Posts

DHS Is Getting a Wearable Radiation Detector

/1 Comment/in , /by

The easiest way to detect nuclear material is typically when it’s already too late. By the time seismographs, infrasound sensors, and radiation readers pick up on a blast, it’s already happened. Catching a nuclear weapon before it goes off is a lot trickier, which might be why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking at some rather unconventional ideas. The latest: a small, wearable radiation detector. Think of it like a FitBit, only instead of telling its user about calories burned, it lets them know if they’re close to any nuclear weapons.

Huban Gowadia, Director of the DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection office, last Thursday blogged that the Department has awarded a multimillion dollar contract to develop such a device. The DHS is calling it the “Human Portable Tripwire.” She writes:

The award is for small, wearable radiation detector devices that passively monitor the environment and alert the user when nuclear or other radioactive material is present. Known as the Human Portable Tripwire (HPT), this device has the capability to identify the source of radiation and allow personnel to take appropriate action. The technology can also locate the source of the detected radiation and includes communication features that allow the user to easily seek additional technical assistance from experts if needed. These devices are a critical tool for personnel who operate in the maritime environment, at land and sea ports of entry, and within the United States.

(Read more from “DHS Is Getting a Wearable Radiation Detector” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Leaked DHS Memo Shows Obama Might Circumvent DAPA Injunction

/3 Comments/in , /by

A newly leaked internal DHS memorandum produced for an off-the-record agency conclave reveals that the Obama administration is actively planning to circumvent a federal court injunction that suspended part of last November’s deferral-based amnesty initiative. The document, apparently prepared as follow-up from a DHS “Regulations Retreat” last summer, appears sure to re-ignite concerns in Congress as well as federal judges in the Fifth Circuit. The Administration has already been criticized from the bench for handing out work permits to hundreds of thousands of deferred action beneficiaries, in direct violation of a district court’s order. With the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals deciding any day now whether to deny the Administration’s request to reverse that injunction, this public leak has come at a critical juncture for U.S. enforcement policy.

Last June, four months after Texas federal judge Andrew Hanen’s order to freeze President’s DAPA and Expanded DACA programs—disclosure: the Immigration Reform Law Institute has filed briefs in these cases—DHS’s immigration policy makers apparently held a “Regulations Retreat” to discuss “different options” for “open market Employment Authorization Document (EAD) regulatory changes.” EAD is the statutory term for work permits. From a memo recording these discussions, we now know that the Obama DHS has, rather than pausing to allow the courts to assess the constitutionality of its enforcement nullification initiatives, been gearing up to roll out one or more of four plans drawn up at the meeting, each one designed to provide EADs to millions of nonimmigrants, including those lawfully present and visa overstayers, crippling the actual employment-based visa system on the federal statute-book.

The internal memo reveals four options of varying expansiveness, with option 1 providing EADs to “all individuals living in the United States”, including illegal aliens, visa-overstayers, and H-1B guest-workers, while option 4 provides EADs only to those on certain unexpired non-immigrant visas. Giving EADs to any of the covered individuals, however, is in direct violation of Congress’s Immigration & Nationality Act and works to dramatically subvert our carefully wrought visa system. (Read more from “Leaked DHS Memo Shows Obama Might Circumvent DAPA Injunction” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

DHS Ordered to Explain Secret Plan to Shut Down Phone Service

/1 Comment/in , /by

phone serviceThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is questioning the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to keep secret its plan to shut down mobile phone service during “critical emergencies.” The court originally sided with the federal government that the plan should not be disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act request, but has since revisited the ruling and has ordered the DHS to explain the secrecy.

According to Ars Technica, the Department of Homeland Security plan, known as Standing Operating Procedure 303, was created after mobile phones were used to detonate explosives in London.

Court documents explain that SOP 303 is a “unified voluntary process for the orderly shut-down and restoration of wireless devices during critical emergencies such as the threat of radio-activated improvised explosive devices” . . .

