Air Passenger Faces $11,000 Fine for Refusing Full-Body Scan and ‘Enhanced’ Pat-Down
(Fox 5 San Diego) John Tyner “could be slapped with a civil penalty of up to $11,000 for violating federal law,” reports Fox 5 San Diego, citing Michael Aguilar, the Transportation Security Administration’s “federal security director in San Diego.”
Tyner “refused the full body scan and opted for a traditional scan and pat-down” but then “refused to submit to a ‘groin check,’” whereupon he “was escorted from the security area and was given a full refund,” but then told “he must submit to the full screening process before leaving.… Tyner recorded the entire event on his cell phone’s video camera” and “posted the audio and his account of the full event on his blog two hours after leaving the airport.” View article
TSA Needs to Better Manage Its Screeners, Says Inspector General
The Transportation Security Administration should develop and document “standard processes” to “update training based on current information, such as the results of officer testing,”
The Department’s Assistant Inspector General, Anne Richards, gave four recommendations to ensure better training; the TSA concurred with all four. View report
Haiti’s Cholera Death Toll Climbs
“In Haiti, the [cholera] outbreak [see the Oct. 29 newsletter] had claimed 1,110 lives” as of Wednesday, and “another 18,382 people had been hospitalized,” reports CNN.
“… medical workers struggled to cope with a dramatic increase of patients infected with cholera.… a basketball stadium … has been turned into a make-shift cholera treatment center.” Demonstrators and people throwing objects at aid workers and setting barricades on fire have made for a “tense situation on the streets of” Cap-Haitien, “hampering medical and logistical efforts.” View article
Detonator Found in Suitcase Headed to Germany
“A suspect package containing a detonator, batteries and a ticking clock was found on a suitcase checked onto a Munich-bound plane,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation.
“… The bag was detected before it could be loaded on the flight from Namibia.… No explosives were found in the bag.” View article
A Governor’s Guide to Homeland Security (Homeland Security Today)
The National Governors Association has published “a handbook to guide newly elected state governors through setting up and managing state homeland security operations,”
In terms of “preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery … the guide explores the coordination of state homeland security and emergency management agencies, the establishment of the authority of a governor’s homeland security advisor, the operation of emergency response plans, the organization of state fusion centers, and the use of public safety communications.” View article
Human Smuggling Ring Broken Up in Arizona
“The largest human-smuggling operation ever uncovered by state task-force investigators has been closed down in a joint effort by local and federal authorities."
The smuggling ring … transported thousands of undocumented immigrants into the country over the past two years.… investigators arrested and charged six men. They also seized 62 vehicles.” View article
Could Terrorists Launch America’s Nuclear Missiles?
When the Air Force lost communication with 50 nuclear missiles on October 23, “the safeguards that protect against unauthorized launch of America’s missiles were compromised”
A former missile commander and Co-Coordinator of Global Zero (which works “for the phased, verified elimination of all nuclear weapons”), Bruce Blair, describes a remote, worst-case scenario in which unauthorized persons could conceivably obtain launch codes and targeting information to gain control of U.S. or Russian missiles. View article
‘Open for Business’ Helps Small Businesses Prepare for Disaster (Emergency Management)
“The Institute for Business and Home Safety [see the Website of the Week] … is helping small businesses find answers and shape them into meaningful action plans,” reports Emergency Management.
It offers Open for Business, a free “program designed to assist small businesses in their efforts to prepare for and mitigate the effects of a disaster.” A template “probes deeply into all facets of disaster preparedness, along with an eight-session online series addressing diverse areas related to planning and recovery.” View article • View Open for Business website
UN and Panama Launch Maritime Security Program
To strengthen maritime security in Central America, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Panama have launched a joint program to prevent illicit and counterfeit goods from entering markets through seaports.
