The Associated Press: AP IMPACT: Secret process benefits pet projects Despite Obama’s promises that the stimulus plan would be transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. This allowed low-priority projects such as the checkpoint in […]
IBM hosted a superb conference for its defense clients in Europe this past week. Several key issues discussed were the proper balance between security and privacy, the need for information sharing, and importance of a public education campaign to achieve real cyber “personal hygiene.” Numerous different approaches were raised and considered, each coming from the experiences and the different governments and cultures represented.
With the completion of the Task Force’s Report on the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) now done we have a pretty good idea of how of the oft-maligned terror warning system is going to be restructured. In the eight years since 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, we are finally beginning to put the hard-earned lessons into policies, protocols and operations that can better guide current and future homeland leaders of every sector.
By Guest Contributor Douglas Doan
President Obama’s stimulus funds to the Department of Homeland Security were designed to improve infrastructure, creating an excellent opportunity to improve our ports-of-entry infrastructure and improve the economy via enhanced trade facilitation. Instead, Customs and Border Protection has used those funds to advance purely enforcement operations. Perhaps CBP should become cBP — or maybe just BP — as customs funding is so often diverted to protection operations.
Air Transport Association Says TSA Certified Cargo Screening Program Key to Meeting… | Reuters The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, in a letter to air cargo shippers regarding the congressionally mandated August 2010 deadline for 100 percent screening of all cargo on passenger planes, outlined […]
In life you get to meet a lot of people, but there are very few that can do things that are extra-ordinary. Erroll Southers is one of those people. Nominated by the President to be the next Administrator of TSA, he takes on one of the most challenging and public-engaging entities anywhere in government.
On this 8th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, across America people will stop and reflect on where they were, what they were doing and how their lives changed because of the events of that tragic day. Whenever that next “bad day” event occurs, it is NOT the US Department of Homeland Security that will be the first to arrive at the scene. It will be the local first responders – police, fire, emergency medical and rescue personnel – who will be there first.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), cross border traffic is down 12.5% over the last year. An article in yesterday’s USAToday argued that the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) – which requires U.S. citizens as well as Canadian and Bermudans to possess a passport or similar document when entering the country – is responsible for the bulk of the decrease.
This subject could seem to some like a much less important element of cyber security than others. They could not be more wrong. In fact, this could be the key to success, particularly in the long term. If we fail in this sort of effort, all our other cyber security measures will be wasted.
In today’s world, the definition of security has changed. George Orwell once said, ”People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” That is still true today, as the war on terrorism has shown, but along side of those rough men, we require a new breed of warrior.
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