menu

Topic:

Critical Infrastructure

Need, Want, (Don’t) Have: Bringing America’s Infrastructure into the 21st Century

|
July 7, 2011

America’s infrastructure could use a makeover. Many of the things that help this country “GO” – roads, bridges, utilities and more – are in poor shape and in many places, crumbling before our eyes. Yet, the country has seen little in the way of real change when it comes to building a stronger, more resilient America. Not enough of us are talking and thinking strategically about infrastructure investment priorities, how risk and resilience are considered, and how we are going to pay for these much-needed updates. Enter Adm. Thad Allen, former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

▾ Read More

Homeland Security Advisory Council: Empowering Critical Infrastructure and National Resilience

|
June 28, 2011

Yesterday, the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) released the recommendations of its Community Resilience Task Force (CRTF), which argue that it is impossible to build a resilient nation upon protected yet aged, overstressed, exploitable and consequence-amplifying infrastructure foundations.

▾ Read More

Guy Fawkes Meets Uncle Sam

|
June 22, 2011

One of the more interesting parts of the rejuvenated Anarchist movement has been the adoption of Guy Fawkes as a hero. The Internet movements like Anonymous and a number of other Lulzs have been doing their level Guy Fawkes’ best to flex their muscles against the man. And so Uncle Sam, in the guise of the U.S. Government, is finding out the wild frontier of cyber space is not about to be intimidated by Washington laws or declarations. We focus on nation states. In the new frontier, all the Guy Fawkes are the same.

▾ Read More

Faltering Tools for Fire and Ice

|
June 22, 2011

It’s a basic lesson any semi-decent carpenter or weekend handyman knows. If you have the right tools, you can do your job a lot easier and a whole lot better. As basic as this premise might be, it is one that we have failed to follow in terms of dealing with fire and ice in this country. With a median age of several decades and enormous wear and tear, the reliability and safety our firefighting planes is in serious question.

▾ Read More

Cyber Combat: Act of War

|
May 31, 2011

Cyber Combat: Act of War – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force.

▾ Read More

Auditors: DHS lacks cost justification for $780 million spent on border network – NextGov

|
May 31, 2011

Auditors: DHS lacks cost justification for $780 million spent on border network – NextGov
For half a decade, the Homeland Security Department did not collect cost-justification information for invoices from contractor Boeing Co., before paying the company for services rendered on a $1 billion failed, virtual border fence, federal auditors concluded.

▾ Read More

Homemade cyberweapon worries federal officials

|
May 31, 2011

Homemade cyberweapon worries federal officials – Washington Times
Two security researchers, working at home in their spare time, have created a cyberweapon similar to the sophisticated Stuxnet computer worm that was discovered last year to have disrupted computer systems running Iran’s nuclear program.

▾ Read More

Learning from Japan's Black Swan Spring

|
May 27, 2011

Black swans are another name for Secretary Rumsfeld’s famous category of “known” unknowns, things we know we don’t know – but maybe we should. The Japanese anticipated the double-shot of earthquakes and tsunamis, but not the triple whammy of earthquake-Tsunami-massive release of low-dose radiation from nuclear power plants. It is hard to believe that Washington would not screw up a nuclear incident just as badly as Toyko, particularly if the event happened in the midst of another catastrophe.

▾ Read More

Travels: Air Force and OSD Policy "Get It"

|
May 25, 2011

It has been a busy couple of days for me, but they have been good ones. I flew down to Maxwell AFB in Alabama to offer the Industry Perspective on Cyber as part of the AF Cyber Operations Executive Course. I also served as moderator for an Executive Luncheon sponsored by the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council, where the guest was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, the Honorable Paul Stockton.

▾ Read More

Lawmakers express optimism, concerns over White House cybersecurity plan

|
May 24, 2011

Lawmakers express optimism, concerns over White House cybersecurity plan – NextGov
Members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee praised the Obama administration’s recently released cybersecurity proposal during a Monday hearing, but expressed concern about some remaining differences between the approaches of the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

▾ Read More