Latest Commentary

Misreading Border Patrol statistics

Lies, damned lies and statistics, of course; but debate bereft of data is vacuous hot air--otherwise known as a lot of the present-day discourse around key homeland security issues. There's the...

The Constitution protects even Tsarnaev

Inflammatory rhetoric aimed at scoring political points against the Obama administration regarding the mirandizing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has the potential to cause real damage to the society that...

Coast Guard budget cuts have long term effects

In the race against time and money that Coast Guard recapitalization turned into once austerity became the watchword in Washington, D.C., time and money appear to be winning. For evidence, let's...

Irrationality and Patrick Meehan's fear of Iran

Let's check in on the House Homeland Security Committee; what is the current setting for fear mongering and irrationality there? Ah, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Penn.) has been holding a hearing on...

Ninth Circuit laptop ruling good for civil rights, good for border security

The Ninth Circuit's March 8 ruling imposing a reasonable suspicion standard on the border search of electronic devices is a much-needed correction to the policy of unfettered searches of laptops...

Cuomo's coastal homeowner buyouts offer a sign of things to come

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) proposes to use as much as $400 million from the state's allotment of the federal Hurricane Sandy aid package to buy out homes in flood-prone coastal regions,...

Don't consolidate House DHS oversight into the House Homeland Security Committee

Chances of consolidating House oversight of the Homeland Security Department this Congress appear slim, say lawmakers quoted in The Hill. And oversight of DHS is fractured and appears excessive,...

Balancing right to gun ownership against right to safety

If it hasn't been clear already, those who espouse unfettered gun ownership on grounds of public safety are lethally wrong. There's a difference between reasonable gun ownership and the...

The not-deep mystery of poor DHS morale

The Homeland Security Department continues to rank rock bottom among cabinet agencies in terms of employee morale, newly released results from the annual Office of Personnel Management survey of...

Climate change's challenge to homeland security

Weather and climate change aren't synonymous. Nonetheless, as I await heavy rains and gusting winds from Hurricane Sandy to knock out my subdivision's power in the coming days, it seems like...