Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has long been Iran’s greatest ally in the Western Hemisphere, but as Chavez’s cancer grows and his country’s future becomes increasingly uncertain, Iran may need to find a new best friend in Latin America—and fast. Enter Bolivia. Since Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first visited Bolivia in 2007, the relationship between Amhadinejad and Bolivian President Evo Morales has grown. The two even played soccer together in Tehran not too long ago. But Morales and Ahmadinejad’s fancy footwork aside, it’s clear that the relationship between Bolivia and Iran is …
Last week, experts fired back at the assertion by an unnamed senior State Department official that “The war on terror is over.” Yet, according to a Rasmussen poll released today, it’s not just the experts who disagree. According to a telephone survey conducted by the well-known polling company, 79 percent of likely U.S. voters think the war on terror is not yet won. It’s good to see that while some Administration officials may have a skewed perspective, the vast majority of the American public has a firm grip on reality. …
The National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS) recently registered an odd complaint in a letter to U.S. Senators this past Sunday. This body of national security experts attempted to claim that the U.S. should not open delivery of first-class mail to private carriers because it would “expose the mailbox and the entire postal system to potential sabotage and terrorism, by permitting entities other than the U.S. Postal Service to access the home mail box.” To be fair, terrorists have sought to use postal services to carry out …
“If you build it, they will come”—at least that’s what author Edward Alden argues in a recent Foreign Affairs article calling for the long-overdue expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Between 2005 and 2010, 98 million visitors entered the United States from the 36 member nations of the VWP, which allows for individuals from member nation countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. Yet despite interest from numerous U.S. friends and allies around the world, since 2008 the program’s expansion …
Members of Congress have said it before, and they are saying it again: It’s time for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow new members into the Security Partnership Program (SPP), the nearly eight-year-old program allowing U.S. airports to opt out of federal screening and instead privatize their security forces. In a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole this week, Representatives John Mica (R–FL), Darrel Issa (R–CA), and Jason Chaffetz (R–UT) wrote: Airport operators have expressed tremendous interest in the SPP and that expansion beyond the small fraction of the …
Headlines throughout the state of Arizona are highlighting the debate on Senate Bill 1083, a bill to stand up Arizona’s modern state militia or State Defense Force (SDF). Authorized by the Constitution and by federal law, SDFs have a long history within the United States. While their role has changed over time as the needs and threats faced by the U.S. have evolved, today’s SDFs serve as auxiliaries to the National Guard units of their states as well as force multipliers for state homeland security missions in disaster preparation, response, …
It sounds like a scene from 24: A terrorist group gets a hold of a nuclear bomb, places it in a cargo container, watches it being loaded on a tanker vessel, and waits for it to make the journey across the Atlantic to the U.S. It may arrive in any number of U.S. ports—say New York, New Orleans, or Baltimore. When it reaches its destination, someone gives the signal. Bam!—the U.S. is sent into a state of panic. It may sound a bit far-fetched, probably because it is. Why would …
In a historic first, Josefina Vazquez Mota was chosen on Sunday to be the presidential candidate for Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN). Vazquez Mota’s primary win makes her the first woman in Mexico’s history to be chosen to run for president by one of the country’s three main parties. The road to Los Pinos, the Mexican equivalent of the White House, will be a difficult one. The lineup is now set. Currently leading in the polls is Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) candidate Pena Nieto. With the PRI party, however, comes …
Senator Mark Kirk (R–IL) and Congressman Mike Quigley (R–IL) returned from a four-day trip to Poland this week. The bipartisan pair made the journey to discuss an important topic in U.S.–Polish relations: admitting Poland into the Visa Waiver Program. Under the Visa Waiver Program, visitors from friendly member nations are able to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. To ensure that dangerous individuals do not enter the United States through the program, a visitor must first submit information through the program’s online …
On Saturday, President-elect Otto Pérez Molina will be inaugurated in Guatemala, following his November runoff election win against Manuel Baldizón Méndez. Pérez, a member of the conservative Patriotic Party, has no easy task in front of him as he steps up to lead what some have called one of the most dangerous nations in the world. Like Mexico, crime and violence caused by transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) is rampant throughout Guatemala. In 2010, for instance, the murder rate in Guatemala (41 people per 100,000) was six times the world average …
