http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/RSS.ashxiPaper PagesMon, 02 Mar 2009 19:23:59 +0100http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=1http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=1108 COMMITTEES OVERSEEING DHS: THE CONGRESSIONAL CHALLENGE HomelandSecurityToday H O M E L A N D S E C U R I T Y I N S I G H T & A N A LY S I S March 2009 Vol. 6, No. 3 $5.95 USD ™ Can We Secure the World’s Busiest Ports? How it’s done in New York and Hong Kong The Savage Struggle, Part III The War for Mexico’s Future Getting Ready for Guest Workers The Department of Energy’s Rescue Role2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=2http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=2THE ENEMY IS UNCERTAINTY. What’s out there? What’s next? What’s around the corner? Our goal at DRS is to help defeat this common enemy, to turn questions into answers. Make the unknown known, and give your people the tools to succeed. In the field, you want answers. Which is why DRS continuously improves the technology to see more and know more within an ever-changing environment: night vision and vehicle sight enhancement products, tactical computers and communications tools that inform and enable personnel wherever they may be. Bring us your toughest challenges. We’re always looking for new enemies to conquer. www.drs.com2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=3http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=3DEPARTMENTS 3 4 7 Editor’s Letter Winning the savage struggle Updates & Responses Frontlines Which way for homeland security? BY CHARLES V. PEÑA PORT SECURITY 9 Funding & Resources Justice Department will administer stimulus funding— but why? BY MICHAEL PADDOCK Best Practices Half a World Away By Liza Porteus Viana 11 Responders Today Hampton Roads, Va.: Linking the seven cities BY MICKEY McCARTER New York and Hong Kong are two of the world’s busiest ports. How they handle security—and what they need to do in the future—may hold lessons for other facilities. 20 14 Nebraska Ave. Consolidating Congress BY KELLEY VLAHOS • DHS Roster 26 THE SAVAGE STRUGGLE, PART III 16 Agency Spotlight The state of IT security at State BY HANK HOGAN The War for Mexico’s Future By Jana Schroeder 17 Market Monitor Northrop Grumman pursues growth opportunities BY PHILIP FINNEGAN Mexican President Felipe Calderon is locked in a mortal struggle with the country’s drug cartels. How did Mexico get to this point? Homeland Security Today’s Mexico City correspondent traces the politics in the final installment of the story of the Savage Struggle. 18 Industry News • Industry Roster The Guest Worker Challenge By Mickey McCarter 44 Tools & Technology 48 Leadership Profile Chris Broderick CoreStreet 34 The idea of a guest worker program has not gone away despite political and economic upheavals. A report on what it would entail and how likely it is to occur. RESOURCES 46 Tradeshow circuit 46 Advertiser index 47 Coming in the next issue COVER PHOTO: A worker leaps between containers at a container terminal in Hong Kong. (REUTERS/Bobby Yip BY/FA) DOE: Working to Keep the Lights On By Mickey McCarter 40 Read more articles online at The nation’s stimulus package puts great emphasis on energy efficiency and improvement— and that just may improve homeland security as well. www.HSToday.us2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=4http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=4When the responsibility rests on your shoulders, let the reliability rest on ours. Providing your people with tools they need to remain connected and on task is an enormous responsibility. As America’s largest and most reliable 3G network, Verizon Wireless understands the rigorous demands of government agencies. From interoperability to supporting continuity initiatives, Verizon Wireless is providing the eld-proven solutions your agency needs today—with scalable support for tomorrow. Schedule a custom audit of your department’s wireless voice and data readiness. Click www.verizonwireless.com/gov Call 800.657.7649 America’s most reliable wireless network claim based on fewest aggregate blocked and dropped connections. See verizonwireless.com/bestnetwork for details. © 2009 Verizon Wireless. GOVHSTREST3092009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=5http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=5EDITOR’S LETTER Winning the savage struggle WITH JANA SCHROEDER’S REPORT IN THIS ISSUE, “THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE,” ON THE POLITICS OF WHAT WE’VE BEEN CALLING “THE SAVAGE STRUGGLE,” WE COME TO THE END OF OUR THREE-PART SERIES ON EVENTS SOUTH OF THE US BORDER. We devoted so much space and attention to this one subject because it’s so important for the homeland security of the United States and it could have a major impact here if allowed to go unchecked. Frankly, we hoped to draw attention to it at a time when the major American media simply overlooked it. Since we began our series, there has been more focus on the battle going on in Mexico. It was no coincidence that President Obama’s first official visitor was Mexican President Felipe Calderon. It’s certainly our hope that the attention of policymakers is drawn to this struggle and its implications. gration reform and a path to citizenship for productive, legal, law-abiding immigrants. As Brian Jenkins pointed out in his article, “Could Mexico Fail?” in the second installment of the series, “It is simply not in the national security interest of the United States to have a floating underworld population of 12 million people who are vulnerable to blackmail and other pressure. The security of the nation would be better served by legalizing and fully integrating them into society, however unpopular that may be with certain sectors of the American electorate.” We also need a reasonable, wellmanaged guest worker program. Though demand is down right now because of the economic depression we’re in, there will still be some requirement for guest workers. It would be best if this was a legal channel benefiting both employers and employees. Lastly, and this comes out in Jana’s report in this issue, we have to staunch— and preferably stop—the flow of weapons from the United States to the drug cartels in Mexico. American arms traffickers are enabling the challenge to the duly constituted authority of Mexico. They’re selling heavy weapons that are being turned against American authorities on the border and they’re destabilizing Mexico— not only in the northern states but in the capital. The narco-terrorists don’t need to turn to Al Qaeda for their arms; they can shop for them at gun shows in the United States. That spigot must be closed. Some of this work is already under way thanks to the Merida Initiative, launched in June 2008, which is providing Mexico with $400 million to conduct its struggle. While the United States is cash-strapped and will be for a generation or more, whatever it can do to implement and enhance the Merida Initiative is worth doing. Also, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been implementing Project BY DAVID SILVERBERG “The effort to staunch narcotic demand is as old as the criminalization of drugs.” Gunrunner, an effort to stop the flow of weaponry over the border to the cartels. All these efforts need to be supported and intensified. Action items In delving into this situation in such depth, we cannot help but see certain actions that need to be taken for the sake of the security of the American homeland. Some of these are already under way. First, the American people must cut down their demand for illegal drugs and government must help with social programs as well as enforcement. The effort to staunch narcotic demand is as old as the criminalization of drugs. The formal war against illegal drugs has dragged on for nearly 40 years and no doubt it will drag on as long as people seek experiences outside of their normal consciousness. Narcotic demand will never be eliminated entirely, but law enforcement is putting a crimp in the traffic and, indeed, certainly seems to be succeeding at the border. However, the Mexicans are right when they point to demand in the United States drawing contraband northward from their own country. Still, they can’t be as blasé about it as they were in the past; the effects of narcotics are starting to settle2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=6http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=6UPDATES & RESPONSES Tornado season opens early THIS YEAR’S TORNADO SEASON OPENED ON FEBRUARY 10,A BRIGHT AND UNSEASONABLY WARM DAY NEAR OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. While tornadoes can form at any time of the year if the weather conditions are right, the last twister to touch ground in Oklahoma in February was in 2000. According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., only 44 tornadoes have hit Oklahoma in February since 1950. (Homeland Security Today covered last year’s tornado season in the article, “A time of tornadoes,” in the December 2008 issue.) Temperatures had been in the 70s for several days near where I live in Oklahoma City. When I left home, the sky was clear to the east and to the west it looked like we had some rain approaching. At around 2:15 pm, as I was driving with the windows down, I suddenly heard the unmistakable piercing sound of a tornado siren. It was an alarm that pretty much surprised everyone within earshot, including me—I hadn’t a clue that a tornado-spawning supercell had formed nearby. Looking in my rearview mirror, the sky behind me had turned black. I could easily see in the distance the descending wall cloud in which tornadoes breed. And one was breeding. It was perhaps a few miles away. My reaction was, “What the hell? . You’ve got to be kidding!” Not yet on the ground, the wall cloud swept the forming tornado along on a northwesterly course away from me just on the edge of Oklahoma City’s boundary. Skirting a lake and the community of Bethany, it then went back into Oklahoma City several more miles to the north and west where it finally made ground contact. REUTERS/JESSICA RINALDI HSToday PHONE: ™ P.O. Box 9789, McLean, Va. 22101-3611 800-503-6506 FAX: 866-503-5758 WWW.HSToday.US PUBLISHER Kimberley S. Hanson-Brown PHONE: 800-503-6506 khanson@HSToday.us EDITOR David Silverberg PHONE: 703-757-0520 editor@HSToday.US SENIOR REPORTER Anthony Kimery akimery@HSToday.us BUSINESS EDITOR Philip Leggiere Business@HSToday.us WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS Mickey McCarter Kelley Vlahos REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTS NORTH AMERICA A woman carries her daughter on her back as she tries to salvage items amidst debris caused by a tornado in Lone Grove, Okla., on Feb. 11. Storm line The funnel was part of one huge supercell in a line of severe storms and tornado-forming supercells that extended from the Texas panhandle slicing up through Oklahoma into southeastern Kansas. From all indications, the tornado didn’t start touching the ground until it reached a high traffic, populous business intersection in the upper northwestern part of the city. And that’s when buildings began to be ripped apart, vehicles flung through the air and power line poles snapped in two. The tornado continued into Edmond, an affluent suburb, where it nearly obliterated at least a half-dozen large homes next to the nationally known Oak Tree golf course and country club, and moderately damaged many dozens more. At least 38 other luxury homes were heavily damaged and 16 others sustained moderate injury. The twister left major roads in the area blocked with power line poles that fell across the pavement like dominoes. At one point, 30,000 homes and businesses were without power. The tornado was later estimated to be several hundred yards wide, on the ground periodically for up to 15 minutes and reaching close to F3 strength. An F3 tornado can have circulating winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and generally causes severe damage, which was clearly illustrated by the way this tornado twisted and contorted the steel frames of some buildings. In this touchdown, fortunately, there were no fatalities or serious injuries. “The emergency alert system and sirens worked properly and saved lives,” Michelann Ooten, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management told me. “Thank God for Edmond’s alarms and sirens because they did work,” Jim Berry, director of security for Oak Tree Golf Club and the Oak Tree Homeowners Association, to2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=7http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=7CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF INNOVATION. And recognition as security systems integrator and monitoring provider of the year. As a security pioneer, the world’s leading systems integrator and North America’s top monitoring provider, Diebold delivers integrated security systems to protect your assets and optimize your operations. 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To discover how Diebold can address your organization’s security concerns with a comprehensive security solution CONTACT A DIEBOLD REPRESENTATIVE AT (800) 568-7233 OR VISIT WWW.DIEBOLD.COM/SECURE2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=8http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=82009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=9http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=9FRONT LINES Which way for homeland security? BY CHARLES V. PEÑA UNDERSTANDABLY, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS FOCUSED ON THE ECONOMY AND FOREIGN POLICY AS HIS FIRST PRIORITIES, BUT ANOTHER MATTER IMMEDIATELY PRESSING IS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS), WHOSE BUREAUCRACY WAS BORN OF POLITICAL HASTE IN THE WAKE OF SEPT. 11, 2001. Early on, a lot of homeland security was the bottom in every category. Similarly, about determining what color to set the according to the 2007 Best Places to Work alert level at and issuing dire warnings survey, DHS was second to last overall for about terrorism while telling the public to large government agencies and at or near go shopping. Now, as DHS enters its seventh the bottom in every category. One of the year, it—and the larger enterprise of homekeys to fixing morale will be to transition land security—remains a work in progress. many of the current political positions to So where should the Obama administracareer civil servant positions and ensure tion go from here? they are filled by professionals dedicated to the homeland security mission, not politiDirections old and new cal idealogues. Although Obama picked Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as his secretary, from a FROM AN OPERATIONAL bureaucratic perspective, the daunting first PERSPECTIVE, DHS STILL task remains filling the void left by the politiNEEDS TO BE TRANScal appointees of the Bush administration. FORMED INTO A UNIFIED DHS has some 300 political positions in its ORGANIZATION.” 180,000-person workforce—an extremely high ratio and the largest number of political appointees of all the federal agencies. To From an operational perspective, DHS provide some perspective, the Department still needs to be transformed into a unified of Defense—with almost 700,000 civilian organization, in much the same way that employees—has 200 political appointees. the Joint Staff brings the military services Although the Obama transition team was together into a common working arrangeflooded with resumes, finding 300 qualified ment. Because the department was created people remains no small feat. Traditionally, by a merging of 22 separate agencies, it political positions are doled out as patronremains disjointed—as evidenced by its age for campaign loyalty, but staffing DHS three components with common missions: requires making decisions based on qualifiCustoms and Border Protection, Immigracations rather than party affiliation and polittion and Customs Enforcement, and Citiical paternalism. zenship and Immigration Services—and But DHS is challenged by more than just that lack of synergy is reflected in its budget. placing the right people with the right Since the department was created, the expertise and experience in staff positions. budget has grown by nearly 40 percent, but Because DHS is still searching for an identhe money continues to be divided almost tity and a corporate culture, leadership and the same every year—FY2009 reflected temperament also matter. Turnover at the identical allocations to FY2008 for the department during the Bush administration seven major operating components. And was very high, and many of the best and five years of “more of the same” spending is brightest moved on to greener pastures. proof that DHS has yet to allocate resources Workforce morale sank below sea level. In a based on requirements to achieve capabiliJuly 2006 Office of Personnel Management ties necessary to conduct missions and satisfaction survey given to federal employ- enabling the department to achieve its ees in all 36 agencies, DHS was last or near strategic goals and objectives. DHS does not have to reinvent the wheel, but need only look across the Potomac River to the Pentagon and adapt its Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution System (PPBES), which—although not perfect—is a proven and an accepted standard to the mission of homeland security. Proper approaches Perhaps most important is the larger question of how to approach the cha2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=10http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=10Discover the Latest Disaster Response & Recovery Equipment, Technology and Services! 