This weekend I’ll be celebrating that 233 years ago, the idea of a free nation became a reality. That the hope of a land of promise, opportunity, and choice – founded on God’s principals of right and wrong – became a living body, filled with the sacrificed breathe of our founding fathers. I’ll celebrate that this nation’s commitment to freedom shines so brightly that people come from around the world to bask in its warmth.

---

MountainRunner.us - a discourse on Public Diplomacy Of special interest is this report from the Internet and Democracy project at Harvard’s Berkman Center on the Arabic blogosphere. A key finding is that politics are local and that the US is not a major topic: Some of the reports findings: * Arabic blogosphere is organized [...]

---

Counterterrorism Blog: Can Hezbollah Launch Long-Range Terror Attacks? In his new book Homeland Security, Assessing the First Five Years, former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff argues: Al-Qaeda and its network are our most serious immediate threat, they may not be our most serious long-term threat….[Hezbollah] has developed capabilities that Al-Qaeda can only dream of, [...]

---

Registered Traveler: Data privacy, security prompts chairman’s inquiry - Federal Computer Week The Obama administration is developing plans to seek up to 1,500 National Guard volunteers to step up the military’s counter-drug efforts along the Mexican border, senior administration officials said Monday.

---

The Obama administration is developing plans to seek up to 1,500 National Guard volunteers to step up the military's counter-drug efforts along the Mexican border, senior administration officials said Monday.

---

Beginning on July 29, commercial airline traffic to the US from Shannon airport in Ireland will have the advantage of full preclearance. This is a win-win-win for everyone. Passengers get convenience – they can make their travel plans direct from Shannon (or Dublin when the preclearance facilities open there in 2010) without any need to change planes at a busy US airport.

---

The U.S. Defense and Homeland Security departments are facing off over the use of drug-fighting soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border, sources say.

---

Metro’s Crash Reveals Gains in Preparedness - Washington Post There was one good piece of news to emerge from Monday’s horrific Metro crash on the Red Line: The response to the tragedy demonstrated that an increased focus on local and regional readiness since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has better prepared the Washington area not only [...]

---

During a five minute speech on the House floor June 19, Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.) declared that the Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) is “probably the most needless, useless agency in the entire federal government.”

---

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the military to start setting up a new “U.S. Cyber Command.” It’s a move that’s been discussed in defense circles for more than a year. But despite the announcement — and despite the lengthy debate – no one in the military-industrial complex seems all that sure what this new fighting force is supposed to do, exactly.

---

Information sharing is critical to properly addressing cyber security. Particularly if one subscribes to the public health model versus a military security type model.

---

By Jena Baker McNeill Yesterday, the Obama Administration hosted a closed-door conference on immigration reform. All too often "comprehensive immigration reform" has been another name for amnesty. A more appropriate agenda would focus on efforts to stop illegal immigration and secure the border, reform the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and open up more legal avenues by which to allow individuals to come into the United States.

---

This afternoon I had the opportunity to participate in a ‘Pen and Pad’ Session with Sec. Napolitano. I joined the session via teleconference, and, like her in-person appearances before the Hill, the media and speaking venues, the Secretary came through loud and clear on her key points and messaging.

---

In order to help the US travel industry promote American travel, should we use the federal government to tax Europeans traveling to America? Does it matter if in doing so we will create a sore point with our trans-Atlantic partners? Does it matter if in doing so the end result will be that Americans traveling to Europe will have to go to the time and inconvenience of getting a European visa?

---

The Blog @ Homeland Security: Fugate Roundtable Video For those who missed it, check out the video from earlier this week of FEMA Adminstrator Fugate’s roundtable discussion on community service and preparedness.

---

Just recently, the DEA put more agents on the ground in war zones to crack down on the funneling of drug money to key terrorist operatives.

---

Recently, I spoke with Francis Rose on Federal News Radio's In Depth With Francis Rose, to discuss TSA's new use of millimeter wave technology for the American rail system. Millimeter wave technology is a creative solution to keeping people safe with little to no distruption to travelers.

---

Federal News Radio 1500 AM: Emergency Response and Social Networking Social networking is permeating the Federal government, and according to Eric Holdeman, it’s “changing everything” in emergency response. Holdeman is a nationally known emergency response expert and former emergency management director for King County, Washington. He is also the host of Disaster-Zone.com. He talked about who’s [...]

---

It’s official – the National Applications Office (NAO) is DOA. Yesterday’s official announcement by DHS put the period on the end of a sentence that a lot of us have seen written for some time. The disappointing part of this entire affair is that Sec. Napolitano made the only decision she could given the circumstances that were handed to her.

---

TSA initially supported Registered Traveler during the Tom Ridge era at DHS, as a method to target security resources on less-known travelers and to enable low-risk frequent travelers a consistent and fast security review. However, TSA washed its hands of RT in 2008, arguing it could never ensure that an unknown “clean skin” terrorist could exploit any security protocol change, leaving Registered Traveler as only a fast-lane program.

---