Last week the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested several persons in Ontario, Canada for alleged terrorist offenses which included plotting to blow up targets in Canada and funneling money to Afghani insurgents fighting Canadian soldiers. They were arrested for their activities in the planning stages of a potential attack. Police have emphasized that this group had been under surveillance for about a year, and was months away from execution.

Clearly, the most successful counter terrorism efforts are those that nip activities in the bud, at a distance from execution.

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Sometimes it seems the distinction between counter terrorism versus counter insurgency gets blurred.   After all, if the war on terror is global, what’s the difference if it’s being fought over here, or over there?  Indeed, the main issue distinguishing these efforts is where the enemy is operating.  In terrorism, they are working within your environment.  With insurgents, you are fighting them in theirs. 

Timelines for withdrawal aside, the Petraeus COIN doctrine spells out neatly the strategies to win a battle that go well beyond firepower to political, diplomatic, psychological, economic and social concerns.  A war of hearts, minds and pockets.  Alas, with few exceptions, most counter insurgencies fail.  Absent brutal broad strokes that decimate a population beyond the insurgents themselves (the U.S. versus native Americans, or vs. the Philippines at the turn of the 20^th c), insurgency is a real challenge to counter.  How many such campaigns can you count that have succeeded?

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Contrary to promises from the TSA that backscatter X-ray scanned images could not be saved or transmitted electronically, it appears that over 35,000 images were indeed saved – at a single Orlando Florida court house location, and who knows where else.  This news arrives on the heels of DHS Director Napolitano’s statement that these scanners are intended for deployment at all major airports in the United States. 

Privacy advocates are upset by this and other disclosures that have been trickling out about the capacity of the equipment and procedures for its use.   EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) has filed a lawsuit against the DHS to stop the program in its tracks.  The TSA defends itself and assures that the image recording functions are turned off when the body scanners are delivered to airports. 

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The NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority launched its If You See Something, Say Something campaign eight years ago and the logo has since been licensed to over 50 organizations.  The program is now expanding its reach into General Aviation.  Explaining why the DHS  is adopting a program for that sector, U.S. Secretary of HLS Napolitano noted that “Time and again we have seen the role the public can play in helping alert authorities to potential terrorist plots or criminal activity.”  She was addressing an audience at the annual Oshkosh air show.

Detractors of the General Aviation Secure Program claim that the sector is managing its security just fine,

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Nadia and Paul Rockwood were arrested by the FBI and last week pleaded guilty to charges of domestic terrorism which involved plotting the assassination of more than a dozen targets. The targets were people whom Paul, a convert to Islam and a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki, had identified as having desecrated Islam. It was to be his violent contribution to the Jihadi war against America.

This is a disconcerting story.  One wonders gee, which of my neighbors or colleagues is other than what they seem?  Heaven forbid we start spying on our neighbors and in any event, as the Rockwood case illustrates, it would not have helped.  According to friends and neighbors, nothing in their demeanor or conversation would have given them away.

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I recently watched a reality TV show whose subject is the security force at one of the world’s largest retail malls.  The show is aptly named Mall Cops: Mall of America (airs on the TLC network Thursday nights 10E/9C).  No ordinary mall, the Mall of America draws over 40 million visitors a year.  Covering some 3 million square feet, this immense property is located spitting distance from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport and also houses a metro transit hub.

It is an American capitalist institution and therefore, alas, a potential target for terrorists. 

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Host to the 2010 World Cup, South Africa took tremendous security measures employing over 40,000 police, clamping down on route and border security, building command centers, establishing surveillance and using state of the art communications technology.  They also received the full cooperation of the international community in preventing criminal and security threats to the event.  I applaud the success of these $170 million security efforts and believe they acted as a deterrent to those who would have gladly attacked the games.  Who? For example, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, spokesperson for Al Shabab, the Islamic militia trying to impose its extreme form of Sharia law on the Somali population while waging an insurgent war against the Somali government.  No fan of the sport, the Sheikh has likened soccer to a satanic act. (more…)

Often when we think of quality assurance or control, it’s in terms of customer service or manufacturing.  You bought a coffee maker; it was missing a part – poor quality control.  And while that is a hassle, think of how much more critical quality assurance is vis-a-vis security.  The consequences of poor security are far more grave than a dissatisfied coffee maker customer.

The measures against which one evaluates manufacturing quality is through put, customer satisfaction, costs and overall efficiency.  In security, the main and most important factor against which one measures quality is the adversary.  What is the adversary planning and what is their capacity?  The main objective of security, after all, is preventing the adversary from accomplishing its goals.

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If the Times Square bomber’s budget is an indicator, the cost of wreaking havoc in the middle of a bustling western city isn’t particularly high.  According to the federal indictment, payments totaling $15K were made to Faisal Shahzad to fund his failed attack on May 1st.  The payments were funneled through the (more…)

An estimated twelve million tons of cargo is loaded on to passenger carrying aircraft every day, representing one third of all U.S. domestic air cargo.  Over ten thousand tons of cargo and mail were shipped domestically in 2009, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Back in 2007, the 9/11 Commission Act began plugging up air cargo security holes by requiring that 50% of all domestic U.S. cargo be screened with a view to total phase in within a few years.  Well, a few years is here.  August 1, 2010 is the looming deadline for which each piece cargo must be fully screened or it cannot be loaded aboard aircraft. (more…)