With 59 dead and more than 500 injured, the Las Vegas massacre is beyond horrific. Even so, it could have been worse in several ways. Suppose gunman Stephen Paddock had been giving off clear warnings of his deadly intentions, which police ignored. Suppose police had intercepted communications of his mass-murder plan, then did nothing…
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The forced removal of Mr. David Dao from a United Airlines flight has touched off outrage around the world, justifiably so. The airline should have adjudicated the overbooking issue before the boarding process, and as UA CEO Oscar Munoz said, nobody should ever be treated that way. The video of the removal grabbed worldwide…
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As we noted, California’s troubled Victims Compensation Board will reportedly provide $4 million for the victims of the December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino. The backstory here is that these seriously injured government workers have become victims of government agencies. “The problems started when San Bernardino County placed the terror victims into California’s…
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On a recent trip, this writer found that employees of the federal Transportation Security Administration were courteous and professional, but that is not always the case. As we noted, the TSA sometimes forces passengers through the screening process twice on the same trip, before a connecting flight, with no warning and no explanation. So…
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U.S. spy agencies call themselves an “intelligence community” (IC). The Washington Post has good reason to dub it an intelligence “colossus,” with 16 spy agencies and 107,035 employees. The IC “black budget” for fiscal year 2013 is $52.6 billion, a lot of money even by Washington standards, and that figure is separate from $23 billion…
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As the New York Times reports, the National Security Agency (NSA) is “not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas.” The agency is “also casting a far wider net for people who cite information linked to those foreigners.” Further, in its extensive computer searches of data,…
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West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, is home to the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) whose origins “are inextricably linked to the tragic events of 9/11 and West Point’s unwavering commitment to the future security and safety of our nation.” The Center has produced material on radical Islam and Al Qaeda but a recent report…
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Federal authorities can continue to wiretap and conduct surveillance on non-Americans within the United States according to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) recently reauthorized by the U.S. Senate and earlier by the House. Senate majority leader Harry Reid said the measure was imperfect but necessary to “protect us from evil in this world.”…
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The Pentagon plans to add the Defense Clandestine Service to the nation’s Intelligence Community (IC). This is being billed as an advance in national security but it shapes up as a costly bureaucratic turf war that could leave the nation less secure. The current IC boasts 17 member agencies: Air Force Intelligence Army Intelligence…
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