Holiday Safety and Security

 

December 14th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Recently I had a quick email from a company that I use and that I trust to help me keep my personal information safe and secure: LifeLock. Check them out at LifeLock.com.

Allow me to pass on some of the hints they gave regarding safety and security at the holidays (although we all “know” most of these things, we often don’t think about them, we are just too busy or we have the sometimes fatal “It will never happen to me” disease.) Still, reconsider some of these suggestions:

Shopping In-Store

1. Be aware of your surroundings and protect personal space at the ATM and registers.
2. Inspect ATMs and points of sale terminals and look for tampering before swiping cards.
3. Keep cards in sight when paying to deter dishonest cashiers.
4. Store all receipts and closely check your monthly statements to verify transactions.

Shopping Online

1. Be sure your anti-virus software is installed properly and up-to-date.
2. Shop with retailers you trust and who have positive Better Business Bureau ratings.
3. Avoid links and only visit shopping sites by directly typing in their website address.
4. Don’t purchase items while using public computers or shared wireless networks.

Thanks to LifeLock for those reminders. Did you know that it is very simple to put a ‘look alike’ card reader over the opening of an ATM that will copy all of your information as you use it? All the offender has to do is retrieve the card reader from the front of the ATM and download all the information it has stored while you used your card.

I struggle with having the desire to finish my shopping on-line even when I am on public access computers. I can be too trusting of my own anti-hacker software and forget that once the air is out in the electronic space it is free for the picking! I sometimes even trust LifeLock too much in those situations and say to myself, “Self, go ahead it will only take a second to ‘checkout’ besides LifeLock will tell you if someone intercepts my information. Well, that is true when it is happening on my computer, but what about while it floats around in space in the milliseconds it takes to do damage. Milliseconds are all it needs.

So, don’t let your kids unwisely use your card information, guard all your info lie it is vital to you, because even if it isn’t vital to you now, once it is in the hands of the bad guys, it will be!
If you can use a microchip reader blocking device to protect your credit cards like a lined wallet or card carrier, you should do so.

Just some ‘holiday safety thoughts’ to make your January bill payment easier, that is by at least making sure all those bills are truly yours!

Merry Christmas and a Safe & Secure New Year!

HEROES

 

December 7th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Growing up in the last half of the 20th century, it was not uncommon to hear people bemoan the lack of ‘real heroes’ in our society. In the first decade of this new century, that has changed. John Wayne has been quoted as saying, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” So many of our brave young men and women have saddled up and headed out to places like Iraq and Afghanistan. They headed out not knowing what might lie ahead but they had been trained by the best. They had the best equipment and they had the backing of the best our society has to offer.

Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue wrote a letter that was published in The Weekly Standard’s November 21 issue. He reported that over 1 million U.S. veterans are unemployed. “A staggering 27% of young veterans age 18 to 24 are unemployed.” As the U.S. military leaves Iraq, thousands more will separate from the service and the unemployment numbers could skyrocket. Currently there are no tax incentives for small business owners to hire a veteran. There aren’t any federal dollars available to these businesses to take a chance on hiring a vet. And yet, it is probably one of the best moves a business owner can make. Need someone disciplined? Need someone with a realistic view of the world, highly trained by the best, with more than the average applicant’s experience in working as a team member? Then, your best choice is a veteran.

Today is December 7th. Former President Franklin Roosevelt called this “…a day which shall live in infamy.” A great many vets have come and gone in the 70 years since that day. A great many heroes have given everything they had for this country. Now, it is our turn to be on the front line of a war against an enemy our parents or grandparents would be shocked to know exists. America was not ready for the terrorist type of guerilla warfare of Vietnam. Yet today, we have an enemy that straps bomb to children or sets roadside IED’s to kill indiscriminately. Whether you are former military now working in law enforcement, or current either active duty or Reservist or Guard, your role is one that we should remember. More than a particular day, we must remember the names and the faces of the vets; those who died and those who lived. Above all, American should be thankful for their sacrifice.

So, here we are. Seventy years since that fateful day when Japan struck in a multi-front assault against the United States and Great Britain. We are still fighting to keep our citizenry safe and yes, may we remember all the vets who were killed in Iran, Afghanistan or somewhere in between. We should be so very thankful for all the heroes America has seen across all those years. They were everyday people, like you. They were patriots. They probably were, as the ‘Duke’ said, “scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” May God bless all our heroes, our veterans. May you, if you are a business owner, have the ability to say “yes” to a veteran today that is looking for work. May God bless America.

