INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FORCULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION
News
Reposted from CDN
Workplace security is of paramount importance to businesses. When you talk about workplace security, it is an encompassing task that covers the security of employees, clients, visitors, and everyone within the premises of the business; as well as, supplies, assets, equipment, and classified documents.
It is a legal responsibility of every business to keep their premises secured. But more than just an obligation, ensuring a solid security policy provides reassurance to employees and clients making them feel more comfortable and confident. Workplace security can also help prevent unwanted incidents and crimes. This is particularly important considering that businesses are often targeted by burglars, unauthorized intruders, and sabotage.
Considering the importance of workplace security, it’s essential to regularly review how you keep your business premises safe and secure. Below are some security measures and tips you can implement.
Security personnel provide a primary form of workplace protection. Security guards prevent the likelihood of threats from unscrupulous intruders. They can also help ensure general peace and security within the workplace. Plus, their visible presence gives everyone in the facility a feeling of added protection and safety.
Although your entire facility requires security, some areas call for heightened protection. Assess your entire workplace to determine which areas have valuable assets and safes. These spots require more vigilance and better security measures. Upgrading surveillance, such as by installing best security lights, within these spots can also help improve protection.
Prevent unauthorized access in your facility by investing in an effective door or access system. One popular security technology is the key-card access system which ensures that only authorized personnel can enter the building or access specific areas. Employees are given a badge. Anyone who is not an employee and wishes to enter the building is required to sign in at the reception to get a visitor’s badge. In addition, installing interior and exterior cameras can help heighten surveillance and monitor all activities within the workplace.
Ideally, workplace security system should alert you and the local authorities or police in case of a break-in. This is crucial especially for businesses that handle critical information or assets that are prone to burglary and intrusions.
Lighting is an effective deterrent to break-ins and can discourage burglars, especially in the night. Exterior lighting should also help keep your employees and clients safe while they are outside the building premises. The best motion sensor light is more cost-efficient as it can help save up on electricity. These lighting only turns on when there are any movements detected.
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Reposted from CPO Magazine
Cyber threats, cyberattacks, and hacks are getting more and more common so companies are forced to invest in cybersecurity systems. Even though your business may have an excellent cybersecurity plan, you’re still at risk of being attacked; it’s simply the reality of today’s world. That’s why you need to be prepared with a well-developed cybersecurity policy.
Before you start developing your security policy, you need to understand where your company’s at in terms of cybersecurity. Many times, companies use third party, off-the-shelf products, even though that may not be the way to go. The policy needs to be developed in tandem by your IT team and management. They need to understand every detail of the policy and be on the same page. If you discuss your policy as a team, it will increase your common understanding of the types of information you’re handling, what needs to be secured and at which level of security, as well as how you’re collecting and storing information. If you use a security policy developed by all, it increases the chances that it will be accepted not only by your whole company but also by external auditors.
A good cybersecurity policy has to include the systems already in place that your business is using to protect your critical information. For this part of the policy, you need to work with your IT department to know your capabilities. Outline which programs are used for security and how they will be updated to prevent vulnerabilities. Explain to the users how you’ll be backing up data. Your policy also needs to outline which online services you use and how they fit in. This helps everyone see that you’re planning for every potential scenario.
Your policy needs to have accountability measures in a contingency plan for cyberattacks. You need to outline the right people on the team who will fix the problem, and who will communicate with your clients. This has to include backups for each position in case the lead person responsible is away. Furthermore, your clients need to know whom to contact for help after an attack. Finally, the management team should plan for regular reviews of the risk and mitigation measures and the policy as a whole.
Once you’ve determined what the infrastructure in place is and who’s accountable for what aspects of the policy, it’s time to include the actual policy provisions. Make sure this section is written in a clear and concise way to leave no room for misinterpretation, and don’t forget to edit and proofread the policy before publishing and disseminating. Consult online tools to help you with this very important step of the process.
Employees are obliged to protect confidential data. Outline the definition of confidential and secret data, so they know what type of data the policy refers to.
Employees are asked to keep personal and company devices secure so they don’t introduce any security risks to the data. Also, tell them to add password protection to all devices, install anti-virus software, keep their devices on their person at all times, install updates as soon as they’re available, and avoiding lending their devices to others.
Send instructions to your employees to avoid opening attachments or links when the content isn’t clearly explained, especially if they don’t know the sender. They should immediately be suspicious of clickbait titles, any spelling mistakes, and prize offers. Explain what they should do if they receive an email they’re unsure about.
Make sure your employees know how to pick secure passwords, and how to store them in a safe way. Evidently, passwords should never be shared, and should also be changed regularly.
