Podcasts about homeland security center

Gina Ligon, Director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center, a department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence based at the University of Nebraska Omaha, spoke to Newsline with Brigitte Quinn about the hostage situation in Gaza.

Gina Ligon, Director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center, a department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence based at the University of Nebraska Omaha, joins Newsline with Brigitte Quinn to talk about how terror threats have evolved since 9/11 and the U.S. approach to security.

3.29.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: MS Rolling Fork Devastation, Chris Christie v. Trump, VA Irvo Otieno Funeral, SC Hate Crime Bill The town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, was hit by a deadly tornado on Friday that claimed 25 lives across the state. We will speak with the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships Director about the continued recovery efforts and how the public can pitch in to help. After a failed presidential run in 2016, Ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thinks he can be the next president in 2024. Now he is saying Trump's Presidential run isn't ending well. I will show you what he said and remind Christie about the last time he and I had a conversation about presidential elections, which didn't end well for him. The funeral and memorial service for Irvo Otieno took place in Virginia this morning. We will show you what Otieno's Family Attorney, Ben Crump, said at the service and how the family continues fighting for Justice. Also, a new video was released showing the hours that led up to Otieno's death. We will show you the security footage contradicting what deputies reported about Otieno's behavior. In our tech talk segment, We will speak about an eLearning platform revolutionizing how people learn. The CEOs of Skilldora will explain how they make learning more interactive and personalized through cutting-edge technology. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the current risks to our national and global food security? How do cyber-attacks play a role? What are the conflicts in the grain industry that prevent us from moving forward? Dr. Molly Jahn and Col. John Hoffman, two of the most sought-after food security experts in the world, provide their recommendations for real solutions to this growing problem.  About the guests: Dr. Molly Jahn is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she holds appointments in the Department of Agronomy, the Nelson Institute, and the Global Health Institute. She is currently on an interagency personnel agreement from UW-Madison to work as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). She is also appointed Joint Faculty at the US Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where she chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate and sits on the Lab Director's SAC.  Col. John T. Hoffman is a senior research fellow with the Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence at the University of Minnesota. Col. Hoffman has extensive experience in developing, operating, hardening and sustaining extensive cyber systems.  Episode topics: Current global food security measuresImplications of cyber threats on food securityCyber-attack preparedness and current limitationsAction steps for the grain industryTo find more helpful resources, be sure to visit the GEAPS website and the membership page.   Grain Elevator and Processing Society champions, connects and serves the global grain industry and its members. Be sure to visit GEAPS' website to learn how you can grow your network, support your personal professional development, and advance your career. Thank you for listening to another episode of GEAPS' Whole Grain podcast.

9.30.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Hurricane Ian, Justice Jackson's 1st SCOTUS Debut, White NC Sheriff Black Rant, HBCU Pilot Pipeline The first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has her Investiture ceremony, taking the Judicial Oath. Hurricane Ian is barreling through South Carolina and is likely the largest natural disaster in Florida's history.  We'll talk to the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships director about what the government is doing to assist the millions affected by this storm.  A black man walking dogs in a park is suing the U.S. Park Service for a wrongful arrest. A North Carolina Sheriff resigns today after audio of him describing black employees as "bastards." And a Michigan Republican running for state representative asks a black family why they're wearing face masks during a pandemic while Democrats are [pushing the killing of Black babies by supporting abortion rights.  Yeah, we'll show you how he describes the encounter.  I'll talk to the sister running for Florida Congressional 26th District.  That's one of the districts the Republicans restructured. And in today's Education Matters, an HBCU wants to be the pilot pipeline for U.S. airlines.    Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ roland@rolandsmartin.com Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox

With over 30 years of experience in investigations, audits, and inspections, Anthony Amore is the perfect candidate to run for the Massachusetts State Auditor seat. He is an art theft expert and investigator, and as a security practitioner, Anthony has served as the Chief Investigator and Director of Security for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum since 2005. Anthony was instrumental in the efforts of the newly formed TSA following 9/11, particularly serving on the leadership team that rebuilt security at the Logan Airport in Boston. Anthony is also the author of three best-selling books, including the New York Times Crime Best Seller: The Art of the Con, which breaks down the high-value fraud schemes plaguing the art world. Additionally, Anthony serves as an Instructor at Harvard University's Division of Continuing Education and offers volunteer services on advisory boards for the non-profit organization, Ideas Beyond Borders as well as Northeastern University's Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Anthony joins me today to discuss what inspired him to run for the Massachusetts State Auditor seat. We discuss why running for the State Auditor position is different from running for other political positions and why voters should elect State Auditors based on the candidate's experience instead of their party alignment. We discuss the two primary roles of a State Auditor, the issues Anthony is most passionate about, and the primary issues he plans to focus on if elected into office. We also discuss how Anthony is connecting with diverse audiences on the campaign trail and his plans to keep his focus on serving Massachusetts' taxpayers instead of the political landscape. “An Auditor should be an honest broker; an independent - not in terms of party enrollment necessarily, but in terms of attitude and philosophy when you're performing the work of the Auditor.” - Anthony Amore This week on Political Contessa: Why Anthony chose to run for the State Auditor seat in Massachusetts How running for State Auditor is different than other political campaigns Voting for the most experienced candidate The two primary roles of State Auditors Anthony's primary objectives that he will focus on if elected to office How Anthony is connecting with diverse audiences while campaigning Anthony's passion for serving Massachusetts' taxpayers Connect with Anthony Amore: Anthony Amore for Auditor Book: Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists Book: The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World Book: The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist Anthony Amore for Auditor on YouTube Anthony Amore for Auditor on Instagram Anthony Amore for Auditor on Facebook Anthony Amore for Auditor on Twitter Anthony Amore on LinkedIn Awaken Your Inner Political Contessa Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Political Contessa. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Spotify I Stitcher I Apple Podcasts I iHeart Radio I TuneIn I Google Podcasts Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media. And if you've ever considered running for office – or know a woman who should – head over to politicalcontessa.com to grab my quick guide, Secrets from the Campaign Trail. It will show you five signs to tell you you're ready to enter the political arena.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this podcast episode, the discussion focuses on a  report funded by the University of Houston's Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute, A Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence called Mexican and Northern Triangle Perspectives on Mass Migration: Identifying and Assessing Strategic Narrative Alignment, which was conducted by a research team, including  Dr. Skye Cooley, an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication and Strategic Communication at Oklahoma State University, Dr. Asya Cooley, an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication at Oklahoma State University, Dr. Robert Hinck, an Assistant Professor of leadership at Air University, and Dr. Jared Johnson an Associate Professor at the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University

One of the most insidious and disturbing crimes are those committed against children and other vulnerable populations. It is so important that we understand the precursors to these crimes and what we can do to prevent them from occurring. Additionally, we need to understand what these crimes look like in our homes, in the street, and how we contact law enforcement. In Episode 64 Austin Berrier and I talk about this difficult topic, his role as a Special Agent dealing with crimes against children and how pervasive this form of criminal activity has become. This is an uncomfortable topic but one that must be addressed head on, I hope you learn something of value. Thanks for listening! A little about our guest: Austin Berrier has been a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) since January 2003.  Special Agent Berrier has been assigned to both the Los Angeles, California and Phoenix, Arizona field offices.  During his time with HSI Special Agent Berrier has investigated commercial fraud, maritime smuggling, contraband smuggling and criminal street gangs.  He has been assigned to Crimes Against Children since January 2009.  During that time Special Agent Berrier has conducted both traditional and undercover online investigations across a broad spectrum of platforms such as peer-to-peer, social media, file-sharing and live-streaming platforms.  Special Agent Berrier is a recipient of the 2018 Assistant Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for Project Mercury, a 3 ½ year online undercover investigation that has led to the arrest and/or indictment of over 200 child predators globally, the identification of over two dozen victims of contact abuse and the safeguarding of nearly 6o additional children prior to abuse occurring. Special Agent Berrier has presented and instructed both within the U.S. as well as Internationally in Canada and at EUROPOL and INTERPOL.  Prior to his employment with the U.S. Government, Special Agent Berrier spent five years in municipal policing with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office and four years as Military Policemen in the United States Marine Corps assigned to Security Company, HMX-1 (Marine One), Presidential Helicopter Squadron.   Other resources for interested listeners:   National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) https://www.missingkids.org/HOME   United Stated Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (DOJ-CEOS) https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos   Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crime Center (HSI-C3) https://www.ice.gov/partnerships-centers/cyber-crimes-center   Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking https://www.ice.gov/features/ccht       _____________________   You can find the Fireground Fitness podcast wherever great podcasts are located. So, search it out and subscribe. Your feedback is powerful, and greatly appreciated. Go to apple podcasts, subscribe, rate and review the podcast or shoot me an email! If you would like to contact today's guest... in: Austin Berrier Austin J. Berrier, Jr. Special Agent Homeland Security Investigations - Phoenix 3010 N. 2nd St., Suite 201 Phoenix AZ, 85012 602.391.8677 Austin.Berrier@ice.dhs.gov Your host can be reached at: IG: @firegroundfitness FB: @fireground fitness Twitter: @firegroundfit Email: raynegray@firegroundfitness.com  

