicans are “moving the goalposts” when it comes to border security. One reason, as former DHS economist Bryan Roberts and I argue in a new piece for Foreign Affairs, is that the current metrics for measuring progress at the border are lousy. Apprehensions at the border may be falling, but does that mean illegal immigrants have been deterred from trying?

Documentary on Irish mob boss James Whitey Bulger, on the lam for 16 years and caught this week by the FBI.

San Francisco is beautiful, historic and diverse. But as nice as that city is, I remain disturbed by its anti-military reputation. The SF Police and Human Rights Commission held hearings on Joint Terrorism Task Force operations in San Francisco. The hearings specifically addressed the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guidelines that allow the JTTF to commence an investigation/surveillance without a direct nexus to criminal activity. I wonder if residents of San Francisco and the SFPD will ever “get it.”

There are now criminal turf wars going on over the thousands of computers that comprise botnets across America and the world. This “invisible” conflict is unknown to most computer users in America. Botnets can be used to search for and steal money, financial data, passwords, and intellectual property. The size of some of the botnets out there rival and surpass the capabilities of most nation states, and the guys who control them are NOT the good guys.

The media is reporting changes to the Attorney General Guidelines. it looks like expanded authority to conduct physical surveillances, polygraphs of informants and limited attendance at public functions is not much change in terms of intrusion into the civil liberties of our population. I understand that some people may be alarmed; however, I know that the FBI’s agents charged with collecting intelligence within the United States are closely supervised – I was one of them.