The Transportation Security Administration, a universally loathed government agency, is facing a shortfall, despite its more than $8 billion budget. Instead of having a debate over what effective airport security might actually look like and how much should reasonably be spent on the honestly rare threat of commercial-air-travel-based terrorism, there was a debate over how best to come up with the money needed for all the radioactive naked picture machines and bomb-sniffing dogs. The Democrats suggested passing on the cost of ineffective, cumbersome and intrusive security theater to citizens, via higher fees on airfares. The Republicans, even more predictably, suggested cutting spending that directly helps poor people to ensure there is enough to spend on stopping imaginary future 9/11s.

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Yet warning signs abound that 2012 will be another year in which, in the name of national security, those rights and liberties are only further Guantanamo-ized and abridged. Most notably, for example, despite the fact that genuinely dangerous enemies continue to exist abroad, there is now a new enemy in our sights: namely, American oppositional types and whistleblowers who are charged as little short of traitors for revealing the workings of our government to journalists and others.

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The story in the earlier article was that our sprawling intelligence and national security apparatus was caught off-guard by social media-fueled uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, and that they were going to take steps to be better prepared in the future.

DHS Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the department was still trying to figure out how to use Twitter and Facebook information for law enforcement purposes. And they seem to be starting completely from scratch:

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As he shopped for a children's watch inside the sprawling Mall of America, two security guards approached and began questioning him. Although he was not accused of wrongdoing, the guards filed a confidential report about Kleinerman that was forwarded to local police.

The reason: Guards thought he might pose a threat because he had been looking at them in a suspicious way.

Najam Qureshi, owner of a kiosk that sold items from his native Pakistan, also had his own experience with authorities after his father left a cellphone on a table in the food court.

The consequence: An FBI agent showed up at the family's home, asking if they knew anyone who might want to hurt the United States.

Mall of America officials say their security unit stops and questions on average up to 1,200 people each year. With 4.2 million square feet under one roof, the two-decade-old mall is a monument to suburban shopping and entertainment. Nearly 100,000 people from around the world pass through on a given day.

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That $5,000 figure was unearthed by a public records request filed by Rapid City Journal reporter David Montgomery. Shoebat is an evangelical Christian whose website describes him as a "former PLO terrorist [who] now speaks out for USA and Israel."

However, as Hussein Ibish and others have documented, Shoebat's claims about his past are largely unsubstantiated, down to whether his real name is really Walid Shoebat. He, for example, claims that, in his Islamic extremist days in the 1970s, he threw at a bomb at a Bethlehem bank. But the bank says it never happened, and there are no news reports of any such terrorist attack. Surveying Shoebat's history of questionable claims, Ibish concludes that he is a "shameless fraud."

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To this day, even while he's taking a hard line against Muslim terrorism, King still describes the IRA as a "legitimate force." (At the same time, King wants to brand WikiLeaks' Julian Assange a terrorist.)

At least one victim of an IRA attack has called out King for his "hypocrisy." So, for the sake of the record, we thought it would be worth collecting a few of King's more striking quotes about the IRA when its campaign of terrorism was in full force. None of this is to say that terrorism is not a complex issue that deserves to be considered in a nuanced way. But now that King is chairman of the Homeland Security committee and taking the lead looking at terrorism, it's worth knowing his history.

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Dearborn police Chief Ronald Haddad said Sunday that authorities believe Roger Stockham was acting alone in the plot against one of the nation's largest mosques but still take him "very seriously." He was arraigned Wednesday on one count of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent.

Stockham had a large but undisclosed quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, Haddad said.

"I was comfortable with the fact that we had taken him off the street -- he isn't going anywhere," Haddad said. "I think the society he wanted to impact is safe."

Haddad said Stockham was arrested the evening of Jan. 24 in the parking lot of Islamic Center of America, while a large group was gathered inside. He said police received a 911 call from a resident.

He said Stockham has "a long history of anti-government activities," though he declined to elaborate.

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But King is now facing criticism from an unlikely source: the self-described "anti-jihadist" writers who make their living by crusading against Islam and would be expected to be King's biggest supporters. As blogger Pamela Geller (of "ground zero mosque" fame) wrote in the American Thinker last week: 

Methinks Representative King is a wee bit in over his head. I am filled with dread and sorrow at another lost opportunity. Doesn't King know he is going to be smeared and defamed for these hearings no matter what? So why not achieve something? Why not have the courage of your convictions?

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The CBC recently reported the tragic story: A Canadian woman, by the near-symmetrical name of Lind Bird, was driving across the U.S. border when she was stopped for a random search, which randomly turned up the most randomly illegal contraband of all time -- a chocolate egg-toy that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined is a clear and present danger out to choke American children. The border patrol officer threatened a $300 fine, Ms. Bird politely gave up the Kinder Surprise, and, after an extended hassle including signing off on a seven-page letter authorizing U.S. authorities to destroy (read: snack on) the confiscated goods, she tried to pick up the pieces and get on with her life, scarred by a government that has that kind of time and money to throw around, but not enough resources for universal healthcare.

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They're on horseback and all-terrain vehicles searching rugged, hard-to-reach spots in a mountainous area just north of Nogales in southeastern Arizona. They're also in patrol cars searching the perimeter.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, whose deputies are helping in the search, says they'll keep at it until the suspect is caught or they're sure he's gone for good.

