Ice-breakers are an essential component of maritime and national security infrastructure. It is time to determine the fate of U.S. ice-breakers Polar Sea and Polar Star. Both parties are grappling over the future of the two nearly 40-year-old ships. The argument falls during the heated economic budget crisis, centering on whether to eliminate one ship for spare parts to fix the other or to spend federal funds to fix and update both ships. The problem involves making decisions that could sacrifice security or spend valuable defense funds. With the state …
Recently released information from the 9/11 Commission reveals that its original recommendation to condense and consolidate congressional oversight for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has yet to be implemented. This leaves homeland security at risk and bound by its own committees. In 2003, DHS was subject to oversight by 86 congressional committees and subcommittees. Today there are more than 108. Compare that to the 36 committees and subcommittees with oversight for the Department of Defense, which has a budget 10 times greater than DHS and millions more employees. This …
Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and now blackouts? One might say Mother Nature is on a rampage. On Thursday around 3:45 p.m., 1.5 million people lost power. A mass blackout occurred spanning California, Arizona, and parts of Mexico. Affecting major cities throughout the region, the high-voltage power line outage between Arizona and California left millions without power. Sweltering heat and massive traffic pileups activated emergency operations in areas like San Diego. Blackouts continued throughout the evening, leaving small hope that any relief would come prior to late Friday. Blackouts can come from …
