New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security Interview with Rob Quartel, CEO and Chairman of FreightDesk Technologies and former Member of the Federal Maritime Commission. Quartel discusses the Dubai Ports World sale, cargo security, and international trade.

International News

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Iraqi Forces May Take Over Security by Year’s End (CNN; Yahoo! News) “Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday he foresees Iraqi forces taking over security in all 18 Iraqi provinces by the end of the year,” reports CNN. Talabani “said the transition will be gradual and multinational forces will be playing a supportive role to the Iraqi troops.” (Also see the Quote of the Week.) However, Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command and top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday “that ‘Iraq could move toward civil war’ if the raging sectarian violence in Baghdad is not stopped,” according to the Associated Press. [View CNN article] [View AP article]

India Claims There Are 52 Terror Training Camps in Pakistan (Times of India) “As many as 52 terrorist training camps are reported to be existing in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” reports the Times of India. “… Insurgent groups also continue to misuse Bangladesh territory for sanctuary, training camps, transportation or arms and transit and were being supported by intelligence agencies, both civil and military, of Bangladesh.” [View article]

Russia Names ‘Terrorist’ Groups (BBC) “Russia has published a list of 17 groups it regards as ‘terrorist organizations’, including al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “The list does not include the Palestinian group Hamas or the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, both of which the US views as ‘terrorist’. Several of the groups named are linked to separatist militants in Russia’s North Caucasus or Central Asia.… Russia took account of international lists of ‘terrorist’ groups when exchanging intelligence with other secret services.” [View article]

Ethiopia Says Eritrea ‘Actively Supports’ al-Qaeda (Reuters AlertNet) “Ethiopia accused its neighbour and foe Eritrea on [July 28] of ‘actively supporting’ al Qaeda, in its strongest attack yet on Asmara over the escalating crisis in neighbouring Somalia,” reports Reuters. “Diplomats believe [that] Ethiopia and Eritrea … are using the standoff between Somalia’s interim government and newly powerful Islamists as a proxy conflict for their own feud. Addis Ababa has sent troops into Somalia to protect the government, according to witnesses, while Asmara is believed by regional diplomats to be arming the Islamists who took Mogadishu and other southern towns from U.S.-backed warlords last month. Addis Ababa regards the Islamists as terrorists linked to both al Qaeda and the Somali radical group al-Itihaad al-Islaami.” [View article]

Canadians in Terror Case Out on Bail (Yahoo! News) “The release on bail of three men charged with being part of an al-Qaeda inspired terror cell” in Canada has elicited “an angry response from some of those keeping an eye on the first real test of Canadian anti-terrorism laws,” reports Reuters. “… Some legal experts, however, say the release of the suspects only suggests that some are accused of playing a peripheral role … The suspects, who range in age from their mid-teens to early 40s, have been charged with offenses under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, which gives authorities the power to make preventive arrests.” [View article]

Empty Serb Reactor Inviting for Terrorists (Yahoo! News) Serbia’s Vinca reactor is a “little shop of nuclear horrors, and a potential magnet for terrorists,” reports the Associated Press. “That makes it representative of the next step in the world’s quest to lift the threat of nuclear material falling into the wrong hands—first by taking control of the fuel that makes atomic bombs, and now by tackling the lesser but still potent menace of a dirty bomb, meaning radiation spread by blowing up radioactive material with conventional explosives.” Last month’s summit of world leaders launched “the ‘Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism,’ which calls for better accounting and protection of the Vincas of the world, scattered around the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The new program is meant to build on others created by the Bush administration, including the [3-year-old] ‘Global Threat Reduction Initiative’ to deal with a broad range of vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world.” [View article]

Tony Blair Calls for ‘Alliance of Moderation’ (Washington Times) “British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in Los Angeles [that a] new strategy is needed to defeat militant Islam as the use of only force had alienated Muslim opinion,” reports United Press International. “Blair warned [that] an ‘arc of extremism’ now stretches across the Middle East and beyond. Speaking before the World Affairs Council in California, Blair called for a ‘complete renaissance of our strategy’” and “an ‘alliance of moderation’ using values as much as military might.” [View article]

Bali Terror Chief’s New Mission (London Times) Abu Bakar Bashir, the reputed leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah network, who was released in June after serving just over 2 years in prison for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings (see the June 16 newsletter), said “his new mission [is] to convert Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim nation, into what he calls an ‘Allahcracy,’” reports the London Times. Bashir was released because “the court had ‘no clear, hard evidence’ of Bashir’s direct involvement in the Bali crime.” [View article]

