Critical Releases in Homeland Security: February 5, 2014

"About 362 million travelers (citizens and non-citizens) entered the United States in FY2013, including about 102 million air passengers and crew, 18 million sea passengers and crew, and 242 million incoming land travelers. At the same time about 205,000 aliens were denied admission at ports of entry (POEs); and about 24,000 persons were arrested at POEs on criminal warrants. [...] Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) is responsible for conducting immigration inspections at America's 329 POEs. CBP's primary immigration enforcement mission at ports of entry is to confirm that travelers are eligible to enter the United States and to exclude inadmissible aliens. Yet strict enforcement is in tension with a second core mission: to facilitate the flow of lawful travelers, who are the vast majority of persons seeking admission. […] The inspections process and entry-exit system may raise a number of questions for Congress, including in the context of the ongoing debate about immigration reform. What is the scope of illegal migration through ports of entry, and how can Congress and DHS minimize illegal flows without unduly slowing legal travel? Congress may consider steps to enhance POE personnel and infrastructure and to expand trusted travel programs. Congress also may continue to seek the completion of the entry-exit system, a program that has been the subject of ongoing legislative activity since 1996, as summarized in the Appendix to this report."

From the Highlights: "Individuals can contact fire, medical, and police first responders in an emergency by dialing 911. To provide effective emergency services, public safety entities such as 911 call centers use technology including databases that identifies phone number and location data of callers. Because these critical systems are becoming more interconnected, they are also increasingly susceptible to cyberbased threats that accompany the use of Internet-based services. This, in turn, could impact the availability of 911 services. GAO [Government Accountability Office] was asked to review federal coordination with state and local governments regarding cybersecurity at public safety entities. The objective was to determine the extent to which federal agencies coordinated with state and local governments regarding cybersecurity efforts at emergency operations centers, public safety answering points, and first responder organizations involved in handling 911 emergency calls. To do so, GAO analyzed relevant plans and reports and interviewed officials at (1) five agencies that were identified based on their roles and responsibilities established in federal law, policy, and plans and (2) selected industry associations and state and local governments."

This is the testimony of James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence. On January 29, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing on Current and Projected National Security threats against the United States. These open hearings occur yearly, and quite a few areas of threat are on the rise, including cyber, counterintelligence, counterspace, and Transnational Organized Crime. They concluded that global threats in the cyber realm are a growing trend, and our increased reliance on cyberspace and digital networks as a nation will create growing risks to our use of digital infrastructure. Exploiting and disrupting our online activities will likely increase, the Select Committee concluded; biggest threats will come from Russia and China.