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How much airport security is too much?

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on August 20, 2018 Is there any less desirable way to travel these days than by air?  Long lineups everywhere, intrusive searches, the delicate dance of holding up your pants while shuffling (since you have to remove your belt before  you pass through the scanner), trying to figure […]

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Oh great, another vehicular attack. Make that two. Or not.

Well, you have to give terrorists some credit.  They certainly have settled on a winning approach to carrying out acts of violence and causing mayhem.  And that approach is remarkably simple and easily accessed.  I am talking of course of vehicle attacks.  We have seen a lot of these lately, in Barcelona, in Stockholm, in […]

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Perspectives

A little perspective on the Canada-Saudi tiff

You gotta hand it to MBS, the power behind the throne in Saudi Arabia.  Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, son of the current king, has sure made a name for himself of late.  Letting women drive.  Promising a new future for his country with shiny impressive technological cities and the like. Corruption has been nipped in […]

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Sometimes a mass shooting is just a mass shooting

Before I get into the thesis behind this blog I must state that the title I chose should not be interpreted as dismissiveness over shootings.  Anytime innocent people are killed or wounded by someone with a firearm is tragic.  Not only are lives lost or compromised but the impact on family, friends and communities is […]

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3D printable guns and threats to national security

It is never a good idea to get into a debate on the US Constitution’s Second Amendment – the one that talks about the ‘right to bear arms’ – because it is pointless.  Gun advocates seldom have any interest in discussing their God-given freedom to carry a weapon, any weapon including some very powerful automatic […]

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Do we use the T word too often or not often enough?

One of the reasons why I continue to talk and write about terrorism is that I find the field fascinating, and not just because I have worked in countering it for nigh on twenty years.  I never cease to learn more about terrorism and terrorists and what makes the whole thing tick and as someone […]

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You gotta feel for the US intelligence community in the wake of Helsinki

The US intelligence community is huge.  I mean HUGE.  At least 16 separate agencies and hundreds of thousands of men and women, civilian and military, all dedicated to doing their utmost to keep America safe and protect US interests.  Is the community perfect? Of course it isn’t.  The Saddam Hussein weapons of mass destruction debacle […]

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Terrorism is less prevalent than you think

Quick!  Name the top ten causes of death in Canada!  Can you?  Here is one list I found in the wondrous playground and source of all wisdom we call the Internet (the data is from 2012: the rightmost column is percentage of yearly deaths:   1. Malignant neoplasms (cancer) 30.2 2 Diseases of heart (heart […]

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CSIS is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t

This piece was published in The Hill Times on July 2, 2018 Here is a fundamental question for Canadians: what do you want from your security intelligence service?   What are your expectations of CSIS, an agency of several thousand civil servants which has been plying its trade for more than three decades in the […]

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Sometimes former Prime Ministers should avoid the spotlight

Pity the poor ex head of state, whether that person is a prime minister, a president, a monarch or a dictator, who settles for retirement,  although I’ d wager that many former dictators never get that far.  At one time you are cock of the rock. Everyone listens to you.  You get really cool perks […]