provide for the common defense

Advanced Security Engineering Corp.
7202 Hopkins Court, Suite 100
Springfield, VA 22153
PHONE: (703) 725-8042
FAX: (703) 569-7656

E-mail us: Admin@ASEC1.com



The New Security Environment

September 11th changed forever the way Americans view their security. No longer is terrorism something we see on television or read about in newspapers, it is here, on our shores. Government leaders and corporate managers now face a daunting task to first determine just what this threat looks like, and more importantly, what can they do about it. ASEC provides the skills and experienced professionals to answer these questions. Our seasoned security specialists, terrorist-options experts, and skilled engineers, examine threats, risks, and vulnerabilities, analyze them, model their impact, and develop, design, and implement proven methods to reduce risks and mitigate the impact should a terrorist attack occur. We provide answers, quantified and prioritized to give leaders the information they need to make sound decisions.



Evaluating All Threats

Outside of the military and other federal agencies, few leaders have concerned themselves with preparing and reacting to acts of terrorism. Now, the very real threat of massive casualties and destroyed operations faces virtually everyone, particularly those who represent our nation to the world, government, tourist, business, professional sports, entertainers, virtually everyone. Once the realization hits that "this means us," many leaders are left in an information vacuum, not knowing which threat to address, which attack scenario would cause serious damage. ASEC solves this for them...we look at all threats. By applying a systematic approach to analyzing the threat, risks, and vulnerabilities, we provide the basis for taking actions that make a difference.



Analysis and Recommendation

The ASEC services and approach are outlined in more detail by following the links on this site. It starts with gathering and analyzing data on client operations, procedures, and facilities and matching this information against capabilities demonstrated or possessed by terrorist groups committed to attacking our American way of life. We look at the client's facilities and operations from a terrorist's point of view, seeking weaknesses which could be exploited. This information is consolidated systematically and values are determined which allow us to rank the threats and vulnerabilities, providing an informed method for prioritizing action. The resulting recommendations are presented along with a cost estimate and an analysis of the impact if these recommendations are implemented by the client.


Implementing Solutions

The ASEC staff provides design-build or design and construction management services for solutions we recommend. Where electronic security systems are included in the recommendations, we offer to provide trained professionals to administer and monitor the system, or high quality training to prepare client employees for these critical tasks.



Security Consulting

Risk-Threat-Vulnerability Assessments

Physical Security Design and Installation

Electronic Security Design and Installation

Security System Integration

Security System Construction Management

Security Planning

Security Operations Analysis

Client Security Protocols

Anti-terrorism Planning and Training

Security System Operation

Security Operations Instructions

VDI
44125 Woodridge Parkway
Suite 200
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Phone: 703-729-2700
Fax: 703-729-2709



An international consulting company dedicated to providing comprehensive, enduring solutions
in the areas of

Defense
Law Enforcement
Security & Intelligence
International Business
Post Conflict Economic Development




Whether you need to enhance the security of personnel and facilities, obtain strategic intelligence for foreign bids, build a stronger national defense, create more effective law enforcement, or develop economically following major conflict, VDI offers the solutions necessary for success in these and related areas.

Our staff is comprised of exceptional men and women from the CIA, FBI, Military, and U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Justice. Our Global Partnership Network is a vast body of influential individuals in important sectors of industry and government in more than fifty countries throughout, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.


Services

In each area of expertise, be it Defense, Law Enforcement, Security and Intelligence, International Business, or Post Conflict Economic Development, VDI offers a wide range of services which encompass every stage of development and implementation, from inception through completion and follow-on sustainability.

These services ensure that the most appropriate solutions are implemented and maintained in the most productive and cost-effective manner.

Evaluations and Assessments: VDI works closely with its clients to determine requirements and identify the most viable course of action. Steps in this direction can range from feasibility studies to site surveys.

Strategic Planning: A solution is defined by the ultimate goals and objectives being pursued. VDI assists it clients to identify said goals and objectives, and to design comprehensive strategies, programs, and projects required to achieve the desired results.

Organizational Architecture: VDI can design from the ground up or upgrade organizational or operational structures. The purpose is to harmonize structures with goals and objectives, maximize productivity and cost-effectiveness, and achieve the highest degree of efficiency possible.

Customized Partnering: VDI will organize and bring together all participants who can contribute to attaining the desired solutions. The intent is to coordinate available human, material, and financial resources in the most cost-effective manner to ensure that all participants work together toward common goals.

Procurement: VDI can arrange the procurement of products and services needed to accomplish required tasks. This is a particularly convenient application of VDI's one-stop principle where the client can rely on a single point of contact instead of seeking and accessing multiple sources.

Resource Management: In keeping with a seamless, continuous process, VDI is prepared to manage available resources after they are procured. This will ensure that resources are utilized and applied when and where needed. This is essential in avoiding waste and delays in implementation.

Specialized Training: VDI can provide specialized training to groups or individuals. Training can range from equipment operation and technical skills to organization and administrative management. This resource is an important element in solutions requiring new or upgraded systems and for keeping abreast of state-of-the-art developments.

Management: This is the core of implementation, where all resources come together to transform plans into reality. As a central player in every preceding stage, VDI is uniquely qualified to coordinate and supervise the actual project execution. VDI is a client's most valuable and reliable partner in ensuring project success.

Logistics Support: Logistics is the essence of sustainability. No effort or accomplishment can stand alone or endure without a logistics infrastructure to support it, and VDI can provide for it. VDI will make provisions for logistics support before, during, and after implementation of any and all projects.

Follow-on Support: Once implemented, solutions must be refined, improved, and/or expanded in order to remain efficient and competitive. Clients can count on VDI's continued presence to provide the necessary support in ensuring their solutions remain as valid tomorrow as they are today.

Operations & Administration HQ
7799 Leesburg Pike, Suite 500 North
Tysons Corner, VA 22043

Map & Directions



Phone
703-245-4120 (Voice)
703-356-4860 (Fax)
(888) 900-9757 (Toll Free)

For general inquiries or information on CRI, contact Victoria Johnson.
Email: vjohnson@cri-solutions.com



For detailed information on CRI's Services, contact Eric Schneider.

Email: eschneider@cri-solutions.com




Company Business Units

CRI is organized into 5 business practices: Technology Solutions, Document Management solutions, Organization and Strategy Solutions, Homeland Security Solutions and Integrated Security Solutions. CRI's engagement approach is to leverage resources and expertise across all five business practices on projects in order to provide our clients with the greatest value.

