Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
Steve, thanks for catching this (Ken must be napping), I didn't mean to write it this way, so I added "doesn't".
Just to clarify, I did not mean that offense must be / is always military. Quite the contrary, offense can mean to disrupt, delay, argue as well as to attack or assault and offensive effort can be active or passive; action or stasis. It can be by military, LE, Intel or Diplomatic or other elements; it can be overt, covert or clandestine or a blend of any or all those three.

It is my belief that all those many variations and more must be used, that we are capable of using a multitude of methods and only lack political will all too often.
I think it is pretty clear why Yemen is moving to the front and center for media attention is because the threat appears new (news)...
That and the fact that the media is largely clueless...
A combination of well trained and motivated security personnel enabled with effective technology is the only acceptable combination for the wealthiest nation on the planet. We have mis-spent billions attempting to develop foreign security forces (I say mis-spent because the efforts are often ineffective), while leaving our home front under invested in.
I agree with your last point insofar as the waste on foreign security forces. I do not agree with your implication that more money spent on our own border security is necessary or even desirable.

We've spent plenty -- we've just wasted much of it because there too our efforts are often ineffective. Forty Billion bucks on TSA has accomplished little. Customs and Border Protection has a number of problems. Training is in some cases marginal at best and there are political and psychological constraints that impact border and travel security and the personnel responsible for that security. Congress is unwilling to make the hard choices and the various Administrations have been unable to convince them of the need to do so.

This nation is too large, too diverse, too committed to individuality and our political process is too discombobulated for us to EVER be 'secure.' That's not all bad -- if the government would just stop trying to be Big Brother and stop treating the populace as a bunch of incompetents, life would be better. Flying commercial might even get to be fairly easy and enjoyable once again...