• Greenspan Says Government ‘Activism’ Hampering U.S. Recovery – Bloomberg News
• Connecticut bill seeks to unconstitutionally restrict political and religious speech by employers – Washington Examiner
• ATF Let Hundreds of U.S. Weapons Fall into Hands of Suspected Mexican Gunrunners – Center For Public Integrity
• ATF Orders Immediate Review of Gun-Running Operation – Center For Public Integrity
• Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico – CBS News
• 4 Dems join GOP fight to block EPA climate rules – Associated Press
• Democrats keep misleading on claimed budget ‘cuts’ – Washington Post
• Immigration Wars: More States Looking at Arizona-Style Laws – ABC News
• Border Agents Forced to Face Down Bullets With Bean Bags, Critics Say – Fox News
• Records show agents fired beanbags in fatal border gunfight – Arizona Daily Star
• Just 32% See Democrats’ Agenda As Mainstream – Rasmussen Reports
• Some Democrats joining GOP in fight against union privilege – Washington Examiner
• Wisconsin governor issues letters on possible layoffs to unions – CNN
• Eric Holder: Black Panther case focus demeans ‘my people’ – Josh Gerstein, Politico
• American Bar Association Executive Council Vows to Fight Anti-Sharia Law Measures – CNSNews.com
• Lowering U.S. Corporate Tax Rate to 10 Percent Will Create Jobs, Spur Economic Growth, Study Says – CNSNews.com
• Public Workers Join the New Reality – Froma Harrop, Creators.com
• Busting the Birth-Control Myth – Kirsten Powers, The Daily Beast
• Judge blocks bail bond bid by church and Rangel for ‘preppy gun moll’ – New York Post
• Rep. Rangel Causes Stir In Courtroom, Gets Reprimanded By Judge – CBS New York
• Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012 – George Will, Washington Post
• George Will Rips Gingrich, Huckabee and Malzberg – Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters.com
• The Weekend Interview with Paul Johnson: Why America Will Stay on Top – Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal

Feel free to add you own links in comments.

Documents obtained Tuesday by the Electronic Privacy Information Center suggest that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has signed contracts for the development of mobile and static systems that can be used scan pedestrians and people at rail and bus stations and special event venues — apparently at times without their knowledge.

The documents indicate that DHS moved to develop the technology as part of an effort to bolster the ability of law enforcement personnel to quickly detect concealed bombs and other explosives on individuals.

EPIC obtained the documents from the DHS under a Freedom of Information Act request for data on mobile and static scanning systems it filed last year.

The documents show that the agency in recent years has signed contracts worth millions of dollars for the development of the new scanning technologies, said Ginger McCall, assistant director of EPIC’s open government program.

For example, DHS contracted with Siemens Corporate Research and Northeastern University to design and develop an Intelligent Pedestrian Surveillance platform that could detect improvised explosive devices concealed in backpacks and under clothing.

The system would use multiple cameras mounted on a so-called Z Backscatter Van to covertly scan moving pedestrians for potential threats, McCall said. A Z Backscatter Van is a mobile threat detection system that uses X-Rays to quickly scan through vehicles and buildings for hidden explosives and contraband.

The most chilling line in the article is this one: “The DHS believes it has very wide authority to implement its national security goals.” So much for Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures… DHS is looking more and more like an out of control agency operating without proper congressional oversight.

Bottom line, Congress needs to step up and reign in the beast they created before it tramples our civil liberties in the name of protecting us from terrorism.

Benjamin Franklin said it best “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Update: Andy Greenberg has the TSA’s official response over at Forbes.com.

Related

• TSA Source: Armed Agent Slips Past DFW Body Scanner – KXAS TV Dallas-Fort Worth
• JetBlue passenger sparks terror scare after boarding plane with 3 boxcutters at JFK airport – New York Post

The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for U.S. vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary.

“[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on “Charlie Rose.”

“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”

Oh Lord can we please stop the insanity? With all due respect to Secretary Napolitano, we can’t bubble wrap life. Putting metal detectors or body scanners in every train station, subway station, bus terminal or ferry terminal in the United States is prohibitively expensive and overly intrusive. The body scanners alone cost roughly $150,000 each, add in the cost to hire and train the personnel to staff  all these new checkpoints we’re into to triple digit millions if not billions.