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VISIT WWW.DRREXPO.COM A P R I L 5 – 7 , 2 0 0 9 • H I L T O N A N AT O L E , D A L L A S , T E X A S2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=11http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=11FUNDING & RESOURCES Justice Department will administer stimulus funding—but why? BY MICHAEL PADDOCK BY ANYONE’S STANDARDS, PRESIDENT OBAMA’S $825 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE, THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009, IS AN AMBITIOUS UNDERTAKING. IT PROVIDES FOR $275 BILLION IN TAX CUTS AND ANOTHER $550 BILLION IN FUNDING FOR TARGETED SPENDING PROGRAMS ACROSS A WIDE SWATH OF FUNCTIONAL AREAS, INCLUDING PUBLIC SAFETY. ITS STATED PURPOSE IS TO CREATE 3 MILLION TO 4 MILLION JOBS, JUMPSTART THE ECONOMY AND BEGIN TO TRANSFORM THE COUNTRY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. But homeland security is largely left out Hiring Program and the drastic reduction of the bill, both functionally and in referof formula funding to local law enforceence to the Department of Homeland Secu- ment through the Byrne Formula Grant rity (DHS). There is no additional Urban and its later iteration, the Byrne Justice Area Security Initiative funding, no more Assistance Grant Program. border security funding and, except for Distrust of DHS $500 million for the Transportation Security Administration to purchase airport explo- Using these old stalwart programs to distribute the funding is reasonable as a sives detection systems and funding to promechanism for quick distribution to local cure non-intrusive inspection technology at law enforcement. Both COPS and Byrne sea ports, the bill contains no support for infrastructure security. Perhaps it was already distribute hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Adding a few hundred because homeland security had already million more shouldn’t strain their collecbeen funded for 2009, with the application tive administrative capacity. But the more period half over when the stimulus bill was relevant question is—why not pass those passed, or maybe it was that in moving to transform the country for the 21st century, pubHY NOT PASS THOSE FUNDS THROUGH lic safety funding had to DHS, WHICH HAS BEEN BUILDING take a step back to the JUST SUCH AN ADMINISTRATIVE 20th century. APPARATUS SINCE 2002? Aside from the aforementioned airport and seaport funding, the funds through DHS, which has been buildonly significant public safety funding alloing just such an administrative apparatus cations in the stimulus package were for $3 billion for the Edward Byrne Memorial since 2002? Pushing the funds out through the Justice Assistance Grant program and $1 Department of Justice (DoJ) rather than DHS billion for the Community Oriented Policmay be a sign of the administration’s mistrust ing Services (COPS) hiring program. of the DHS funding mechanism itself,and it’s These two programs are updated versions of the Byrne Formula Grant Program, no secret that DHS funding has had issues. It which was started up as part of the started out with a population-based formula Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets distribution much like Byrne, and with quite a bit of overlap that eventually caused the Act of 1968, and the Clinton-era COPS UniByrne program to suffer. Then DHS moved to versal Hiring Program , both of which predate the widespread use of the term a “quasi-competitive” approach, with mixed “homeland security,” or even of “home- results following an application review and scoring process that was lacking in transland,” for that matter. Both of these programs also hit a down- parency and missing clear guidance to the applicants. Finally, in 2009, DHS shifted ward slide in 2000, resulting in the evenagain, this time to a pre-allocation model tual elimination of the COPS Universal with opportunities to adjust each potential recipient’s base allocation up or down by a few percent,based on responses in the application. Moreover, when DHS administered the one-time, billion-dollar Public Safety Interoperable Communications program during 2007, local governments in several states had no idea that they had funding coming to them. Instead, they were told how to sign off on letting the state spend the money for them. The lack of technical assist2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=12http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=12IT TAKES MORE THAN PHYSICAL BARRIERS TO GUARD YOUR CITY’S DRINKING WATER. 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Call and find out how GuardianBlue can protect your city’s water distribution network today. 1-800-604-3493 www.hachHST.com2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=13http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=13RESPONDERS TODAY Linking the seven cities BY MICKEY McCARTER, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT LAST YEAR, THE NORFOLK POLICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT AN ILLEGAL FENCING OPERATION BEING CONDUCTED OUT OF A LOCAL CONVENIENCE STORE. Storeowners were purchasing large amounts of over-the-counter medications from drug users, who were stealing the items from other retail locations throughout the Hampton Roads region. Investigators discovered that the businesses ran through five jurisdictions among seven local cities. Residents from four of them were involved in the fencing. They also moved medications out of state, prompting the involvement of federal law enforcement agencies. To collect information on the thieves and the fences and to share information across jurisdictions, investigators turned to the Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX) program, the regional shared records management system. As a result of this information sharing, authorities shut down the fencing operation, which had been purchasing $200,000 a month in stolen medications in the city of Norfolk alone. Hampton and Suffolk. Because of their close physical proximity, the cities often work together. The seven cities originally collaborated on an information-sharing network known as the Comprehensive Regional Information Management Exchange System (CRIMES), but soon found the system too limited. “We were growing out of it pretty quickly,” Lt. Frank Allgood of the Norfolk Police Department told HSToday. “Then the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) stepped up with their deep pockets and said they would house the information in a new system if they could have access to it. That was about five years ago and now that joint venture has 72 partner agencies.” Thus, the regional police departments and the US Navy formed LInX, which has spread to other jurisdictions around the nation, mostly in areas around Navy bases, Allgood said. NCIS realized the large Navy presence in the Hampton Roads region could benefit from access to the local law enforcement information when required. Other federal agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI, soon became involved as well. The FBI has connected LInX to its crime index of information submitted by police departments nationwide. LInX offered faster speeds and more robust resources than CRIMES, enabling the HAMPTON ROADS, VA addition of important details such as mug shots to accompany arrest records. It also contains arrest records,incident reports and crime reports. Analysts can run queries on the text contained in its records. “We have solved a number of crimes using LInX where we might have just had a street name because all that information is housed in there,” Allgood noted. LInX also has extended information sharing into the patrol cars of officers on the street. Officers have the capability to look up mug shots in their cars to help them make determinations on the spot. “Most of the other cities around here use it as a tactical or investigative tool, but we wanted to give it to the frontline guys,” Allgood remarked. “We put together a monthly usage report, and our numbers for usage are higher than all of the other cities combined.” The LInX system also updates itself every 24 hours at night by pooling information from the individual law enforcement agencies that contribute to it. So LInX stays updated and provides that information from a central location faster than its predecessor system did. Wish list Despite the vast improvements offered by LInX, Allgood would like to see some additional functions added to the system. His department has studied a mapping function available to state police in Florida. The Norfolk Police Department has requested grant funding from the Department of Homeland Security through the Virginia state Department of Criminal Justice Services in Richmond to add the capability to LInX. The mapping function would plot arrests and incidents on a pin map, making it 2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=14http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=14RESPONDERS TODAY THEY’LL GET THE MESSAGE. State Patrol FRONT PORCH FRONT PORCH NCIS DATA WAREHOUSE FRONT PORCH County PD County PD County PD FRONT PORCH City PD The LInX system developed by the US Navy to tie together different law enforcement, military and homeland security agencies. It is currently in use by towns, cities and military bases in the Hampton Roads, Va. area. ALERT FM™ allows emergency managers to send critical information to targeted recipients like citizens, businesses and first responders in seconds. This personal alert and messaging system transmits messages using the data subcarrier of local FM stations. It’s Reliable. It’s Affordable. And it’s available right now. So don’t let another emergency strike before contacting us today to find out how you can better protect your citizens with ALERT FM. text searching capability to look through narratives on user-submitted information reports like the FBI’s unclassified reports available through the OneDOJ database, Allgood observed. In addition, the technology specialist would like to see access to the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, giving officers in the field the ability to pull up fingerprints to verify identities quickly. More than automation Norfolk police officials emphasize the importance of regularly meeting with neighboring jurisdictions, as well as state and federal authorities in person, to gain a complete information-sharing picture. Intelligence operations generally involve exchanges of information on levels outside of LInX, which does not contain intelligence reports specifically, said Sgt. Alex McConnaghy of the Norfolk Police Department Criminal Intelligence Unit. Another initiative is the 7 Cities Intelligence Group, an information-sharing collaborative effort between the seven municipal police departments. “Our Investigative Division meets monthly with other police departments and private security professionals to exchange information on trends and occurrences,” McConnaghy told HSToday. “LInX does not deal with intelligence;it’s a whole different animal. We want to take care not to merge those two entities.” Norfolk Assistant Police Chief Sharon Chamberlin, head of investigative services, added that the department continues to meet with NCIS and cooperate with their intelligence component as appropriate. “There are relationships that are nurtured on a regular basis,” she told HSToday. “We have meetings at the chief’s levels with reps from the NCIS. The exchange is there and the cooperative effort is there with all of our partners.” HST This month’s issue is now available online at… 1-866-869-5180 www.ALERTFM.com 12 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=15http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=15RETROFIT YOUR PRINT AD Customize your print ad with interactive tools http://HomelandSecurityToday/ January2009/ View our new digital edition hstoday.us/index.phpoption.com Sign up for daily e-newsletters “ I have been reading your magazine since you began publishing. I have always looked forward to receiving the monthly editions. The articles, interviews and content have always been excellent. Now, I have just went through and read the on-line edition—well done. The best I have seen. 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Contact sales today at 1-800-503-6506 or sales@hstoday.us and unleash your ad’s hidden power.2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=16http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=16NEBRASKA AVENUE Consolidating Congress BY KELLEY VLAHOS, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT JESSICA HERRERA-FLANIGAN REMEMBERS WHEN THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY WAS NOT ONLY NEW BUT WASN’T EVEN CONSIDERED PERMANENT AND HAD NO PLACE TO LIVE. AS ONE OF THE COMMITTEE’S INAUGURAL COUNSELS, SHE AND THE OTHER STAFFERS WERE FORCED TO SET UP SHOP IN THE BOWELS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, INVISIBLE TO CAPITOL HILL—UNTIL THEY WERE EVICTED AND SENT OFF TO THE NEXT CUBBYHOLE. Five years later, the House committee and its Senate counterpart are permanent, but they still tend to get lost in the congressional fray. Though they have some direct Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight responsibilities, they continue to compete with 108 other committees on Capitol Hill that also claim some jurisdiction over DHS. Confusion—for both the homeland security committees and the agency—reigns. Herrera-Flanigan, now working for the Monument Policy Group, a private consulting firm in Washington, wants to see that number of competing committees greatly reduced and for the House and Senate homeland security committees to have primary oversight—and she is not alone. For years, the agency has asked for a simple streamlining—and has yet to get it. “They need to consolidate as much as possible,” Herrera-Flanigan told HSToday outside a November homeland security policy conference sponsored by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and Center for Strategic and International Studies, at which present and former committee aides spoke about the need for reform. The idea of consolidation was not only urgently endorsed by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (otherwise known as the 9/11 Commission) in 2005 but has been unsuccessfully proposed in bipartisan legislation on the Hill. “There’s been some improvement,” Herrera-Flanigan offered, particularly when the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security Committee were made permanent in 2005—but it’s hardly enough. Mike Russell, a Republican staffer for the House Homeland Security Committee, also speaking at the November conference, shook his head. “The situation has actually gone from bad to worse,” he charged. He pointed out that the number of committees with oversight authority over DHS went from 86 to 108 just in the last year. He said homeland security officials had to testify in 377 hearings, participate in 4,922 briefings and answer thousands of questions and requests for documents from various committees—and that was just in the last two years of the recently adjourned 110th Congress. The view from DHS Officials at DHS feel no differently. In an interview with HSToday, DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner said officials have long expressed frustration over their many congressional masters and how the oversight problem has resulted in confusion, conflicting information and demands, mixed messages regarding legislative priorities and an uneven focus. “When you have so many different committees with oversight,you are really lacking that one committee that has a good sense of what all of the department is doing—not just one aspect of the department. It’s an issue of direction,” said Keehner. Jan. 21 was a big day for DHS: Janet Napolitano was sworn in as secretary…R. David Paulison announced his departure as director of FEMA and Harvey Johnson stepped down as FEMA’s deputy administrator and chief operating officer…On Jan. 23 Jane Holl Lute was nominated as DHS deputy secretary and Napolitano named Noah Kroloff as chief of staff for policy to the secretary and Jan Lesher as chief of staff for operations to the secretary…On Jan. 29 Ivan Fong was nominated for DHS general counsel. 