In Vietnam, a Gateway for Bird Flu (Washington Post) “Traffickers haul more than 1,000 contraband chickens a day into Lang Son, one of six Vietnamese provinces along the Chinese border, flouting a chicken import ban,” reports the Washington Post. “In doing so, heath experts say, they have also repeatedly smuggled the highly lethal bird flu virus from its source in southern China into Vietnam, where the disease has taken a devastating toll on farm birds and killed at least 42 people since 2003.” [View article]

Iran Vows to Defy Nuclear Deadline (Melbourne, Australia, Age; Washington Post) The United Nations “Security Council [on Tuesday] demanded that Iran suspend its nuclear activities by August 31 or face the threat of sanctions, but Tehran denounced the move as illegal and vowed to press on,” reports Reuters. “In a resolution passed 14-1, the Security Council for the first time included legally binding demands on Iran and a sanctions threat. Qatar, the only Arab member, voted against it. If Tehran does not comply by the deadline, the council will consider adopting ‘appropriate measures’ under article 41 of chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which refers to diplomatic and economic sanctions.” But “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the way to solve the dispute is through talks,” reports the Associated Press. [View Reuters article] [View AP article]

Japan Deploys World’s First Earthquake Early Warning System (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) Japan’s “new early warning system for earthquakes went into operation Tuesday,” reports the Asahi Shimbun. “… The system developed by the Japan Meteorological Agency takes advantage of precious seconds that occur between the arrival of a first jolt and that of a more powerful surge to issue warnings.” [View article]

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National News

Did Defense and Transportation Depts. Mislead 9/11 Commission? (Washington Post) “Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon’s initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day,” reports the Washington Post. The 9/11 Commission turned “over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments.” The Defense Department “inspector general’s office will soon release a report addressing whether testimony delivered to the commission was ‘knowingly false.’… the Transportation Department’s inspector general’s office said its investigation is complete and that a final report is being drafted.” [View article]

GAO Agents Fake Their Way Through Border Checkpoints (Seattle Times) “Undercover investigators entered the United States using fake documents repeatedly this year—including some cases in which Homeland Security Department agents didn’t ask for identification …” reports the Associated Press. “‘This vulnerability potentially allows terrorists or others involved in criminal activity to pass freely into the United States from Canada or Mexico with little or no chance of being detected,’ concluded the” Government Accountability Office in testimony “presented to the Senate Finance Committee” on Wednesday. [View article] [View GAO abstract]

Supreme Court Ruling Reinvigorates War Crimes Act (Washington Post) “Officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts” under “the War Crimes Act of 1996,” reports the Washington Post. “That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment.” On June 29, the Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva “Conventions apply to the treatment of detainees in the terrorism fight.” [View article]

New York Times Must Turn Over Phone Records in Terror Case (Washington Post) “The New York Times may not withhold reporters’ phone records from a federal grand jury investigating an alleged leak of a pending government raid on two Islamic charities suspected of supporting terrorism, a federal appeals court ruled” Tuesday, reports the Washington Post. “… The government’s interest in rooting out a possible crime outweighs the newspaper’s interest in protecting reporters’ sources, the court concluded.” [View article]

Redesigns Mask Security Barriers (USA Today) “Anti-terrorist barricades that went up to protect public buildings after Sept. 11, 2001, are slowly disappearing from the public landscape,” reports USA Today. “They’re not going away, just being disguised. Bollards—those ubiquitous waist-high steel posts—and concrete highway barriers meant to keep out bomb-carrying vehicles are giving way to barricades designed to blend with the appearance of streets and buildings.… The goal now is to make public places safe but not scary.” [View article]

Secret Bioterror Lab Raises Fears (Washington Post) “The Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory” in Fort Detrick, MD, “unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago,” according to a two-part Washington Post report. “… much of what transpires at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) may never be publicly known, because the Bush administration intends to operate the facility largely in secret. In an unusual arrangement, the building itself will be classified as highly restricted space, from the reception desk to the lab benches to the cages where animals are kept.… Some of the research falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons.” But “the administration … has rejected calls for oversight by independent observers outside the department’s network of government scientists and contractors. And it defends the secrecy as necessary to protect Americans.” As “government scientists press their search for new drugs for old foes such as classic anthrax, a revolution in biology has ushered in an age of engineered microbes and novel ways to make them.… in hundreds of labs worldwide, it is also possible to transform common intestinal microbes into killers. Or to make deadly strains even more lethal. Or to resurrect bygone killers, such the 1918 influenza. Or to manipulate a person’s hormones by switching genes on or off. Or to craft cheap, efficient delivery systems that can infect large numbers of people.” [View part 1] [View part 2]

