Homeland Security Prepares for Its First Transition

“The handoff to the next administration is a year off, but Paul. A. Schneider, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, is making plans and keeping track of key lieutenants with a color-coded chart.

The chart shows critical jobs at 25 agencies and offices in the department. Schneider’s goal is to make sure that either the No. 1 or No. 2 in each post is a career civil service employee. When Bush administration political appointees go out the door next January, the career employees will provide for continuity of operations on the borders, at airports and in the headquarters.” (Washington Post)

Bush to Make Smaller Security Fund Cuts

“The Bush administration will cut counterterrorism money for police, firefighters and rescue departments next year, but not by as much as it originally proposed.

Next month the White House will request $2.2 billion to help states and cities protect against terrorist attacks in 2009, and not $1.4 billion, an administration aide told Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on Friday. That would be 10 percent more than the president requested for 2008, but 40 percent less than Congress gave the department this year.” (AP)

Gunman arrested outside Capitol

“A man with a shotgun was arrested a block from the U.S. Capitol on Friday but there were no shots fired or injuries, police said.

“We have one guy in custody. Nobody injured,” said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for U.S. Capitol police.” (Reuters)

Ridge: Fighting terror takes ‘People plus technology’

“Former Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge told a roomful of lawyers on Friday that the terrorist threat to the United States is “real and multi-generational,” but it also is “something we can deal with” through advances in intelligence-gathering and technology.

“People plus technology is what will get us where we need to be to be able to protect ourselves,” he said during an American Bar Association conference keynote. Ridge left his Cabinet-level post for the private sector in 2005 and now has his own consulting firm.” (GovExec)

New border security rules will help avoid shutdown later, says Chertoff

“Without new security rules at the Canada-U.S. border, there could be a clamour from Americans to close it completely if a terrorist slips through and attacks, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday.

Requiring people entering the United States to provide identification and proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate, starting at the end of January is a “reasonable” alternative, Chertoff told The Canadian Press in an interview.” (The Canadian Press)

CIA links al Qaeda, allies to Bhutto attack: paper

“The CIA blames al Qaeda and allies of a Pakistani tribal leader for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a Washington Post interview published on Friday.

Hayden’s comments were the most definitive public assessment by a U.S. intelligence official of who was responsible for the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader on December 27, the Post said, adding that the CIA assessment mirrors that of Pakistan.” (Reuters)

Panel urges border IT reforms

“A presidential committee has recommended changes in border processing technologies and procedures — including several categories of systems upgrades and policy reforms — to relieve onerous border crossing requirements for entry into the United States that have reduced foreigners’ desire to come to the country for tourism, study and business.

The panel noted that existing systems and procedures have crippled tourism, the higher-education sector and other industries because foreigners face unpredictable delays and a burdensome processing system due in part to inefficient information technology.” (GCN)

U.S. in middle of cyber war with China, Russia?

“The Cold War may be over, but the global battle over information security is heating up, as U.S. intelligence experts struggle to fend off relentless cyber attacks emanating from China and Russia on critical databases.

The New Yorker magazine published this week an interview with U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mike McConnell in which it reported that the Defense Department currently is detecting about three million unauthorized probes on its computer networks every day. The State Department fends off two million probes daily, intelligence experts said in the article.” (SC Magazine)

Border fence dispute brings Texas showdown

“Eloisa Tamez said she isn’t scared anymore, just determined. “I am not backing down,” she said.

Tamez owns three acres of land along the Texas-Mexico border where the Department of Homeland Security would like to build a border fence. The property is a remnant of a 12,000-acre grant from Spain to her family in 1767, before the United States even existed.

“It is my history. It is my heritage,” Tamez said.  This week, the Justice Department began legal action against landowners and municipalities who have refused to give government surveyors access to their land.” (CNN)

Border lawmakers reject Chertoff’s rhetoric on border security

“”Some lawmakers from border states are biting back at Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for saying that critics of new border security rules need to “grow up.”

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota says Chertoff’s “grow up” comment shows that Homeland Security doesn’t understand how its policies will affect “the everyday lives of border community residents.”" (Boston Globe)

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