BULLSEYE

December 2nd, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Bullseye… for cartoon aficionados is Woody’s horse in Toy Story. In the real world, it refers to a target or being ‘on target’. Even in colloquial ‘isms’, bullseye refers to being directly on the point of the subject matter. Thanks to dreamstime.com for their depiction of just that, being directly on target.

Did you know that the Philippines consists of 7,107 separate islands (at low tide that number climbs to 7,108? (It is difficult to get flood insurance if you want to try to live on that last island!) The largest of the islands is Luzon wherein lies Manila. The most violent and heavily terrorist controlled island is Mindanao. It was on Mindanao that New Tribes missionaries Martin and Grace Burnham were kidnapped while at a scenic resort area and Martin was eventually killed). Rony Lewitinn of HSN recently reported on a major security breach for communications companies by a group operating in the Philippines. The security breach could have world-wide effects as information has been obtained that permited hackers to AT&T’s system to route money from a Saudi based terrorist financing group directly to terrorist groups operating locally and beyond. For the hackers to fulfill their intended goal, on an archipelago of over 7,100 islands, they had to know exactly where and how to hit their target. It did not happen without a great deal of planning. It required knowledge and skill. As one visual aid that uses a target to explain the principle, the three rings are: Could Know, Should Know, and the bullseye is Must Know. Consider all of the details that the hackers Must Know to achieve such a major score.

One of the best times to stop a terrorist pr any other criminal is in the planning stages when they must visit their target multiple times to develop intelligence on the target, design a strategy as they consider the weaknesses and strengths of the security system and determine when where and how to attack.

The target model is also used in prevention of attacks and developing a security strategy. In both scenarios whether an attack or protection, the bullseye remains the same. It is either the target to be compromised or the asset to be protected. If you are protecting it, every circle is a line of defense. If the outermost circle is strong enough, the inner circles are unnecessary but a perfect line of defense is impossible. There are always vulnerabilities and that is why there is redundancy and additional rings of security. It is within every ring that the would-be thieves, assassins, or terrorists risk detection and apprehension.

For every asset that requires protection, (and I believe this is true absolutely universally for literally every asset), the outer most ring of security, the first ring where detection is possible and the first ring that is most difficult to breach without being noticed is the public. It is the average citizen, the person who lives every day in the area where the event or some part of the event will take place.Often dismissed as ineffective, useless, and even ignorant by those who are charged with security of the asset, the public, properly informed on the Suspicious Activity Reporting System, for example, has the greatest potential to detect an attack in its earliest planning stages. They know when something is not right or something is out of place. If they can put words to what they know and they also are taught with whom to share those words, providing the “professionals” on the receiving end take time to listen, then the first ring of security will work. Learn to utilize the first ring of the target protection model, it is a valuable...

Our Own Backyard

 

November 25th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

The term-du jour is ‘homegrown terrorist’ used to describe (for those of us in the U.S. anyway) persons determine to spread terror through violence unencumbered by morals or values other than one’s own twisted sense of ‘good and evil’ who is not from the fertile crescent. When a report comes ‘across the wire’ (that terminology shows my age, i know) that someone has attempted to detonate a bomb on U.S. soil we sooth our fears of a world-wide conspiracy abated because this one was just a simple loner, not really part of a major treat against the U.S. or her allies. The same is true, at times for those of us, (I am referring to westerners in general, Americans more specifically) who live and work cross-culturally, often on foreign soil and many times as ministers of the evangelical gospel, even when we might live within a stones throw of the fertile crescent I mentioned earlier. Take for example a report just recorded on the Investigative Project on Terrorism website,

“Two extradited from Romania in Hizbollah Sting”

Here we have a U.S. Attorney from the Manhattan Office indicting two men, Cetin Aksu from Turkey and Siavosh Henareh of Iran arrested in a U.S. led sting operation to get two successfully executed arrest warrants on two men, neither from the US. and neither from Romania but both from the fertile crescent but two different countries, one: Iran a sworn enemy of the U.S. and the other: Turkey, a supposed ally of the U.s. and every thing, the U.S. Attorney, the State of New York, the City of New York and Borough of Manhattan, the nations of Iran and turkey and the peaceful city of Bucharest Romania all connected by one primary thing, TERRORISM. In this case, it is the Hizbollah brand of Terrorism.