14 March 2009 DHS ROSTER Considering the history and composition of DHS, all of this shouldn’t come as a surprise. When DHS opened its doors for the first time in 2003, it incorporated 22 existing agencies and components—all of which already had to an2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=17http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=17NEBRASKA AVENUE example is reflected in House consideration of the DHS Authorization bill in the spring of 2007, when numerous provisions were stripped on the floor because of jurisdictional disputes.” Ironically, according to the letter, among the things that were stripped from the authorization bill—including a measure strengthening maritime alien smuggling and the authorization of an animal disease research facility—was oversight consolidation. That “spider web of oversight” has the potential of gumming up many things. It not only gobbles up Department energy by demanding officials be on the Hill testifying and answering policy queries, rather than doing their actual jobs, but the agency has a tough time establishing priorities in one area without stepping on someone else’s toes in another. Thirdly, outside interests—whether private partners or industry representatives— find it doubly hard to get their own message heard when it is diluted through different committees with competing agendas and positions. “Congressional chaos—this is exactly the way it seems for people outside looking in and exactly how it is for people on the inside looking out,” said David Olive, who worked with former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) and is now co-founder of his own lobbying firm, Olive, Edwards & Cooper. Olive doesn’t see the Senate moving on the issue anytime soon. First,he said,“I think the Senate will be entirely tied up with nominations.” He and others agreed that the Senate consolidation was a bit pricklier because, to truly make streamlining happen, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security would have to be split up into two committees first. Russell, who as a current aide has his finger on the pulse of the congressional committee culture, agreed a split won’t happen in this Congress. In the House, there are better opportunities for consolidation this year, but Pelosi would have to make a concerted effort to sit down with the current committee chairs and convince them it would be in everyone’s best interest to shift jurisdiction of homeland security-related issues to the homeland security committee. “This is a bipartisan problem, and it will continue to be a problem until the Speaker weighs in personally,” said Olive. “I do not mean to sound cynical, just realistic.” Pelosi has made no public statement on the subject, nor did her office return phone calls on the matter before Congress closed for the Thanksgiving break. involving budget, assets, capabilities, programs, policies and authorities, according to the DHS website. Homeland Security analysts like Jim Carafano of Heritage say that the mission of the QHSR is for the agency to engage in a clear dialogue with Congress to map out its goals, but such a dialogue is impossible when the agency has no direct partner on Capitol Hill. “The QHSR can’t happen without consolidation. Everything you include will alienate someone else,” he said. “Consolidating now could pay enormous dividends.” HST Congress and the review This year, DHS will be putting the final touches on the first-ever Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) with a release date of Dec. 31, 2009. Patterned after the Quadrennial Defense Review, the document will be a wide-ranging prospectus on the agency’s long-term strategy WHEN DUTY CALLS, COMMUNICATE WITH DAVID CLARK n the air, on the ground or on the water, David Clark noise-attenuating headsets and systems make the difference for military and civilian professionals. We manufacture the highest quality headsets and intercom systems for aviation, ground support, fire/rescue, marine, two-way radio and special operations. David Clark products provide outstanding comfort, communication clarity and rugged reliability – from military cockpits to Homeland Security power boats. Find out how we can serve you. Call 800-298-6235 for more information. Series 9500 AIR, LAND AND SEA… I Model H10-76XL #1 Headset in Aviation TEL: (508) 751-5800 E-Mail: sales@davi2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=18http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=18AGENCY SPOTLIGHT The state of IT security at State BY HANK HOGAN, HSTODAY IT CORRESPONDENT A TIP A DAY CAN KEEP PROBLEMS AWAY. THAT, AT LEAST, IS THE THOUGHT BEHIND ONE PART OF AN INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS TRAINING PROGRAM RUN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. When users log in, they get two sentences of security awareness instruction, followed by a true or false question that measures mastery of the subject. John Streufert, the State Department’s director of the office for information assurance and its chief information security officer, noted that a user’s answer is important. “We keep track of whether they have success or failure.” Such tips of the day are part of an information security awareness training program that is now offered by State to other Cabinet departments. There’s also an annual course through the Foreign Service Institute. DEPARTMENT OF STATE site grading. This regular program scans sites and identifies known vulnerabilities. The goal is to improve this grade over time, but the assessment isn’t static. The target changes, with the list of vulnerabilities being probed continuously evolving. Those vulnerabilities are the ones that scored highest in the last 30 days according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Over the last few years, these grade improvements have cut the risk substantially. While not divulging specifics about the impact on the State Department, Streufert noted that similar programs implemented elsewhere have eliminated twothirds of the risks highlighted by the CVSS in as little as six months. A final example of improvement can be found in an application licensed by the State Department from Quest Software, Aliso Viejo, Calif. Tom Dunwoody, civilian sales manager for Quest’s federal division, noted that the software builds upon the Active Directory technology found in Microsoft products. Quest’s application helps manage, provision, reprovision and, importantly, deprovision users quickly. That’s critical, given that people who join an organization need access to the right information while those who leave must have their privileges terminated. The tool ensures the changes for both cases are made and approved rapidly and in controlled ways. “If you do this right, other forms of identity management, such as building access, application access, things like that, become—I don’t want to say easy—but become efficient,” said Dunwoody. Spanning the globe Both training programs are part of ongoing IT security improvements at the State Department. These are necessary because the department faces some unique challenges. It operates in 260 locations in some 170 countries around the world. It has about 100 domestic sites. In addition to US citizens, there are about 40,000 foreign nationals who work for State, mostly at various embassies or consulates. Because it operates around the world and deals in sensitive information, State is a tempting target for hackers and cyber criminals. In testimony before the House of Representatives nearly two years ago (http://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/rm/83256. htm), officials said that two million anomalous external probes of the department’s network happened daily. That testimony covered a series of attacks from May to July 2006, in which an apparently legitimate e-mail sent to a real State Department address in the East Asia Pacific region had an attached congressional speech on a topic pertaining to the region. The document contained malicious code that established secret contact from systems within the State Department to locations outside the department’s unclassified network. That intrusion was quickly detected, thanks to safeguards in place. “We monitor our networks. We have 24/7 monitoring,” Don Reed, assistant director for security infrastructure in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the State Department, told HSToday. Other components of the network protection scheme include a computer incident response team. There’s also a regional computer security2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=19http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=19MARKET MONITOR Northrop Grumman pursues growth opportunities BY PHILIP FINNEGAN THE MANAGEMENT OF NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP ., LOS ANGELES, CALIF ., SEES KEY GROWTH HOMELAND SECURITY OPPORTUNITIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND IN MARITIME AND BORDER SECURITY. Northrop Grumman already has a broad portfolio of homeland security business. In 2008, the company did more than $1.5 billion of homeland security business for a variety of customers, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense and international, state and local governments. The company’s management is convinced that it can grow faster than the overall market by taking advantage of key opportunities. Bruce Walker, vice president of strategic planning for homeland security, told HSToday in an interview that there is considerable growth potential in information for Leading Edge (EAGLE) contract for DHS offers the company the chance to perform a broad range of information technology tasks. For example, Northrop Grumman was awarded a task order worth up to $44.3 million in November to provide an integrated information technology system for Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Office of Detention and Removal Operations to locate and track detainees and manage their transportation and bed space. In maritime security, Northrop Grumman scored some important victories over the past year. Its Global Hawk strategic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) beat offer- National Identification System, company managers see the potential for greater integration work between the two maritime systems to recognize shipborne threats. As the developer of both, it believes it is uniquely positioned to do such work,Walker said. Maritime work Northrop Grumman’s positioning in maritime security extends even further. The company also is a joint venture partner with Lockheed Martin in Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the company executing the service’s Deepwater program, which is projected to be worth approximately $17 billion over 30 years to modernize the Coast Guard’s ships, aircraft, command and control and logistic systems. As the Coast Guard evaluates its needs in unmanned aerial vehicles, Northrop Grumman is hoping to sell its Fire Scout UAV. The Coast Guard is currently studying its UAV requirements. In addition to its work on maritime security, Northrop Grumman is working to increase its work on border security, particularly along the northern border. The company has been interested in conducting a survey of the border for DHS. This would identify key threat areas with illegal crossings and unimproved airfields that might be used for smuggling. It would be intended to better enable the Border Patrol to stretch limited resources by focusing on the most serious problems. In doing this, Global Hawk could play a key role by providing persistent surveillance that would help identify threats. The company has also been looking at roles it could play along the northern border in providing sensors or other technology required by the Secure Border Initiative Network. The breadth of Northrop Grumman’s homeland security work goes well beyond these areas. The company provides remotely operated systems for bomb squads. It also provides support for DHS’ Citizen and Immigration Support Centers, involving labor to input biometric data. It has provided one-quarter of all 911 emergency response systems in the United States and has recently been upgrading the capabilities of those systems. HST Philip Finnegan is the director of corporate analysis at the Teal Group, a firm based in Fairfax, Va., that provides strategic and market analysis to major corporations. He can be reached at pfinnegan@ tealgroup.com. C OMPANY MANAGERS SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR GREATER INTEGRATION WORK BETWEEN THE TWO MARITIME SYSTEMS TO RECOGNIZE SHIPBORNE THREATS. ings from teams led by Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., and The Boeing Co., Chicago, Ill., to win a $1.1 billion contract to develop the system to meet US Nav2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=20http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=20PORT SECURITY HOMELAND SEC INDUSTRY NEWS INDUSTRY ROSTER Canaveral Port Authority selects video surveillance solution The Canaveral Port Authority, Brevard County, Fla., the second busiest cruise port in the world, has chosen a NiceVision Net IP video surveillance solution from NICE Systems, Ra’anana, Israel, a provider of security and analytic solutions and value-added services, as part of an upgrade to modernize its security infrastructure. The NiceVision Net solution will be used to monitor waterside and landside areas to enhance port security and passenger safety. The solution was purchased through GTSI, Herndon,Va., an IT enterprise infrastructure solutions and services provider. When fully deployed, the NiceVision Net solution will replace the port’s current analog system with an enterprise-class, high availability open platform Internet protocol (IP) video surveillance system. The NiceVision Net solution includes network video recorders, intelligent edge devices (encoders), a virtual matrix (for video wall management) and NiceVision ControlCenter that will help Port Canaveral’s operators detect, verify, resolve and investigate security events quickly and effectively. (Source:NICE Systems) Doug Sickler, Tom Richey and Melissa Smith have joined Perot Systems’ government services business unit and Eric Wieman is its new executive vice president. … NovoDynamics has appointed Michael Yeagley director of global government solutions. … Finjan has appointed Gregory Todd Garcia and Taher Elgamal to its board of advisors. … Brooke Smith has joined QinetiQ North America as senior vice president of business development. … Bruce Canal has been named senior director of operations for Matrix Systems. … Paul Livingston has been appointed to Trusted Computer Solutions’ board of advisors. … Fire-Lite Alarms has added Dan Lajoie and Leon Parks to its sales team. … Axis Communications has named Jack Meltzer its architectural and engineering and consultant program manager. … The Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals has hired Alison Heron as its membership and chapter development director. … 21st Century Systems Inc. has named Scott Jacobs senior vice president and chief of its Federal Systems Group. Cargo straddlers will have detection capabilities The US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has awarded a $23 million contract to Detector Networks International LLC (DNI), Albuquerque, NM, to design and manufacture six straddle carriers with radiation detection capabilities. These modified straddlers will detect radiation and, when found, determine if the material can be used for weapons of mass destruction. The modified straddlers will use sodium iodide detectors for initial radiation detection and high-purity germanium detectors, which are less susceptible to background interference than other systems, for isotope identification.With their tall legs, they will be able to maneuver over and scan rows of cargo containers stacked up to four high. DNI expects to deliver the first modified straddler for testing by September. When field tests are complete, the company will build and deliver five more systems. The DNI team consists of MEI Technologies Inc., Thermo-Fisher Scientific Inc., ORTEC, Geodetics and Isoloader. (Source:DNI) Security applications delivered to the Port of Miami The Port of Miami has purchased fixed biometric readers integrated with a physical access control system developed by GTSI Corp., Herndon,Va., an IT enterprise infrastructure solutions and services provider, in partnership with Sagem Morpho, Tacoma,Wash., a biometrics company. The readers authenticate TransportationWorkers Identification Credential (TWIC) smart card holders using a contactless interface. The Port of Miami is the first US port to implement this system, which enhances the safety of the port’s cruise passenger terminal and expedites the verification of dock workers entering secure areas around the ships. The Port of Miami 2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=21http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=21URITY HOMELAN ICx provides technology for inaugural security The US Park Police, in cooperation with the National Park Service, employed four SkyWatch towers, two DefendIR thermal cameras, four IBAC biological sensor units and two Illuminator cameras by ICx Technologies,Washington, DC, a developer of advanced sensor technologies, to help ensure security for the inauguration of President Barack Obama at the Capitol and on the National Mall. ICx personnel conducted pre-event training for security personnel, and members of ICx’s technical staff were also on site for product and staff support. SkyWatch towers are mobile surveillance towers equipped with radars, thermal cameras, loud speakers and sensors. DefendIRs are mid-range thermal imagers that can see in complete darkness and through a multitude of environmental conditions. The IBAC provides early warning of biological aerosol threats. The Illuminator is a deterrence system that utilizes a day/low-light camera with a high-powered spotlight to detect, deter and immobilize intruders. (Source:ICx) Second phase grant awarded for nuclear detection chip The Transformational and Applied Research Directorate in the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office of the Department of Homeland Security has awarded Trojan Defense LLC, Herndon, Va., a nuclear electronics research firm, a Phase 2 Small Business Independent Research grant to continue its Phase 1 work on a small, low-power, low-cost silicon chip that ultimately can enable a range of neutron