Homeland Security

“Our Products Are Our Science”
CRI has combined science, technology and professional standards to create it’s Homeland Security offering. Our strategic mapping methodologies and advanced assessment processes shorten the time required to perform services and ensure accurate results of each project. CRI leverages it’s extensive public sector experience and technology background allowing CRI to understand the complex and unique needs of government organizations. Our Homeland Security solutions include

Facility Protection
Site Security Assessments
Asset Identification
Threat Assessment
Probabilities, Vulnerabilities & Consequences
Risk Analysis
Criticality Assessment
Gap Analysis
Security Countermeasure Recommendations
Anti-terrorism and Force Protection Infrastructure Assessments
Force Protection And Operations
Command Center Development, Implementation and Operation
Continuity of Operations Planning, Assessments and Plans
Disaster Recovery Contingency Planning and Implementation
Requirements and Mitigation Planning
Aviation Security
Larceny Prevention
Anti-terrorism Operational Assessment Exercises
Exercise Scenario Development and Execution
Security Awareness Programs
General Employee Security Awareness Training Development
First Responder Program Development and Training
Reference Framework baselines for protection of personnel and assets
Strategic alignments for multi?disciplinary and multi-organizational polices and procedures to enhance security
Establishment of centralized source for all security?related information and a training resource for future use.
Project Management
Risk Management and Consulting Services
Strategic Development and Direction
Organizational Development
Timeline Schedule Development
Policy Creation, Review and Analysis
Information Technology
Geographical Information based Knowledge Management
Data Mining and Data Warehousing
Distributed Enterprise Management
Information Security
Chemical, Biological & Nuclear Detection
Security Assessments
Safety Assessments
Physical Security & Procedures
Policy, Standards and Procedures Development
Security Countermeasure Procurement, Integration and Maintenance
The CRI Advantage
Speed of doing business
Unique assessment methodologies put CRI 20 years ahead of competition
Assessments are simplified into laymen’s terms, allowing everyone in an organization to understand new policies.
Services are tailored to your need allowing for cost conscious pricing
Personalized approach
Direct government sales & service experience
Several contract vehicles make procurement a simple process

4201 Wilson Blvd Suite 110-B Arlington, VA 22203
703.294.4100 | info@TotalSecurity.US


TotalSecurity.US highlights three extremely relevant and innovative training programs:

Win Against Terrorism Anti-Terrorism Training

Win Against Terrorism (WAT) is an innovative, award-winning anti-terrorism training and consulting program
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Special events mean recognition and big business for communities as well as
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Win Against Violence
Win Against Violence (WAVE) teaches schools, police, fire, EMS, faculty, corporate, and organizational officials on how to both prevent and respond to tragedies, violence, and acts of terrorism. WAVE is a "turn key" 100% deliverable program that can prepare an organization and prevent immeasurable tragedy. No matter where you are now in your school or workplace safety program, WAVE can dramatically improve your prevention and response to violence. Course materials, including videos, teacher and student handbooks are available.
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These courses will prepare organizations, school officials, law enforcement, doctors, managers, and key emergency personnel to defeat acts of great violence. Additional TotalSecurity.US training is available on:

Conducting Security Survey's & Audits using T.E.R.M.©
Detection of Concealed Weapons (Transit and Workplace Applications)
Surveillance, Casing, Rehearsal Detection
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Participants in these programs have the option of attending courses held at TotalSecurity.US or you can arrange for TotalSecurity.US to come to your organization and train a large group at one time. In addition, course materials, videos, and handbook on each course are available to purchase separately.

WASHINGTON - U.S. weapons hunters in Iraq have found more evidence Saddam Hussein's regime had civilian factories able to quickly produce biological and chemical weapons, the CIA's top weapons inspector told senators Tuesday. But they still have not found any weapons.

...

In a closed session with the Senate Armed Services Committee, Duelfer said the Iraq Survey Group has found new evidence that Iraqi scientists flight tested long-range ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that "easily exceeded" U.N. limits of 93 miles.

And the survey group has new information indicating the regime engaged in ongoing research to produce chemical or biological weapons on short notice, using civilian - or "dual use" - facilities (Emphasis added).

Media response? A collective yawn: "Duelfer didn't break significant ground on the weapons hunt, saying he lacked sufficient information to draw conclusions about what Saddam had."

"Significant" may be in the eye of the beholder. And yet, reports do mention the obvious possibility: "Duelfer said the survey group continues to look for weapons of mass destruction and regularly receives reports - "some quite intriguing and credible" - about possible concealed stashes buried or hidden across Iraq."

Duelfer gave no further details of intelligence of buried WMDs in Lebanon's Bakaa Valley or in northern Syria. Details of the advanced Iraqi nuclear program that was ongoing in Libya were not given. If details are being prepared for a late summer or early fall "October Surprise," this would make sense.

Stay tuned.

Professional Consultants

BCP International Ltd. is a service-disabled veteran-owned professional services company providing program management, program analysis, and program administration support over a broad range of National Security and National Defense functions. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with satellite offices in California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Suffolk, Virginia, the company offers its services under a variety of contract vehicles, including the GSA MOBIS, Environmental and IT Schedules. Known for its agility, competence, and unrelenting focus on the customer’s desired end state, BCPI has won favored vendor status with over 40 distinguished clients in both the public and private sectors. Today, BCPI’s five operational divisions are providing expert services at the federal, state and local levels in the following areas:

National Security Policy Planning and Analysis
International Defense Programs Planning and Management
Joint and Combined Exercise Planning and Coordination
National and Multinational Event Planning and Management
Emergency Management Planning
Force Management Design and Analysis
Force Transformation
Manpower Management
Manpower Surveys
Human Resources Management
Information Technology Integration
Planning, Programming and Budget Support
Business Process Improvement
Environmental Regulatory Compliance, and
The Introduction to Market of Environmentally Friendly Training, Public Safety and Non-Lethal Technologies

Richard Clarke had a lot of good points to make on counterterrorism, according to Rich Lowry. Aside from, that is, his anti-Bush, anti-Condi Rice and anti-Iraq war partisanship.

Good point. One wonders if it will be lost in the media circus surrounding the 9-11 commission, Clarke's book and the election.

The Ministry of Health was the first of 26 public ministries to return to Iraqi control, well before the July 1 deadline.

...In FY 2004, however, the health budget received an enormous 60-fold increase, providing $948 million for 26 million Iraqis. At the end of the war, Iraq possessed only 300 tons of pharmaceuticals on hand. Compare this to the 35,000 tons of drugs distributed this year alone, a total that notably includes 30 million doses of children's vaccinations.

In order to qualify for transfer of authority, the Ministry of Health had to meet a number of criteria, including developing short and long-term strategic plans, establishing a budget, demonstrating a sound management system, and implementing a system of checks and balances to prevent corruption. Given the state of the ministry he inherited, these are accomplishments for which Minister of Health Abbas should be proud. And clearly he is.

...

Notwithstanding these accomplishments, there is still much left to be done. Dr. Abbas readily admits that the medical knowledge of Iraqi health-care personnel lags behind the West by decades. But the ministry, aided by the Coalition, is taking steps to remedy this. The ministry is negotiating to receive expatriate Iraqi doctors from Britain to Iraq to provide expert services and to train local doctors. New textbooks and CD-roms have been distributed for training. Access to the internet at hospitals and medical schools has opened journals previously unavailable. Japan and Egypt are providing grants for post-graduate training, and the U.S. has provided $17 million earmarked for medical training, with another $25 million in USAID funds for programs that include training. The doctors are soaking up the new information as fast as they can. "That ten years of isolation will be made up very quickly," explained Jim Haveman.

It's good to hear a success story in handing over Iraq. But with only one down and 25 more to go, many challenges remain to meet the July deadline. The Ministry of Health may have been the lowest hanging fruit out of the bunch.

Michael Ledeen explores the connections between the Madrid bombing, Hezbollah, and Tehran.

