In his oversight report, “Safety at Any Price: Assessing the Impact of Homeland Security Spending in U.S. Cities,” Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) highlights several examples of cities using homeland security grants for ill-advised expenses. Senator Coburn’s report is an important one and a must read for the media and policymakers. …
As if the flood of regulations coming after the election weren’t bad enough, a draft of the newest cybersecurity executive order obtained by Heritage reveals that even more regulations are coming. This draft executive order is similar to the failed Cybersecurity Act of 2012 in that it proposes additional regulations …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) recently promised to bring cybersecurity legislation back to the Senate floor during the lame-duck session of Congress. He also praised President Obama’s draft of a cybersecurity executive order while blaming “Republicans engaging in Tea Party-motivated obstruction” for the Senate’s failure to pass the Cybersecurity …
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a new report, “Driver’s License Security: Federal Leadership Needed to Address Remaining Vulnerabilities.” The authors note that many states have made solid progress in reducing identity fraud in their states, but there are still vulnerabilities created by cross-state license fraud. States are currently not …
This past week, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center raised the cyber threat level from elevated to high, and warned banks of “recent credible intelligence” of possible cyber attacks to bring down their customer sites. The Financial Sector is constantly under attack, but it is normally from criminals. …
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations subcommittee for Homeland Security will delve into the problems surrounding the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The program has been beset by difficulties: a lack of transparency, confusing standards, and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) failure to finalize security plans. Though widely considered a …
Yesterday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the state of the Transportation Security Administration 11 years after 9/11. Appearing before the committee, my colleague James Jay Carafano explained: It is certainly fitting that we pause to reflect on the state of transportation security on the anniversary of …
The Obama administration boasts that arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped on its watch. But figures cited by the administration are based on “biased statistics,” according to the president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing more than 17,000 U.S. border agents and personnel. “Department of Homeland …
The Obama Administration has gone to the mat to try to prevent states from verifying the citizenship of their registered voters. Registering and voting by non-citizens is a felony under federal law, and Florida has already found aliens on its voter rolls, some of whom voted in prior elections. Almost …
An April 4 bombing attack on a Somali movie theater by a female member of the terrorist organization al-Shabaab has demonstrated such groups’ interest in targeting public venues in armed assaults. Equally disquieting, a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo suggests there is a chance that similar attacks could …
