International News

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Southeast Asian Nations Hold Antiterror Summit (Manila [Philippines] Standard Today) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed this week “to create a common list of terrorist organizations and to punish countries that give aid to these groups,” reports the Manila Standard Today. “… The agreement calls for increased sharing of information and intelligence, extradition of known terrorists, and more stringent policies on money transfers”; it “enumerates acts of terrorism as defined by the United Nations.” Three bombings apparently timed to coincide with the summit “killed seven people in the cities of General Santos, Kidapawan and Cotabato,” but “Senior Supt. Ronald Roderos, police regional director,” pointed out that the bombings occurred 300 miles from Cebu, where the summit is being held. [View article]

Poor Hospital Practices Blamed for 2003 SARS Epidemic in Toronto (New York Times) “A provincial commission investigating the SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] outbreak in 2003 reported Tuesday that poor hospital infection-control procedures led to the epidemic in the Toronto area that killed 44 people,” according to the New York Times. “… Of the 375 SARS cases eventually identified in Ontario Province, health care workers accounted for 45 percent. Two nurses and a doctor died from their infections.” [View article]

Is Tunisia the Next Terror Hotbed? (Time) “Diplomats and counter-terrorism officials are becoming alarmed about a steady resurgence of Al Qaeda in north Africa, including in Tunisia,” writes Scott MacLeod in Time. “… The worrying developments in Tunisia come against a backdrop of Al Qaeda’s drive to unify various North African salafist groups under its banner.” [View article]

Eta Admits to Fatal December Blast, Threatens More (London Guardian; Voice of America) “The Basque separatist group Eta [on Tuesday] claimed responsibility for a Madrid bomb attack in which two people died last month, but insisted an existing ceasefire remained in place” while “not explaining the apparent contradiction,” reports the Guardian. (See last week’s newsletter.) The bomb killed “two Ecuadorean immigrants and [injured] 26 other people. It was the first time Eta had killed anyone since May 2003.… Since the airport attack, police in the Basque country have found 180kg [about 400 lb] of explosives.” Furthermore, “a statement published in a Basque newspaper and attributed to ETA suggests the group may strike again,” according to Voice of America. [View Guardian article] [View Voice of America article]

Israel Has Plans for Nuclear Strike on Iran (London Times) “Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons [see last week’s newsletter]. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear ‘bunker-busters’, according to several Israeli military sources.… Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open ‘tunnels’ into the targets. ‘Mini-nukes’ would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.… The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.” [View article]

China Opposes Nuclear Weapons for Iran (Jerusalem Haaretz) “China is opposed to Iran becoming a military nuclear power, but Tehran has the right to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes, China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told visiting [Israeli Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert during their meeting in Beijing” Wednesday, reports Haaretz. “… However, Wen said that there is a ‘correct’ way of dealing with this, and pointed to the United Nations Security Council and to independent decisions of individual countries to apply pressure on Iran.” [View article]

Canadian Jailed Under Terrorism Act Waits 3 Years for Trial (Toronto Globe and Mail) Canadian “Mohammad Momin Khawaja, the first person charged under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, will have spent at least three years in jail before his trial begins,” reports the Globe and Mail. Khawaja, “accused of being part of a conspiracy to bomb targets in Britain, will not stand trial until April at the earliest.” [View article]

Germany Gives Moroccan Maximum Sentence for 9/11 (London Guardian) Mounir el Motassadeq, “a Moroccan convicted as an accessory to murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was sentenced Monday to the maximum 15 years in prison,” reports the Associated Press. “… Motassadeq, a friend of three of the suicide pilots, [was convicted] in November of knowingly helping the hijackers.” [View article]

Freed Jihadis Set Back Pakistan’s War on Terror (London Telegraph) “Anti-terrorism forces in Pakistan have been told to brace themselves for a wave of atrocities … after the release of dozens of militants by Pakistani courts,” reports the Telegraph. “… as many as 80 hard-core militants are on the loose after being cleared by the courts or released on bail.… A memo sent by Pakistan’s interior ministry to law enforcement agencies around the country warns of a plot to use suicide bombers to target Britons and Americans, including diplomats, in a coordinated campaign involving some of the country’s most notorious terrorist groups. The ministry warned that the bombers were also believed to be looking at high-profile individuals and military installations as potential targets.” [View article]

Somali Government Offers Islamists Lifeline (Australian) Somali president “Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed … offered an olive branch to moderates from the ousted Islamists” on Tuesday, reports Agence France-Presse. “‘Our doors are open and we shall welcome all Somali parties into the national administration … as long they put down their arms, stop violence and indicate their willingness to join us in rebuilding our country,’ said [government spokesman Abdirahman] Dinari.… the growing insecurity in Mogadishu is an indication of the government’s limited ability to control a city that has changed hands several times in the past 16 years.” [View article]