Have a section of your policy elaborate rules for data transfer as this is a risk security risk. Employees should not transfer sensitive information unless necessary, and then it should be done over a secure network. Confidential data must never be shared over public networks. Finally, make sure the recipient has the right clearance and authorization to view that information.
Your policy should have clear guidance for remote employees and how they can access their business accounts remotely. They must also follow procedures to encrypt data and only work from a private network.
It’s a mistake to think that when your policy is done the work ends there. Educate your employees on the policy, conduct training on what to do in the event of a breach, and have a scheduled annual review of the contents.
Reposted from Allied Universal
There is a continuous and ongoing push to develop technologies that make our lives safer and more efficient. Stewart Brand once cautioned, “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller you’re part of the road.” In consideration of the Chemical, Petrochemical and Utility (CPCU) industry, technology adoption has less to do with a lack of understanding but rather invention is outpacing the ability to regulate it and correctly identify potentially problematic factors that could negatively impact the safety and security of people and places.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones as they are more commonly referred to, are compact in size, have the ability to hover closer than a helicopter, can discreetly maneuver tight areas and provide a bird’s eye perspective of operations. More importantly, with safety at the crux of the CPCU industry, drones have the ability to go safely where people sometimes cannot.
Adoption of drones is tricky for the CPCU industry. Most sectors of the industry are bound to comply with federal and agency mandates. So while drone technology may offer advantageous solutions that serve to improve safety and security, reduce instances of human error and enhance operations, a lack of regulatory control presents a major hurdle and is an impediment to adoption.
Recent changes in legislation, particularly Part 107 of Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations, are marking a turning point for the industry and opening the door to the unique safety and cost-saving advantages of drones. Michael Lichko, Vice President of Sales, with Allied Universal’s partner DroneCore, shared, “Artificial Intelligence and automation have been a tremendous catalyst for moving commercial drone regulations forward over the past year. It’s important to remember that the rules created by Part 107 were really written around increasing safety for manned drone operations. However, the software and hardware advances of systems like our DroneCore platform have allowed for rapid approval of nighttime operations and the coveted BVLOS waiver, as evidenced by the recent approval granted to the Chula Vista PD for public safety operations early this year.”
With more structure and regulation in place as well as evidence of successful operations outside the United States across all industries, several oil and gas industry leaders have moved beyond the experimental phase of drones to leading the industry in adoption by developing their own drone programs. It’s a move that is providing big ROI from what is proving, by comparison, a small investment in technology enhancements.
Shell shares how the use of drones in their operations has helped facilitate safer and more frequent inspections of equipment by using drones instead of personnel when inspecting hard-to-reach or dangerous areas such as flaring stacks. It’s a smarter way to achieve better results--allowing personnel to stay safely rooted to the ground while the drone does the dangerous and heavy lifting reduces risks for injury while enhancing compliance. In other instances, drones have helped the industry recover more quickly from natural disasters. Following the widespread destruction of Hurricane Harvey several oil and gas industry leaders leaned on the technology of drones for reconnaissance missions to identify damage to infrastructure and assist in prioritizing emergency response to their region.
It is exciting to see the CPCU industry making strides in embracing technology that will serve to strengthen the industry’s ability to create and deliver products and resources that facilitate economic growth and sustainability more safely and efficiently. At this year’s annual Energy Security Council Conference in Austin, TX, I had the opportunity to participate in a knowledge sharing session with CPCU industry leaders regarding the use of drones to augment onsite security—whether for patrolling remote locations or assisting in incident management and response.
A few weeks following the conference, while visiting one of our refinery clients, I was pleasantly surprised to see this in action—the blend of physical security with smart technology working to create safer, more secure environments. My meeting with Angela Best, Allied Universal Account Manager was delayed. Angela is a licensed drone operator and the client needed her to pilot a flight to inspect part of the processing area following an incident. She shared that she regularly flies the UAS for all types of facility, security and safety missions. “We utilize our drones weekly, whether it’s to inspect equipment, monitor areas of the perimeter, or to observe illegal hunters on the property. Using the drones allows us to do all of this in a manner that doesn’t put people in harms way. It’s all about how we can achieve the same goal, safer.”
While drones provide advantageous cost savings, I think the greatest value drones and new technologies have to offer the CPCU industry is how much safer it will make the work place for people.
By William J. Powers III -Director of Facilities at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.
It is imperative that organizations have a well-written All-Hazard Emergency Response Plan (ERP) in conjunction with an Incident Action Plan (IAP). This document includes a business continuity plan which helps the organization to maintain operations if possible. More than 40% of organizations are forced to close after a major incident. The plan is a living document that should be regularly reviewed and updated, as the process is dynamic and ever-evolving.
