Railroad Security a Challenge – Disaster Zone
When you look at the challenge of securing the rail infrastructure of the United States you can quickly become disheartened by the size of the issue and limited resources that are available.
Latest Immigration Bill Aims for Senate Support as Lame Duck Dwindles – CQ Homeland Security
Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a new version of an immigration bill on Tuesday that would give hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a path to conditional legal status, setting the stage for a showdown over a lame-duck priority for Democrats.
Legislator proposes volunteer-based Arizona border force – Homeland Security Newswire
In another indication that illegal immigration remains a concern for Arizona lawmakers, a legislator said Monday he plans to revive once-vetoed legislation to create a new state volunteer force that could be used help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
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.
If you are a police officer, there is no doubt sometime in your career you will work with a confidential informant. Whether you’re trying to crack a difficult case, gain key evidence in a conspiracy investigation or trying to learn about criminal activity before it happens, usually you will need to cultivate relationships with confidential criminal informants. Unfortunately, most agencies lack sophisticated systems for managing confidential informants, and they rely on rudimentary spreadsheets and notes on scraps of paper locked away in file cabinets. This archaic way of managing informants is not because technology doesn’t exist to modernize the process; it is because officers are trying to protect their informants’ identities from being divulged.
Napolitano says scanners may be used for trains, subways, and boats – Homeland Security Newswire
Brace yourselves: full-body body scanners may be coming to trains, subways, and boats, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano. “[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired on the Charlie Rose Show. She said as aviation security tightens, “we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime.”
DHS weighs dropping color-coded alert system – GovExec
The Homeland Security Department has proposed to drop the color-coded terror alert system implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks, and replace it with more descriptive text-based alerts.
GOP: DREAM act would allow criminal illegals to gain residency – Homeland Security Newswire
President Barack Obama and Democratic legislators push to pass legislation this year that would allow certain illegal immigrants to become legal U.S. residents, but Republicans are pushing back with details about the DREAM Act that have gone largely unnoticed.
Opponents Move Against DREAM Act – HSToday
Democrats have announced their intent to bring the DREAM Act up for a vote in the lame-duck session of Congress while they still control both chambers, mobilizing Republican opponents who have labeled the bill as an unwarranted attempt at amnesty for illegal aliens.
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