Critical Releases in Homeland Security: February 15, 2017

From the "Brief Synopsis" on the Strategic Studies Institute website: "The al-Qaeda Organization (AQO) and the Islamic State Organization (ISO) are transnational adversaries that conduct terrorism in the name of Sunni Islam. It is declared U.S. Government (USG) policy to degrade, defeat, and destroy them. The present book has been written to assist policymakers, military planners, strategists, and professional military educators whose mission demands a deep understanding of strategically-relevant differences between these two transnational terrorist entities. In it, one shall find a careful comparative analysis across three key strategically relevant dimensions: essential doctrine, beliefs, and worldview; strategic concept, including terrorist modus operandi; and specific implications and recommendations for current USG policy and strategy. Key questions that are addressed include: How is each terrorist entity related historically and doctrinally to the broader phenomenon of transnational Sunni 'jihadism'? What is the exact nature of the ISO? How, if at all, does ISO differ in strategically relevant ways from AQO? What doctrinal differences essentially define these entities? How does each understand and operationalize strategy? What critical requirements and vulnerabilities characterize each entity? Finally, what implications, recommendations, and proposals are advanced that are of particular interest to USG strategists and professional military educators?"

"Approximately 900,000 people work at these airports, and many are able to bypass traditional screening requirements that travelers visiting the airports must endure. While the overwhelming majority of these airport workers take the inherent responsibility seriously, there are increasing concerns that insider threats to aviation security are on the rise. Recent insider threat examples discussed in this report include an attempt to detonate a bomb at an airport, gun and drug smuggling, an expressed willingness to smuggle explosives as well as employees who became involved in terrorist activities overseas. In all of these instances, the employees in question had access to secure areas of the airport. These insider threats, and the lack of adequate access controls at airports nationwide, are of particular concern given the rise of terrorist groups bent on penetrating U.S. airport security to commit terrorist acts and 'lone wolf' attacks being inspired by terrorist groups like ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria."

"Chemical flows from China have helped fuel a fentanyl crisis in the United States, with significant increases in U.S. opioid overdoses, deaths, and addiction rates occurring over the last several years. Unlike previous opioid epidemics, including a temporary spike in U.S. fentanyl use in 2006 that was traced to a single clandestine lab in Mexico, fentanyl sold in the United States is now being produced by individual distributors across the country. The diffused nature of fentanyl distribution and the drug's high potency have complicated U.S. counternarcotic efforts and necessitated new policies aimed at reducing flows of fentanyl and other synthetic opiates to the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the federal government's primary counternarcotic authority, working with state and local law enforcement to regulate and enforce controls on illicit drugs and chemicals. According to U.S. law enforcement and drug investigators, China is the primary source of fentanyl in the United States. […] Chinese chemical exporters utilize various methods to covertly ship drugs to the Western hemisphere, including sending illicit materials through a chain of forwarding systems, mislabeling narcotic shipments, and modifying chemicals so they are not controlled in the United States. To reduce flows of fentanyl and fentanyl-like substances to the United States, U.S. regulators should reexamine policies and procedures for banning and controlling dangerous chemicals and work with their Chinese counterparts to improve regulations governing chemical exports."

From the thesis abstract: "Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their meteoric rise in popularity among hobbyists and commercial users have created a sense of urgency among lawmakers to develop a strategic policy to facilitate domestic UAS integration into the national airspace. Local municipalities and state agencies are initiating legislative efforts to develop 'best practices,' ordinances, and policies in the absence of a structured legal framework for UAS expansion. The city of Phoenix is among those seeking solutions to the question of how the city and police department can develop and implement a strategic guidance policy governing UAS integration to best serve the interests of government and community. This research effort utilizes the five-step process contained within the multi-goal policy analysis research design method. This process is ideal for conducting policy analysis in which there are multiple policy outcomes or when these outcomes cannot be comparatively quantified equally. This academic effort constructs the identified alternative outcome solution within a specified problem segment to present a solution compliant with industry standards and directed toward the intelligent nonspecialist end user. The product deliverable results in a strategic policy guidance strategy that is transparent and falls within an accountability framework."