detection applications. These applications extend from handheld detectors that currently rely on power hungry helium-3 gas tubes, in use since the 1950s, to more exotic applications such as embedding in first responder radios, intelligent personal radiation locators, cell phones, air cargo pallets, conveyance security devices for sea containers and other transport conveyances. Originally awarded in September 2007 for Phase 1, the $500,000 Phase 2 grant includes an option that may bring the total award value to almost $1 million over a two-year period. (Source:Trojan Defense) Iowa launches Real Time Network for accurate positioning The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is implementing one of the world’s largest DOTowned statewide networks of Global Navigation Satellite System Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS). Called the Iowa Real Time Network (IaRTN),this statewide Real Time Kinematic–Global Positioning System (RTKGPS) network will provide authorized public and private users near- instantaneous GPS satellite corrections for accurate and precise positioning anywhere in the state. Provided by Leica Geosystems, Heerbrugg, Switzerland, a developer of spatial information products, the IaRTN network includes a total of 80 stations. Each station will include a Leica GRX1200 GG Pro GNSS receiver with Ethernet capabilities. CORS stations are spaced about 70 km (43.5 miles) apart, and the network is designed to provide coverage anywhere in the state of Iowa. The satellite-referencing network will utilize more than 40 currently operational satellites, as well as another 40 or more that will become operational with system upgrades and additions to the GPS system and Galileo satellites. RTK data will be available to the agency and public at all times via the Internet. (Source:Leica Geosystems) L-3 installs interoperable communications system in New Jersey emergency operations center Burlington County, NJ, has taken delivery and completed installation of the MarCom Interoperable Communications System by L-3 Communication Systems-East, New York, NY, in its Emergency Operation Center (EOC). The system has been extensively tested and is fully operational. The MarCom system gives operators and responders the ability to communicate with various agencies, despite the many differences in radios, frequencies or private branch exchange systems. The onerack system houses equipment providing the backbone for interoperable communications. The MarCom Compac2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=22http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=22PORT SECURITY Best Practices H By L I Z A P O R T E U S V I A N A , N E W Y O R K C O R R E S P O N D E N T LAST YEAR FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY MICHAEL CHERTOFF RAILED AGAINST MEDIA OUTLETS THAT CONTINUE TO REPORT THAT US PORTS ARE SCARCELY MORE SECURE THAN THEY WERE BEFORE SEPT. 11, 2001. “I suspect a lot of this venting is simply intellectual laziness by those who prefer to recycle old sound bites rather than do their homework,” he vented in a Feb. 22, 2008, Leadership Journal entry on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website (http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/2008/02/fresh-look-atport-security.html). “Have we achieved perfect security at our ports? Of course not,” he acknowledged. “No human endeavor will ever achieve perfection, and no system of security is infallible. But we have dramatically elevated our protection and built successive layers of security that have made our ports more secure than they have ever been. And we’ve done this without destroying the underlying reason for having ports in the first place—the efficient movement of people and commerce.” Now, with a new administration and a new secretary of homeland security in office and a 100 percent cargo-screening requirement still to be fulfilled, port security will no doubt be a major priority at DHS. Just how far port security has come can be seen in two ports that are literally half a world away from each other: The ports of New York/New Jersey and Hong Kong are two of the globe’s busiest in terms of container traffic. Last year I had the opportunity to visit both on my own, without handlers or guides, compare their security practices and see how far they had come since 9/11. Both are under more pressure than ever to ensure the efficient flow of commerce in and out of their terminals while still maintaining security levels that abide by post-9/11 international standards. Terminal operators are painfully aware that if their security isn’t up to par, the result could very well be gigantic disruptions in the global commerce chain. And that’s something no port can afford. 20 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=23http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=23REUTERS/KIN CHEUNG/POOL US senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) visit a Hutchison International container port in Hong Kong on March 25, 2006. The two were on a fact-finding tour in the wake of the Dubai Ports controversy in the United States. Since then, ports around the world have taken new security measures, particularly in New York and Hong Kong. alf a World Away “One thing that’s clear is that there’s no competition among ports when it comes to security. Security is everybody’s responsibility. There’s nothing proprietary about these best practices,” explained Beth Rooney, port security manager for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). “If something happens, it will affect us worldwide, so the collaboration and coordination is intense.” Both port regions—along with almost 200 other countries or territories—abide by the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, created and overseen by the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization after the Sept. 11 attacks. ISPS contains mandatory, detailed security-related requirements for governments, port authorities and shipping companies, plus optional guidelines about how to meet these requirements. It’s heavy on risk assessment strategies. The ISPS is the only internationally accepted blueprint for the implementation of security measures. All ships flying the flags of participating governments must adhere to security standards laid out by ISPS, or else they will be docked. New York/New Jersey The Port of NY/NJ is the largest on the East Coast of North America. It set a new cargo record last year—handling about 5.3 million loaded and unloaded TEUs (20-foot equivalent units, based on a standard-sized cargo box) worth $166 billion in cargo. It plans to spend $2 billion in the next 10 years to handle projected growth; in 2007, cargo traffic here spiked 7.6 percent, thanks in large part to a boom in trade with Southeast Asia and the Far East. PANYNJ directly oversees the operation of seven cargo terminals in the region and acts as a landlord for about 13. The other 167 terminals are privately owned and operated. This region, along with others party to ISPS, had to create access control measures, regularly submit written security plans, assign and appoint security officers and execute a bevy of other security measures. Secure perimeters had to be created around each facility, and people were no longer allowed to just meander around. “On 9/11, you could have gone down to one of our berths, one of our docks, and driven one mile down our waterfront and gone from dock to dock unencumbered. You could have gone to the Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters HSToday Magazine | March 2009 212009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=24http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=24BEST PRACTICES HALF A WORLD AWAY dock and eaten your lunch on Sundays, which people did all the time,” said Rooney. “Today, all those individual berths are sectioned off and segregated off.” Shipping containers emblazoned with names of companies like Triton, Seaboard Marine, Maersk, Hyundai and China Shipping are everywhere. Terminal operators here include Maher Terminals and APM Terminals. The federal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has an office on-site. The terminals all have their own security plans, security officers and other security measures, but the PANYNJ creates an avenue for coordination between them, since they’re right next to each other in such a tight space. “We provide for the coordination and collaboration among our disparate tenants—we provide security, infrastructure and policing for the critical infrastructure that supports all of the operations,” Rooney said. The PANYNJ is essentially a landlord, but when it comes to security, the US Coast Guard oversees every one of the 180 facilities in the region. It conducts announced and unannounced security audits each year. CBP plays a role on the cargo security end of operations. The agency works with terminals to determine the most efficient ways to get cargo through radiation portal monitors. As in Hong Kong, space is limited, so installing new technology in small spaces becomes something of an art. CBP also works with the US Coast Guard to board any foreign arrivals that are either coming to the United States for the first time or are flagged as a “high-risk” ship. CBP officers in this region typically board about 10 to 12 foreign arriving vessels each day. CBP officers hold a daily conference call with Coast Guard personnel to determine what high-risk ships are arriving that day and to coordinate any necessary boarding of those ships. They assess the risk based on the crew manifests each ship is required to electronically send to the Coast Guard National Vessel Movement Center 96 hours before arriving at port. Also taken into consideration is the cargo itself; the “24-hour rule” also says a shipper has to transmit data about his US-bound cargo 24 hours before the cargo is laid at the foreign port. “We have the opportunity to vet the crew onboard and make determinations if those crew members or anyone else aboard the vessel poses a risk,” explained Lucille Cirillo, New York spokeswoman for CBP . “If we feel that shipment is high-risk, we can issue a ‘do-not load’ message. We would send that to a shipper, and they would not be able to load that shipment on the vessel.” Cirillo said no agency really has to pull teeth for shippers or terminals to comply or to provide more information if requested. “Expediting cargo is essential to their business,” she explained. “We have an excellent working relationship with all the cargo container terminals throughout the New York area. The last thing they want is penalties or for us to hold cargo.” As of 2002, the Coast Guard has also been responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-terrorism measures in foreign ports and can set conditions of entry on vessels arriving to the United States from countries lacking them. Last fall, the Coast Guard determined that ports in Cambodia, Cuba, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Liberia, Mauritania and Syria fell short, with some exceptions from Acronyms in this article CBP—Customs and Border Protection; DA—Designated authority; DHS—Department of Homeland Security; ISPS—International Ship and Port Facility Security; MTL—Modern Terminals Ltd.; PANYNJ—Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; PFSWG— Port Facility Security Working Group; TEUs—20-foot equivalent units; TWIC—Transportation Workers Identification Credential individual terminal operators within those ports. That means that any ships coming to the United States having visited those ports within their last five ports of call must pr2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=25http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=25port security solutions Smiths Detection has a proven record in port security applications offering solutions that meet the grant program requirements. 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FirstView Command & Control IONSCAN 500DT Explosives/Narcotics Trace Detector www.smithsdetection.com2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=26http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=26BEST PRACTICES HALF A WORLD AWAY is responsible for the security policies, while the Transport and sions with trading nations to exchange information and best pracHousing Bureau is responsible for port and shipping policies. tices to align port security programs. The Coast Guard is Hong Hong Kong officials, like those here in the United States, agree Kong’s main contact in the United States when it comes to port and that no incentive system is needed to encourage terminal shipping-related matters and security operations. Hong Kong offioperators to adhere to the minimum security guidelines—or to cials also have contacts within New York and New Jersey. even surpass them. “However, this sort of contact is not intended and considered “From our experience, the port facilities in Hong Kong are to be any form of formal consultation,” Leung made clear. keen to ensure that adequate security measures are adopted for The PANYNJ, meanwhile, has informal, ongoing relationships their own interest rather than solely to comply with government with ports all over the world and has offices in Asia. requirements,” explained SC Leung, a senior marine officer for “A lot of the time, our Asia representatives … are meeting with the port security administration in Hong Kong’s Marine those ports and questions are coming back, and we’re doing it Department. “The need for a system of incentives does not exist.” through our own staff … and providing feedback,” said Rooney. Terminal operators have the power to put a hold on cargo in With both regions expecting nothing but upswings in cargo situations where they need to verify its contents or other flows in and out of their ports within the next year and beyond, information. They don’t have the power to hold the truck or the it’s imperative that they be at the top of their games. driver; that’s up to Hong Kong customs “We’ve received visitors from probably agents. no less than 50 foreign ports and counFFICIALS IN HONG KONG Hong Kong also has an ongoing tries since 9/11 to do just that—to talk AND NY/NJ ARE FULLY group that advises on port security about lessons learned—what are you AWARE THAT A MAJOR matters. doing and how are you doing it?” SECURITY GLITCH IN THE The Port Area Security Advisory explained Rooney. “If somebody’s got a Committee, established in 2003, provides particular issue, there’s nothing stopping SUPPLY CHAIN UNDER advice to the DA on all matters relating to them from calling us to say, ‘Hey, what are THEIR WATCHES COULD the implementation of ISPS in Hong you doing?’” CRIPPLE COMMERCE. Kong; it meets twice a year. The Port But despite their efforts, there will Facility Secur ity Working Group always be critics. (PFSWG) is an executive arm of the DA Carolyn Nordstrom, a University of and is in charge of implementing the ISPS Code. It includes Notre Dame anthropologist and author of the book Global representatives of Hong Kong’s police force, Customs and Excise Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World, Department and the Immigration and Marine departments. traveled through Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States to PFSWG members participate in the annual audits. investigate illegal trade around the world and the pathways taken Hong Kong officials also have the authority to board ships by items like blood diamonds, weapons and pharmaceuticals. deemed a threat. Port state control officers of the Marine While she didn’t specifically stop in the New York or Hong Kong Department carry out routine inspections of visiting vessels. area, she did visit other East Coast and Asian ports unannounced, “Officials of security departments may board ships for law walking in and out of containers, talking to people. She has also enforcement whenever necessary,” Leung added. hopped aboard ships going from port to port along the East Coast. MTL, which currently handles more than 5.72 million of the “It’s child’s play—utter child’s play—to get things in and out of port’s TEUs, has been op2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=27http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=27To protect and serve and locate and surveil and record and surprise and apprehend. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. No matter what the light conditions, ITT night vision has a job to do—just like you. Whether conducting surveillance, performing search and rescue, recording evidence or simply keeping yourself safe on patrol, you can rely on ITT’s Night Enforcer® units to get the job done. To find out how the most advanced night vision technology in the world can help you, day or night, visit www.nightvision.com/aroundtheclock. The “ITT Engineered Blocks” symbol and “Engineered for life” are registered trademarks of ITT. ©2007 sun 4:30 am wed 2:56 Am thu 6:20 am fri 3:45 Pm thu 11:20 PM2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=28http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=28RICHARD ELLIS/GETTY IMAGES A young man dressed in gang colors in Juarez, Mexico, in one of the country's poorest slums. When this photo was taken on Jan. 15, narco-cartel violence had already claimed 40 lives in that city since the start of the new year. Juarez is the epicenter of the narco-cartels' war with the Mexican government. 