Homeland Security Department curtails home-grown terror analysis – Washington Post
The Department of Homeland Security has stepped back for the past two years from conducting its own intelligence and analysis of home-grown extremism, according to current and former department officials, even though law enforcement and civil rights experts have warned of rising extremist threats.
This is not the first Weiner problem that Washington has had and poor behavior is not something one political party has an edge over the other. Despite all of those transgressions, the Republic has survived, and it will survive long after all of the salacious details of Rep. Anthony Weiner’s escapades come out. But in watching all of this unravel, I could not help but think of the security clearance process that I and many others have gone through. If he were anyone else and an investigator got his file to begin the rudimentary background check, he might otherwise be told, “You need not apply.”
Time for America to Get Cyber-Serious – The Foundry
In the 1995 movie The Net, Sandra Bullock fights computer hackers attempting to cyber-sabotage her life. The hackers successfully change her identity, manipulate U.S. markets, and access the private personal data of U.S. officials. While the clunky looking computers, cell phones, and storyline in the movie are joked about today, cyber terrorism is a real—and much bigger—threat 16 years later.
Last week, I was privileged to attend the 5th annual conference of the Center for a New American Security. This year’s conference had a series of excellent panels that pushed through some of the most important issues facing the Nation. Bottom line, the conference overall was a winner. It was very well administered; the content was far superior to the normal Washington affairs.
Last week, I wrote a blog post, The Final ‘Frontier’ in Corporate Shame, which focused on Frontier Airlines’ lack of sensitivity concerning the accommodation of first-responders during times of national crisis. To their credit, Frontier Airlines has since recognized that there are internal gaps within their corporate policies that prevent them from providing better service to those responding to recognized catastrophes.
House Trims Homeland Security Science Spending – Science Insider
Next year’s budget for science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be drastically downsized under a spending bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives. The legislation would reduce current funding for the S&T directorate by 52%, from $827 million to $398 million. By comparison, the Obama Administration has requested $1.2 billion for that program in fiscal year 2012, which begins on 1 October.
House Committee Report Disputes TSA Findings On Private Airport Screening – HSToday
US House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure issued a report Friday claiming that the use of private airport screeners under federal supervision is both more efficient and cost effective than an all-federal screening force.
After much anticipation and speculation, the Supreme Court decided that, in essence, states may enact their own employment eligibility and employer sanction laws. The name of the case is Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Whiting, and we have to expect more states joining the ranks of Arizona and others already with verification laws on the books
By Keith Stefanelli
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has experience working through emergencies – on Wednesday, he was again guiding emergency response, this time to a fatal tornado outbreak in Central and Western Massachusetts. This made me wonder: What if Governor Patrick had lost the 2010 Gubernatorial Election, and Massachusetts had a new Governor, less experienced in emergency response? What if the next Black Swan event of statewide or national significance occurs on the Inauguration Day of a new Governor or President?
House votes to cut TSA’s budget by $270 million – Washington Post
The Republican-controlled House approved legislation Thursday that would cut funding for transportation security officers, the men and women on the front line of aviation safety. The 219 to 204 vote approved cutting the Transportation Security Administration’s budget by $270 million, according to Democrats and union leaders.
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