Homeland Security Project

"The effectiveness of the anti-gun control lobby took gun violence out of the equation of what constitutes homeland security for too long. It was so effective that we often couldn't even see how absurd that distinction was until you showed us otherwise. Why would some risks — terrorism, climate change, pandemics — be viewed as national security issues and yet the one most consequential means by which you all were at risk of getting killed — gun violence — was somehow removed from the discussion?"

In 2016 the Russian government, at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our Nation for the purpose of influencing the election that year – plain and simple. The experience should be a wake-up call for our Nation, as it highlighted cyber vulnerabilities in our political process, and in our election infrastructure itself. Now, with the experience fresh in our minds and clear in our rear-view mirror, the key question for our leaders at the national and state level is this: what are we doing about it? The matter is all the more urgent given the public testimony of our Nation’s intelligence chiefs last month, before this very Committee, that the Russians effort continues into the ongoing 2018 midterm election season.

There has been an increasing drumbeat from progressives arguing in favor of abolishing or defunding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for instance in a recent column for the Inquirer and during an interview with Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.). In essence, activists are arguing that ending ICE should be the position of the Democratic Party and a litmus test for its presidential candidates. This is a bad idea.

The North American market is a significant driver of U.S. economic activity and competitiveness. Mexico and Canada are the United States’ two biggest export markets, making up over a third of overall U.S. exports valued at more than $580 billion. Imports from both countries contain far higher proportions of American content than goods that are imported from Asia or Europe.

Nonetheless, and even recognizing the new era of North American trade created by the North American Free Trade Agreement, there are still significant logistical constraints to commercial flows within North America, with the result that the United States, Mexico, and Canada are effectively leaving money on the table in terms of competitiveness and job growth. And many of these constraints are tied to the efficiency of the countries’ ports of entry.

And while all the political attention is on the McCabe firing (and the Mueller threats), and all the gossip is about the Stormy Daniels saga, it is actually the Facebook scandal that may be the biggest story. Simply put, Cambridge Analytica, which worked with the Trump campaign, is now known to have used the data of millions of Facebook users to target voters for fake news and Trump-related propaganda.

For as much attention as U.S. border issues receive from the Trump administration, the president's proposed infrastructure plan leaves out any mention of building or modernizing land border ports of entry, the crossing points where goods and people legally move across U.S. borders. This omission may be deliberate, or it may have been an oversight. Whatever the reason, this is a major missed opportunity to address a critical national infrastructure need.

If Haspel is to protect American spies and even citizens abroad, she needs to be as clear-eyed as Tillerson about the Russian threat. In her upcoming confirmation hearing, she must share her assessment of the Skripal poisoning and how to temper Russian aggression in light of President Vladimir Putin's conduct. She will represent all of the agents at the CIA; she must stand up for them.

How should law enforcement officials deal with digital data that happens to be stored in a different country? If FBI agents, pursuing a subject who committed a crime in the United States, serve a valid court order on an American company, the government shouldn’t have to wait a year because the company happens to store the information overseas. Likewise, if the London police are investigating a local murder, the fact that they are seeking phone records from a communications provider located in the United States should not block them from doing their job. 

"No other nation suffers as we do because of school shootings; no other nation except ours has these kinds of mass murders; no other nation, with polling showing tremendous support for gun control laws, ignores popular sentiment so successfully at the behest of special interests, like the National Rifle Association — the NRA. No other nation fails its children so spectacularly."

The Aspen Institute launched on Friday its newest strategy group, a cross-sector public-private forum aimed at translating pressing cybersecurity conversations into action. The Aspen cyber group will facilitate robust conversation between 35 experts from both the public and private sectors on how to best address today’s cybersecurity challenges.