The Geneva Convention doctrines will also have to sit this battle out. The word "torture" has such a negative tone. We prefer "strongly coercive interrogation tactics". I thought Senator McCain's experience in a Vietnam War prison camp would make him anti-torure. Apparently though, based on Bush administration terminology he wasn't "tortured" just forcefully coerced. And, those tactics eventually worked on him, so we may as well use them as well.
All of that is a long-winded way of getting to this point- why are we so insecure 7 years later? If "national security" is all we eat, drink and breathe each day, why does almost every government agency and component of the national network infrastructure fail GAO (Government Accountability Office) audits repeatedly each year?
We have spent $1 Trillion and more than 4,000 American soldier's lives invading a country that wasn't even part of our battle. We are looking at spending $1 Trillion to bail out greedy Wall Street CEO's and leave American tax payers with the bill. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the various agencies and initiatives under the Department of Homeland Security.
Its all security theater though. Taking off your shoes at airport security screening points, and carrying your shampoo in a 3oz bottle doesn't protect the country. The vast majority of cargo coming into U.S. ports is not examined still. I know that computer and network security at a corporate or nationwide government level is not cheap to implement and maintain, but I am more than confident that if you give me a $1 Trillion budget I can do it (Senator Obama- drop me an email to let me know where to submit my resume). I can probably work with half, or maybe even a quarter of that budget.
Perhaps instead of tossing out the word "patriotism" as leverage to compel telecommunications companies to illegally wire tap American citizens, the government could have reached out to computer and network security vendors. Instead of coercing illegal activity, we coud have used the "patriotism card" to get hardware and software vendors and computer services companies to do their civic duty and help strengthen the security of our critical infrastructure pro bono.
I am not shy about my political views. Some of you have commented that I should keep politics out and focus on computer and network security. In this particular instance though, they are intertwined. My opinion of the current administration is not even relevant. Regardless of who wins in November, I believe they need to bump this up on the priority list and address the insecurity of our critical infrastructure as a national security concern.
If an attacker can gain access to sensitive and confidential government information on insecure computer systems while sitting halfway around the world and with no physical risk of death or injury, they will do so. If terrorists can cripple our water, power, or other crtical infrastructure components with the push of a button and without firing a shot or detonating a bomb, why wouldn't they? Terrorism is all about disrupting daily activity and our way of life. Given the state of our government and critical infrastructure systems, that can be accomplished without the need for suicide bombers or WMD (weapons of mass destruction).