GAO report faults Homeland Security on plan for biological-attack sensors

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has rushed to acquire a new, multibillion-dollar version of the BioWatch system for detecting biological attacks without establishing whether it was needed or would work, according to a new report by a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

The report by the Government Accountability Office says Homeland Security should re-evaluate the need for the overhaul while determining whether it makes financial sense. The department has spent more than $150 million developing the new generation of Government Accountability Office .

The report comes as Homeland Security officials try to maintain support in Congress for both BioWatch and the long-pursued makeover, called Generation 3. The report's findings - which fix blame on both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations - are scheduled to be discussed Thursday during a hearing by two House subcommittees.

The Los Angeles Times obtained a draft of the report, which has yet to be publicly released.

Homeland Security has failed to follow "good acquisition practices," the report

Deptartment of Homeland Security advises members of Congress on dealing with an "active shooter"

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=80687#ixzz1AzA6Ql4k

Does anybody else have a problem with this advice?
Jump up and down and draw attention to yourself to make sure you get shot.
Yeah that makes alot of sense to me.
And how much do we alot these icons of inscrutability within the federal budget?
What ever it is, it's to much that's for damned sure.

Active shooter situations develop so quickly without warning and commonly last less than 15 minutes so individuals "must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with an active shooter situation" before law enforcement arrives, DHS says.

To take action against a shooter as a last resort and "only when your life is in imminent danger," DHS advises members of Congress and congressional staff to "attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter by acting as aggressively as possible, throwing items and improvising weapons, yelling and "committing to your actions."

Aurora: $190k seized because brothers were drug suspects

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/12/aurora-not-returning-money-it-seized-despite-a-court-order.html

So the big question in my mind is why is Homeland Security being handed over the money from drug arrests?
How interesting is it, that their sticky little fingers are in this piece of the pie and 119,000 small airplanes run around unnoticed or unmonitored by them?
Do any of us actually have any idea of what the official job description of Homeland Security really is?
Because at this point I don't mind admitting that I'm thoroughly confused by what that agency was specifically intended to be used for.

Aurora police were only involved in an intermediary fashion, Murphey said. After questioning Jesus Martinez at the Aurora police department and giving him a receipt for the money, Aurora police say they transferred the money that same night to the drug task force, which reported handing the money over the following day to the Department of Homeland Security.

Michael Savage: Home Run - And Boycott WalMart

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=174244

Home run Karl!
America this IS your mission.
Take it seriously, if you don't the repercussions could be rather serious for you.
By buying an alarm clock, batteries for your flash light, and fertilizer for your lawn, all at the same time, under Janet's new proposal, gets you an automatic red flag and reported.
Swat your kid on the butt in Walmart for being a brat gets you automatically reported.
Wear a hoodie......To many tattoos.....Piercings....
Your in for a pickup, because you scared someone.
Think about it!


The only thing I've ever seen in WalMart that would be considered dangerous or suspicious is the really nasty fart that had just been emitted from someone who spent too much time in the candy aisle.

Note that Napolitano is largely personally responsible for one of the actual threats in this country in the "homeland" in the form of all the illegal Mexicans she let across her border during her tenure - many of whom are drug gang members.

Governor Ridge and I have our differences in policy, but he was, at least, competent.

Napolitano is not competent to clean a toilet.

In a WalMart

Proof that Homeland Security is just an expensive joke!

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173777

Gee, one would have thought that checking credentials would have been one of the first security options utilized.
But there ain't no money in it, so Homeland Security hasn't bothered to do it.
How much of a big fucken bogus joke has that department become?
Are the borders secure yet?....fuck NO!
Is your water supply...........fuck NO!
Are your nuclear power plants..fuck NO!
The power grid?
Railines?
Dams?
I could go on, but I think you get my point!
So exactly what is secure, besides buying the stock for companies in the security sector?
The answer: ABSOLUTELY FUCKEN NOTHING


Warning: "Improvident" language.

Ten years on from 9/11 (almost) we now have this:

Each and every one of 197 airlines that fly to or through the United States will now collect and share passenger information with the government to be checked against terror watch lists.

The Obama administration announced Tuesday the names, genders and birth dates of all passengers will be gathered and checked before the planes fly into the U.S.

Absolutely. We couldn't bother to do it before. We certainly couldn't bother to do it within a week after 9/11, nor a month, nor a year.

