Police departments are relying on technology as they find themselves with fewer and fewer officers because of deep budget cuts. GPS, social media, and closed-circuit cameras are just a few of the technologies now being used by police departments.
Thomas Nolan, an associate professor of criminal justice at BU’s Metropolitan College and a 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, was recently quoted in the Boston Herald on the gray areas of the law in using such technologies.
“This is the wild, wild west. Legislative bodies and courts are years away from being able to establish any body of law to deal with this.”
Mark Williams is Executive-in-residence/Master Lecturer in Finance and Economics at Boston University's School of Management. He is a risk management expert and a former Federal Reserve Bank examiner. He is also the author of "Uncontrolled Risk: The Lessons of Lehman Brothers and how Systemic Risk can still bring down the World Financial System." He offers the following comments on the swelling gold bubble:
"At a time when everyone is rushing to buy gold it might be a good time to question such herd behavior. Investors take heed: gold price cannot climb to the clouds. It is at the late bubble stage and will soon pop. Gold bulls have enjoyed a decade-long ride, but as the economy moves from economic chaos to economic prosperity, the glitter of gold will fade.
"Investor obsession with exchange-traded gold funds (ETFs) has also created a false sense of liquidity and stability. ETFs have not been bear-market tested. Since 2004, when gold ETF's were first concocted, over $60 billion has poured in, fueling higher gold prices. What is not understood is what effect ETFs will have on gold prices when global markets return to economic prosperity.
"As more investors want out than in, will ETFs become a giant wrecking ball? In 1980, during the last gold bubble, gold prices plummeted 60 percent in one year. That was before the advent of ETFs. Could the same derivative instruments that pumped gold prices up do the most destruction to gold prices?
"Using the last gold bubble as a guide, current gold per ounce could drop by $800 or more. Smart investors should get out of gold and take their money and run."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced a new terrorism alert system has been set in place. Effective immediately, the new system will replace the color-coded system that was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The following Boston University professors, both from the Department of International Relations, are available to comment:
Arthur Hulnick, a 35-year veteran of the intelligence profession, mostly with the CIA
With summer right around the corner, Christopher Muller, Dean of the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration (SHA), discusses how high gas prices impact the hospitality industry, particularly dining out and travel.
This is part of a continuing series on gas prices.
SED Dean Hardin Coleman reacts to President Obama's plan for turning around underperforming schools, an approach that includes merit pay, easier removal of ineffective teachers and could taxpayers upwards of $77 billion.
David Nersessian is a visiting professor at Boston University's School of Law. He is an expert on international criminal law and the author of "Genocide and Political Groups." He offers the following opinion piece of the prospects of prosecuting ex-dictators.
"Mubarak's detention makes me wonder what the 'knock on' effect will be in other countries facing similar issues. Ivory Coast's former president just gave up the ghost and has been detained by the new regime, and it's not at all uncommon for prior regime leaders to face legal charges after giving up power. Immunity grants are less available as a tool (as in situations like Chile and Sierra Leone) where either the domestic legislature retroactively voided the immunity and/or there were legal determinations in other settings that immunity grants, like statutes of limitation, don't apply to really serious international crimes.
Joseph Wippl is a lecturer in the Department of International Relations at Boston University's College of Arts & Sciences. He is a 30-year veteran of the CIA. In 2010, he was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the highest decoration awarded for service to the US intelligence community. As the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion approaches, Prof. Wippl reflects on the invasion and discusses the role of the CIA then and now.
"The Bay of Pigs was the first example of the failure by intelligence and the CIA to analyze properly that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had the support of the vast majority of the Cuban people. The opposition to Castro was located not in Cuba but in the United States, convenient safety valve for the Castro government. The operational element at the CIA did not ask the analytical element for an assessment of Castro's support as well as the strength of his army. The Cuban emigrants supplied the manpower for the failed invasion and they were sure they had the support of the Cuban people. The invaders believed they would receive air cover but President Kennedy denied this overt American support for the invasion. Short of American troops, the invasion would fail with or without air cover. Over the years, Cuba's loss was America's (and the Republican party's) gain as the emigrants generally proved themselves very economically successful in the United States.
Boston University associate professor of social science Tom Whalen is an expert on the American presidency. He is the author of "A Higher Purpose: Profiles in Presidential Courage" where he writes about the moments that defined political careers of several US presidents. He is also a regular contributor to PoliticoArena. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, he gives his view on the lessons learned by the invasion and its impact on the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
"The main lesson to be learned from 1961 is that no president should take at face value the advice of his military and intelligence officials when it comes to invading another country. Kennedy's generals and CIA men assured their young Commander-in-Chief of a quick and decisive victory in Cuba, despite a lack of hard evidence to back up such an extravagant claim.
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons have been put under detention pending an investigation over corruption allegations. Mubarak is being detained in his hospital room where he is being monitored for a "heart crisis." Boston University international relations professors Augustus Richard Norton and Charles Dunbar offer the following comments:
Joseph Wippl 
Boston University associate professor of social science 