TSA Names Rod Allison as Acting Deputy Administrator
On the day before Thanksgiving, in the midst of one of the busiest travel days of the year, TSA Administrator Pete Neffenger announced to TSA employees that Roderick Allison had been named the Acting Deputy Administrator.
DetailsEarly Thoughts on the Paris Terrorists’ Attacks
There are still many questions that remain to be answered about the Paris terrorist attacks, but so long as there is an internal struggle within Islam and countries where Islamists are fighting each other, we have to expect more...
DetailsBiodefense Blue Ribbon Panel Report Sends Strong Messages – Is Anyone Listening?
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense recently released its report following a year-long study of how America can and should address biological threats. It deserves serious attention by policy makers, health practitioners and political pundits. Why? Because the...
DetailsDHS Finalizes Strategy on Countering Violent Extremism
At last week’s meeting of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism And Responses to Terrorism, DHS Science and Technology Directorate Undersecretary Reginald Brothers announced the completion of a department-wide Countering Violent Extremism strategy.
DetailsThe Intense Personalization of Caring
Everywhere I turn, I get the sense that people are thinking, “If I cannot control it, I don’t worry about it.” When I read the latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, I wondered if DHS employees are expressing the same...
DetailsTSA Rolls Out A New Website…and It Needs Work
Last week, TSA rolled out its new website. If the GAO were writing a review of the site, it would no doubt conclude that “progress has been made but much work remains to be done.” In fact, there is...
DetailsA Congressional Hearing ‘Do-Over’ Done Very Well
A few weeks back, I recommended that the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies have a “do-over” of a hearing where the subject was private sector interaction with DHS S&T. The reason I recommended...
DetailsOpen Letter to Joseph Kolb and Fox News – What’s In A Name?
Dear Fox News' Joseph Kolb: How long will it take before you realize that Border Patrol agents and CBP's Office of Field Operations officers are NOT the same thing? On Friday night, July 31, you published a story that...
DetailsHuman Factors – A Prerequisite for a DHS CVE Office
The proposed Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Act of 2015 (H.R. 2899) could benefit from a bit more study and debate. The bill would create a CVE Office within DHS, filling a hole that should not exist in DHS. It...
DetailsLeaving Government But Not the Mission – Saull Departs Capitol Hill
Bradley Saull recently announced that he was leaving the House Homeland Security Committee staff, where he has worked for the past two years, to join the Professional Services Council. He may be leaving the government, but thank goodness he...
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