Senator Collins is blogging from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
This year was the first time I was invited to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. I am speaking as a panelist during three different sessions and have just finished the first one, "Securing Cyberspace." It was interesting being the one political leader on a panel of technical experts, including Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Paul Sagan, who runs Akamai Technologies, an MIT spin-off, Hamadoun Toure, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, and Andre Kydelski, the CEO of a Swiss computer security firm. The panel was moderated by Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard Law professor whose expertise is cybersecurity. We discussed issues ranging from the problem of determining who is really behind a computer attack (the "attribution" problem) to whether an attack on a nation's electric grid would constitute an act of war. We discussed possible legislative and international responses to strengthen cybersecurity.
Microsoft's Craig Mundie emphasized personal responsibility and said that 20 percent of PCs have no security, which allows them to be hijacked and used in attacks on other computers. He advocated that people be "licensed" to operate computers just as we are licensed to drive cars.
The two European panelists advocated greater international cooperation building on the European Convention on CyberCrime.
In the audience was a former U.S. Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, who asked me about the possibility of the Senate passing an international treaty on cybersecurity, if one were to be drafted, or absent that, a cybersecurity bill for the U.S. Our Homeland Security Committee is working on such legislation, but there are many obstacles to overcome.
“Less than one hour. That’s right, less than one hour.
“In fact, just fifty minutes.
“That’s the amount of time that the FBI spent questioning Abdulmutallab, the foreign terrorist who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day.
“Then, he was given a Miranda warning and a lawyer, and, not surprisingly, he stopped talking.
“How did we get to this point? How did the Obama administration decide to treat a foreign terrorist, who had tried to murder hundreds of people, as if he were a common criminal?
“On Christmas Day, the skies above Detroit became a battleground in the War on Terrorism.
“That day the bomb being carried by Abdulmutallab failed to detonate. Thanks to the courageous action of the passengers and crew, nearly 300 lives were saved on the plane and more lives were spared on the ground.
“The government’s security system, a front line in the war against terrorists, failed long before Abdulmutallab boarded his flight to the United States.
“It failed when his visa wasn’t revoked, even though his father had warned our embassy in Nigeria about his son’s ties to Islamic extremists.
“It failed when the intelligence community was unable to connect the dots that would have placed Abdulmutallab on the terrorist watchlist.
“It failed when this terrorist stepped on to the plane in Amsterdam with the same explosive used by the ‘Shoe Bomber,’ Richard Reid, more than 8 years ago.
“But, today, I want to discuss another failure – a failure that occurred after Abdulmutallab had already been detained by authorities in Detroit – an error that undoubtedly prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to our country.
“This failure occurred when the Obama Justice Department unilaterally decided to treat this foreign terrorist as an ordinary criminal.
Abdulmutallab was questioned for less than one hour before the Justice Department advised him that he could remain silent and offered him an attorney at our expense.
“Once afforded the protection our Constitution guarantees American citizens, this foreign terrorist ‘lawyered up’ and stopped talking.
“When the Obama administration decided to treat Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, it did so without the input of our nation’s top intelligence officials.
“The Director of National Intelligence was not consulted.
“The Secretary of Defense was not consulted.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security was not consulted.
“The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center was not consulted.
“They would have explained the importance of gathering all possible intelligence about Yemen, where there is a serious threat from terrorists whose sights are trained on this nation. They would have explained the critical nature of learning all we could from Abdulmutallab. But they were never asked.
“President Obama recently used the phrase that ‘we are at war’ with terrorists. But unfortunately his rhetoric does not match the actions of his administration.
“The Obama administration appears to have a blind spot when it comes to the War on Terrorism.
“And, because of that blindness, this administration cannot see a foreign terrorist even when he stands right in front of them, fresh from an attempt to blow a plane out of the sky on Christmas Day.
“There’s no other way to explain the irresponsible, indeed dangerous, decision on Abdulmutallab’s interrogation. There’s no other way to explain the inconceivable treatment of him as if he were a common criminal.
“This charade must stop. Foreign terrorists are enemy combatants and they must be treated as such. The safety of the American people depends on it.
“I’m Senator Susan Collins from Maine. Thank you for listening.”
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has traditionally prided itself on the fact that "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" can keep its carriers from the "swift completion of their appointed rounds." That is why I was astonished to hear that the USPS is considering reducing mail delivery from six days a week to just five.
Postmaster General John Potter recently made this unexpected recommendation during a hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which I am the ranking member. The purpose of this hearing was to examine the impact of the current economic crisis on the U.S. Postal Service.
There is no doubt that the recession is affecting virtually every sector of our economy, including the postal service. The statistics are alarming. Maine's unemployment rate hit a 16-year high of seven percent at year's end, with widespread job losses in the retail, forest products, construction, boatbuilding, publishing, and hospitality industries.
This year was the first time I was invited to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. I am speaking as a panelist during three different sessions and have just finished the first one, "Securing Cyberspace." It was interesting being the one political leader on a panel of technical experts, including Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Paul Sagan, who runs Akamai Technologies, an MIT spin-off, Hamadoun Toure, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, and Andre Kydelski, the CEO of a Swiss computer security firm. The panel was moderated by Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard Law professor whose expertise is cybersecurity.
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