Pete Simi, PhD, joins host Lorenzo Norris, MD, to discuss some of the factors that lead people to join hate groups, and strategies that have enabled some to leave the life of extremism behind. Dr. Simi, associate professor of sociology at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., has studied extremist groups and violence for more than 20 years. His research has received external funding from the National Institute of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation. Dr. Norris is associate dean of student affairs and administration at George Washington University, Washington. Dr. Norris has no disclosures. Take-home points Dr. Simi discusses how many of the White supremacists he studied live mundane, ordinary lives organized around extremist, violent beliefs. These individuals may be socialized in early life through exposure to beliefs consistent with White supremacy, such as racist ideas, slurs, and jokes, but they are not usually raised within a White supremacist family. The biggest challenge of leaving White supremacy is finding a new overarching identity, which ultimately requires redefining one’s emotional habits when it comes to engaging with society. White supremacist programming not only includes hateful beliefs but an emotional orientation that influences how an individual interprets the world around them. White supremacist violence and terrorism have long been a U.S. problem, and Dr. Simi said his awareness of the problem grew after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Dr. Simi hopes that, through research and initiatives, the United States will address the root causes of White supremacist beliefs rather than focus on specific groups. Summary Dr. Simi first started studying White supremacists by evaluating their engagement on early Internet forums. Eventually, he made contact with a group that allowed him to observe their daily lives, including staying in their homes and attending collective events, such as music festivals. More recently, he has been evaluating and researching individuals who leave the White supremacist movement. As with many individuals who find solace in extremist groups, the childhood and adolescence of those who become White supremacists usually contain adverse childhood experiences and instability, such as physical and emotional abuse, and substance use in the home. These events cultivate vulnerability to White supremacy, because these adolescents and young adults are searching for a stabilizing force. In the Internet age, it’s much easier for vulnerable individuals to have chance encounters with extremist groups and beliefs, and even brief exposures are an opportunity for some to be recruited into White supremacist groups. A selling point of White supremacy is the sense of “fellowship” and “family,” which is attractive for individuals who feel disillusioned and isolated from society at large. In Dr. Simi’s research, half of his sample participants of White supremacists reported mental health diagnoses and similarly high rates of suicidal ideation. Mental illness is not an excuse for the behaviors and beliefs, but an example of another vulnerability that makes these individuals susceptible to strong support groups that often hold extremist beliefs. References Simi P et al. Am Sociol Rev. 2017 Aug 29. doi: 10.1177/00031224177282719. Bubolz BF and Simi P. Am Behav Sci. 2019. doi: 10.1177/0002764219831746. Simi P et al. J Res Crime Delinquency. 2016. doi: 10.1177/002242781567312. Windisch S et al. Terrorism Polit Violence. 2020. doi: 10.1080/09546553.2020.1767604. Ask a researcher: Pete Simi. What domestic groups pose the largest threats? University of Nebraska, Omaha. 2021 Jan 14. National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. McDonald-Gibson C. ‘Right now, people are pretty fragile.’ How coronavirus creates the perfect breeding ground for online extremism. Time. 2020 Mar 26. Garcia-Navarro L. Masculinity and U.S. extremism: What makes young men vulnerable to toxic ideologies. NPR. 2019 Jan 27. Life After Hate. Larry King Now. 2019 Jan 23. *  *  * Show notes by Jacqueline Posada, MD, associate producer of the Psychcast; assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University, Washington; and staff physician at George Washington Medical Faculty Associates, also in Washington. Dr. Posada has no conflicts of interest. For more MDedge Podcasts, go to mdedge.com/podcasts Email the show: podcasts@mdedge.com