I have friends who live in Bucharest. They are part of a country-wide ministry there. I know others that lived lived in Romania for many years. Romania is the land of ‘Romies” (Gypsies is the slang term), country gentleness, farming with hand tools, horse drawn carts, corn meal and home made wine, even at its darkest it is the black arts of the Romies or the historic ” Vlad the Impaler” known to the West as ‘Count Dracula’ from Transylvania. But Romania, particularly beautiful Bucharest, not a safe haven for terrorists!

My point is simply this… if internationally connected terrorists can be found on the streets of Bucharest Romania, they can be found on the tree lined streets of small town America too. Before we, as police officers or others in the field dealing with the threat to our homeland security, always point fingers toward the other side of the ocean, or to major metropolis in Europe, we better look behind the swing-set in our own backyard.

Incendiary Words

 

November 17th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

“The most worrisome trend to law enforcement and private industry alike has been the increase in willingness by these movements to resort to the use of incendiary and explosive devices…” 

So says an official. That is a quote directly from a federal official in an agency that should certainly know the facts. “Torched from Within ~ One Agency’s Response to Arson” is an article I wrote almost a quarter of a century ago. In those days, our biggest concern was how to battle the ‘arson for profit professional pyro.’ Certainly, there was known in military circles about small devices similar to claymores that were being used by professionals (very rarely) to score specific hits against very specific targets. But that has changed and now the world of the semi-pro and amateur jihadists are opening up to all of the possibilities some internet cookbook bomb can provide.

So… it is time. Time to Check Your IED IQ.

Color Blind

 

November 17th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

“Do you worry about someone from within your own security forces sabotaging the work here or someone [coerceing] them through their family?”
The reply was immediate and with a dismissing shrug. “No, of course not. They are (one of us).”

This comment was made recently by the head of security for a very large industrial complex that is vital to a large portion of the infrastructure for his country. Does that answer seem a little quick on the draw? Maybe he’s right. Maybe the color of the uniform, or for that matter the color of the flag on the uniform, is enough to assure us that someone is trustworthy. Then again maybe not.

Check out the ‘rest of the story’ direct from the Middle East at ColorBlind

First Responders Check Your IED IQ

October 30th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

The Police Blotter - If there is anything of which you, as a street police officer, should be aware, it is the violent, indiscriminate murder that is being caused throughout law enforcement and other public safety first responders, by IED’s, Improvised Explosive Devices.

The Homeland Security Network recently ran a series of articles on IED’s which highlights the increase in IED use, some new tactics by those who deploy these vicious weapons against our cops. According to US Army Lt. General Barbero, IED attacks “outside Afghanistan and Iraq have more than doubled in the last three years.” (emphasis added) The key point is outside Afghanistan and Iraq. The simple technology of creating, deploying, and detonating these devices has been turned against law enforcement in our own cities and towns.

This is happening not just in the United States but across the world. Authorities report that

“…from January to September, there were an average of 608 attacks per month in 99 countries; including 367 IED attacks in the US alone during that same time frame.” 

Consider those numbers, 608 deadly attacks in 9 months. That is about 67 per month, more than two every single day. Now, these numbers are not strictly attacks against law enforcement. It can be drug wars between gangs but regardless when that kind of violence happens in our cities and towns, first responders are still laying their lives on the line when they respond to these kinds of calls.

According to the USA Today article quoted in “IED Use on the Rise” in HSN,

“IED’s popularity among criminals, narcotics traffickers and terrorists continues to grow, aided by the spread of online of bomb-making technology, like the 102-page English-language e-book titled ‘The Explosives Course…’ is putting first responders at risk in a way in which they never have been previously."

Very often the street police officer has heard the term that they are the thin blue line of first defense between civilization and anarchy. Now, though, they are truly the first line of defense in an all-out battle for the societies in which we desire to live.

General Barbero wrote that “…the IED is cheap, effective and readily available…” and he also warned each of us that it is and will be an “enduring threat.” Perhaps one of the most horrific ways in which this threat is being carried out against law enforcement and first responders is by luring them into a trap. According to an HSN report on based on information coming out of Mexico this use of vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) is call the “Trojan Horse of Terror.”
 

The VBIED is like the original Trojan Horse of the Battle of Troy that allowed the Greeks to final enter the City of Troy and end their ten year siege because “it arouses little suspicion, making it a not uncommon means of deploying devices.” The twist that has been put upon the use of VBIEDs is that officers are being lured to the location of a VBIED rather than trying to force the VBIED into where the police are. One example was a planned aggressive act by the offenders, known drug cartel, armed in a motor vehicle of their own that led the police into pursuing them. The offenders manipulated the pursuit until the officers were within striking distance of the VBIED and detonated it. “This tactic has been used indiscriminately against many targets including first responders.” This type of ‘Trojan Horse’ tactic is becoming more prevalent in the U.S. According to one expert, there were four such incidents in the US between mid-2010 and January 2011. According to ‘InSight Crime’ an organization that tracks organized crime and security issues, there have been at least another three incidents between January and September 2011.