As noted by The Blaze, outside groups have been requesting information about SOP 303 for years. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) became particularly interested in SOP 303 in 2011, when officials attempted to stop a protest by shutting down cellular phone service near a San Francisco subway station. Likewise, Bay Area Rapid Transit shut down a portion of its train service during the same period. Following that incident, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the federal government to disclose the federal document that granted the DHS the authority to enact SOP 303. The government agreed to the request, but redacted much of the document. (Read more from “DHS Ordered to Explain Secret Plan to Shut Down Phone Service” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

After 70% of Illegal Alien Families Fail to Show for Hearings, Feds Plan to Track Them with GPS

/5 Comments/in , , /by

Ankle BraceletThe Department of Homeland Security will reportedly track more illegal immigrants with GPS devices because a whopping 70% of illegal immigrants who traveled to America as a family unit failed to show up to their immigration hearings.

This summer, illegal immigrants from Central America flooded across the border, believing that “notices to appear” that illegal immigrants receive after being released were “permisos” to remain indefinitely in America. . .

According to an Associated Press report, as a result, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month launched a program to give GPS devices to some parents caught crossing the Mexican border illegally with their children in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.” The program will reportedly track 250 “heads of households” with GPS ankle bracelets.

Read more about tracking illegal alien families with GPS HERE.

Leaked DHS Report Reveals 13 Foreign Suspected Terrorists Illegally Entered Canada from US

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart By Brandon Darby.

At least 13 men from Africa with terrorist-related records illegally entered Canada from the U.S. since 2010, according to a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Intelligence Information Report exclusively obtained by Breitbart Texas. The data pertains only to one small region of the vast U.S.-Canadian border. The report reveals that as of September 9, 2014, there have been 155 encounters in the area “involving 344 ethnic Somalis, 21 ethnic Ethiopians, five ethnic Kenyans, two ethnic Djiboutians, two ethnic Nigerians, and one ethnic Sudanese and Congolese subjects who have attempted or succeeded in entering Canada illegally near the Pembina, ND Port of Entry (POE) since June 2010. These encounters INCLUDE 13 SUBJECTS WITH TERRORIST-RELATED RECORDS [Emphasis Added] who have utilized this method of circumventing designated POEs.”

The report lists several ethnic Somalis who have U.S. addresses and official Alien Registration Numbers issued by the U.S. government, who the report indicates are either included, or should be included, into the Terrorist Screening Database. The subjects’ addresses span from Southern California to Ohio.

Intel Report

Read more from this story HERE.

___________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Breitbart Canada Gunman Prepared Video of Himself, Authorities Decline to Release Recording

By Breitbart News.

A gunman who shot and killed a soldier at Canada’s national war memorial and then stormed Parliament before he was gunned down had prepared a video recording of himself that police say shows he was driven by ideological and political motives, police said Sunday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said in a statement they have “persuasive evidence that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s attack was driven by ideological and political motives.”

A detailed analysis of the video was being conducted and Paulson said they cannot release the video at this time.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called Wednesday’s shooting a terror attack, and the bloodshed raised fears that Canada is suffering reprisals for joining the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Read more from this story HERE.

GAO: DHS Flew Drones for 1,726 Hours Over Interior of U.S.

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP / John MillerThe Department of Homeland Security flew drones equipped with video cameras over the United States–away from border and coastal areas–for 1,726 hours from fiscal 2011 through this April, according to the Government Accountability Office.

At times, the drones–or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)–were being used for purposes other than border or immigration enforcement. But the GAO does not have a full accounting of when and where the drones were flown, or what they were used for during the flight hours spent in “other airspace.”

In a series of briefing slides provided in August to the staffs of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on homeland security (and publicly released this week), the GAO examined whether DHS’s use of drones complied with U.S. privacy and civil liberty laws. In the slides, the GAO noted that DHS border patrol drones, which are primarily used to “support border security operations,” were sometimes flown away from the border “in support of other federal, state or local law enforcement activities and for emergency humanitarian efforts.”

“DHS’s review reported that CBP operates UAS in accordance with its authorities, which do not limit use to border and coastal areas,” the GAO reported on briefing slide No. 2. “The location of UAS operations is limited by FAA requirements and CPB policies and procedures.”

These flights included missions to “provide aerial support for local law enforcement activities and investigations,” to agencies including the FBI and multi-agency task forces, and to “provide aerial support for monitoring natural disasters,” the report added on slide No. 11.

