New thereat assessment, new awareness & preparedness needs

Firearm Training
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Since the events of 9/11/2001, the highjacking (with the help of fraudulently obtained driver licenses) of four US domestic flight jet aircraft to be used as Kamikaze flying jet fuel bombs to crash into their targets we (the US) have developed the (WHTI) Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative the corner stone of which is the national standard of obtaining state issued driver licenses “REAL ID” with the required “proofs” documentation standards.

The REAL ID with a star (:star:) indicator on your DL is still only voluntary vs. mandatory as it’s full implementation has been repeatedly postponed.

So, we have a mix of DL IDs still with many standard, not REAL ID DL that are NOT for Federal Purposes, like passing TSA checkpoints at airports, but the standard DLs are of the harder to obtain, just lacking the birth certificate requirement of proving citizenship.

So, boarding airlines is still harder for foreigners. What are still too easy to get surface transportation especially rental by remote apps. vs. in person if one has even just a standard DL, and credit card accepted by the rental companies.

So, if terrorists are grounded they just switch to surface transportation to facilitate their eval deeds by recruiting US citizens with the ID and credit card(s) needed for their oneway rides to hell taking as many innocent lives as they can in the process.

The US authorities have tightened up air travel with the TSA.

I don’t know what they might be able to do to tighten up surface transportation especially from domestic U.S. citizens recruited to usurp the ID/credit card requirements of renting vehicles to be used as weapons.

That’s another security challenge.

Especially, when we have so many upcoming and already graduated indoctrinated individuals sympathetic to foreign causes, and entities that wish us ill.

Witness all the antisemitic / pro-Palestinian protesters that surfaced on our college campuses this past year.

We have real national and personal security problems just ripening to happen.

Whole segments of our society readily agreeable to be inspired, or radicalized, and volunteer to do evil for our sworn enemies.

We unfortunately are likely to see more, not less of these incidents.

What that means is, now more than ever our situational awareness, and preparedness needs to be strengthened to levels previously not necessary as these types of threats become more prevalent.

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Nope, not at all if they are illegals (undocumented) who crossed into US over the southern border and surrendered to CBP. Our kindly government gave them special papers that by-pass REAL ID requirements and allow them to walk right through TSA checkpoints and board airlines.

Yes, we have a significant security crisis created by our own government!

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Situational Awareness is OK, best to have Situational Recognition.

Years ago we threw stones, then used slings, developed sharp wood stick, then swords and knifes and bows, and eventually we have rifles, many socialist liberal countries removed firearms, so people became victims and subjects, England saw an uptick in edged weapon attacks once they banned firearms, this serious uptick in knife attacks caused the Muslim Mayor of London to cry that there is no good reason to own a knife! Once the knifes are banned, then swords and bows will follow, then slings and rocks, anyone see the circle jerk mentality here? We are all back to sharping sticks.

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This tyrannical regime has set a lot on its ear.

Theoretically, it should be harder.

The great usurper (FJB) has done his evil, to make a mockery of what should be a model for our national security.

It’s harder to vet true expanded background investigations for real sensitive compartmented top secret security clearances too.

So a special agent could interview an elementary school teacher and find out if you dipped Peggy Sue’s pigtail(s) in your ink well in your chair/desk unit behind her’s.

Now your Indoctrinator who radicalized you is likely to say that you were a model student, leaving out the Manchurian Candidate star trained assassin brainwashed pupil part.

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Who’s driving that semi truck :articulated_lorry:

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Yes, we have a significant security crisis it is our own government!

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Social media should be under scrutiny for any terrorist propaganda as well as the dark web. I certainly don’t have all of the answers but will remain vigilant in my personal awareness of the actions & behaviors around me. I refuse to live in fear but there are now places that I typically avoid that in the past wouldn’t think of as being a soft target. I’m almost 70 now but still in pretty good shape, thank God, so I still train & strive to maintain my skill sets pertaining to self defense. Unfortunately when things go bad it happens so damn fast that I may or may not be able to effect any outcome. God bless us all & lets remain strong.

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And, of course if we were to succeed in making surface transportation safer like air has been made.

Anyone may bypass the rental process, and just steal a vehicle near their target, and perpetuate their evil intentions prior to discovery, or apprehension not yet being caught up with.