What can you do as a law enforcement officer working the patrol assignment that could come in contact with just such a VBIED or an IED? Education and training are the keys. For example, on-line at the Federation of American Scientists site you can find a military manual of five chapters [PDF] dedicated to identifying and mitigating the risk of IEDs and VBIEDs. There are also a variety of YouTube videos that show the training used to avoid them and the consequences of a close encounter with an IED. The better the training you can arrange for yourself or that can be arranged for your department the better prepared you will be in the event the ‘Trojan Horse’ is set at your gate.

Security Consulting Investigations, LLC can arrange for the training within our department. Contact SCI at director@security-consulting.us. You may also contact us through www.security-consulting.us

_________________________________________

“The Explosives Course” was written by students of Abu Khabab Al-Masri, the al-Qaeda explosives expert killed in a drone attack by US forces in 2008.

Sylvia Longmire, a former Air Force Special Agent, former senior border security analyst for the State of California, and author of the recently published book “Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico’s Drug Wars”

A Wind of Change in the Desert

 

October 20th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

August 22nd 2011 – the winds of change blew across the Sinai desert and encompassed the Egyptian presidential palace and left in its sandy wake the Mubarak regime a memory and an opening for radical Islamic extremists to take over this prime location on the steps of the Middle East. Two months later, this wind blew again across the African sands. In the wind came NATO airstrikes and as the wind began to subside, on October 20, 2011 Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi lay dead in the dirt streets, surrounded by the poverty he forced upon the Libyan population. The vacuum left in the violent end of Gaddafi’s regime leaves a vacuum that will be quickly targeted by the extremist radical Muslims eager to cement their position on the African continent.

Their goals are twofold… first, to sweep Islamic law into nations and, with Sharia, bring the worldwide caliphate dreamed of by the extremists, and, second, to build the treasuries of Al Qaeda and its counterparts to encourage the on-going jihad against Israel, the U.S. and all non-Muslims around the world. What does that mean for local LEO’s in the U.S.? I think the answer also comes in two parts.

Very often in police work, officers are used to pursuing the leads, tracking the offenders, building the case and marking it ‘closed’ upon the prosecution of those responsible. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that cops hate calls like domestic disputes is that there is never a resolution, a final ‘case closed’ but it is often a no-win situation that seems to go on and on. Officers are ‘fixers’. They come into a situation that is in havoc, take control, find a solution and move on. They find they cannot ‘fix’ domestics. How does that apply to ‘jihad’?

Never stop 'til the fight is done.

Jihad by definition is an on-going struggle. It never ends for the true believer until he leaves this world. So, for the local LEO’s that are working now, perhaps mid-way through their career; this jihad war will be one that they hand off to the generation of cops that come after them. If you are one of today’s officers, you will learn, educating yourself on all of the risks and tactics of domestic terrorism and the extremists that bring the war into your neighborhoods. And, when it comes to the end of your watch, the next generation will have to pick up where you left off. The level of risk will wane and then intensify based on the geo-political atmosphere of the day. Fusion centers, as a methodology, may come and go, or they may increase in their effectiveness. Information gathering will become even more vital to how the new cops handle the situations they face.

So, do we throw up our hands in disgust, giving in to the notion that we cannot stop it? That can never be our response. For the families living in your communities, raising their children in what they hope is a safe place; there is only one response. In the movie, The Untouchables, law enforcement legend Elliot Ness got into Al Capone’s face in the courtroom upon his conviction and threw Capone’s words back at him… “Never stop, never stop fighting till the fight is done… never stop fighting till the fight is done… here endeth the lesson.” No lesson is more on target in fighting against jihad extremists. None.

Here endeth the lesson.

Dirty Bombs and other Mass Casualty Incidents ~ Police Response

October 13th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

So, here you are, the day after a mass casualty incident in your city. An event that ‘could never happen here’ has happened. How did you respond yesterday? How will you react today? Your department has taken a public stance and now you are going back out into the community to work the streets and try to communicate to your citizens that they are still safer here than 99% of the rest of the world, and that they can go on with their lives. 

Dirty bombs, terrorist acts, and WMD’s are designed to instill fear into the community. Yet, they are now part of our reality.

Follow the link to read more about the response priorities for officers following large scale incidents.

