In this case we need to look at who wants to do harm to us and why. Then go forward and try and fix it. This abviously won’t apply with everyone but it will cover a good percentage of people that are trying to do us harm.

Educate the base of what these fanatics feed off of. Educate them in schools of learning not mosques of hate. Its a campaign of hearts and minds that would take years to achieve (a cold war situation) and thats the problem, most decision makers don’t have the time or the patience to fix something so they make up additional rules to make it look like they are trying.

I don’t know about you but enough presidents had the chance starting with Nixon.

What a lot of people don’t know is that we (the U.S.) were the largest oil producers up until the late 1800’s. Our political mind set was to ignore the middle east and exclude them from the advancement of the free world because of their beliefs and faith. This has mostly led to them going it their own until everyone wanted their oil. And even then most of the world discounted this region.

So you see, the problem has been a long time in the making and its going to take a long time to fix.

Thanks for all the dialogue on what I though might be an untouched topic. Like Diogenes says, we can’t throw in the towel without giving it our best shot first.

Remember that national security is not necessarily about stopping every single person who wants to do harm. It is about minimizing the chances of that person’s success TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY. And that is where we are falling dangerously short of the mark.

More rigorous inspections of cargo…more human intelligence abroad…cooperation between countries…more government accountability…and more people who actually give a damn…these are all good places to start. Unfortunately, those in charge have sold out our security to their corporate dollar hounds for endorsements and future personal perks. (See Tom Ridge and Home Depot.)

A little pressure and a little common sense in the right places could make a difference. But more importantly, ordinary Americans need to cut through the BS and see what isn’t really hapenning instead of swallowing the “America is Safer” mantra.

Thanks for dropping by, all.

Based on my years in the corporate world, it seems to me that accountability and integrity have long since flown out the window. The CEO of Enron claims that he is innocent because he didn’t know what was going on. Uh, wasn’t it your job to know? I have some sympathy for his personal feelings (he might well not have known) because of the things that I have seen firsthand. Turn your back and they will stab you in it.

Regardless, abdication of responsibility only adds to the problem. We want everything to be simpler as the world grows more complex every day. The fact that it’s nearly impossible to keep up leads us to conclude that it must not be necessary. And if facing a problem can’t be avoided, then by all means form a committee.

There is great comfort in a committee. Talking about the problem surely is the same thing as fixing it, right? If sage and visionary persons weigh in on the topic, then all is well. Have you ever left a meeting at work, thought back over it, and realized that no actual progress was made despite the active and intelligent participation of those involved?

For all of our good intentions, the failure of the system is in individual execution. For years, I took my car to a reputable mechanic that I trusted. They did (and do) excellent work. But every now and then (more frequently as the years passed) something stupid would happen. Because while the company has a great reputation, my car is only in the hands of the person who lifts the hood on it.

We have become a society in which half-assed is the standard. There are many people who work diligently at their jobs, but the crushing information overload, petty bickering, mindless certification requirements, and dispersion of accountability make it nearly impossible to know whether the job one is doing is even the job that needs doing.

Education is a case in point. It seems that we have decided that teaching English is a waste of time, evidenced by the numerous errors in grammar, spelling, usage, and punctuation that litter every medium. Even the use of readily available proofing tools is too much trouble. This might seem trivial, but we are headed for a time when we will be unable to communicate with each other coherently. How did we get to the point that a thing’s being hard means that it must not matter?

We can debate whether changes to improve national security will be effective to the end of time. In our present state of malaise, they probably won’t be. But the fact that something is difficult doesn’t mean that it is impossible or not worth doing. I won’t be convinced until we roll up our sleeves and give it the old college try.

You could of course intall a small RFID chip into everyone’s skull and if you don’t have the proper code, you can’t get into the country. Think of it like the ultimate National ID.

Damn you know I shouldn’t suggest that because someone may think its a good idea.

I’m not making lite of this Ken, I know it’s a real issue, but I don’t think there are many practical answers. You can inspect every bit of cargo coming in, lock down every border, and expell everyone you think may be a suspect and it would still be little problem for someone here to go and blow up a federal building. Or go on a sniper shooting spree. Or plant anthrax in the post office.

That said I agree with the bastard about the human intel. I agree with you about using technology to snff for chemical, biological and nuclear materials where possible. I think further reform of foreign visa’s is probably needed. Getting a working computer at teh FBI might be nice too.

Anyway the point I’m getting at is what our future wall should look like. We are defending ourselves against a human weapon, that like water can slip through any crack if porous enough. We must increase our human intelligence ranks among the CIA to the levels we had at the height of the cold war. We must institute a national ID card (carefully). Most people would argue against it but we already have one, its called a passport.

And most importantly we MUST insist that our allies go along with us. Meaning they are responsible for what ships out of their countries.

I vote for more invasive inspection of said containers. That would be step in the right direction.