I spoke with Vincent B. Davis, Founder of Preparedness Matters Consulting and serves as Director of Disaster Services for Feeding America. Prior to joining Feeding America in January 2020, he served as workplace resiliency manager at Amazon, where he developed disaster frameworks to support the company’s 175 corporate offices. Before joining Amazon, Vince was senior preparedness manager for Sony PlayStation in San Diego, and manager of preparedness and response at Walgreens Co., where he developed disaster programs for their 8,600 U.S. stores and distribution facilities. Following a distinguished 23-year career in the U.S. Air Force and Illinois National Guard, Vince served as external affairs and community relations officer at FEMA, managing field teams for 11 Presidential disasters including the Utica Illinois Tornado, and Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. After leaving FEMA Vince served as regional preparedness manager for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, where he led research and development of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning Go To 2040 Report on Emergency Preparedness, a 30-year planning effort to improve community disaster resilience. Vince was principal developer of the FEMA Regional Catastrophic Incident Coordination Plan for Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a plan for mass care of a million residents of the Chicagoland region. Vince is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), conferred by the International Association of Emergency Managers. In 2019, he completed the FEMA National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (NEMAA) for senior leaders, becoming one of the first group of 473 emergency managers nationally to graduate from the program. A passionate advocate for disaster literacy and underserved community preparedness, Vince has authored three books, Lost and Turned Out, A Guide to Preparing Underserved Communities for Disasters (Amazon 2012), and The Native Family Disaster Preparedness Handbook (Heritage Publishing 2017), and the Emergency Guidebook for Broadcasters Serving Indian Country in collaboration with Native Public Media. He has worked with numerous organizations as a consultant, mentor, and contributor to improve outcomes for underserved populations in disasters worldwide. Vince is a lifetime member of the Black Emergency Managers Association International (BEMA), an Advisory Board Member for the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM), Honorary Chair for the International Council for Women’s Leadership in Emergency Management and Business Continuity (ICWL), and Advisory Board member for the Homeland Security Center of Excellence, Piece College, Washington. We spoke about his recent open letter to the nominated Administrator for FEMA, Deanne Criswell (current Commissioner of NYC's Emergency Management Department) about the need for equity, diversity, and inclusion, how to meaningfully engage communities of color and marginalized communities in emergency preparedness and management, why we need to focus on community preparedness, and how we might address issues with the inequities wrought by the COVID-19 response. Mr. Davis’ open letter to nominated Deanne Criswell: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vbdavis_an-open-letter-to-fema-administrator-deanne-activity-6757299215191408640-Ikdc Citations on health inequities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/ Chart of hierarchy of systemic areas to address: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/bin/img-130.jpg Original research with the data https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4322 Why I Became An Anti-Disaster Kit Advocate http://www.preparednessmatters.net/blog/why-i-became-an-anti-disaster-kit-advocate

In the 34th episode of Battle Rhythm, Stef and Steve discuss the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power. This week we have a new segment called ‘ask an expert' where an expert will answer a question they are frequently asked, this week Victor Asal is answering ‘What are effective ways to teach about political violence?' [18:20]. Our feature interview guest is Dr. Barbara Perry [25:20], Director for the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. This week's RnR segment [40:30], where we will provide some levity in these trying times with entertainment reviews and suggestions; Steve's RnR picks for the week are: 1. Get Duked (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9735758/) 2. Bridging the Theory-Practice divide (http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/bridging-theory-practice-divide-international-relations) 3. Lovecraft Country (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6905686/) Battle Rhythm is part of the CGAI Podcast Network, a partner of the CDSN-RCDS, © 2020, all rights reserved. Subscribe to the CGAI Podcast Network on SoundCloud, iTunes, or wherever else you can find Podcasts! Guest Biographies: Dr. Victor Asal is the Director of the Centre for Policy Research and a policy Professor at the University of Albany. Dr. Asal is also involved with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Dr. Asal's research is focused on the various types of violence by nonstate organizational actors and the causes that lead to political discrimination by states against different groups such as sexual minorities, women and ethnic groups. Dr. Barbara Perry is the Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism and a Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Dr. Perry has vast knowledge in the areas of right-wing extremism and hate crime and has written extensively on these areas. She has also published books on the Native American victimization and social control, including The Silent Victims: Native American Victims of Hate Crime, and Policing Race and Place: Under- and Over-enforcement in Indian Country. Dr. Perry continues to focus on the areas of hate crime and right wing extremism, continuing to contribute to the limited scholarship in these areas in Canada. Host Biographies: -Stéfanie von Hlatky: Associate Professor of political studies at Queen's University and the former Director of the Queen's Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP). Her research focuses on NATO, armed forces, military interventions, and defence policy. Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. -Stephen M. Saideman: Paterson Chair in International Affairs, as well as Director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network – Réseau Canadien Sur La Défense et la Sécurité, and Professor of International Affairs at Carleton University. Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Find detailed show notes here: www.cdsn-rcds.com/battlerhythm

How the recent surge in teleworking has effected cybersecurity with Randall (Randy) Sandone, CCISO, CIRI Executive Director a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e84