As memories are short, let's review the bidding on Zarqawi. I first wrote about him here on December 12, 2002, when I came across an article in the German newspaper Die Zeit. That article cited court documents drawn from the depositions of a Palestinian terrorist who was cooperating with German authorities. The terrorist revealed that Zarqawi wore several hats: He was a top officer of al Qaeda, and the leader of a terrorist group known as al Tawhid, and he lived and worked in Tehran. He noted that Zarqawi was a key figure in the "reorganized al Qaeda" (reorganized after the debacle in Afghanistan) and was "one of the major coordinators of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in Europe."

Al Qaeda's Iranian connection led German investigators to another important discovery: Al Qaeda and Hezbollah — arguably the world's most dangerous terrorist organizations — were working hand in glove. Die Zeit said that German intelligence had become aware of meetings between Osama bin Laden and Hezbollah's chief of operations, Imad Mughniyah.
...
As I have been arguing for many years now, September 11 did not mark a watershed in the terror war against the West. That war is properly dated to September, 1979, when the Aytaollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, branded the United States "the great Satan," and declared war against us. Iran continued to wage that war through the Beirut bombings and hostage seizures of the mid-80s — conducted by the Iranian surrogate, Hezbollah — and collected allies along the way, including al Qaeda.

Time will tell if the Iranian regime will somehow be held to account before they acquire nuclear weapons. Some estimates give them from this fall to a year to master the enrichment, trigger, and ballistic technology to produce at least one nuclear weapon. Or to buy them.

The debate on the Dick Cavett show, aired on Cspan lately, highlighted many issues on Vietnam, Communism, a "just peace," and more. The representative for the Veterans for a Just Peace and Kerry for the Veterans Against the War summarized nicely the whole Vietnam debate. It could easily represent the Iraq war debate that would result over thirty years later.

Kerry made some questionable points on the show. He had to eventually acknowledge that he didn't speak for a majority of veterans. He trusted in the word of the Viet Cong leadership to release our prisoners in a timely way through negotiation alone. And disturbingly, he argued that the resulting pull out of American troops would not result in a bloodbath of the South Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian people at the hands of the Communist forces.

He was wrong.

In the decade following the witness's testimony, the nonexistent threat resulted in the slaughter of 2,000,000 Cambodians; the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets; the internment of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese in reeducation camps; numerous civil wars and bloody insurgencies in Central Africa, South and Central America and Southeast Asia; the mass migration of hordes of starving refugees; the proliferation of state-sponsored terrorism; the "disappearance" of hundreds of thousands of "undesirables" and enemies of the state; the imprisonment and torture of countless dissidents; and the continued brutal subjugation of more than one-third of the world's population.

Steven I cooper, chief information officer at Department of Homeland Security, told an audience of about 100 technology executives Wednesday at FOSE of the department's need for better integration: "If we can't send classified e-mails from one undersecretary to another undersecretary, or undersecretary to [the department] secretary, I'd argue we've got a bit of a problem,"

Apart from internal e-mail systems, Cooper said, the department will focus on integrating the data and processes of first responders such as firefighters and police officials so that information can be shared across organizations. The agency is also trying to set up a common network infrastructure so all of its employees can work from a common computer desktop and collaborate more easily on projects.

Cooper said the agency's other goals for the coming year include reorganizing its financial processes, training and developing its technology staff, and bolstering its Internet security, which got an "F" in a report card issued by a congressional subcommittee in December.

-------------------------

PUERTO CORTÉS, Honduras — "Right there," said Manuel Pereira, a security guard here at the largest shipping port in the Caribbean, pointing to the ground beneath his feet. "That's the new border of the United States."

Maritime security officials say an American port could be struck in several ways. A cargo ship filled with fuel oil and ammonium nitrate fertilizer could become a waterborne fireball; a ship could carry a radiological "dirty bomb" into a harbor; a speedboat carrying explosives could blow up a tanker laden with oil or delivering liquefied natural gas.

Admiral Loy, citing court testimony and government reports, warned two years ago in the military journal Defense Horizons that Osama bin Laden, through associates using flags of convenience, controlled a fleet of cargo ships, including the vessel that delivered the explosives that blew up American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

The DHS answer (See also DHS's own ports factsheet):

The response to this threat is a new law of the sea, spurred by Admiral Loy, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush 16 months ago. A parallel global code was adopted days later under American pressure by the United Nations's International Maritime Organization.

The law and the code set a July 1 deadline for all of the world's ships and ports to create counterterrorism systems — computers, communications gear, surveillance cameras, security patrols — to help secure America against an attack.

If a ship, or any one of the last 10 ports it visited, does not meet the new security standards, it can be turned away from American waters. If a port falls short, no ship leaving it can enter American harbors. That means ports, and their nations, can be barred from trading with the United States.

A terrorist attack on a port facility could cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars in damage. Closing the port after an attack would further cost tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to world trade. So the cost of the DHS program to US and foreign ports is more realistically measured in terms of cost effective prevention versus the expensive cure.

Notwithstanding, the NYT articles paints the financial and deadline challenges to foreign ports through the lens of a first world vs third world inequity:

"The developing world is saying that the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world is exporting the cost of protecting itself onto some of the world's poorest countries," said Stephen E. Flynn, a retired Coast Guard commander and a maritime security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

It continues:

American officials contend that the costs are outweighed by the benefits: higher security against terrorism will also cut cargo thefts and the smuggling of drugs, guns and people. But if the United States cannot balance the competing demands of national security and global trade, "we are playing with fire," Mr. Flynn said. "If the U.S. locks down its ports for more than two weeks, the entire global trade system crashes."(emphasis mine)

But then again, preventing that from happening clearly seems to be the goal. For more specifics, see DHS Secretary Tom Ridge remarks to the American Association of Port Authorities. He praised the changes laid out in the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA):

The U.S. Coast Guard, through a thoughtful and well-coordinated process, developed these rules with the ports and all stakeholders and partners. While we had authority from Congress to implement these regulations immediately, we decided that input from the industry was critical to its success.

Ridge also praised another tool in the "worldwide layer(s) of defense," the Container Secxurity Initiative.

We plan to expand CSI to up to 10 additional high-volume ports this budget year. In this hemisphere, current CSI ports are Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax, with U.S. CBP officers stationed there to screen and risk-label cargo bound for the United States. Future CSI port countries include Sri Lanka, Spain, Malaysia and several other vital but potentially vulnerable regions.

We look forward as well to negotiating with Central and South American ports to bring them on board. We will make the case that by securing American-bound cargo, both the ports themselves and the entire region will be made safer.

----------------

In another speech, Ridge addressed rail and transit. A fact sheet summarizes the steps taken to improve security. Even the "hard-charging" Richard Clarke would likely be impressed. Or would he?

Mickey Kaus:

I was at the dinner last night as a guest of, yes, FOX News, and I thought Bush's jokes were funny and self-mocking--maybe the closest he's come to actually admitting upfront that he was simply wrong in thinking the WMD's were there.

... But American soldiers in Iraq--whether or not there were WMDs--are in the process of freeing a nation from a dictator. This accomplishment survives the Kay report. It doesn't "cheapen the sacrifice" American soldiers made achieving this goal to admit the truth about the WMDs. Does Kerry think the troops haven't achieved this?