The program includes the new Centre of Excellence on Maritime Security in Panama City and the opening of a regional office for Central America, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, with financial support from the Panamanian Government. The center will help identify threats to maritime security and serve as a resource of expertise, training, data collection, and analysis. View press release
Federal Employees Want to Work During Emergencies (Federal Computer Week)
“More than 90 percent of federal employees believe it is important that they continue working during a national emergency or natural disaster, according to a recently released survey about continuity of operations and teleworking”
“The survey, conducted by the Government Business Council, the research division of Government Executive Media Group, and CDW Government LLC, revealed that more than half of federal workers could function remotely for more than six days, and an additional 20 percent could accomplish critical tasks from an alternate location for as many as five days.” View article
Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning Support for Terrorists (Reuters)
“The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a law that bars Americans from providing support to foreign terrorist groups, rejecting arguments that it violated constitutional rights of free speech and association.”
“… The law barring material support was first adopted in 1996 and strengthened by the USA Patriot Act.” It “bars knowingly providing any service, training, expert advice or assistance to any foreign organization designated by the U.S. State Department as terrorist. The law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, does not require any proof the defendant intended to further any act of terrorism or violence by the foreign group.” View article
FEMA Uses Facebook and Twitter for Emergency Alerts (Federal Computer Week)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has “a new widget for disaster preparedness on its Facebook page … to publicize its social media and Gov 2.0 tools for emergency readiness and response.”
“The new widget, called ‘Ready,’ is one of 11 available from a FEMA widget Web site, including those for hurricanes, tornadoes and floods and for citizen volunteering. The widget applications are small, portable graphic interfaces offering Web links to useful information. The Ready widget, for example, offers links to Ready.gov.” FEMA also uses “YouTube, RSS [really simple syndication] feeds, Google Books and a multi-media site with podcasts, photographs and other media.” View article
DHS Lists ‘Next Steps’ to Secure the Southwest Border
The Homeland Security Department has outlined the next steps it will take to increase security on the U.S.-Mexican border
The next steps are to create new partnerships with state and local law enforcement, build information-sharing capabilities among all law enforcement partners, enhance technology and target the crack down on smuggling and border crime, prioritize the arrest and removal of dangerous criminal aliens, and expand unprecedented law enforcement partnerships with Mexico. View press
Amateur Radio Operators Respond in Emergencies
“Amateur radio operators can play a variety of roles that allow public safety officials to maximize their resources, including facilitating communications; providing emergency managers with on-scene situational awareness; and helping manage large-scale events, such as state fairs and marathons,” reports Emergency Management.
For example, “after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti … What was initially designed as a backup system [of amateurs] soon handled all local emergency communications.” Two groups of “volunteer radio operators” assist emergency personnel: the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. “Many people participate in both”—“the main difference … is that ARES members provide emergency communications before an emergency has been officially declared, while RACES operators, which are registered with state and local governments, are activated after an emergency declaration. RACES members may operate from state emergency operations centers.” The American Radio Relay League “has memorandums of understanding with numerous organizations, including FEMA, the American Red Cross, National Weather Service and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International.” View article
Texas Border Counties Are Deporting More Illegal Aliens(Texas Tribune)
“Dozens of Texas counties eagerly participate in a federal program called Secure Communities, which aims to ferret out criminal aliens and expedite their removal from the U.S.,” reports the Tribune.
“Twelve more counties in South Texas joined the program last week, bringing the total to 66 in less than two years … Run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the program allows local law enforcement to compare the fingerprints of anyone arrested against those in a Department of Homeland Security database to determine if the individual is removable under immigration laws.” View article
Nuclear Conference Approves Limited Nonproliferation Measures (Yahoo! News)
“The 189 member nations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on [May 28] adopted a detailed plan of small steps down a long road toward nuclear disarmament, including a sharply debated proposal to move toward banning doomsday arms from the Middle East,” reports the Associated Press.
“The 28-page final declaration was approved by consensus on the last day of the monthlong conference, convened every five years to review and advance the objectives of the 40-year-old NPT. Under its action plan, the five recognized nuclear-weapon states—the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China—commit to speed up arms reductions, take other steps to diminish the importance of atomic weapons, and report back on progress by 2014.” (See the Statistics of the Week.) “The final document also calls for convening a conference in 2012 ‘on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.’” View Full Article
The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices Surveyed State Homeland Security Advisors
The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices surveyed state homeland security advisors in all fifty-six states, territories, and the District of Columbia and identified their priorities.