Situational Awareness

October 1st, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Sometime back I posted a blog on Situational Awareness and the concept of TEDD: Time, Environment, Distance, and Demeanor. In reply to a question for clarification, I submit to you the following:

Mr. Fred Burton from STRATFOR writes,

 “…one common denominator of all the different potential threats — whether from lone wolves, militant groups, common criminals or the mentally disturbed — is that those planning an operation all monitor their target in advance. However, while pickpockets or purse-snatchers case their victims for perhaps only a few seconds or minutes, a militant organization might conduct detailed surveillance of a target for several weeks or even months.”

The longer that a person or group of persons does surveillance prior to committing any type of criminal attack or other illegal operation, the more susceptible to being discovered and even neutralized. The key, as mentioned, is TEDD.  

T (time) - are these people or is this person with you, or near you for too long a period of time, or at several apparently disconnected times? Do they continue to appear, the same person(s) over and over? To know this you must be paying attention to people, their appearance and dress as well as demeanor. Anything that you can spot quickly that will tell you this is the same person you have seen previously. 

E (environment) – do they not fit in the place you are seeing them? If you want to test this, say for example you are a female being followed by a male. If the person does not seem to have an accomplice who is female, or if you want to see if they might, if you can drop into a place that is usually only for women. A ladies store such as a Victoria’s Secret, even though some men do shop there, if this person follows you in and looks totally out of place; you may have identified a threat. Or, if suddenly a female enters the store and pays too much attention to you or follows you as you leave without buying anything; again you may have found our threat (or at least part of it). 

D (distance) - This can be either too close or strangely too far away at odd times or just a sense you get as you notice someone at that distance. 

D (demeanor) – how do they act, particularly when you turn and face them or purposely put yourself in their way. (This is a tactic that must be used only most cautiously when you have ample witnesses like in a very public area.)

Mr. Barton writes,

“An effective CS program depends on knowing two “secrets”: first, hostile surveillance is vulnerable to detection because those performing it are not always as sophisticated in their tradecraft as commonly perceived; and second, hostile surveillance can be manipulated and the operatives forced into making errors that will reveal their presence.”

There is a great deal more to be said on this particular issue but for now, keep these basic thoughts in mind and if there is a marked interest I will follow up with a series of blogs on this topic.

SEC-CON 1

 

September 29th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs
 

For those with any military background or those who grew up during the ‘Cold War’ you are probably familiar with the term DEFCON – It has since been taken on for the names of video games and computer hackers conferences, but throughout the Cold War the DEFCON - or Defense Conditions - were 5:

DEFCON 5 - Normal peacetime readiness
DEFCON 4 - Normal, increased intelligence and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 - Increase in force readiness above normal readiness
DEFCON 2 - Further Increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 - Maximum force readiness.

I introduce to you through this new blog, (which will remain linked with our Homeland Security News Network HSN Police Blotter blog) a new acronym which stands, in part, for Security Consulting, but it also brings with it a mental image of Maximum Security Readiness, and that is what we should be all of the time without going into overload. (We’ll discuss that soon about how to maintain that needed balance.) 

So… here is SECCON 1, a ‘nickname’, if you will, for this site and its HSN link. You will find an RSS link on this site, so, please, follow us, tweet us, LIKE us on Facebook, use our search engine to find blog topics we have addressed since moving to this new site, AND check out SCI’s NEW website at www.security-consulting.us.

Gunfire and IEDs in Assault Against Smalltown USA Fire Department

September 29th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Toledo Fire Dept Under Assault

All of the First Responders who read this, I want you to remember something very clearly, the next time some brilliant citizen, councilman or even co-worker says to you… “It will never happen here in this small town” I implore you to take the necessary affirmative action to help him or her understand the folly...no, rather, the almost criminal negligence of that statement!

This week the Homeland Security Network reported in their Actionable Intelligence Report that not one, but three times in as many days three different fire stations in the City of Toledo Ohio were either fired upon by an unknown gunman or, in one case, an IED was left in front of the building and was made safe by the local bomb squad before anyone was killed or injured. Please allow that to sink in.

Unless you are from Ohio you probably have never heard of Toledo unless through some comedians disparaging remarks about Ohio overall, or Toledo specifically, or unless you are a fan of MASH, the hit TV series of the 1970′s. Corporal Klinger, the cross-dressing draft dodger, hailed from Toledo, loved his “Mudhens", and even got Col. Potter to wear a Toledo Mudhen baseball hat in certain episodes. One would think it doubtful that buried in the back hills of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden had a master plan for taking out Toledo Ohio. Toledo is not far from Detroit Michigan that had, at one time, the largest single population of Muslims in the U.S. - but does that make this terrorist attack one by Islāmic extremists?