Notwithstanding Kaus's apparent belief that Bush was wrong about WMDs, Bush may very likely in the end have the last laugh. Many pundits in touch with intelligence sources have been hinting that the missing Iraqi WMD's will be uncovered either this summer or early fall. The standard story is that some WMD's, both chemical and biological, were transported to Syria and Lebanon a few months before the Iraq invasion in 2003. But it would not be as easy as retrieval--apparently Hezbollah members are in the areas where the WMD's were purportedly buried.

But apparently there may be at least one more WMD discovery that may turn out to have contributed to Bush's joking manner. According to John Loftus, often at least days ahead of breaking intelligence news stories, US intelligence allegedly monitored a phone call before the war from North Korea to Libya in which the North Koreans were worried that the US would uncover documentation in Iraq that would expose a joint North Korean/Libyan/Iraqi nuclear program in Libya. The conversation included concerns by the NKoreans over who would continue to pay the 400 Iraqi nuclear scientists allegedly working in Libya once Saddam was taken down. The conversation apparently indicated that the nuclear program was at least in part financed by Saddam.

Loftus has repeatedly made this case for months (but unfortunately, not on his website). And on Friday's WABC's The Batchelor Show, he suggested that Tony Blair's visit to Libya may possibly soon be followed by a joint Blair/Khaddafi statement revealing this Iraqi nuclear connection.

Loftus also added that another missing piece to the story may be made public--Libya's (and hence, Iraq's) source for uranium. The discovery ironically is a follow up to the infamous "uranium from Niger" debate resulting from Bush's speech, in which he claimed that Iraq had sought to purchase "Uranium from Africa." Per Loftus: on a tip, an "abandoned" uranium mine was raided recently in the Congo, where 6,000 workers were found hard at work in the mine. This Congolese uranium mine would purportedly have supplied (or did supply) the uranium for the Iraqi financed, NKorean-assisted nuclear program in Libya. (Note to Joseph C Wilson, IV--Bush's words were "...uranium from Africa," not Niger. Africa being the continent, Niger being a country in Africa, and the Congo being another country in Africa. Had you sipped your green tea in the Congo, you may have chatted your way closer to the truth. Maybe even validated the choice your wife made in choosing you for the job).

If this story develops as expected, then Khaddafi's turnaround on the pursuit of WMD's will have yielded much of what is currently known of the "nuclear outsourcing" network. The players so far exposed thanks to Khaddafi: Dr. Khan/the Pakistani government, Iran, Malaysia, North Korea, China, and of course, Libya.

The increasingly likely addition of Iraq to that group would provide arguably the strongest justification for the war on Iraq, since the WMD debate originally had included nuclear as well as chemical and biological. And this disclosure may prove a bit disturbing for the critics of the Iraq war who refused to accept or admit that Saddam was actively pursuing a nuclear program with centerfuges, uranium and the know how--claims that were hinted at, if not made directly, by the Bush administration early on in the case for the war.

And, of course, the discovery of the WMD's would also go a long way to justifying the war. So instead of "cheapening of the sacrifice" by American soldiers, the Iraqi war critics may soon find themselves in an awkward position. They may soon be forced to argue that the discovery of chemical and biological stockpiles as well as a physical nuclear program (including uranium from the Congo) as well as freeing a whole nation from a dictator was not worth the sacrifice.

No doubt Micky Kaus will be there for that debate, too, when Bush may have the last laugh on WMDs.

Questionable coverage.

VDH offers another positive yet clenched-jaw assessment free of hysteria: "We are Finishing the War."

An in depth look at the CAPPS II program written by Jill Rhodes, who is an attorney and Senior Advisor for Homeland Security Programs with SRA International, Inc.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I link to SRA International, Inc. in my sidebar. Just in case, that is, I would be in a position to appear improper.

A good roundup up of security news at Winds of Change.

Palestinian Child Abuse: the Palestinian people--not their leadership--may have been turned off by the use of a 14 year old suicide bomber.

Aljazeera reports claims that Israel fabricated the story, quoting a Hamas member and the Palestinian Authority misinformation--er, information--minister. CNN, however, ran the story showing some Palestinian parents who were outraged. The kids interviewed by CNN, though, said they held the 14 year old in higher esteem since he had at least tried to be a martyr.

"Palestinian child abuse." That surely would explain a lot.

Was it just me that thought that a pretty good case was made by both the panelists and those questioned for Bush's doctrine of PREEMPTIVE war? Heck, even for attacks on a country that it could not be decisively proven that it was an imminent threat--as Afghanistan was at the time before 9-11.

The hearings seemed to struggle with the options that were available to the Clinton administration--"the pinpricks vs the Normandy invasion." It's interesting how Sandy Berger made the clearest case that the pinpricks were basically all they could do because a declaration of war on Afghanistan and an invasion weren't doable. The intelligence blaming Al Qaeda for the Cole bombing, he claimed, was only a "preliminary judgment" and would not be enough to win domestic or international support.

"Reliability of intelligence." "International support." He made a good case for the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war on a not yet imminent threat.

But Clarke didn't seem to have been advocating preemptive war. Or was he? Or maybe he was but was ignored. He was quite Kerryish in his flip flops yesterday.

Mofaz and Israeli security chiefs met for five hours late Monday and decided to step up targeted attacks, the security sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said officials decided to go after the entire Hamas leadership without waiting for another attack by the militant group.

Sounds much like the Bush doctrine--go after terrorists and those who harbor them. Except that Israel is not going after "those who harbor them" in the West Bank and Gaza. So it's a partial Bush Doctrine. Their restraint is remarkable considering the circumstances.

After meeting with representatives of Washington and New York transit systems, Amtrak, public transit and railroad associations, Ridge announced plans to speed the launch in early May of a pilot program to test baggage-screening technology at a station served by commuter rail and Amtrak, such as Washington's Union or New York's Pennsylvania station.

Homeland Security officials also will use existing funds to create a rapid-response team of explosive-sniffing dogs, which would help transit systems in high-threat situations, and to help systems integrate employee and public awareness security campaigns, Ridge said.

...William W. Millar, executive director of the American Public Transportation Association, said he welcomed the idea of a pilot program to screen bags and a rapid response canine team, but he said the transit industry still needs about $6 billion to make its ferries, buses, subways, commuter railroads and light rail systems more secure.

...

It makes more sense to improve security at rail bridges, tunnels, stations and maintenance yards, Capon said. And it's unclear whether screening bags for commuter railroads, like MARC and Virginia Railway Express, would be practical for travelers trying to get to work on time, Capon said.

The story in the WaPost began with a different take:

U.S. Defers Extra Aid for Rail Security



Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced a package of improvements for U.S. railroad security yesterday but deferred requests by public transit systems for $6 billion in new federal aid in the wake of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid.

Update. That was quick. Another similar headline: "Spain Blast Prompts Demands For Funds".
A Democratic candidate ought to be jotting these little snippets down.

Without the benefit--if that's the right word--of media spin, the 9-11 hearings don't seem to be uncovering any smoking guns. Or even a sense of culpability. Powell, Cohen and Rumsfeld have represented themselves well. Albright I missed, but good cases were made for both the Bush and the Clinton administrations having acquitted themselves.

Essentially that major military actions against Bin Laden would have been much harder to mobilize--militarily and politically--than is commonly thought. There were few countries surrounding Afghanistan that would have been willing to base our troops. A declaration of war would likely have not been supported by enough countries--much like the arm twisting at the UN in 2003 for the Iraq war.

