Breathe easy! The NOC (that would be National Operations Center) of DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has analysts checking social media against their ADBs (Analyst Desktop Binders) for Bad Words. Really Bad Words. Words used by terrorists. Go here, then scroll down to p. 20 to see what our brave public "servants" are tracking in order to profile the Bad Guys.

So let me understand this right, Madam Secretary Napolitano. Suppose I write "The National Guard drill was coordinated with law enforcement and other authorities for prevention and mitigation of looting and rioting in a state of emergency following a disaster management response." I have just used 11 Key Words & Search Terms (see para. 2.13 of the Analyst Desktop Binder, pp. 20-3).

Am I now flagged in an IOI (Items of Interest) report, minus, of course, any PII (Personally Identifiable Information) as this is not an "extremis situation" (see para. 3, p. 24)? Do the public "servants" on your staff, Madam Secretary, have any trouble separating the wheat from the chaff in these IOI reports? I mean, I'm a victim of malware and virus and trojan attacks all the time, I receive phishing and phreaking and worm attacks without number, not to mention the scammers on social media. Whoops, there are 8 more Key Words and Search Terms, a total of 19 in just two sentences. Is this now an "extremis situation" calling for inclusion of my PII?

I will sleep better tonight knowing that an analyst with ADB open before him/her is sending IOI reports up the chain of command at DHS to keep us all safe.

Henry Percy is the nom de guerre for a technical writer living in Arizona. He may be reached at saler.50d[at]gmail.com.