The Bush Administration is making progress in cyber security through the creation of a new interagency group to gather information and assess cyber security breaches to various federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense. According to a report by the Washington Post, the White House has selected Rod A. Beckstrom to head up the interagency group, which will be based in the Department of Homeland Security.

The AP is reporting that President Bush has named longtime Justice Department prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein as his new homeland security adviser following Frances Townsend’s departure from the White House in December.  See Security DeBrief’s take on Townsend’s tenure and the need for separate advisory roles in the Executive Branch in this post by former DHS [...]

Across the country there is significant anxiety building up in anticipation of the latest release of a prized commodity. No, I am not talking about the latest version of the Apple I-Phone or the latest edition of the X-Box. It is bigger than that. And you will not see the throngs of people lining up around the block like you saw for tickets to the March Madness Tournament or the Hannah Montana concert. Rather, on April 1, 2008 you will see a mass rush of U.S. employers to the nearest U.S. Post Office or Federal Express store as they flail away to get their H-1B applications to DHS.

Today’s posting concludes a five-part series outlining recommendations to the next Administration on the Department of Homeland Security’s transitioning, advising against any sort of forced reorganization attempt.

The Counterterrorism Blog’s Victor Comras breaks down a new report on the mechanics of terrorism financing that was released by the Financial Action Task Force. He covers some of the more standard practices used, and focuses on the need to prevent abuse of the system through a a strengthened partnership between private sector financial [...]

In a recent interview, Secretary Chertoff talked about FEMA’s core mission as being ‘emergency management’ yet since the hurricanes of 2005, we have allowed a steady mission creep to occur with FEMA to involve a range of things besides ‘emergency management.’ Today on the Gulf Coast and in other communities in the US (e.g., Kansas, Tennessee, California, etc) FEMA employees will be working with state, local, tribal, NGOs, private sector members and regular citizens to aid the ‘recovery’ efforts in communities that have been struck by disasters. Those efforts involve urban planning and a range of other issues that have some intersection with emergency management but these efforts are not at the core of FEMA’s goal of being the ‘world’s preeminent emergency management agency.’

Today’s post is the fourth recommendation in a five-part series outlining recommendations to the next Administration on the Department of Homeland Security’s transitioning.

Despite the President’s budget to limit port security grant funding to $210 million for FY’09, the Senate passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2009 Congressional Budget Resolution last week (March 14) by a vote of 51-44. Originally, port security grant funding was not in the President’s budget but cam about out of a bipartisan effort to ensure security funding was a priority in the Congressional budget. To move the funding where it is today has not been an easy task, and we now must focus to ensure the grant program can sustain our security levels

Continuing the series on DHS’s Transition that offers advice to the next Administration, today’s recommendation focuses on the important role that career leaders will play in ensuring continuity within the Department.

The riots in Lhasa, Tibet, over the weekend, and the methods used to quell them, highlight the most important issue in Public Order operations: the underlying problem and source of the dissatisfaction must, over time, be addressed. If it is not, the disaffected start to feel disenfranchised and have no option but to protest in order for their voices to be heard - and those protests often turn into violent riots. Suppressing this expression of discontent will only force the disenfranchised to use more violent forms of protest (more commonly known as terrorism), whilst allowing it and facilitating it enables the authorities to control the venting of discontent in a safe manner.

As Congress continues to debate legislation to provide colleges and universities with federal dollars to pay for improved campus security, violence continues on our campuses. As 2007 marks the most violent year in history for college campuses, school administrators cannot afford to wait for Congress to act.

The new President’s ability to implement his homeland security agenda, and perhaps his larger agenda could be lost if the Department and new administration fail an early test.

The U.S. House of Representatives continues its gamesmanship with national security. For a body that has been trying to prove its bona fides to protect the American people, it’s an odd strategy. With echoes of Groundhog Day, House Leadership chose to pass legislation that has no chance whatsoever winning the support of the Senate (and therefore no chance whatsoever of becoming law) and retired for another vacation.Meanwhile, the ability of the Intelligence Community to do its job remains hampered. And the message to the private sector? Next time your government asks for your support, run away as fast as you can.

DHS, more so than any other department, cannot afford an aloof, take-no-prisoners approach to the transition. Most departments have a strong bureaucracy and established processes that can temper the whims of an ill chosen transition team. DHS has neither the strong bureaucracy nor the established processes. Based on my own experience during the transition effort to initially set up DHS, as well as decades in public service, I will offer five pieces of advice for the next president’s DHS transition team, laying out one each day over the next several days.

The benefits afforded by the SAFETY Act protect not only the enterprise, the “Seller” but also the Seller’s suppliers, contractors, and “downstream users” (i.e., customers). This creates a valuable market advantage over competitors that do not have SAFETY Act protections. As of early 2008, there were more than 200 products and services that had received SAFETY Act protections.

With the upcoming Iranian parliamentary elections approaching on March 14th, the United States is facing new questions about how to deal with the Iranian regime with options ranging from the imposition of additional sanctions to diplomatic engagement to the use of military force.

California is considering legislation that would place the state on the front lines of the looming battle between the federal government and states resisting the REAL ID mandates. Citing privacy concerns, implementation costs, and security concerns, state lawmakers have introduced a resolution that would require California’s Congressional delegation to take the fight back to Congress. Ryan Singel of WIRED’s Threat Level has more, writing that while the state has not taken as hard a line as South Carolina, Maine, and Montana, the move “still might boost the anti-Real ID movement given the state’s size, clout and dire finances.”

Congressman Waxman has extended his investigative activities into Blackwater to include the company’s treatment of employees as independent contractors; this is not news, as the allegations arose last year. It is interesting that the issue’s reprise has received media exposure and attention. I am not a Beltway expert by any means, but it is informative that the Committee has gone to pains to let the public know that it continues to pursue Blackwater through any means, relevant or not.

With the Space Shuttle era soon coming to an end and NASA transitioning to another launch system (Constellation), the US will be dependent on our former Communist rival to allow us access the International Space Station and any other place we might want to go in low-Earth orbit for several years.

This week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is marking its 5th Anniversary with a number of events - including one that brought together President Bush, Secretary Chertoff and Secretary Ridge to reflect on the Department’s creation and look forward to the next steps in its future. Security DeBrief Contributors Chris Battle & Rich Cooper weigh in.