- 51 percent of the states “have moved their homeland security operations under a larger cabinet-level department”
- 74.5 percent “cited state and local coordination among their top priorities”
- 77 percent “reported an improved ability for first responders to communicate during emergencies”
- 34 percent said that “exercises and simulations to improve preparedness” are among their top priorities
- 98 percent are satisfied with the communications they receive from DHS
Two-thirds or fewer are satisfied with the timeliness, specificity, or usefulness of the intelligence they receive from fusion centers.
Who Can Sense a Threat?
Stephen Mitroff of Duke University, published by the Institute of Homeland Security Solutions
“Identifying Predictive Markers of Field Performance: The Potential Role of Individual Differences in Threat Sensitivity”
The more sensitive Homeland Security Department employees are to a threat, the more likely it can be averted. Natural predisposition or personal experiences can make some individuals more sensitive to the presence of a threat than others. This research brief examines the recent advances in neurogenetics research that are poised to address the challenge of how best to preselect individuals who will exhibit high levels of threat sensitivity.
[View brief (272KB PDF)]
Emergency Management magazine
In an interview with , Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate discusses disaster relief in Haiti, ethics, and the influence of technology on emergency response.
View interview
U.S. and Mexico Agree on Expanded Security Cooperation
Agence-France Press, February 18, 2010
Eight nations from the Americas, including Canada and the United States, agreed to boost air travel security by improving information-sharing, screening, and coordination at a meeting in Mexico City.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and representatives from the other nations signed an agreement Wednesday pledging to bolster travel document security and use modern screening technology at airports.
Read more about the Americas Nation Agreement to boost airport security
Cultivating Emergency Managers
Eric Holdeman on February 12, 2010
“As I survey the nation’s emergency management landscape, I see an aging population of emergency managers in leadership positions at all levels of government and industry. It’s time to begin cultivating the next generation of emergency managers who will be taking your places.”
It isn’t unique that Washington state’s current leaders in key positions have been there for almost twenty years. About a generation ago, there was a transition in leadership and an expansion of the discipline due to an increased recognition of hazards. The 9/11 terrorist attacks created another surge in emergency management with the creation of homeland security and another expansion of emergency management and homeland security jobs.
Read more about the need to cultivate Emergency Managers
MET Seminars Strengthen National Security Through Educational Programs
by Roderick Fraser on February 10, 2010
In 2002, the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School and the Department of Homeland Security teamed to establish the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Out of that came the Mobile Education Team (MET), a resource helping the center’s mission of strengthening national security by providing educational programs and services to organizations that are responsible for homeland security.
The MET provides an executive-level, half-day seminar led by nationally recognized experts in fields related to homeland security. The program prepares a particular jurisdiction’s leadership to think through the many aspects of a major homeland security incident and to evaluate their policies and procedures.
These seminars are done at the state, regional, urban area, or city level and can be conducted with pre-scripted scenarios that the team developed. Another option is that the MET can develop a seminar on a specific topic that the participating jurisdiction feels should be explored.
Read more about strenthening National Security through Educational Programs
The Defense Budget
Published: February 4, 2010
The cold war has been nearly banished from the Pentagon’s latest review of military challenges. The Quadrennial Defense Review, released this week, finally catches up with the current world, one where the United States confronts a host of different adversaries on a variety of different battlefields.
It acknowledges that while the United States remains the world’s leading military power, it is much more dependent on allies to help maintain international stability. It places long-overdue emphasis on preserving and rebuilding the overstretched, all-volunteer force. It recognizes the need to rebalance American forces to perform multiple new tasks and to finally jettison cold war weapons that are too expensive, over budget, underperforming, or ill suited to today’s missions.
Read more about the defense budget