It is surprising how clear an issue as emotional and distorted as 9-11 can sound coming straight from the rational testimonies of the actors who were actually in the decision-making roles. Quite boring, actually, compared to the raging debates among the pundits. But no doubt tomorrow's papers will find some nugget to splash on the front pages.

Update. Tuesday, Richard Clarke testifying. Clarke mentioned his suggestions in Jan '01 to the Bush administration, including increasing funding to the Northern Alliance, pushing for the Predator program to increase surveillance and a robust bombing response (on Al Qaeda training camps) to the Cole bombing. He apparently made the same case to the Clinton administration.

When asked if these actions, if implemented in Jan '04 instead of being included in a plan on Sept 4, '01 (?) whether they "had the remotest chance of preventing 9-11," Clarke answered: "No." When prompted that Clarke's suggestions for action had NOT included a plan to declare war on Afghanistan/the Taliban prior to 9-11, Clarke agreed: "No."

So it appears that Clarke believed or makes the case that Bush did not do all he could have to prevent 9-11--especially in his book--but simultaneously admits that were his recommendations implemented at the time he wanted to propose them, they would not have prevented 9-11. Interesting.

Statement from former Senator Bob Kerry suggested that implementation of one of Clarke's suggestions (Delenda) would have required declaring war on Afghanistan, and that was the reason it was not accepted by the Bush administration. So Clarke's suggestion would have necessitated a PREEMPTIVE WAR? And without direct intelligence pointing ahead to 9-11, the action would have been taken BEFORE Afghanistan could have been categorized as an IMMINENT THREAT.

Sounds like Clarke could have majorly helped Bush to help make the case in his preemptive war on Iraq before it was an imminent threat. Interesting.

Update John Lehman, former Reagan administration naval (?), levels the criticism of Clarke that the media buzz surrounding his book promotions, including CBS 60 minutes, was portraying his case largely as a leveling serious charges at and criticism of the Bush administration. Lehman had a completely different take based on Clarke's actual comments during some of his recent media interviews. Lehman charged Clarke was developing a "credibility problem."

Clarke answered that he flatly rejected that assertion. And that he would not accept a position with a future Kerry administration. He didn't go much further.

It seems that the US response to terrorism, currently the subject of Congressional hearings by the September 11 commission (and a new "book tour" by Richard Clarke), is not alone in coming under scrutiny and harsh criticism. European intelligence services from Spain, Morocco, France and Germany have struggled with mixed success throughout Europe to track and capture terrorists before and after September 11.

"There is an enormous amount of information, but much of it gets lost because of the failures of cooperation," Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish investigative judge, said in an interview. "We are doing maybe one-third of what we can do within the law in fighting terrorism in Europe. There is a lack of communication, a lack of coordination, and a lack of any broad vision."

At least three of the suspects in the Madrid attacks were known to European and Arab intelligence officials for some time. One suspect, a 30-year-old Moroccan named Jamal Zougam, raised suspicions in Spain, Morocco and France, consorted with militant leaders from at least five countries and had his home searched by the police, yet was never thoroughly investigated.

There have been some successes, though:

In the span of barely two decades, Europe has gone from being a refuge for Arab radicals, to a staging ground for terrorist attacks elsewhere, to a prized target for Islamic terrorists. Between the Sept. 11 attacks and the Madrid bombings, the European authorities say they thwarted a string of plots — the European Parliament building, the American Embassies in Paris and Rome, the 13th-century cathedral of Strasbourg, France.

But the prognosis for improvement appears worse than that of US intelligence services:

"The problem with intelligence in Europe is that we are far too bureaucratic and fragmented across borders," said a senior German intelligence official. "Our security is much less integrated than our business or transportation infrastructures.

...For years, European officials have talked about the need for a central repository for information about terrorist groups, but agencies have been reluctant, officials say. "If the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. are fighting constantly about information, how do you think it is with the French and the Germans?" said one Spanish official.

At a European Union meeting in Brussels on Friday, counterterrorism officials agreed to appoint a "terrorism czar" to facilitate sharing of information about suspected terrorists.

A "terrorism czar" may well be an accomplishment for the Europeans, who pointedly rejected establishing US-styled FBI or CIA intelligence centers for Europe as a whole. It remains to be seen.

Also, the quoted Spanish official's pointing to problems with information sharing between the CIA and the FBI is understandable, if a bit defensive. It indeed has been a problem. But in fairness, Congress has established the new Homeland Security Department, among other reasons, to improve information sharing between branches. On the other hand, the odds of coordinating intelligence services quickly and effectively across much of Europe are concievably much poorer. Reluctance to share information between countries will probably run into not only questions of compromising national intelligence secrets, but also of the prickly European character. Different languages, cultures, tracking technologies and sensitivity to the Muslim community between each European country will likely prove more challenging than in the US. "Vive la diference," and all of that.

For better of for worse, the Madrid bombing has forced the European debate to begin.

The "high value" targets surrounded near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan may have escaped through a tunnel.

This may not come as much of a surprise, given some intelligence reports that the Pakistani ISI has been responsible for alerting and tipping off the suspects in up to 50% of these operations.

Musharraf may want to try a little harder to reign in his wayward intelligence officers. According to some reports, the US showed remarkable lenience towards his involvement in Dr. Khan's nuclear proliferation in exchange for Musharraf's capturing and turning over the Al Qaeda targets in and near Pakistan by sometime this fall. October surprise? Surprise.

Musharraf, however, must balance any desire to assist the US war on terror with some in his country's opposition to it. All politics is local, and apparently no less in Pakistan.

Yassin killed.

"The charade seems to be over."

Update. More details here.

"The loss is unexpected," said Zaihan Mohamed Daud, a senior official of the Islamic party who faced reporters and a stunned crowd of supporters at party leader Abdul Hadi Awang's house in Marang, Terengganu. "It was all up to God. But it doesn't matter. Our reward is in heaven."

Whether or not it was the will of God, the Islamist defeat came shortly after the apparently stunning success of the terrorists in bringing the Socialist Party to power in Spain. Malaysia, however, was not considered a staunch ally of the US in the war on terror.

The next tests of the Islamic election "momentum" will no doubt take place when Italy and Poland--both countries with troops in Iraq-- head to the polls this June. It remains to be seen whether the Islamist election participation will include terrorism in their version of the "big Mo."

Update: El Salvador votes: Pro-US candidate soundly defeats former Marxist guerrilla Handal, who had "...wanted to withdraw El Salvador's 380 troops out of Iraq, and pursue closer ties with Cuba."

UpdateDebka: "Who's Next after Madrid?":

According to data gathered by our experts, from December 2002, three months before the US invasion of Iraq, al Qaeda began issuing a stream of fatwas designating its main operating theatres in Europe. Spain was on the list, but not the first.

1. Turkey was first. Islamic fundamentalists were constrained to recover the honor and glory of the Ottoman caliphates which were trampled by Christian forces in 1917 in the last days of World War I.

2. Spain followed. There, al Qaeda set Muslims the goal of recovering their lost kingdom in Andalusia.

3. Italy and its capital were third. Muslim fundamentalists view Rome as a world center of heresy because of the Vatican and the Pope.

