White House to Muslims ahead of Rep. King hearings: Terror threat ‘real’ – The Hill
President Obama’s deputy national security adviser told a Muslim audience Sunday that the threat of homegrown terrorism is “real” and that Muslim Americans are part of the solution, not the problem.
The Bouazizi effect and counter-terrorism – Homeland Security Watch
Homeland security in the United States emerged from a dramatic encounter with a perverse sort of martyrdom. Bin Laden’s minions sacrificed themselves to murder innocents. The murders have continued.
House Republicans Push Obama Administration to Implement National ID System – Switched
House Republicans are pushing the Obama administration to move forward with a controversial law that, if enacted, would require every state to issue nationally standardized identification cards to its citizens.
King blasts GOP for transportation security cuts – Homeland Security Newswire
Representative Peter King (R – New York), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted the GOP’s plan to reduce the budget by $61 billion, citing cuts to critical anti-terror programs.
Like any movement that spans continents and has millions of affiliates, the global Muslim Brotherhood is hardly a monolithic block. Personal and ideological divisions are common. Divergences emerge on how the movement should try to achieve its goals and, in some cases, even on what those goals should actually be.
The Supreme Court decision to uphold the right of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest at the funerals of fallen service members reminds us: Even hurtful speech is protected. As a career Army Officer, what these protesters do at ceremonies personally sickens and angers me, but I thank God that I can be counted as a U.S. citizen, and I am glad I was willing to lay down my life so the Westboro Baptist crowd can desecrate the memory of my comrades.
Rules keep hackers from helping government, ex DHS head says – NextGov
Friendly hackers and other computer whizzes who could help bolster government’s cyber defenses often are unable to collaborate with the Homeland Security Department because of outdated policies that Congress and the White House must reform, former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge said on Tuesday.
At a time when Congress is looking to cut federal spending, why won’t it eliminate the “waste” caused by its own dysfunctional DHS oversight? The apparent answer is that is it far easier to talk about reforming someone else than oneself. What the Congressional bloviators seem to ignore is Congress’ own culpability in creating many of these duplicative programs. The perfect place to address this issue, should they choose to look inside their own house first, is the mishmash of congressional committees that claim jurisdiction over DHS. It remains an area ripe for reform.
Cargo Screening: So Close, Yet So Far – World Trade
Last August, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented 100 percent screening for air cargo carried on passenger aircraft in the U.S. Despite some anticipated hiccups, by most accounts the rollout was generally uneventful.
US Visas Vulnerable to Insider Threat, IG Says – HSToday
Systems that issue US visas to foreign visitors and residents remain too vulnerable to disgruntled or criminal employees and contractors at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the DHS inspector general warned recently.
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