British Muslim Guilty of Incitement in Cartoon Case (Los Angeles Times) “A British Muslim who led a crowd in chants of ‘Bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA’ during protests over newspaper cartoons of the prophet Muhammad was found guilty of incitement to murder,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Umran Javed, 27, was one of the leaders of a Feb. 3 rally outside the Danish Embassy in London.” [View article]

Terror Thrives on Crime World Links (Australian) New South Wales “assistant commissioner for counter terrorism Nick Kaldas has observed [that] the line between criminality and politically motivated acts of terrorism is blurring worldwide,” reports the Australian. “Kaldas is correct,” writes Anthony Bergin, director of research programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “… both groups can use funds from illegal activities to finance their operations. Alliances may even form in areas such as bomb making, procuring weapons, identity theft and fraudulent documentation.” [View article]

Bird Flu Drug Carries Lethal Threat (London Observer) “Scientists say … that tons of the anti-viral agent Tamiflu—taken by Britons trying to combat [avian influenza]—would be flushed down sewers into rivers and lakes,” reports the Observer. “Natural populations of microbes would be killed off by a deluge of water polluted with concentrated amounts of the anti-viral drug. As a result, birds, fish and other creatures that rely on these bacteria and viruses for their survival could be devastated. In addition, waters containing Tamiflu would provide ideal conditions for the evolution of drug-resistant strains of bird flu virus.… ‘More than 100 million tablets, each containing 75mg of Tamiflu, could be consumed in the first weeks of a flu outbreak [said Dr. Andrew Singer of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology]. Most of that will pass through people and be released in their urine. It will then be flushed away.’” [View article]

Britain’s MI5 Emails Terror Alerts (Washington Post) “The British government is offering an e-mail bulletin service to notify people of changes to the nation’s terror threat level, a development that illustrates increasing fears of extremist attacks in Britain and the rising power of digital communications,” reports the Washington Post. “The domestic security agency, MI5, announced the new service Tuesday and said it will also provide e-mail bulletins on ‘major developments in national security affairs.’ It plans to add a service providing the same information in text messages to cellphones.” [View article]

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United Nations News

Atomic Agency’s Humanitarian Work in Africa The International Atomic Energy Agency is boosting the use of radiation technology in Africa to promote development in groundwater management, pest control, battling cancer, supplying energy, and other fields. The activities support the UN Millennium Development Goals. [View press release]

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National News

U.S. Worried About Homegrown Terrorists (London Guardian) Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff “said [on Jan. 5] he is increasingly worried about ‘homegrown’ terrorists and will give more help to local police trying to root out such plots,” reports the Associated Press. “… Chertoff announced several changes in how the government chooses to dole out anti-terror money to major U.S. cities, moving away from what he said was too much ‘bean-counting’ … DHS will now allow” some cities “to use some grants to pay for police officers devoted exclusively to anti-terror work.” [View article]

Are You a Citizen? Prove It (Stateline) “Worries about voter fraud and the chance that illegal immigrants are taking advantage of taxpayer-funded public services also have prompted a surge in stiffer identification requirements—from voting booths to Medicaid applications,” reports Stateline. “To weed out the few, all Americans growingly need a paper trail to qualify for some of the perks of citizenship” as states “begin to comply with stringent federal identification rules required by the 2005 Real ID Act.” [View article]

Iraqis Shot by Marines Were Not Fleeing, Say Investigators (Washington Post) “U.S. criminal investigators found no evidence to support the claim of Marines charged in the deaths of unarmed Iraqi civilians that five were shot after trying to flee the scene of a roadside bombing that killed one Marine,” reports the Associated Press. “… Investigators determined that all five Iraqis were shot within arm’s length of each other and no more than 18 feet from the white taxi they were ordered to exit by members of a Marine squad in the western Iraqi town of Haditha … Two Marines are charged with murder … Two other Marines … face murder charges in connection with the deaths of other Iraqi civilians shot shortly after the killings by the taxi.” [View article]

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State and Local News

Govts. Will Spend More on Emergency Communications (Federal Computer Week) “State and local governments will boost their technology investment by 40 percent in the next five years as they struggle to overcome communications problems that stymie coordinated emergency response efforts,” reports Federal Computer Week. (See last week’s newsletter.) “Market analyst firm Datamonitor” predicts that “technology spending will rise from $3.2 billion in 2006 to $4.4 billion in 2011 as public safety agencies push to bring real-time and on-demand communications to response efforts.… But despite increased spending, those initiatives could run into a raft of problems, according to the report, including limited funding for new purchases, insufficient coordination among independent organizations, and confusion over which technology approach to adopt.” [View article]

