Spray DNA Lowers Crime – Homeland Security Newswire
When you think of McDonald’s fast-food chain, the term “high tech” does not immediately leap to mind, but surprises will never cease. When the McDonald’s down from City Hall in the Dutch port city of Rootterdam was burglarized, its managers decided they needed a new security system.
By Jena Baker McNeill
Last week, Time Magazine led with the story, “Locked and Loaded: The Secret World of Extreme Militias.” Page after page, the article describes renegade, anti-government militia groups. The article, in its coverage of militia groups, however, makes one glaring omission: State Defense Forces (SDF). If you haven’t heard of them, don’t worry. Most Americans have not. These forces receive little press and little public attention and largely operate under the radar. But SDFs are actually a low-cost means for states to enhance homeland security efforts without relying on the bureaucratic federal apparatus.
U.S. Border Czar Calls on Congress to Get Serious about Immigration Reform – Immigration Impact
While some candidates continue to make political fodder out of immigration and border security on the campaign trail, administration officials are pushing Congress to get real about overhauling our broken immigration system. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner, Alan Bersin, recently commented that Congress needs to ‘get serious about a post-election immigration overhaul if the nation is to deal with the duality of enforcing border security while facilitating trade.’
DHS Adviser: Government Needs Public’s Help in Fighting Human Trafficking – CQ Homeland Security
The banking and legal communities have a major role to play in stamping out the scourge of human trafficking, a top Department of Homeland Security adviser said Monday.
Last week, speaking at the Migration Policy Institute, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin gave a glowing review of the successes CBP was having in meeting its mission. Whether one agrees with Bersin’s overall assessment, there was one area that jumped out at me that begs further inquiry. One will note that Commissioner Bersin was clever in his wording, in that he did not SPECIFICALLY talk about the need to deploy Predator UASs, but about UASs in general. To my mind, he was being too clever by half, but he is not the first government official to use verbal misdirection to give himself wiggle-room for a later time.
The center of gravity for private sector engagement at DHS is at FEMA. Five years ago, if you had told me I would say those words, given all of my experiences at DHS and especially after my deployment during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I would have told you that you were nuts. To say FEMA has become a far more welcoming place for the private sector to interact with would be an understatement. But how did this happen? How did FEMA turn around the hostile cultural and operational attitude towards the private sector?
The consequences of this year’s biggest catastrophe – BP’s oil spill – will be with the region and the country for a considerable time, but it’s not the only man-made catastrophe that should give us reason for concern. The other man-made disaster as many in the Gulf Coast would call it was the Obama Administration’s moratorium on deep-water drilling. That highly prescriptive action unleashed a set of economic dominoes that many people I spoke with during my recent visit to the Gulf thought caused more economic damage than the oil spill itself. As my friend George Swift, the President and CEO of the Southwest Louisiana Partnership for Economic Development (SWLA Partnership), shared with me in late August, “You don’t shut down the whole airline industry because one plane crashes.”
By Doug Doan
Yesterday’s hearing on the salmonella outbreak that resulted in a huge recall of eggs offers important and disturbing insight into the government’s expanding role in food safety. If you ever thought that these hearings were called in an honest attempt to find out what happened, what went wrong, and what actions could be taken to prevent a similar problem and actually improve the safety of our food supply, think again. That is not how these hearings work. In fact, the hearing was really a prop for the FDA to push a favorite hobby horse of ever-expanding control, budgets, regulations and authorities.
By Brian Lake
Usually when National Preparedness Month rolls around in September, you’ll find me talking to emergency managers, first responders, disability service providers, my friends, my girlfriend and the guy I met in the park while walking my dog about inclusive emergency preparedness for disability communities. This year is no different. This year has had two very significant milestones: the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. One marks how far we have come; the other marks how far we still have to go.
Former DEA chiefs urge attorney general to just say no – Gov Exec
Nine former Drug Enforcement Administration chief has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to publicly oppose a controversial ballot initiative in California that would legalize the production, possession and sale of marijuana in that state.
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