A comprehensive security analysis should be performed to help identify any potential risks. A strategy to mitigate such risks should then be developed. Scenario-based thinking will help to prepare and understand the challenges in managing the risks, and allows open-minded thinking to ask questions, such as “If this happens, what can be done?” Training must regularly occur and be consistent and in the right setting. Responders are often placed in difficult situations because the proper training has not been conducted. On-duty responders need training for everyone’s safety.
The four phases of emergency management are preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation—they are the basis for the ERP.* The goal is to end the incident as quickly as possible. The IAP summarizes incident response tasks and instructs personnel on mitigating potential damage. The Incident Response section prepares individual responders by assigning role-specific tasks. The Incident Closure and Debrief sections direct responders on aiding business recovery. Each response follows a step-by-step process—governed by the Incident Command System (ICS)—that will guide responders from incident preparation through incident closure.
A business continuity plan should clearly state in writing the essential functions and goals of the organization. The document should identify and prioritize the systems and protocols to be sustained and provide the necessary information for their maintenance. The ERP and IAP form the framework of incident response. Life safety will always be the highest priority. As the incident concludes, the next important step is to normalize business operations as soon as practical. More than 40% of organizations do not survive a disaster for various reasons.
Businesses having a plan to move forward after a critical event will have a better chance of staying open versus a business with no plan. During an emergency is not the time to determine what can be done and whom to contact. In the planning stages, it is easier to think more clearly and establish contracts and billing rates with vendors, contractors and others if the incident involves more than a single facility.
Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CARRI) is a concept of emergency management that FEMA initiated, and which differs slightly from Incident Command. The entire community is involved in the plan, and the decisions are made by consensus regarding the plan elements. In 2011, this concept was tested in the U.S. through several pilot programs across the country. This process requires resources and support from all local community agencies. The concept of this plan is relativity simple; however, it does become complex as to who has the decision-making authority in the community and how resources are allocated. There are many political governing bodies in this process—all with an interest in seeing it succeed—from the President through the cabinet. The government has made grants available to municipalities. The concept is who is better-equipped to make decisions for the people most impacted. Everyone is familiar with both the process and the local agencies.
The more communities are involved and acquaint themselves with the local agencies, the better and stronger the community becomes. It is similar to community policing—knowledgeable community residents are more willing to share information with law enforcement.
Through Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21), enacted in February 2013, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) aligns with PPD-8, which addresses national preparedness. These directives help align communications with federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector groups to engage in emergency preparedness. With better communications, everyone working towards common goals, and understanding the fragile nature of critical infrastructure, people are more open to sharing when an incident occurs. The success of this integrated approach depends on leveraging the full spectrum of capabilities, knowledge and experience across the critical infrastructure, community and associated stakeholders. This requires efficient sharing of actionable and relevant information among partners to build situational awareness and enable effective, risk-informed decision-making.
* FEMA: https://training.fema.gov/emiweb/ downloads/is10_unit3.doc
WILLIAM J. POWERS III
William J. Powers is the Director of Facilities at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. Powers oversees the Facilities, Maintenance and Security Departments of the Clark Art. Powers has over 30 years of experience in cultural property protection, starting at the Berkshire Museum in 1981 and coming to the Clark Art Institute in 1995. In addition to being a member of the Board of Directors for International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection (IFCPP), Powers is the Sergeant at Arms for the IFCPP, as well as a Self-Defense and Use of Force expert. He is a certified instructor through the IFCPP and frequently lectures on cultural property protection at cultural facilities and colleges. He was one of the first IFCPP members to host a Regional CIPS Certification Workshop, and continues to contribute valuable assistance to the Foundation. Along with working with the IFCPP, he serves on the awards committee and is an active member on the Cultural Properties Council for ASIS.
Powers has a Master’s Degree in Administration of Justice and Security. Powers also serves as a Captain with the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Department, Uniform Branch, since 1995. He holds a 6th Degree Black Belt in martial arts and a Master Level Teaching Certificate. He is an active member of several national associations, including ASIS International, the American Association of Museums, the National Fire Protection Association, the New England Museum Association, the Association for Facilities Engineering, and the Museum Association Security Committee.
Reposted from Securitas Security Services, USA, Inc.
According to OSHA statistics, slips, trips and falls (STF) are responsible for the majority of nonfatal occupational injuries nationwide. More than half of these injuries result from falls on level surfaces. Keeping an eye out for potential hazards can help create a safe work environment.