Marcus Coleman is a Senior Associate at HWC Inc., where he supports emergency management and resilience projects that promote individual and community level actions to reduce risks against disasters.From 2013 – 2018, Marcus led the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith & Opportunity Initiatives (formerly the DHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships) disaster operations and disaster readiness activities, including serving as Acting Director (2018), Acting Deputy Director (2017 – 2018) and Special Assistant (2013 – 2016). During his time at the Center, Marcus supported more than 15 disaster activations and special mission responses. Marcus also led out on various efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and cooperation as a means to advance national security interest.Marcus, Alyia and Katie discuss emergency management, disaster response, and the need for COVID-19 recovery efforts to address systemic disparities.For more Checkbox Outreach, follow us on Twitter @disruptoutreach and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.checkboxoutreach.com.Guest: Marcus T. Coleman, Jr.Hosted By: Alyia Gaskins and Katie Leonard

Randall (Randy) Sandone, CCISO, CIRI Executive Director a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence discusses how CIRI is helping improve the security and resilience of our Nation’s critical infrastructure. For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e67

Fraud. We hear about it a lot. Financial fraud, political fraud, and more, but food fraud? It turns out that this is a more significant issue than one might imagine. Dr Amy Kircher, director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota is a leading voice on this issue. About Amy Kircher Amy Kircher is the Director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence and Co-Director of the Collaboratory at the University of Minnesota. She leads the Institute's initiatives and coordinates a research consortium of experts dedicated to protecting the food system through research and education. Her current research includes identification and warning of food disruptions and emerging disease through data fusion and analysis; supply chains; and delivery of innovative solutions to the professionals in the field. Additionally, she conducts research efforts on global health and pandemic preparedness leveraging expertise and technology that exists in the Institute. Interview Summary You and I had a conversation last year when I was fortunate enough to visit your center at the University of Minnesota in which you described your work on food fraud. I found the topic and your work on it. Absolutely fascinating. I would love to have you share some of your insights with our listeners. I'd like to begin with asking you, what do you mean by food fraud? Thanks Kelly. Food fraud is the misrepresentation of food as expected. And so by that I mean some elements of the food that we're purchasing different than what we think we're paying for. So it might be that a food has been diluted. An example would be adding water to lemon juice, or it could be a complete substitution of a particular either whole part of the product or a component part. So species substitution of fish is a great example where a fillet, a white filet of fish has been substituted for a more expensive filet of fish. I remember a very public example of this when people were talking about olive oil. Could you tell us about that one in particular? Certainly olive oil has gotten a ton of popular press, and certainly has been a real leading issue that we can research and then understand why this food fraud happens in this particular commodity. So olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil or high end olive oils, come from a particular region or have a particular method upon which they're produced. Now, to make money. Fraudsters might dilute that expensive olive oil with something that's substandard or something that isn't the same caliber of what's being sold as represented on the bottle. So we've seen significant issues in substitution in olive oil and unfortunately in the 1980s it was fatal in that somebody substituted industrial oil for cooking oil and several folks were killed. You just answered the question that I had. I was going to say certainly consumers stand to get ripped off by this, but it also sounds to have health risks. Absolutely. So we sort of park the our work into two camps. The first camp is you're getting, as you said, ripped off. So there's some fraudulent activity, but it doesn't create public health harm. And then the other category where we spend a lot of our time and we're more concerned is where there's an element of public health harm that could result from the fraudulent behavior. Often we see that in products that have substitutions in them or are mislabeled. A great example was several years ago we had Cumin that had peanut protein in it because it was boosting the color of the Cumin, which didn't have a great harvest season. All of a sudden you have an undeclared allergen in a spice that no one expects to be there. Wasn't there a celebrated case of food fraud occurring in infant formula being produced in China? Unfortunately, infant formula has been all too often an example of fraudulent activity. Part of the reason is, especially in food fraud, we see that people enter and become fraudsters because they can make money. So those things that have a high price point is one area that we see a lot of fraudulent activity. So