Somebody please send this gentleman a note --he's almost got it right....

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Tomgram: Welcome to the Age of Homeland Insecurity

Kiss American Security Goodbye
15 Numbers That Add Up to an Age of Insecurity
By Tom Engelhardt

Once upon a time, I studied the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi -- until, that is, I realized I would never locate my "chi." At that point, I threw in the towel and took up Western exercise. Still, the principle behind Tai Chi stayed with me -- that you could multiply the force of an act by giving way before the force of others; that a smaller person could use the strength of a bigger one against him.

Now, jump to September 11, 2001 and its aftermath -- and you know the Tai Chi version of history from there. Think of it as a grim cosmic joke -- that the 9/11 attacks, as apocalyptic as they looked, were anything but. The true disasters followed and the wounds were largely self-inflicted, as the most militarily powerful nation on the planet used its own force to disable itself.

"The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, said the U.S. political transition will be "extraordinarily challenging," particularly as the military is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces interference in both countries from Iran."

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Mullen Cites U.S. 'Vulnerability'
Transition to New President in Wartime Concerns the Military

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 1, 2008; A04

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003363_pf.html

The nation's top military officer warned yesterday that the transition to a new American president will mark a "time of vulnerability" as the United States fights two wars, and he said military leaders are already actively preparing for the changing of the guard.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, said the U.S. political transition will be "extraordinarily challenging," particularly as the military is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces interference in both countries from Iran.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
NSD
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

National Security Division Launches New Office of Intelligence
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/April/08_nsd_360.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, today announced the formal launch of the Office of Intelligence within the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD). The reorganization creates three new sections within the Office of Intelligence dedicated to the NSD’s three primary intelligence related functions – operations, oversight and litigation.

The Department of Justice has played a critical role in the nation’s effort to prevent acts of terrorism and to thwart hostile foreign intelligence activities. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Department’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) has grown dramatically because of the steady increase in the number of applications it has handled under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in an effort to ensure that Intelligence Community agencies have the authority necessary to conduct intelligence operations.

I'm already seeing spooky Air Force helicopters overhead...

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http://www.fema.gov/about/training/exercises.shtm

Upcoming Exercises

* National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08).

National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08).
National Level Exercise 2-08 Logo

The Department of Homeland Security's National Exercise Program (NEP), the nation's overarching homeland security exercise program, will conduct a combined exercise in May 2008 that will test hurricane preparedness planning, assess federal interagency Continuity of Operations (COOP) procedures, exercise a response to terrorist attacks in Washington State and test Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA). These linked exercises are referred to as National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08).

The exercise takes place May 1-8 with a wide range of participants from federal and state departments and agencies.

NLE 2-08 will consolidate into a single exercise the following:

* Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Continuity Programs' (NCP) Eagle Horizon 2008;
* U.S. Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) Ardent Sentry 08 exercise;

"...The conflict tapped into a well of post-9/11 anxieties. But Ms. Almontaser’s downfall was not merely the result of a spontaneous outcry by concerned parents and neighborhood activists. It was also the work of a growing and organized movement to stop Muslim citizens who are seeking an expanded role in American public life. The fight against the school, participants in the effort say, was only an early skirmish in a broader, national struggle..."

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Battle in Brooklyn | A Principal’s Rise and Fall
Critics Cost Muslim Educator Her Dream School
By ANDREA ELLIOTT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/nyregion/28school.html

Debbie Almontaser dreamed of starting a public school like no other in New York City. Children of Arab descent would join students of other ethnicities, learning Arabic together. By graduation, they would be fluent in the language and groomed for the country’s elite colleges. They would be ready, in Ms. Almontaser’s words, to become “ambassadors of peace and hope.”

...please, everyone, work on your grammar. Surely you've noticed that source-notions are appearing everywhere. The same sort of standard should be applied to all posts, be they notes or essays, comments or commentary. The best thing we can do for the movement is make it appear legitimate in all spheres, "blogging" or not, and the first step, always, is proofreading.

Show starts 10:00 am Eastern

Today's Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Major, major opportunity here

Inside the 9/11 Commission
Philip Shenon, investigative reporter at the New York Times, discusses his new book which he says details the shortcomings of the 9/11 commission.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2008/02/11

Contact The Brian Lehrer Show

brianlehrershow@wnyc.org

212-433-WNYC (212-433-9692) to call in live on the air for Brian Lehrer