Comments on: Did DHS Screw Up “Again” By Letting the Times Square Bomber on a Plane? http://www.hlswatch.com/2010/05/10/did-dhs-screw-up-again-by-letting-the-times-square-bomber-on-a-plane/ News and analysis of critical issues in homeland security today. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:07:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: William R. Cumming http://www.hlswatch.com/2010/05/10/did-dhs-screw-up-again-by-letting-the-times-square-bomber-on-a-plane/comment-page-1/#comment-138901 William R. Cumming Tue, 11 May 2010 22:36:13 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/?p=9227#comment-138901 The blogs seem to have reached some conscensus on NSA collecting cell phone info transmitting to Great Britain who returned the favor (the info) to the US so that NSA could have plausible deniability on domestic collection. By the way the new head of DOD Cyber Command is coming from NSA getting his fourth star and guess where that Command (reporting to Stratgic Forces Command?) is located. Fort Meade. Ah to be near those wonderous NSA computers. The blogs seem to have reached some conscensus on NSA collecting cell phone info transmitting to Great Britain who returned the favor (the info) to the US so that NSA could have plausible deniability on domestic collection. By the way the new head of DOD Cyber Command is coming from NSA getting his fourth star and guess where that Command (reporting to Stratgic Forces Command?) is located. Fort Meade. Ah to be near those wonderous NSA computers.

]]> By: John Comiskey http://www.hlswatch.com/2010/05/10/did-dhs-screw-up-again-by-letting-the-times-square-bomber-on-a-plane/comment-page-1/#comment-138885 John Comiskey Mon, 10 May 2010 13:24:09 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/?p=9227#comment-138885 Great term: intelligence collection-safeguarding society-prosecutorial discretion. Add to that: no-fail-safe terrorism-prevent-defense. HLS pundits and media do not live in Teddy Roosevelt's proverbial arena. Law enforcement operates with a level of risk and a multitude of complex and sometimes conflicting rules that are intended to prevent bad things from happening while ensuring the civil rights and privacy of the citizenry. Terrorist make up their rules as they please. HLS is not fanciful and does not occur in the abstract. It does not offer any guarantee. Government can do everything right and still everything can go wrong. In this instance a systems of checks did ultimately facilitate the capture of the terrorist. Lesson learned: no-fly lists need to be updated in real-time. HLS has a lot of lessons to learn. Great term: intelligence collection-safeguarding society-prosecutorial discretion. Add to that: no-fail-safe terrorism-prevent-defense.

HLS pundits and media do not live in Teddy Roosevelt’s proverbial arena. Law enforcement operates with a level of risk and a multitude of complex and sometimes conflicting rules that are intended to prevent bad things from happening while ensuring the civil rights and privacy of the citizenry.
Terrorist make up their rules as they please.

HLS is not fanciful and does not occur in the abstract. It does not offer any guarantee. Government can do everything right and still everything can go wrong. In this instance a systems of checks did ultimately facilitate the capture of the terrorist. Lesson learned: no-fly lists need to be updated in real-time.

HLS has a lot of lessons to learn.

]]> By: Dan O'Connor http://www.hlswatch.com/2010/05/10/did-dhs-screw-up-again-by-letting-the-times-square-bomber-on-a-plane/comment-page-1/#comment-138882 Dan O'Connor Mon, 10 May 2010 12:54:39 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/?p=9227#comment-138882 Unfortunately, universal hindsight is combined with the 24 hour news cycle and unrealistic expectations to create this "gotcha" reporting style. While titillating. this type of journalism and reporting is not assisting our efforts. The fact that he almost got away is on some levels, irrelevant. If we continue to move down this path of perfect information in present time, our risk aversion will only increase. Derived from the zero defect, litigious society we are now part of, it’s no wonder trust in leaders and from leaders erodes. Yes, said suspect almost got away, but he didn’t. In a system of systems, there are bound to be friction points. The easiest solution is to blame someone… To another point; the billions spent on surveillance does not prevent activity; it merely records it and within that captured data we found Shahzad switching out shirts. Two failed or botched attacks in the last 5 months. Is it better to be lucky or good? If our expectation is 100% detection, 100% prevention, and 100% capture, I’d submit that we will come up short. Unfortunately, universal hindsight is combined with the 24 hour news cycle and unrealistic expectations to create this “gotcha” reporting style. While titillating. this type of journalism and reporting is not assisting our efforts. The fact that he almost got away is on some levels, irrelevant. If we continue to move down this path of perfect information in present time, our risk aversion will only increase. Derived from the zero defect, litigious society we are now part of, it’s no wonder trust in leaders and from leaders erodes. Yes, said suspect almost got away, but he didn’t. In a system of systems, there are bound to be friction points. The easiest solution is to blame someone… To another point; the billions spent on surveillance does not prevent activity; it merely records it and within that captured data we found Shahzad switching out shirts. Two failed or botched attacks in the last 5 months. Is it better to be lucky or good? If our expectation is 100% detection,
100% prevention, and 100% capture, I’d submit that we will come up short.

]]> By: Peter J. Brown http://www.hlswatch.com/2010/05/10/did-dhs-screw-up-again-by-letting-the-times-square-bomber-on-a-plane/comment-page-1/#comment-138881 Peter J. Brown Mon, 10 May 2010 11:47:17 +0000 http://www.hlswatch.com/?p=9227#comment-138881 In this news item from ABC News, one can detect structural elements in motion in the somewhat instantaneous post-incident screening and tracking system currently in use, especially in rapid flight scenarios as witnessed here. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/meet-men-arrested-faisal-shazad-10578641 This once again demonstrates the inherent challenges involved and invites discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of placing greater emphasis on regional vs national response and preparedness. Was the chance for success here diminished at all absent a more condensed watch list reflecting a more region-centric framework? And would the entire process be quicker, more focused and involving a greater chance of success if streamlined or adapted so that prioritization occurs instantly on a focused geographic basis? Remember this was focused on someone fleeing quickly. And what does this say about efforts to employ, train and assign fulltime analysts? The federal officer highlighted was not in this category. This ABC News story raises numerous questions accordingly. In this news item from ABC News, one can detect structural elements in motion in the somewhat instantaneous post-incident screening and tracking system currently in use, especially in rapid flight scenarios as witnessed here.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/meet-men-arrested-faisal-shazad-10578641

This once again demonstrates the inherent challenges involved and invites discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of placing greater emphasis on regional vs national response and preparedness. Was the chance for success here diminished at all absent a more condensed watch list reflecting a more region-centric framework? And would the entire process be quicker, more focused and involving a greater chance of success if streamlined or adapted so that prioritization occurs instantly on a focused geographic basis? Remember this was focused on someone fleeing quickly. And what does this say about efforts to employ, train and assign fulltime analysts? The federal officer highlighted was not in this category. This ABC News story raises numerous questions accordingly.

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