Just like criminals including punk youths do now to go gunning for rivals, or committing any of the gamut of violent crimes like armed robberies with the intent of ditching, or trashing that vehicle after, especially the bash crash, and grab whatever from retail establishments grabbing merchandise, weapons, ATMs, you name it.

Not caring a wit about what damage to the stolen vehicle might be done.

Terrorist only have to copycat our own hoodlums’ playbook without any original thought except for their evil end goal.

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Exactly. A lot of foreigners behind the wheel of big Over The Road vehicles.

That whole Transportation Industry has tightened their security standards with (TWIC) Transportation Worker Identity Credentials (A form of Real Biometric Smart ID used by maritime workers; October 5, 2007*.* TSA published a joint Final Rule with the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard) to implement a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program to provide a biometric credential that can be used to confirm the identity of workers in the national transportation system. TSA will conduct a security threat assessment and criminal history record check before issuing the credential.)

There is a version for OTR truckers in addition to CDLs with Hazardous Material endorsements to haul dangerous materials like gasoline, and chemicals that require those Triangular placards with ID numbers for the particular substance, what type of danger it poses, and what type of protection needs to be warn approaching it if spilled.

Any truck jockey with a tanker load of hazardous material could be a rolling bomb of mass destruction.

Regardless of what segment / means of transportation: air, land, rail, sea they are all participants in the TWIC program, and are not allowed in secure areas or with hazardous materials without their TWIC.

Those who check the TWIC cards have a Handheld PDA type scanner device that can match the cardholder’s fingerprint to their ID card and get a feedback on their background clearance status in real time before they are allowed access to anything dangerous.

One can only hope that such an individual just going rouge has been flagged, and denied access before getting a load of anything dangerous to divert to criminal use.

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When I was in the U.S. Coast Guard Auliliary, we did land mobile radio patrols following the events of 9/11/2001. While working the Dams’ in Northern California and the Ports of Sacramento and Stockton, our Coast Guard IDs’ would suffice for getting into the port areas and dam observation areas. However, once we were down into the Port of Oakland, Benicia and the San Francisco ports, the TWIC (Transient Waterways Identification Card/Credential) was required for access. It afforded another level of scrutiny in allowing or disallowing access to reatricted areas.

Later thereafter, as a federal quality assurance manager, I had an All Access Oakland Airport badge that was to be used in conjunction with the TWIC card, my DOT (Department of Transportation) ID badge, my FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) ID badge and my DHS (Department of Homeland Security) credentials, offering multiple layers of credentialing and adjudication (Bacground checks at varying levels) prior to accessing sensitive areas. Some of those included the exteriour gate, the municiple field and the commercial and municipal FAA/CAB.

That was over 12 years ago, so I am sure they have additional or more streamlined systems that provide access to those who require it and denyal systems for those who do not. Yet, that is just Ports and Airports, I never dealt with rail or commercial trucking system’s beyond DHS & FEMA. (Federal Emergency Management Agency) training and certifications. Cheers!

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I’m kind of surprised they didn’t require a fresh stool sample…

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You got the Royal Flush in Spades of Credentials, that trumps me, and my few.

I have had, and still have a military ID of one type or another since 1971, (54-years)…

I will expire first before my ID does as it’s Indefinite. I’m a “Soldier for Life.”

Several Active Duty Green DD-2A,
Reserve Red DD2A, and currently a
Retired Blue DD-2A (RET).

Originally Armed Forces ID then Uniformed Services ID, and when they went biometric REAL ID under (DBIDS) Defense Biometric Identification System.

Military Police, or DoD LEO access gate security can scan the bar / QRS code fields with a PDA, and in real time get your ID photo image to compare with your ID, all your data, and admissible status to military/federal facilities, along with an instant real time NCIC and DoD wide data base check returned fast enough not to hold up traffic.

The response I got when my ID was handed back, and waved ahead was: “Welcome Sergeant, enjoy your visit.”

If inadmissible I imagine that ID could be confiscated.

And, if wanted, detained/arrested, vehicle impounded, interrogated, held for arresting authorities, etc.

