Douglas Farah: Why the Colombian Rescue Mission Matters The FARC is in a period of decline that will likely end with its implosion and fragmentation into small criminal groups.

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In all of the coverage of the rescue of the hostages from the Colombian terrorist organization known as the FARC, it is disturbing to see the mainstream media nearly universally refer to the FARC as "Colombian rebels" or a "feared insurgent group." The FARC is one of the globe's most lethal narcoterrorist organizations. Or was, anyway. It seems to be imploding even as a criminal and terrorist organization.

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TheTerrorWonk: Questions About the Rescue in Colombia The dramatic rescue of the FARC hostages raises a host of important questions.

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Barack Obama just slapped me in the face. Figuratively. However, I must say, as an Obama supporter, I’m none too pleased about the blow. After finally deciding who to support in this race, I elected to put my money where my mouth is and make a donation to the campaign. Amazingly, it turns out that Obama wants ‘change’ from everyone but me! My donation was refused.

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Say what you like, the right to free speech not only protects speech, it also prohibits the more excessive and arbitrary lawmaking currently being witnessed in Sydney, Australia, prior to the World Youth Day. For those of you who are not up to speed on World Youth Day, it is an event where the World’s Catholic Youth assemble in one city and is scheduled to take place in Sydney later this month.

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It's alarming that the Department of Defense, which invented the Internet (along with Al Gore, of course), seems to understand so little about how it is used for propaganda -- terrorist or otherwise. Recent congressional hearings on terrorism and the Internet indicate a Cold War-era mentality among federal policymakers. They seem to view terrorist propaganda efforts as a monolithic "organized framework" orchestrated by a few Goebbels-like masterminds within Al Qaeda.

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Who You Gonna Believe — Jack Bauer or Joe Navarro? - SpyTalk In the battle for public opinion on torture, Joe Navarro doesn’t stand a chance against Jack Bauer. The hero of the Fox action series “24,” now entering its seventh season, seems to have cast a spell over the country — including high level Pentagon, CIA [...]

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At last week's hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security & Infrastructure Protection, several witnesses either directly or indirectly emphasized the point that it is impossible to prevent all disaster, whether natural, terrorist, or accidental. This point highlights that managing risk must be coupled with the idea of resiliency – the “bounce back” after a disaster. The hearing was a positive step with regards to shifting the mindset of disaster preparedness in the U.S.; however, it seems that it will be difficult for Congress to wrap its head around the idea of resiliency with regards to risk-management.

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State Dept. Stands Alone on Virginia Saudi School :: Articles by IPT :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism High school students in the Wahhabi-led school learn that “the Jews conspired against Islam” and Sunni Muslims should shun all Shia Muslims. They also are taught that killing an apostate or an adulterer is acceptable under Islamic law. [...]

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Counterterrorism Blog: More Evidence of the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus Those who are skeptical of the growing ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups-which I think will be the real war we will be fighting for many years, given the resources obtainable by drug trafficking organizations-should read the latest UN Office of Drugs and Crime report.

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The most glaring problem with the "100 percent" model is that it goes against the globally accepted consensus that a risk-analysis and layered approach is a far more comprehensive and effective security model than the concept of "100 percent scanning."

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Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by environmental groups in a case brought to slow the progress on the construction of the border fence, a giant step forward in the effort to secure America's borders. This was not only good for border security, but it also respected the legislative authority of Congress.

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Aviation Daily on Airports: Police Officers, TSA Offer Views on Screener Badges To give airport screeners police like badges and uniforms is a grave mistake. You are not only putting the screeners themselves in harm’s way in that they will be mistaken as sworn law enforcement, but you are creating more of a safety risk to [...]

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The Unofficial Coast Guard Blog notes a variety of recent headlines, commentary and policy showing that the Coast Guard is taking on more and more responsibilties in the homeland security environment and, appropriately, gaining in stature and influence inside the Beltway. Yesterday the Coast Guard announced a new enlisted rating focusing on law enforcement. While I’ve [...]

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Today's Lame Snark award goes to Al Kamen of the Washington Post. He righteously seized on an email sent out by DHS highlighting an Associated Press story in which citizens praised FEMA for its effective response to the floods in the Midwest.

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Fellow Security Debrief blogger David Olive wrote recently about the conflicting messages and mandates that flow from the 86 conflicting and contending homeland security committees in Congress. The latest example of this Hamlet-like system of self-contradiction comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which complains that US Immigration and Enforcement spends too much time on ... well, immigration enforcement.

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FEDagent - Federal Law Enforcement & Homeland Security News Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Juan Jose Bravo Moises, Director for Mexico Customs, announced a major effort Monday to identify and disrupt trans-border weapons smuggling networks between the two countries’ borders

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Recording Industry Decries AM-FM Broadcasting as ‘A Form of Piracy’ | Threat Level from Wired.com The recording industry and U.S. radio companies have squared off for decades about whether AM and FM radio broadcasters should pay royalties to singers, musicians and their labels. But now the debate is getting meaner; there’s more at stake as the recording [...]

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SpyTalk: We Rage, Europeans Yawn, Over Domestic Counterterrorism Ops Outside the United Kingdom, which invented civil liberties with the Magna Carta, ordinary Europeans couldn’t care less about wiretapping, national ID cards, preventive detention and police spies in mosques.

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Immigration Watchdog » Arab firm is first international port operator to be certified for security by U.S. A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has [...]

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