Homeland Security: Inside & Out

How were 32 post office workers exposed to TB? Plus ...

• There is more to 'political Islam' than al Qaeda
  
• Can 'threat assessment teams' make college campuses safer?
  
• The challenges of tapping mobile phones to law enforcement
• What happens when an extreme event overwhelms local and state authorities?
• What one grad student is learning about homeland security

Tuesday, April 29, 7 p.m. CDT (KAMU 90.9 FM, College Station)

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1. News Media, Take One

How did 32 out of 120 employees in a post office come in contact with tuberculosis? That's the question health officials in Fairfax County, Va., are trying to answer. Jim McElhatton, a staff writer for the Washington Times, discusses his coverage of the investigation. " This thing happened back in January and the public didn't learn about it until March," he says. "There is no hard-and-fast guidance from the state health department and the CDC on when public health authorities have to notify the public."

2. Outside the Beltway

There's far more to political Islam than Osama bin Laden, says Peter Mandaville, an associate professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, and co-director of Mason’s Center for Global Studies. He is the author of the book "Global Political Islam," an accessible and comprehensive account of political Islam in the 21st century. Mandaville was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, and has spent much of professional career studying Muslims living outside the Muslim world, and the impact of globalization on their cultures. "When we hear the term 'political Islam,' we think immediately of al Qaeda, bin Laden and the Jihadist movement," he says. "But ... we lose sight of the fact that al Qaeda and groups like that are actually a small, slim minority." His book, he says, attempts to give the reader a  sense of the broader ecology of political Islam."

3. News Media ,Take Two

In the aftermath of mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, some colleges are turning to the concept of the "threat assessment team" to improve campus safety. These teams provide  a formal mechanism for analyzing sensitive information on troubled persons to assess whether they pose a threat and to develop a plan of response. Matt Harwood of Security Management Magazine will discuss his recent article on this concept.

4. Inside the Beltway

Tapping a telephone used to be simple for U.S. law enforcement. Every phone was connected by a copper wire to a central point. But that ended in 1985. Phones went digital, bad guys went mobile, and law enforcement is still coping. Shane Harris, a reporter with National Journal, will talk about these changes. 

5. Spotlight

When extreme events such as hurricanes, wildfires and floods overwhelm the ability of state and local authorities to cope, they can call upon the Department of Defense to provide "defense support to civil authority." ICHS Fellow Danny W. Davis provides insight in how this mission works. "The key term is 'overwhelmed,'" Davis says. "... That's when the president can, with a presidential disaster declaration, can send in federal forces to aid the locals."

6. Talk to the Candidates

Paula D. Gordon, a consultant on homeland security issues, answers the question, "If you had five minutes with the presidential candidates, what would you say?" Since 9/11, Gordon's efforts have been directed toward homeland security concerns.  She has established a web site to serve as a free resource for policymakers and implementers, analysts, administrators, and managers. "Unless those in positions of responsibility are on the same page with regard to the nature of the threats and challenges we face," she sayd, "it's going to be very difficult if not impossible to take the next steps that are needed to safeguard the nation."

7. Homeland Security at Home

Katie Stout is a graduate research assistant with the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M, where she assists in the ongoing construction of the Taxonomy for Education and eXploration. She discusses what she has learned from her work at ICHS, focusing on the stark contrasts between the American approach to national security and the British approach.

Can the assumptions of battlefield intelligence be applied to law enforcement? Plus ...

• Are the use of domestic spy satellites worth the risk to privacy?
• Setting the standards for homeland security education in the United States
• Applying the lessons of emergency management to terrorist attacks
  
• What the presidential candidates should know about applying virtual training to real world situations
• Establishing the role of rural public health in creating a resilient nation
  

Tuesday, April 22, 7 p.m. CDT (KAMU 90.9 FM, College Station)

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1. Inside the Beltway

Traditional battlefield intelligence assumes enemy until proven friendly.  But traditional law enforcement assumes innocent until proven guilty.  Can the two be combined? Tonight the former dean of the New York City Police Academy and a national journalist who covers homeland security will explain how this question is having an impact on police departments nationwide.