infant formula, spicy spices, seafood, all of those areas because of the higher price point, people think they can make more money. Boy, it's heartbreaking isn't it? To think of groups like infants being affected by this? Absolutely. I think the infant group, certainly. I can't imagine being a parent of a child with allergies like peanut allergies and seemingly harmlessly adding a spice to maybe your family recipe of chili and then all of a sudden having someone go into anaphylactic shock. So it really is challenging in paralyzing to think about the catastrophic outcomes that could result from food fraud. So the discussion you and I had when I was visiting, you said that food fraud can sometimes be precipitated by changes in the world supply, through events such as political unrest or weather disasters in say other parts of the world. How does this happen? We spend a lot of time looking at, for each case that we uncover, what triggered this particular fraud, fraudulent events to happen? So why is there some vulnerability in the system that a fraudster could expose to make money? We often see that there are environmental conditions or current situations that create this opportunity. So perhaps it is an adverse weather event where there's been a frost and we've lost a particular produce. When that happens, someone else will enter the market to fill a void. A lot of times might be a fraudster who's looking to make money. Certainly political unrest is another case where we may see some alteration in the supply and the demand, allowing an opportunity for someone to enter the market. I would also say just human behavior. So what we as consumers demand may create a demand curve that the supply cannot keep up with. And, therefore fraudsters enter the market. A great example is pomegranates and pomegranate juice. So when there was a huge consumer demand by perceived and I think actual health benefits of pomegranates, there was all of a sudden a flood of products available on the market, some of which had no pomegranate in them. It's remarkable to hear about this. It sounds like some of your work then is aimed at producing predictive models or an algorithm, if you will, about what set of conditions might make certain parts of the food supply most vulnerable to this? And you mentioned political changes or weather shocks or things like this. Tell us how you construct a model like that and how it would go about predicting likelihood of food fraud? Thank you for asking. It's a topic I'm super excited about. Certainly we've been very reactionary in our attitude to food events. So if you think about food safety, people have to get sick before we investigate. Well, there's a delay--the event has already happened. My argument is that we can be predictive in our ability to look at where potentially vulnerabilities lie such that we can put mitigation steps in place before a consumer even purchases the food. So when I think about big data and algorithms and this predictive aspect, we need to understand what creates a condition for fraudsters to operate. We know that when there are shifts in supply and demand that happens. And so we look to what creates those shifts. It might be a weather event, potentially it is a trade event. So when we start capturing those triggers that result or have resulted in fraud, we can then proactively look at those triggers in the future. So if we projected there's going to be an adverse weather event or that there'll be a trade situation, we can better understand the cascading effects of that such that we can put mitigation steps in place. So let me give you an example. One would be, we knew that Ebola was in West Africa in 2014-2015. Most of the world's cocoa is also produced there. So we could anticipate that we would have less cocoa coming out of West Africa during that time period for a whole variety of reasons, whether it's transportation or it is harvest. We also know that fraudsters have diluted cocoa with other things like arrowroot or dirt. So for a given period of time, our mitigation step should be test cocoa for purity. And if we don't see it, we know that fraudsters have been involved in that particular commodity, I can imagine the food industry being keenly interested in your predictive models because as they are getting the supply of things that they add to foods to create the finished product. For them to know in advance when to do special testing would be enormously helpful, wouldn't it? It would be. I would argue though, I don't think food companies, unfortunately, are structured to be able to look at this data. So one thing we have to do is we have to work with food companies to understand how best to deliver this information so that it informs not only maybe their food safety teams, but their procurement teams or their supply chain teams so that they understand that this prediction may affect the ingredients that they're sourcing. So we'll have to build a stronger relationship about where do we put and package this data for a company to be most useful in their decision making. Where in government nationally and globally does the watchdog function occur? So unfortunately, because we don't have one central food agency, it sits in multiple locations. So it will sit within the agency that regulates that particular food. Now primarily that would be the USDA or the FDA. However, there are several other departments that regulate different foods. So it is a dispersed regulatory activity and the surveillance also sits within those authorities.