Secretary Napolitano is right, in that as we tighten aviation security the bad guys are going to start looking for softer targets. And, yes, that may include public transportation. But it also includes anywhere large numbers of people gather. What are we going to do put TSA checkpoints in every shopping mall, amusement park, night club, concert venue or  sporting event in America?

We have to be realistic, in an open society like ours there is always going a certain level of vulnerability. There’s simply no way to completely eliminate risk from life. Sure, we can trade our liberties for the illusion of security and hide behind metal detectors and body scanners, but a determined enemy will always find a way to attack us.

But then this isn’t about security it’s about making sure the scanner makers are getting a good return on they’re lobbying investment…

Related

• Airport protest never takes off; few delays seen – Associated Press

Heh, I’m not the least bit surprised the TSA missed those blades… much of what they is a sort of Kabuki theater that’s destined to fail far more often than they’d to like admit.

Mr. Savage’s experience highlights the fallacy of TSA’s things mentality, real security doesn’t waste time trying to stop honest, law abiding citizens like Mr. Savage from getting on an airplane with a pair of nail clippers, or Leatherman multi-tool, or a pair of 12″ foam cutter blades for that matter. Simply possessing a thing doesn’t not make you a terrorist or a threat to the aircraft… It’s what you intend to do with them that does. Real security screening has to be people focused.

As I noted yesterday at least one of the 911 hijackers, Mohammed Atta, did a dry run before the actual attack, one has to wonder if we might have been able to prevent those attacks if we had focused on identifying potential threats and subjecting them to heightened scrutiny rather than taking away Aunt Edna’s knitting needles.

Let me be perfectly clear here: I’m not saying we should let people carrying explosives or firearms onto airplanes… Commonsense would tell you that’s bad idea. But so is stripping honest, law abiding citizens of their nail clippers. As Deirdre Walker explains the heavy handed, inconsistent approach of the TSA is pushing us toward a public rebellion or a terrorist attack.

Related

• Against advice, TSA chief didn’t warn public about pat-downs – Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers
• The Revolt Against the TSA: It’s the Election, Part 2 – John Podhoretz, Commentary
• TSA employee accused of kidnap, assault – La Grange News
• Next step for body scanners could be trains, boats, metro – The Hill
• TSA Troubles – National Review Online
• Poll: Majority oppose body scans, nearly half seek alternative to flying – Raw Story
• TSA urges Thanksgiving airport security compliance – Associated Press

Anyway, Gateway Pundit and The Other McCain are pointing out this transcript from CNN’s State of the Union this morning. It’s an interesting read and it’s worth commenting on in that TSA boss John Pistole admits his agency won’t adopt proven, effective screening methods because we don’t profile:

First lets take a look couple of quotes from Mr. Pistole’s interview with Candy Crowley:

“Yes. It’s clearly — it’s invasive; it’s not comfortable. It really comes down to what is that balance between privacy and security, and without profiling — people talk about, well, why don’t we profile? Of course we don’t do that here in the U.S., but we use all the latest intelligence. We have watch lists. We know about people who pose a threat to aviation security. It’s those we won’t know. And so it’s that balance between privacy and security.”

~ ~ ~

“Well, I think the Israeli model, which a number of people have talked about, uses intelligence in a different way, profiling. And then if in terms of a pat-down, if they suspect you of something, you receive a very thorough pat-down there.

That is top-notch security. The question is, do we profile here in the U.S.? No, we don’t. So how then do we use intelligence that informs the decisions and judgments. And given what we saw from last night in terms of this new Web publication that describes in detail how the cargo bombs were done, how the design concealed, and how they are using technology to disguise and defeat the screening mechanisms we have in place, look, it’s a difficult question, Candy.”

Now watch the video for the full context of the quotes:

Alright, the bottom line here is this is simple bureaucratic stupidity… The TSA won’t adopt proven, effective screening methods because of political correctness. As a result the TSA is subjecting cancer survivors like Thomas Sawyer and Cathy Bossi to invasive, degrading violations of their fourth amendment rights.

Lets be clear about something… The Fourth Amendment is about as unambiguous as you can get:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This notion that the government can simply ignore the Constitution or compel us to waive our fourth amendment rights when buying an airline ticket is nonsense… I can’t find a single piece of case law to support it.  Unfortunately, until the courts clarify the matter we’re stuck with these gross invasions of our person.