Before I moved from a northern border state with Canada I had an Enhanced Driver License that was like a Passport Card for surface crossing into / out of Canada.

When I move to a southern state I had to surrender that to obtain their REAL ID DL.

But, I had also obtained both a U.S. Passport Card, and the Book needed for international crossings beyond North America, and by air.

So, I got all my travel document options covered as a civilian.

I never was a transportation worker, or an agent of any of the many alphabet soup agencies, so I never had a need for any of their IDs.

But, I believe that if I were affiliated with any, I would have qualified.

I also held a DoD Security Clearance communicate with my rank as required for protection to it.

And, passed a criminal background check to meet my duty position requirements.

If for nothing else at least OpSec, & Personnel Reliability Responsibilities.

Salute Brother, :saluting_face:.

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Thank you, Sir! and Thank you for your service. Yes, that is the bueaty of the DoD system of credentialing, your card can hold all of your adjudications and bio-metric identifiers for access/denial. On the contract as the QCM, it required agency specific background adjudications for each agency and what level of access would be required. The ones I listed were just for the Port of Oakland access. That does not include the other 64 federal facilities in the contract area. Many people are under the impression that a Top Secret adjudication covers you across the board. Well, yes and no. Having a Non Cabinet Level TS I helps with getting adjudications with other agencies. I had a Non-Cabinet Level I TS with DOJ/FBI, however ATF had different criteria for the same adjudication. So, each one required an application of course, yet the difference would be not having more than $10K of credit card debt, not having any major traffic citations in 10 years as opposed to the 3 year DOJ/FBI requirement. The Treasury Department wanted to see no more than $5K in credit card debt, as they feel that a person is “Bribe-able” at a certain level. Social Security and IRS were both TS-I as building entry was necessary.

So, yes it was a fist full of credentials and headaches. Friends would ask “What is it like working as a contractor?” My answer “Imagine having your taxes audited every day.” When I was medically retired, I got to keep a couple of the expired credentials, more as “Keepsakes” than anything else, as everything is deactivated. I have copies of the adjudications (Guarded, Secret / eyes only & NC-TS-I) and non-disclosure agreements, yet if I ever apply for work again, I cannot disclose them to a future employer beyond the government. I can however mention the adjudication with an agency and the level on a resume, yet nothing beyond that.

I was 4-F at birth (Congenital Heart Disease & Tetrology of Fallot), so I was barred from military service. I tried every branch and they all stated no. So, I found the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and volunteered there for 4 years during 9/11. That and my work in radio broadcasting kind of got me the position as a QCM in infrastructure security. Thank you for the response. I wish i could have had the opportunity to do what others could, yet that was not in the cards for me. I did other stuff and have and continue to lead an interesting life despite being disabled. After being told my entire life (Up to that point) that I would die at 25, I have had the attitude that I will control my conditions, I refuse to allow them to control me.Thaks again and be safe, everyone

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Some people don’t understand the security implications of a blanket across the board top secret would grant access to.

That is why there is no such animal.

But, rather the concept of a legitimate “need to know” to do your job. TS Compartmented // Sensitive Information granted in one area does not grant access to anyother area not also specifically granted. Example: R&D Research & Development does not grant War Plans, and visa versa. We had compromised service members who reveille damaging enough information without being able to do so in other areas but, the one that they worked in.

Theoretically, once granted in one area should be able to be granted in other areas but, again only with a legitimate kneed to know to obtain that.

Higher ranking individuals in, or out of uniform who are critical decision makers may have a legitimate reason to have their fingers in more than one pie.

But, even with Code Word name access to strictly isolated stuff like The WW-II Manhattan Project work on the Atomic Bomb did not give any of those people access to anything else.

And, the Generals who had access to the War Plans that would implement the use of the A-bombs, did not have access to the Research & Development details of making a working A-bomb, beyond its availability for their use, for planning its implementation.

Information is compartmented to keep individuals from being able to compromise sensitive information across different compartments.

Our enemies are always working full-time, non-stop to gain any, and all information that they can as fragmented as it might be, to fit the pieces of the puzzle together to get the fuller “big picture” of what they have targeted in real time.

They are constantly collecting every bit of data that they can, and analyzing it for their exploitation.

