Everything done to date on the matter of misuse of force by private military companies has the whiff of politics – of too-little too-late and knee-jerk response. If the government and the Congress are to face up to this problem properly, they need to put in place a regime that creates hurdles for entry, based on a clear set of professional standards, and then enforce those standards through licensing and audits.

The recent coverage of Julie Myers stalled nomination to be Assistant Secretary for ICE is missing something…discussion of her performance record in her office. While it is more than appropriate to ask tough questions as to what happened at the Combined Federal Campaign Halloween Party at which she and two others were costume judges, there also needs to be analysis of how she has performed since she took the position in early 2006.

Gov. Spitzer’s grenade in the form of his proposal to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants landed square in the middle of the Presidential Campaign recently, resulting in mixed responses and informative insight on how the candidates view immigration as an issue of national security.

<a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/juqq23jzxr” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>

Last week’s arrest of 23 workers at O’Hare International Airport for allegedly using fraudulent airport security badges exposed continuing weaknesses in securing the border. This should not have happened in the post-9/11 environment where access to secure areas at our air and seaports was tightened through enhanced background checks and investigations of current and prospective employees.

Only compounding the vulnerabilities of the higher education community is the fact that there is no one point in the Federal Government for these impacted schools (or those that will have to contend with future emergencies) to turn to for help or guidance in preparing, responding and becoming more resilient institutions.

The problem here is not simply that Blackwater USA’s personnel killed three guards. Even more troubling is the fact that the State Department, in not addressing such incidents, was tacitly endorsing and therefore facilitating a culture among its security details that placed no premium on life.

Ohio University is developing interactive digital (virtual) environments in 30 high-profile Columbus buildings or sites that could be most susceptible to terrorist attacks, hostage situations or other critical incidents.

Who is in favor of illegal immigration? The obvious answer is no one. However, all of the now defeated candidates running for office in the state of Virginia thought otherwise.

The Hispanic elephant in the living room that nobody wants to talk about is this: Those who call for greater enforcement of immigration laws rarely acknowledge that the entire agent force of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is about 6,000.

Although some Judiciary committee members expressed concern about Mukasey’s views on certain types of interrogation techniques they considered torture, the Justice Department deserves a strong leader.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a dozen people were arrested yesterday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles’ downtown garment district.
The link between drug smuggling and counterfeit goods operations with the financing of terrorist activities is well known in [...]

Last week, Rep. Peter King – chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security – released a report on the progress of the SAFE Port Act, One Year Later.
The report analyzes DHS’s implementation of the bill, focusing both on both its successes (the Secure Freight Initiative) and its shortcomings (the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program [...]

The future direction of homeland security will increasingly turn to these Three Rs: Risk (analysis and mitigation); Resilience; and Radicalization.

On September 21st, New York Governor Spitzer’s unexpectedly announced that New York would issue driver’s licenses to illegal aliens - signaling the latest challenge to the REAL ID law. Unbeknownst to Gov. Spitzer at that time, his brazen proclamation would wither under the intense and ruthless national immigration debate. Gov. Spitzer immediately found himself under siege not only within the State of New York, but also from a large and vocal national constituency.

Narcotics, in and of itself, is a significant threat to the United States, not only because of the damage it causes within our society but also because it is a source of funds to finance other criminal and terrorist activity. But the thought that these organizations could utilize this access and knowledge to enter a weapon — be it biological, chemical or radiological — is and continues to be a major concern of federal law enforcement.

There’s been a lot of discussion about what FEMA did wrong with its “fake” news conference. And rightly so. However, there should also be some discussion about what DHS did right in handling the fallout.

Working with the media can be – will be – stressful during an emergency situation, but as the FEMA breakdown showed, they will be part of any real crisis situation, like it or not.

As the former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), I was interested and concerned to see a story in Sunday’s Washington Post with the headline “Venezuela Increasingly a Conduit for Cocaine.”

Security Debrief is a multi-contributor blog comprised of seasoned professionals who have worked at all levels of homeland security and law enforcement.