Homeland Security

Harford County Executive David Craig says the Harford County's Department of Emergency Services, the Harford County Sheriff's Office and municipal, state and federal law enforcement partners are working cooperatively to ensure public safety following the bombings in Boston Monday. On Tuesday, Craig urged citizens to report to law enforcement any suspicious circumstances they may be aware of and remain vigilant at all times. "Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the people of Boston and Mayor Thomas Menino following the horrific and unconscionable bombings yesterday in that great city.

Drone surveillance in this country has me alarmed. I'm glad the technology saved six missing cows, but drone surveillance won't end with pilfered livestock! When a sheriff in North Dakota can request a Predator B drone from an Air Force base, pull on your tin foil hats. This is not a technology local law enforcement should have access to without serious consideration. The use of drones within our borders will escalate until the matter reaches the Supreme Court. But we can nip this travesty in the bud by demanding congressional investigation and oversight.

I find it interesting that The Baltimore Sun suggests there is no responsibility on President Barack Obama for the failure to keep the Islamic terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding the Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit ("Heeding warning signs," Dec. 29) by saying "Homeland Security officials have been following the same procedures developed by the Bush administration that had to deal with the Reid episode weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano used the same reasoning to defend their lack of preventive actions.

Any American who believes putting drones into the hands of the police is a good idea must be out of their minds ("Drones tested for increased domestic use," Aug. 6). Before a municipality buys its first drone, citizens need to take a long, hard look at privacy and safety issues. Of course, the Department of Homeland Security is pushing this technology, and aerospace manufacturers salivate in anticipation of a fabulous new market. Unfortunately, Congress has recently passed a law requiring the FAA to show leniency for drones - clearly a decision bereft of concern for our privacy and safety.

General Physics Corp. had already built a strong business training police and fire departments in the use of emergency equipment. But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the doors of opportunity opened even wider. The attacks focused officials at all levels of government on homeland security, and federal money to support it become plentiful. Protecting against terrorist attacks became a high priority for municipalities and federal grants to support the effort became plentiful.

- President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser told governors Sunday that federal agencies still aren't sharing enough critical information with state and local officials, more than eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks. John Brennan, the president's special assistant for homeland security, said information-sharing has improved since 2001. But "we still have a long way to go," he said. "We're not there yet, certainly." Brennan made the remarks in response to a question from Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, at the first meeting of a new National Governors Association committee on homeland security and public safety.

Local homeland security officials in Baltimore and across the country are fighting a proposal to change how $2 billion in federal emergency management money is distributed — a change they say would jeopardize regional efforts to respond to terrorist attacks, major storms and other disasters. The proposal by the Obama administration would require local governments to compete more for homeland security money rather than receiving it based on population and risk. It also would shift oversight to states, taking control away from major cities and their surrounding counties.

Five state-owned toll bridges will be getting an $11 million security upgrade, including new lighting, sensors to detect stopped vehicles and cameras to peer above and below the spans. Work on the bridges — Bay, Key, Nice, Tydings and Hatem — is expected to begin in late winter and take 18 months. The contract went to SAIC, a Virginia company with offices in Laurel, said Maryland Transportation Authority spokeswoman Teri Moss. "This is a pretty big project for our signature bridges," Moss said.

President Barack Obama has named an Annapolis man to head the multibillion-dollar grant program through which the Federal Emergency Management Agency helps local governments prepare for disasters. Brian Kamoie, 41, will oversee a vast portfolio of federal grants used by states and cities to prevent and respond to terrorism and other disasters, the White House said. Kamoie was most recently senior director for preparedness policy on the White House national security staff. Kamoie takes control of the FEMA grant program as the Obama administration pursues a controversial consolidation of $2 billion in preparedness funding it says will streamline a system that grew unwieldy following the attacks of Sept.

I read with dismay that the Russian spacecraft that was to supply provisions for the International Space Station, where two American astronauts are housed, burnt up in the atmosphere while our own shuttle program at NASA was recently mothballed. I heard with concern on a news program on WYPR that we don't make crucial medications in this country anymore, and thus depend on China, India and others to do it for us. The same program also mentioned that there are crucial shortages of these lifesaving medications.