Obama pushes security upgrades for seaports & emergency communications

From Government Security News:

As President Obama put some meat on the bones of his promised infrastructure revitalization plan, it became clear yesterday that strengthening security at the nation’s seaports and improving first responder communications networks are two areas likely to receive federal funding in the short term.

In his Saturday radio and Internet address on Jan. 24, Obama provided more details than ever on his “American Reinvestment Plan,” aimed at creating or saving three to four million jobs.

In addition to repairing traditional roadways and mass transit systems, said Obama, infrastructure revitalization “means protecting America by securing 90 major ports and creating a better communications network for local law enforcement and public safety officials in the event of an emergency.”

• Full story
• Transcript of President Obama’s weekly radio address

Obama and McCain representatives on DHS and transition

From Government Security News:

Representatives of both presidential campaigns participated in an interesting seminar on the DHS transition program in Washington last Wednesday, hosted by Clark Kent Ervin, the director of the homeland security program at the nonprofit Aspen Institute and the former (and first) inspector general at DHS.

Rachana “Ruchi” Bhowmik, who covers the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for Senator Obama (a member of that panel) represented her boss at the seminar.

C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., a former assistant secretary of DHS for policy and planning and now a Washington lobbyist went out of his way to note that though he was sitting behind the microphone, he was not “formally” representing McCain’s campaign at the seminar.

• Full article
• See also this article on the extent of the DHS transition preparations
• See also this previous post on the DHS transition

Why HS isn’t an election issue: Voters don’t know what they want

From CQ Politics:

The presidential candidates’ deafening silence on homeland security has a logical explanation: voters have no particular policy preferences on the topic, so there’s no advantage in being specific.

“If you ask [voters] ‘are you concerned about homeland security, are you concerned about terrorism,’ they actually are,” James J. Carafano, a senior homeland security fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said Friday in a speech at George Mason University. “They’re very concerned about that. But the reason why it’s not a campaign issue is because people don’t know what they want. So whatever their candidate wants, that’s OK by them.”

“They know all they have to do is say something and then their constituents will be happy and then they’re done,” he said.

The lack of focus on homeland security should not surprise anyone.

“The point is now there hasn’t been an attack, al Qaeda’s on the run in Iraq” and there haven’t been a lot of attacks in Western Europe, Carafano said. “So Americans are still greatly concerned about terrorism, they don’t think they are going to be the victim of a terrorist attack and they just want to be reassured that somebody’s looking out for them.”

The situation, he said, is “exactly” what transpired during the Cold War.

• Full story

National Guard likely to get stronger voice in next Presidential administration

The National Guard appears likely to get a stronger voice in policy making and decision making in the next Presidential administration, regardless of which candidate takes office.

Addressing the annual conference of the National Guard Association conference on consecutive days (September 21st and 22nd, respectively), John McCain and Joe Biden both called for a greater role for the National Guard.

Senator John McCain called for “a national leadership that respects and treats our adjutant generals as partners in national homeland security policy making, rather than impediments and intruders.”

Senator Joe Biden went further, noting that 52% of the returning veterans from Iraq are guardsmen and reservists, and advocating that with the National Guard carrying such a burden, the head of the National Guard deserves a seat at the table with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

• AP article
• McCain clip (Sorry, this is only a small clip – if anyone can find a link to a video of the full speech, please post a comment)
• Biden video