Rumsfeld wants that firewall between Northern Command and DHS because he's legitimately afraid that otherwise, Congress will rob the Defense budget to pay for homeland-security initiatives. The problem with that approach is that it provides no incentives for senior NorthCom leaders to build relationships with mayors and governors around the country, closely studying what capabilities they have and exactly what kind of help they would need in a disaster.
More Quotes from Stephen Flynn:
Port security today is still a house of cards. For each of these programs, the bar is not very high and there is very little in the way of verification. The result is it is not much of an effective deterrent.Stephen Flynn
A weapon of mass destruction smuggled into our country in a cargo-container could be the next 911. The bad guys watched and learned how we reacted after the last attack by grounding all aviation. They could generate massive economic and societal disruption if they succeed at spooking us into closing our borders and ports to all incoming containers,
Stephen Flynn
We are vulnerable for two reasons, the world has gotten smaller--more travel, we're more open and as business expands, we are more vulnerable. We are the most free nation in the world--a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. If we wanted to secure our borders or be a police state, we could, but we won't, because we are a free nation.
Stephen Flynn
We live on the edge as a modern society, and terrorists can take advantage of that, ... What Katrina has told us, Mother Nature has told us 'You live on the edge, and if you don't make prudent investments, lots of lives and property can be unnecessarily lost.'
Stephen Flynn
Does this pose a national security risk I think that's pushing the envelope. It's not impossible to imagine one could develop an internal conspiracy, but I'd have to assign it a very low probability.
Stephen Flynn
It may well be a first-generation European, people with visa-exempt passports, with advanced degrees and no record of criminality, who just arrives as a tourist.
Stephen Flynn
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