Many years ago I led a serial arson investigation, one fire after another in a different small town in Ohio. Those were the work of wanna-be firefighters who didn’t have what it takes to be a real hero. Maybe that is what is going on in Toledo, we won’t know until the facts are all in. But, First Responders, you have to understand situational awareness. apparently these firefighters are either lucky or someone has their head on straight. When gunfire sounded and bullets ripped through the apparatus bay windows, no one was hurt. Someone knew enough when they saw this suspicious item in front of the station to not touch it and instead call the bomb squad to check it. So, was it luck or awareness? I don’t know. I know this… luck cannot be counted on. It is never there when you need it. If your department doesn’t talk about things like risk assessments, analysis, contingency planning, or training for tactical emergency medical care then, as an informed reader, you must get them to listen. That is my biggest obstacle in doing the work that I do. Fighting the ‘it won’t happen here’ mentality and finding ways to get people to listen.

On October 29th, a Saturday, SCI is hosting an 8am to 4pm seminar on Tactical Emergency Medical Response for all First Responders, police, fire, EMS (private and public) through the Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio, just off IS77. I hope the room is filled to overflowing. Be safe, be aware, stay alive…  As Colonel Potter said once in MASH, “Someback home loves you, don’t ask me why.”

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY REPORT

 

 September 25th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

(Originally posted 4 April 2011)

US Dept of Homeland Security Announces New “National Terrorism Alert System” to replace the color coded system in place previously. For information, go to: http://blog.dhs.gov/2011/04/new-national-terrorism-advisory-system.html    Effective April 26, 2011  

“Analysis: US still lacks border strategy ~ The  U.S. government has spent nearly $4 billion on various approaches, including a $2.4 billion border fence effort, two deployments of National Guard troops to temporarily bolster the Border Patrol, and now-defunct $1 billion virtual fence.  ( Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press)" 

In a recent report by the AP, “The federal government hasn't come up with a comprehensive strategy to secure the United States -Mexico border, even as an all-out war between Mexico and its violent drug gangs has claimed 5,000 lives and pushed hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the United States.”  

One of the key issues that has become apparent since the Obama administration has instituted the Southwest Border Initiative (SBI) where billions of dollars have been poured into a ten foot high fence that has been catapulted over, tunneled under, and driven down; a massive plan for putting video and audio surveillance systems all across the border, most of which will not be installed until 2021, or even 2026, and the hiring of thousands of newly hired Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents, is the lack of a clear goal. But why is there not a goal in place? 

There has been no accurate threat assessment made by which to construct a goal. If we do not know the number of persons infiltrating the border nor the actual size the drug trafficking problem, then we cannot know the efficacy of the efforts that have been put in place nor what additional measures might more effectively impact the problem. According to the report, over 35,000 persons have been killed including dozens of Americans. What is not clear is how the ongoing war against the cartels by Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s will continue to inflame the already extreme difficulties of maintaining a secure southern border for the U.S. particularly in view of a lack of a solid threat assessment.

 

SECURITY ALERT

 September 25th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

The following alert was issued by the United States 30 June 2011:

Terror threat — U.S. churches in danger 
Becky Yeh – OneNewsNow California correspondent - 3:55:00 AM

With the recent airing of an al-Qaeda video that encourages Muslims to attack religious institutions, Christian churches are being warned. In a video released by al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, the American-born Muslim asks jihadists to quickly obtain guns and carry out terrorist attacks against the West.

He states that Muslims are placed in the region to “do major damage to the enemies of Islam, waging war on their religion, sacred places, and things and brethren.”  “That’s very troubling,” admits Steve Amundson of the Florida Security Council. “Adam Gadhan lived here in Southern California for a number of years. He studied under Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi at the Islamic Center of Orange County, which is in Garden Grove.”  Gadahn’s statements to U.S. Muslims follow the death of Osama bin Laden.

In response, the Christian Emergency Network has issued a warning for churches in the United States, and Amundson advises Christians to stay alert.  ”Churches, just like everybody, I tell them to be vigilant; be aware of your surroundings,” he urges. “Don’t walk around like everything’s okay, because we’re in different times now, and it’s time for Americans to be vigilant, be aware, [and] be alert because something could happen.” 

Churches are also advised to have an emergency team ready and to regularly conduct emergency drills.