Watch Your StepFalls are among the most preventable types of accidents. Preventing slips, trips and falls begins by paying attention to where you step. Avoid multitasking while walking. Watch for obstacles indoors such as clutter, debris, cords, wires crossing the floor, and open file cabinet drawers. Other potential hazards include unexpected changes in the floor level, such as a step up, loose tiles, protrusions from the floor, buckled or torn carpeting and wet flooring or oily surfaces. Obstacles to watch out for while outdoors include curbs, potholes, cracks in the pavement, dips in terrain, stones or debris, as well as weather-related hazards such as muddy areas, snow-covered obstacles, standing water or ice. If a slippery or uneven surface is unavoidable, walk slowly using short shuffling steps. When coming indoors from inclement weather, remember that your boots or shoes are likely to be slippery and floors might have wet spots, a wet carpet or wet door mats. Always wear shoes with slip resistant soles. Maintain a clear field of vision. Avoid carrying a load that blocks your view and walk in well-lit areas. Turn on the lights before entering a room or dark section of a building. Only run if there is an emergency and use available handrails when going up or down stairs, ramps or inclined surfaces. Do not attempt to take more than one step at a time. Walk around hazards, not over them, or take a different route.
Building a Culture of SafetySafety in the workplace extends beyond preventing falls. Maintaining a safe work environment is the responsibility of every employer and employee. The most successful workplace safety programs require a commitment from the entire company.
Everyone is affected when a person has an accident or is injured on the job. The pain and suffering, work disruptions, lost time injuries, and costs from such incidents can also impact families, co-workers and the company, as well as the injured party. This is why it is important to maintain a culture of safety. Always adhering to safe work habits, and never avoiding or ignoring established safety procedures, is part of everyone’s job. The key to staying safe at work is remembering that safety is no accident. “Think Safety First” before starting any task, no matter how familiar it is. If you see someone acting in an unsafe manner, stop and help them consider the potential consequences of their actions. Assist them by explaining a safer way of performing the task.
Keys to Workplace SafetyMaintaining an attitude of safety is a critical part of staying safe on the job. There are six keys to a good safety attitude that can help develop safer work habits.
For more information on this and other security related topics, visit the Securitas Safety Awareness Knowledge Center at: http://www.securitasinc.com/en/knowledge-center/security-and-safety-awareness-tips
Reposted from Total Security Daily Advisor
An unfortunate emerging issue for employers is the rise of workplace shootings. Even courts and judges have taken note in their judicial opinions that workplace violence is increasing. Of course, employees may be exposed to different degrees of violence at work. Workplace shootings are on the extreme end of the spectrum.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics has found that workplace shootings have increased by more than 10% in recent years. As a result, employers should be aware of the risk of workplace shootings and the legal issues involved. You also should adopt a plan and policy to help employees prepare in the event that the worst-case scenario occurs.
Employers have a general duty under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) to maintain a workplace free from serious recognized hazards. The OSH Act was originally motivated by a desire to cut down on the number of workplace deaths caused by industrial accidents and exposure to unsafe working conditions. But the Act addresses many types of hazards.
But even though workplace violence isn’t specifically mentioned in the OSH Act, you shouldn’t ignore the possibility that a tragedy could occur. Remember that you do have a general duty to take actions to help minimize the risk of workplace violence if you recognize that there is a risk.
An employer breaches its general duty to protect employees from workplace hazards if all four of the following factors are true:
Although OSHA recognizes that employers will not be strictly liable for workplace shootings, it has published voluntary guidelines to help you deal with the emerging issue.
OSHA has noted that employers in certain industries, including healthcare providers, social services agencies, late-night retail establishments, and taxi or car services, are at higher risk for violence against their employees. Of course, employers in those industries aren’t the only ones that could be affected by workplace violence, but they should be particularly aware of the risk.
Additionally, some states have adopted laws that impose a higher burden on employers to prevent workplace violence. A few state laws focus specifically on at-risk industries. For example, a Connecticut law requires certain healthcare providers to adopt a response plan for workplace violence, and a Florida law requires convenience stores to install security devices to help decrease safety risks.
While employees who are victims of workplace violence will likely be required to file workers’ compensation claims, customers may be able to sue an employer for negligence when they sustain injuries due to workplace violence.
Negligence is governed by state law. A victim will need to prove the employer owed him a duty of care and it breached that duty. However, an employer may be able to avoid liability by showing the workplace violence was a superseding cause of the customer’s injury and the violence was unforeseeable.
OSHA has published five recommendations to help employers deal effectively with workplace violence. You should ensure your violence prevention plan and your employee handbook address all five elements:
Having a plan in place could help your employees be more prepared if a violent incident occurs. Knowing where to go, whom to call, and what to do could make a huge difference.