New 9/11 Movie (MSNBC) “In Oliver Stone’s ‘World Trade Center,’ … we will see history unfold as it happened on the ground, from the perspectives of ordinary men and women,” reports Newsweek. The release date for the film is August 9. [View article]

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Federal News

Congressional Report Echoes GAO on DHS Waste (AccountingWeb) “A congressional report released” on July 27 “slammed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in hurricane relief and national security money on frivolous purchases and mismanagement of contracts,” according to AccountingWeb. “The report, prepared by staff of the House Committee on Government Reform, echoed an investigative report issued” the previous “week by the Government Accountability Office.” [View article] [View House report] [View GAO abstract]

Audit Shows Toxins Poorly Safeguarded (Yahoo! News) “Biological agents and toxins used to kill wildlife”—more than 2.7 million creatures, mostly starlings, in 2004—“are poorly safeguarded by the Agriculture Department, a federal audit found,” according to the Associated Press. The “audit by the department’s inspector general” said that the agency was “failing to keep accurate inventories of agents or toxins,” “not restricting access to agents or toxins” and “not having complete security plans.” [View article]

Agencies May Miss October Deadline for Employee Smart IDs (Government Executive) “By Oct. 27, according to” Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, issued in 2004, “agencies must begin issuing interoperable smart card identification badges to new employees and contractors,” reports Government Executive. “… The cards will carry a digital unique identification number, scanned fingerprint data protected by a separate personal identification number that employees would memorize and a digital certificate guaranteeing the card’s authenticity. But a growing chorus of managers charged with implementing the mandate says the deadline is impossible to meet.” [View article]

FEMA Stockpiles Supplies for Hurricane Season (Government Executive) The Federal Emergency Management Agency “now has 770 truckloads of” Meals Ready to Eat “compared to 180 before Katrina struck,” reports Government Executive. “Each truckload serves 10,000 people per day. FEMA has also vastly increased its supplies of water and ice and doubled its pre-Katrina staff of disaster assistance employees from approximately 4,000 to about 8,000.… the Defense Logistics Agency … will serve as a ‘backup’ to help move supplies.” [View article]

TSA Oversight of Checked Airline Baggage Screening Could Be Better, Says GAO Use of various procedures to screen air passengers’ checked baggage has involved trade-offs in security, according to the Government Accountability Office. The Transportation Security Administration has taken steps to reduce the need for alternative screening procedures at airports. However, the TSA has not developed performance measures and targets to assess its progress. [View abstract]

Defense Critical Technology Lists Rarely Inform Export Policy The Militarily Critical Technologies List and the Developing Science and Technologies List are out of date, the Government Accountability Office reported to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee last month, and agencies tend to rely on other information sources to inform export control and Defense policy decisions. [View abstract]

DHS Has Problems With Public-Private Recovery Plan for Internet Infrastructure The Homeland Security Department will have difficulty helping to recover the Internet from a major disruption, reports the Government Accountability Office. Obstacles include the diffusion of the Internet, legal issues, and private-sector reluctance to share information with DHS. [View abstract]

Hazmat Drivers Licensed in Canada or Mexico Must Get Background Checks to Drive in U.S. Beginning August 10, drivers licensed in Canada or Mexico to commercially transport hazardous materials will be required to undergo a background check under the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection’s Free and Secure Trade program before transporting placarded amounts of hazardous materials in the United States, as required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (“SAFETEALU”). [View press release]

25 Assistant U.S. Attorneys Added in Border Districts The Justice Department will add 25 Assistant U.S. Attorneys to the five federal law enforcement districts along the Mexican border. They will prosecute only immigration-related offences, such as alien smuggling, entering the United States without inspection, illegal reentry, possession of firearms as an alien, illegal employment of undocumented aliens, human trafficking, and document fraud. [View press release]

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State and Local News

Tampa Train Wreck Was Likely Sabotage, Says FBI (St. Petersburg Times) “The FBI says a piece of equipment intentionally placed on railroad tracks likely caused Sunday’s freight train derailment on Busch Boulevard” in Tampa, FL, reports the St. Petersburg Times. “… The train’s lead engine flipped onto its side … leaking 200 gallons of diesel fuel … No one was hurt, including the conductor, engineer and brakeman, all of whom were on board.” [View article]

Man Charged With False Report of Plot Against NY Subways (MSNBC) Rimon Alkatri, “a jeweler, apparently bent on revenge against his former business associates, was arrested Monday for reporting a bogus plot to bomb the New York subways last Fourth of July,” reports the Associated Press. “… The false report launched an intense and costly terrorist investigation.” If convicted, Alkatri faces “up to seven years in prison.” [View article]