Former NYPCA dean Vincent E. Henry (at left) is now the co-director of the Homeland Security Management Institute at Long Island University at Riverhead.

Siobhan Gorman is a security reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

 
2. News Media

Is the DHS' use of domestic spy satellites to thwart terrorism worth the risks to the privacy of everyday Americans? Alice Lipowicz, a staff writer for Washington Technology discusses her recent article about a new report from the Congressional Research Service that addresses that question. "The question is, when does a satellite surveilance possible constitute an illegal search," she says, "and when is it just a routine matter?"

 

3. Outside the Beltway

What is the best way to ensure that homeland security education programs deliver value to students? We have two leaders in the field to talk about this issue.

Stan Supinski is the founder and former director of the Homeland Security and Defense Education Consortium (HSDEC), a network of over 300 federal, state, military and private civilian educational institutions. The HSDEC is the nation’s premier group conducting homeland security/defense education and academic research, and has been instrumental in establishing national accreditation standards in this evolving discipline. HSDEC was established by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command (NORAD and USNORTHCOM)/(USNORTHCOM), in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, the University of Denver, and the US Naval Postgraduate School.

Lydia Staiano is acting director of the Homeland Security and Defense Education Consortium Association, the accreditation association for homeland security education. The HSDEA is designed to play a significant role in the cohesion and regulation of homeland security studies across the nation.

4. Spotlight

David McEntire is an associate professor in the Emergency Administration and Planning Program in the Department of Public Administration at the University of North Texas. He teaches emergency management courses in both the undergraduate EADP and MPA programs.   In this interview, he discusses his new book, "Introduction to Homeland Security: Understanding Terrorism with an Emergency Management Perspective."

"My concern is that we began to focus so much on terrorism," he says, "that we ignored other types of disasters. ... We have this growing threat of terrorism, and that would suggest that we need to increase our efforts in prevention, mitigation and preparedness response recovery, and yet we only focused on the prevention side of things."

5. Talk to the Candidates

Walter Cheek, director of business development for game designer BreakAway Ltd., answers the question, "If you had five minutes with the presidential candidates, what would you tell them?" BreakAway  is a leading developer of entertainment games and game-based technology products. The company creates entertainment experiences that enable people to master skills and concepts in virtual worlds, and transfer this expertise to develop tools that provide game-based solutions for real world problems.

6. Homeland Security at Home

Barbara Quiram serves as director of the Office of Special Programs and Director the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness at the School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center. She is responsible for identification of opportunities for the school to partner with communities, organizations, and agencies. Quiram has more than 30 years of experience in health care and public health.

This week: A candid conversation with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton on how international politics often influences domestic security, plus ...

• An emerging form of cyber war that threatens U.S. interests.
• A growing concern about a nuclear attack on a major U.S. city.
• A radical approach to counter-terror strategy.
• A reassessment of the advantage of democracies in warfare.
• Making homeland security a civic issue, not just a federal issue 
• Providing local shelter and aid to displaced families in the immediate aftermath of a disaster

Tuesday, April 15, 7 p.m. CST (KAMU 90.9 FM, College Station)

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1. News Media, Take One

A new style of large-scale attacks on cyber infrastructure is posing a threat to U.S. business and governments. That's the message of a new article by James Rogers, security correspondent for technology news site ByteandSwitch.com. Rogers looks at research conducted by a Rutgers professor on how Russia used a Denial of Service strategy to wreak havoc upon the Baltic state of Estonia in a squabble that began with the relocation of a Soviet-era war memorial. In effect, the Russians knocked the all of Estonia, a very tech-savvy nation, off the Internet for several days. "It's estimated that the cost of the actual attack was probably around $100,000," he says. "So it's not inconceivable that we will see more of this type of thing, especially in the current climate."

