What does Department of Homeland Security consider greatest threat?

[slackmaster]

I met a high-level operations person from DHS on Friday night. We had a very interesting conversation He was a fountain of information.

Who here knows what DHS considers to be the greatest threat to homeland security right now?

Post your guesses here, be they educated or wild.

DHS employees and consultants please recuse yourselves.

Hints:

1. Surf the DHS Web site at http://www.dhs.gov for clues. The correct answer is there but you have to read between the lines.

2. Terrorist attacks aren't even on the radar screen.

Have fun!

[mnhtnbb]

1. Immigrants!

[endarkenment]

2. Cuts in funding. nt.

[Virginia Dare]

3. I think I read something about that recently on DU...

it's an earthquake on the New Madrid fault from what I recall.

[izzie]

4. Wild guess, any one who is not in the GOP or votes like Bush's

far right wants

[liberalmuse]

5. Hurricanes? n/t

n/t

[MindPilot]

6. Pot smokers?

On edit: After checking the website, I'm going to say their primary focus is to keep the wheels of corporate commerce turning and well-greased. That and monitoring the the movements of the citizenry as closely as they possibly can. They seem very concerned about "infrastructure".

Please, Slackmaster, enlighten us.

[Marie26]

7. Hackers? nt

[checkmate1947]

8. People that think for themselves.

That is their biggest fear and threat to them

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. an informed, rational US population.

for if such a thing existed, 7/8s of their crap would never happen. Heads would roll and entire departments and divisions would be shut down as patently useless and self-defeating.

But we do not have an informed, rational US population. a good majority are still sheeple controlled by fear and the often fatal disease of religiosity.

[CheshireCat]

10. Global Warming

Seems like I read that on DU a year or so ago.

[shugh514]

11. Cyber-security nt

[fordnut]

12. The Middle Class

Thay want rid of us and all labor unions!

[ThomCat]

13. Environmentalist.

Or, "eco-terrorists" if you listen to the government's PR.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

14. Certainly not NY or DC but South Dakota & Nebraska are

if you look at the way the pork money is being allocated.

[Uncle Joe]

15. Representative Democracy,

whereby congress actually represents the people, not just the corporations, whereby a White House believes Americans are people not just numbers, whereby a "Supreme Court" believes determining the will of the people s's votes are paramount to an arbitrary date, whereby an MSM (fourth estate watchdog or whatever you want to call them) believe the people should get unfiltered information on the truths of the day instead of propaganda to suit their masters.

[spuddonna]

16. I guess Pandemic...

...which leads to economic disaster, urban uprising, mass chaos...

[slackmaster]

spuddonna, YOU ARE A WINNER!

Come on down!

And the REASON that pandemic (of influenza) is such a threat is not the aftermat per se, rather lack of hospital beds.

DHS's first priority right now is preparing mobile hospitals, some on trucks a bit like bloodmobiles, to take up the slack.

[spuddonna]

32. OOOOOOOH!!! Do I get a free HAZMAT suit?!

I really want the coffee maker or the trip to Hawaii, but I'll take the complimentary box of iodine tabs and Tamiflu instead! LOL :party:

Seriously though, at the end of the schoolyear here in the suburban Seattle area, they sent home a flyer about pandemics, and a 'quick guide' to listen to recommendations from authorities to stay home, stock up on food, etc. So I had an unfair advantage - my school district was worried enough they sent fliers home and school was letting OUT!

Yeah, I was reading somewhere about the lack of hospital beds and the equipment like the posts for IV drips are estimated to be severely lacking in all urban areas. No warm fuzzies there...

Did your contact at the DHS sound optimistic or pessimistic about prepping for a major health threat like this nationally? Just curious...

[slackmaster]

39. The guy's attitude was that a pandemic was a near certainty

He's very concerned about it, but we also talked about Hurricane Katrina and what will happen with future storms and, especially for California, earthquakes.

He said I was very wise to keep more than two weeks' supply of food and water on hand. DHS will be encouraging everyone to do likewise, and to take preemptive actions appropriate to the foreseeable disasters particular to wherever you live and work.

I got the impression a lot of what DHS will be doing is PR to head off criticism that it did nothing to prepare people.

[spuddonna]

45. Thanks for the info...

That's the impression that I got from the info that the school handed out. The local school district seems to be taking this pandemic risk seriously, almost emphasizing that the DHS wanted to get the word out asap, to be 'on top' of the issue...

I'll put my tinfoil hat aside for now as to why they are so 'sure' about a pandemic happening soon, but I'm so jaded I figure that as long as these assclowns are in power I'd better be prepared for the worst.

Note to self: Buy more Spam...

[rubberducky]

22. Guess who was the CEO of the co. that

provided Tamiflu, that is going to save us all from "bird flu"??? Rummy.

[slackmaster]

24. Nope, that is not correct.

Tamiflu is made by a subsidiary of Hoffman LaRoche, Ltd.

