Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

Immediate Vault Immediate Access

Color-Coded Terrorism Alerts Are Being Phased Out

Posted on by

About time, Department of Homeland Security.

buy norvasc online www.delineation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/norvasc.html no prescription pharmacy

I’m all for authorities trying to inform citizens about specific threats to public safety, but let’s not treat people like they are in the third grade. Nonspecific, blanket statements about an increased risk just make little sense. And color-coded labels? Works for a stoplight. Not so much for terrorist plots.

Fortunately, government officials have seen the error of their ways.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the pending announcement, say the Homeland Security Department will begin a 90-day phasing out of the system on Thursday.

The Homeland Security Department plans to tell the public about a terror threat much like it has been doing for the past few years – through government announcements and the news media.

The five-tiered color-coded terror warnings were created after the Sept.

buy cipro online www.northwestmed.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/cipro.html no prescription pharmacy

11, 2001, attacks, and they quickly became the butt of late-night talk show jokes.
Online Pharmacy https://galenapharm.com/ no prescription

The government hasn’t made changes in the colored alert levels since 2006, but it has been reviewing its usefulness for more than a year.

You know it’s bad when AP stories are citing “late-night talk show jokes” as a legitimate criticism of how silly the system is. The new system of communicating threats won’t do anything to lower the risk.

buy paxil online www.delineation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/paxil.html no prescription pharmacy

But hopefully it will prepare all of us to better understand the world in which we now live.

Attention Walmart Shoppers: The DHS Needs Your Help

Posted on by

The Department of Homeland Security has teamed up with the world’s largest retailer in an attempt to reach millions of shoppers this holiday season (and beyond) to remind them to report suspicious activity to law enforcement. The program is dubbed “If You See Something, Say Something” (a familiar slogan to NYC transit riders) and is currently operating in 320 Walmart stores across the nation.

“Homeland security starts with hometown security, and each of us plays a critical role in keeping our country and communities safe,” [DHS] Secretary Janet Napolitano said. “This partnership will help millions of shoppers across the nation identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.”

The initiative will focus on informing customers in checkout lines via a short video message by Napolitano herself. Eventually, the program hopes to have close to 600 stores participating from 27 states. And it’s not only Walmart that has been selected for this campaign. The program has already partnered with the Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metroplitan Area Transit Authority, the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, sports and general aviation. Here’s the video that some Walmart shoppers will see:

Risk Management Links of the Day: 12.16.09

Posted on by

janet napolitano DHS

  • Department of Homeland Security Fail: “Tahaya Buchanan, an American fugitive who’d been on the run for more than two years, dodging a national arrest warrant for insurance fraud, has spent her years underground gainfully employed by the Department of Homeland Security.
  • Our homeland security watchdog is doing something right, however, as DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday announced a “first of its kind federal-state cybersecurity partnership” between the department and the state of Michigan. As someone who reads dozens of horrible press releases every day, I can assure you that this is one of the least informative press releases ever written (and, not for nothing, DHS could probably use some proofreaders), but the gist of this thing seems to center around some sort of collaborative IT system to uncover malware and cyberattacks — or something.
  • With the financial collapse bankrupting Iceland and putting once-low-risk economies like those of Greece and Latvia on the ropes, Ellen Brown looks at how even the developed world nations of the EU are now bucking IMF debt-repayment protocols. And as former fat cats like Dubai have shown, today’s global climate means that even formerly nonvolatile nations need to be given more scrutiny when it comes to credit risks. “Dozens of countries have defaulted on their debts in recent decades, the most recent being Dubai, which declared a debt moratorium on November 26, 2009. If the once lavishly-rich Arab emirate can default, more desperate countries can; and when the alternative is to destroy the local economy, it is hard to argue that they shouldn’t.”
  • The video streaming site Justin.tv is under scrutiny for its inability to prevent its users from illegally uploading copyrighted content. Ultimately, this is the same fight that has been going on regarding digital intellectual property since Napster and, later, Kazaa gave rise to widespread music piracy across college campuses in the late 90s. YouTube faced similar scrutiny and many lawsuits and, like Napster, has used the “we’re not doing anything wrong — it’s our users” defense. But where Napster (and other, more brazen sharing sites like The Pirate Bay) failed, sites like YouTube have (thus far) been able to sidestep major legal recourse by having procedures (which, if we’re being honest, are only minimally effective) that ensure the removal of content if it is reported as infringing copyright. Getting back to the main story…Now under the threat of legal action, Justin.tv told its side of the story in front of the House Judiciary Committee this morning. “Justin.tv calls on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which they claim should provide them with a safe harbor for copyright-infringing content that appears on the website before they or the appropriate right owners get a chance to remove it … The startup states that it aims to bring live video into the mainstream much like Flickr, The Huffington Post and YouTube have done for online images, news and video clips. The question is: are they really doing everything they can to fight piracy?”

Find an interesting link? Email me any stories, videos or images you come across and would like to see included. Or just follow me on Twitter @RiskMgmt and pass it along that way.