2. Inside the Beltway

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, now a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, discusses his new book, "Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad." The book is a memoir of Bolton's 16 sixteen tumultuous months as U.S. ambassador at the U.N. His goal is to explain how decisions are made behind the scenes that affect American foreign policy. "There is a very senior, career civil servent at the State Department who used to say, 'If the American people knew how we made foriegn policy, they'd be after us with pitchforks.' And that was the story I was trying to tell." The bureaucracy at the United Nations often views itself as superior its members, Bolton says. "It's not a bureacracy that works for the member governments," he says. "They see it as the other way around."
 
3. News Media, Take Two

Mimi Hall, USA Today's homeland security correspondent, talks about the growing concern among senior government officials and top terrorism experts that the United States is becoming more vulnerable to nuclear attack on a major U.S. city. "What the experts say is that this is not an impossible process," Hall says. "And the prospect is so devastating, even if it's a remote possibility, we can't ignore it."

4. Outside the Beltway

The United States should abandon its anti-terror strategy of military intervention and the democratization of the Arab world. Instead, the nation should focus on conducting counterinsurgency operations, undermining al-Qaeda's ideology, selectively pushing for reforms, and building key lasting alliances. This is the thesis of a new book by
Georgetown University scholar Daniel Byman, "The Five Front War: The Better Way to Fight Global Jihad." Byman directs the Security Studies Program and the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown. He is a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and also served on the 9/11 Commission. He regularly writes about terrorism and the Middle East for the Washington Post, Slate, and other publication. Byman says that capturing or killing the Al Qaeda leadership (including Osama bin Laden) might alter the threat, but would not destroy it. "That is perhaps bin Laden's greatest accomplishment," he says. "This machine now runs on its own."

4. Spotlight

Democracies are better equipped to fight and win wars. So goes dominant thought in military circles. But political scientist Michael Desch argues that the problems that persist in prosecuting wars -- from building up and maintaining public support to holding the military and foreign policy elites in check -- remain constant regardless of any given state's form of government. In assessing the record, he finds that military effectiveness is almost wholly reliant on the material assets that a state possesses and is able to mobilize. In this interview, Desch discusses these ideas, which form the core of his new book, "Power and Military Effectiveness: The Fallacy of Democratic Triumphalism." He says: "Material indices of military power are still the best explanation for who wins and who loses." These indices include military manpower,  economic power and the industrial base. Desch is a professor and the Robert Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security Decision Making at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and is the founding director of the Scowcroft Institute.

5. Talk to the Candidates

David Jacobson is director of the School of Global Studies at the University of Arizona. In this interview, he answers the question, "If you have five minutes with the presidential candidates, what would you tell them?" Jacobson says the next president must find ways to make homeland security a civic issue rather than just a federal issue.

6. Homeland Security at Home

Bobby Maggard has worked for five years as a volunteer with the College Station (Texas) Fire Department's Community Action Response Team . The team provides customer service to victims of fire emergencies and evacuations.  The team provides them with ongoing assistance such as recovery information, shelter, packing boxes, clothes or any other needed items or services during and after an incident.  It also locates and coordinates support from the community and other organizations and agencies to these victims. "In College Station," he says, "we probably average one or two (displaced families) per month. In the Brazos Valley, in our five county area, 11 and a half is the monthly average."

This week: What is the balance between personal privacy and homeland security? Plus business self-reliance, applied systems thinking, border security, and interning with the FBI

Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m. CST (KAMU 90.9 FM, College Station)

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1. Inside & Outside the Beltway: Privacy Panel

This week, we devote the first half of the program to the issue of personal privacy vs. homeland security. We have assembled a panel of three of the nation's top authorities in various aspects of this issue. They are:

• Linda Millis, former director of the National Security Program at the Markle Foundation. The program is focused on how best to mobilize information and information technology to improve domestic security while protecting established civil liberties.
• Gregory T. Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology and the director of its Project on Freedom, Security & Technology. CDT is a Washington-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. Nojeim conducts much of CDT’s work in the areas of national security, terrorism, and Fourth Amendment protections. Prior to joining CDT in May 2007, Nojeim was for five years a legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union and for seven years the associate director and chief legislative counsel of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office.
• Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies, where she focuses on surveillance issues.  She previously served as the senior counsel for legislative strategy at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she led the ACLU’s lobbying efforts on national security issues affecting civil liberties, including the Patriot Act reauthorization debate. Prior to that she served as the chief nominations counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Chairman/Ranking Member, Sen. Patrick Leahy, during the first term of the Bush administration. Graves also served as deputy assistant attorney general, a career appointment, in the Office of Legal Policy/Policy Development at the Justice Department.
  

