Why are Americans charged so much more than other countries for popular drugs?

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37. 10 years later (2013): Rendell criticizes Dems over anti-fracking stance

https://whyy.org/articles/rendell-criticizes-dems-over-anti-fracking-stance/

Former Gov. Ed Rendell is criticizing Pennsylvania Democrats over their call for a moratorium on fracking.

The Democratic State Committee voted last weekend in favor of an open-ended moratorium on fracking. That’s the technique drilling companies use to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Opponents contend fracking is an environmental menace, but drilling companies and many regulators say the technique is safe.

Rendell, who has indirect ties to the gas industry, says in an interview with The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that the party’s call to put the brakes on fracking is “ill-advised,” noting it has created jobs and wealth.

His former environmental secretary, John Hanger, says he’s in favor of the existing moratorium in state forests, and strict regulation on private property. Hanger, also a Democrat, is running for governor.

2010, more on the Rendell administration:

Gov. Ed Rendell's top staffers knew of Homeland Security tracking protesters in July

Published: Sep. 15, 2010

Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday night he didn't know anything about his administration contracting with a private firm that tracked the activity of citizens engaged in lawful protests and then distributing that information to law enforcement and private companies around the state. He may been one of the few who didn’t. Rendell said James Powers, the director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security, which distributed the intelligence bulletins, would not be fired because “there’s shared responsibility here.” Indeed. The Governor’s chief policy adviser, Donna Cooper, knew the content of the Homeland Security Bulletins was “questionable” back in July.

At that time Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Dan Rubin was given a stack of the bulletins by someone “wondering whether the money for them was well spent.” The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, with offices in Philadelphia and Jerusalem, was under a $125,000 contract to supply information to Homeland Security. Rendell said Tuesday that contract would not be renewed. Rubin reported in July that the bulletins contained all the kinds of information Rendell claimed Tuesday to be "appalled" about - gay pride parades, candle light vigils and even groups that rallied in support of the his own policies. Rubin noted that one bulletin included information on the Good Schools Pennsylvania group, founded by Donna Cooper, and asked her about it. She said, “If that’s the kind of stuff that’s in the newsletter, its appropriateness is questionable.”

State Police Commissioner Colonel Frank E. Pawlowski was aware of the bulletins; at least, they were distributed to the State Police and Rendell said Tuesday that Pawlowski told him nothing in the bulletins “was of any value to the State Police.” Pawlowski is now on the new task force to find a better way to determine credible threats to critical infrastructure, along with Powers and Robert French, the director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, which oversees Homeland Security. Rendell said Tuesday night that his ignorance of the bulletins, their content and to whom they were being distributed was “an internal staff problem that we have to deal with.”

When asked why so many of Rendell’s closest staffers were not troubled by the content of the intelligence bulletins, spokesman Gary Tuma said, “I think that’s one of the things the governor said troubled him.” The issue got traction two months after Rubin’s column because the intelligence bulletins began to include lists of meetings that Marcellus Shale gas drilling opponents planned to attend. The legislature convened this week to attempt to pass a tax on Marcellus gas, one of Rendell’s top priorities. The issue of the Homeland Security bulletins threatens not only to shift focus from the core issues of that debate, but also to strengthen opponents of ancillary measures - like forced pooling and zoning exemptions - that are favored by the drilling industry.

The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) was an Israeli security company with close ties to Israeli military and intelligence.

https://archive.ph/mVOgV

About the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR)

ITRR is an American-Israeli nonprofit corporation helping government agencies, CIKR facilities, Fortune 500 companies, and organizations of all sizes succeed in a world threatened by terrorism. ITRR provides specifically tailored counter-terrorism and first response training, 24/7 actionable intelligence gathering and analysis, and support for global security planning, operations and logistics. Our in-house subject matter experts bring to every project their extensive tactical and strategic experience in law enforcement, corporate protection, intelligence, homeland security, and emergency management.

