International News

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Physical Details of All Residents of Britain Will Be in ID Database (Scotsman) “Everybody living in the United Kingdom, including foreigners, will be required to have their biometric details recorded under the government’s identity card scheme,” reports the Scotsman. “… John Reid, the Home Secretary, announced that all UK residents, whether or not they were British citizens, would be forced to have their irises scanned and their fingerprints taken for the national database.” [View article]

Libya Sentences Nurses to Death for Spreading HIV (London Times) “Five nurses who travelled to Libya to care for sick children were facing death by firing squad [Tuesday] after being found guilty of deliberately infecting 426 young patients with” human immunodeficiency virus, reports the London Times. “Their conviction, after seven years in jail and two trials, prompted an international outcry … The death of an eight-year-old boy this week brought to 53 the total of deaths in an epidemic that is seen in Benghazi as a plot to kill Muslims.” [View article]

Syria and Iraq to Cooperate Against Terrorism (Jerusalem Post) “Syria and Iraq’s interior ministers on Saturday discussed ways of strengthening cooperation and coordination between … the two neighboring countries to combat terrorism and crime, Syria’s official news agency said,” according to the Associated Press. “… the two sides … agreed to form joint committees to coordinate the issues they discussed.” Last week, Iraq also signed a cooperative agreement with Jordan. [View article]

Al-Zawahri Says U.S. Must Negotiate With al-Qaeda in Iraq (USA Today) “The deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, told the United States on Wednesday that it was negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq, strongly implying in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera that Washington should be talking to his terror group,” reports the Associated Press. [View article]

Wrongly Detained Muslims Tarnish Canadian Mounties’ Image (Washington Post) “Last week, the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police resigned, even though he had already apologized publicly to” Maher Arar, a Canadian Muslim who underwent torture during interrogation in Syria after he was abducted by U.S. officials in 2002, reports the Washington Post. (See the Sep. 22 newsletter.) “On Tuesday, the government announced new inquiries into the cases of three other Canadian Muslims who had been imprisoned in Syria.” Arar “remains on the U.S. ‘watch list’ despite an exhaustive Canadian inquiry that found he is an innocent man, the U.S. ambassador to Canada [David Wilkins] said” on Dec. 15, reports the Post in a separate article. “… the United States has never acknowledged any mistake in the matter, and … Arar might again be detained by the United States if he were to enter the country.” [View Mounties article] [View watch list article]

Dutch Police Will Have Extra Powers in High-Risk Zones (Expatica) Beginning in February, police in the Netherlands “will be able to take quicker action … if faced with a terrorist threat” in “permanent risk zones”: “the central railway stations of Utrecht, The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Dutch Parliament (het Binnenhof), the Borssele nuclear plant and the Hilversum Mediapark,” reports Expatica. “In these areas, police will able to body search people and inspect cars and objects without prior approval from the public prosecution office to ward off a terrorist attack.” [View article]

France Offers Financial Incentives for Illegal Immigrants to Go Home (International Herald Tribune) “The French government … is making about €20 million, or $26 million, available over the next two years for small grants to illegal immigrants who agree to return home with a business project and to legal migrants who invest in a project in their home countries,” reports the International Herald Tribune. “But these funds are earmarked for people from 34 countries—all of French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa, plus Ethiopia, Morocco, Vanuatu, Haiti, and the Comoros Islands—and amount to less than €600,000 per country on average.” Since “2005, an illegal immigrant who agrees to return home may collect €2,000 in cash. A couple is entitled to €3,500, with an extra €1,000 for each of the first three children and €500 for every additional child. But by November this year only 1,859 people had taken the offer; an estimated 500,000 other illegal immigrants preferred to stay.” Furthermore, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon and Gabon have “refused to sign … ‘readmission accords’” with France. [View article]

U.S. Navy photo by Edward G. Martens

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United Nations News

Nuclear Bomb-Grade Fuel Moved From Germany to Russia About 600 pounds of fresh highly enriched uranium fuel was moved from Germany to Russia in a secret airlift monitored by Germany, Russia, the United States and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. The fuel was supplied by the Soviet Union to the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s and 1970s. After German reunification in 1989, the Federal Government decided to shut down the two Soviet-design research reactors at Rossendorf. The fresh fuel was then kept under strict security at the site. Russia will blend down the uranium for civilian use. [View press release]

Rapid Slum Growth Breeds Crime and Terrorism, Says U.N. (Boston Globe) “The rapid growth of slums in the world’s towns and cities is increasing urban poverty and creating a breeding ground for terrorism, fanaticism, pollution and disease, the United Nations said on” Dec. 15, reports Reuters. “Next year … half of humanity will be living in towns and cities—and one billion of them living in slums.” [View article]

