Security Debrief

On Monday, March 19 at 7 pm EST, I hosted the premiere of my new international internet radio show, “The Homeland Security Show with Janice Kephart.” I welcome you to listen to it and provide feedback. Each week, I will begin with a “Homeland Security Roundup” of some important events in homeland security news from the prior week and my analysis. The core of the show is focused topically, and simply titled, “Tonight’s Homeland Topic(s).”

My first guest was Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist, now with FOX News, William LaJeunesse, who has done the most extensive investigative journalism on the federal government’s arms trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious. William had breaking news on the investigation – the key nugget is that the ATF has been claiming since the operation became public that they never had probable cause to dismantle the operation. LaJeunesse came across a document that the ATF had sufficient probably cause, from a stop of the kingpin of the straw purchasers at the Lukeville port of entry a few months into the operation. We also discussed the soundness of the overarching mission of the Fast and Furious operation, the Congressional investigation, and what potential outcomes could mean for the Presidential campaigns.

In my “Homeland Security News Roundup,” I discussed my analysis of the viral documentary, Invisible Children, featuring wanted Ugandan rebel leader and brutal killer Josef Kony, and that documentary’s relationship to homeland security issues; the announcement by the Obama administration of a biometric exit; and the Canadians’ briefings on Capitol Hill of the new “security perimeter action plan” that grows efficiencies in northern border operations.

To be clear, Security Debrief, to me, represents the core of some of the most knowledgeable and articulate homeland security professionals in America. I welcome any of you to contact me and make recommendations as to topics, guests and ideas about improving the show’s content. I believe this is a unique opportunity to tell the international community, both in America and beyond, what homeland security is, and how America, with Canada (the show is based in Montreal), can do it better. My goal is to strip away the politics, myths, and hyperbole, and deal with the reality of homeland security today in a manner that preserves our security reasonably and respectfully.