Instead we spent billions of dollars buying worthless virtual strip-search machines so Chertoff and his pals could get rich, when we have had databases of people who are threats to America in the form of terrorism for decades, and the technology to match that data in real time has been around commercially for more than 20 years.

If Google can "fuzzy match" things and give you a search, and they both do and have, there's no excuse for this taking a decade except for one:

Intentional and willful blindness.

Just like your government did such a great job interdicting the 9/11 hijackers who were here illegally on expired VISAs, or the shoe bomber and underwear bomber - both of whom boarded planes outside The United States.

Oh, and again: Who was the "well-dressed man" who walked the underwear bomber onto the plane without him having to present valid credentials for travel into The United States and how did that flight get cleared into US airspace with a passenger manifest that included someone on board without a valid passport associated with their name?

I'm gonna keep asking until someone answers the question folks.

Security my ass. This, like everything else we're doing these days, is all about stealing from Americans to enrich a handful of people - in this case Chertoff and his pals.

**** you Big Sis.

Fear pays, Chertoff cashing in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html

Chertoff seems to have every angle covered that there can possibly be some money made from.

After last month's plot to send bombs from Yemen to the United States aboard a cargo plane, former U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's whiskerless visage was ubiquitous on cable news. Solemnly warning that the nation needed stronger security procedures, Chertoff patiently repeated his talking points on ABC News's "World News Tonight", "Fox and Friends", CNBC's "Squawk Box" and Bloomberg TV.

Almost unmentioned in these appearances: Chertoff has a lot to gain financially if some of these measures are adopted. Between his private consulting firm, The Chertoff Group, and seats on the boards of giant defense and security firms, he sits at the heart of the giant security nexus created in the wake of 9/11, in effect creating a shadow homeland security agency. Chertoff launched his firm just days after President Barack Obama took office, eventually recruiting at least 11 top officials from the Department of Homeland Security

German Deconstruction of Security Theatre

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173084

What Karl forgot to tell you, was that this waste of crap and invasion of your civil rights is, a decision that the Department of Home Land Security is responsible for.


And if you're wondering if these "full-body scanners" will actually prevent someone from blowing up a plane, here's all the evidence you need that this technology is worthless to stop terrorists.

Oh yeah, he also demonstrates what you can do with the material he smuggles through. Good thing he's outside - and not in an airport. Remember in the last part of the demonstration that everything he used was brought through the so-called "security" and not detected.

President Obama: Stop Lying (TSA)

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=172880

What Karl forgot to mention here is that our government was also video taping this man while he lit up his underwear!
Yes that's right, now ask yourself WHY they would do something like that.
From start to finish this was a setup to scare the piss out of you again, so Michael Chertoff (and George Sorros by the way) could make an extra boat load of money off those crappy naked scanners.
Hot damned if it didn't work to.
Homeland Security has gotta go. Who actually needs another procurement officer for the United States, we have enough of those already.
The FBI needs to take back it's rightful place and get rid of the Nazi's that stole it.
America haven't you had enough of being afraid of the boogeyman.


Listen very carefully Mr. President: You're on the wrong side of this.

Obama said he's told the U.S. Transportation Security Administration: "You have to constantly refine and measure whether what we're doing is the only way to assure the American people's safety. And you also have to think through, are there ways of doing it that are less intrusive."

At this point, that agency and counterterrorism experts have told him that the current procedures are the only ones that they think can effectively guard against threats such as last year's attempted Christmas-day bombing. A Nigerian man is accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear aboard a flight from Amsterdam with nearly 300 people aboard.

Mr. President. Let's get something clear here.

First: That Nigerian boarded a flight into the US without a passport. He did so because someone from our Government overrode the protocol requiring that he have one, like everyone else. But for that act, which someone in your government took, he couldn't have gotten on the plane.

It's Not Just About Flying! By Jim Kirwan

http://www.rense.com/general92/fly.htm


Yeah kids "WE" got a big problem.
You only think the "pat-down" at the airport is bad, what are you going to do when Viper has them placed in every government building there is?
Paying your property tax or a ticket are in the realm of the everyday.
How long will it be before schools require it as a prerequisite to government funding?
Seriously
Think about it!




