Some Days You Eat the Bear

Some days the bear eats you... 

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that a rather shrill piece titled, "Security experts prepare steps to deal with 'active shooters'" was released by the very same paper - the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel - that published Meg Kissinger's balanced and thoughtful article, "Red Flags Missed In Mass Shootings"  Maybe their editor was going for that whole "fair and balanced" sort of approach?

My favorite quote in the whole frantic mess is:

"'Anybody who is operating these facilities, you do have your guard up a lot more than you did 20 years ago because we're seeing the frequency on a national and international basis,' Smith said." 

Seems Mr. Smith is unaware that violent deaths at work occur half as often as they did 20 years ago and that the frequency and severity of mass murder has not changed. With mass media writers like Joe Taschler feeding him Chicken Little prognostications who's to blame him?

Don't get me wrong. I'm pleased enough to have everyone's attention when it comes to creating sensible security policies and conducting shelter in place drills, but we might assure our employers and clients that the problem is not getting worse it's just getting more media coverage.

PS, the article does offer up a handy infographic as a side bar.  Ironically, it contradicts the tone of the piece.

Making Sense of Senselessness

Unlike many of their peers, two reporters make positive contributions to the public discourse...

Amid the din surrounding recent public mass murder events two journalists have taken the time to dig beneath the needlessly lurid and frequently simplistic surface details of recent public mass murders.

• 'Warning behaviors' sought to stop killings, by Bob Ortega of The Republic | azcentral.com
• Red flags missed in mass shootings, by Meg Kissinger of the Journal Sentinel 

They join a handful of well-written pieces I've seen in the past month that address this complex issue with balance, thoughtfulness, and depth.  They never once resort to hyperbole or fear mongering.  Both articles call us to think, rather than merely react.  We're fortunate to have minds like theirs on the crime beat.  We need more talented voices like theirs contributing to the public discourse on this topic.

Hands Off Domestic Right Wing Terror?

"We have met the enemy and he is us…"

It remains to be seen whether or not Wade Michael Page, perpetrator of last week’s mass murder at the Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was an active member of a white supremacist terror cell (doubt it), an ideologically motivated “Lone Wolf” (probably not), or a depressed sadsack who chose a public murder-suicide in alignment with his twisted world view.

On 10 August 2012 Homeland Security News Wire published an article, Domestic terrorism by members of extremist groups a serious threat: FBI, that is much better than their usual “Anything-GWOT-Is-Good” puff pieces.  It refers the reader to several interesting papers that have not received all the attention they might have in a less partisan atmosphere:

• Right Wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment
• White Supremacy: Contexts and Constraints for Suicide Terrorism

The most disturbing theme in the article was the reporting from Thomson Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, and Salon to the effect that conservative political backlash has hampered investigation of right wing domestic terror groups.  Homeland Security News Wire closes its report with this troubling paragraph:

In the wake of the controversy the study triggered, and charges of political motives, DHS disbanded the small team of analysts assigned to study “domestic non-Islamic extremism,” which had produced the report. The department now largely concentrates on threats from Islamic extremists, and analysts are monitor law enforcement and domestic intelligence issues are divided in their opinion as to how much resources and energy various government agencies now devote to monitoring non-Islamist terrorism threats.

Much as we would rather not think about it, domestic terrorism has been an element in American politics at least since the close of the America Civil War.  The enemy within has always looked much more like us than those from without.  We must not forget that now lest we turn our backs on a potentially dangerous truth.

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Murrah_Federal_Building 

More MRO Magic

The entire MSL delivery system in one photo...

The HiRISE camera on the MRO took a family portrait of the MSL and all the parts it used to pass safely through NASA's Seven Minutes of Terror on its way to the surface of Mars in Gale Crater.  The heat shield protected Curiosity from the friction generated by entering the atmosphere at 3.6 miles per second.  The largest supersonic parachute ever deployed on Mars opened at Mach 1.7.  The Sky Crane lowered the MSL to the ground at 1-3/4 mph. 

I know the Curiosity landing has been done to death across all the usual news media outlets, but I'd much rather marvel at this technological triumph than commiserate about workplace violence, mass murder, and active shooters, so get over it!

Not Exactly Beach Reading

Three textbooks from the summer session...

Strategic Security Management: A Risk Assessment Guide for Decision Makers by Karim Vellani 

This is the text for the SM-402 Security Risk Assessment course I led this summer at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. It's a worthy and more accessible successor to the classic, Risk Analysis and the Security Survey, by James F. Broder.

Introduction to Investigations by John S. Dempsey

There were two texts for SM-403 Private Investigation Principles, I'm teaching at Saint Mary's this summer. It's written at the tech school/undergrad level which is okay but sometimes the author comes across as a Baby Boomer who is trying a little too hard to be hip for the youngsters. I recommend it for instruction with those minor caveats. 

The Art of Investigative Interviewing, Second Edition by Charles L. Yeschke

This is the second text for the SM-403 Private Investigation Principles course. It's written in a very accessible style and is surprisingly strong on the human element. That shouldn't be a surprise but some interview and interrogations systems take an adversarial tone or proceed in a rather scientific fashion. Yeschke endeavors the would be interviewer to indulge his or her human side in the interest of collecting information, evidence, and eventually admissions and confessions in a ethical and effective manner.