Archive for July, 2007
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Cuts in urban homeland security spending: more reason for considering ad hoc networks..
Thursday, July 19th, 2007DHS must be doing something right in doling out local funding assistance this year: everyone (even New York and DC, which were among the few locales to avoid cuts and get modest increases) has been screaming that they are shortchanged. The WaPo reports that the cuts will be particularly harsh for mid-sized cities, for whom […]
10-point “smart mobs for homeland security” strategy
Tuesday, July 17th, 20079/29/04
W. David Stephenson is outlining a new approach
to national security that is closer to a ‘new politics’ way
of organizing a government service than anything I’ve seen.
His basic premise is that the government should treat
the population as an asset whose intelligence should be
harvested. Rather than supplying tools and directions,
the government should be honest and upfront with […]
These creeps’ mission creap gives me the creaps
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 09/22/04
(Warning to readers: don’t read the following if you are already cranky, paranoid about invasion of your personal privacy, etc):
Today’s New York Times provides a chilling postmortem of the CAPPS II program, just as the TSA has announced it is demanding the airlines’ records of those who flew during June, to begin preparation […]
If terror threat persists and evolves, why no public involvement
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007I apologize for sometimes seeming obsessed with what, IMHO, is the glaring lack of attention to public education and outreach in the nation’s homeland security strategy.
OK, I lied: this is such an important issue and it gets so little scrutiny that I don’t apologize at all for being a voice crying in the wilderness!
Consider if […]
If terror threat persists and evolves, why no effective public outreach?
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007I apologize for sometimes seeming obsessed with what, IMHO, is the glaring lack of attention to public education and outreach in the nation’s homeland security strategy.
OK, I lied: this is such an important issue and it gets so little scrutiny that I don’t apologize at all for being a voice crying in the wilderness!
Consider if […]
et al.: Shades of the Crusades — Benedict XVI throws fuel on fire
Monday, July 16th, 2007As if the Islamic world didn’t already have enough reason to suspect the West, Pope Benedict XVI, exhibiting an attitude that might might be more consistent with the 500’s (when Benedict I was pontiff), has reasserted that the Roman brand of Catholicism is the only “true” church . That leaves the rest of us […]
Wisc. gets it: using us for traffic info
Monday, July 16th, 2007Wisconsin is using a win-win public-private partnership to collect and distribute traffic information that capitalizes on technologies that are in daily use by individuals and companies but can also serve a public interest as well.
It’s running experiments in two areas of the state using differing technologies to decide which is better.
One of the projects uses […]
Ubiquitous Monitoring
Monday, July 16th, 2007
reproduced, with permission, from Boston Business Journal, Dec. 12, 2003
By W. David Stephenson
I’m conflicted.
On one hand, I love the new — new technologies, new strategies, new gizmos.
On the other hand, I’m a cheap Scot, drive a 14 yr. old car, and live by the old Yankee credo of “use it up, wear […]
Al-Qaeda’s network — not its numbers — is crucial
Friday, July 13th, 2007Yes, it’s disturbing that the new “Al-Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West” report documents they’ve transferred operations to Pakistan and have rebuilt considerably since the US’s early success in 2001-2 in attacking its Afghanistan bases (before we lost focus and diverted resources to You Know Where).
However, since the War on Terror is likely […]
Serious gaming demands serious consideration
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007Long-time readers may remember that I wrote last year about the potential of Harvey Smith’s “Peace Bomb” concept (he dreamed it up for the annual Serious Games Summit), as a way to draw the general public into preparations for terrorist attacks.
Now old pal George Mokray calls my attention to this Salon piece about serious […]