Brian A. Terry was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of Nogales late Tuesday when the gunbattle erupted and he was killed. Four suspects are in custody.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A shootout between border patrol agents and bandits near Arizona's troubled boundary with Mexico has left one American agent dead and a suspect wounded, a union leader says.

The clash Tuesday night came after agents spotted suspected bandits known for targeting illegal immigrants along a violent smuggling corridor in the Arizona desert, National Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner said.

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The new rules come after counterterrorism officials thwarted a terror plot last month that shipped bombs hidden inside printers in packages bound on aircraft from Yemen to the U.S.

Immediately after officials learned of the plot, the U.S. ordered a temporary ban on all cargo from Yemen. Monday's announcement extends that ban to Somalia, where intelligence officials believe terrorists are actively plotting attacks against the U.S.

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Martin Broughton complained specifically about separate checks of laptop computers and forcing people to take off their shoes for checking, saying that such measures are "completely redundant," the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Broughton aired his complaint Tuesday at the annual conference of the U.K. Airport Operators Association. British Airways said the report was accurate, but it does not have a text of the chairman's remarks.

"America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do," Broughton was quoted as saying.

"We shouldn't stand for that. We should say, 'We'll only do things which we consider to be essential and that you Americans also consider essential.'"

Broughton added that British authorities should not "kowtow to the Americans every time they wanted something done."

"We all know there's quite a number of elements in the security program which are completely redundant and they should be sort out," he was quoted as saying.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld a law that can put you in jail for the "crime" of advocating lawful, nonviolent activity, if the government decides that your advocacy is somehow helping a group the government declares is engaging in terrorism. Authoritarian right wingers reading this may be pleased to hear that Jimmy Carter could be a criminal under this ruling. They should also be thrilled to know that the Obama administration fought hard for this ruling, and that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, as solicitor general, argued for this gross encroachment on free speech and the First Amendment.

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On his show Wednesday, Beck tried to puzzle out the political meaning of the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Alleged shooter James Von Brunn, Beck said, is “a lone gunman nutjob.” Fair enough. “You're going to see a lot of nutjobs coming out of the woodwork now.” Uh-oh. Scarier still, all of our enemies may be working together. “They'd like to destroy us and they will work with anyone,” Beck says ominously.

You see, crazed militants, whether Islamists or white supremacists like Von Brunn, are responding to increasing “pressure.” Beck doesn’t excuse political violence, but he does see a cause. Several, actually. “It's the economy, it is political correctness, it's corruption in Washington, it's the militant Islam. It's all of these things.”

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To be clear, the report isn't really what the right believes it is. To begin with, the idea for it didn't come from the Obama administration -- it was prepared by an office still headed by a man appointed to his post by former President Bush. And it doesn't demonize mainstream conservatives, or veterans, in the way that some pundits on the right say it does, though it is true that some of the language used could have been much more precise. In the case of veterans, the analysis simply points out, "Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities."

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The intelligence assessment, which is being provided to federal, state and local law enforcement, notes that DHS "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." But it does say there may be a new wave of recruitment into extremist groups, as "the economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment."

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But perhaps because of his cozy ties to the Washington press corps and the media's obsession with Plamegate, very little has been written about Armitage's extensive business dealings. In fact, Armitage is one of the most successful capitalists in Washington. He has successfully parlayed his experience in covert operations and secret diplomacy into a thriving career as a consultant and adviser to some of the biggest players in America's Intelligence Industrial Complex -- corporations that are working at the heart of U.S. national security and profiting handsomely from it.

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In a scathing letter sent today to Dr. Howard Frumkin, chief of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Reps. Brad Miller, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, and Nick Lampson, chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, wrote, "you appear to have been complicit in giving FEMA precisely what they wanted ... However what FEMA wanted and what you approved giving them was not the whole truth regarding formaldehyde. It was not based on 'best science,' nor did it provide 'trusted health information' to the Katrina survivors." FEMA and ATSDR officials are expected to testify Tuesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security, which is also investigating the matter.

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Well, not all.

CNN is reporting that Bush will likely nominate Michael Chertoff to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and Clay Johnson III to replace Chertoff as the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Who's Clay Johnson III? As Think Progress reports, Johnson is a prep club pal of the president's who served as his chief of staff back in Texas. As the New York Times reported earlier this year, Johnson is so devoted to the president that he keeps a George W. Bush doll on his desk.

Johnson, who say he finds it "incredible" that people could think Bush has lied about anything, is currently the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. His homeland security experience? As far as we can tell, he has exactly none.

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Every canoe trip has a self-appointed Master Woodsman. In civilian life he may be a mild-mannered clerk in a cubicle, but out on the trail he is transformed into the song leader, pathfinder, the great helmsman, the tier of correct knots, and the authority on bears. He shows you how to do everything except the things you really need to do, such as 1) move your bowels in some dignified manner and 2) get out of here and find a hotel. Your body aches from sleeping on the ground, your bowels have turned to stone, and you are thinking about "Lord of the Flies" and what it says about the fragility of civilization, but he is relentlessly upbeat. And then it dawns on you: Your suffering is what turns him on. The man is a sadist.

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