Security Debrief

Who Will Be the Nation’s Next Top Drug Cop?

Given the critical role of the DEA in the nation’s federal law enforcement constellation, it’s disappointing that the White House has not announced a successor to Karen Tandy, who has already left the agency. There are a number of qualified candidates – qualified from an operational perspective as well as a political perspective.

Top among such candidates is the current Deputy Administrator and Acting head of the agency:Michele Leonhart.

Homeland Security Committee Chair Gives Myers Thumbs Up

With Lieberman and Collins both supporting Myers nomination, the nation’s chief immigration and smuggling enforcement officer wins the patina of bipartisanship. This will make it more difficult — though by new means impossible — for senators like Claire McCaskill of Missouri to rally enough opposition to block her nomination.

Critics of DHS's Immigration Crackdown Should Direct Their Ire at Congress

As DHS gets its feet beneath it and becomes increasingly more efficient at enforcing immigration laws, those who oppose those laws become proportionately more vocal in their criticisms of the Department. But DHS shouldn’t be the target. DHS didn’t draft the nation’s immigration laws. Congress did.

Giving Legal License to Illegal Immigrants

Politicians like Eliot Spitzer of New York prefer the politically popular tact of criticizing the federal government for not enforcing the nation’s immigration laws even while they keep attempting to pass other laws and regulations (like legal driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants) that undermine the federal govenrment’s ability to enforce the immigration laws currently on the books.

Local Law Enforcement Stepping Up on Immigration

The Hispanic elephant in the living room that nobody wants to talk about is this: Those who call for greater enforcement of immigration laws rarely acknowledge that the entire agent force of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is about 6,000.

What FEMA Did Wrong, and DHS Did Right

There’s been a lot of discussion about what FEMA did wrong with its “fake” news conference. And rightly so. However, there should also be some discussion about what DHS did right in handling the fallout.

Did Media Training Lead to FEMA's “Fake” News Conferences?

Working with the media can be – will be – stressful during an emergency situation, but as the FEMA breakdown showed, they will be part of any real crisis situation, like it or not.

Security Debrief — An Introduction

Security Debrief is a multi-contributor blog comprised of seasoned professionals who have worked at all levels of homeland security and law enforcement.