DHS Goes Audit-less for Sixth Straight Year – CQ Homeland Security
Financial management problems at the Department of Homeland Security have prevented an independent auditor from providing any opinion on the department’s balance sheets for the sixth consecutive year, according to documents released Monday.
IBM hosted a Cyber Security Leadership Summit in Boston on November 18. It was interesting for someone like me (who is constantly immersed in the Washington discussions on cyber issues) to hear cyber security discussed as a local issue. For these folks, it is not an intellectual or philosophical discussion; it is not even the grand strategic problem we normally hear about in DC. It is a tactical and completely real issue that has implications for people whose faces these men know.
Swine flu winding down but vaccine still important – Homeland1.com
With swine flu ebbing and immunizations still maddeningly hard to find, one might be tempted to ask: Why bother to even look for vaccine? Experts say the answer, at least in part, is that the disease almost certainly will come back this winter – as seasonal flu.
Domestic Terror Threat on the Rise – Information Security Resources
Last Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee opened hearings on the Fort Hood tragedy. One of the topics on the agenda is the rising domestic terror threat. But this alarm was sounded months ago, in Apr 09, when DHS released their report entitled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? The Secret Service Challenge – Homeland Security Watch
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan issued a statement in response to reports that Virginia couple Michaele and Tareq Salahi attended Tuesday’s White House State Dinner, despite the fact that they allegedly did not have invitations.
Quiet GOP tactic stalls top Obama appointments – Washington Times
Sen. Jim DeMint has locked a “hold” on President Obama’s pick to head the Transportation Security Administration over concerns the nominee would undermine safety by allowing airport security screeners to unionize, the latest in a series of appointments stymied by Republican objections that are increasingly frustrating the Senate’s Democratic majority.
The Hindustan Times recently published an article arguing that if India had only invested in IT systems with a common information pool, the Mumbai attacks could have been prevented because information had been received elsewhere that Mumbai was a target. It’s interesting to see IT portrayed as the panacea solution to countering the threat of terrorism. As with countering any human-based threat, a capability must be created. But buying the IT isn’t enough.
With the news of former TSA Administrator David Stone’s untimely death, two events compressed in my mind: TSA relocating to the Department of Homeland Security with President Bush signing the Homeland Security Act of 2002; and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. It is my hope that we remember the “right” lessons from these events; that we honor the public servants and private sector folks who work so diligently to make us safer and more secure, and that we are ever vigilant against those who would do us harm.
Suicide Rates Increase Across Military Branches in 2009 – CQ Homeland Security
More U.S. military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services.
Three-month extension in pipeline for FAA – Things With Wings
I’m hearing some very strong rumors that the Senate is proposing another three-month extension to FAA’s operating authority. This is significant for a number of reasons, particularly because it’s the clearest signal yet that a full reauthorization bill is not going to happen this year – despite several lawmakers and industry groups saying recently that passage before yearend was vital.
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