No ‘Post-’ to New Orleans’ Traumatic Stress (Time) “‘People are just wearing down,’ says” psychiatrist James Barbee, according to Time. “… Initially, complaints reflected what some locals have dubbed ‘Katrina Brain’: general fatigue brought on by the disruption of their lives, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and mild depression.” But, “Barbee says, ‘there’s been a steady increase in depression … There’s no “post-” to the post-traumatic stress syndrome in this situation.’” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

Experimental Bird Flu Vaccine Shows Promise (Washington Post) GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals said “it has made an experimental vaccine for bird flu that appears to work at a dose far lower than even the familiar seasonal flu shots,” reports the Washington Post. “The vaccine contains an adjuvant, or immune booster, along with a killed version of the H5N1 influenza virus. It allows a smaller-than-usual amount of virus to stimulate a protective level of antibodies in the bloodstream. That, in turn, would permit public health authorities to stretch the supply of vaccine during a pandemic and cover more people.” The findings “have not been peer-reviewed or published yet.” [View article]

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Education

The Homeland Security Institute lists these education programs as a service to readers who may be interested; it does not endorse them or their courses.

Terrorism: Threats, Training, Tactics and Technology (August 7-9, Los Angeles; October 4-6, Albuquerque, NM) Nationally renowned experts will discuss terrorism, emerging threats, training, tactics, and technology issues. Participants will have the opportunity to explore some of the challenges and gain a comprehensive understanding of issues related to terrorism. [View conference website] Hospital Management of Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear and Explosive Incidents (August 14-18; Aberdeen, MD) This course, hosted by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, provides civilian healthcare professionals with state-of-the art instruction in planning for and managing multi-casualty incidents resulting from CBRNE terrorist attacks. For more information, visit the course website or call (410) 436-2230 or (410) 436-3393. [View course website] Certificate in Homeland Security Studies (Fall semester; Georgetown Univ., Washington, DC) The Certificate in Homeland Security Studies is a 5-course, 15-credit curriculum that prepares students for new homeland security challenges. Jointly offered by the Security Studies Program and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, the certificate gives students an interdisciplinary perspective appropriate to the complexity of the homeland security mission. Students interested in pursuing a full master’s degree in either program may apply for admission upon completion of the certificate program and may request that the credits earned for the certificate be applied to the master’s program. [View course website] Mirror Image (September 17-22; Moyock, NC) Mirror Image is an intensive, one-week classroom and field training program, designed to realistically simulate terrorist recruiting, training techniques, and operational tactics. Participants will receive insight into the mindset and rationale of the terrorist through hands-on experience with the methods and means they use, plus education about the ideologies that motivate them and cultural dimensions that influence their decision making. [View course website]

Upcoming Events

New Events (After four weeks, new events will be moved to the list below, in chronological order) Raising the Bar for Security (August 21-25; Baltimore) This Homeland Security Department conference will include general sessions, focused hands-on training workshops, and informational presentations. Attendance will help fulfill the security training requirements outlined in the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002. The conference is expected to draw information technology planning managers and security practitioners such as Information Systems Security Officers, Designated Accrediting Authorities, Information Systems Security Managers, and system or network administrators as well as physical and personnel security managers and communications security personnel from throughout the DHS components. The conference hosts are Dwight Williams, Chief Security Officer, and Bob West, DHS Chief Information Security Officer. [View conference website] Prevention First Biennial Symposium (September 12-13; Long Beach, CA) The California State Lands Commission presents and onshore and offshore pollution prevention symposium and technology exhibition that includes sessions on maritime security and marine and intermodal transportation issues. [View conference website] (October 26; London) The Global Security Challenge is a competition to find and select the most promising security technology startup in the world. It culminates in a conference, the presentation of business plans from the five finalists, the selection of the winner, and a gala dinner in the Tower of London. The conference will include panel discussions and keynote speakers from the security technology industry, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government officials, and academics. The goal is to raise the profiles of security startups and provide a platform for industry leaders to discuss trends. Business plans to be entered in the competition must be submitted by August 15. [View conference website]

August 9; Rochester, NY: Homeland Security Management Institute’s 2006 National Conference

September 6-8; Atlanta: Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference & Expo

September 13-14; Brussels, Belgium: Air & Port Security Expo Europe

September 19-20; New York: U.S. Maritime Security Expo

September 19-21; Baltimore: Biometric Consortium Conference

October 2-5; Colorado Springs, CO: Homeland Defense Symposium

October 25-27; New York: Environmental Sampling and Detection for Bio-Threat Agents

December 3-6; Baltimore: Society for Risk Analysis