Critical Releases in Homeland Security: August 21, 2013

From the thesis abstract: "This thesis focuses on the Taliban and the PKK's [Kurdistan Workers' Party] involvement in the opium trade. This thesis fills a gap by illustrating the extent to which terrorist organizations use drugs to raise funds in five stages of the heroin trade, including cultivation, manufacturing, shipment, sale, and consumption. These two terrorist organizations have particular strengths and weaknesses that are identified in this thesis. This thesis proposes the counter narcoterrorism solution model, which displays both the convergent and divergent stages of the opium trade. The manufacturing stage is the only stage where the products converge into countable and targetable laboratories. This model suggests that targeting the opium manufacturing process is not only cost effective, but can also reduce the Taliban's as well as the PKK's illegal funds."

"Severe weather is the leading cause of power outages in the United States. Between 2003 and 2012, an estimated 679 widespread power outages occurred due to severe weather. Power outages close schools, shut down businesses and impede emergency services, costing the economy billions of dollars and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans. The resilience of the U.S. electric grid is a key part of the nation's defense against severe weather and remains an important focus of President Obama's administration. […] This report estimates the annual cost of power outages caused by severe weather between 2003 and 2012 and describes various strategies for modernizing the grid and increasing grid resilience. Over this period, weather-related outages are estimated to have cost the U.S. economy an inflation-adjusted annual average of $18 billion to $33 billion. Annual costs fluctuate significantly and are greatest in the years of major storms such as Hurricane Ike in 2008, a year in which cost estimates range from $40 billion to $75 billion, and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, a year in which cost estimates range from $27 billion to $52 billion. A recent Congressional Research Service study estimates the inflation-adjusted cost of weather-related outages at $25 to $70 billion annually (Campbell 2012). The variation in estimates reflects different assumptions and data used in the estimation process. The costs of outages take various forms including lost output and wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production, inconvenience and damage to the electric grid. Continued investment in grid modernization and resilience will mitigate these costs over time -- saving the economy billions of dollars and reducing the hardship experienced by millions of Americans when extreme weather strikes."

"Today, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the shadow economy. At the same time, too many employers hire undocumented workers, undercutting businesses that play by the rules. Neither is good for the economy or the country. The bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act (S. [Senate bill] 744) passed by the Senate is an opportunity for our country to finally fix its broken immigration system. This commonsense legislation, drafted and supported by both Democrats and Republicans, has four pillars: (1) continue to strengthen our borders; (2) crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers; (3) hold undocumented immigrants accountable before they can earn their citizenship by requiring them to pass background checks, pay penalties and their taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line; and (4) streamline the legal immigration system for families, workers, and employers. A majority of Americans support a path to earned citizenship. However, some in Congress have suggested that immigration reform should provide only legal status, without any opportunity for those who are getting on the right side of the law to earn their way to citizenship. This 'legalization-only' approach violates a basic principle of our country: that anyone, no matter where they came from, can become an American citizen if they're willing to work for it and take on the responsibilities of citizenship. We cannot afford a system that creates a group which can never become fully American, denying equal rights to people who pay the same taxes and play by the same rules even after they've paid a penalty and gotten on the right side of the law."