Napolitano unveils plan for ‘leaner, smarter’ Homeland Security

Some people may think the words “government” and “efficiency” don’t belong in the same sentence. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano does not agree.

Napolitano outlined plans Friday to “improve efficiency and streamline decision-making” in her department.

According to her, millions of dollars can be saved by making changes in such things as how the department orders office supplies, gets computer software and uses energy. (CNN)

80,000 on TSA’s ‘cleared’ fliers list

A government list of “cleared” fliers, developed to cut airport hassles for people whose names are confused with suspects on the terrorist watch list, has grown to 80,000 names, records show.

The additions to the Transportation Security Administration’s “cleared list” reflect an influx of requests from people asking to be removed from the watch list. The watch list database has expanded 32% since 2007, to more than 1 million entries. The cleared list has grown because about 99% of the fliers seeking to be removed from the watch list were never on it, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the TSA. (USA Today)

Homeland Security chief may eliminate color-coded alerts system: It’s of ‘marginal utility’

Remember all those color-coded threat alerts from the feds on possible terrorist activity that kept citizens and local law enforcement scrambling after 9/11?

Well, new Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano doesn’t think they do much good, and they’ve disappeared from the front page of Homeland’s website.

Napolitano didn’t say she wanted to get rid of the alerts altogether, but she told MSNBC Tuesday that the alerts were of “marginal utility” and “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about them.” (NY Daily News)

Violence-plagued Mexico sees hope in U.S. border plan

Mexicans desperate for an end to drug gang murders, abductions and extortion saw a glimmer of hope on Tuesday as the United States vowed to tighten security on the increasingly violent border.

U.S. officials announced a $184 million program to add 360 security agents to border posts and step up searches for smuggled drugs, guns and money, as Mexico’s spiraling drug war seeps over the border into the United States. (Reuters)

Thousands getting terror training

Thousands of UK workers are being trained to help respond to a future terror attack as part of an updated counter-terror strategy, ministers say.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said shop and hotel workers would be among 60,000 people able to deal with an incident.

The updated approach, aimed at tackling immediate terrorist threats and the causes of extremism, would be the most comprehensive in the world, she added. (BBC)

Homeland’s top cop eyes border threat

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano has dispatched her top cop to border cities under threat from Mexico’s insurgent cartels to gather on-the-ground intelligence for an aggressive security operation, drawing people from her agency, the Pentagon, the White House and the Justice Department.

Napolitano announced on Thursday that former Alabama sheriff Edmund “Ted” Sexton is spending two weeks with sheriffs and police from Brownsville to San Diego as she telegraphed the Obama administration’s preparations for an offensive expected to enlist National Guard troops and agents from across the federal government.

“This is going to be a major effort,” she said. “We are doing a lot now — and we can do more.”

Cartel-on-cartel violence in Mexico, she said, “is upticking in the border areas.” (Houston Chronicle)

Wasting Homeland Security Dollars

In a first of its kind, a report from The Heritage Foundation provides a fresh look at the billions of dollars in homeland security grants handed out to state and local governments. The report details the federal, state, and local spending from 2000 to 2007 in 26 states, the District of Columbia, and 85 cities and counties that make up Urban Areas Security Initiative jurisdictions.

Among the key findings:–States and localities spend a lot more every year then the federal government. The billions of federal dollars distributed have had a marginal impact on national preparedness.

States and localities spend significantly more money, have substantially more people, and are in a much better position from which to act.

The federal intrusion into what is traditionally and rightly the responsibility of state and local governments undermines the principle of Federalism laid out in the Constitution, while doing little to keep Americans safe from terrorist attacks or natural disasters. (Heritage)

Emergency Responders Need Equipment Compatibility, DHS Official Says

The question from the 1984 Ghostbusters film — “Who ya gonna call?” — is a loaded one around here. One of my jobs as the director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Directorate for Science and Technology is to ensure that our heroes — emergency responders — can talk to one another. The buzzword is interoperability. I hear it daily, and there’s no question it’s critically important.

There’s also no doubt in my mind that interoperable technologies already exist. Of course, we can spend years making them better, faster and more powerful than ever before, but here’s the reality: We can buy technology that meets most of our needs now, while we continue to work on making the better stuff available. However, before we can begin implementing the technology, we must face a bigger issue: cultural differences. (GovTech)

New airport security rules to require more personal information

You may have been patted down at airports or suffered the indignity of having your dirty laundry from a vacation searched at screening checkpoints. Now prepare yourself for security to get a little more personal.

Passengers making airline reservations soon will be required to provide their birth date and their sex in addition to their names as part of aviation security enhancements the 9/11 Commission recommended. The information provided at the time seats are booked must exactly match the data on each traveler’s ID.

The new program, called Secure Flight, shifts responsibility for checking passenger names against “watch lists” from the airlines to the Transportation Security Administration. Only passengers who are cleared to fly by the TSA will be given boarding passes. (Chicago Tribune)

Homeland Security information security improves

Six years after the Homeland Security Department started operations, integrating the information technology systems of its 22 formerly separate agencies remains a primary, ongoing information security project for DHS’ senior leadership.

The integration and consolidation of DHS’ existing IT systems and architecture have proven difficult for many of the same reasons that other agencies have encountered. However, unlike other administrative tasks at DHS, IT management and information security can have an immediate effect on a DHS component agency’s operational performance. In addition, the IT programs at individual agencies were tied to each agency’s culture, mission and history. (FCW)

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