DHS

Is America Any Safer 15 Years After 9/11? - The Atlantic & CBS

Published on Aug 9, 2016 "CBS This Morning"
As we approach the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, fear remains.
A CBS News poll taken in June after the shooting rampage in Orlando found two-thirds of Americans think a terror attack is very or somewhat likely in the next few months.
Author Steven Brill spent a year investigating the estimated trillion-dollar security state, built since 9/11. Brill joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss his latest cover story in The Atlantic, titled, "Are we any safer?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kotQl4H76_0

DHS monitoring of social media concerns civil liberties advocates

Washington Post
By Ellen Nakashima, Published: January 13

Civil liberties advocates are raising concerns that the Department of Homeland Security’s three-year-old practice of monitoring social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter could extend to tracking public reaction to news events and reports that “reflect adversely” on the U.S. government.

The activists, who obtained DHS documents through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, say one document in particular, a February 2010 analyst handbook, touts as a good example of “capturing public reaction” the monitoring of Facebook and other sites for public sentiment about the possible transfer of Guantanamo detainees to a Michigan prison.

9/11 and the Economy: Counting the $5 Trillion in Costs to America

 

Al Jazeera provided an interactive breakdown on how much 9/11 has cost  to the American economy in 10 years.

I have outlined it below in short; further down is the longer version with explanation details for each main and sub-category. It is stated that many of these categories are conservative calculations and that many categories are certain to rise in cost.

Note: $5 trillion dollars is equal to 5 million millions.

Homeland Security "Einstein" Program Reads "All Internet Communications"

March 2, 2010, 11:00 PM ET

Details of “Einstein” Cyber Shield Disclosed by White House

The Obama administration lifted the veil Tuesday on a highly-secretive set of policies to defend the U.S. from cyber attacks.

It was an open secret that the National Security Agency was bolstering a Homeland Security program to detect and respond to cyber attacks on government systems, but a summary of that program declassified Tuesday provides more details of NSA’s role in a Homeland program known as Einstein.

The current version of the program is widely seen as providing meager protection against attack, but a new version being built will be more robust–largely because it’s rooted in NSA technology. The program is designed to look for indicators of cyber attacks by digging into all Internet communications, including the contents of emails, according to the declassified summary.

Drills successful planting bombs in 10 buildings, including DHS offices: GAO

Might this be considered circumstantial evidence in response to the claim that bombs could not have been planted unnoticed in the WTC?

GAO: Major Security Flaws at Federal Buildings

The police agency in charge of protecting thousands of federal buildings nationwide has failed to keep bomb-making materials out of several high-security facilities in the past year, according to Congressional testimony provided by Senate aides. In the past year, investigators successfully smuggled bomb-making materials into ten high-security federal buildings, constructed bombs and walked around the buildings undetected, exposing weaknesses in security provided by the Federal Protective Service.

More than one million government employees work in 9,000 facilities guarded by FPS around the country, including at least 350,000 in the Washington region. The revelations come as the Obama administration prepares to reorganize the agency in the coming weeks.

Media Smears of Truth Movement Reaching Crescendo

Media Smearing of Truth Movement Reaching a Crescendo
Despite recent breakthroughs, media continues to paint 9/11 truthers, others as dangerous terrorists

James Corbett
The Corbett Report
16 June, 2009

Recent months have seen numerous breakthroughs for the truth movement in the corporate media, from Fox 26's interview with Richard Gage of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth to 9/11 Press For Truth being aired on local television in Colorado to coverage of this year's Bilderberg conference in major British newspapers. Despite these positive developments, however, primetime TV dramas are continuing to portray those skeptical of the official 9/11 story (a clear majority of the American public according to poll after poll) as deranged terrorists who are likely to commit acts of violence.

DHS backtracks on 9/11-Canada tie

rawstory.com - 05/27/09

US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she now knows 9/11 terrorists did not enter the United States from Canada, seeking to bury controversy over a diplomatic gaffe.

"I know that 9/11 terrorists did not cross the Canadian border," Napolitano told reporters, referring to an "earlier misstatement" used to justify increased security at the United States' northern frontier.

She had made the comment in a television interview with Canadian public broadcaster CBC in April, provoking outrage in this country.

Continue reading at http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Napolitano_9_11_terrorists_did_not__05272009.html

Swine Flu Links Roundup - Legitgov.org

And 2 not included:
DHS Sets Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/28/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4975598.shtml

Homeland Security preps flu quarantine guidelines [commentary on CBS-obtained memo and additional info]
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/homeland-security-preps-flu-quarantines/

hyperlinks here:
http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
CLG's BREAKING NEWS and COMMENTARY
Last updated: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:45:10 GMT

Data-Mining for Terrorists Not 'Feasible,' DHS-Funded Study Finds

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/data-mining-for.html

The government should not be building predictive data-mining programs systems that attempt to figure out who among millions is a terrorist, a privacy and terrorism commission funded by Homeland Security reported Tuesday. The commission found that the technology would not work and the inevitable mistakes would be un-American.

The committee, created by the National Research Council in 2005, also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of technology designed to decide from afar whether a person had terrorist intents, saying false positives could quickly lead to privacy invasions.

"Automated identification of terrorists through data mining (or any other known methodology) is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts," the report found. "Even in well-managed programs, such tools are likely to return significant rates of false positives, especially if the tools are highly automated."

DHS detention center exercise in Iowa?

(UPDATE: Looks like it was "Immigra!" after all: Up to 700 arrests estimated in Postville raid - rep.)

Questions Surround Homeland Security's Presence in Waterloo

May 9, 2008--People in Waterloo are trying to figure out what sort of operation federal officials are conducting in town. This week, the Department of Homeland Security took-over and sealed-off the grounds of the National Cattle Congress on the west side of Waterloo.

Thursday night, our crew went to investigate, but security guards told them to stay across the street from the property. Our camera caught pictures of elaborate ventilation systems going into the buildings. There were dozens of cars coming in and out with license plates from surrounding states, and even as far away as Georgia and Texas.

How Did We Miss It? - Return of the "Oh We Are So Stupid Department"

A friend forwarded the above article to me as a link, assuming I would find it interesting. I did, but not for the reasons he thought:

From the "Oh We Are So Stupid Department"

How Did We Miss It?
16-Nov-2007
Unknowncountry.com

Shortly before 911, suspects on watch lists moved money in curious ways. Internet and phone "chatter" had risen in recent months. A foreigner paid cash to learn how to fly—but not land—a jetliner. How did our governmen t ever miss these clues?

Researcher Joseph Kielman thinks the problem is that we don't look for patterns. Most nuggets of information about 911 were buried in a landslide of data arriving faster than analysts could make sense of it, and these nuggets sometimes contradicted each other.

Most nuggets of information come to us in unstructured, "fuzzy" data. The same face—or is it?—may appear in three surveillance videos. Someone in Florida is snapping up potential makeshift detonators on eBay. Such clues don’t come conveniently packaged in a tidy spreadsheet or searchable text; they must be inferred from photos, videos, voice recordings. So how can we prevent the NEXT 911?

TOPOFF 4 - Frequently Asked Questions

Noble Resolve seems to fall into the category of a Functional Exercise, and Top Off seems more of a Full-scale Exercise.

This provides a wealth information which will be useful in the preparation for the next round of terror drills in Portland, brought to you by the terrorism agency, Department of Homeland Security!!

Wonder if Congressman DeFazio will have gained access to the classified parts of NSPD51 by October?!

www.oregontruthalliance.org
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http://www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/training/gc_1179422026237.shtm

TOPOFF 4 Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the TOPOFF Exercise Series?

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