Employers should be aware that workplace violence is an increasing phenomenon and adopt a clear policy that addresses the potential if it happens. Having a plan in place for employees to follow can be critical during an emergency. Your policy should include procedures for notifying emergency responders, management, coworkers, and employees’ families. It also should address preventive measures for recognizing and reporting potential threats of workplace violence before they materialize into something more.
Reposted from Pinnacol Assurance
Everyone feels stress. We begin each day with a never-ending to-do list — get the kids to school, go to work, make dinner, drive the soccer carpool and, ugh, did the dog just make a mess on the carpet?
But there’s a difference between everyday stress and stressors so significant they contribute to burnout. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon tied to “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Burnout is a serious on-the-job issue that can lower productivity and, even more worrisome, threaten your employees’ safety.
Nearly 1 million people a day miss work due to stress, according to the American Institute of Stress, and employers lose up to $300 billion each year on stress-related health care and absences. Workers exhibiting high stress are 30% more likely to have an accident, and more than 60% of workplace accidents are stress-related.
Anyone can experience burnout, including your highest-achieving, most-engaged workers. It’s alarmingly common. Nearly two-thirds of employees report feeling burned out frequently or sometimes.
Take the time to learn the signs of burnout and the toll it can take on employees and your workplace, then read on to find out how you can manage employee burnout.
Physical signs of burnout include forgetfulness, headaches, dizziness, insomnia and nagging illnesses. Psychological displays of burnout include:
How can you recognize these symptoms of burnout in your employees? Watch for:
Working too much is a recurring trigger for burnout. Other causes range from feeling powerless on the job to insufficient recognition for achievements to monotonous jobs or chaotic workplaces.
Workplace stress may manifest in serious ways. Short- and long-term health consequences for burned-out employees could include:
Burnout also can affect your workers’ efficiency. Quality of work may decline when a person feels disengaged due to burnout. Production can decrease if a stressed-out employee misses deadlines or makes errors.
Burnout may influence workplace dynamics, too. When a co-worker misses a shift, others may feel pressure to pick up unfinished work. Sometimes people even lash out; 29% of workers say they’ve yelled at a co-worker due to stress, according to an Integra survey.
Presenting realistic expectations for your employees and listening to their concerns may ease symptoms of burnout. You can also try these six steps:
Reposted from KSHB Kansas City
A number of sites across Kansas City, Missouri, were vandalized overnight, including the dedication wall at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, police said.
Kansas City police were searching for two suspects after discovering graffiti on the museum's dedication wall at Pershing Road and Main Street just before 1 a.m. Tuesday.
The person who called police told them he saw two people spray paint "Glory to the fallen" on the monument before running away. The spray-painted message referred to a Peruvian prison massacre that occurred 33 years ago on this day.
"This is Kansas City’s front porch," Matt Naylor, President and CEO of the National WWI Museum and Memorial said. "It’s very disappointing to see people would cause damage here to this memorial."
What took the vandals minutes to spray-paint, took hours to cleanup.
"The pigments and the colors, they’re so bold and it really just stands out in any kind of masonry," Stephen Haith, owner of DSG Equipment and Supplies said.
Haith's company and Mid America Metals donated their time and service to get rid of the graffiti.
Across town, so did Ralph Colangelo who used his own paint to cover the vandals message up at the Calvary Temple Church on Saint John Avenue.
"It’s a bad thing, it’s not right to do that to people who are trying to help you with food and clothing and everything else in the community," Colangelo said.
Pastor Wendell Hamilton told 41 Action News the building vandalized is the church's fellowship hall that hosts bible study classes on Wednesday nights.
"If they were trying to bring attention, vandalism overrides what you’re trying to bestow on folks," Hamilton said.
The suspects also defaced a Truman Medical Center Building at 1800 Truman Road.
A spokesperson for the hospital said cleanup will cost nearly $1,000. The vandals also targeted a vacant building at 30th and Prospect, the bathrooms at Concorde park and the Gladstone Blvd bridge nearby.
"There’s always graffiti under that bridge. Always. Whether it’s ‘Manny loves Lola,’ you know we’re going to pay for it either way," Laura Elsen, a KCMO resident said.
This is the second time in four years vandals have targeted the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
"We welcome protesters, we’re a free-speech campus and the tragedy is that they didn’t need to do damage to the memorial to make their point," Naylor said.
KCPD Chief Rick Smith responded the acts of vandalism in a blog post.
"To desecrate the National World War I Memorial and Museum is both illegal and stupid. It insults the tens of thousands of men who gave their lives so that we might continue to have the right to express our political beliefs," Chief Smith wrote in the post.
Chief Smith added detectives have solid leads as they continue to investigate.
