So far, the New York City Police Department has made 992 arrests connected to the Occupy Wall Street protests. These arrests have cost the city $3.4 million in overtime for police officers.

The city is certainly facing litigation as a result of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which will also cost the city in both court costs and damages awarded.

Youtube had agreed to remove all videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, but their attempts has been futile. After their effort to remove the content from the website, you can still find hundreds of videos of the cleric that contain everything from standard scriptural commentary or clerical advice to more radical indoctrinating calls for terrorism and jihad. The video content has been posted repeatedly as copies. This struggle is magnified when you consider the vast array of sources online for posting such video content–distribution of any type of content from pirated music to terrorist indoctrination videos can be spread quickly, speedily and with innumerable copies.

Yahoo and other US companies have also come forward with cases that potentially point back to China.

Google has already threatened to pull out of China following the hacking attempts and security violations which intruded on intellectual property rights. The hacking attempts included illegal access of human rights workers using Gmail.

Google announced that the company is no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine – google.cn. In response to the hacking attempts, Google demanded that China allow it to operate within censorship restrictions. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman,  Jiang Yu, asseted the internet in China was “open.” Some of the current censorship restrictions that the Chinese Government require of web operators include removing content covering: 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence or Falun Gong, among others.

From now on, high tech gadgets will undergo inspections from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they pass across the border from Mexico to the United States.

Customs and Border Protection will be looking for cyber threats, terrorist plots, bulk cash smuggling and counterfeited trademarks specifically.

The FBI has plans to expand the program to help solve cyber-crime investigations.

Ultimately the program is predictive. It can help solve crimes before they help by piecing together data from a vast host of sources and contains more than 1.5 billion government and private-sector records.

Forces on the ground have grown concerned that in recent events Iraqi leadership have made forceful moves to regain authority. Senior officials have restated that cooperation between Iraqi forces and the US have increased and are in good standing.

Col. Timothy R. Reese in his memo had outlined numerous concerns regarding military weakness, corruption, bad management, and a lack of resistance to Shiite political influence. Yet, the commander stated that extending US presence in Iraqi may do little to help this situation. Worst yet, extending the stay in Iraqi may cause the fire of resentment by Iraqi populations to burn hotter.

Recently Pakistan’s Airforce has improved its targeting capabilities for guided missles, which will greatly contribute to its fight against the Taliban in the Swat Valley and also reduce the probability for collateral damage. The Pakistan Airforce has moved away from scorched-earth artillery and air tactics that had been used last year against insurgents in the the Bajaur tribal agency. The Pakistan air force is now using spy planes and other surveillance aircraft along with laser guided bombs to improve accuracy.

One of the main reasons for Pakistan’s move to improve their targeting technologies was prevent the alienation of the population within regions of conflict should civilian deaths be incurred.

In recent days, Stand Down events have seen record numbers as veterans struggle to find gainful employment within the environment of this economic slowdown. The San Diego event brought in 950 veterans compared to the 830 from last year (also a record). Younger veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are now also beginning to appear in the events. The younger veterans, many who bare traumatic brain injuries or psychological stresses, may have fallen through the safety nets faster than expected.

Some of the services offered within the Stand Down events often include: hot food, haircuts, massages, dental care, legal aid, referrals to drug programs and federal benefits. Some of the veterans also seek out these events to temporarily escape the harsh life on the city streets.

*Stand Downs are collaborative events, coordinated between local Veterans Affairs, other government agencies, and community agencies who serve the homeless. The first Stand Down was organized in San Diego in 1988 by a group of veterans.