More reviews: Merging the Homeland Security and National Security Councils
As part of a 60-day review underway on whether the Homeland Security Council should be merged into the National Security Council, the Obama White House has invited outside national security experts for periodic consultations on the matter.Randy Beardsworth, a...
Details“It’s Voluntary but…”
When the 9/11 Commission issued its Final Report and recommendations in July 2004, much of the attention focused on the findings showing a need to reform the nation’s intelligence mechanisms and the assessment of our national “failure of imagination.”...
DetailsA Powerful Message – A 21% Increase to DHS Cyber
If you ever want to know what’s a priority in Washington the old adage, “follow the money” will tell you very quickly. That little phrase holds true again especially when it comes to cyber security and DHS.Yesterday, the...
DetailsDent’s Mule Skinners & TWIC Cards Get National Attention
In yesterday’s House Homeland Security Committee Hearing with DHS Sec. Napolitano, US Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) questioned the Secretary about TSA requirements for Transportation Workers Identification Credentials (TWIC) cards for workers that serve as mule drivers (aka “mule skinners”)...
DetailsGod Bless Secretary Napolitano
This morning DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano made her first appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee. As one would expect, Chairman Bennie Thompson set a cordial tone in his opening statement and the rest of the committee members, including...
DetailsI was RIGHT at the time but…; The updated, Official and DEFINITIVE List of DHS Stimulus ‘gifts’
There is always a danger when you post something to the web. Sometimes you can say something profound or say something really stupid.Sometimes you give facts only to have those same facts change on you and then find...
DetailsBioviolence and Aviation SecurityBioviolence and Aviation Security
I spent last weekend reading Bioviolence: Preventing Biological Terror and Crime, Barry Kellman, Cambridge, 2007 (reviewed last year by Foreign Affairs). I am impressed with the deep analysis and research that Professor Kellman has put into this issue....
DetailsDon’t Turn a Blind Eye to Mexico
While President Obama is having lunch today with the political leadership of our closest neighbor and ally, Canada, the situation to our south has continued to deteriorate.Yesterday afternoon, STRATFOR, a strategic analysis group based in San Antonio, released a...
DetailsDHS IG – FEMA Should Stay
Reports by inspector generals carry a lot of weight in Washington. They point out problems, inefficiencies and improper or illegal behaviors that go on in federal programs or by some of its employees or contractors. While it’s...
DetailsMoving FEMA out of Homeland Security could pose risks
Ever since the Federal Emergency Management Agency was absorbed into the Homeland Security Department after its creation in 2003, bureaucrats and elected officials have debated the merits of that decision. After weighing the arguments for and against making FEMA...
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