26 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=29http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=29The War for Mexico’s Future By J A N A S C H R O E D E R , M E X I C O C I T Y C O R R E S P O N D E N T HOW HAS MEXICO COME TO THIS? THE NATIONAL PRESS COUNTED 5,620 NARCO EXECUTIONS IN 2008, MORE THAN DOUBLING THE NUMBER CALCULATED FOR THE PREVIOUS YEAR—INCLUDING OVER 40 BEHEADINGS. WHILE OVER HALF OF THE KILLINGS OCCURRED IN STATES ALONG THE US-MEXICO BORDER—CHIHUAHUA, BAJA AND SINALOA—THE VIOLENCE ALSO SPREAD TO OTHER PARTS OF MEXICO, SUCH AS THE CENTRAL STATES OF JALISCO AND GUANAJUATO, WHERE SUCH EVENTS WERE ALMOST NONEXISTENT AS RECENTLY AS TWO YEARS AGO. AND DRUG-RELATED VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO INTENSIFY. Before 2000, organized crime in Mexico consisted basically of trafficking drugs to the United States, with some less powerful criminal groups dedicated to kidnappings and auto theft. Today, according to Mexican security expert Samuel González Ruíz, drug traffickers have developed domestic markets in Mexico, with drug consumption among Mexicans increasing at alarming rates, especially in the border region but also in large cities like Mexico City. The country’s National Addictions Survey for 2008 indicated that drug addiction increased by 50 percent in the last six years. The survey found approximately half a million Mexicans addicted to illicit drugs, with only 16 percent seeking treatment. Health Secretary José Ángel Cordova Villalobos said the most disturbing aspect of the survey results is the high degree of availability of drugs for adolescents. In addition to crime and shoot-outs at street level, high-level officials have been murdered in broad daylight, journalists have been killed and government authority flouted or nullified in sections of the country. To understand Mexico’s current situation, one must take into account a myriad of changing political factors. SAVAGE STRUGGLE order BPart III on the A historical perspective In the case of Mexico, “drug trafficking has been intimately linked with political forces from the very beginning,” according to Luis Astorga, an expert on the history of drug trafficking and a Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters professor at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “In most countries, this link develops when drug trafficking has moved into more advanced stages,” he said. But the experience in Mexico is peculiar because of the one-party system imposed for more than seven decades. Astorga gave the example of the Federal Security Agency, known as the DFS, which was eliminated in 1985 due to US pressure following the torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena. “This institution had the double function of both containing and protecting criminal groups,” Astorga told HSToday, “something that could only happen in a state party system.” Astorga said political changes in Mexico over the last two decades help to explain recent changes in drug trafficking. In 1989, the first fracture in the strict monopoly maintained by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was evident, when a candidate from the National Action Party (PAN) became the governor of Baja. The PAN was soon to gain another governor’s seat in another border state, Chihuahua, and also in Jalisco. In 1997, the other opposition party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), won the coveted position of Mexico City mayor, and it also started to win governors’ races. Both opposition parties were also winning seats in state legislatures and municipal governments, and in 1997 the PRI lost its majority in the National Congress. “In short,” Astorga explained, “the country’s political map was completely reconfigured in less than ten years.” HSToday Magazine | March 2009 272009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=30http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=30THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE Sergio Aguayo, a political analyst with the Colegio de México, wrote the following in his 2008 Mexican Almanac: “For decades organized crime respected the rules specified in an understanding with the State, which banned its participation in political power, prohibited drugs transported through Mexico from being diverted to the domestic market, and demanded that government decisions be followed.” With the one-party system eliminated, drug traffickers developed greater autonomy from political power. An exclusive agreement with the official party was no longer sufficient, and “currently, organized crime negotiates with officials at all three levels of government and promotes drug consumption,” explained Aguayo. Drug trafficking groups now fight among themselves to compete for a hegemonic position, with the resulting escalation in rivalry-based violence. Luis Astorga added: “This greater autonomy is enhanced by the growing drug market, which has allowed criminal groups to accumulate immense sums of money and to increase their firepower—thanks to an enormous amount of weapons smuggled from the United States.” González Rúiz, a former head of the Mexican attorney general’s organized-crime unit, told HSToday, “When the drugs went to the United States, it didn’t matter if they passed through Tijuana or Ciudad Juárez.” But with increasing drug sales in the country, “whoever controls a territory controls the sales.” Now, drug cartels are fighting viciously for control over territories in response to a national drug market whose size remains unknown. Cartel rivalries In 2006, the PAN candidate Felipe Calderon was narrowly elected president after a protracted and bitterly disputed election. Only days after he came into office at the end of 2006, Calderon declared a “war on drugs.” BAJA CALIFORNIA SONORA U N I T E D S TAT E S CHIHUAHUA COAHUIL A DE ZARAGOZA BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR DURANGO SINALOA MEXICO ZACATECAS NUEVO LEON TAMAULIPAS NAYARIT SAN LUIS POTOSI 1 3 7 4 VERACRUZLLAVE YUCATAN QUINTANA ROO TABASCO CAMPECHE Mexico Railroad 0 0 100 200 JALISCO COLIMA MICHOACAN DE OCAMPO Mexico 5 2 6 8 PUEBLA International Boundary National Capital State (Estado) Boundary GUERRERO State (Estado) Capital Federation Zones Road Rivers OAXACA BELIZE CHIAPAS Belmopan HONDURAS 100 300 Kilometers 200 300 Miles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. AGUASCALIENTES DISTRI TO FEDERAL GUANAJU ATO HIDALGO MEXICO MORELOS QUERE TARO DE ARTEAGA TLAXCALA Guatemala GUATEMALA San Salvador Tegucigalpa EL SALVADOR NIC. Mexican Cartel Areas of Influence. Source: US Drug Enforcement Administration 28 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=31http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=31THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE Unlike his predecessor, Vicente Fox, Calderon, who earned his Michoacán, but is also operating in other states, where it has been masters of Public Administration at Harvard University, was serious linked to executions. about destroying the cartels. Frustrated by the corruption and weakOne factor worrying many Mexicans is that an estimated ness of the police, Calderon sent the Mexican army into areas such quarter of a million soldiers have deserted the Mexican army in as Sinaloa state to break the cartels’ backs. The cartels, in turn, were the last 12 years, and just how many of them have joined the ranks determined to maintain their grip and fought back through assassi- of organized crime is unknown. nations and attacks against local authorities in their areas of control. Some of the resulting killings were aimed at sending a Drug traffickers diversify message to authorities, with criminal groups demonstrating a Another development especially alarming is that drug traffickers bold defiance. As one example, in mid-December 2008, 13 bodies are expanding their control to include other lucrative markets through kidnapping and extortion, human trafficking, prostitution were found beheaded in the state of Guerrero, including eight soldiers and a former police chief. The state police told the local and the sale of illegal pirated merchandise. The mode of operation used by press that the nine murders were drug cartels today is increasingly apparently in retaliation for the THEY WEREN’T JUST ANY MILITARY death of three hit men in a shootOFFICERS, THEY WERE SPECIAL ELITE Mafia-style, explained Astorga, as they seek to establish not only presout between organized crime and FORCES TRAINED IN THE UNITED ence in certain territories but conmilitary forces the previous night. STATES DURING THE ERNESTO ZEDILLO trol over territories. This involves But the battle between the GOVERNMENT. THEY WERE TRAINED IN charging small-scale traffickers of government and the narcos only COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGIES, IN all kinds for the right to do business explains some of the violence. and also “taxing” legal establishMuch of the increased violence is WHICH EXTREME DEGREES OF ments, in the classic Mafia tradiclearly linked to rivalries among CRUELTY ARE ALLOWED.” tion, in exchange for “protection.” drug traffickers. The Gulf cartel Th i s n e w m o d a l i t y i s divided into two groups, now disputing control over cities in the border state of Tamaulipas. accelerating rapidly, Astorga warned, and “with the next phase, The Beltrán Leyva brothers broke off from the Sinaloa cartel, run where it seems to be going, drug cartels will increasingly attempt by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and, according to the national to influence certain aspects of local politics—for example, press, they established a new cartel, generating violence in Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango. The leaders of the Juárez cartel are under attack by El Mayo Zambada, one of their former partners, now associated with the Sinaloa cartel. And the Arellano Félix family is fighting to maintain control of the Tijuana cartel, with its domain threatened by one of its hit men who teamed up Collapsible & Reusable Containers with El Mayo Zambada. “ Paramilitary groups escalate violence One of the variables explaining the changes in Mexico’s organized crime identified by Astorga is the involvement of paramilitary groups. The most notorious group is known as the Zetas, made up of former officers from the Mexican army’s elite Airborne Special Forces Group. They were initially recruited to serve as the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, but since drug lord Osiel Cardenas was captured and extradited to the United States in January 2007, the Zetas have established their own full-fledged cartel and are believed to operate in at least 12 Mexican states. “They weren’t just any military officers,” emphasized Astorga. “They were special elite forces trained in the United States during the Erne2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=32http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=32THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE providing campaign financing in exchange for hand-picking the local police chief.” In an interview with HSToday, international organized crime expert Edgardo Buscaglia took this a step further: “You’re starting to see—and I saw this in Coahuila and Sinaloa—pockets of territory that are behaving like failed states, where there is no state authority, and businesses are paying taxes to organized crime. And this is a national security issue for the US.” “dirty money is being used to buy votes” in all of Mexico’s political parties. But it would be a critical security risk, he continued, “if you would have a governor who takes over, and she or he is not just influenced by organized crime but working for organized crime.” Narco firepower “The lack of control in the United States over weapons sales is astounding,” commented Astorga, “with numerous locations where weapons are sold concentrated along the border with Mexico.” Especially disturbing, Astorga added, is that high-caliber and increasingly powerful weapons are being sold to individuals, who must only present a driver’s license or other identification. In his 2008 Mexican Almanac,Aguayo cited an estimated 12,000 weapons sales and distribution points on the US side of the border region. And he estimated that over 4.38 million weapons entered Mexico illegally during the six-year presidential term ofVicente Fox from 2000 to 2006 alone. In contrast, the number of weapons confiscated by Mexican federal authorities during that same period was only 29,360. Aguayo told HSToday that “the US government has not imposed controls on the sale of weapons all along the border, and has therefore facilitated the smuggling of those weapons, allowing the Mexican cartels to become so lethal, so powerful.” One measure of the cartels’ firepower can be seen in the weapons seized in Mexican army operations. An army general from the 43rd military zone told the Reforma newspaper last November that his forces confiscated two .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifles from the La Familia commando in Michoacán. He said this US-manufac- Corruption in the public sector Buscaglia described “a clear pattern of increasing political infiltration at the municipal level.” He has documented a degree of corruption or infiltration in 63 percent of the country’s municipal governments, involving local police, town council members and/or mayors. After he publicized his findings last June, some in Mexico said his figure was too high, but there is little doubt the numbers are rising. “There are also some cases of people who want to become governors that have alleged links to the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, and that’s very dangerous,” added Buscaglia, who has served as a legal advisor to international organizations. He said there is “a very high risk that the 2009 elections will be infiltrated at a higher level by organized crime.” Mid-term elections will take place in July to elect governors, legislators and mayors. It is extremely important, Buscaglia stressed, that “all the antennas are up, not just from Mexico but from other countries, as well, to stay on top of this.” According to Buscaglia, “Deputies from all the political parties acknowledge infiltration in political campaign financing,” and The 3rd Annual May 13 - 14, 2009 Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ Th Nation’s The N i ’ L Leading di International I i l Conference C f & Expo on International Border Security People – Terrorism – Contraband Organized by: For information on exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Peter Cappiello at (301) 493-5500. In Arizona: Norm Hannah at (480) 797-2043. www.bordersecurityexpo.com 30 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=33http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=33THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE tured weapon, typically used by elite sharpshooters, is also used by other cartels and is one of the most powerful currently employed by Mexico’s organized criminals. “ Impunity reigns Mexican society is not only confronting the spiraling violence generated by the drug cartels but is increasingly subject to threats posed by kidnapping rings seeking ransom money. Kidnapping victims are typically from families of wealthy businessmen, although not exclusively, and in the cases when the perpetrators have been caught, they often include current or former law enforcement agents. The most publicized case during 2008 was the abduction and killing of Fernando Martí, the 14-year-old son of the owner of a sporting goods retail chain. Martí and his chauffeur were abducted at a normal-looking check point on a busy Mexico City street by a group of individuals, some of whom were wearing law enforcement uniforms. The Mexican government is under increasing pressure to demonstrate it is eliminating corruption from law enforcement institutions and government security forces. Calderón has at least one questionable rating in this area. He has continued to fiercely defend his Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna, despite evidence presented in the national press of the secretary’s own pos- THE LACK OF CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES OVER WEAPONS SALES IS ASTOUNDING,” COMMENTED ASTORGA, “WITH NUMEROUS LOCATIONS WHERE WEAPONS ARE SOLD CONCENTRATED ALONG THE BORDER WITH MEXICO.” sible links to drug trafficking and those of his closest collaborators. Samuel González Ruíz told HSToday that efforts to end corruption are impeded by an “impunity pact” that has been in place since 2003, when two important cases—Amigos de Fox and Pemexgate— were “negotiated.” He said that then-president Vicente Fox and members of the PRI party reached an agreement so that no one would be prosecuted for their role in either of these illegal financing schemes used during the 2000 presidential elections. “Since then,” González Ruíz said, “the decline in cases of corruption investigated is incredible.” He described a “chain of impunity” based on an agreement that “you look the other way, and I’ll look the other way.” He added that, until this pact is broken and a new agreement is reached to uphold the law, “the violence will continue to increase.” He emphasized that Mexico’s new public security law will not have any significant effect, nor will US resources allocated through the Bush administration’s Merida Plan—until the major stakeholders in Mexico come together to make a firm commitment to end impunity. These stakeholders, according