4. Vienna came next because the advancing Muslim armies were defeated there in 1683 before they could engulf the heart of Europe.

So Turkey and Spain down, Italy and Austria to go. Poland and Australia must also be considered high value targets.

Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright team up to examine the Arab reaction to the US Mideast Initiative and sum the response up succinctly: Arab backlash:

Facing an Arab backlash, the Bush administration has honed its Greater Middle East Initiative, due to be unveiled at the Group of Eight summit of industrial powers in June, to place greater emphasis on plans emerging from the region, such as a possible resolution from the Arab League later this month, U.S. officials said. Arab officials say they feel pressured to respond to the Bush administration proposals, but even reformers privately say they fear that any U.S. imprimatur would discredit the initiative in the eyes of the Arab public and strengthen radical Islamic forces.

From Saudi Arabia comes a defiant tone, yet one that stresses a pace of reform that will be a uniter, not a divider:

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud Faisal...responded that the Saudi monarchy was ushering in reforms but not "to get a report of good behavior." He said reform would take place at a pace that would make it "a unifying force for the country and not a divisive aspect."

Egypt, also critical of the US initiative, instead proposed a process of reform that is "...in response to the wishes and needs of their people."

So the Arab backlash, according to Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright, seems to stem from the fact that two authoritarian regimes--with questionable support from their publics and tenuous grips on power--demand that reform proceed at a pace and in a manner that "unites" the country and reflects the "wishes and needs" of their people.

You don't say?

Update: A bit of dissent from the typical defiant Arab attitude. This from Lebanese columnists and editors, including a weekly which is owned by the son of Syria's chief of staff.

The WaPost's Glenn Kessler makes the case that Engagement is a constant in Kerry's Foreign Policy. Kerry has portrayed his desire for engagement as standing in stark contrast to Bush's "go-it-alone" foreign policy.

Kerry's father, a longtime State Department diplomat, taught him "the benefit of learning how to look at other countries and their problems and their hopes and challenges through their eyes, to a certain degree, at least in trying to understand them," Kerry said.

Examples:

Over the years, Kerry has pushed engagement with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the communists in Vietnam and the mullahs who run Iran.

...

Early in his Senate career, in 1985, he riled the Reagan administration by traveling to Nicaragua to meet with the Sandinista government, saying that "we've got to create a climate of trust."

...

...condemned the Bush administration for failing to continue direct talks on a range of issues with North Korea.

Still, Kerry is careful to sound nuanced about his desire for multilateralism, especially about the UN:

Kerry added that he is incensed at a Bush campaign ad saying he seeks U.N. approval to defend the United States. "Never. Never have. Never ever, ever in my life in the United States Senate have I ever ceded our authority to the U.N. or have I recommended it," he said. "Never. Not once in one vote; not in one speech. Never. That is a lie."

Kerry also abandons nuance to fend off charges that his foreign policy positions are not, well, as nuanced as would appear:

"Foreign policy is not simplistic," Kerry added. "They [Republicans] want it to be simplistic; it isn't. I can give you lots of non-nuanced positions. There is nothing nuanced about anything I've done."

On the campaign trail in Florida Saturday, Bush abandoned any sense of nuance in jokingly slamming Kerry:

"The other day here in Florida he claimed some important endorsements from overseas," Mr. Bush told 15,000 cheering partisans. "He won't tell us the name of the foreign admirers.
"That's OK," he added. "Either way, I'm not too worried, because I'm going to keep my campaign right here in America."

...

"Senator Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, for the No Child Left Behind Act, and for the use of force in Iraq," the president said. "Now he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the liberation of Iraq.
"My opponent clearly feels strongly about each of these issues," he added. "So strongly that one position is never just enough."

...

"Someone asked Senator Kerry why he voted against the $87 billion funding bill to help our troops in Iraq," Mr. Bush said. "Here's what he said: 'I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.'"
The president added mischievously: "That sure clears things up, doesn't it?"

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Conference info including topics, speakers. Good stuff.

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From the EDS newsroom, a link to

EDS' Eight Steps To Prepare For Business Disruptions:

1. Prevention costs less than recovery and it's faster.
When a disaster occurs, one of the first questions asked after the smoke clears is how it could have been avoided. That's the prevention question. The issue right now for many businesses is when they want to answer that question.


2. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
EDS recommends spreading "vital" operations across more than one location to prepare for business disruption. Backups should be taken frequently and stored outside the facility. It is important to make sure the backups are useable by randomly choosing one or more sets and restoring the data. In too many instances, data thought to be safely backed up can't be accessed when needed.

3. When disaster strikes, the first thing to disappear is the plan.
Companies should review their business continuity plan for adequacy and currency. Special attention should be paid to new technology systems and business processes that might not have been included in the original plan. Have these plans been tested recently? Can critical vendors help in a crisis?

4. When disaster strikes, competitors notice.
If a company fails to maintain market presence and reputation after a disaster, their absence can create a vacuum in the market place. This being the case, competitors will fill that vacuum out of necessity.

5. The 'Three Ps' of disaster planning: People, Property, Priorities (business), and here's three more: Practice, Practice, Practice
Physical security plans should be up to date, including instructions for contacting local fire, police, and rescue authorities. Some examples of questions to ask are: Do you have a written crisis management procedures manual and follow it? Has it been tested recently? Do you know when to call in local authorities and who has the authority to decide to do so? How (and how well) are visitors and vendors controlled in your facilities? Do your security procedures reflect what you really expect your employees to do? Are they up-to-date regarding your IT environment?

6. Tailor business continuity investments to likely threats and key priorities.
Recent events have made us think of terrorism as a major threat, but there are other more diverse threats, such as employee or non-employee workplace violence, labor actions or disputes, cyber threats (including computer viruses and denial of service attacks), hoaxes, and industrial espionage. Focusing on employee safety will pay off during a disaster, since knowledgeable employees are an important key to recovery plans.

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It is a good idea for business to look at the immediate area surrounding each of their facilities and perform a risk assessment. Focusing on employee safety will pay off during a disaster, since knowledgeable employees are an important key to your recovery plans.

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The NYT's Nicholas D Kristof gets tough on national security?

So why not plug this hole with a standardized, hard-to-forge national ID card/driver's license that would have a photo, a fingerprint and a bar code that could be swiped to check whether the person is, for example, a terror suspect who should not be allowed onto a plane? We could simultaneously reduce identity theft and make life tougher for terrorists.

Kristoff wouldn't be Kristoff, though, without jabbing at somebody: "Surprisingly, this is anathema to many conservatives. If the right is willing to imprison people indefinitely and send young people off to die in Iraq in the name of security, then why is it unthinkable to standardize driver's licenses into a national ID?"

"Tough on security" and a jab at the Conservatives. How clever.


Is the security at our nuclear plants lacking?

US antimissile system intercepted a North Korean ballistic missile attack. It was apparently a close call, though--good thing it was a simulation.

US Dept. of Homeland Security warned last week of a new Trojan, dubbed "Phatbot."

Phatbot is "a virtual Swiss Army knife of attack software," said Vincent Weafer, senior director of security response at Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp.