Anyone with information regarding these cases of vandalism is asked contact the TIPS Hotline online or call 816-474-TIPS (8477).
from Tyler Freeman, IFCPP Program Manger
I had the privilege of visiting the D-Day Landing Beaches, with my husband, just a week before the 75th Anniversary of that historic day. What an honor it was to be able to witness the build up to the commemoration events happening in the Normandy region.
We were told before we went to Normandy that the people there have not forgotten who it was that liberated their families from the Nazis. That became apparent as soon as we started getting close to the town of Bayeux, which is the perfect base for visiting the landing sites. We were immediately greeted by as many American flags flying along roadsides and in small towns as you would see here in the U.S. on the 4th of July. As well as many Union Jack and Canadian flags. It was an astounding and emotional site to see, especially being in another country.
On June 6, 1944 more than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and 150,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain and Canada stormed the Nazi-occupied French beaches of Normandy in a surprise attack known as Operation Neptune or D-Day. There were over 209,000 Allied casualties during the entire operation, known as Operation Overlord, of which D-Day was just the beginning. Overlord lasted from June 6 through August 30 and turned the tide of the war.
During our stay in Bayeux we were able to visit many museums and memorials in the area. Starting in the Bayeux itself we visited the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy. The museum is 2,300m² of exhibition space used to present the military operations which took place in the Battle of Normandy during the summer of 1944. It’s a wonderful gateway to the rest of the sites in the area. From there we went to the town of Sainte-Mere Eglise where U.S. paratroopers dropped in during the early morning hours of 6 June. Private John Steele, of the 82nd Airborne Division, was famously caught on the town’s church tower where he hung for two hours pretending to be dead. He was eventually taken prisoner by the Germans but was able to escape and rejoin his unit. There is an effigy of him hanging from the church tower, as well as stained glass windows in the church memorializing the U.S. paratroopers that liberated the town from the Nazis. Also in Sainte-Mere Eglise is The Airborne Museum, which is a French museum dedicated to the memory of paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions of the U.S. Army. The museum has more than 10,000 items, including the CG-4 glider and the C-47 Skytrain. This entire part the experience was especially poignant for us because my husband spent the beginning of his military career in the 82nd Airborne.
From there we traveled on to Utah Beach and its museum. The Utah Beach D-Day Museum is built on the beach where the first American troops landed and around the remains of a German concrete bunker. It chronologically recounts the story from initial preparations to the final success with a collection of objects, vehicles and oral histories. It is also home to one of only six remaining original B26 bombers. Outside you can make a very short hike up to a small hill that has several monuments to the military units that participated in the battle.
We then moved on to the cliff top memorial of Pointe du Hoc. It was the highest point between the American sector landings at Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east. The German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. The cliffs, scaled by the United States Army Ranger Assault Group on the morning of June 6th, 1944, were the only way to infiltrate a German artillery battery that Allied commanders believed could wreck the D-Day invasion. More than a hundred Rangers were killed or wounded during the fighting in and around the guns. There is now a Ranger Monument erected by the French to honor the men that scaled the cliffs.
On the recent 75th Anniversary 100 U.S. Army Rangers reenacted the famous scaling off the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, one of the most famous missions in Ranger history. Veterans of the actual operation were in attendance to observe the cliff scaling.
We next went to see the Omaha Beach memorial, located on the center of Omaha Beach where the worst of the battles took place. It very difficult to picture now, with its wide beautiful expanse of sand, how horrific the events of that day truly were.
Finally, on our D-Day journey we made our way to the Normandy American Cemetery. This is where the most obvious preparation were already being made for the Anniversary events. Construction of a grandstand was underway, as well as a staging area, many ramps, and what appeared to be roof over the Memorial that was already blocked off. Being there, even with the bustle of construction work, was still an emotional but serene experience. This cemetery, on a beautifully green cliff overlooking Omaha Beach, is where some 9,300 men are buried beneath rows of white headstones. It brings in to very bright light the reality of the casualties of not only that war, but all wars.
On the 75th Anniversary officials estimate that about 12,000 people attended the ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery. Along with leaders and dignitaries from The U.S., Britain and France, there were also more than 100 WWII veterans there. On June 7, the cemetery commission also rededicated the visitor center, which has been enhanced with updates and new exhibits.
Throughout the summer of 2019, Normandy will continue to celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day with many exciting activities. A rich and unprecedented program of events has been put together to bring the memory of this tragic period of history to life, while also emphasizing the spirit of hope. The anniversary will be commemorated with military parades, firework displays, airdrops, picnics, concerts and military camp re-enactments.
Having worked with IFCPP for over three years now, I found myself evaluating the security of each site we visited and couldn’t help but think about what our member’s impressions might be.