Donald Rumsfeld was charman of G.D. Searle & Co.

My contact at DHS told me the department has already stockpiled tens of millions of traditional flu vaccine.

[rubberducky]

25. I found the info while researching PNAC

Will find it again and post it.

[slackmaster]

26. Please do, if you can find it

Inquiring minds want to know.

[lonestarnot]

34. Nice now we can stop wondering why they are going to declare

martial law, just when.

[warrens]

17. The Internets

They can't fire uppity people actually daring to have an opinion that wasn't formulated by Pigboy and Dickhead.

[Sapphocrat]

18. Gay Communist immigrant drug-dealing atheists who belong to Greenpeace. nt

[DianaForRussFeingold]

19. Truth "They are quite literally afraid to know the truth "

An Inconvenient Truth':yoiks: While more than 1 million people have seen the movie since it opened in May, that does not include Washington's top science decision makers. President Bush said he won't see it. The heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA haven't seen it, and the president's science adviser said the movie is on his to-see list.

"They are quite literally afraid to know the truth," Gore said. "Because if you accept the truth of what the scientific community is saying, it gives you a moral imperative to start to rein in the 70 million tons of global warming pollution that human civilization is putting into the atmosphere every day." http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/aninconvenienttruth/trailer

[RufusEarl]

20. Most of what i read deals with hurricanes.

[slackmaster]

21. Congrats to spuddonna, and here is some more information for you

Beginning later this summer, expect a barrage of public service announcements dealing with the coming flu pandemic, and more interestingly IMO encoraging people to prepare to take care of themselves for two weeks in the event of a natural disaster like a hurricane or massive earthquake.

From the horse's mouth. The man I spoke with is in charge of procuring pretty much everything for DHS.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

23. GoodQuestion! New York City to have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 %?

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News. That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent---from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

The formula did not consider as landmarks or icons: The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History.

Sorry, New York. The goal of the Department of Homeland Security is to protect our real national icons. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/no_icons_no_mon.html

[MindPilot]

27. Fear, fear, fear!! The guy from DHS played you like a fiddle.

There are no WMDs, there is no al-qaeda, there is no impending oil shortage, and there is no pandemic. This DHS guy is probably some PR hack whose job it is to go out and spread this administration's latest fear-mongering disinformation.

They are completely incapable of dealing with real problems so they invent shit and spread it around to keep us nice and compliant little corporate drones.

I don't believe anything that comes from anybody in this government or its MSM mouthpieces.

[slackmaster]

30. I know when I'm being played - the guy was straight up serious

Our federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars preparing for a pandemic.

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/PanfluReport2.pdf

[MindPilot]

33. OK, assume for a minute that this guy had no reason to bullshit you

how is it that our government assumes that a flu pandemic is a done deal, but global climate change--which you can pretty much look out the window to see it happening--"needs more study"?

If the pandemic happens, are we going with MIHOP or LIHOP?. I'm guessing the aforementioned pandemic will--like anthrax--tend to affect liberals, Democrats, journalists and peace activists more than any other group. There will probably be a particularly virulent strain that mutates (that's going to be difficult since evolution is "just a theory") and infects gay atheist hispanic flag-burners with pustules that mimic gunshot wounds.

[slackmaster]

37. You're asking me to explain their thinking?

There will probably be a particularly virulent strain that mutates (that's going to be difficult since evolution is "just a theory") and infects gay atheist hispanic flag-burners with pustules that mimic gunshot wounds.

As long as it eases up traffic on the 805 I'll be satisfied.

[gkhouston]

38. Bushco's friends can make money off a potential pandemic

but they'll lose money in the short-term if we take immediate concrete action to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

[obreaslan]

28. Us....

You and me. :evilgrin:

[slackmaster]

29. Some of the flip replies are funny, but the question is very serious

Does anyone else have a problem with DHS banking on a flu pandemic?

It's bad news if they're wrong about its inevitability. Maybe worse if they're right.

:scared:

[MindPilot]

31. Well yeah.

First, if it comes from this administration we know it's a lie. Second, this administration has proven on several occasions that it is completely incapable of responding to an emergency. And lastly, Bush has already made it perfectly clear what the administration's response will be, martial law.

Since 9/11 didn't really give them the Pearl Harbor they were hoping for, they are itching for another event. Remember the people who run the United States government are interested in only two things, wealth and power.

[flaminbats]

35. lol, the DOD?

which is more dangerous..homeland security or defense? :crazy:

[lectrobyte]

36. slackmaster? Are you an agent of Bob?

[slackmaster]

40. At your cervix

[lectrobyte]

42. A Pirate Bob! Nicely done!

[Vidar]

41. Lack of convenient parking.

[Swamp Rat]

43. We the People

[yella_dawg]

44. Free and Fair Elections

[radfringe]

46. lighters

TSA encounters at the airport:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5353269