Fraud. We hear about it a lot. Financial fraud, political fraud, and more, but food fraud? It turns out that this is a more significant issue than one might imagine. Dr Amy Kircher, director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota is a leading voice on this issue. About Amy Kircher Amy Kircher is the Director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence and Co-Director of the Collaboratory at the University of Minnesota. She leads the Institute's initiatives and coordinates a research consortium of experts dedicated to protecting the food system through research and education. Her current research includes identification and warning of food disruptions and emerging disease through data fusion and analysis; supply chains; and delivery of innovative solutions to the professionals in the field. Additionally, she conducts research efforts on global health and pandemic preparedness leveraging expertise and technology that exists in the Institute. Interview Summary You and I had a conversation last year when I was fortunate enough to visit your center at the University of Minnesota in which you described your work on food fraud. I found the topic and your work on it. Absolutely fascinating. I would love to have you share some of your insights with our listeners. I'd like to begin with asking you, what do you mean by food fraud? Thanks Kelly. Food fraud is the misrepresentation of food as expected. And so by that I mean some elements of the food that we're purchasing different than what we think we're paying for. So it might be that a food has been diluted. An example would be adding water to lemon juice, or it could be a complete substitution of a particular either whole part of the product or a component part. So species substitution of fish is a great example where a fillet, a white filet of fish has been substituted for a more expensive filet of fish. I remember a very public example of this when people were talking about olive oil. Could you tell us about that one in particular? Certainly olive oil has gotten a ton of popular press, and certainly has been a real leading issue that we can research and then understand why this food fraud happens in this particular commodity. So olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil or high end olive oils, come from a particular region or have a particular method upon which they're produced. Now, to make money. Fraudsters might dilute that expensive olive oil with something that's substandard or something that isn't the same caliber of what's being sold as represented on the bottle. So we've seen significant issues in substitution in olive oil and unfortunately in the 1980s it was fata in that somebody substituted industrial oil for cooking oil and several folks were killed. You just answered the question that I had. I was going to say certainly consumers stand to get ripped off by this, but it also sounds to have health risks. Absolutely. So we sort of park the our work into two camps. The first camp is you're getting, as you said, ripped off. So there's some fraudulent activity, but it doesn't create public health harm. And then the other category where we spend a lot of our time and we're more concerned is where there's an element of public health harm that could result from the fraudulent behavior. Often we see that in products that have substitutions in them or are mislabeled. A great example was several years ago we had Cumin that had peanut protein in it because it was boosting the color of the Cumin, which didn't have a great harvest season. All of a sudden you have an undeclared allergen in a spice that no one expects to be there. Wasn't there a celebrated case of food fraud occurring in infant formula being produced in China? Unfortunately, infant formula has been all too often an example of fraudulent activity. Part of the reason is, especially in food fraud, we see that people enter and become fraudsters because they can make money. So those things that have a high price point is one area that we see a lot of fraudulent activity. So infant formula, spicy spices, seafood, all of those areas because of the higher price point, people think they can make more money. Boy, it's heartbreaking isn't it? To think of groups like infants being affected by this? Absolutely. I think the infant group, certainly. I can't imagine being a parent of a child with allergies like peanut allergies and seemingly harmlessly adding a spice to maybe your family recipe of chili and then all of a sudden having someone go into anaphylactic shock. So it really is challenging in paralyzing to think about the catastrophic outcomes that could result from food fraud. So the discussion you and I had when I was visiting, you said that food fraud can sometimes be precipitated by changes in the world supply, through events such as political unrest or weather disasters in say other parts of the world. How does this happen? We spend a lot of time looking at, for each case that we uncover, what triggered this particular fraud, fraudulent events to happen? So why is there some vulnerability in the system that a fraudster could expose to make money? We often see that there are environmental conditions or current situations that create this opportunity. So perhaps it is an adverse weather event where there's been a frost and we've lost a particular produce. When that happens, someone else will enter the market to fill a void. A lot of times might be a fraudster who's looking to make money. Certainly political unrest is another case where we may see some alteration in the supply and the demand, allowing an opportunity for someone to enter the market. I would also say just human behavior. So what we as consumers demand may create a demand curve that the supply cannot keep up with. And, therefore fraudsters enter the market. A great example is pomegranates and pomegranate juice. So when there was a huge consumer demand by perceived and I think actual health benefits of pomegranates, there was all of a sudden a flood of products available on the market, some of which had no pomegranate in them. It's remarkable to hear about this. It sounds like some of your work then is aimed at producing predictive models or an algorithm, if you will, about what set of conditions might make certain parts of the food supply most vulnerable to this? And you mentioned political changes or weather shocks or things like this. Tell us how you construct a model like that and how it would go about predicting likelihood of food fraud? Thank you for asking. It's a topic I'm super excited about. Certainly we've been very reactionary in our attitude to food events. So if you think about food safety, people have to get sick before we investigate. Well, there's a delay--the event has already happened. My argument is that we can be predictive in our ability to look at where potentially vulnerabilities lie such that we can put mitigation steps in place before a consumer even purchases the food. So when I think about big data and algorithms and this predictive aspect, we need to understand what creates a condition for fraudsters to operate. We know that when there are shifts in supply and demand that happens. And so we look to what creates those shifts. It might be a weather event, potentially it is a trade event. So when we start capturing those triggers that result or have resulted in fraud, we can then proactively look at those triggers in the future. So if we projected there's going to be an adverse weather event or that there'll be a trade situation, we can better understand the cascading effects of that such that we can put mitigation steps in place. So let me give you an example. One would be, we knew that Ebola was in West Africa in 2014-2015. Most of the world's cocoa is also produced there. So we could anticipate that we would have less cocoa coming out of West Africa during that time period for a whole variety of reasons, whether it's transportation or it is harvest. We also know that fraudsters have diluted cocoa with other things like arrowroot or dirt. So for a given period of time, our mitigation step should be test cocoa for purity. And if we don't see it, we know that fraudsters have been involved in that particular commodity, I can imagine the food industry being keenly interested in your predictive models because as they are getting the supply of things that they add to foods to create the finished product. For them to know in advance when to do special testing would be enormously helpful, wouldn't it? It would be. I would argue though, I don't think food companies, unfortunately, are structured to be able to look at this data. So one thing we have to do is we have to work with food companies to understand how best to deliver this information so that it informs not only maybe their food safety teams, but their procurement teams or their supply chain teams so that they understand that this prediction may affect the ingredients that they're sourcing. So we'll have to build a stronger relationship about where do we put and package this data for a company to be most useful in their decision making. Where in government nationally and globally does the watchdog function occur? So unfortunately, because we don't have one central food agency, it sits in multiple locations. So it will sit within the agency that regulates that particular food. Now primarily that would be the USDA or the FDA. However, there are several other departments that regulate different foods. So it is a dispersed regulatory activity and the surveillance also sits within those authorities.