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You are 100% correct! There are a few that have cross compartment access, yet that is very rare. The information that I had access to was only prudent and pertinent to my principal task order or mission. While I may have a certain access to documents at Level ABCIII that does not mean that I have access across the hall to additional information that has the same adjudication level. With the inception of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, this was supposed to create an intra-agency communication stream between the 21 agencies under the DHS Enterprise, just so that everyone is on the same sheet of music. It was a response to the sporadic information that they had prior to 9/11, yet would not disclose to other agencies. This does not always happen as there is still a lot of Johnson Swinging between agencies and what is and is not to be disclosed among them. Fortunately the fusion centers take up some slack with some things.

This is one of the principal reasons why I carry a CCW even 10 years later. No matter how outdated the information an individual has is, it may still be utilized for nefarious purposes. I have heard of others that have been targeted by criminal and government factions in the bolstering of information from them. So, when the NDA states life-time, that also means protect with one’s life, period. The same goes for our counterparts in DoD as well. If a CCW issuing agency requires a declaration of; “Just Cause”, that alone should suffice.

Side Note: The stories of the Manhattan Project and the nuclear programs of WWII fascinate me. They were just coming out of the Tesla era of ingenuity and I often wonder what they have come up with, some 80 years later. Cheers!

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It’s a truly amazing (Manhattan) project at the most difficult of times (WW-II).

The enormous pressure to produce to shorten the war was phenomenal.

We had a more recent similar push to produce a “bunker buster” to clean out a leadership rats nest in Iraq during Desert Storm.

The bomb shape was like a pencil :pencil2: long and thin to concentrate its weight in its hardened point so that it could physically penetrate through an enormously thick hardened bunker before exploding within the bunker, and not ineffectively short of its target.

Also, the special payload was literally just cooked up, and loaded into that bomb shell hot, and was still cooling in flight to its target. That was a “push” effort also.

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There has always been, and likely alway will be parochial turf tifs, not in my backyard, territorial macho stubbornness among the alphabet soup agencies.

Not wanting to let on how much, or how little, or exactly what each has on their radar kept from everyone else to push their own mystique within their community be it intelligence, counterintelligence, law enforcement, international, or national.

And, the age old “My duck is bigger than yours, or testosterone level higher than yours, pissing contest type thing.

All under the guise of compartmentalized sensitive information will not be shared, cooperation agreements be damned.

The age old information is king, you don’t know what I know thing, but hint, I know more, or something that you don’t know :ox: :poop:.

When it comes to terrorists like the 9/11/2001 attacks, all the intelligence, and law enforcement agencies need to keep each other up to speed without their egos being on the line about who knew what first.

We cannot afford thousands more innocent American lives lost if that can be prevented from happening by sharing critical information in a timely manner so that ALL benefit from preventing another monumental catastrophe from being perpetrated.

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There is one model that works well for its task, and purpose in the law enforcement realm against the threat of organized crime at all levels throughout the southeast region of the of the United States.

It’s set up is via Judicial Districts to fight (RICO)
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization

type crime; small, or large, local, or sprawling, interstate, or transnational.

Each (Numbered JD) Judicial District is headed by a Judge / magistrate, Chief Prosecutor, U.S. Attorney, (AG) Attorney General, (DA) District Attorney who collate the information / intelligence gathered by coordinating joint task forces of law enforcement from local, municipal, county, state, and federal, and if necessary international agencies to focus their efforts to successfully prosecute, and incarcerate criminals from drug traffickers to the TdA gang out of Venezuelan that was a “gift” of FJB.

They involve all these agencies to the extent necessary to get a conviction.

When the Chief Judicial authority thinks that they have a viable case made, gets warrants for law enforcement to executed, and get their targets taken into the criminal justice system, and prosecuted.

An enormous number of very bad actors have been successfully taken out of circulation via these JD’s functioning with their multi jurisdictional task forces.

If the alphabet soup batch of agencies could cooperate among each other in kind then I think that we could have a very effective counterterrorism mechanism to safeguard against anything like another 9/11/2001 attack on our shores.

With the open border fiasco of letting in so many bad actors of every variety, we have a lot of house cleaning to do.

One prime example is eradicating the Venezuelan TdA gang. And, anyone else who would do us harm.

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