Anyway back to the topic at hand… Political correctness, this “We’re the U.S of A and we don’t profile” mentality is making us less secure. We have to be honest about the nature of the threat and design our screening systems to best identify potential security risks and stop them from getting on planes.

Using profiling dose not mean singling out all Muslims for addition scrutiny… it does mean assigning passengers to risk categories based on a variety of factors including age, gender, travel history, criminal record, known associations and yes, ethnicity. It means a 22 year-old foreign born student who has traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle east is going to be subjected to a higher level of scrutiny than a 70 year-old grandmother from Coffeyville, Kansas who travels to Atlanta once a year to visit her grandchildren for the holidays. It means using a little commonsense.

It also means recognizing the technology is not a panacea… Ahmed Ressam, the Millennium Bomber, wasn’t caught by technology, or good intelligence for that matter. He was caught because a law enforcement professional, U.S. Customs inspector Diana Dean, looked him in the eye, asked him questions and based on her training, experience and intuition decided something wasn’t  right and had a secondary Customs search of Ressam’s car performed.

Which brings up another point, the TSA has to change it’s focus from things to people… If you want to catch bad guys you need to look them in eye and ask questions. Keeping weapons and explosives off planes is all well and good, but it’s only half the battle… Keeping the bad guys off planes is the other half. Lets not forget at least some of the 911 hijackers did dry runs before the actually attack.

Edit: I should add, I think Congressman Ron Paul’s proposed “American Traveler Dignity Act” is a good idea. If police officers can be held civilly and/or criminally libel for negligence or misconduct in the performance of their duties so can TSA agents.

Congressman Paul’s proposed legislation is simple:

It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

I doubt Rep. Paul’s legislation gain much traction, but if ever there was a chance to rein in the TSA this it. James Poulos sums things up pretty well:

My problem with what’s unfolding at our nation’s airports runs a lot deeper than the misfortune of genital encroachment. My problem is that we’re racing down an inherently absurd road. Set aside for a moment the dismaying way in which every new advance in security measures involves a retreat for civil liberties and traditional definitions of decency. Our logic of escalation appears to mean that every new solution actually creates a new and dramatically worse problem — one which calls, of course, for dramatically more invasive and comprehensive countermeasures.

Where does it end? As a matter of logic, it ends with a free people dehumanizing themselves in a way their own enemies cannot quite manage to do. Fortunately, we are not prisoners of logic. But the awful thing about terrorism is that it very well might keep us prisoner to fear.

Exactly, Benjamin Franklin said it best “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Related

• How Israelis secure airports – Michael J. Totten, New York Post
• TSA could have chosen a less intrusive screening machine – Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers
• The T.S. of A takes control – George Will, Washinton Post
• The Things He Carried – Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic
• Pilots and passengers rail at new airport patdowns – Reuters
• Get your hands off me, TSA! – Jennifer Abel, The Guardian
• GOP lawmaker: Full-body scanners violate Fourth Amendment – The Hill
• Analyst: TSA methods ‘will kill more Americans on highway’ – The Hill
• Will Turkey Day Fliers Cry Foul? – Wall Street Journal
• TSA chief admits he withheld information on pat-downs – Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers
• Security and Terrorism Expert Bruce Schneier: TSA Scans “Won’t Catch Anybody” – Popular Mechanics
• TSA, 2 ; America, 0 – Richard Kanto, American Thinker
• TSA workers face verbal abuse from travelers – Harriet Baskas, MSNBC.com

The former college student who guessed his way into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account during the 2008 U.S. presidential election was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Friday.

David Kernell’s lawyers had been hoping for probation only; federal prosecutors had asked for an 18-month sentence.

The judge in the case recommended that Kernell serve his time at a halfway house rather than federal prison, but that decision is up to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Following his one-year sentence, Kernell must serve three years’ probation.

Kernell, a 20-year-old college student at the time of the incident, got into Palin’s gov....@yahoo.com account by guessing answers to the security questions used by Yahoo to reset the account’s password. In chat logs, Kernell said he was hoping to find information that would “derail” her 2008 vice presidential election campaign.

