The governor’s resume and achievements are nothing short of impressive. She should use her credibility and standing to (1) resist reorganizing DHS simply to make a statement and (2) demand that Congress address the jumble of 80-plus oversight committees.
Asymmetric warfare is here to stay. Coping with the strength of an adversary by thinking laterally is nothing new, nor is being willing to embrace conduct that one’s adversary believes immoral to achieve one’s goals; indeed this approach has been glorified by Hollywood in retellings of the American Revolution – asymmetric warfare is nothing new. The trick is to understand it as a risk to be managed, not an emotive subject. There is only a limited budget for addressing the risk of terrorism in the US; we must think of it as a criminal risk in the context of the threat and desired effect, not as an emotive subject, a demon somehow separated from normal crime because it suits internal bureaucratic politics to do so.
On Wednesday, December 3rd, the Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security will host a series of roundtable discussions on the future of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties at the Department of Homeland Security.
A collection of stories and online backgrounders about the latest analysis of the terror attack in Mumbai and the perpetrators behind it. Check back for ongoing updates.
Five advantages which Gov. Napolitano can use to move the Department of Homeland Security forward.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans on having 20 airports operational by the end of 2009. However, despite the solid nature of the program, enrollment numbers have been quite low – around 5000 at last count. To CBP’s great credit, they have recognized that bringing in one traveler at a time to the CBP offices in the basement of airports is not a way to grow the program quickly.
This week’s conviction of five former organizers of the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity operating in Dallas, for funneling more that $12 million to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, is clearly the most significant victory in the effort to crack down on terror financing through certain Islamic charitable groups that serve as front groups for terror operations.
The NY Times reports on a conflict between the NYPD and FBI on a series of eavesdropping measures. Unusually, I will comment in detail on the rights and wrongs of broad brush surveillance measures, as the facts in the report are sparse. I will note that a generic warrant request that seems to be for ‘telephones in the subway’ is unacceptably broad, and that the justification materials for the warrant must be interesting reading.
Napolitano will be the first woman to lead the Department, following Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff under President Bush. She brings not only her direct experience governing the state of Arizona, one of the border states that has seen some of the most violent acitivity among immigrant and drug smuggling gangs, but she also brings credible law enforcement experience as a former U.S. Attorney and state Attorney General.
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