OUR PICKSTornado Alley Is Migrating Eastward | DHS Intelligence Rearranges the Deck Chairs—Again | Fixing the ‘Hopelessly Obsolete’ Classification System, and more
· DHS Intelligence Rearranges the Deck Chairs—Again
DHS’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis (I&A) last Thursday announced new changes following an internal review
· What’s Driving Record Levels of Migration to the U.S. Border?
U.S. has little control over the crises in Latin America that have upended the lives of millions
· American Terrorism: From Timothy McVeigh to January 6
Jeffrey Toobin offers a grim portrayal of the growth of the radical right since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
· Who Gets In? A Guide to America’s Chaotic Border Rules.
Many migrants will be deported — but others will still get into the United States
· Watch Out: Tornado Alley Is Migrating Eastward
Tornado outbreaks are moving from Texas and Oklahoma toward Tennessee and Kentucky, where people may not be prepared
· Experts See Lessons for Next Pandemic as Covid Emergency Comes to an End
The importance of communicating with the public, sharing data and stockpiling vital supplies
· U.S. Focuses on Invigorating ‘Chiplets’ to Stay Cutting-Edge in Tech
Pushing for more domestic chip production is challenging
· Bipartisan Group Aims to Fix ‘Hopelessly Obsolete’ Classification System
Legislation aims to reduce over-classification and the mishandling of secrets
DHS Intelligence Rearranges the Deck Chairs—Again (Spencer Reynolds, Just Security)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s troubled Office of Intelligence & Analysis (I&A) last Thursday announced new changes following the results of an internal review. Kenneth L. Wainstein, who now runs I&A and was a senior war on terror official in George W. Bush’s Department of Justice, insisted in Bloomberg, “This isn’t just swapping out org charts to try to demonstrate progress.” But by all appearances, that is exactly the nature of this new I&A reorganization.
I&A’s activities have been the subject of regular outrage seemingly every few months as the office finds itself in the headlines with a new scandal. Most recently, Politico revealed that I&A was collecting intelligence from people in jails and prisons without notifying their lawyers and with few if any protections of their rights. When the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, I&A was caught monitoring the social media “reactions” and “reflections” of people simply talking politics online. And during the civil rights outcry following George Floyd’s murder, I&A surveilled journalists and aided a summer-long campaign to undermine and discredit demonstrators, resulting in the removal of a senior official and multiple investigations.
Last week, Wainstein described this years-long series of misdeeds as a “rough patch.” My Brennan Center for Justice colleague Faiza Patel and I recently authored a report that cataloged these and other wrongdoings, explained how I&A’s overly permissive environment is designed to foster chronic abuse, and called for fundamental change. It appears that I&A too has been trying to find a path forward. The initial results of the review are in and I&A will make two changes it claims will strengthen integrity and accountability.
What’s Driving Record Levels of Migration to the U.S. Border? (Natalie Kitroeff and Julie Turkewitz, New York Times)
The United States is trying to curtail border crossings as a Covid-era immigration policy lifts this week, but it has little control over the crises in Latin America that have upended the lives of millions.