to González Ruíz, are the three major political parties and the business community. He pointed to two promising signs: Influential business leaders affected by kidnapping and extortion threats are stepping up the This premiere life saving product was designed for the urgent need of medical oxygen in harsh, remote locations and has helped to save thousands of lives worldwide. Our POGS systems are used daily by hospitals, clinics, first responders, emergency disaster relief teams, the US Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. ■ Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters HSToday Magazine | March 2009 312009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=34http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=34THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE against organized crime is only one of the four pillars needed for a successful strategy. One of the critical elements missing in Mexico, according to Buscaglia, is financial intelligence units dedicated to mapping the criminal CRITICAL economy. He explained that the standard ELEMENTS MISSING IN Four-pillar strategy procedure is to “map the links between the MEXICO, ACCORDING TO The Mexican president has received praise members of criminal groups and their BUSCAGLIA, IS FINANCIAL social networks, including family and for “going after” the drug cartels, although INTELLIGENCE UNITS some say he was not fully prepared for the friends, and their financial networks and task. DEDICATED TO MAPPING partners locally and abroad.” As long as On Jan. 17, 2007, in his first interview this doesn’t happen, Buscaglia said, THE CRIMINAL ECONOMY. with foreign media after taking office, Mexican authorities “won’t have the Calderon told Adam Thomson of the Financapacity to bring down the criminal cial Times that he had been motivated to wage his war on the cartels structure” and “won’t experience a reduction in the scale and because they had taken over entire regions of the country. “… A scope of violence, corruption and organized crime.” central objective we set ourselves from the first day in power was to Government authorities are able to occasionally capture a recover full control of government in those affected regions,” he drug lord, like Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who in fact later said. “The underlying strategy is, in general, to emphasize not just escaped from a federal high-security prison, “but they don’t go the issue of security but also that of the rule of law and legality.” after the structure itself—the notaries, lawyers, business people” In addition to taking back territory from the cartels and provid- and others involved, Buscaglia said. Adjustments are made in ing security, Calderon said he was seeking to generate employment cartel hierarchies, business continues as usual and, in some and strengthen government authority in the affected areas as part of cases, the families of imprisoned drug traffickers continue to a broad strategy to move Mexico forward into the 21st century. enjoy the huge fortunes amassed. Moreover, the government has been able to point to some major Buscaglia insisted that no strategy against organized crime will successes in rounding up cartel leaders and soldiers. succeed without this important pillar, aimed at dismantling the Organized crime expert Buscaglia told HSToday that, while economic structure of criminal networks by freezing and Calderón deserves credit for his efforts, the repressive campaign confiscating their assets. Anyone can go to the website of the US pressure on government authorities. Some of them helped President Calderón make it into office and are demanding something in return. Secondly, political parties are at least talking about mechanisms to protect the July elections from illegal campaign financing. NE OF THE O 32 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=35http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=35THE WAR FOR MEXICO’S FUTURE Office of Foreign Assets Control, Buscaglia commented, and see that hundreds of Mexican groups have been linked to organized crime. But in the great majority of cases, he said, no actions have been taken. The two other pillars missing in Mexico, according to Buscaglia, are an anti-corruption program in the political domain and a prevention program. “Five out of ten families live under the poverty line,” and there are numerous risk factors, such as “drug addiction, dysfunctional families, lack of schooling and lack of jobs.” This means that “hundreds of thousands of kids are sliding toward gangs and organized crime, and this must be stopped,” he said. “The experiences of Italy, the US, Colombia, Germany—any country that has been able to reduce organized crime activities—tell us that all four pillars must in place and at the same time,” concluded Buscaglia. If not, he said, it’s like trying to drive a car without four wheels. has reached its peak—much less started to decline. The war with the cartels is Mexico’s equivalent of America’s war on terror, only it’s on Mexico’s own territory and it will take time. Although Calderon was elected after a bitterly divisive contest and not all of his actions have met with approval, many Mexicans feel that he must be supported because the alternative—allowing the cartels to win—is unthinkable. As Aguayo put it: “This isn’t Calderon’s war. This is a war of survival for the Mexican state and society—against a very powerful enemy.” HST What role for the US? Organized crime expert González Ruíz insisted that “the United States should not tolerate such extreme violence at its doors.” Nor should it allow Mexico’s drug cartels to “export violence to Central America and farther south.” In his opinion, the Bush administration failed to use the instruments within its reach to help contain the violence. He said he expects new US President Barack Obama to take a different “reading” of the situation, to place more pressure on the Mexican government and to change US policies. According to drug trafficking expert Astorga, the Mexican government has made and continues to make three demands of the US government: Number one is stricter control of arms sales within US territory. Second, it is vital that actions are taken to combat money laundering. Astorga said some experts in the United States reluctantly acknowledge that most narco money laundering occurs on their side of the border, and any serious analysis points in that direction. And the third demand is a reduction in the US market for illicit drugs. In his opinion, while the United States can claim little success in any of these three areas, it can be commended for its system of justice, its security institutions and its ability to keep drug-related violence to a minimum at home. The latter may become increasingly difficult, as much of the brutal violence waged by rivaling Mexican drug cartels occurs at the US border with Mexico. Meanwhile, Mexico’s savage struggle continues, and there is no sign the violence why we write to provide insight We started Homeland Security Today to deliver objective, non-partisan insight and analysis on the topics of critical importance to those securing our homeland. Homeland SecurityToday has evolved into the premier homeland security media provider,creating a forum in which government leaders and HS professionals share their knowledge. With a first class team of editors and international correspondents, we provide award-winning journalism— in print and online—that has changed our industry. We put homeland security news at your fingertips through our print magazine, new digital publication, website and e-newsletters.Turn to Homeland Security Today for the information you need. and provoke discussions that bring about change and a safe and secure homeland 2007 CentralSoutheast Region 2007 CentralSoutheast Region 2005 CentralSoutheast Region 2005 CentralSoutheast Region Bronze Special Section Br2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=36http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=3634 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=37http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=37Challenge By M I C K E Y M c C A R T E R , W A S H I N G T O N C O R R E S P O N D E N T SUPPORTERS OF IMMIGRATION REFORM LEGISLATION THAT WOULD EXPAND US GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS ARGUE THAT THE UNITED STATES NEEDS GUEST WORKERS TO PROSPER. THE US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, FOR EXAMPLE, ARGUES THAT 77 MILLION MEMBERS OF THE BABY BOOM GENERATION WILL BEGIN TO RETIRE IN 2010, WHILE SIGNIFICANT JOB GROWTH WILL OCCUR IN OCCUPATIONS THAT REQUIRE LITTLE TO NO FORMAL EDUCATION OR TRAINING. Americans won’t fill these jobs, the chamber says, because too many of them will have educational opportunities leading to positions with higher wages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers require only moderate on-the-job training for six of the 10 fastest growing occupations from 2004-2014. Such jobs include customer service representatives, hospitality staff at restaurants and hotels, janitors and cleaners, nursing assistants and retail salespeople. To prevent those jobs from going unfilled, immigration reform advocates call for allowing foreign nationals to apply for guest worker credentials that would enable them to come to the United States and take up the jobs. Such guest worker proposals would begin with offering legal employment opportunities to the 12 million or more illegal aliens estimated to already be residing within the United States. Much like their Republican predecessors, President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano support the concept of a guest worker program. But when—or if—such a program is enacted, the challenge for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—and specifically US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that manages immigrant benefits— becomes how to manage credentials for many millions of guest workers. Several foreign and domestic credentialing programs demonstrate how the agency might carry out this task. When immigration reform legislation last came up for a major debate in the US Senate in 2007, USCIS worked up plans for Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters The Guest Worker carrying out credentialing of applicants for guest worker status, USCIS spokesperson Kathryn Mattingly told HSToday. “With appropriate advance funding to provide services as the necessary scale, USCIS is well positioned to handle any increase in workload that would accompany immigration reform legislation,” Mattingly stated. “When comprehensive immigration was discussed in 2007, USCIS worked through plans detailing options for handling any additional workload, such as the temporary worker program. With that preparation, we feel confident that we can move forward with any direction the new Congress or the new administration deems appropriate,” she added. She declined to disclose any specifics of a potential credentialing process. But technology and policy experts point to several foreign and domestic credentialing programs that could provide best practices for the implementation of such a program for guest workers. Foreign models In November 2008, the United Kingdom began to issue identity cards to all foreign nationals within its borders. The cards contain biometric information consisting of a facial image and fingerprint for each foreign national, including migrant workers who come for jobs. Under new guest worker rules, UK businesses must demonstrate that no UK citizen is available to fill specific jobs before migrant workers can apply. HSToday Magazine | March 2009 352009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=38http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=38THE GUEST WORKER CHALLENGE “Overall, there are quite a few programs like in the UK. Europe in general is quite advanced in smart card-based identity card deployment. Across Europe you have a five-year mandate that all of the member states of the European Union are supposed to introduce e-passports or e-identity cards,” Torsten George, head of Global Marketing at ActivIdentity Inc., Fremont, Calif., told HSToday. “The goal is to first have a common standard, so if you change your residency, the same card can be used across the borders,” he added. Using smart card technology, nations can update the status of such identity cards, changing the residency of the cardholder or revoking privileges as necessary. Such a model would be ideal for US guest workers, George contended. “Our device and credential management system allows you to issue the credential onto the card and then later on provide postissuance updates,” he said. “So if there are changes to the status of a guest worker, you could make those changes remotely. The card needs only to be connected to the Internet.” In cases where privileges associated with a smart card are revoked, a guest worker would be unable to access any benefits with the card in the very next attempt to do so. Smart card technology provides governments a tamper-proof means of authenticating the identity of cardholders, George explained, significantly improving the ability to verify that someone is who he or she claims to be. There are no known cases of anyone being able to hack the public key infrastructure programs offered by companies such as ActivIdentity. Smart cards can contain biometric information, such as the UK card, or other applications for permitting access to any government resources in the event benefits are conferred upon guest workers. Guest workers could access those benefits online rather than physically traveling to benefits offices, reducing costs and red tape for the overall program. One example of this is the country of Singapore, which has a tremendous need for guest workers, who receive an employment pass designating their qualification for specific types of work, George noted. “They also have issued smart card-based identity cards to their guest workers,” he said. “They have quite a few guest workers;they are a little island, and they rely a lot on people coming from Malaysia and Indonesia. They have issued smart cards to them. It allows them easy border crossing. It allows them to gain access to social benefits offered by the government to guest workers. It is all very secure.” Domestic models In the United States, meanwhile, all US federal agencies have been providing credentials to their employees under the mandate of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been clearing transportation workers for access to secure port areas under the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. “Most of the American intellectual energy in identity management has been invested in HSPD-12 in the past several years,” Jeff Stratyner, manager of alliance solutions at Quest Software, Aliso Viejo, Calif., told HSToday. HSPD-12 could provide many lessons for propagating identity management polices and practices, Stratyner remarked. USCIS will encounter many of the same problems that agencies implementing HSPD-12 did, including identity management and provision of access to physical and logical resources. In Stratyner’s view, the first question to answer when establishing a guest worker credential would be: What is the purpose of the credentials? HSPD-12 required federal workers to receive a smart card that would access specific facilities and computer networks assigned to each worker. Once the goals of issuing a card are established, USCIS can begin vetting applicants and then issuing cards. While HSPD-12 card issuance was highly decentralized, issuing guest worker cards would be highly centralized, much like TW2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=39http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=392009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=40http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=40THE GUEST WORKER CHALLENGE and released Jan. 5, USCIS conducts three background checks on applicants seeking permanent residency. The agency first checks the Treasury Enforcement Communications System as a means of tapping the Terrorist Screening Center’s watch list of suspected terrorists. USCIS also checks fingerprints against the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the FBI’s fingerprint database, to see if applicants have any criminal record. Finally, the agency asks the FBI to run a name check against its administrative and investigative files to discover if the applicant has any connections to threats to national security. Once the checks are done, issuing cards from USCIS facilities or secure mobile centers would provide a means for distributing cards quickly to qualified guest workers. USCIS to uncover more cases of fraud. “Judging from what USCIS has started to do in the way of quality control, they have started doing random samplings of cases that have already been decided; they have started to find a surprising amount of fraud,” Vaughan complained. “They’re expected to get so many applications done a day, they don’t have the time to call phone numbers on the petition and verify that it’s an actual business. So that’s a question of staffing rather than finding the tools.” Analysis As Vaughan pointed out, systems are only as good as the people who run them. While USCIS’s Mattingly assured HSToday that staffing plans are in place to handle the increase in workload that would come with a guest worker credentialing program,Vaughan