Ridge: U.S. Is Safer Since 9/11, But Room For Improvement Exists

By AJ Swartwood - Talk Radio News Service

Are Americans safer now than they were before 9/11? That was the question put to former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) on Monday.

Ridge, the former Governor of Pennsylvania (R) and the first person to ever lead the relatively new DHS, said the answer is ‘yes,’ but added that the nation’s national security efforts must remain vigilent.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we are doing a better job,” he said. “Are we to the point where…we don’t need to improve anymore? I doubt it.”

Dent, a three-term Congressman who currently sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed Ridge’s sentiments, but provided some caution.

“We have invested hundreds of billions of dollars to improve our once lax security systems, and we are in fact safer now…Are we safe from all terrorists threats?” he asked. “Absolutely not.”

Earlier this year, Dent introduced a bill in the House that would’ve stripped suspected terror abetter Anwar al-Awlaki of his American citizenship. The government alleges that al-Awlaki, a former Imam who was born in New Mexico and attended college in the U.S., has inspired Islamic terrorists to carry out attacks in the U.S.

Because the nation faces so many threats, Ridge said, the role of national security agencies must be to minimize risks. One way to do that, he said, is for agencies to collaborate on intelligence. Ridge said priorities have changed in the years since the Cold War ended.

“It may have been a need to know then, but now it’s a need to share,” Ridge said.

AZ Attorney General Says DoJ Is Justified In Filing Suit Against S.B. 1070

By Rob Sanna - Talk Radio News

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard told the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Thursday that standards must be set before action can be taken towards improving the security of the nation’s southwest border.

“Alot of words have been wasted talking about securing the border without defining what that means,” Goddard said. “We need objective standards.”

The Border Patrol agency has increased its numbers over the last ten years. Earlier this week, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that the Department of Homeland Security plans to deploy 100 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, 300 more Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agents and new border monitoring aircrafts to Arizona.

Arizona’s top law enforcement official also defended Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to file suit against Arizona’s controversial immigration reform law, S.B. 1070, if Holder believed it to be unconstitutional.

“If that’s what he thinks, yes,” Goddard said.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton began hearings Thursday in Arizona’s federal court after the Department of Justice filed suit to prevent the law from being implemented. The controversial bill is currently on track to take effect July 29.

No Need For Cyber Czar Says Republican Collins

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Despite continued threats to the security of the global cyber infrastructure, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she is opposed to the Obama administration appointing a cyber security coordinator, or “cyber czar.”

“We don’t need yet another White House czar. A czar would conflict with statutory duties established elsewhere,” Collins said.

Instead, Collins favors a cyber security “center” within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS would appoint a director for the center, and the director would report both to the DHS on a day to day basis, and act as the head adviser to the President on cybersecurity.

“Effectively managing government cybersecurity is going to require more than a few staff crammed into a cubicle in the depths of the White House,” said Collins.

Last Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano opened the DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Coordination Integration Center, which acts as a 24-hour coordinated watch and warning center to bolster cyber information sharing and incident response.

Collins said that despite its effort to manage cyber security, the DHS “still lacks the authority and resources it needs to secure our federal and private sector networks.”

She says her “center” proposal must work in accordance with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the U.S. military and private owners and operators of critical cyberspace infrastructures.

“It is vitally important that we build a strong public-private partnership to protect cyberspace, a vital engine of our economy, our government, our country and our future,” Collins concluded.