Read more from this story HERE.

Judicial Watch Sues DHS For Information Surrounding Release of 36,000 Criminal Aliens

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: TownHallBy Katie Pavlich.

Government watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for information surrounding the release of 36,000 criminal aliens into American communities earlier this year. The lawsuit comes after DHS officials failed to respond to a May 15, 2014 FOIA request in the amount of time required by law.

In the lawsuit, Judicial Watch is seeking “Any and all records of communications including, but not limited to, emails and memoranda, to or from personnel in the office of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (including its component offices, such as the Office of Public Affairs), from May 1 to May 15, 2014, concerning, regarding, or related to the report published by the Center for Immigrations Studies concerning the release of 36,000 criminal aliens.”

Read more from this story HERE.

________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: GettyGOP Chairman Touts Immigration For Economy, Sidelines Obama’s Amnesty

By Neil Munro.

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus outlined a November immigration platform that emphasized the contribution of immigrants to economic growth, but downplayed opposition to President Barack Obama’s immigration-boosting actions.

“We need to make sure America remains a place where people aspire to work and dream and live,” Priebus said in a morning speech in Washington D.C. “Our country should be a welcoming place for those who want to come here and do it the right way,” he said in a speech that was intended to offer a GOP alternative to Obama’s policies.

But GOP populists pushed back, saying Priebus is not sufficiently anti-amnesty.

“The elephant in the room is amnesty for illegal immigrants, and if the Republicans fail to take a strong stand against it, they will squander an opportunity and continue to lose elections,” warned Jenny Beth Martin, head of the Tea Party Patriots, in a press statement.

“Americans oppose amnesty, and it is a winning issue for conservatives,” she said, and added a sharp warning to Priebus.

Read more from this story HERE.

Top-Level Turnover Makes it Harder For DHS to Stay On Top of Evolving Threats

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Jim Watson / AFP / Getty ImagesAn exodus of top-level officials from the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is undercutting the agency’s ability to stay ahead of a range of emerging threats, including potential terrorist strikes and cyberattacks, according to interviews with current and former officials.

Over the past four years, employees have left DHS at a rate nearly twice as fast as in the federal government overall, and the trend is accelerating, according to a review of a federal database.

The departures are a result of what employees widely describe as a dysfunctional work environment, abysmal morale, and the lure of private SECURITY COMPANIES paying top dollar that have proliferated in Washington since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The department’s terrorism intelligence arm, for example, has cycled through six directors during the Obama administration, decimating morale and contributing to months-long delays in releasing intelligence reports, according to interviews and government reports.

Read more from this story HERE.

DHS Asks Stores to Watch Customers Behavior for Terrorist Signs

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APHomeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his department will be issuing new guidance to retailers this week giving them pointers on how to spot potential terrorists among their customers by looking at what they’re buying.

While saying the government cannot prohibit sales of some everyday materials, Mr. Johnson said retailers should be trained to look for anyone who buys a lot from what he described as a “long list of materials that could be used as explosive precursors.”

He said it was an extension of the “If you see something, say something” campaign launched by his predecessor, former Secretary Janet Napolitano, which tries to enlist average Americans to be aware of their immediate environment.

“We can’t and we shouldn’t prohibit the sale of a pressure cooker. We can sensitize retail businesses to be on guard for suspicious behavior by those who buy this kind of stuff,” Mr. Johnson said during a question-and-answer session after a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Report From DHS Shows That Messing With Americans’ Freedom Could Have Serious Consequences

/20 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Months after the tense standoff between federal authorities and protesters at the Bundy Ranch, the Department of Homeland Security produced a report warning that potentially violent uprisings against a growing federal government could result across the U.S.

Among the judgments outlined in the DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis report is the fear that a “perceived victory” by demonstrators at the Bunkerville ranch would “prompt more violence.”

While militias from surrounding states responded to the show of force by armed Bureau of Land Management agents in April, the report seeks to tie a subsequent shooting to the standoff.

“Violent anti-government extremists Jerad Dwain Miller and Amanda Renee Miller ambushed and killed two Las Vegas Metropolitan police officers at a local restaurant on 8 June,” the report asserted.

Read more from this story HERE.