Texas’ Critical Infrastructure
What to know: Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced Project Watershed 250, an effort to protect the state’s water infrastructure from cyberattacks. But is Texas’ critical infrastructure still under threat?
The TPPF take: Protecting the infrastructure that millions of Texans depend on is a critical part of the state’s homeland security strategy.
“Texas cannot prevent every cyberattack, terrorist plot, or hostile-state action, and certainly cannot prevent hurricanes and winter storms, but we can ensure that no single event can produce catastrophic failure resulting in mass casualties,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “Washington walked away from civil defense more than 30 years ago. Texas has taken important first steps, but now we need spare transformers on hand, real field exercises that test our response, and laws that treat plotting to attack the grid as the serious crime it is.”
For more on critical infrastructure, click here.
Somebody’s Watching You
What to know: Congressman Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., has filed a bill in the House that would set some limits on automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, such as Flock cameras, which he notes can “track everything that you do.”
The TPPF take: Texans understand that privacy is a fundamental prerequisite to being free.
“Flock has struck a nerve and given rise to a national conversation that our privacy and freedom demand,” says TPPF’s David Dunmoyer. “That ire must be channeled productively. Require a warrant. Put a hard clock on retention measured in days, not years. Bar sharing with out-of-state and federal agencies without a Texas judge’s signature. Publish the audit logs. Give Texans standing to sue when the rules are broken.”
For more on ALPRs, click here.
Both International and Criminal
What to know: The U.S. has sanctioned the International Criminal Court, which the Trump administration notes unfairly targets U.S. citizens while ignoring actual criminals.
The TPPF take: The ICC has been anti-American and anti-West from the beginning.
“Recently, the ICC has been escalating its left-wing attacks on Israel and America, and this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had finally had enough,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “After calling the ICC a threat to U.S. sovereignty, he cut off any U.S. resources it might be receiving and banned all transactions between the ICC and any American company. To make his point crystal clear, Rubio said, ‘the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.’”