Reposted from The New York Times
Dakota Reed’s mind brimmed with thoughts of mass murder. In November, he wrote on Facebook, “I am shooting for 30 Jews.”
The next month, he uploaded a video of himself in his bedroom of his mother’s Seattle-area home proudly displaying new gun sights he had mounted on his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. White supremacist propaganda adorned the walls. He said he was “fixing to shoot up” a school.
The F.B.I., which had been investigating the 20-year-old Mr. Reed for about four months, weighed charging him. But federal prosecutors were concerned that the threat was too vague, so the F.B.I. quickly passed the case on to local law enforcement officials, who thought they could build a case under state law. In early December, a detective from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mr. Reed. He pleaded guilty in May to making bomb threats and was sentenced on Tuesday to a year in jail.
The outcome was typical of the limits the F.B.I. faces investigating domestic terrorism cases, roughly defined as violent acts inside the United States intended to intimidate a part of the population. The First Amendment protects hate speech and other activities that might be early indicators of plans to commit violence, keeping agents from investigating or making arrests in many cases. Agents cannot always rely on federal law, unlike in so-called international terrorism cases where statutes were enacted to address the threat after the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead, the F.B.I. often turns to local prosecutors to charge people they are concerned might be planning domestic attacks.
Now with an increase in such attacks in recent years, particularly racially motivated mass shootings in Charleston, S.C.; Pittsburgh; San Diego; and elsewhere that drew heightened attention, a debate has emerged about whether federal law enforcement, in particular the F.B.I., is sufficiently equipped to tackle the problem using existing laws and resources.
“The rise of white supremacy is an undeniable threat,” said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, one of several lawmakers who have voiced concerns about the problem. “As the threat of violent white supremacy continues to mount, we must do more.”
Democrats and others have called on President Trump to forcefully disavow racism and urged his administration to address racist violence, a flash point for him since he said there were “very fine people on both sides” after a man who attended a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 drove his car into a crowd of protesters, killing a woman and injuring others.
While Mr. Trump’s critics have accused him of ignoring the growing problem, the White House made fighting domestic terrorism a priority, adding it to the National Strategy for Counterterrorism. But the challenge for federal law enforcement goes deeper than just needing support from the president’s bully pulpit.
A federal statute defines domestic terrorism but carries no penalties. Some former and current law enforcement officials said in interviews that it was time for Congress to pass a new law aimed at people who commit political violence. But civil rights advocates and many in law enforcement worry that such laws would brush up against the First Amendment or invite government overreach.
“Law enforcement needs more effective tools,” said Mary McCord, a former top national security prosecutor who has drafted a proposed statute to criminalize the stockpiling of weapons intended to be used in a domestic terrorist attack. “I recognize the very legitimate concerns of those in the civil rights community, but I would hope that their concerns could be addressed through oversight.”
After nearly two decades where international terrorism cases, chiefly involving Islamic extremism, seized headlines and garnered more arrests, domestic terrorist attacks have overtaken them in recent years both in terms of arrests and killings, Michael C. McGarrity, the F.B.I.’s top counterterrorism agent, told lawmakers last month.
“Individuals affiliated with racially motivated violent extremism are responsible for the most lethal and violent activity,” he said.
According to the F.B.I., violent domestic extremists carried out six attacks in 2018 that killed 17 people. The previous year, Mr. McGarrity said, eight people died in five attacks. Domestic terrorism-related arrests narrowly outpaced international ones for the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, 66 to 63.
The increase in arrests marks something of a return to the 1990s, when the F.B.I. devoted significant resources to infiltrating and dismantling violent white supremacist and right-wing militia organizations from which lethal terrorists like David Lane and Timothy McVeigh emerged.
The F.B.I. shifted course after the Sept. 11 attacks. Congress passed the Patriot Act, granting substantial powers to the government to fight international terrorism, including electronic surveillance and secret access to bank and library records. Federal investigators began frequently using a charge of material support for terrorism to prosecute Islamic terrorism suspects.
Prosecutors rarely used the charge to arrest far-right, anti-government terrorists, who are primarily white. Civil rights advocates and others have argued that current laws unfairly target racial or religious minorities.
Domestic terrorism became an afterthought at the F.B.I., seen as less prestigious than hunting down members of Al Qaeda. The fast track to top jobs meant spending time in one of the bureau’s two sections devoted to fighting international terrorism.
Eventually, the F.B.I. reorganized its domestic terrorism section in 2013 to more closely resemble the way its agents investigated international terrorism, dividing the country into three regions. Officials described the shift as more of a natural evolution than a response to an event. Among those regions, the F.B.I. has seen an uptick in arrests on the West Coast and Great Lakes, part of a recent trend over the past several years that won the attention of counterterrorism officials.