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National News

War on Terror Collides With Rule of Law (MSNBC) “The judicial branch of the government lived up to its task during the last year, working as a check on both the White House and Congress,” reports NBC News. “Between the Supreme Court’s striking down of the Bush administration’s plan to conduct military trials for war-on-terror detainees and the pursuit of allegedly corrupt government officials, it was a busy year for the Justice Department.” Pete Williams, Justice correspondent for NBC News, gives an overview of homeland security judicial news in 2006 and points out things to watch in 2007. [View article]

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DHS News

Inspector General Urges Customs Officials to Better Use Intelligence and Finds Problems With DHS Contracts (Government Executive) The Homeland Security Department’s Inspector General has “recommended that U.S. Customs and Border Protection strengthen its use of intelligence reports and technology for the container screening component of a system that has come under attack from privacy advocates for its use of information on travelers,” reports Government Executive. “A report published … last week called on CPB to ‘fully utilize’ intelligence for the Automated Targeting System. The auditors also said port performance evaluations need improvement, and policies and procedures for inspecting high-risk shipments need tweaking.” In another report, the Inspector General said that the department “needs to establish a more comprehensive acquisition oversight program and better plan an initiative to secure the borders” and “that some of DHS’ contract writing systems are incompatible with the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation.” [View Customs article] [View Customs report] [View contracts article] [View contracts report]

TSA Seeks Improved Tracking of Hazardous Rail Shipments (Government Executive) “The Transportation Security Administration” has proposed “a new rule that would require rail carriers to respond more quickly to government queries on the whereabouts of hazardous chemicals they transport through urban centers,” reports Government Executive. “… the proposed rule … would cost the rail industry $162 million over 10 years.… The regulation also would require industry officials to designate a rail security coordinator to work with federal officials and track and reduce ‘standstill’ time for railroad cars carrying hazardous materials.” [View article] [View TSA rule]

Travel With Unwrapped Gifts, Says TSA “Leave your holiday gifts unwrapped until you reach your destination,” says the Transportation Security Administration. “If TSA needs to inspect an item it will unwrap the package.” The TSA presents “12 Tips of Holiday Travel.” [View press release]

Coast Guard Abandons Plans for Target Practice on Great Lakes (Chicago Tribune) “Surrendering to a barrage of complaints, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday dropped plans to conduct routine target practice with boat-mounted machine guns in 34 areas throughout the Great Lakes …” reports the Chicago Tribune. (See the Sep. 29 newsletter.) “Coast Guard officials said they made a mistake by not adequately informing the public about their proposal, which was so unusual it required changes to a treaty with Canada that dates to the War of 1812.” [View article]

U.S.-Canada Trusted Traveler Program Upgraded and Expanded Three Nexus trusted traveler programs have been integrated into a single program under which members will have automatic air, marine, and land border crossing privileges. There will be one application form and fee for air, land, and marine border crossings, and Nexus will provide processing locations at additional airports in Canada throughout 2007. Nexus is a joint program with the Canada Border Services Agency that allows prescreened and approved travelers faster processing at designated highway lanes in high-volume border crossing locations, at a Nexus kiosk at Vancouver (British Columbia) International Airport, and at certain marine reporting locations in the Great Lakes regions and Seattle area. [View press release]

US-VISIT Still Needs Work, Says GAO (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program has increased the ability of inspectors at land ports of entry to process visitors, but lax management controls threaten further improvements, according to the Government Accountability Office,” reports Federal Computer Week. “US-VISIT officials have also concluded that they can’t yet install an advanced 10-fingerprint biometric system at the ports, but GAO said a radio frequency identification system that has been proposed as an interim measure doesn’t meet statutory requirements. DHS has installed US-VISIT at nearly all of the country’s 170 land-based ports, providing two-finger biometric scans and automating paperwork.” DHS “concluded that implementing a biometric system for exiting travelers that is similar to the one for people entering the United States would be costly—about $3 billion—and would also require a completely new infrastructure at the ports.” But “US-VISIT is required by law to include a biometric capability that makes it possible to prove that the person leaving the country is the same one who entered, which an RFID tag cannot do.” [View article] [View GAO abstract] [View Focus on US-VISIT]

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Other Federal News

Prosecution of Civilians Accused of Abusing Detainees Falters (New York Times) “A Justice Department team responsible for investigating accusations that civilian government employees had abused detainees has decided against prosecution in most of the nearly 20 cases referred in the last two years by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency,” reports the New York Times. “The prosecution team … has not brought a single indictment and has been … unable to collect forensic evidence or find witnesses needed to bring indictments out of war-ravaged areas of Iraq and Afghanistan.… A few investigations remain open.” [View article]

