Napolitano Continues to Push ‘See Something,’ ‘Homegrown Terror’ Message – CQ Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Monday reiterated a point she has made many times this year — that her department is counting on the help of citizens and local law enforcement to stymie terrorism plots on American soil.
The most recent military development on the Korean Peninsula cannot be seen outside the overall context of US-China relations. In recent weeks, the United States and China have been engaged in a “currency war,” underscoring the race between Washington and Beijing for global influence in the 21st century. The reality is that the US-China relationship is very complex; it is governed by two forces pulling in opposite directions: economic interdependency and economic competition. As long as these two forces are at equilibrium, the U.S.-China relationship can develop on a win-win basis with tremendous benefits to the world community and the global economy. Unfortunately, current data clearly point to a trend towards imbalance favoring China.
In the days before the 2004 Presidential Election, Osama Bin Laden released a videotaped message that essentially told the world what he was up to. Within his remarks there was one sentence that has stayed with me: “We are continuing a policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” After taking a look at our country’s financial situation and continuing explosive debt, it might be easy to declare that Bin Laden and his cronies can celebrate in their caves in “where-ever-istan” they might be currently residing. At least that is the conclusion you might derive from the recently released report of the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
I think we all need to take a deep breath and remember we live in a dangerous world. I worked as a Special Agent for the U.S. Customs Service and DHS/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over thirty years. In that capacity, I was assigned for a period of time to narcotics smuggling groups at Newark and JFK International Airports. While in this assignment, I was forever amazed at the various methods utilized by individuals to attempt to smuggle narcotics through the international port of entry. The bottom line – you could take nothing for granted. Should TSA be any less vigilant?
Emergency Response, Warfare and the Coming Revolution in Decisionmaking – Crisis Comm
There are many ways emergency response management is like warfare: winning is about having the necessary resources and deploying them most effectively. Clear chain of command and unity of command are essential.
All airlines flying to the U.S. now gather passenger information for terror check – Homeland Security Newswire
All 197 airlines that fly to the United States are now collecting names, genders, and birth dates of passengers so the government can check them against terror watch lists before they fly, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.
The world is astir over the data stolen from U.S. government secure facilities by PFC Bradley Manning and passed to the self-proclaimed crusader Julian Assange. This is an unconscionable act of treason and irresponsibility by all involved. The elephant we are missing is the lack of protection of classified and sensitive data by our military and State Department.
Cybersecurity Experts Say Hardware Concerns Go Beyond China – CQ Homeland Security Newswire
As lawmakers wait for the Obama administration to respond to their cybersecurity concerns about U.S. telecommunication deals with Chinese companies, experts suggest their focus may be too narrow, considering the scope of the security threat bleeds far beyond China’s borders.
Over the Thanksgiving week, I could not get a story from the Houston Chronicle’s Dane Schiller out of my head – “Will eye in the sky over Texas ever shift its gaze to Mexico?” The article’s prime focus is whether Predators can be used to peer across the border into Mexico. Schiller, who regularly covers drug cartel and immigration activity along the southwest border, does America a great service in publicly stating what has been one of the so-called “dirty secrets” about the use of Predator UAVs for border enforcement purposes. The Border Patrol agents who are in pursuit and most in need of information from expensive technology are not seeing anything produced by Predator cameras.
I had the privilege of participating on a panel last week at American University. My “ah-ha!” moment was listening to two Baltimore cops who spoke on a panel after me, both of who work in cyber crime and cyber forensics. These guys are heroes. Local law enforcement has a role to play in cybersecurity. As cyber crime grows in magnitude, local cops will become increasingly critical to the fight. The problem is that they are chronically under funded and under manned.
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