The Department of Homeland Security has begun thinking outside this universe. According to a Washington Post article, they’re turning to science fiction writers. Apparently science fiction writers flocked to the 2009 Homeland Security Science & Technology Stakeholders Conference and offered imaginative ways to think about threats. This is considered “science fiction in the national interest” by the writers. Their services are pro bono, and most of the writers have a conventional science background, such as a PHd in physics. According to Rolf Dietrich, Homeland Security’s deputy director of research,…
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Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, the same one responsible for the recent NYC flyover, has resigned. In his resignation letter to a furious President Obama, Caldera wrote that the situation had become a distraction—an extremely expensive distraction, too. According to military officials, the mission and accompanying photo shoot cost the American people $328,835. The White House also released a seven-page report and a photo of the flyover yesterday (the report can be downloaded here). The report points to a series of miscommunications, namely…
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TSA workers are going to be searching bags on the subway in New York City, according to this unsettling report by MyFoxNY.com. Here’s the deal: NYPD is short on cops, so the TSA guys would free up some officers to go above ground, the story says.
Let’s think about this. What was the point of having cops search bags on the subway to begin with? Oh yeah, deterrence. Because after all, there’s no chance there will ever be enough cops (or TSA workers or squeegee guys) to actually find a ticking needle…
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Roll Call has a nice item on the latest attempt by a member of Congress to use homeland security money as a party favor:
“House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) is seeking earmarks worth millions of dollars for homeland security projects at the small Mississippi college that he attended, though the school could not explain what the earmarks are for and does not yet appear to have the capacity to provide the services that Thompson wants to fund.”
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Remember when the first reports came out about how those silly Somali pirates had made a big mistake by hijacking a Ukrainian arms freighter four months ago? Remember how war ships from around the world converged on the scene, and everyone tittered about the bumbling pirates and their dark fate?
Those pirates just made off with $3.2 million in ransom, dropped by parachute onto the ship. They left the ship and are free, at least for now. So free that one of the pirates had time to complain to the New York…
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Before we give police the authority to block cell signals, we should talk to the people whose lives were saved because of cell signals.
In the Mumbai terrorist attacks, people used text messages and phone calls to communicate.
On 9/11, phones in the hands of regular people saved the Capitol or the White House from destruction. On Flight 93, passengers used cell phones and airphones to learn that other planes had hit the Trade Center. Had they not had this information, they may never have rushed…
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The Washington Post writes that the feds jammed wireless signals in DC on inauguration day--and state and local officials are trying to get the right to do the same thing. This is frightening news.
The intent is noble enough: stop terrorists from detonating bombs and coordinating with each other--by temporarily jamming all cell phones and other wireless devices near a potential security threat.
But the cost is much, much higher than the Post story--or any of the supporters of the idea acknowledge. This…
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Granted, his country is at war. But it was striking, listening to Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor talk at George Washington Hospital today, how little mention was made of any long-term strategy for a better, more peaceful future. I don’t know if it was cynicism, realism or myopia, but it was remarkable.
In his talk, which was set up by GW’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, Meridor detailed a three-point plan for combating terrorism generally and in Gaza specifically:
1. Be realistic. “Recognize that this is a threat that doesn’t have an easy…
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