feared that poorly trained staff might not verify identities according to procedures. “Most of our immigration documents have biometrics. The problem is that they are not always utilized,” she argued. “Take the border-crossing card, designed for short-term visitors from Mexico. It has a photograph and a fingerprint and information encrypted on the card. It’s a very secure document. When someone shows up at a port of entry with one, some inspectors just look at it. They don’t scan it or swipe it. They just look at it and let them in or out.” By not taking advantage of the capabilities of documents like border-crossing cards, homeland security officers would lose the opportunity to keep criminals or potential terrorists out of the United States. While determined individuals would likely find ways to circumvent the system, security officials could reduce risks by following through with identity verification procedures, Vaughan contended. Moreover, the United States has to pay for the technology and staff to support a guest worker credentialing program—which means DHS should collect adequate fees to cover the costs of it, she added. US taxpayers are unlikely to tolerate paying for the establishment of a guest worker identity management system, particularly in tough economic times. The political will to tackle immigration reform has swelled since Republicans, many of whom opposed a new guest worker program, suffered serious losses in the November elections. President George W. Bush and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were never able to sell the idea to their party at large. So prospects for a package seem strong, although it likely won’t come up in President Barack Obama’s first year. Once Congress enacts legislation and the president signs it, however, USCIS will be ready to go—and a credentialing program could launch within six to 12 months of the law taking effect. HST Adequate resources However the federal government decides to approach the challenge of implementing a guest worker system, it has the technological know-how to pull it off, according to Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, DC. The pitfalls rather lie in a lack of manpower, time and money, Vaughan told HSToday. “There really is no way to have a perfect guest worker program. Until someone invents a machi2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=41http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=412009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=42http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=42DoE: Working to Keep the Lights On AS THE NATION RENEWS ITS INFRASTRUCTURE, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S WATCHWORDS WILL BE ‘RESILIENCE’ AND ‘SECURITY.’ By M I C K E Y M c C A R T E R , W A S H I N G T O N C O R R E S P O N D E N T PAT WILLGANG WAS IN A CONVOY WITH THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) LAST SEPTEMBER, FOLLOWING HURRICANE IKE INTO GALVESTON, TEXAS. “We started in San Antonio and swung in behind it,”Willgang recalled. “We saw Galveston Island as soon as it cleared up. We were on a helicopter on Galveston Island the next morning, looking at the electric infrastructure and how much damage was caused there.” Speeding out to disasters or other emergency situations is a big part of Willgang’s job, but he’s not an employee of FEMA. Rather, he’s a regional coordinator in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (EDER) in the US Department of Energy. EDER has lined up personnel throughout the country with the 10 regions of FEMA, and Willgang is the regional coordinator for Region 6, which includes the hurricane-prone states of Texas and Louisiana, along with Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas. The Department of Energy (DoE) plays a key role in overall homeland security. Its expertise is central to effectively restoring critical infrastructure like electrical grids, particularly since much of that infrastructure is extremely difficult to protect or harden. In fiscal year 2008, it received $1.8 billion in homeland security funds. As the emphasis throughout the government turns to resilience and there’s a new focus on renewing the nation’s infrastructure, the department’s way of doing business, drawn more from necessity than philosophy, will likely be in the forefront of these movements. DoE as responder “When we’re activated by FEMA for any type of disaster—hurricanes, ice storms, wildfires— we head out to various locations, whether it is a regional coordination center or a joint field office that they might open up in any one of the states,”Willgang told HSToday. “Our primary function is to interface with the energy sector, whether that is petroleum refineries, oil production, natural gas pipelines, or electricity companies. A lot of our time is spent with the electricity companies because they are impacted the most during hurricanes, especially, and ice storms.” Willgang and his colleagues provide situational awareness to DoE’s partners in federal and state governments and the private sector by getting information to them quickly in a 40 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=43http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=43Crews begin work to restore power to Picher, Okla., on May 12, 2008 following a devastating tornado. The Department of Energy plays a significant homeland security role in supporting private sector utilities as they maintain the nation's energy grid. Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters AP PHOTO/SUE OGROCKI format that they can use. EDER personnel then try to set priorities for restoring infrastructure, generally calling attention to critical needs such as hospitals and identifying other facilities that are ready and able to receive electricity and other restored services. “We try to work with our private sector partners to get their facilities back on in a meaningful and manageable way,” Willgang commented. “Everybody wants their stuff on right away, but having collected the information and being involved in the situational awareness, we know who is ready and who is not ready.” Several regulations provide the DoE with its authority to assist with the restoration of energy infrastructure in response to disasters—most notably the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. When activated, EDER works with FEMA to address energy sector problems under the National Response Framework. As the months passed last fall, EDER was involved in providing electricity to the displaced residents of mobile homes and temporary housing. At press time, EDER still had three people in Texas performing such jobs. EDER perhaps has about 120 people ready to assist in the event of a natural disaster or man-made emergency. Those people include a regional coordinator and a backup for each region, as well as 100 subject matter experts ranging from scientists to engineers to emergency responders. During Hurricane Katrina, EDER deployed up to 50 of its people throughout Louisiana. In situations where the damage is so severe or widespread, EDER often teams up with the US Coast Guard to survey the damage from its helicopters and boats. To protect or repair Professor Ross Baldick was giving a talk in Columbus, Ohio, in 2006 when an attendee in the audience observed that any group of terrorists with shotguns could cause a lot of damage to US electrical grids by walking around and shooting it in the right places. “I really don’t mean to be frivolous about it, but they really are essentially indefensible infrastructure,” said Baldick, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. The Department of Energy generally agrees that it is extremely difficult and cost-prohibitive to actually harden or protect such infrastructure. So it and some other grantees provided research funds to Baldick and other experts from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, Calif., to develop “optimization techniques for analyzing the security and resilience of electrical power grids against disruptions caused by terrorist attacks,” according to the NPS Web site. TheVulnerability of Electric Power Grids Analysis Project resulted in a tool managers could use to assess the benefits of repairs given empirical numbers about their costs. The tool helps to determine the advantages to hardening electrical infrastructure versus repairing it when emergencies occur. “I suspect a mixture of both is relevant, in particular in high value places like electric substations,” Baldick told HSToday. “There is probably value in making the barbed wire fence harder to break through than it is currently. You have geographically concentrated assets there with relatively easy-to-breech defenses. On the other hand, with a transmission line, which might be 100 miles long, you simply aren’t going to be able to build a fence along it. Typically, it is in a corridor that is undefended.” The Electric Power Research Institute heads an ongoing effort to develop generic spares for power transformers used in electric power equipment, Baldick noted. Typically, different power companies use different transformers with different ratings for various2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=44http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=44DOE: WORKING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON in a system with damaged transformers would cost less and be readily available to those companies that needed them, he added. “The cost of having spares is quite high,” Baldick stated. “It would be quite expensive if you needed a spare for every transformer you own. It would probably overdo it. It is even more expensive if you have a lot of types of transformers and you need to have a spare of each type. But if you could have a generic spare that could serve as a spare for several different types of transformers, then you could have a way to share economically the cost of having the spare across multiple transformers and perhaps across multiple companies that have historically bought from different manufacturers.” Baldick views the example of generic spares for electric grids as a creative way of dealing with components that are difficult to secure and have long replacement times. “America’s infrastructure is in really sad shape. For a first-world country, we are running on a third-world infrastructure. There are multiple single points of failure that cascade into others,” he pointed out. Understanding the environment of energy infrastructure and the components required to keep it running are important to developing predictability to the ability to recover from a disaster or terrorist attack. That understanding must involve a conceptualization of how US energy is interdependent on foreign energy infrastructure, as well as other sectors of infrastructure. “In an interdependent environment, how many gates, guns and guards are you going to put around static locations that collapse as a result of being dependent on something else? You don’t have to attack the target to attack the target. We are trying to protect things like power plants that are reliant upon something else. Is that protected too?” Gaynor reflected. David Weinberg, an independent consultant working for Practical Risk LLC in Albuquerque, NM, agreed, pointing out that DoE’s national laboratories in Los Alamos and Sandia have a joint project to examine energy interdependencies at the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center. “Those two laboratories have spent a lot of time doing a lot of modeling and simulation, which is not the perfect answer to everything but it’s a good start to understanding some of the issues,” said Weinberg, who once worked for the Idaho National Laboratory. Weinberg, who now specializes in prioritizing assets for protection from terrorist attacks, built his career examining infrastructure vulnerabilities, first as a DoE detailee to the FBI’s defunct National Infrastructure Protection Center and then later as one of the first analysts at the office of Information Analysis Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (also now defunct). “We are really not significantly closer to understanding the overall energy interdependencies that this country has. It’s not an easy problem; it might not be solved in a decade. It’s a very organic system for energy. It’s not impossible to figure out but it’s going to take time and effort at a high level, at a concerted level and at a constant level,” Weinberg told HSToday. Weinberg also called upon Congress to provide more research and development funding to DoE so that the department can conduct more studies of energy interdependencies. The dissemina- Embracing resiliency Jeff Gaynor, former director of the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Critical Infrastructure Task Force, sees DoE’s spares initiative as a perfect example of resiliency. “If something breaks, you have something right away to plug in and replace it. That’s exactly what resilience is,” Gaynor stated. “The metric is time. How fast can you do it? And it’s automatically risk-based. How long can I live without it?” The federal government is beginning to embrace the need for resilience versus protection, and DoE’s infrastructure initiatives demonstrate an understanding of 2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=45http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=45DOE: WORKING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON tion of such information on energy infrastructure would guide businesses that have the responsibility for protecting it, since the private sector owns 85 percent of critical infrastructure. Steven Chu will play a big role in that investment in the energy infrastructure. Chu, a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley, had served as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory beginning in 2004, where he pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming. Chu called for a program to invest in energy infrastructure in research papers and in testimony before Congress over the last several years. In one case, Chu co-chaired a committee to produce an October 2007 report for the InterAcademy Council, calling on public investment in energy infrastructure as a means for building cleaner, more efficient energy systems (“Lighting theWay: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future,” http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ Object.File/Master/12/042/lighting_4_cover.pdf). Chris Dreibelbis, economic policy director at the Reform Institute, observed that infrastructure investments discussed by Obama and Chu have focused on energy efficiency and creating jobs, but they should have the added benefit of enhancing homeland security as well. “President Obama in the past has talked about the need to modernize the grid and to move toward a smart grid. We are hopeful his administration will embark upon that and take the steps necessary to move the United States to a more modern smart grid that will be more resilient and more efficient,” Dreibelbis stated. “All of the talk about infrastructure has mostly been in the framework of creating jobs, which is important, but we hope moving forward they take into mind the importance to homeland security and national resilience when investing in infrastructure.” HST Analysis The Homeland Security Advisory Council first brought the topic of resilience to the attention of federal officials in January 2006 with the Report of the Critical Infrastructure Task Force (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/HSAC_CITF_Report_v2.pdf). While the report raised the issue of resilience to leaders at DHS, no action was taken on institutionalizing the concept. “It’s said you need to take a licking and keep on ticking. Bad things are going to happen to good people, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it,” Gaynor quipped. Gaynor applauded the Obama administration’s early attention to the idea of resiliency as well as coordinating activities between DHS and other federal agencies. When she was introduced as President Barack Obama’s homeland security nominee in December, Janet Napolitano said of herself and her fellow nominees: “[I]t will be my job and the job of this team to hold ourselves and our agencies accountable, to coordinate fully across the spectrum of government agencies and to ensure that we work hand in hand with state and local governments to share information, secure our borders and keep our country safe. We are a nation that will be proud, prepared and resilient.” Although not a primary goal of the project, resilience received a boost from Obama’s infrastructure investment program, introduced as a means to save or create American jobs while making American society more energy-efficient. Energy Secretary Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters HSToday Magazine | March 2009 432009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=46http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=46TOOLS&TECHNOLOGY Scent Detection Technologies launches new dual-mode detection system Scent Detection Technologies (SDT), Hertzeliya-Pituach, Israel, a provider of trace detection systems for the homeland security, civil aviation, police and law enforcement and defense markets, has introduced the MN1000B Dual Mode Explosives and Narcotics Trace Detection System. Building on SDT’s range of trace detectors and based on its proprietary High Frequency Quartz Crystal