The Washington Post published an article about cyber crime occurring on government computers. Representative Frank Wolf from Virginia reports that several of the machines in his office were hacked into from a computer located somewhere in China. He introduced a resolution which called for congressional hearings and more training sessions to educate government officials about the threat of cyber-crime, especially from foreign governments.

I feel that this is an excellent idea. The Center on Congress at Indiana University states that the average age of a United States Representative is 57 years and the average age of a United States Senator is 61 years old. These are no spring chickens here, folks. These people were in high school in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They did not grow up in the computer age. I know many people around this age right now who can barely turn on a PC, let alone protect themselves from cyber crime. My mother is in her late 40’s and she calls me once a week with computer problems. She can barely open a webpage.

My point is this, if my parents can barely use a computer, then our elected officials should be expected to at least be able to complete the basic everyday tasks on a computer. But to expect them to grasp the concept and implementation of computer security without some sort of in depth training is simply ludicrous! Training would be a potential solution. However, shouldn’t our all high and mighty government take care of it’s own computers and let the lawmakers do their jobs? Isn’t there a branch of our government assigned this task? I certainly hope so.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/11/AR2008061102790.html?nav=rss_metro

Tags: Domestic Policy, US by Ken
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Traffic checkpoints are an essential tactic in the disruption of terrorism in Iraq, since car bombers and kidnappers have to use the roads to conduct their criminal business. Are they needed in our own cities? In one part of the United States is starting to look and function more like the cities of Iraq.

The Washington D.C. Police Department has set up a “Neighborhood Safety Zone” around the Trinidad area in D.C. In order to gain access into the “safe zone”, people must pass through a checkpoint . They must provide valid I.D., and a legitamite reason to be in the zone. Valid reasons include attending an event and picking a child up from daycare. The checkpoint was instituted because a large number of the killings in Trinidad are the result of drive-by shootings by “rival crews” that enter the area from the outside. To further demonstrate the need for the zone, on May 30th, seven people were gunned down in D.C. during a nine-hour period. (Article)

I ask these questions to all Americans. Are the cities in America becoming as unsafe as those in Iraq? Why are we not investing our time, energy and money into making our own cities safe? We keep sending billions of dollars into Iraq, why aren’t we sending billions to our cities? Please feel free to comment as you see fit.

Tags: Domestic Policy, US, Washington by Ken
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