Border Surveillance is Necessary But at What Price?
There are a host of questions Congress ought to be asking about DHS' use of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to provide border surveillance. Congressional staff should know how the Predator's cost stacks up against other alternative means of surveillance....
DetailsCBP Ditches Predator in the Pacific Ocean
News reports are trickling out about a decision by a Customs and Border Patrol Predator operator to send a multi-million dollar unmanned aerial vehicle into the Pacific Ocean when it became clear it could not make it back to...
DetailsLessons in How to Communicate on a ‘Bad Day’
One of the challenges when a tragic event occurs is communicating to the public about it. What do seasoned professionals cite as most important in responding to devastating incidents? I reached out to two friends and former colleagues to...
DetailsWater in West Virginia – An Ounce of Prevention…
Last Thursday, a chemical storage tank leaked about 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol into the Elk River, just one mile upstream from the West Virginia American Water plant. Thankfully, the water plant owner was forward thinking enough to invest...
DetailsCongressional DHS Oversight is Overkill
Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge testified before the House Homeland Security Committee about the many leadership vacancies at DHS and Congress' overlapping, uncoordinated legislative oversight. His testimony is absolutely right.
DetailsJohnson Nominated for DHS Secretary – What Does That Tell Us?
The anticipated nomination of Jeh Johnson to become the fourth DHS Secretary is welcomed news almost any way you look at it. Johnson’s prodigious resume and professional history is being chronicled by the homeland security, defense and legal establishment...
DetailsWho is Jeh Johnson?
The White House leaked word yesterday that the President has selected Jeh Johnson, the former General Counsel at the Pentagon in the first term of the Obama Administration, to replace Janet Napolitano as DHS Secretary. It left a lot...
DetailsRisk in Full Disclosure – Chlorine Locations Posted Online
Last week, the Center for Effective Government (CEG) posted online a comprehensive list of how much chlorine water utilities have onsite and provided the specific coordinates of where they are stored. This information, while already available in the public...
DetailsCongress Heal Thyself – A Ray of Hope from the Senate
At Wednesday’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee confirmation hearing for Stevan Bunnell as DHS General Counsel and Suzanne Spaulding as Under Secretary of NPPD, both Chairman Tom Carper and Ranking Member Tom Coburn decried the number of...
DetailsCongress, Heal Thyself – Hamilton and Kean Weigh In Again
Another 9/11 anniversary is upon us. Looking back over the last 12 years, the United States has made a lot of progress in securing the country, and much of this progress grew out of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Yet,...
Details