In his congressional hearing, Mr. McGarrity said the F.B.I.’s counterterrorism division allocated about 20 percent of its resources to counter domestic threats. Out of 4,000 open terrorism cases, about 850 are designated as domestic terrorism.
While Ms. McCord and others have advocated tougher laws, some civil rights advocates and former F.B.I. agents worry that, like after Sept. 11, additional powers could lead to abuses. Human rights advocates have criticized aggressive sting operations, the use of informants and other tools that law enforcement officials have used in international terrorism cases. In some cases, the bureau “may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by conducting sting operations that facilitated or invented the target’s willingness to act,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a comprehensive report in 2014.
“Law enforcement agencies already have the investigative and prosecutorial tools they need, and they should prioritize resources and policies to meaningfully address white supremacist violence,” said Hina Shamsi, a national security expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Adam Lee, the former top F.B.I. agent in Richmond, Va., does not believe a new statute is necessary. He cited laws against hate crimes and racketeering as well as others as adequate for fighting domestic terrorism. “We can hold those groups and people to account most effectively by using the investigative methods we used to break up the mafia and violent street gangs,” Mr. Lee said.
He was in the job when the Rise Above Movement, a group of violent neo-Nazis from California, descended on Charlottesville in 2017. Federal investigators in Los Angeles were tracking the men before they were charged last fall with conspiracy to riot for attacking counterprotesters in Virginia and across California. But in a blow to prosecutors, a federal judge threw out the anti-riot charges against the men on Monday, saying they were “unconstitutionally overbroad in violation of the First Amendment.”
Federal law enforcement officials have had success targeting suspects in cases involving a dangerous mix of speech and violence — but often only after they have unleashed deadly carnage. The white supremacist Dylann S. Roof, who gunned down nine black churchgoers in Charleston in 2015, was convicted of 33 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death, and ultimately sentenced to death.
The following year, three far-right militia members were convicted in federal court of plotting to blow up an apartment complex in Kansas where Somali Muslims lived. They were sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
More recently, the F.B.I. in February arrested Lt. Christopher P. Hasson, an officer in the Coast Guard accused of stockpiling guns and drugs. Prosecutors described him as a domestic terrorist and white nationalist who drew up a list of prominent cable news journalists and Democratic politicians to be killed, saying he was on the cusp of turning his “thoughts into action.” His lawyers argue he did nothing wrong and is being punished for “private thoughts.”
Federal prosecutors have also charged 19-year-old John Earnest in the April shooting at a San Diego synagogue that killed one and wounded three. Before the shooting, he posted a manifesto online, an anti-Semitic screed filled with white nationalist conspiracy theories. He faces dozens of hate-crime charges that carry the death penalty.
Without a punishment for domestic terrorism under federal law, it is impossible to say whether prosecutors could have targeted Mr. Reed under it. He matched the elements in what the F.B.I. calls its domestic terrorism “triangle”: an ideology, the threat of violence and a possible crime.
Mr. Reed, who lived with his mother in the Monroe suburb of Seattle, worked at a Fred Meyer superstore and had no criminal history aside from a 2011 citation as a juvenile for “reckless burning.” But his online presence spoke to a young man fascinated with firearms, white supremacist ideology and violence.
After the Anti-Defamation League alerted the F.B.I. to threatening Facebook posts by seven accounts he ran, agents began monitoring his posts last fall. The F.B.I. and local law enforcement grew alarmed when Mr. Reed vowed to “shoot up a school” and displayed an assault rifle in a room covered in extreme-right iconography. His online accounts showed photographs of an arsenal seemingly in his possession, including three AR-15 rifles, two hunting rifles, a pump-action shotgun and at least one handgun.
The authorities decided to intervene, the threat of school shooting too great. When detectives searched Mr. Reed’s room, they seized a dozen firearms.
Mr. Reed told investigators that his menacing posts were only meant to get attention and that he intended only “to hurt people’s feelings,” citing his First Amendment right to reprehensible speech.
Even after he was released on bail, Mr. Reed railed against the government on Facebook, hinting at violence. He was jailed again. He pleaded guilty on May 10, according to a news report, smiling to reporters after he was led away.
Before his client was sentenced on Tuesday, Mr. Reed’s lawyer, Rick Merrill, said Mr. Reed was remorseful. He was not stockpiling weapons — some of which belonged to family members — for an attack, and he never intended to hurt anyone, Mr. Merrill said.
Superior Court Judge Paul W. Thompson disagreed. “I don’t find this was a mistake,” he said. “This was intentional, offensive, hateful actions that I can only conclude were designed to cause fear in the community.”
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