That is where we are today; but here's the kicker. Firstly TSA is expanding into VIPER which will take their road-show to the bus terminals and train stations of America and that will end freedom of movement throughout the nation. But there's the part that few have actually noticed. Up until now these procedures have only been publicly used at the airports and at a few bus terminals: But the plan is to use them at all government offices as well. That might sound tame but think about that for one silent minute! That means that every time you have to go to court, to the police station or the tax office you will be subjected to Chertoff's-Curse and in most of those cases there will be NO ALTERNATIVE to the scanner and the pat-down; because if you do not appear at the government office-then guess what-It's jail or worse

TSA hit with lawsuits as revolt explodes

http://www.prisonplanet.com/tsa-hit-with-lawsuits-as-revolt-explodes.html

This is how controled our country has become.
FUCK FLYING!
If your allowing yourself to be subject to this, there is no limit to the amount of abuse you will take.
No amount of "Terror Control" is worth this bullshit!


The TSA has been hit with a number of lawsuits as the revolt against Big Sis, naked body scanners, and invasive groping measures explodes, with one case involving a woman who had her blouse pulled down in full public view by TSA goons who then proceeded to laugh and joke about her exposed breasts.

Nationwide outrage against the TSA is not only bringing to light new cases of airport abuse, it’s throwing fresh attention on previous incidents that have been going on for years.

One of the most disturbing, which is subject to an ongoing lawsuit, involved a 21-year-old college student from Amarillo Texas. The woman was passing through security at Corpus Christi airport on May 29 2008 when she was subjected to “extended search procedures” by the TSA.

Naked Scanners: Lobbyists join the War on Terror

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/_Naked-scanners__-Lobbyists-join-the-war-on-terror-1540901-107548388.html

$338 million dollars later the Government Accountability Office still isn't sure that it works.
I really can't imagine why at this point they don't know if it works.
Common sense says do an open field trial at the airport. I'm sure the FBI could help in accommodating them with the particulars.
Look who lobbies for this crap kids.
Looks like revolving government, accommodating it self to me.
That's why lobbyist have to go. They're experts on political positioning to get what they want.
This article doesn't mention it but Michael Chertoff, the first head of Homeland Security has a position in L-3.
How convenient was that for setting your own company up to make money off of the taxpayer?
Security has become big business since 9/11, and politician and CEO's alike have reaped in the riches from it's insistence.
And who insists that its used? Why the very same people that make the products to insist with.
Remember "insiderr trading" is allowed by Congress.
It's time to look a little deeper at just who is buying "our" enslavement, not only being subject to the procedure but having to pay for the machines themselves, I'm tired of making Congress rich.
The game is up!
Simple Simon is calling them out.
The corruption needs accounting for!


If you've seen one of these scanners at an airport, there's a good chance it was made by L-3 Communications, a major contractor with the Department of Homeland Security. L-3 employs three different lobbying firms including Park Strategies, where former Sen. Al D'Amato, R-N.Y., plumps on the company's behalf. Back in 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed D'Amato to the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism following the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Also on Park's L-3 account is former Appropriations staffer Kraig Siracuse.

The scanner contract, issued four days after the Christmas Day bomb attempt last year, is worth $165 million to L-3.

Rapiscan got the other naked-scanner contract from the TSA, worth $173 million. Rapiscan's lobbyists include Susan Carr, a former senior legislative aide to Rep. David Price, D-N.C., chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee. When Defense Daily reported on Price's appropriations bill last winter, the publication noted "Price likes the budget for its emphasis on filling gaps in aviation security, in particular the whole body imaging systems."

An early TSA contractor for full-body scanners was the American Science and Engineering company. AS&E's lobbying team is impressive, including Tom Blank, a former deputy administrator for the TSA. Fellow AS&E lobbyist Chad Wolf was an assistant administrator at TSA and an aide to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who sits on the Transportation and Defense subcommittees of Appropriations. Finally, Democratic former Rep. Bud Cramer is also an AS&E lobbyist -- he sat on the Defense and Transportation subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee.

The full-body scanners


Deploying these naked scanners was a reaction to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas 2009, but the Government Accountability Office found, "it remains unclear whether [the scanners] would have been able to detect the weapon Mr. Abdulmutallab used."

Defense cyber chief downplays need to resolve lines of authority

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20101020_5558.php

Here comes a Katrina cluster fuck.
Note how Homeland Security is now protecting financial institutions.
Except they don't know what they're doing or how they're going to do it.
But hey it's all right, they have some corporate talent to help out.
Hell we can afford it, even though the last time the corporation of America went bankrupt was in 2005.
Kinda convenient that bankruptcy rules changed that year to isn't it?
Perhaps a little leverage on the deal?
Oh you didn't know we went bankrupt again?
I'll fill you in on it on Sunday.
It's one of those stories that never makes the papers, for good reason, because they don't want you to think their inept or something and you will when you hear the conditions.
The good news is, that "WE" can change it.

