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Security experts: Homeland Security faces hurdles in replacing terror alertsBy Jordy Yager - 01/30/11 12:27 PM ET National security experts applauded the decision to end the color-coded threat advisory system, but said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to ramp up information-sharing and messaging efforts if a new system is going to succeed. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced last week the agency’s plan to drop the Bush-era advisory system that used colors to indicate the level of threats to the U.S. In its place, DHS plans to deliver “formal, detailed alerts” about “a specific or credible terrorist threat”...

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will be Emory University's commencement speaker during the May 9 ceremony. Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association. "As our graduating students set forth to shape their own lives and careers, they will be well served by the example of Janet Napolitano, who has used her exceptional intelligence, integrity and humanity in behalf of positive transformation in the world," Emory President James Wagner said in a news release. About 3,600 students are expected to graduate. The ceremony will be held on the university quadrangle on...

Suspecting overseas counterfeiters would target fans eager for NHL Winter Classic memorabilia, three federal agencies conducted a joint operation they say intercepted 792 items of fake sportswear. If the items were legitimate, they would be worth about $137,000, said Joseph Klaus, Customs and Border Protection port director for Pittsburgh. The fake sports memorabilia is a small part of the millions of dollars worth of counterfeit items that agents believe come into the Pittsburgh area annually, he said. "This is just something that will highlight the counterfeit problem we're facing," he said Wednesday while displaying some of the seized Penguins jerseys....

At an all-day White House conference on "environmental justice," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department is creating a new task force to battle the effects of climate change on domestic security operations.

Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Department's national "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign to hundreds of Walmart stores across the country - launching a new partnership between DHS and Walmart to help the American public play an active role in ensuring the safety and security of our nation. "Homeland security starts with hometown security, and each of us plays a critical role in keeping our country and communities safe," said Secretary Napolitano. "I applaud Walmart for joining the ‘If You See Something, Say Something' campaign. This partnership...

The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats.

Have Arizona pass a law saying that illegal aliens will be subject to these procedures as well! The federal government would immediately ask a judge to ban full-body scans.

Well, it was only a matter of time. But people are pushing back because … for the most part they don’t think this makes them safer. This is just one of the stories on the new TSA pat downs. Steve has posted on it here. But the push back from travelers, flight attendants and pilots continues. HS Secretary Janet Napolitano has asked for cooperation from travelers … but that’s easier said than done. Witness the push back from a San Diego traveler.

A Transportation Security Administration supervisor has been arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in cash from passengers going through an airport checkpoint. As passengers -- mostly foreigners heading home -- came through the checkpoint at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, the supervisor and another TSA agent would subject them to secondary searches and allegedly take cash from their carry-on bags. The supervisor, Michael Arato, 41, of Ewing, N.J., was changed with one count of accepting bribes, one count of conspiring to commit theft and three counts of theft by a government employee. The other TSA worker is now...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has adopted new procedures for using the Defense Department’s vast array of cyberwarfare capabilities in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, delicately navigating historic rules that restrict military action on American soil. The system would mirror that used when the military is called on in natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. A presidential order dispatches the military forces, working under the control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

When Mohamed Elibiary was appointed earlier this year to the Department of Homeland Security’s newly-formed Countering Violent Extremism Working Group, it was done quietly and without fanfare. It’s hard to believe that this silence was accidental, considering Elibiary’s appearance at a conference honoring Ayatollah Khomeini, his attacks on prosecution of terrorist fundraisers, his active promotion of jihadist ideology godfather Sayyid Qutb, and the threat he made against a Dallas Morning News journalist who repeatedly exposed his extremist views. But none of that has stopped Mohamed Elibiary from promoting himself as a “de-radicalization” expert courted not only by Janet Napolitano and

The Most Transparent Administration Evah has yet another example of doublespeak and opacity uncovered by the Associated Press. A lengthy investigation shows that the Department of Homeland Security investigated people making Freedom of Information Act requests for their politics, and delaying legally mandated disclosures based on political considerations. The demands for information included the party affiliation of those making the requests, a policy that came from the top: For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed...

If the Marines on Iwo Jima had been that faint-hearted, they wouldn’t have bothered to raise the flag, and Asia would have remained under the brutal, racist tyranny of imperial Japan. (The flag was raised by five Marines and one Navy Corpsman.) If those underage kids and older men hadn’t enlisted, Europe would have remained under Nazi despotism. Europeans who condemn American “militarism” should remember to whom they owe the right to criticize anything. And if we don’t follow the courageous example of those who bequeathed us our freedom, we will allow the world to fall under the domination of...

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday denied any plans to grant blanket amnesty to the "entire illegal immigrant population," following claims from senators and others that the Obama administration has been holding behind-the-scenes talks to craft a gameplan for mass legalization. The concern is that DHS, in a bid to bypass Congress, would extend what is known as deferred action or parole -- actions usually taken on a case-by-case basis -- to millions of illegal immigrants at once.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this afternoon brushed off Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s request for surveillance planes and 1,000 fresh troops along the Mexican border. That drew swift denunciation from the governor, who put state police and other assets on standby, citing the heightened risk of spillover violence from Mexico’s drug war.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists who are U.S. citizens or live in the country legally and plot against the U.S. are just as big of a concern as international terrorists. She says that when she started as secretary a year ago, the focus was largely on international terrorists who want to harm U.S. interests. But in the past year, more of the violent extremism that has been seen overseas is showing up in the U.S. She says officials need to drill down and analyze the factors that make a young person, raised in the U.S.,...

Mr. President: I commend your brave efforts at implementing the Overseas Contingency Plan (OCP), formerly misnamed the War on Terror. Unfortunately, the Dirty Diaper Bomber has revealed that your . . . work in this area has fallen short . . . Mr. President, it is time to get serious about your approach to appeasement. WHEREFORE, I respectfully recommend the following 5-step plan:

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Homeland Security is gagging local law enforcement agencies around the country to protect the privacy of illegal aliens. Under "revised" 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and state and local law enforcement agencies, any information about local police efforts to enforce federal immigration law must be cleared through ICE before it can be released to the media or the public. DHS says it is doing this to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.

Purported non Muslim Barack Hussein Obama made a presidential appointment of Muslim Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan for a top job at the federal Department of Homeland Security. In his new job, Arif Alikhan will be Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Alikhan has been Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles--in charge of public safety for the city. Why Muslim Alikhan at the Department of Homeland Security you might ask? DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said Alikhan’s “broad and impressive array of experience in national security, emergency preparedness, and counterterrorism will make him...

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 713-09 September 14, 2009 DoD Announces New Information-Sharing Access to Help Fusion Centers Combat Terrorism The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an initiative to grant select state and major urban area fusion center personnel access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network. Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the DoD Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet)—a secure network used to send classified data. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data...