海角大神

The Obama administration is clearly taking complaints about overly-enthusiastic frisking among airport security screeners to heart.

One of the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 (DHS) key priorities in the months to come will include expediting frequent fliers and other 鈥渓ow-risk鈥� travelers through security lines.聽

These fortunates, through the growing use of 鈥減re-clearance鈥� programs, will increasingly get to leave their shoes, jackets, and belts on 鈥� and their laptops in cases.聽

鈥淣ot every traveler or piece of cargo poses the same level of risk to our security,鈥� Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, said Friday聽at her second annual 鈥淪tate of America鈥檚 Homeland Security鈥� address at the National Press Club.

鈥淭hink of it this way: If we have to look for a needle in a haystack, it makes sense to use all of the information we have about the pieces of hay to make the haystack smaller,鈥� Ms. Napolitano said.聽

This in turn frees up agents to pursue other DHS priorities, 鈥渁s we move away from the one-size-fits-all model of passenger screening to one that is risk-based,鈥澛燦apolitano noted.

These other priorities include the growing threat of cyber attacks on US financial institutions, the dangers posed by homegrown extremists, and the threat of improvised explosive materials 鈥� like the ones used in Afghanistan and Iraq to create roadside bombs 鈥� being misused within the United States.

US officials are getting better at focusing their efforts, Napolitano argued Monday. 鈥淥ur experience over the past several years has made us smarter about the terrorist threats we face and how we best deal with them,鈥� Napolitano said. 鈥淲e have learned that we can apply different protocols in different cases.鈥�

Doing just that among airport travelers, for example, makes good business sense. 鈥淪imply put, our homeland security and our economic security go hand-in-hand,鈥� she added. 鈥淲e must recognize that security and efficiency are not mutually exclusive.鈥�

Napolitano argued Monday that pre-check screenings do not involve 鈥減rofiling鈥� passengers, nor do security measures in which some passengers may receive more robust screening. 鈥淔or example, we may have information that certain travel routes are problematic,鈥� Napolitano said.聽

Likewise, it may involve not intensely screening all passengers from a certain country, but 鈥渃ertain males鈥� that may have traveled to a series of 鈥渃ertain countries鈥� and are, say, between the ages of 20 and 50.

Along with people-screening, the department is also working with more than 80 other countries to prevent certain chemicals into the US through 鈥渢heft or diversion of precursor chemicals that can be used to make improvised explosive devices, or IEDs."聽

To date, DHS has sized more than 62 metric tons of materials, including certain kinds of agricultural fertilizers that can be used in explosives.聽

Napolitano acknowledged that when it comes to American-made semiautomatic weapons that are increasingly being used by Mexican drug cartels, 鈥渟erious mistakes were made鈥� and DHS officials are working to make sure that 鈥渢hose kinds of mistakes are never again repeated.鈥澛�

Likewise, she says, though illegal immigration attempts 鈥� as measured by border patrol apprehensions 鈥� have decreased by 53 percent in the past three years, some immigration laws are 鈥渟orely outdated and in need of revision.鈥澛�

This includes the inability of businesses to get visas for workers, and farms that do not have enough workers to help at harvest time when 鈥渁cres of cropland lie fallow,鈥� Napolitano said, adding that 鈥渃ommunities and family members are being torn apart鈥� by laws that force children of illegal immigrants to return to countries where they may not speak the language, she adds.

In addition to homegrown extremists, the threat of attack from Al Qaeda-affiliated groups remains a concern, Napolitano said. 鈥淭errorism didn鈥檛 begin with bin Laden, and it鈥檚 not over with his death.鈥澛�

Likewise, countering cyber attacks 鈥渋s an increasingly busy area for all of us,鈥� Napolitano said. Last year, DHS鈥檚 Computer Emergency Readiness Team responded to more than 100,000 incident reports, including threats to the 鈥渇inancial services industry, the electric power industry, and the telecommunications industry, to name a few.鈥澛�

In the case of a grave emergency such as natural disaster, Napolitano says she has a 鈥渞eady bag鈥� waiting at home 鈥� and that everyone else should, too.聽

鈥淚 have the king of ready bags. I have clothes, first aid equipment, extra batteries, extra chargers, a couple good books, and the phone number and e-mail address of everybody I鈥檓 going to have to be in touch with if I ever have to use that thing.鈥澛