A senior Pentagon official Wednesday downplayed the need to define clear lines of authority for federal agencies involved in combating cybersecurity threats, saying the emphasis has shifted toward having agencies work more closely together

"People get focused on the authorities. In spite of the authorities, we've got problems," said Robert Butler, who left Computer Sciences Corp. last year to become the deputy assistant Defense secretary in charge of cyber policy.

During a breakfast with reporters, Butler said the administration has been shifting its focus toward determining what it wants agencies to accomplish, rather than first defining the lines of authority

Butler acknowledged that much work remains to define operational roles and responsibilities of both agencies. For now, he said, a major goal is improving "situational awareness," or the ability to know when networks are under attack and, when possible, where an attack is coming from.

He said protecting privately owned critical infrastructure networks, such those of electrical companies and financial institutions, is "clearly" the responsibility of DHS. But he did not rule out a role for DoD in protecting those networks. DHS could request assistance from the Pentagon if needed, he said

Cybersecurity is 'really about the people,' official says

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20101021_2534.php

I thought this job was the MILITARIES baby, now come to find out you can apply at USAJOBS website.
That special order for the enactment of military command in the US is smelling pretty ripe right now, especially with the needed tools of social networking. Wasn't it a given that they already used those tools, since they said they were?
Perhaps Janet Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security, could enlighten us a little more, since she is the one who issued it in such a sneaky kind of way so as to not produce any slack to place unneeded time delays on their mission.


Panelists said one challenge to building the workforce is the government's tedious hiring process. The USAJobs website is not user-friendly for candidates interested in federal positions, and the process needs to be modernized across the board, officials said. In addition, agencies must use tools like social networks and virtual job fairs that appeal to those looking for cyber-related positions.

"We've got huge interest, huge demand and federal practices that might need a little work," said Jim Lewis, director and senior fellow for the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We have created disincentives for recruitment and pulling them down is going to be really hard."

Training and certification also is a hurdle, panelists said. Individuals need access to multidisciplinary degrees and paths to a variety of cyber career fields with the potential to advance, but the pipeline isn't being built fast enough. Cybersecurity must be considered a profession and incorporate more data-driven decision-making, they said

Dead guy found in LAX restroom, bagged and bound

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/09/body-of-man-found-in-lax-bathroom.html

Suicide?
So the department of Homeland Security has either turned out to be a big joke or they just got an excuse to put a video camera in all public restrooms.

The sources said it was not immediately clear if the death was a suicide or a homicide.


[Updated at 12:30 p.m.: Los Angeles police said that a preliminary investigation indicates that the man in the restroom died from a possible suicide. They said the case has been turned over to the Los Angeles County Coroner to determine official cause of death

Lookout! Government peering at you with X-rays on highway

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=202853

No really,they pinky swore that they won't look in your home.......yeah right

A plain white van moving through traffic on a busy thoroughfare looks like a delivery vehicle, making a run to a local business.

It could be any plain white van in any American city.

But there are two men sitting in the back of the van operating X-ray machines. As their panel van moves in and out of traffic, the men use the X-ray machines to scan passing vehicles, peering behind the walls of the adjoining trucks to discover if the targets are carrying weapons, drugs or illegal immigrants.

This scenario isn't from a spy movie, it's happening every day in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service and even local law enforcement agencies are buying and deploying mobile X-ray vans.

Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7169978.html

Raise your hand if this sounds like a good idea.
With 23 states looking to follow Arizona's example,this is the governments reply.
And doesn't it somehow seem that Homeland security and ICE are working at cross purposes, so it comes off as nothing but a big waste of taxpayers dollars?

The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.

Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned local immigration attorneys, who have reported coming to court anticipating clients' deportations only to learn that the government was dismissing their cases.

Government math

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62F61T20100316


U.S. puts brakes on "virtual" border fence


The U.S. government is pulling $50 million in funding from a problematic "virtual fence" meant to secure stretches of the Mexico border and is freezing additional funding for the project pending review, authorities said on Tuesday.

But not before

spending over $1 billion of taxpayers' dollars on a failed system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border