Palin was then governor of Alaska, and her critics thought she may have been conducting state business via the Yahoo account, in order to sidestep Alaska’s open records law. Kernell found no such evidence after examining her Yahoo account.

Politics aside. one year in prison followed by three years probation seems reasonable. In her autobiography, “Going Rogue,” Ms. Palin describes the incident as  “the most disruptive” of the campaign because it cut off easy communication with her colleagues in Alaska.

Mr. Kernell, who went  by the internet handle “Rubico,” was able to gain access to Ms. Palin’s private Yahoo! mail account by correctly the answers to her “secret questions” — her date of birth, her postal code, and information about where she met her husband Todd and then resetting her password.

Mr. Kernell then posted examples of Ms. Palin’s private emails, the addresses of her friends & family, and family photos on Wikileaks. Mr. Kernell also bragged that hacking into the vice-presidential candidate’s Yahoo account was child’s play… and it was. Standard challenge questions like “What is you date of birth?”, “What is your home zip code” or “Where did you meet your spouse?” are marginally effective for Mr. and Mrs. Average, but for a public figure like Ms. Palin whose life is well documented they’re pretty much useless… The answers can found in a matter of minutes using public sources like Wikipedia.

Previous

• Sarah Palin’s Private E-mail Account Hacked
• Palin E-mail Hack Follow-up
• A Quick Update on the Palin E-mail Hacking Case
• Newsflash: Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted
• Palin E-mail Hacker Hit With Additional Charges
• Palin E-mail Hacker Convicted on Two Counts

(Reuters) – A college student who hacked into former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account and posted some of its contents on the Internet was found guilty Friday.

After four days of deliberations, a federal jury found David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic Tennessee state legislator, guilty of obstruction of justice, a felony, and unauthorized access of a computer, a misdemeanor.

Kernell was cleared of a wire fraud charge, and the jury could not agree on a verdict on a charge of identity theft.

Judge Thomas Phillips declared a mistrial on the identity theft charge but did not set a date for sentencing.

The obstruction charge alone carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, while the misdemeanor count is punishable by up to one year in jail.

Ms. Palin issued a statement via her Facebook page, thanking the jury and prosecutors their efforts and explaining the case’s importance:

My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election.

I want to thank the public servants who worked so hard on this case, particularly the jurors who gave up precious time from their jobs and families to listen to the evidence and reach a decision.

My family and I appreciate the good people of Knoxville, Tennessee, who showed us true Southern hospitality. We can’t wait to visit again – but without having a subpoena in hand.

Although I expect Mr. Kernell will see some jail time it’ll be far less than the 20 year maximum, federal sentencing guidelines set a range of 15 to 21 months and allow for probation in cases like this. I do think prosecutors overreached a little in this case and as one witness said “put on a dog and pony show“. They had to though, never mind basic privacy considerations… Sarah Palin was a Vice Presidential candidate in the middle of hotly contested election, investigators and prosecutors had to aggressively pursue this case to send  a message that these types political dirty tricks won’t be tolerated.

Related

• Jury convicts Palin e-mail intruder on two counts; mistrial declared on ID theft – Knoxville News Sentinel
• Protecting Against Password Reset Attacks – Randy Abrams, Eset Software.

Previous

• Sarah Palin’s Private E-mail Account Hacked
• Palin E-mail Hack Follow-up
• A Quick Update on the Palin E-mail Hacking Case
• Newsflash: Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted
• Palin E-mail Hacker Hit With Additional Charges

All males have a body cavity. Females have two body cavities. In prisons, these body cavities are habitually used to smuggle drugs and improvised weapons past body searches, including complete nudity strip searches.

Given the power of widely available explosives, the amount that can be carried inside a body cavity—let alone two—is sufficient to destroy ordinary pressurized airliners at normal flight altitudes. That makes “pat downs,” or indeed any form of physical inspection that is remotely feasible in any airport of any normal country, entirely futile. That alone rules out scanners as a solution unless they are both very-high definition and pat downs are not allowed as an alternative.

Futility has not of course deterred the United States from creating and operating a vast Transportation Security Administration apparatus critically dependent on metal detectors. At enormous cost, and by inflicting enormous inconvenience, it almost guarantees the detection of any explosive device—so long as it is firmly attached to a nail clipper.