Victor Asal currently serves as Chair of the Department of Public Administration and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. He received his PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also, along with R. Karl Rethemeyer, the co-director of the Project on Violent Conflict. Dr. Asal is affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Dr. Asal’s research focuses on the choice of violence by nonstate organizational actors as well as the causes of political discrimination by states against different groups such as sexual minorities, women and ethnic groups. In addition, Prof. Asal has done research on the impact of nuclear proliferation and on the pedagogy of simulations. Asal has been involved in research projects funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, The Department of Homeland Security, The National Science Foundation, and The Office of Naval Research. Some research that influenced Victor's career. Martha Crenshaw (1981). The Causes of Terrorism. Mark Juergensmeyer (2003). Terror in the mind of God: The global rise of religious violence. Ted Robert Gurr (2000). People vs. states. Some of Victor's key research The nature of the beast: Organizational structures and the lethality of terrorist attacks. With R. Karl Rethemeyer (2008) Gender ideologies and forms of contentious mobilization in the Middle East. With Richard Legault, Ora Szeleky, and Jonathan Wilkenfeld (2013) A Shot Not Taken: Teaching About the Ethics of Political Violence 1, 2. With Marcus Schulzke (2012)

The National Consortium for the Study and Responses to Terrorism (START), launched in 2005, is a university-based research and education center comprised of an international network of scholars committed to the scientific study of the causes and human consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world. A Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence headquartered at the University of Maryland, START supports the research efforts of leading social scientists at more than 50 academic and research institutions, each of whom is conducting original investigations into fundamental questions about terrorism. START has developed educational materials and programs specifically designed for instructors and students at the secondary, university, and graduate levels. Educational resources available through START include relevant teaching tools and a range of unique data sources that can be integrated into an array of courses to deepen students' understanding of the dynamics of terrorism. START also has internships and funding opportunities available to undergraduate and graduate students engaged in terrorism research. Among the network of scholars, some of which have been featured on Intelligence. Unclassified. over the last several weeks, is Dr. Gary LaFree, who not only leads START as its Director, but also teaches as a criminology professor at the University of Maryland. Today, he and Intelligence Analyst Paige Schilling discuss a variety of topics in the study of terrorism, including the difficulties of gathering information, the government’s approach when it comes to international versus domestic terrorism, and the inspiration for writing his recent book, Countering Terrorism.

On The Gist, a look at what technologies have been the most helpful in deterring another major terrorist attack. Our guest Dr. Gary LaFree is the director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland. During our interview, he mentioned the Global Terrorism Database, for which he’s a principal investigator. For the Spiel, what Mike watched on TV. Today’s sponsors: SAP HANA. SAP HANA helps the world’s best companies get the answers they need to become more agile, develop new streams of revenue, and predict the future. Run SAP. And Run Simple. Visit sap.com/reimagine to learn more. Harry’s, the shaving company that offers German-engineered blades, well-designed handles, and shipping right to your door. Visit Harrys.com for $5 off your first purchase with the promo code THEGIST. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices