Monitoring the Changes in the Red Zone

In 2011 the world has witnessed some unpredictable changes due to the collapse of regimes that for years have maintained their people under the hammer and oppression to deliberately put them under submission while the elite and selected families in power enjoyed lavish lifestyles for many decades.
As President John F. Kennedy said, “change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” Hopefully this may alert the intelligence community and disregard any comfortable or misleading believe that the red zone will change for good. The monitoring must prevail in observance for the characteristics of each individual transition of power like in Tunisia, the most modern and European-like lifestyle nation in North Africa where the people could not take more abuse from the 23 years in power of President Ben Ali, in Egypt where President Hosni Mubarak had no other choice but to step down from the golden chair he sat for 30 years, in Libya where President Muamar Q’adhafi ruled for 42 years, and currently happening in Yemen where after 33 years of ruling tens of thousands of protesters denounced the promise of immunity from prosecution given to President Saleh while intending to transfer the power to his vice-president. We cannot miss the future and what the future has for the world peace without these cancerous leaders of oppression, abuse and dictatorship.
The influence of Islamic organizations is not going to stop to deter any Western model of government to interrupt the religious beliefs in the region. The American intelligence community must pay close attention and understand that the Islamic support to Al Q’aeda in the Arabian Peninsula will continue regardless of who is in power. Similar struggles from the people under a totalitarian regime is happening also in Syria, where the regime of Basahr al-Assad is under the microscope of the Arab League due to his lack of cooperation to allow observers in Damascus, the capital, to pull forces from different cities as the nation experiences economic sanctions at the same time. New faces will come and new abuses will persist; the new leaders will welcome international eyes to make them believe of a new start and fresh agenda for the well being of their masses, however the adherence to Islamic doctrine and mandates cannot change and will not change. The Western hemisphere will continue to be the target of attacks as well as its own interests around the world.
The American intelligence community should expect a very busy 2012 with the existence of a radical Islamic nation of Iran that will remain strong in defeating the United States, and that no agreements or productive relationships can be reached as long as we stand by the state of Israel. A new sleeping-lion observes our drowning in economic power, which China is ready to awake and intelligently step on our toes to crumble our financial institutions; North Korea will continue to express their ambition for nuclear superiority, while India will continue to generate income at a high speed rates. We always tend to believe that Pakistan was our allied and some politicians will continue to think the same even though some of them will never recognize they were wrong; Pakistan has always been a key piece in Al Q’aeda movements and production of terrorist in hidden training camps. Osama bin Laden found refuge in Pakistan and died in it. Immediate HUMINT and SIGINT operations are needed in the border with Mexico, which has lately become a funnel for people from the Middle East, something that never was known or never happened. Our borders are critical as well as our ports; strengthening the security in our ports of entry cannot be limited to closing only our doors but our windows as well. Border patrol in the southern part of the country is not near 100% effective and terrorist organizations are aware of it and they count with the support of drug cartels in the region.
The hammering and oppression of people by dictatorships may take a slightly turn in years to come as new governments make take a more modern approach to conduct business to their favor. However, the threat to the United States will persist until the end of days; we just need to be one step ahead and not be blinded by any upcoming changes or new peace treaties signed, which in the red zone mean nothing. Our borders need to be secured and training and quality of personnel should be first priority instead of creating new departments and filling it with bodies to presume effectiveness. Getting our law enforcement agencies involved in the collection of intelligence information from the streets in regard to suspicious elements or activities that may lead to terrorist business is imperative. Law enforcement are already on the streets of America, they just need to be trained in how to operate, observe, and collect certain data without making them a terrorism experts. We need to utilize our resources more effectively because the threat will affect America. We have a critical agenda to cover next year; we do not have the time to look at the past or present; we must concentrate in the future.