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Counterterrorism Blog: Jihad Against Freedom of Speech at the United Nations
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has no problem with its members suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the United States on itself … Denying the role of Jihadists in the 9/11 attacks is apparently perfectly acceptable freedom of [...]
Chemical Facility Security News: CFATA Delays
There is an interesting article by Samuel Loewenberg on Politico.com blaming the chemical industry and DHS for the congressional delays in taking up the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 (HR 5577). Unfortunately the article fails to explain how the failure of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to [...]
Proper oversight for homeland security is necessary to ensure both accountability and the public trust. What currently exists, however, is not oversight — it is overkill. This overkill affects more than the overworked staff at DHS, who find themselves scrambling to meet the conflicting demands of 86 different masters. It affects an entire industry that is still trying to get its sea legs under it — and an American public that must navigate the attendant confusion.
The ongoing bipolar inconsistency of the U.S. Congress — that institution responsible for drafting our laws on immigration, among other things — was once again on display this past week. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey kicked it off with a harangue in which he accused federal immigration agents of everything from racism to general rudeness. Why? For enforcing the laws that Congress passed.
Much has been written and discussed in the past few weeks regarding the medical care of detainees held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. I don’t know how to avoid coming off as an insensitive, cold and heartless human being in coming to the defense of ICE and the management of its detainee health care program but I’ll give it a try.
I’m surprised not to have seen reporting in the mainstream or at least security-oriented media about a significant leadership change at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The long-time No. 2 man at ICE, John Clark, recently retired and was succeeded by John Torres, a very respected agent who has held a number of leadership positions at ICE. The change is more important than individuals only; it represents a significant evolution for ICE as a cohesive and maturing law enforcement agency.
As Chairman of the Safe Commerce Coalition, I’ve spoken to a number of audiences lately about the issue of cargo and supply chain security. I find myself often having to remind folks that when we stood up the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, we had a two-fold mission when it came to border security. First was to secure the borders. The second mission, which is sometimes forgotten, is to maintain the free and efficient flow of commerce and people.
On Monday afternoon (May 19, 2008), I had the opportunity to participate in another Bloggers Roundtable with DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA Administrator David Paulison. The theme for our discussions was the Department’s preparations for Hurricane Season 2008 and the readiness of the hurricane prone states/communities and their citizens for Mother Nature’s potential fury.
Spencer Hsu has a good article in the Washington Post that highlights the political schizophrenia that exists among the political class in this country with regard to illegal immigration. In the abstract, the majority of Americans demand that government crackdown on illegal immigration. In the concrete reality of such crackdowns, American communities and local economies can be gravely disrupted, producing inevitable outcries from local politicians.
From DHS Leadership Journal:
Baker: “E-Verify is simple, free, and highly effective in preventing illegal work. It works, and maybe that’s what the interests arrayed against E-Verify don’t like. Whatever the reason, opponents of E-Verify have resorted to charges that just don’t hold up. In this series, I debunk the myths.”
If timing is everything, the House Homeland Security Committee could not have picked a more interesting or appropriate time to begin a month of hearings focused on ‘resilience.’ Recent events - ranging from the devastating cyclone in Burma to skyrocketing gas prices - lend themselves quite nicely to the central point that was discussed by hearing witnesses and Committee Members: “Are we ready to bounce back from a blow when it happens?”
We see the “100 Percent” debate playing itself out between DHS and Democrats on the Hill — in the areas of employee screening at our nation’s airports, the screening of air cargo, and the screening of shipping containers coming from overseas. In all these instances, Democrats have passed legislative mandates requiring DHS to implement the costly solution of 100% scanning. DHS has been correct to push back, and they should do so more forcefully.
Seven years after the horror of September 11th, these cultural sophisticates exude a kind of national-security ennui, bored with the hassles of visa paperwork and ready to go back to the way it was on September 10th. For them, even common-sense security measures are viewed with resentment and are held up as evidence that America is no longer that shining city on a hill but one turned inward with in fear and loathing.
There was time in our Nation’s history when the hallmark of excellence in journalism was The New York Times. While the excellence and certainly the integrity of that paper have fallen on what can diplomatically be called ‘hard times,’ it appears that things are even worse for ‘The Old Gray Lady’ (aka – the New York Times) than we knew. While its legendary editorial page has long thrown its weighty opinion around without abandon, it seems that when you go to respond to it with hard-cold facts, including actual reference to law, the Times does not have the guts to share the stage (or a portion of its editorial page) to allow a response.
CNET’s Anne Broche covers a bipartisan Congressional hearing on REAL ID yesterday where DHS policy guru Stewart Baker was grilled on the legislation’s most contentious issues, including who will protect the data that states will be required to collect and how the mandate - which takes effect in May - will be funded. Broche notes [...]
The post below is an excerpt of an email published on the Counterterrorism blog, regarding alleged efforts by the government to airbrush the term jihad from the American lexicon:
As a Muslim trying to help America defend itself against the Islamist jihad, I am outraged that our government is letting us down so badly by cozying [...]
After five years of getting beaten up routinely by the Congress on a bipartisan basis, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) appears to have found a whole new set of friends in Congress. As sister agencies CBP, ICE and FEMA face increasing scrutiny and oversight, Kip Hawley’s recent testimony shows that Members are almost surprisingly satisfied with the the security aspects of air travel.
What is it with some American politicians and their fawning over terrorists? Has 9/11 become blasé? Jimmy Carter goes on a highly publicized Terror Tourism trip to sit at the feet of Hamas. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pronounces Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers a “distinguished” and “valued” member of the Chicago community.
Hailed as “the world’s foremost Islamic scholar” (Wall Street Journal) and as “the doyen of Middle Eastern studies” (New York Times), Princeton Professor Bernard Lewis’s will speak on the current cultural and political environment in the Middle East at this week’s annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa’s (ASMEA).
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