Joe Stewart, a researcher at the Chicago-based security firm Lurhq, has catalogued Phatbot's many capabilities in an online posting. Those capabilities include: the "ability to polymorph on install in an attempt to evade antivirus signatures as it spreads from system to system"; "steal AOL account logins and passwords"; "harvest emails from the web for spam purposes" and "sniff [Internet] network traffic for Paypal cookies."

England, France and Germany appear to be bracing for the worst while hoping for the best.

Some interesting quotes from the story:

" "Germany did a good job of keeping itself out" of Iraq, said Tina Maibach, 19, ..."I'm not so afraid" that it could happen in Germany, she said. "

A French couple in Paris: "We are only taking the train because we have no other choices," said Ababacar, 32. "I just hope bin Laden is not angry with France."

This, then, may be troubling to the Parisian couple:

In addition, the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said on television Tuesday that the government had received a letter from an Islamic group called the Movsar Barayev Commando that contained threats of attacks against French interests, the Reuters news agency reported. Last month, the al-Arabiya television channel in Dubai broadcast an audiotape in which a man purporting to be Ayman Zawahiri, the top lieutenant to bin Laden, said a recently approved French law banning Islamic head scarves in schools was "another example of the Crusader's malice, which Westerners have against Muslims."

Dept of Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchingson will announce the Arizona Border Control Initiative to aid the state in its struggle to control drug and immigration-related problems.

Last week, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl asked Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for improved federal support to secure the southern border, saying security improvements in other parts of the Southwest had resulted in a "funneling effect, driving drug traffickers, alien smugglers and migrants through the Arizona desert."

Kerry on US security:

"Whether it has been providing funding and equipment for firefighters, ensuring that cargo in our ports is screened, guarding our chemical and nuclear facilities, or working with local communities across the country to give them resources they need -- this administration has given our homeland security efforts short shrift. You deserve better."

Relatedly, Kerry made the comments while speaking to the International Association of Firefighters, a 263,000-member stron union that was reported to have endorse his candidacy.

The laser visa border security program, which uses biometrics technology such as an inkless fingerprint scanner and digital camera and takes between 10 and 15 seconds to check, will be expanded this year from 119 airports and seaports to an additional 50 land ports of entry.

The program, known as US-VISIT, is designed to enhance security while allowing legitimate travel and trade across America's borders, giving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors the ability to determine whether a person seeking entry is the same person who was issued the visa by the State Department.
Additionally, department officials said, the biometric and biographic data are tagged instantly to federal watch lists, to guard against the entry of terrorists to the United States.

The federal watch lists include previously unavailable databases.

President Bush last week halted the use of the program for Mexican nationals crossing the border for visits of less than three days. The move came after meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox, who objected to the program on the grounds that Canadian citizens were not subject to the checks.

The Matrix is in trouble. Again.

Matrix, a controversial multistate program that hoped to find criminals or terrorists by sifting through databases of public and private information, has lost more than two-thirds of its member states and appears to be withering under its critics' attacks.

The Matrix program - the name is derived from Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange - was originally developed for the state of Florida by Seisint, a Florida company, in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At its peak, 16 states were members, and the program received pledges of $12 million from the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.

Supporters of Matrix envisioned it as a powerful computer-driven program that could integrate information from disparate sources - like vehicle registrations, driver's license data, criminal history and real estate records - and analyze it for patterns of activity that could help law enforcement investigations. Promotional materials for the company put it this way: "When enough seemingly insignificant data is analyzed against billions of data elements, the invisible becomes visible."

Critics, unsurprisingly, cite concerns of privacy and freedom. There may be an even larger concern by state officials, however--money.

"Money is always an issue, regardless of who you deal with, even in the most noble of causes," said Clay Jester, the Matrix coordinator for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the nonprofit organization that administers the program.

"If you see there's a significant investment you're going to have to make down the road, you may choose not to see the potential benefits," he said. "When it comes down to new cars or this great new database application, it's easier to show somebody a car."

You've really got to wonder, though, who was in charge of naming the program. Maybe the program would get a better reception if it had a different name. It would seem obvious to anyone familiar with the movie, The Matrix, that it just sounds scary.

Department of Homeland Security officials will get a chance to make their case for placing US screeners at foreign airports at the Transportation Security Cooperation Group meeting which begins Tuesday in Brussels. The plan, known as the Immigration Security Initiative (ISI), would use Customs officials to process passengers on US-bound planes, primarily to identify suspicious travelers and question them about their travel plans.

Airports under consideration include Heathrow and Gatwick near London, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Frankfurt Am Main in Frankfurt, Mexico City International, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and Narita, outside of Tokyo. Forty percent of all U.S.-bound passenger traffic flies through these seven hubs.

Details:

Under current procedure, airline employees at foreign airports must check the identification of all U.S.-bound passengers before they board the aircraft. But such employees are not trained to identify falsified documents, and the ISI would place Customs officials with the proper training at gates to prevent potential terrorists from boarding the planes. Airlines would save by not paying fines of up to $10,000, which they accrue each time they bring a passenger who is blocked at immigration. And such a move would also help avert the type of flight cancellations that disrupted several U.S.-bound flights during the Christmas holidays in December.

...

"The idea is not new. The ISI is actually quite similar to the Container Security Initiative, which puts U.S. inspectors in foreign seaports to help screen U.S.-bound cargo for weapons of mass destruction. During the 2003 fiscal year, another plan, Operation Global Shield, stationed U.S. officials oversees in several countries during a five-month time period to oversee interdiction operations. U.S. officials intercepted 2,791 fraudulent IDs and passports during that time period."

...

"Operation Global Shield, which cost taxpayers a mere $2 million, saved air carriers an estimated $9 million in fees and the U.S. government $46.5 million in detention and deportation costs."

Despite the prospects of increased security, savings to taxpayers and reduced fines to the airlines, the challenge seems to come down to diplomacy. In Paris, Frankfurt, Mexico City and even in London, the diplomats will no doubt be tested.

Denis Boyles from NRO has a wrap up of some European press takes on the bombing and election in Spain. He concludes:

The ultimate wisdom of allowing al Qaeda terrorism to determine national elections is still to be seen. But as the Socialists in Spain get "beyond the them and us, the good guys and the bad guys," and attempt to find the common ground they have with whomever killed 200 innocent citizens and wounded 1,400 others, that country's apology for supporting the war on terrorism will be heard with appreciation by al Qaeda — and ETA, the IRA, Hamas, and every other terrorist organization in the world.

Spain's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:

"(T)he war has been a disaster, the occupation continues to be a disaster...There must be consequences. There has been one already," he said, "the election result. The second will be that Spanish troops will come back."

The cause and effect of the bombings, the election result, and the likelihood of future Islamist attackers looking possibly to repeat the attack on an ally of the US in the reconstruction of Iraq has yet to be seen. Nevertheless, other European countries are bracing for attacks on their own soil:

"...the Bloomberg news agency reported that London's subway system, the Underground, has added undercover police patrols..."

"...British Transport Police...asked people using the Underground to be "vigilant" and to report unattended baggage. Officers will be searching passengers at some stations, the statement said."

"...France has increased security at airports, train stations and other sites considered sensitive..."

"...German Interior Minister Otto Schily on Sunday asked Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who holds the EU presidency, to call a meeting of the EU interior ministers "as quickly as possible -- next week, if possible." "

New York City government and the technological revolution converge in new ways, including security.

