MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'homeland security'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:17:13 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118607&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FsIhHwzm_3Z0%2F By Jim HarperWith the Department of Homeland Security constantly spinning out new projects and programs (plus re-branded old ones) to investigate you, me, and the kitchen sink, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. But I was intrigued with a report that behvaior detection officers are getting another look from the Transportation Security Administration. Behavior detection is the unproven, and so far highly unsuccessful (Rittgers, Harper), program premised on the idea that telltale cues can reliably and cost-effectively indicate intent to do harm at airports. But there’s a new behavior detection program already underway. Or is it interrogation? Due to a bottleneck at the magnetometers in one concourse of the San Francisco airport (no strip-search machines!), I recently had the chance... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118607 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:43:58 +0100 5118607 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975832&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F95kWXhww15U%2F By Gene HealyMy Washington Examiner column this week is on TSA, the federal agency that’s its own reductio ad absurdum. In the latest TSA atrocity, the agency forced a wheelchair-bound, 95-year-old leukemia patient to remove her adult diaper, for fear she might be wired to explode. “It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” her distraught daughter told the press: “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.” My God, what is she on about? Proper procedure was followed! As I point out in the column: in a classic case of “mission creep,” TSA is taking its show on the road and the rails. Remember when, pushing his bullet-train boondoggle in the 2011 State of the Union, President Obama cracked that it would... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975832 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:29:46 +0100 4975832 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921381&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fo88B5L4tJGw%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanLast week, the House passed a homeland security appropriations bill slashing funding for grants to states and localities. The New York Times has now noticed and unleashed an indignant editorial: House Republicans talk tough on terrorism. So we can find no explanation — other than irresponsibility — for their vote to slash financing for eight antiterrorist programs. Unless the Senate repairs the damage, New York City and other high-risk localities will find it far harder to protect mass transit, ports and other potential targets. The programs received $2.5 billion last year in separate allocations. The House has cut that back to a single block grant of $752 million, an extraordinary two-thirds reduction. The results for high-risk areas would be so damaging — wit... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921381 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:01:43 +0100 4921381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911464&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYbQmO1Im2Eg%2F By Tad DeHavenLast week, the House passed a $40.6 billion Homeland Security appropriations bill for fiscal 2012. The Constitutional Authority Statement for the bill cited Congress’s authority to appropriate money and the General Welfare Clause. Citing the General Welfare Clause might be appropriate for activities associated with the common defense of the nation. However, it is not an appropriate justification for something like the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which distributes federal taxpayer money to local fire departments. Firefighting is a purely local concern and should be funded by those who benefit from a local fire department’s services. Why in the world am I paying federal taxes in Pennsylvania to a bureaucracy in Washingto... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911464 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:40:45 +0100 4911464 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820821&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQ-ymWDORPMA%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanIf you like bloated nuclear arsenals, executive discretion to wage endless war, large checks to countries that aid our enemies, and institutionalizing hostility toward gays in the military, you will love the defense authorization bill passed yesterday by the House Armed Services Committee. Below are the lowlights. For slightly better news from the Appropriations Committee on homeland security spending, skip to the end. The bill contains a provision replacing the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks and their hosts. The Committee evidently found that legislation, which the last two administrations have used to justify all manner of power grabs, insufficiently open-ended. They add groups “affiliated” with al Qae... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820821 Fri, 13 May 2011 11:14:55 +0100 4820821 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4570525&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1RFFzv-zctM%2F By Jim HarperRep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) is the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. That's the subcommittee that makes spending decisions for the Department of Homeland Security and the programs within it, including the REAL ID Act. Earlier this month, a constituent of his from Fyffe, Alabama posted a question on Mr. Aderholt's Facebook page: Rep. Aderholt, I've seen reports that the "REAL ID ACT" will be implemented in May of this year, giving the govt the ability to track every person who has a drivers license via encoded GPS. Is this actually the case and if so, what is the House going to do to stop this Orwellian infringement of our Liberty. Also, HOW could this have happened in the first place! Mr. Aderholt has not replied. But Right Side News recen... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4570525 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:03:28 +0100 4570525 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4544944&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgWQnovK_N-E%2F By Jim HarperUntil now, Florida has not been one of the states to buck the federal government's national ID mandate, established in the REAL ID Act of 2005. A pair of grand jury reports in 2002 had moved the state to tighten its driver licensing processes prior to any federal action, so it was already doing many of the things that the Department of Homeland Security is now seeking to require of states in the name of REAL ID. Full compliance with REAL ID remains a distant hope, so DHS has set out a list of 18 "milestones," progress toward which it is treating as REAL ID compliance. Full compliance with REAL ID includes putting driver information into a network for nationwide information sharing---including scanned copies of basic identity documents. It includes giving all licensees and ID h... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4544944 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:53:26 +0100 4544944 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536046&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fn-jG7Yi8Qpk%2F By Jim HarperThe zeitgeist on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. may be for limited, constitutional government, but that doesn't mean that big-government conservatives aren't going to use the reprieve voters gave Republicans in the fall to once again advance big-government goals. On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano encouraging her to fully implement our national ID law, the REAL ID Act of 2005. The deadline for state implementation of the national ID law lapsed nearly three years ago. Half the states in the country have affirmatively ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536046 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:01:58 +0100 4536046 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4464482&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FM4wg3M3p8Us%2F By Jim HarperThere is one thing you can take to the bank from TSA administrator John Pistole's statement that he wants to shift to "risk-based" screening at airports: it hasn't been risk-based up to now. That's a welcome concession because, as I've said before, the DHS and its officials routinely mouth risk terminology, but rarely subject themselves to the rigor of actual risk analysis. What Administrator Pistole envisions is nothing new. It's the idea of checking the backgrounds of air travelers more deeply, attempting to determine which of them present less of a threat and which prevent more. That opens security holes that the risk-averse TSA is unlikely to actually tolerate, and it has significant privacy and Due Process consequences, including migration toward a national ID syst... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4464482 Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:58:14 +0100 4464482 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4433135&cid=t_100864_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F03%2Fnidal-hasan-exactly-the-man-many-knew-him-to-be%2F Army Maj. Nidal Hasan was exactly the kind of man many people knew him to be. And that’s why they continually promoted him and sent him some place else. Because nobody, apparently, was willing to intervene despite many warning signs about his behavior. Those are the findings from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. They found that the massacre allegedly carried out by Nidal Hasan could have have been prevented. Had just one person acted on the information many different people had, the tragedy that occurred at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009 may have been prevented. “The officers who kept Hasan in the military and moved him steadily along knew full well of his problematic behavior,” the report found. “As the officer who assigned Has... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4433135 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:00:13 +0100 4433135 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4411503&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDjnAj2SgJBM%2F By Jim HarperBen Friedman helpfully supplies more information to go with my positive reaction to the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to scrap color-coded threat warnings. Our colloquy leaves somewhat open what should replace color-coding. Because most threat warnings are false alarms, and because exhortations to vigilance will tend toward the vagueness of the color-coding system, Ben hopes “DHS winds up being tighter-lipped.” His points are good ones, but they don’t dissuade me from my belief that DHS should “begin informing the public fully about threats and risks known to the U.S. government.” The right answer here centers on who is better at digesting threat information—experts in the national security bureaucracy or the public? The... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4411503 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:33:18 +0100 4411503 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4411508&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEUt-MMRartk%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanJim Harper noted yesterday that the Department of Homeland Security (after lengthy review) has decided to scrap its color-coded alert system. The change is long overdue–the alerts implied, absurdly, that danger was equally distributed across the nation. The fact that the Department never used the blue and green threat levels (general and low risk), which most accurately describe the true danger most Americans face from terrorism, showed the systems’ inherent threat inflation. Eventually, everyone started ignoring the threat level, officials stopped changing it, and system became a charade. Jim argues that, in place of the colors, the Department should inform “the public fully about threats and risks known to the U.S. government,” treating us l... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4411508 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:40:09 +0100 4411508 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405759&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FmlQKtk-G6w4%2F By Jim HarperThe Department of Homeland Security is scrapping the color-coded terror alert system. The color-code system meant to serve as a way of keeping the public informed, but because it signaled some ambiguous sense of “threat” without providing a scintilla of information the public could use, it merely kept Americans ignorant and addled. Scrapping the color-coded threat system is only the beginning. The next step is to begin informing the public fully about threats and risks known to the U.S. government. We’re adults. We can handle it. In fact, we can help. And Good Riddance… is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405759 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:13:11 +0100 4405759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4352711&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fhealthcare-cybersecurity-an-internet-id-for-all-americans%2F2011.01.15 From CBS News: President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today. It’s “the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government” to centralize efforts toward creating an “identity ecosystem” for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said. That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intel... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4352711 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 21:00:00 +0100 4352711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322594&cid=t_100864_129_f&fid=36038&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fmultiple-sclerosis-and-the-tsa-an-open-letter-to-the-secretary-of-homeland-security%2F Madam Secretary Napolitano, I’m quite upset… and you should know about it (before someone far more litigious than myself tells you)! I guess I should preface the forthcoming tirade with the fact that, as I am a proud former member of the US Coast Guard, I know very well the difficulties faced by the line employees of the Transportation Security Administration section of your Homeland Security department. I do not blame them. I live with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Current research points to the body’s immune system as a possible culprit of the disease. As a result, heavy doses of corticosteroids are often employed to battle MS. One possible side effect of such steroid use is the death of bone, which can force joint replacement. I hav... Life with MS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322594 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:53:37 +0100 4322594 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302855&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzFXqdnT90Jw%2F By Jim HarperThe holiday travel season this year revealed some of the real defects in the Transportation Security Administration’s new policy of subjecting select travelers to the “option” of going through airport strip-search machines or being subjected to an intrusive pat-down more akin to a groping. Anecdotes continue to come forth, including the recent story of a rape victim who was arrested at an airport in Austin, TX after refusing to let a TSA agent feel her breasts. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is working on the “next big thing”: body-scanning everywhere. This “privacy impact assessment” from DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate details a plan to use millimeter wave—a technology in strip-search machines&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302855 Sat, 01 Jan 2011 13:01:54 +0100 4302855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4233165&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FddDFw1rSyb0%2F By Malou InnocentIn response to Wikileaks’ complaints that Amazon.com will no longer host the whisteblower site’s activities, Chris Moody, over at the Daily Caller, writes: Unfortunately for WikiLeaks’ argument, Amazon is a private company that can legally sever ties with anyone it wants. If anything, the company is exercising its right to free speech and association by choosing not to work with another independent organization. That’s correct, though I would add that it was Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who bullied Amazon into cutting Wikileaks from its server. Thus, it was partially government coercion, not private consent, that severed a business relationship. As an aside, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said in a ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4233165 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:56:15 +0100 4233165 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4207280&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fn04V4GSo1dE%2F By Jim HarperWriting in the Washington Post, George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen carefully concludes, “there’s a strong argument that the TSA’s measures violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.” The strip/grope policy doesn’t carefully escalate through levels of intrusion the way a better designed program using more privacy protective technology could. It’s a good constutional technician’s analysis. But Professor Rosen doesn’t broach one of the most important likely determinants of Fourth Amendment reasonableness: the risk to air travel these searches are meant to reduce. Writing in Politico last week, I pointed out that there have been 99 million domestic flights in the last decad... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4207280 Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:30:32 +0100 4207280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197027&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0GgZvvfEk2s%2F By David BoazLibertarians often debate whether conservatives or liberals are more friendly to liberty. We often fall back on the idea that conservatives tend to support economic liberties but not civil liberties, while liberals support civil liberties but not economic liberties — though this old bromide hardly accounts for the economic policies of President Bush or the war-on-drugs-and-terror-and-Iraq policies of President Obama. Score one for the conservatives in the surging outrage over the Transportation Security Administration’s new policy of body scanners and intimate pat-downs. You gotta figure you’ve gone too far in the violation of civil liberties when you’ve lost Rick Santorum, George Will, Kathleen Parker, and Charles Krauthammer. (Gene Healy points out th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197027 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:16:09 +0100 4197027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3957905&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0mFYmkzdI78%2F By Jim HarperWashington Times reporter Shaun Waterman has a characteristically excellent article out today about U.S. cybersecurity authorities failing to secure their own systems. According to a new report by government auditors, systems at the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), part of the Department of Homeland Security, were not maintained with updates and security patches in a timely fashion and as a result were riddled with vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. Time and again, people look to government intervention based on what they imagine government might do under ideal conditions. Real conditions produce far weaker results. We’re better off distributing the problem of data, network, and computer security among all the self-interested actors in the count... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3957905 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:43:51 +0100 3957905 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3902887&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7cw2y1Jr3nI%2F The Washington Post reports today on an article coming out in Foreign Affairs in which Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III reveals a successful 2008 intrusion into military computer systems. Malicious code placed on a thumb drive by a foreign intelligence agency uploaded itself onto a network run by the U.S. military’s Central Command and propagated itself across a number of domains. The Post article says that Lynn “puts the Homeland Security Department on notice that although it has the ‘lead’ in protecting the dot.gov and dot.com domains, the Pentagon — which includes the ultra-secret National Security Agency — should support efforts to protect critical industry networks.” The failure of the military to protect its own systems creat... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3902887 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:30:00 +0100 3902887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3780345&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FbR8M2lag0Lk%2F By David RittgersThe Associated Press is reporting that persons filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the Department of Homeland Security during the last year faced scrutiny beyond what the law requires. Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano’s political staff with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked. If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican. This, despite President Barack Obama’s statement that federal workers should “act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation” under FOIA, and Attorney General Eric Holder&#821... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3780345 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:31:54 +0100 3780345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3603574&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfDM9_O3USl4%2F By Christopher PrebleEarlier today, I attended a lecture at CSIS by John Brennan, a leading counterterrorism and homeland security adviser to President Obama. His speech highlighted some of the key elements of the administration’s counterterrorism strategy, in advance of tomorrow’s release of the National Security Strategy (NSS). I hope that many people will take the opportunity to read (.pdf) or listen to/watch Brennan’s speech, as opposed to merely reading what other people said that he said. Echoing key themes that Brennan put forward last year, also at CSIS, today’s talk reflected a level of sophistication that is required when addressing the difficult but eminently manageable problem of terrorism. Brennan was most eloquent in talking about the nature of t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3603574 Wed, 26 May 2010 20:52:26 +0100 3603574 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3603578&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FbKNmmDo87gU%2F By David RittgersBehavioral screening is a useful tool in deterring and preventing terrorist attacks. As I noted in this piece at Politico, a border patrol agent successfully used behavioral screening to stop the would-be Millennium Bomber. She noticed something “hinky” about a man driving south across the Canadian border. That “hinky” – fidgety and nervous behavior when asked routine customs questions – exposed a car full of explosives intended for the passenger terminal of Los Angeles International Airport. Two items from the USA Today travel section highlight some mixed results with TSA behavioral screening. Today’s edition reports that behavioral screening, applied by Behavioral Detection Officers (BDOs) missed at least 16 people later linked to terror plots. On the other... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3603578 Wed, 26 May 2010 18:44:36 +0100 3603578 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3563946&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7_kyTk5OUiE%2F By Jim HarperHere’s a window onto the upside-down way government spending works. The Department of Homeland Security has sent a letter to states begging them to spend federally provided money on implementing REAL ID, the national ID law. “DHS is regularly asked by members of Congress, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, if these funds are needed by the states, and whether these funds should be reallocated to other efforts,” writes Juliette Kayyam of DHS’ Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. “As both the states and the Federal government face increasingly tough budgeting decisions, it is more important than ever that these available funds be utilized.” That’s right: Tough budget times make it imperative to spend more money. States don&... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3563946 Fri, 14 May 2010 14:33:21 +0100 3563946 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3560204&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F09lFUYGvn8A%2F By Daniel GriswoldThe controversy over America’s immigration policy does not allow for easy answers, as the post below by Roger Pilon demonstrates. Even among those of us who advocate limited government and free markets, there is room for debate about what our immigration policy should be and the order in which needed reforms should be pursued. Roger gives a welcome nod to the argument for “a serious guest-worker program,” which I’ve argued is essential to any successful reform effort. He also acknowledges that its implementation should be in concert with serious enforcement rather than delayed indefinitely by demands that we “control the border first.” One place where I differ with my dear colleague is in his assertion that: “We no longer control our southern border, and Con... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3560204 Thu, 13 May 2010 15:12:22 +0100 3560204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3504895&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZkWK6QzBagM%2F By Jim HarperLast week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center released a petition from a group it spearheaded, asking the Department of Homeland Security to suspend deployment of whole-body imaging (aka “strip-search machines”) at airports. The petition is a thorough attack on the utility of the machines, the process (or lack of process) by which DHS has moved forward on deployment, and the suitability of the privacy protections the agency has claimed for the machines and computers that display denuded images of air travelers. The petition sets up a variety of legal challenges to the use of the machines and the process DHS has used in deploying them. Whole-body imaging was in retreat in the latter part of last year when an amendment to severely limit their use passed the H... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3504895 Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:02:36 +0100 3504895 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3298301&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWyI3OXjBna0%2F By Gene HealyIn recent weeks, conservatives have worked themselves into a self-righteous lather over how the Obama administration handled the would-be Christmas bomber.  It’s a complaint you could hear again and again at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference: Mirandizing the 23-year-old Nigerian Muslim was a big mistake, the story goes, because it denied us valuable intelligence, and it’s just so typical of Barack Obama’s callow, weak, law-enforcement-oriented approach to the terrorist threat. As a constitutional matter, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the Miranda decision, which smacks of judicial lawmaking, and I don’t think liberty stands or falls on whether one failed terrorist got read his rights.  In fact, I think Mirandizing Abdulmu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3298301 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:39:03 +0100 3298301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3239548&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FGm8h5rMVYhE%2F By Roger PilonToday Politico Arena asks: Terror suspects: Eric Holder’s defense (nothing new here)–agree or disagree? My response: There’s no question that after the killings in Little Rock and Fort Hood, the decision to try the KSM five in a civilian court in downtown Manhattan, and the Christmas Day bombing attempt (the government’s before and after behavior alike), the Obama-Holder “law-enforcement” approach to terrorism is under serious bipartisan scrutiny.  And Holder’s letter yesterday to his critics on the Hill isn’t likely to assuage them, not least because it essentially ignores issues brought out in the January 20 hearings before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, like the government’s failure to have its promise... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3239548 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:38:06 +0100 3239548 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3104991&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FsKA057RBOFE%2F By Jim HarperIn a classic example of the 5:00 Friday news drop, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that it is extending the REAL ID compliance deadline. Forty-six of 56 jurisdictions, it reports, were not able to implement even the interim measures it proposed requiring by December 31st when it last extended the deadline in May of 2008. The DHS statement insists that a full compliance deadline on May 10, 2011 remains in effect. What that really means is that there will be another false crisis as that deadline approaches, and the DHS will extend the deadline yet again. The better alternative is to repeal the national ID law and the worthless, expensive pseudo-security it represents. It is not to revive REAL ID under its alternative name “PASS ID.” (Source: Cato-at-liberty... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3104991 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:25:41 +0100 3104991 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3092678&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUUrByMSF3GY%2F By Jim HarperSeveral different outlets are noting the quiet passing of a Department of Homeland Security deadline to implement our national ID law, the REAL ID Act. In May of 2008, with many states outright rejecting this national surveillance mandate, the DHS issued blanket waivers and set a new deadline of December 31, 2009 by which states were supposed to meet several compliance goals. They have not, and the threat that the DHS/Transportation Security Administration would prevent Americans from traveling has quieted to a whimper. The reason why? The federal government would be blamed for it. As Neala Schwartzberg writes in her review of the push and pull over REAL ID: If I was a betting person (and I am from time to time) I’d bet the backed-up-down-the-corridor traveler who is then ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3092678 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:10:55 +0100 3092678 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3059717&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBCyw0U3VzCc%2F Via the ACLU blog, there’s no chance that the Department of Homeland Security will interfere with Americans’ travel when its latest deadline for REAL ID compliance passes at the end of this month. As happened with the original deadline for states to implement the national ID, DHS will give out waivers to recalcitrant states instead of carrying out the threat of refusing to accept travelers’ IDs at airports. States were required by Tuesday to request a waiver from DHS showing that they had met certain milestones for REAL ID compliance. But according to NextGov, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and three U.S. territories have not asked for a waiver. Supporters of a REAL ID revival bill called “PASS ID” want to use... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3059717 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:23:48 +0100 3059717 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3012369&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FygoWTIPbl5o%2F My March 2008 paper, Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration, detailed the problems with electronic employment verification systems. The paper concludes that successful “internal enforcement” of immigration law requires a national ID—and ultimately a cradle-to-grave biometric tracking system. The Department of Homeland Security has started a program called the “I E-Verify” campaign for businesses that use the federal background check system on its employees. If you see businesses with “I E-Verify” decorations or insignia, they at least indirectly support a national ID system in the United States. This can help you decide whether or not you want to spend your dollars with them. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3012369 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:53:34 +0100 3012369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2954497&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpH5Xnpti8uA%2F National Public Radio’s All Things Considered ran a series on “The End of Privacy” all last week that’s worth a listen. They’re primarily concerned with the ways private companies have access to vast quantities of information about individuals in the digital age—something that civil libertarians have traditionally been less concerned about than government access, for many perfectly valid reasons.  But it’s worth noting how porous that distinction can be.  A 2006 survey by the Government Accountability Office found that just four government agencies—the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and Social Security Administration—spent at least $30 million annually on contracts with information resellers like Choicepoin... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2954497 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:24:52 +0100 2954497 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2934661&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRNTaoEf6zdY%2F . . . and it’s sinking its fangs into Americans’ civil liberties. Here’s a story about a “VIPR” team performing a “sting” operation on innocent Americans at a bus terminal in Florida, searching their persons and bags and discovering their petty crimes. It’s almost a certainty that whoever named this sub-unit of the Department of Homeland Security thought it was a clever way to convey machismo and give a sense of mission to members of VIPR teams. But it also illustrates how the 9/11 terrorist attacks have caused the United States to lose its grip and behave like a cornered snake rather than a strong, free country. The natural illogic of VIPR stings is that terrorism can strike anywhere, so VIPR teams should search anywhere. It’s the und... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2934661 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:55:04 +0100 2934661 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2930964&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHIfKJfKp-AQ%2F There is a useful math lesson buried near the end of Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung’s widely discussed story on an Afghan war game that the Obama administration is using to weigh the costs and risks of competing strategies. One question being debated is whether more U.S. troops would improve the performance of the Afghan government by providing an important check on corruption and the drug trade, or would they stunt the growth of the Afghan government as U.S. troops and civilians take on more tasks that Afghans might better perform themselves. Another factor is cost. The Pentagon has budgeted about $65 billion to maintain a force of about 68,000 troops, meaning that each additional 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan would cost about $1 billion a year. I haven’t seen this figure... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2930964 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:18:50 +0100 2930964 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2923240&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCp8JWfcCBP0%2F Yesterday Congress passed the $680 billion FY 2010Defense Authorization Bill, which authorizes the largest such budget since the end of World War II. If, as is all but certain, President Obama signs the legislation, he will have failed to halt the inexorable growth in military spending, and he will signal to American taxpayers that they should expect more of the same. What’s worse, most of this money is not geared to defending America. Rather, it encourages other countries to free-ride on the United States instead of taking prudent steps to defend themselves. The defense bill represents only part of our military spending. The appropriations bill moving through Congress governing veterans affairs, military construction and other agencies totals $133 billion, while the massive Department ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2923240 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:24:40 +0100 2923240 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2851745&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWsYz2_gUlgQ%2F To its credit, the Department of Homeland Security distributes important documents via email. (Subscribe on their home page by scrolling down to find the “Subscribe to E-mail Updates:” box in the right column, then select your preferences.) Yesterday DHS sent me a copy of the written testimony by Michael E. Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing titled: “Eight Years After 9/11: Confronting the Terrorist Threat to the Homeland.” As I read Leiter’s (relatively brief) testimony, I wondered how well it squares with the strategic counsel offered by Audrey Kurth Cronin, Professor of Strategy at the U.S. National War College, Senior Research Associate in the Changing Charact... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2851745 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:36:31 +0100 2851745 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2842502&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgkPquF-TIf8%2F Some state governments have claimed that a pending compliance deadline for REAL ID requires them to tighten up their driver’s licensing procedures consistent with the 2005 national ID law. (But see this.) In fact, REAL ID is dead and the deadline is fake. More than a dozen states have statutorily barred themselves from complying, and in a rule published Monday the Department of Homeland Security extended the deadline again. This is the same thing it did last May and could easily do indefinitely. The republic survives, and will survive quite nicely without this or any national ID law. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2842502 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:20:51 +0100 2842502 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2724817&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOK5ffHsJt-c%2F Former congressman, governor, and secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is a long-time GOP loyalist.  But he apparently doesn’t have good things to say about the Bush administration on its vaunted war on terrorism. A new report on his upcoming book warns: Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn’t keen on writing a tell-all. But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake “public complacency” over security. And to do that, well, he needs to tell all. Especially about the infighting he saw that frustrated his attempts to build a smooth-running department. Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Rid... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2724817 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:18:32 +0100 2724817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2715918&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F9XBQ3cnpM3g%2F Last week, the governor of Arizona signed H.B. 2426, which bars the state from implementing the “enhanced” drivers license (EDL) program. If the federal REAL ID revival bill (PASS ID) becomes law, it will give congressional approval to EDLs, which up to now have been simply a creation of the federal security and state driver licensing bureaucracies. As governor of Arizona, the current Secretary of Homeland Security signed a memorandum of understanding with the DHS to implement EDLs, and she backs PASS ID even though she signed an anti-REAL ID bill as governor. As I said before, Secretary Napolitano seems to be taking the national ID tar baby in a loving embrace. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2715918 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:04:05 +0100 2715918 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2653663&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNuabg4mS1KA%2F Let’s fisk a DHS press release! It’s the “Statement by DHS Press Secretary Sara Kuban on Markup of the Pass ID Bill by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.” Here goes: On the same day that Secretary Napolitano highlighted the Department’s efforts to combat terrorism and keep our country safe during a speech in New York City, This part is true: Secretary Napolitano was in New York speaking about terrorism. Congress took a major step forward on the PASS ID secure identification legislation. There was a markup of PASS ID in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. It’s a step — not sure how major. PASS ID is critical national security legislation People who have studied identity-based security know that knowing p... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2653663 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:41:47 +0100 2653663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2648966&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FNZDCQSUonM8%2F It was good of Ari Schwartz to respond last week to my recent post querying whether the Center for Democracy and Technology outright opposes a national ID or simply “does not support” one. Ari says CDT does oppose a national ID, and I believe that he honestly believes that. But it’s worth taking a look at whether the group’s actions are consistent with opposition to a national ID. I believe CDT’s actions — most recently its support of the PASS ID Act — support the creation of a national ID. (The title of his post and some of his commentary suggest I have engaged in rhetorical excess and mischaracterized his views. Please do judge for yourself whether I’m being shrill or unfair, which is not my intention.) First I want to address an unusual cl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2648966 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:04:20 +0100 2648966 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2630054&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpHXPcnkCiBc%2F The proposed PASS ID Act is a national ID just like REAL ID, and it threatens privacy just as much. Some argue that a national ID under PASS ID should be palatable, though, because it reduces costs to states. But savings to states under PASS ID are not at all clear. Let’s take a look at the costs of creating a U.S. national ID. The REAL ID Act, passed in May 2005, required states to begin implementing a national ID system within three years. In regulations it proposed in March 2007, the Department of Homeland Security extended that draconian deadline. States would have five years, starting in May 2008, to move all driver’s license and ID card holders into REAL ID-compliant cards. The Department of Homeland Security estimated the costs for this project at $17.2 billion dollars (net ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2630054 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:46:38 +0100 2630054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2610894&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FPY-43SDN4t0%2F The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing yesterday on the REAL ID Act and the REAL ID revival bill, known as PASS ID. I attended and want to share with you some highlights. Good News! Little good came from the hearing, as it was primarily focused on how to get the states and people to accept a national ID. But there is some good news. First, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared REAL ID dead (much as I did in my testimony two-plus years ago). “DOA” is how she referred to it. She also said that no state will be in compliance with REAL ID by the current December 31, 2009 deadline. This is important because a lot of people think that states doing anything about the security of drivers’ licenses and ID cards ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2610894 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:50:38 +0100 2610894 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2605952&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FncNKyS6AZqw%2F Since the mid-1990s, the Defense Department has been legally required to review its strategy and force structure every four years, producing what’s called the Quadrennial Defense Review. The result has been a series of vacuous documents that commingle vague, unsubstantiated claims about great historical shifts underway (think Tom Friedman but without the empirical rigor) with threat inflation. There is no evidence that these documents have produced much beyond wasted time and effort. Naturally, the Department of Homeland Security decided to produce a quadrennial homeland security review, which is underway. Last week, ForeignPolicy.com reported that the State Department will get in on the act with a Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.  Apparently grand strategy documents ha... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2605952 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:36:04 +0100 2605952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2580188&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FG0mO0zd61pU%2F I’ve written about PASS ID here a couple of times before - first on whether or not it’s a national ID and, second, on the politics of this REAL ID revival bill. Now I’ll take a look at whether it fixes the privacy issues with REAL ID. Privacy is complicated. Buckle up. The day the bill was introduced, the Center for Democracy and Technology issued a press release giving it a privacy stamp of approval. “The PASS ID Act addresses most of the major privacy and security concerns with REAL ID,” said Ari Schwartz, Vice-President of CDT. The release cited four ways that PASS ID was an improvement over the bill it’s modeled on, REAL ID. Interstate Data Sharing? First, CDT said, PASS ID “[r]emoves the requirement that states ‘provide electronic access... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2580188 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:50:21 +0100 2580188 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2576540&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fhs4N-X7f_bY%2F The UK has been operating in parallel to the United States on the national ID question, and rumors about the collapse of the UK national ID have been circulating for a couple of years. Now comes word that Home Secretary Alan Johnson will scrap the national ID card system, making it voluntary. When volunteers fail to materialize, it is easy to anticipate that it will disappear entirely. This is another thing U.S. Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano might want to note as she struggles with with national ID issue here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2576540 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:15:51 +0100 2576540 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570390&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXPWvuVgcriA%2F Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been all over the map on national ID issues. As governor of Arizona, she signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bush DHS to implement “enhanced driver’s licenses” in her state. These are licenses with long-range RFID chips built into them. But then she turned around and signed legislation barring implementation of the REAL ID Act in Arizona. Now, having taken federal office, she again favors REAL ID — or at least under its new name: PASS ID. (Her efforts to put distance between REAL ID and PASS ID have not borne fruit.) In some respects, PASS ID is worse than REAL ID. It would give congressional approval to the “enhanced driver’s license” program — invented by DHS and State... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570390 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:43:50 +0100 2570390 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2477541&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFHWTKqeuu6A%2F Cyberwar. Cyberdefense. Cyberattack. Cybercommand. You run across these four words before you finish the first paragraph of this New York Times story (as reposted on msnbc.com). It’s about government plans to secure our technical infrastructure. When you reach the end of the story, though, you still don’t know what it’s about. But you do get a sense of coming inroads against Americans’ online privacy. The problem, which the federal government has assumed to tackle, is the nominal insecurity of networks, computers, and data. And the approach the federal government has assumed is the most self-gratifying: “Cyber” is a “strategic national asset.” It’s up to the defense, intelligence, and homeland security bureaucracies to protect it. But w... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2477541 Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:05:01 +0100 2477541 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2469446&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FKbOsfE3_zJQ%2F National Journal’s “Expert Blog” on National Security asked me late last week to comment on the question, “How Can Cyberspace Be Defended?” My comment and others went up yesterday. My response was a fun jaunt through issues on which there are no experts. But the highlight is the response I drew out of Michael Jackson, the former #2 man at the Department of Homeland Security. It does little to promote serious discourse about the truly grave topic of cyber security threats to begin by ridiculing DHS and DOD as “grasping for power” or to suggest that President Obama has somehow been duped into basing his sensible cyber strategy on “a lame and corny threat model called ‘weapons of mass disruption.’” It shows ignorance of the fac... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2469446 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:37:45 +0100 2469446 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2447453&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhpXcAnXjrOQ%2F Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would begin a further attempt to implement the Western Hemisphere Travel (Restriction) Initiative. WHTI is a congressionally mandated program to increase the documentation required for travel to and from neighboring countries. It’s a classic example of self-injurious overreaction to terrorism. The costs we incur for this program vastly outstrip the harms it averts. I have blogged about it here before. In a turn of phrase Orwell would love, a DHS blog post on the topic characterized the goings-on as “Boosting Border Security and Efficiency.” In January 2008, I wrote about the border bedlam that would ensue when the DHS implemented WHTI as it had threatened to do, but the DHS was bluffing. A post on the Identi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2447453 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:07:24 +0100 2447453 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441540&cid=t_100864_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fpathogen-insecurity-and-bio-wmd.html Marc Ostfield is the Senior Advisor for Bioterrorism, Biodefense, and Health Security, US Department of State, Office of International Health and Biodefense in Washington DC and believes that the concept of biosecurity as a primary strategy to combat terrorism is nothing more than an illusion. As a concept biosecurity, also known as pathogen security, suggests that governments can somehow assert control over terrorists who might use biological weapons, lethal pathogens, in their acts of violence against their enemies. However, virtually all pathogens exist in nature, the technology to manipulate and disseminate them is readily accessible and there are countless experts with the necessary skills to do so scattered across the globe. The anthrax attacks in the US in the wake of “9/11&#8... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441540 Fri, 22 May 2009 12:00:27 +0100 2441540 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2389659&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjhwD7iG_CAc%2F The Heritage Foundation’s “The Foundry” blog has a post up called “Questions for Secretary Napolitano: Real ID.” Honest advocates on two sides of an issue can come to almost perfectly opposite views, and this provides an example, because I find the post confused, wrong, or misleading in nearly every respect. Let’s give it a brief fisking. Below, the language from the post is in italics, and my comments are in roman text: Does the Obama Administration support the implementation of the Real ID Act? (Hope not . . . .) Congress has passed two bills that set Real ID standards for driver’s licenses in all U.S. jurisdictions. REAL ID was a federal law that Congress passed in haste as an attachment to a military spending bill in early 2005. To me, “REAL ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2389659 Wed, 06 May 2009 12:38:42 +0100 2389659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2364920&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLkWzT79QIpA%2F CNN wrote an exciting headline on Wednesday: “Homeland Security Chief Seeks to Repeal Real ID Act.” What they left out was that the replacement would be . . . the REAL ID Act. Intentionally or not, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has created the impression that the national ID law might go away. But simply renaming the Department of Homeland Security’s national ID program is not a repeal of REAL ID. The REAL ID revival bill that has been circulating is the same national identification and tracking system with a few of the sharpest corners taken off and the hope of federal money held out to up-to-now recalcitrant states. The REAL ID revival bill would corral every American citizen into the national ID system to try and attack illegal immigrants. Bills to re... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2364920 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:15:49 +0100 2364920 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2353757&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZf-KAaY_Ahk%2F Here’s Michigan state representative Paul Opsommer (R) on the Department of Homeland Security’s “Enhanced Driver’s License,” which contains a radio frequency identification chip with a long read range: Expect the Department of Homeland Security to tell you what a great thing they are doing by allowing you the ability to buy these RFID licenses. They create the problem, provide a solution that is the cheapest for them and most risky for you, and then expect you to like it. But RFID is not mandated by Congress, and if enough states stand up for themselves the policy will be changed. Michigan needs to say no and do just that. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2353757 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:41:06 +0100 2353757 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2347799&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeBjZ3yoxjIU%2F On the ACLU blog (”because freedom can’t blog itself”), Mike German has a great write-up that captures the depth of error in recent DHS “intelligence” reports on ideological groups. German shows that any ideology can be targeted if the national security bureaucracy comes to use activism as a proxy or precursor for crime and terrorism: A Texas fusion center warned about a terrorist threat from “the international far Left,” the Department of Homeland Security and a Missouri fusion center warned of threats posed by right-wing ideologues, and a Virginia fusion center saw threats from across the political spectrum and called certain colleges and religious groups “nodes of radicalization.” These are all examples of domestic security gone wron... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2347799 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:51:23 +0100 2347799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2306736&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJi9BXWfcgcI%2F People who don’t know me well don’t realize I’m not American.  I have no accent, am among the most patriotic people you could meet, went to college and law school here, interned for a senator, clerked for a federal judge, worked on a presidential campaign, spent time in Iraq, and speak and write about the U.S. Constitution for a living. I was born in Russia, however, and immigrated to Canada with my parents when I was little.  “We took a wrong turn at the St. Lawrence Seaway,” I like to joke. The upshot is that, much as I’ve wanted to be American since about age eight — when I discovered that the U.S. governing ethos was “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” while Canada’s is “peace, order, and good government&#82... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2306736 Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:35:44 +0100 2306736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2284341&cid=t_100864_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FlnePa5FFPiU%2F There’s not much chance that U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials went to Annapolis to argue against having Maryland implement the national ID law. Maryland’s Gazette reports: Federal homeland security officials skirted open meetings laws at a briefing last week on the state’s efforts to comply with the federal Real ID Act, unsettling several lawmakers in an era of heightened government transparency. A meeting with the Maryland House Judiciary Committee members and other lawmakers was carefully regulated to avoid reaching a quorum so open meeting rules could be avoided. Something is funny in the state of Maryland, and something is funny at the DHS, to insist on holding closed meetings about REAL ID during what President Obama promised would be the most open and ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2284341 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:20:04 +0100 2284341 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1041493&cid=t_100864_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F188190961%2F To the casual eye, my son is not disabled. He walks fine (maybe with a skip unbefitting a 10-year-old boy in quest of coolness); he talks (though listen closely and you’ll note that it’s the same words over and over and the initial and final sounds get slurred ); he carries two bags weighed down with groceries. He walks into school with an LL Bean backpack and wears a blue fleece coat (no matter that the only things in his backpack are a well-stocked lunchbox and a worn red folder—we are looking forward to the day when Charlie has a worksheet for homework). (And, he has the fleece’s hood pulled so far over his head that it is likely he can’t see anything except for what is directly in front of him.)    These are some reasons that people call autism a hidd... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1041493 Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:13:35 +0100 1041493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=471021&cid=t_100864_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D4539 KTLA(Via MM and Hot Air): Iraqi Man Caught at LAX with Weird Item in Body Cavity Security officers detained an Iraqi national at Los Angeles International Airport early today after a “metal object” was found in the man’s rectum during a body cavity search. Fadhel al-Maliki, 35, was selected for a more thorough check by screeners in [...] (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=471021 Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:30:04 +0100 471021