CIA Exercise Reveals Consequences of Defeat (Washington Times) “The CIA this month conducted a simulation of how the Iraq war affects the global jihadist movement, and one conclusion was that a U.S. loss would embolden al Qaeda to expand its ranks of terrorists as well as pick new strategic targets,” reports the Washington Times. [View article]

U.S. Warns of Terrorist Threat to Satellites (Los Angeles Times) “The Bush administration warned Wednesday against threats by terrorist groups and other nations against U.S. commercial and military satellites,” reports the Associated Press. “… Undersecretary of State Robert G. Joseph also reasserted U.S. policy that it has a right to use force against hostile nations or terror groups that might try to attack American satellites or ground installations that support space programs.… ‘we must take all of these threats seriously …’ Joseph said.” [View article]

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State and Local News

Freedom Tower Construction Begins in New York City (CNN) The first steel columns of the Freedom Tower “rose at ground zero Tuesday, a milestone in the prolonged effort to build the skyscraper that will replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center,” reports the Associated Press. “… The 1,776-foot tower, set to open in 2011, will be the tallest of the five skyscrapers planned to replace the trade center,” which also consisted of five buildings, the two tallest of which were struck by hijacked airliners on September 11, 2001. [View article]

Rebuilding Is Slow on the Gulf Coast (USA Today) “Despite massive aid programs,… few residents” have “been able to rebuild what Katrina washed away,” reports USA Today. Although “the U.S. government has spent more than $80 billion to help the region recover and rebuild,” the hardest-hit “areas in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi remain silent shells.” A “$7.5 billion Louisiana program to help people rebuild or relocate has put money in the hands of just 87 of the 89,403 homeowners who applied. Along the Gulf Coast, almost 100,000 people still live in trailers and mobile homes issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

‘Terrorists Destroyed the Evidence’ Excuse Leads to Court Action (New Zealand Herald) “Morgan Stanley could face claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars from aggrieved clients after being accused of saying that email evidence against the bank was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,” reports Independent News & Media. “The company has been charged by securities regulators after repeatedly refusing to hand over email messages to the independent arbitrators who examine complaints from clients of its retail stockbroking arm. The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) said the bank claimed millions of emails were lost when its servers and archives at the World Trade Centre in New York were destroyed. In fact, they were available on back-up tapes or on other computers. The NASD says many of the pre-2001 emails were later wiped when they should have been kept, and it wants compensation paid to about 1200 clients whose arbitration rulings have now been called into question.” [View article]

Terrorism Insurance Update (West Rockport, ME, Citizen) In an extensive overview of terrorism risk and insurance, Tammra Ferraiolo of West Rockport’s Pease Insurance Agency describes recent developments, provides background on terrorism insurance, and explains the workings of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. [View article]

Northcom Looks to Private-Sector Emergency Response (Federal Computer Week) Northern Command, which “offers command-and-control support for” Defense Department “homeland defense efforts and coordinates defense support of civil authorities,” also coordinates “with the private sector and nongovernmental organizations …” reports Federal Computer Week. “Private-sector businesses and NGOs can sometimes respond more nimbly than the federal sector can.” [View article]

DHS Awards Management Contract for National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center The Homeland Security Department has selected Battelle National Biodefense Institute to conduct scientific programs and operate the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, now under construction at the National Interagency Biodefense Campus in Fort Detrick, MD. The $250 million contract award has a five-year period of performance, with up to five one-year extensions, up to $500 million total. [View press release]

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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. New education listings are posted for four weeks.

2007 DHS Scholarship and Fellowship Program The Homeland Security Department has announced the 2007 competition cycle of its Scholarship and Fellowship Program. Complete information, with program guidelines, is available online. The previous competition cycle provided financial support for 103 scholars and fellows. “All applicants are expected to apply using the online application.” The application deadline is January 23. Questions can be sent via email to dhsed@orau.org. [View scholarship website]

Upcoming Events

January 22-23; Arlington, VA: 2007 Railway Security Forum & Expo

January 22-23; Arlington, VA: Maritime & Port Security 2007

February 6-7; Washington, DC: Homeland Security: The Ripple Effect

February 21–23; Charleston, SC: Homeland Security Innovation Conference

April; Washington, DC: Cyber Security Challenges and Solutions

April 11-12; San Pedro, CA: Sayres Response 2 Terrorism

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