20 January 2018

Homeland Security: The Risk of Fusion Man...

Modern Day Operational Risk Management, requires a multi-skilled and versatile individual. Someone who understands the difference between "Information Warfare" and "Cyberterrorism." And if you were born after 1980 and part of Generation Y, then you might even have more insight on how Sam Fisher has managed his way through unimaginable risks throughout his career as a Splinter Cell operative.

You understand why Homeland Security is evermore focused on HUMINT and our national security is ever so vulnerable to an increasing reliance on the Internet Protocol (IP).

Information warfare is an attack against computers, networks, or information systems to coerce or intimidate a government and its people. These attacks result in violence against people or property and generate fear.

Attacks that disrupt nonessential services or create a costly nuisance are not considered information warfare. Cyberterrorism results in severe effects such as death, bodily injury, explosions, plane crashes, water contamination, severe economic loss, and so on.

Information warfare is easily and most effectively waged against civilians. Because of its size and reliance on technology, no nation is as vulnerable to information warfare as the United States. Information warfare can be waged anonymously, or with all the publicity in the world.

If were born before 1960 and you fall into the "Baby Boomer" category, you better spend some time with your "Generation Y" kids or nieces or nephews, if you want to better understand what is now coming over the threat horizon. There are Global Hawks and Predators seeking out their targets with skilled aviators located thousands of miles away.

These tools and systems of warfare are easily turned in our own direction and now Homeland Security finds it nexus with some new Operational Risk challenges. Accomplished authors such as P.W. Singer writes about "What happens when science fiction becomes battlefield reality"?

"If issues like these sound like science fiction, that’s because many of the new technologies were actually inspired by some of the great scifi of our time ­ from Terminator and Star Trek to the works of Asimov and Heinlein. In fact, Singer reveals how the people who develop new technologies consciously draw on such sci-fiction when pitching them to the Pentagon, and he even introduces the sci-fi authors who quietly consult for the military.

But, whatever its origins, our new machines will profoundly alter warfare, from the frontlines to the home front. When planes can be flown into battle from an office 10,000 miles away (or even fly themselves, like the newest models), the experiences of war and the very profile of a warrior change dramatically. Singer draws from historical precedent and the latest Pentagon research to argue that wars will become easier to start, that the traditional moral and psychological barriers to killing will fall, and that the “warrior ethos” ­ the code of honor and loyalty which unites soldiers ­ will erode."

Homeland Security professionals and new recruits to the various public and private sector organizations are ever more savvy and vital to managing the risks of the coming decades. Technology and the newest inventions of the human mind are consistently applied for the purpose of good and the well being of our fellow man. We are consistently pushing the outside of the envelope to fly farther and faster, even if it means becoming a "Fusion Man."

"Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy flew from France to Britain Friday propelled by a jetpack strapped to his back -- the first person to cross the English Channnel in such a way.

Rossy, a pilot who normally flies an Airbus airliner, crossed the 22 miles between Calais and Dover at speeds of up to 120 mph in 13 minutes, his spokesman said.

When the white cliffs of Dover came into view, he opened a blue and yellow parachute and drifted down in light winds to land in a British field where he was mobbed by well-wishers.

"Everything was perfect," he said afterwards. "I showed that it is possible to fly a little bit like a bird."

Rossy traced the route of French aviator Louis Bleriot, who became the first person to fly across the Channel in an aircraft in 1909.

The Swiss pilot was propelled by four kerosene-burning jet turbines attached to a wing on his back. He ignited the jets inside a plane before jumping out more than 8,000 feet above ground."


We suspect that Mr. Rossy has hired some very competent lawyers to work on his patents and licensing of intellectual property. By now, it all may be classified and Sam Fisher is taking his first test flights.

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