I published a piece in Foreign Affairs about the terrorist organization, Hezbollah, and their new role in the Lebanese government. With Iran’s economy weakening, and Syria in political turmoil, Hezbollah has launched a crime wave to gather funds, something Western countries should leverage to hurt the organization’s legitimacy and support.
“FEMA will not save you,” said Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Majority staff of the Committee on Homeland Security has conducted an investigation into the threat by al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen in Somalia, Al Qaeda’s major ally in East Africa, and its efforts to radicalize and recruit Muslim-Americans inside the U.S.
I recently published a piece on the terrorist attacks in Oslo, Norway, which killed 76 people. Similar to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building bombing in Oklahoma in 1995, after the attacks in Oslo, many believed it was the work of Islamist terrorists. As we are finding out, however, that was not the case.
The tragic bombing and shooting in Oslo on the same day will be used as a case study for many reasons, not least our exposure to the random element, the individual acting alone and off the grid. His intentions and background notwithstanding, one of the significant lessons for government, corporations and others is that of the effect of simultaneity – the conduct of a series of operations or activities simultaneously.
Social media posts are becoming the new digital fingerprints for law enforcement, providing critical tips and leads on criminal activity. Yet most law enforcement agencies aren’t monitoring or using social media sites to gather intelligence. If an individual in your business district began shouting threats at the crowds, how long would it take for police to be notified and respond? How quickly would your agency respond to the same threats voiced over Twitter, Facebook or the other social media channels?
Sean Smith: Ink Spill: Inside the Battle to Shape the News Coverage of Last Year’s Oil Gusher One year ago on Friday, the runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was capped, ending one of the longest-running and most popular reality news shows in American history. At the time I was the Assistant Secretary […]
What the Oslo Bombing May Reveal About the State of the Global Terror Threat – Global Spin Blog (TIME)
riday’s bomb attack in Oslo that killed at least seven people — and what police say is a related shooting attack at a youth camp on an island outside the Norwegian capital that left an larger number dead — are widely assumed to be the first jihadist terror strike on Western soil since the death of Osama bin Laden.
It is all but impossible for DHS to fulfill its mission of protecting the homeland when the bureaucratic processes they must work with fail to recognize that sometimes a partial solution is better than a delayed solution. Last week the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Management held a hearing on technology acquisition. I have little hope that GAO will ever understand the real-world environment in which homeland security acquisition ought to occur. The GAO report released to coincide with the hearing shows me that they just don’t “get it.”
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