The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications is also rolling out an interactive three-dimensional map of the entire cityscape this spring that could someday all but eliminate the need for on-site surveys. It is expected to be used for everything from collecting property taxes to bolstering security at big events to developing architectural plans for the city's 2012 Olympic bid.

This is all part of a technological revolution under way in New York City government that is rapidly changing the way that its agencies carry out their functions and provide services to residents. From rationing street salt to sending out daily e-mail messages on parking rules, once-lumbering bureaucracies are adopting the latest scientific advances as a means of cutting costs, increasing efficiency as well as ensuring greater accountability after a series of corporate and government corruption scandals.

BARSTOW, Calif., March 13

There were no millionaires created in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, as all 14 teams vying to be the first to guide a driverless robot vehicle through a treacherous 142-mile route and cash in on a $1 million prize sputtered out within hours of leaving the starting line.

Virginia Tech's entry, a souped-up golf cart dubbed Cliff, suffered a brake malfunction even before it left the starting chute.

Go Hokies!

Justice Department lawyers argue in a 75-page FCC petition that Internet broadband and online telephone providers should be treated the same as traditional telephone companies, which are required by law to provide access for wiretaps and other monitoring of voice communications. The law enforcement agencies complain that many providers do not comply with existing wiretap rules and that rapidly changing technology is limiting the government's ability to track terrorists and other threats.

The problem the FBI faces is that it cannot identify and break down information that travels as packets of data over the Internet. Phone calls placed over the Internet are changed from voice signals into data packets that look much like other data packets that contain e-mail or instructions for browsing the Internet.

CALEA (The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994) does not require telecommunications providers to break down and identify which is which, or to decode data that might be encrypted. The FBI wants Internet providers to be forced to do so, experts said.

"Since the Madrid bombings, transit police have increased patrols in the Washington Metro with bomb-sniffing dogs and swept stations of extraneous equipment, much of it left by escalator mechanics."

" 'We're doing better housekeeping, making sure everything is locked down,' said Metro Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson. Hanson recorded a message repeatedly broadcast in the rail system referring to Madrid and reminding passengers to report suspicious people and packages."

' Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for border and transportation security, told reporters yesterday that the U.S. intelligence community has "no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such attacks in the United States in the near term." '

Angel Acebes, Spain's Minister of the Interior, disputed charges
of focusing the investigation on the domestic terror group, ETA:

"Hay una línea de investigación muy buena y por esa se está avanzando, pero no se renuncia a ninguna otra, ni conexiones, ni colaboraciones, veremos a donde nos lleva esta vía."

(There is one very good line of investigation which is advancing, but we are not dismissing any others, nor connections, nor colaborations, we'll see where this track leads us.)

"It is not raining, Madrid is crying." Over two million people took to the streets in Madrid, totalling around 11 million together across Spain to "express their revulsion" at the terrorist attack.

Some of the crowd's chantings:

"Assassins, you are nothing without guns," "A united Spain will never be vanquished," "Peace," and "No to terrorism."

Behind a sign that read, "With the victims, with the Constitution, for the destruction of terrorism," the Prince of Asturias, the "Infantas Dona Elena and Dona Cristina," President Jose Maria Aznar, the Minister of the Interior Angel Acebes, the principal candidates in Sunday's election, and other politicians and foreign dignitaries gathered at the head of the gathering.

Spain arrested three Moroccans and two Indians on Saturday in connection with the Madrid train bombings. The investigation is still following a two track approach, targeting both the domestic ETA as well as foreign, possibly Al Qaeda related terrorists.

Nearly two million Spaniards marched Friday night in a mix of anger, grief and rain.

But with the national elections on Sunday, the politicization of the event is in full swing amidst the grief for the dead. Some protestors blame Aznar's ruling government for the massacre of almost 200 people due to his strong support of the war on terror associated with President Bush and the war in Iraq.

And despite the arrest of five with possible Islamic or Arab nationalities, some protestors charge that Aznar's government was attempting to focus blame on ETA and not foreign terrorists.

The DHS--a good site to mine. The primary reason for its establishment, in its own words, is "...to provide the unifying core for the vast national network of organizations and institutions involved in efforts to secure our nation." No small feat for the 180,000 men and women involved.

More specifically:

Strategic Goals
Awareness -- Identify and understand threats, assess vulnerabilities, determine potential impacts and disseminate timely information to our homeland security partners and the American public.

Prevention -- Detect, deter and mitigate threats to our homeland.

Protection -- Safeguard our people and their freedoms, critical infrastructure, property and the economy of our Nation from acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.

Response -- Lead, manage and coordinate the national response to acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.

Recovery -- Lead national, state, local and private sector efforts to restore services and rebuild communities after acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.

Service -- Serve the public effectively by facilitating lawful trade, travel and immigration.

Organizational Excellence -- Value our most important resource, our people. Create a culture that promotes a common identity, innovation, mutual respect, accountability and teamwork to achieve efficiencies, effectiveness, and operational synergies.

More details and pics in an Adobe Acrobat file for the DHS Strategic Plan.

Of the HSD's multiple department components, the five major divisions, or "directorates," are:

-Border & Transportation Security
-Emergency Preparedness & Response
-Science & Technology
-Information Analysis & Infrastructure Protection
-and Management.

The Info analysis & infrastructure protection division unveiled the launch on February 20, 2004 of the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program. Its primary focus will be "analyzing and securing critical infrastructure and protected systems, risk and vulnerabilities assessments, and assisting with recovery as appropriate." Critical infrastructure includes vital physical or computer-based systems and assets. The program is voluntary--it's designed to encourage private industry and others with knowledge and often sensitive information about the critical infrastructure.

The WaPost described the program:

When the first phase is completed this summer, the network will provide a real-time instant messaging, e-mail and live chat service for 5,000 authorized users across 300 agencies in all U.S. states, five territories and 50 urban areas, Ridge said. Users with proper security clearances and software will be able to share vast quantities of data, from audio to computer models, and from foreign news clippings to refined analyses.

Sounds good. An online info-sharing database. But the program is, of course, not without its detractors. Some questions have arisen as a result, ranging from whether the program will provide a haven for corporate "wrongdoers" to whether private organizations will be reluctant to volunteer vulnerabilities that they believe could lead to expensive remediation.

Defense of the country is a huge topic, so I will try to focus on specific areas. The ongoing military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq are obviously high priority; as are the less publicized actions and developments, both military and otherwise, in scores of regions around the world.

The coverage of these events domestically and abroad are routinely and quite thoroughly blogged and analyzed, but I will no doubt feel compelled to contribute my two cents to that discussion. As the saying goes: everything may have already been said, but not everyone has said it.

Also of interest are our efforts here at home. These include the goals to reorganize federal, state and local preparedness; the same for the private sector; and the convergence of the two. With as little as most of us would likely want to worry about the security of our homeland, it's a good thing, then, that others have made it their jobs to do just that. I'd like to dig into that a little.

And, of course, in a political year, the mix of security and politics will make for an interesting time. Again, a target rich environment.

Ok, enough blog mission. Time to dive in. I'll bet some links would be nice, too.

So the bare skeleton of the site is up. The site name Securetheblessingsofliberty was my first choice, but I settled on Provideforthecommondefense. It seemed more to the point and sounded like less of a run on at the time.

Testing blogrolling.