I recently wrote a blog about how to try to survive if caught in a shooting spree like the one in Tucson, Arizona. But a recent posting by the good folks at Stratfor (a private intelligence firm with some very intelligent people) on what to do if caught in political or military unrest in a […]
What Do We Know About Iran and When Do We Know It?
Posted January 14th, 2011 at 6:37 pm (UTC+0)
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense under former President George W. Bush, once had a lot of people in Washington scratching their heads in puzzlement when he described how the U.S. sizes up a potential military adversary: “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there […]
Surviving the Horror
Posted January 11th, 2011 at 3:47 pm (UTC+0)
Getting caught in the crossfire of a shooting incident, be it in Tucson or Islamabad, is frightening. You feel defenseless, helpless, perhaps frozen to the spot. But you are not necessarily helpless, says former Secret Service agent Christopher Falkenberg — and he should know. The Secret Service’s primary task is to guard the president of […]
Plugging the Leaks
Posted January 7th, 2011 at 7:38 pm (UTC+0)
There is a famous legend about the little Dutch boy who saves his town from flooding by plugging a leak in a dike with his finger. Fortunately for him (and the town), there was only one leak because, well, a boy has only so many fingers. But multiple leaks of information keep on coming out […]
Pakistan Killing Raises Security Questions
Posted January 6th, 2011 at 7:05 pm (UTC+0)
Pakistani provincial governor Salman Taseer, an outspoken opponent of his country’s contentious blasphemy laws, was allegedly gunned down by a member of his own protective squad. The assassin immediately surrendered and, with a smile on his face, proudly proclaimed that he had killed a blasphemer. A lone wolf or a conspirator? It is not yet […]
Afghan Combat Harrowing for Both Sides
Posted January 3rd, 2011 at 7:20 pm (UTC+0)
Welcome back and Happy New Year! (Yes, I’ve been away.) New years do seem to start off slow and gradually pick up steam (some faster than others) as we shake off the torpor of the old one. But I just saw something that gave me a jolting start to 2011: the Afghan war documentary “Restrepo.” […]