Strange Odor Tests New York City Air Monitors (Denver Post) “When a mysterious odor wafted through … New York on Monday, it did not set off any [biomonitor] alarms,” reports the Associated Press. Most “urban monitoring networks are still in a fledgling stage, and authorities warn that they have their limitations.… the devices are at the whim of wind patterns and can detect only substances that have already been released into the air … The sensors also can’t test for everything.… city investigators relied mostly on traditional methods of analyzing the odor, including hand-held meters long used by utility crews to check for gas leaks.” [View article]

Man Gets 30 Years in Subway Bomb Plot (New York Times) “A federal judge sentenced a 24-year-old Pakistani immigrant”—Shahawar Matin Siraj—on Monday “to 30 years in prison for plotting to bomb the Herald Square [Manhattan] subway station in 2004,” reports the New York Times. The judge “noted that … such an attack would have meant enormous economic losses, disruption and loss of life.” Siraj and the other man arrested “never obtained explosives, there was no timetable for an attack, and the men were not linked to any known terrorist group.” [View article]

Illinois Man Indicted in Hand Grenade Case (Washington Post) “A man accused of plotting to use hand grenades in an attack on holiday shoppers was indicted [Jan 4] on charges of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction,” reports the Associated Press. “Derrick Shareef, 22, was arrested Dec. 6 by an FBI-led anti-terrorism task force following a sting operation in which an undercover informant secretly tape-recorded his plans. Shareef was arrested when he met an undercover agent to trade a pair of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a handgun to use at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.” [View article]

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DHS News

DHS Offers $1 Billion-Plus in Local Homeland Security Grants Five fiscal year 2007 grant guidance programs will total roughly $1.67 billion in funding for state and local counterterrorism efforts:

Grant guidance and application kits are available online. [View press release] [View program overview]

Airport Screeners Get More Training About Muslims (Christian Science Monitor) “As pilgrims return from the hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca],” the Transportation Security Administration is giving “its workers a refresher on how to treat Muslims at US security checkpoints,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “… During the next few weeks, as many as 20,000 American Muslims will be returning to the United States from their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The TSA has ramped up cultural-awareness training for all 43,000 of its screeners. The goal: to remind screeners what to expect from devout Muslims and how to go about screening them so it’s in concert with their religious beliefs.” [View article]

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Other Federal News

New CDC Grants Fund Research on Health Threat Detection and Response The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced $3.7 million in new grants designed to enhance healthcare information and improve detection of and response to emerging public health threats. The grants will fund studies at three new Centers of Excellence in Public Health Informatics at the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene; the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. The studies will involve public- and private-sector partners, including universities, health departments, and research organizations. [View press release]

U.S. Treasury Freezes Assets of Iranian Bank Sepah The Treasury Department on Tuesday prohibited all transactions between Bank Sepah and any U.S. person and froze the bank’s assets that are under U.S. jurisdiction, because, said the Treasury Department, the bank supports proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Stuart Levey, the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, called the bank “the financial linchpin of Iran’s missile procurement network.” [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] Designing Safe Infrastructure (March 7-9; Louisville, KY) An intensive workshop, sponsored by the Infrastructure Security Partnership, offering a detailed and systematic approach to designing a fully integrated security program using advanced skills for crime prevention through environmental design along with integrated security design techniques. [View event website]

Upcoming Events

New Events (After four weeks, new events will be moved to the list below, in chronological order) U.S.-Israel Technologies Conference (Herndon, VA; Jan. 16-18) Leading U.S. technology firms, government contractors, federal officials, and venture capitalists with some of Israel’s most innovative homeland security technology companies will meet, assess the federal marketplace, present business plans to leading investors, and highlight Fairfax County’s homeland defense industry. [View conference website] Infrastructure Security Partnership Breakfast (Jan. 18; Washington, DC) Jay Cohen, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science & Technology, will speak. For more information, contact Catherine Tehan at ctehan@tisp.org. [View event website] University Network Summit on Research and Education (March 15-16; Washington, DC) The summit will include presentations and discussions on the university-based Centers of Excellence research areas. Homeland Security Department officials will be on hand to discuss research and education needs in the key divisions of the department’s Science and Technology Directorate. The conference is open to homeland security officials, professionals, researchers, educators, and students, as well as other interested parties in government, academia, and industry. For more information, contact Neil Franz at (202) 254-6154. [View conference website] 6th Annual Infrastructure Security Partnership Congress (March 28-29; Arlington, VA) This year’s theme is “Achieving Resilience: From Readiness to Restoration.” It will feature networking opportunities, keynote presentations, technical sessions, and product demonstrations. [View congress website] SANS 2007 (March 29–April 5; San Diego) This network security conference offers 22 immersion training programs along with shorter courses. A new course this year addresses legal issues in information technology and information security. The vendor tools expo and reception offers live demonstrations of technologies. [View conference website]

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

June 5-8, 2007; Trogir, Croatia: The 14th TIEMS (International Emergency Management Society) International Conference

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