Both public and private sector clients regularly depend on ITRR’s operational versatility – our proven ability to adapt, customize, and specialize to meet the client’s needs. Key security specializations include mitigation of threats from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), suicide bombers and lone-wolf terrorism, as well as all manner of nonlethal disruptive activism. With experience, flexibility and creativity, ITRR’s guidance is always a step ahead of evolving threats.

ITRR’s Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C)

With its multilingual and multiethnic team of researchers and analysts, in 2004, ITRR established the Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C). The TAM-C, with round-the-clock monitoring of open and closed sources of information, provides actionable, forward-looking intelligence on terrorist activities, international hot-spots, aggressive activist targeting, "red flag" dates, real-time security alerts, and more. The TAM-C’s international Ground Truth Network (GTN) of human assets provides uniquely valuable field intelligence from wherever it is needed – and whenever it is needed the most.

The TAM-C team of “information miners” and on-the-ground sources collaborate to identify the most useful operational information on international and domestic threats to client operations. Along with this tailored intelligence, TAM-C subject matter experts provide substantive and practical guidance to protect personnel and assets worldwide.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210215000000*/http://www.terrorresponse.org//images/stories/press_room/publications/NEWSWIRE_security_Directors_News.pdf

Ridge says Rendell right to cancel terrorism research pact

https://web.archive.org/web/20100918095121/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10258/1087684-100.stm

Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. homeland security secretary who's now an adviser to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, today said Gov. Ed Rendell did the right thing in shutting down a controversial intelligence-gathering program on gas-drilling opponents and other groups. Mr. Ridge called the program "rather bizarre," and he said gas-industry critics aren't terrorists. "They have a difference of opinion," said Mr. Ridge, whose consulting groups have a one-year, $900,000 contract with the Cecil-based coalition. He answered questions about the controversy this afternoon before participating in a panel discussion, also including Mr. Rendell and former Gov. Dick Thornburgh, at the annual conference of the State Science and Technology Institute at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.

On Tuesday, Mr. Rendell canceled a one-year, $125,000 contract with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, which was providing the state Office of Homeland Security with intelligence on gas-drilling opponents, plus tax protests and gay-pride activities. The apologetic governor said he canceled the contract when he found out about it Tuesday. Mr. Rendell said the program was wrong, but he hasn't removed Homeland Security Director James Powers.

Pittsburgh City Councilman and gas-drilling opponent Doug Shields today sought to turn the tables on the intelligence-gatherers, demanding an investigation into the institute. He said he would consult his colleagues about invoking council's authority under the city charter to open its own investigation, which would include calling witnesses. Mr. Shields said he was up into the wee hours of the morning speaking with gas opponents about the intelligence-gathering program, including some who wondered whether they're on some kind of enemies list. "Am I on the list?" said Mr. Shields, who also wondered whether the institute's representatives photographed or videotaped him at Frick Park during a recent airing of an anti-drilling documentary.

The institute, which describes itself as a nonprofit group with offices in Philadelphia, was supposed to monitor possible terrorist threats to roads and bridges, but the work morphed into surveillance of protest groups exercising First Amendment rights, Mr. Rendell said Tuesday. Speaking before the panel discussion today, Mr. Rendell said he doesn't know of any other state agency that had a contract with the institute. Among other monitoring, the institute sent out an "intelligence bulletin" about a Pittsburgh City Council meeting on gas drilling. It wasn't clear whether the institute monitored the documentary screening. Mr. Shields, who is sponsoring a bill to ban gas drilling citywide, today described the intelligence-gathering program as "espionage" and demanded that Mr. Powers be fired.

Shutting down the program isn't enough, Mr. Shields said, demanding a probe into who authorized the program and why. He said he wants to know whether the program was the brainchild of a "rogue fool" or something more sinister, such as a joint effort with the gas industry. "Is this just a bunch of screwballs or is this a concerted effort that went awry?" he said. Mr. Shields said some industry critics are concerned about an industry-government tie because of Mr. Ridge's previous role as U.S. homeland security secretary. Asked whether he had any role in the contract, Mr. Ridge said, "Hell, no."