Microbalance (HF-QCM) technology, the MN1000B incorporates dual-mode detection capabilities in a single unit. This enables the system to detect and identify a broad range of explosives and illicit substances while maintaining a high level of sensitivity and selectivity. The unit is lightweight, portable, designed for easy operation and can be quickly deployed at a wide range of security checkpoints for uninterrupted operation even in harsh environments. Comprised of a handheld sampling unit and compact analyzer, the system processes and analyzes samples and displays the results on a touch screen. It is intended to eliminate complexities associated with traditional explosive trace detection systems and does not require infrastructure modifications. (Source: SDT) Bosch releases underwater and public address models Bosch Security Systems Inc., Fairport, NY, a full-line manufacturer of security solutions, has announced the release of the new underwater and public address models of the MIC Ruggedized PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) Camera. The MIC400 Underwater PTZ Camera is designed to meet the needs of surveillance projects that require a fully submerged camera solution, while the MIC400 Public Address PTZ Camera is for applications that warrant video and voice communication in all environmental conditions. The unit’s pressure-resistant seals enable operation to a depth of 25 meters (82 feet) and have an IP68 rating, protecting against severe water ingress, while a choice of aluminum or stainless steel casing offers corrosion protection. A window that produces distortion-free underwater images provides accurate monitoring of processes and events. The MIC400 Underwater fulfills the surveillance requirements of locations such as water treatment plants, hydroelectric dams and commercial aquariums. (Source: Bosch Security Systems Inc.) New hard drive erasure device eliminates data quickly without destroying the drive DestructData Inc., North Andover, Mass., a provider of data erasure tools, has announced the immediate availability of SCSI Hammer, a new hard disk erasure tool for small computer system interface (SCSI) drives. Based on the company’s Hammer purging device, the new SCSI Hammer is compliant with current National Institute of Standards and Technology standards for electronic media sanitization. SCSI Hammer implements a proprietary firmware-based erasure protocol to eliminate all data on demand, including remapped bad sectors, without destroying the drive. When used in the Disk Array configuration, the device is capable of completely purging up to 30 SCSI hard drives simultaneously, at speeds of up to 150 gigabytes per minute. In this mode, it connects directly to servers and mass storage units so there is no need to remove drives before purging them. (Source: DestructData Inc.) 44 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=47http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=47Rave Wireless widens availability of campus safety solutions Rave Wireless, New York, NY, a provider of two-way mobile phone safety solutions, is making its line of campus safety mass alert products available to business enterprises, healthcare organizations, municipalities and other organizations. The line includes Rave Alert, a hosted, multi-modal software capable of delivering thousands of timesensitive messages within seconds via text, voice recordings, e-mail, RSS feeds and instant messaging. Another product, Rave Guardian, transforms users’ mobile phones into personal safety devices, allowing a transient workforce, late night workers, town residents, disaster recovery employees and others to activate a mobile monitoring service that shares their picture, mobile number and personal information with police if and when they feel unsafe. Police receive this information either on smart phones and/or in the corporate security, police station or office of first responders. (Source: Rave Wireless) BIG Enterprises introduces new booth design BIG Enterprises, Los Angles, Calif., a manufacturer of prefabricated all-purpose booths, has introduced a new booth design called The Image Icon, a galvanized and stainless steel construction designed to be a perimeter checkpoint. Manufactured with dual pane insulated glass windows and two steel doorways for ease of use, the design allows guards to effectively monitor the environment and interact with visitors and employees. The booth comes complete with electrical wiring, including provisions for data, communication and security camera systems, stainless steel shelves, and high-output commercial heating and air conditioning. The booth is delivered fully prefabricated and ready for installation. Designed as a main entrance booth, it can be altered to represent any number of facilities or companies. (Source: BIG Enterprises) PacStar launches Initial Entry Package for rugged communications PacStar, Portland, Ore., has announced the availability of the PacStar 4100 Initial Entry Package (IEP), a highly portable, software-managed communications package designed to provide rapid on-the-ground network support to individuals and teams of up to 20 users. The PacStar 4100 was developed in partnership with the Defense Department’s Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE), a leader in tactical communications modernization. PacStar 4100s will be issued to some of the military’s “early entry teams,” which are routinely deployed for counterterrorism operations, as well natural disasters and humanitarian relief operations. The unit is small and light enough to meet airline carry-on requirements and fit into the overhead bin of a commercial aircraft. It delivers Defense Switched Network voice and data services and can connect to local area networks or satellite and Internet protocol or analog phones. The package also provides access to two data networks that are configurable based on user requirements. These data networks and Voice over Secure Internet Protocol phones are separated from the system by High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor devices. (Source: PacStar) Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters HSToday Magazine | March 2009 452009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=48http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=48HSToday HOMELAND SECURITY INSIGHT & ANALYSIS ™ ADVERTISER INDEX 30 Border Security Expo www.bordersecurityexpo.com Corestreet www.corestreet.com/TWIC Datastrip www.datastrip.com David Clark Company www.davidclark.com Diebold www.diebold.com/secure Disaster Response & Recovery www.drrexpo.com DRS Technologies www.drs.com 42 Fire & Life Safety Educators Conference www.firesafetyeducators.org FSI North America www.fsinorth.com 23 12 Global Security Systems www.ALERTFM.com 39 10 Hach www.hachHST.com ISC West www.iscwest.com/AD4x ITT www.nightvision.com/ aroundtheclock Northrop Grumman www.northropgrumman.com C4 31 On Site Gas Systems www.onsitegas.com Raytheon www.raytheon.com Smiths Detection www.smithsdetection.com Tascet Identity Network www.tascet.com www.pidproject.com Technical Communities www.technicalcommunities.com Verizon www.verizonwireless.com/gov Versi-Panel Enclosures www.versi-panelenclosures.com Publisher Kimberley S. Hanson-Brown khanson@HSToday.US Associate Publisher/Sales Director Linda Andersen landersen@HSToday.US Director, Interactive Media Sales Assistant Shannon Webb 1-800-503-6506 swebb@HSToday.US Public Relations & Marketing Director Sue Stott 1-800-503-6506 sstott@HSToday.US Tradeshow Manager Lynn Perciasepe PHONE: 772-708-4649 FAX: 772-334-4271 lynnp@HSToday.US ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES National Accounts Linda Andersen PHONE: 978-448-3932 FAX: 978-448-5745 landersen@HSToday.US Southern US Karen Gaconnier PHONE: 631-793-0182 FAX: 866-503-5758 kgaconnier@HSToday.US Northern US Lisa Pavlock PHONE: 540-349-9794 FAX: 540-349-9791 lpavlock@HSToday.US Israel Dan Erlich PHONE: 972-9-9586 245 FAX: 972-9-9585 685 d_erlich@netvision.net.il © Copyright 2009 HSToday All rights reserved 43 C3 36 6 15 5 32 8 25 2 C2 29 37 TRADESHOW CIRCUIT March 2-5 Winter 2009 Biometrics Summit Miami, FL www.aliconferences.com/conf/ biometricsforgov_0708/pre.htm Find more events and details online at www.HSToday.us 31LogiChem Europe 2009 April 3 Dusseldorf, Germany www.logichemeurope.com 22-24 Fire & Life Safety Educators Conference Winter Park, CO www.firesafetyeducators.org MEDIA PARTNER April 1-3 ISC West Las Vegas, NV www.iscwest.com MEDIA PARTNER 3-5 44th Annual Governor’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Conference Brooklyn Park, Minnesota www.hsem.state.mn.us 27-28 Tools & Templates to Develop a Framework to Execute Crisis Care Chicago, IL www.worldrg.com/soc 5-7 Disaster Response & Recovery Exposition Dallas, TX www.drrexpo.com MEDIA PARTNER 27-30 Maritime Homeland Security Jacksonville, FL www.maritimehssummit.com MEDIA PARTNER 5-6 National Student Safety Summit New York City www.comfori.com MEDIA PARTNER 8 Spring 2009 Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC www.teleworkexchange.com/ townhallmeeting May 13-14 Border Security Conference and Expo Phoenix, AZ www.bordersecurityexpo.com 11-12 GovSec 2009 Washington Convention Center www.govsecinfo.com MEDIA SPONSOR 14-16 World Health Care Congress Washington, DC www.worldhealthcarecongress. com 18-21 16-20 IWCE Expo Las Vegas, NV www.iwceexpo.com MEDIA PARTNER 2009 Homeland Security S&T Stakeholders Washington, DC www.ndia.org MEDIA PARTNER 19-22 17-19 DHS S&T University Summit Washington, DC www.orau.gov/DHSsummit.com GITA’s 2009 Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium Tampa, Florida www.gita.org/ers MEDIA PARTNER June 8-10 NFPA Conference & Expo Chicago, IL www.nfpa.org/conference SHOW ENDORSER 2007 CentralSoutheast Region 2007 CentralSoutheast Region 2005 CentralSoutheast Region 2005 CentralSoutheast Region Bronze Special Section Bronze Special Supplement Silver Special Section Bronze Regular Department 46 March 2009 | www.HSToday.us2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=49http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=49COMING IN APRIL TOP AND RISING 10 OF 2009 25 homeland security companies in 2008 In our annual feature, Homeland Security Today Market Monitor columnist Philip Finnegan reveals who did the most business with DHS last year and looks ahead to this year’s rising powers. ALSO IN APRIL… COMING IN MAY… A New Day for Mass Transit With new attention being given to mass transit, the Obama administration will be looking for new solutions to close longstanding vulnerabilities. Special Report: Napolitano’s DHS Who’s where? What changes have been made? We examine it all, plus provide an organization chart to help you navigate. SBI Comes North After a long gestation along the southern border, DHS officials are looking to take the Secure Border Initiative to the border with Canada. The Homeland Security Today Education Guide Campus security How new tools are transforming security for the nation’s campuses. Europe Responds to Obama Europeans have stratospheric expectations of the president when it comes to the fight against terror—but can he fulfill their hopes? Airport security and the role of the Transportation Security Administration What’s new and what stays the same? Also in April: The nuts and bolts of DHS procurement reform Breaking the deadly bottlenecks in first responder communications Spotlight on the Department of Transportation Also: Responders Today: Protecting Honolulu Agency Spotlight: The US Commerce Department To advertise in this issue, call 1-800-503-6506 or email dyoung@HSToday.us2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=50http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=50LEADERSHIP PROFILE BY DAVID SILVERBERG ON SEPT. 11, 2001, FIREFIGHTERS AND RESCUE PERSONNEL FROM VIRGINIA’S ARLINGTON AND FAIRFAX COUNTIES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RACED TO A PENTAGON THAT HAD JUST BEEN STRUCK BY A BOEING 757 AND WAS BURNING FIERCELY. The first responders prepared to take charge of the incident, only they weren’t allowed access—authorities at the Pentagon stated that they lacked credentials and clearances to deal with Defense Department property. Ultimately—and quickly—clearance was given and the first responders set to work. But the incident highlighted the difficulty of verifying identification at a disaster site and the importance of making sure the right people have access. From this incident and that need CoreStreet was born. became a bandwidth problem.” CoreStreet changed its application and then went on to provide similar services to civilian agencies, as well as such overseas agencies as the British Ministry of Defence and Spain’s social security administration. CoreStreet is now involved in US homeland security, providing verification technology for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential as it is rolled out across the country. One of its most innovative physical products is the PIVMAN (from personal identification verification) system, with which first responders can check credentials anywhere and at any time even if networks are lost in a disaster. Using a handheld device, credentials can be checked for permissions to enter disaster sites. It’s a critical capability given the numbers of out-of-area responders, volunteers and Samaritans—as well as criminals—who are drawn to scenes of destruction in the aftermath of an event. CoreStreet is working on spreading word of its capabilities at the state and local levels while also addressing concerns about privacy, according to Broderick. Issues of verification will always haunt any kind of credentialing, and “that is something that the country is going to have to struggle with,” he noted. Nonetheless, part of CoreStreet’s mission is protecting personal identification information, as well as confirming it. CHRIS BRODERICK Chief Executive Officer CoreStreet of what he called “identity services infrastructure” (ISI), the capability to compute anywhere at any time. “Identity Services Infrastructure enables people to have access to facilities, services, and transactions anywhere,anytime,” states a CoreStreet white paper, Identity Services Infrastructure: A practical approach to ensuring trust and privacy in government and industry (http:// www.corestreet.com/about/librar y/ whitepapers/isi_whitepaper_cs.pdf). “To achieve this,those architecting ISI must consider the following: standards, resilient networks, credentials, privacy and security, products and services.” Put another way,just as people increasingly compute on the run and at all times, so they need to verify their identities on the run and at all times. “This idea of validating ID in a federated way is core to the intellectual property of the firm,” explained Broderick. CoreStreet’s initial customers were in the intelligence agencies, where verifying identity was critical. From there, the company received work from the Department of Defense (DoD), which had long experience with credentialing, but also a very special problem: “deprovisioning” or invalidating credentials when they were no longer in use or the original user no longer had use of them. For an agency as vast as the DoD , there were so many credentials to track and deprovision that, in Broderick’s words, “it The identity infrastructure Today the person heading this high technology company is Chris Broderick, who brings extensive experience to his position. An engineer with bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering and mathematics from the University of Maryland and a graduate degree in electrical engineering from George Mason University in Virginia, Broderick spent the longest period of his career at Computer Associates, whe2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=51http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=51Infrastructure Protection Because terror knows no bounds. Developing and deploying technology to assess the situation. Identifying the threat. Getting crisp information where it needs to go, so that timely action can be taken. Raytheon has been doing exactly that for decades on more conventional battlefields and is now delivering the same quality NoDoubt™ solutions to our friends and allies to protect our critical infrastructures … our way of life … our people. www.raytheon.com © 2009 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved. “Customer Success Is Our Mission” is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company.2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=52http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/March2009/?Page=52GSA Sales: The Door Is Wide Open. Companies who sell to the government rely on Technical Communities for proven go-to-market solutions to grow sales, lower costs and reduce risk. Increase Sales. We have over a decade of experience growing sales for our customers. Our proven record includes successful management of multiple GSA schedules and exceptional relationships with more than 100 companies and thousands of buying centers. Experience Channel-Friendly. We help you successfully grow your GSA schedule sales — all in a channel-friendly environment. Let Us Help. To see how you can increase sales, go to www.technicalcommunities.com. And while you’re there, find out how, in a down economy, Technical Communities made 2008 our best year yet. Then call us at 1-888-665-3454. Increase sales. Lower costs. Channel-friendly.2009-03-02T19:23:59+01:00