National Security Inc. – Washington Post Special

This article / “project” by the Washington Post is well worth a read. A small excerpt:
The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

Click here for the WaPo’s profile on the TSA.

The profile the WaPo has compiled on the numerous agencies is impressive, compiling the various branches of intelligence agencies into an easy to read chart (very colorfultoo, you have to give them that). From their section on the TSA:

TSA employs a risk-based strategy to secure U.S. transportation systems, working closely with stakeholders in aviation, rail, transit, highway and pipeline sectors, as well as the partners in the law enforcement and intelligence community. Today, about 48,000 transportation security officers serve on TSA’s front line in 457 U.S. airports. They use their training and experience to screen about 2 million people a day.

There’s a wide array of agencies, but the most active one is by far PACOM, which involves itself in everything except weapons tech. About PACOM;

The U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) was established as a unified command on Jan. 1, 1947, and is the oldest and largest of the U.S. unified commands, incorporating the former Far East Command and much of the Alaskan Command. Added responsibilities were assigned on Jan. 1, 1972, for military forces and elements in the Indian Ocean, Southern Asia and the Arctic and the area of responsibility was further expanded May 1, 1976, to the east coast of Africa.
More about PACOM.

An interesting point is that they seem to have missed the DSS. That’s not uncommon, but it’s a little strange given the scope of this article series.

Commentary on the WaPo’s series on the US’s secret geography can be found in a lot of places by now – here are a few that we found very interesting;

– Newsweek
– The Nation
– NYTimes “At War” blog