2. Spotlight

Hank Straub belongs to New Jersey Business Force, a regional organization affiliated with Business Executives for National Security. He is working to established a business operations center for the New Jersey/New York Metropolitan Area. This is a new concept that aims to apply the lessons of 9/11 and to the issues of business continuity. "It's designed to create self-reliance in times of emergency or disaster," he says. "It's an all-hazards approach." 

Robert Edson is deputy director of the Applied Systems Thinking Institute (ASysT), a collaboration between Analytic Services, Inc.  and the Stevens Institute of Technology. "Systems thinking" provides an analysis of how all the parts of a system work together and with their environment, and identifies the holes in the system. Applied systems thinking takes the abstraction and applies it to real world situations.  "If you want to make a larger impact, you have to step back in space and time so you actually see all  the relationships that impact on this particular problem, " Edson says. Examples for homeland security include:

• How health care systems react to surges in demand during catastrophes.
• How special needs populations are evacuated from disaster areas.
• How resources are allocated in an emergency department during a pandemic.

3. Perspectives

Charlotte Thornton,a mechanical engineer product designer out of Stanford University, will answer the questions: "If you have five minutes with the presidential candidates, what would you tell them about homeland security?"  Thornton has recently founded Universal Design Science Engineering, a company focused on border security issues.  It is based at right on the U.S.-Mexico border, in Santa Teresa. N.M.

4. Homeland Security at Home

Brian Kwan, a junior at Texas A&M, is working on a double major in psychology and sociology, and is an intern with the FBI office in Houston. Kwan says his internship with an FBI division that deals with bank robberies, kidnapping and gangs, is offering him a chance to apply his education to real world situations"You get to work with special agents side by side," he says, "and they tell you exactly what you need to do and what needs to be done, and you get to see the results." 

This week: Three news reporters discuss the homeland security beat, plus an expert in cyber survellance, and conducting research in homeland security

Tuesday, April 1, 7 p.m. CST (KAMU 90.9 FM, College Station)

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1. Media Panel

This week we talk to three reporters who cover homeland security as a news beat. First up is Pam Fessler (top left), a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. She reports mostly on homeland security, including security at U.S. ports and borders.

Next is Mimi Hall, staff writer with USA Today. She covers many stories dealing with U.S. security and terrorism.

The final member of our panel is Jean Meserve, a Washington D.C.-based correspondent for CNN. Meserve covers homeland security for the network and reports  for CNN's Washing-based America Bureau, which is a unit that combines the network's homeland security, Justice Department, and national security beats.

2. Spotlight

Fredrick Gaudreau has served as a police officer with Sûreté du Québec since 1997. He holds the rank of captain and serves as the officer in charge of the cybercrime unit at the Criminal Intelligence Directorate. Gaudreau is completing a degree in public security and he has a university certificate in management of organizations. In this interview, he discusses cyber surveillance.   

3. Perspectives

Linda Millis is the director of the Markle Foundation's National Security Program. She has more than 20 years of experience with national security issues and she has effectively integrated the business community into intelligence and homeland security work. She answers the question, "If you had five minutes with the presidential candidates, what would you tell them?"

4. HLS at Home

Laura Spencer is the Integrative Center for Homeland Security's administrative coordinator. She deals primarily with the research functions, directs the office's graduate research assistants, and manages the Taxonomy for Education and eXploration (TEX) on the ICHS website. She discusses TEX as well as Texas A&M 's directed studies course in homeland security.