Subscribe to our RSS feed
Denver PD, a 660 strong force that will be swelling with reinforcements under mutual aid arrangements to around 3,000, is coming under increasing scrutiny before the Democratic National Convention hits town late in the month. There are discussions about how the budget has been spent, speculation about whether the police are using the security restrictions to stifle free speech, and wonderment about how the Convention will be policed.
It is always interesting to see the spin placed on a cold hard business decision for the media. Put simply, Eric Prince and his staff have played a blinder over the last 48 hours. Inviting the press into their headquarters, Eric Prince explained that Blackwater Worldwide would be reducing the reliance on security, particularly as this part of the business was an unintended consequence and never part of the overall business plan.
Recent legislation in Denver has outlawed the materials necessary to obstruct passage and access, such as chains, handcuffs, etc, and ‘noxious materials’, such as fecal matter. One would have thought the latter was already covered by statute, but perhaps not. The Denver City Council stated that having learned the lessons of Seattle, they are determined to equip the police with the ability to ensure good public order.
Leadership Journal: Why the Country Needs the National Applications Office
It is unfortunate that recent articles and blog postings have chosen to spend so much time complaining about the past instead of the critical and substantive benefits the National Applications Office (NAO) will provide the American people in the future.
The NAO will act as a clearinghouse [...]
Leadership Journal: Exactly What Do They Want?
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) lobbies for the HR execs who do corporate hiring. It also opposes E-Verify. I suppose corporate hiring is easier if you can hire illegal workers, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that SHRM wants to kill a program that makes it harder [...]
Counterfeit drugs trade is a spreading danger - Economy and Politics - livemint.com
Counterfeit drugs are a multibillion-dollar industry. The market is said to be worth over $60 billion (Rs2.54 trillion) a year, up 25% from three years ago and expected to rise to $100 billion by 2010.
The results are often calamitous. Sometimes the paid-for drugs [...]
The FARC was dealt a severe political, military and public relations defeat last week by the successful operation that led to the release of Ingrid Betencourt and the three American contractors. The days when the FARC was viewed as a meaningful political force are all but gone.
I understand the American-Muslim and civil rights organizations concerns with this new Justice Department program. It is clearly a program that will have to be closely monitored to ensure that civil rights and liberties are not trampled. Strong independent oversight is a must. The FBI, under Hoover, and current Director Robert Mueller (as evidenced by the Inspector General’s Report on National Security Letters), has had problems in “self-monitoring.”
Say what you like, the right to free speech not only protects speech, it also prohibits the more excessive and arbitrary lawmaking currently being witnessed in Sydney, Australia, prior to the World Youth Day. For those of you who are not up to speed on World Youth Day, it is an event where the World’s Catholic Youth assemble in one city and is scheduled to take place in Sydney later this month.
Counterterrorism Blog: More Evidence of the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus
Those who are skeptical of the growing ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups-which I think will be the real war we will be fighting for many years, given the resources obtainable by drug trafficking organizations-should read the latest UN Office of Drugs and Crime report.
Aviation Daily on Airports: Police Officers, TSA Offer Views on Screener Badges
To give airport screeners police like badges and uniforms is a grave mistake. You are not only putting the screeners themselves in harm’s way in that they will be mistaken as sworn law enforcement, but you are creating more of a safety risk to [...]
Fellow Security Debrief blogger David Olive wrote recently about the conflicting messages and mandates that flow from the 86 conflicting and contending homeland security committees in Congress. The latest example of this Hamlet-like system of self-contradiction comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which complains that US Immigration and Enforcement spends too much time on … well, immigration enforcement.
FEDagent - Federal Law Enforcement & Homeland Security News
Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Juan Jose Bravo Moises, Director for Mexico Customs, announced a major effort Monday to identify and disrupt trans-border weapons smuggling networks between the two countries’ borders
Recording Industry Decries AM-FM Broadcasting as ‘A Form of Piracy’ | Threat Level from Wired.com
The recording industry and U.S. radio companies have squared off for decades about whether AM and FM radio broadcasters should pay royalties to singers, musicians and their labels.
But now the debate is getting meaner; there’s more at stake as the recording [...]
SpyTalk: We Rage, Europeans Yawn, Over Domestic Counterterrorism Ops
Outside the United Kingdom, which invented civil liberties with the Magna Carta, ordinary Europeans couldn’t care less about wiretapping, national ID cards, preventive detention and police spies in mosques.
Responsible and effective public order activities will be evidenced by the proactive policing of order, rather than the reactive policing of disorder. What is increasingly looking like the inability on the part of Denver to engage with the protesters and include them in the planning process rather than alienating them does not bode well for proactive policing of order.
Let’s be clear - TSA screeners are not law enforcement officers. They are not certified inspectors. They do not require access to crime scenes and they are not equipped or trained to respond to law enforcement incidents. They only special access they require is to certain areas of airports - for which their TSA badge and credential provides them access.
In Homeland Security: Supreme Court Ruling Makes Money Laundering Tougher to Prove and Prosecute
In a landmark decision on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 2 money laundering cases, redefining the statute and increasing the burden of proof needed to prosecute the crime.
ABC makes a run for the ‘Border’
A new ABC unscripted series will take an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the government’s fight against terrorism.
The network has ordered 11 hours of “Border Security USA” from executive producer Arnold Shapiro (”Big Brother”). Shot on location throughout the United States, the series will focus on the efforts [...]
Previous Page