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Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-signs-executive-order-establishing-council-governors Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release January 11, 2010 President Obama Signs Executive Order Establishing Council of Governors Executive Order will Strengthen Further Partnership Between the Federal and State and Local Governments to Better Protect Our Nation The President today signed an Executive Order (attached) establishing a Council of Governors to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect our Nation against all types of hazards. When appointed, the Council will be...

Federal agents raided three Minneapolis money transfer businesses that mainly serve the Somali community Wednesday, seeking records of financial transactions to several African and Middle East countries. E.K. Wilson, a special agent for the FBI in Minneapolis, confirmed that agents searched the businesses on the city's south side to track money transactions, but wouldn't disclose any further details. ... While it's not clear that the raid was directly connected to a continuing federal investigation into the possible link between terrorist groups and the disappearances of seven to 20 young Somali men in the Twin Cities over the past two years,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2008 – Pentagon officials have established a new rapid-response joint task force and plan to create two more in coming years to bolster assistance to civil authorities following potential chemical, biological or nuclear attacks or natural disasters, a senior U.S. official said here yesterday. The new units will team with other federal agencies in support of local responders following chemical, biological or nuclear terror attacks on the homeland or during natural disasters, Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs, told American Forces Press Service and Pentagon Channel reporters. The establishment...

Where did Reagan go away? Republicans help Labor unions to a major victory How could these Senate Republicans help labor unions to a major victory? Call your Senator now to stop S.2123. The misnamed and egregious "Public Safety Employer-Employee cooperation act of 2007" was introduced by Senator Gregg on October 1 with enough Republicans (11 Republicans) to invoke cloture and pass the Bill.

IN the 1960s, my sister was part of the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley. She was arrested in a civil rights sit-in. Naturally, she was a lifelong Democrat. Today, she is a “9-11 Republican.” She is not alone. My sister is no less committed to civil rights than before. But she believes that not being murdered by Islamist terrorists is also an important civil right. She is not sure that the Democratic Party completely agrees with her. For 9-11 Republicans, this is the most significant political issue. The GOP “gets it,” while the Democratic Party doesn't. Many recent former Democrats...

CHICAGO, March 3 (UPI) -- New wireless technologies being developed by a secretive government agency in collaboration with private contractors may dramatically improve communications for homeland defense among federal, state and local officials, experts tell United Press International's Wireless World. The Department of Homeland Security, working with BlackBerry Wireless devices, Palm Treos and other mobile handheld computers, has been working to secure wireless e-mail through a testing program being run by its very secretive Advanced Research Projects Agency, a unit created for the war on terror that is analogous to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, devised during the Cold...

(snip) Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, the Guard's adjutant general, ordered the naval militia to stand down in 2002 while state officials, concerned about training, liability and funding issues, reviewed its status. Jordan and fellow militia members John Jedrejczyk and Mark Tegeder, along with former member Louis Ianniello, counterattacked this month. They fired a legal salvo at state officials, accusing them in a civil rights complaint of military branch discrimination. "We're doing this for the other members," said Jordan, 47, of Jackson, a certified firearms instructor. "We hope to get this moving again in the right direction. We've been totally...

...Notably, the New Orleans mess improved only after the Pentagon got involved. Though the military is normally barred from domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Defense officials have been doing a lot of creative thinking about what they can do and what the public now expects post-September 11.... Mr. Bush will also need to guide the rebuilding choices for New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.... But clearly there is an issue of how much federal money to pour into a city that is below sea-level and would still be vulnerable to another Category Four or Five...

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

August 19, 2005 The Honorable Mark R. Warner The State Capitol 3 rd Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 Dear Governor Warner: As you may have recently heard, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano declared a “state-of-emergency” in their respective states to combat the issue of illegal immigration. My understanding is these declarations have made additional federal homeland security funding available to more directly confront the unauthorized immigration taking place in these states. Representing an area that is increasingly burdened by illegal immigrants, I believe the time has come for you to join with Governors Richardson and Napolitano...

07.22.2005 From The Editor Good News and Bad: We’re Preparing for Terror Combat Here By Ed Offley Two weeks before four British citizens on July 7 strapped bomb-laden rucksacks on their backs and set out to kill scores of London commuters and injure hundred of others – an attack that British security officials concede they had no inkling was in the works – the Pentagon formally adopted a new "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support" that anticipates even grislier terror strikes here at home within the next 10 years. Whether you are an active-duty soldier or Marine, or an...

Okay...It's Friday and time for a gun thread. Yesterday at the local gun and toy store in (believe or not, Maryland, I got to handle the FN Herstal PS90, the civilian semi-automatic version of the P90.This bull-pup 5.7x28 mm has been around for the LEo and Military markets for a few years. I always thought it strange looking but technically very interesting. A closed breech blow-back design, it has a unique horizontal top mounted magazine; 30 or 50 rds. Ambidextrous mag releases make it surprising fast to swap out mags. It ejects spent casings from the bottom.The strange looking stock...

Federal officials are investigating whether illegal aliens are being trafficked through the Washington area after authorities detained 12 illegal aliens traveling in a van in Spotsylvania County, Va., late Tuesday -- the second such discovery in the state in three days.

From CommunityDispatch.com CDC Health Advisory Notices & AnnouncementsInterim Guidance about Marburg Virus Infection for Airline Flight Crews, Cargo and Cleaning Personnel, and Personnel Interacting with Arriving Passengers By Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Apr 13, 2005, 20:28 This interim guidance is intended to assist commercial passenger airlines, cargo and charter carriers, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP), and other relevant agencies in establishing appropriate precautions for Marburg virus infection. Recommendations are based on standard infection control practices and on available epidemiologic information about the Marburg virus. Overview of Marburg Disease...

September 11, 2001, changed the life of each and every American and brought to the forefront a compelling need to change how the federal government is organized to meet new and emerging challenges to our homeland and national security. Congress and the President worked together to create the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The U.S. House of Representatives created a Select Committee to oversee the new Department and its activities. A growing yet underestimated threat is that of a cyber attack on U.S. critical information infrastructures. Criminals, terrorists, and foreign governments are exploiting the anonymity and global reach of the...

(AP) When the FBI shifted its focus to anti-terrorism efforts, investigations targeting illegal drugs, organized crime and white-collar crime took the biggest hit, according to a Justice Department report Monday. The report by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, provides the first detailed look at where the FBI moved resources following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Fine said the review, which drew no conclusions about the wisdom of the changes, did show that the FBI's changes "generally were in line with its post-Sept. 11 priorities." The greatest reduction occurred in the FBI's organized crime and drug program, which lost 758...

AIRPORT WATCH CONCEPT HELPS NAB 'BAD GUYS' Here's proof that GA airports really are small communities and that the "residents" know when something is amiss. On Wednesday, this led to the nabbing of some suspicious characters at St. Louis Downtown Airport. It all started when a man telephoned an FBO not far from the Gateway Arch and asked about chartering a helicopter. About an hour later, two men walked into the FBO, pulled out cash to pay for the flight, and presented driver's licenses from two different states as ID. Office staff noticed their car was registered in a third...

ATLANTA - A military rocket launcher was found Tuesday near a rail-transit station, but the FBI said it looks to be a less-powerful model commonly used to train soldiers and would be unable to bring down an aircraft or destroy a train. . . . Lazarus said there was no cause for public alarm and the city's rail-transit system was not interrupted by the discovery.