An alarm system is installed at our house and plenty of large, colorful signs stick up through the bushes in the front and back yards alerting the world that we are protected.  I realize that it’s nearly impossible to calculate whether or not a particular security effort results in the elimination of a given threat.  I’d like to think that the alarm, cameras and lights help.  But really, who knows?

At the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, much is being written about homeland security and some writers are asking whether the billions of dollars spent over the past decade to counter terrorism has been money well spent.

It’s a good question.  Federal governments, corporate security departments and private citizens alike do well to (more…)

More often than not, security systems miss the mark when they skip a vital step in developing their security standards and procedures.  They do not first clearly define the threat.  But only once you understand the threat, can you understand what is suspicious and then have a road map for procedures.

Take random checks as an example.  Think about how ambiguous it is when an officer is asked to “randomly” check a given number of people or objects.  Given the open-ended nature of that directive, the officer chooses what to check motivated by what amounts to whim: perhaps the officer has a non-confrontational personality and will avoid anything or anyone that appears troublesome.  What and whom he chooses to check could likewise be motivated by subconscious sexism, racism or some other psychological mindset.  With humans, there is no such thing as random.  A random check procedure can translate to a real vulnerability for a security system because it allows an officer to make screening decisions based on his own inclinations.

What’s more, a random check procedure is passive.  It requires no (more…)

It has been dubbed The Arab Spring.  When I’m feeling idealistic and poetic I too feel excitement at the prospect of regime changes that could result in a more democratic and less immoral political backdrop in areas of the Middle East.  But when a wary mood comes over me, I’m prone to see events in a less optimistic light.

Social ills and poverty, illiteracy, crumbling infrastructure and political discontent are often the seeds of revolution.  None of these problems is easily mended in today’s global economy.  Even when motivated by a desire for democracy, well-intentioned uprisings against autocratic authorities have not always worked out, especially where the West is concerned. The Iranian Revolution succeeded in bringing down the Shah but brought in its wake a fundamentalist (more…)

Memorial events are being prepared as the 10^th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 approaches.  This anniversary is on the mind not only of survivors of the heinous attack but also on the mind of the perpetrators.  The man who stepped into Bin Laden’s shoes, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a (yet confirmed) video this week calling on his followers to attack the U.S., any way they can.

In the 12-minute video, Zawahiri is dressed in white, his automatic weapon leaning against his side, urging “Muslim brothers everywhere” to pursue America.  “America today is (more…)

Last week, the DHS issued a bulletin to local law enforcement about potential terrorist threats on U.S. utility facilities.  I guess it’s a good idea to remind the public that such attacks are within the realm of possibility.  But with or without specific, credible intelligence about an imminent attack, given the momentous repercussions of a successful terrorist attack on for example, a nuclear site, isn’t it best to assume the worst?  All the time?  I don’t see this particularly juicy threat rising and then ebbing, I see it as a constant.

Sharif Mobley was employed between 2002-08 as a maintenance worker at five different nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.  He moved to Yemen in 2008.  In 2010, he was arrested by counter-terrorism agents for alleged ties to Al Qaida and Al Shabab and subsequently killed a guard while trying to escape detention.

His employment at sensitive infrastructure facilities is (more…)

Why is “profiling” a dirty word?  Mind you, not racial profiling, just … profiling.

Do you start to twitch reading that:

“Jane was often chosen for market surveys, as she met the client’s consumer profile perfectly.”

“Our dating service will find your love match by profiling the preferences you have indicated.”

“Did you see last night’s episode of Criminal Minds on Channel 2? Those FBI profilers are amazing.”

“The Chameleon company was profiled in Security Daily magazine this last month.”

A lot of confusion and emotion swirls around the subject of profiling that leads both to its misuse, and to misunderstanding.  The ACLU and other political groups are often in the news, up in arms about the (latest) incident of racial profiling.  I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, sure it does.  But racial profiling is not security profiling.  If you are looking for a terrorist, use racial profiling and you’ve making a mistake by ignoring whole segments of the population.  By looking only at young men of Middle Eastern descent, for example, you miss a giant segment of the population, one of whom may be a terrorist or a mule for a terrorist.

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Ask anyone – I am a calm person, adverse to drama.  We all agree that hysteria in the face of danger is counter-productive.  Yet … when I look around and see folks seemingly oblivious and ambivalent to serious threats, even I concede that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction into a kind of passive miasma.

When Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri vows to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden “blood for blood” in another day like 9/11  -  I believe him.  When Brig Gen Reza Naghdi of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says that “the filthy Americans and Zionists should not think that … they can divert our nation from its path of Jihad” … and threatens to kill American military generals  -  I believe him.  Back in 1999, when Saddam Hussein said “Oh sons of Arabs and the Arab Gulf, rebel against the foreigner … take revenge for your dignity, holy places, security, interests and exalted values.”  -  I believed him.  When the Covenant of Hamas states “ranks will  close,  fighters  joining  other  fighters,  and  masses  everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to  the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: ‘Hail to  Jihad!’”  – I believe that is their intention.

Why wouldn’t I?

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The other day I was glancing through Inspire magazine, a product of the Al Qaeda public relations machine.  It’s a slick, professional publication directed at – one assumes – an audience of would-be-terrorists, and is full of interesting articles on how to make a bomb or conduct surveillance.

Even before the advent of WikiLeaks, the non-terrorist public has enjoyed a fair amount of access to information that in governmental circles is considered classified.  With the internet, it’s relatively easy to learn about the vulnerabilities of security technology, the configuration of IEDs and how much explosives it takes to bring down a plane.  And now terrorists in the know are sharing this kind of information directly with the public.

What I find disturbing (more…)

At a dinner party l gave last night, just as dessert was being served, someone posed the following question: as a society, what would be more devastating to us, blowing up an Airbus 380 midair over a densely populated city or, a presidential assassination?  Yes, this is a depressing choice but after a brief, stunned silence, there was much animated talk around the table.  The questioner emphasized that we weren’t talking about any particular president; partisanship had no place in this theoretical scenario.

One guest pointed out that the president represents an entire nation and as a figure head, political leader and chief administrator, his death would be devastating.  Everyone knows who the president is but (more…)

Bin Laden’s capture and death was of course headline news.  With his passing, a historic page has turned, no doubt.  He was the face of the enemy, an able figure head.  Right now intelligence analysts are sifting through the cache of data he left behind to uncover the next plot, reveal conspirators or find clues as to the workings of the Al Qaida network.

But as important a role as Bin Laden had played over the past decade(s), there are others able and willing to take over leadership in that terrorist community.  What’s more, plenty of seeds have already been sowed and have grown into an army of trained and motivated terrorists strewn across the globe.  One might dispute the figures.  But even if one singular cell or a lone wolf amongst the thousands of recruits who passed through Bin Laden’s training camps succeeds in pulling off one attack, it can be said that Osama is still winning albeit from the grave.  Even absent a successful attack, the fact that we are obliged to remain vigilant, spending our money and resources to fight the War on Terror, means the terrorists have in a sense already won.

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