Reliance on metal detectors was dubious from the start not only because they cannot detect explosives as such, but because they cannot even detect knives if they are made out of ceramic. Some manufacturers of ceramic knives add metal to them specifically to allow detection. Others do not and their knives are just as lethal—certainly more so than the short box cutters used by the 9/11 terrorists.

Our current airport screening system is destined to fail for the simple reason it places to much emphasis on screening for and finding things. If we really want to improve security we have to invest as much if not more resources in screening people and identifying  potential threats as we do in finding weapons

The body scanners currently being pushed as the best way to prevent another “underwear bomber” only perpetuate that “things” mentality… Our enemies aren’t stupid, and as Mr. Luttwak points out the body scanners can be easily defeated.

It’s time we faced reality and realized that invading our physical privacy at airports isn’t going to make us safer, we need to focus on people not just things.

A diplomatic skirmish has broken out over suggestions by Janet Napolitano, the U. S. homeland security secretary, that terrorists have routinely entered the United States through Canada, including the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Napolitano’s remarks in a CBC interview earlier this week angered Canadian parliamentarians, who were in Washington on Tuesday to participate in a border conference attended by both the homeland security secretary and Ambassador Michael Wilson.

As the keynote speaker at the Border Trade Alliance meeting, Wilson said he was “frustrated” that the 9-11 myth has resurfaced once again, eight years after the terrorist attacks.

“Unfortunately, misconceptions arise on something as fundamental as where the 9-11 terrorists came from,” Wilson said.

“As the 9-11 commission reported in 2004, all of the 9-11 terrorists arrived in the United States from outside North America. They flew to major U. S. airports. They entered the U. S. with documents issued by the United States government and no 9-11 terrorists came from Canada.”

But Wilson later added that Napolitano’s handlers had reassured the Canadian Embassy that she simply misunderstood a question posed to her during the interview.

“Her comment from her people is that she misunderstood,” Wilson told a throng of Canadian media who descended upon the conference to hear what he had to say about the controversy.

“We’ve been in touch with her office a few times this morning and there’s no question in my mind she does not believe any terrorists came from Canada into the United States.”

Wilson also said he planned to sit down with Napolitano soon to discuss the issue face-to-face.

Can someone please explain to me how someone this incompetent got a job this important?

To our friends and allies in Canada, I’m Sorry. We’re all not as ill-informed as Sec. Napolitano we know the 9/11 hijackers entered this country directly from overseas not through Canada. We know that it was lax policing at our overseas consulates that opened the door to to them… and that is was poor interior enforcement in this country that enabled their stay.

Related

• Interview with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – CBC
• U.S. security boss clarifies comments about border – CTV
• The border for dummies – The National Post
• Janet Napolitano screws up again – Michelle Malkin

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

(Join Jeff Stein for a live online chat at 3:30 p.m. today about his story, or submit a question for Jeff.)

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Harman declined to discuss the wiretap allegations, instead issuing an angry denial through a spokesman.

“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a prepared statement. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s true that allegations of pro-Israel lobbyists trying to help Harman get the chairmanship of the intelligence panel by lobbying and raising money for Pelosi aren’t new.

They were widely reported in 2006, along with allegations that the FBI launched an investigation of Harman that was eventually dropped for a “lack of evidence.”

What is new is that Harman is said to have been picked up on a court-approved NSA tap directed at alleged Israel covert action operations in Washington.

And that, contrary to reports that the Harman investigation was dropped for “lack of evidence,” it was Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s top counsel and then attorney general, who intervened to stop the Harman probe.

This stinks to high heaven, not simply because of allegations against Rep. Harman and former AG Gonzales, but because of the unprecedented leak of an NSA wiretap.

That said there’s something fishy about this leak, NSA wiretaps are among the closely guarded, highly secret operations carried out by the federal Government. Even during the Bush years while various elements within the government were conducting a stealth campaign against the Administration’s War on terror policy’s via politically damaging leaks to the New York Times, no NSA wiretaps were released… I can’t help but think whoever leaked this transcript has an agenda and that is some sort of political payback.

Related

• Kos calls on Harman to resign – The Hill Briefing Room Blog
• Harman caught on wiretap bargaining for intervention in espionage case – Hot Air
• A Rahm Bomb for Jane Harman? – American Thinker
• The Harman-AIPAC wiretaps – Michelle Malkin