Want to cut government spending? Without compromising security? The Ryan budget is a good start, but we can do more. How about rethinking the Transportation Security Administration? We need TSA. After all, terrorists continue to target commercial aviation in the U.S. But, do we really need a massive, bloated bureaucracy and an army of government gropers tossing through our trousers and luggage? Probably not. With a budget bigger than the FBI, it’s time to seriously rethink whether TSA is giving us the biggest bang for our security buck. One key finding …
Nuclear weapons are not much of a worry: That’s the tenor of an AP story reporting on a U.S. government study that looked at the consequences of 10-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated on the corner of 16th and K Street in downtown Washington, D.C. “The surprising conclusion?” according to the article, “Just a bit farther from the epicenter of the blast, such a nuclear explosion would be pretty survivable.” Well, that’s not so bad, right? Think again. In the “government” scenario, the terrorists detonate the nuclear weapon at ground level, where …
On August 11, 1984, President Ronald Reagan joked over a “hot” mic, “My fellows Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I have signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” It was a joke, but we all knew it masked a serious truth. Reagan had declared on more than one occasion that the Soviet Union was a grave threat to freedom and security—only the year before he had declared it the “evil empire.” President’s Obama’s now-infamous “flexibility” gaffe ought to be seen …
Some never stop giving back. March 25 is Congressional Medal of Honor Day. Perhaps most remarkable and often unremarked is that what truly marks the character of the living Medal of Honor receipients is how they continue to serve beyond the battlefield. Much of that work is performed through the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. In particular, they work to educate the nation’s youth on character–selfless service, courage, and citizenship. Through the foundation, the recipients tell their stories. Teachers and students can also find material to bring the lessons of …
Snap a few pics. Grab a falafel. Plan a terrorist attack. Eileen Sullivan reports for the Associated Press that the New York City Police Department is playing cat and mouse in Manhattan with the Iranian intelligence service. No big surprise here. Iranian intelligence has been busy in the United States and Canada for some time. Washington got another wake-up call recently when authorities foiled a plot aimed at bombing the Saudi ambassador in our own backyard. That was followed by a chilling admission from the head of the U.S. intelligence …
The group that claimed responsibility for a double-suicide bombing that killed 27 people in Syria is widely regarded as a front organization for al-Qaeda in Syria. The Al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant, which claimed responsibilities for the attacks, bears all the marks of another bin Laden wannabe group. The intentional slaughter of innocents, no matter what the cause, cannot be justified. Al-Nusra is just as much an enemy of freedom as the Assad regime is. Both ought to rate a special place in Dante’s down-under real estate. That said, …
A wannabe al-Qaeda went on a killing spree in France. Don’t breathe a sigh of relief because it happened over there. It can happen here. At least 45 plots aimed at the U.S. since 9/11 have been thwarted. Good work—but cold comfort. We have not stopped all of them. When Major Nidal Hasan allegedly shot dead his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, it was after having told an al-Qaeda recruiter, “I can’t wait to join you [in the afterlife].” Alone or in small numbers, a few can slaughter many innocents—and …
How to handle Iran? Writing in The Washington Post, columnist Fareed Zakaria complains that “Krauthammer, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and others denounce containment and deterrence and would lead us instead to a policy that culminates in a preventive war.” This summary of Heritage writings about dealing with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran prompts a bit of head scratching—if Fareed actually reads anything Heritage writes. First of all, if you click the link to “Heritage” in his blog post, it takes you to a speech given at …
Oops! In order to prevent leaks over the trial of alleged Wiki-leaker Bradley Manning, e-mail filtering for government prosecutors inadvertently screened out messages from the judge and Manning’s defense team. Another reminder that Wiki War, the competition online for safe and secure communications, is like every other kind of competition—a game of action and counteraction where every move has consequences, good and bad. The challenges are particularly acute for hierarchical systems (like the deliberations in a military courtroom), because the Internet is a complex, non-linear environment that doesn’t play well …
While the rest of us were watching YouTube about the infamous Ugandan militia leader Joseph Kony, someone was actually doing something about Kony and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). An article in Philanthropy Roundtable explains how Bridgeway, an investment company based in Houston, funded efforts to help combat LRA raids on villages in the Congo. “We funded the radio system. They equip these villages with radio towers and give the radios to the tribal chiefs, who put up the tower when they need to communicate about attacks.” When attacks are …
