International News

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Israel’s Destruction Is Imminent, Says Iran’s Ambassador to Syria (Adnkronos Intl.) “Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, said on Wednesday that Israel’s destruction was imminent,” reports Adnkronos International. “‘Concrete facts show that destroying Israel is possible,’ said the diplomat, in a speech during celebrations of the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. ‘I hope I will be able to celebrate the next anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Palestine, as some elements and facts show that the destruction of the Zionist state is not only possible but imminent.’” [View article]

Palestinians Agree on Unity Government (Reuters) “The Islamist group Hamas, which won the last Palestinian elections, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction” yesterday “agreed on the formation of a unity government at crisis talks in Saudi Arabia,” reports Reuters. “… internecine fighting” between the factions “has killed more than 90 Palestinians since December.” Hamas is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. [View article]

Letter Bombs Strike Britain (BBC) Police in Britain “have warned firms and the public to take care when opening” mail, reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “Seven devices have been sent in Wales and England in the last three weeks.” [View article]

Britain’s Nuclear Terrorism Risk Grows (Malaysia Star; Yahoo! News) “‘The threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons is real … moreover, the likelihood of terrorists acquiring such weapons is growing as more states aggressively pursue their own nuclear ambitions,’ the EastWest Institute said” on Thursday, reports Reuters. “London’s influential Chatham House … said it was feasible that terrorists could acquire an atomic bomb, build one themselves, create an ‘improvised nuclear device’ or blow up a nuclear power station. Another risk was the collapse of government control over civil and military nuclear facilities and materials in countries like Pakistan or North Korea.” Chatham House’s Paul Cornish, head of the international security programme, says “his report looked at the threat from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons [in Britain] and said they could be used by extremist groups ‘from the largest to the smallest… from the poorest to the best funded,’” reports Agence France-Presse. “‘A good deal of the effect of a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom using CBRN could prove to be self-inflicted by the victims of the attack—the general public, business leaders, and government officials—or magnified by alarmist media,’ Cornish wrote.” [View Reuters article] [View AFP article] [View Chatham House report]

Iraq’s Deputy Health Minister Arrested for Murder and Kidnapping (London Times) “Iraq’s deputy health minister [Hakim al-Zam] was arrested by US and Iraqi soldiers for his alleged role in the country’s sectarian conflict” yesterday, reports the London Times. “A US military statement later said the minister had allowed his department to assist in ‘sectarian kidnapping and murder.’” [View article]

Embassy Bomber Is Iraqi Parliament Member (New York Times) “Iraqi and American officials confirmed [Tuesday] that a sitting member of the Iraqi parliament is the same man who was convicted of planning bombing attacks on the American and French embassies and other sites in Kuwait in 1983,” reports the New York Times. “Five Americans were killed and 86 others were wounded in those attacks. The man, Jamal Jafaar Mohammed ali Ebrahimi, also called Abu Mahdi Mohandes, is currently in Iran.” [View article]

Three Iraqi Diplomats Seek Asylum in Australia (New Zealand Herald) “Three Iraqi diplomats and their families have asked for humanitarian asylum in Australia, refusing orders to return to their conflict-racked country,” reports the New Zealand Herald. “Chief defence attache Brigadier-General Sabah al-Kareen Zebon Fureje and two staff, Colonel Kamal J Askander and Ala’ al-Amiri, refused to go home after the defence office within the Canberra Embassy was shut down in mid-December.” [View article]

Pentagon Will Create U.S. Africa Command; U.S. and African Military Leaders Meet (All Africa; Johannesburg, South Africa, Mail and Guardian; Yahoo! News) “The U.S. military will establish a separate U.S. Africa Command to oversee military operations on the African continent,” reports American Forces Press Service. The command will “‘oversee security cooperation, building partnership capability, defense support to non-military missions, and, if directed, military operations on the African continent,’ [Defense Secretary Robert M.] Gates said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee” on Tuesday. But “no extra United States combat troops will be stationed in Africa as a result of plans to create a US military command for the continent,” reports Reuters. Also this week, “military chiefs from the United States and nine African countries have met in Senegal to seek ways to strengthen the battle against terrorism,” reports Agence France-Presse. The meeting was “held under the aegis of the Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Partnership.” [View All Africa article] [View Mail and Guardian article] [View Yahoo! article]

Spain Patrols African Coast for Illegal Immigrants (CNN) A “unit of Spain’s Guardia Civil has been” making daily patrol boat “runs along Senegal’s coast for months now … in an attempt to stem the tide of illegal migrants risking dangerous ocean voyages to the Canary Islands,” reports the Associated Press. “… The effort—which also includes helicopter surveillance and foot patrols on the beaches—has caught thousands since the summer. But many more have arrived on the shores of the Canary Islands, suggesting that the increased security has not deterred many desperate for a chance at a better life.” [View article]

Japan Holds First Joint Pandemic Flu Drill (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) “The central government and Tokushima Prefecture held the nation’s first joint drill Monday to cope with a feared outbreak of a new strain of influenza that officials say could kill up to 640,000 people,” reports the Asahi Shimbun. “Prefectural officials, joined by 20 ministries and agencies of the central government, including the Cabinet Office and the health ministry, rehearsed plans to handle a pandemic of an unknown strain of flu.” [View article]

Bird Flu Outbreak in Britain Stifles Exports, Prompts Review of Drug Stockpile (Reuters AlertNet) “Britain is reviewing the size of its stockpile of antiviral drugs after detecting the first case of H5N1 bird flu in farmed poultry,” reports Reuters. “… To date, the country has bought 14.6 million courses of Tamiflu … enough to treat the 25 percent of the population.” Ukraine, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and Russia have banned British poultry imports, reported Reuters in a separate story. [View stockpile article] [View exports article]

India Asks Google to Remove Images of Sensitive Areas (BBC) “Citing security worries the Indian government has asked Google to reduce the detail in a selection of images,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “The government is drawing up a list of places it considers sensitive, which is expected to include military bases and government buildings.… The images used to create Google Earth are often taken by governments and other agencies which often blur or censor what can be seen.” [View article]

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New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security In Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong traces Islam’s origins and subsequent history and illustrates its religious principles, placing the prophet Muhammad squarely in the times he inhabited. Armstrong follows the history of Islam after Muhammad’s death in 632 and how the resulting violence over leadership set up rifts and differences that are seen in the Sunni and Shia divisions to this day. Analytic Services editor Noëlle MacKenzie reviews the book.

United Nations News

UN May Keep Its Hold on Kosovo (Christian Science Monitor) Kosovo “has been UN-run since 1999 when NATO freed its mainly Albanian population from Serb rule. Not granting it freedom would fit a global trend,” notes the Christian Science Monitor. “Last week, the UN envoy for resolving Kosovo’s legal limbo, Martti Ahtisaari, recommended to the Security Council something far short of independence for the Connecticut-size territory of 2 million people. In doing so, the respected Finnish diplomat may be trying to prevent another war in the former Yugoslavia. Under Mr. Ahtisaari’s plan, the UN would retain key, long-term powers in Kosovo while giving most sovereignty to the Albanian majority. Neither side would win their national aspirations in a cumbersome compromise.” [View editorial]

First Human Bird Flu Death in Sub-Saharan Africa A/H5N1 avian influenza virus was found in a 22-year-old deceased female from Lagos, reports the World Health Organisation. The findings from a lab in Nigeria were confirmed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza. H5N1 virus has been identified in poultry outbreaks in Nigeria, and “sporadic cases of human infection with avian influenza are not unexpected,” said WHO. [View press release]

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National News

U.S. Religious Freedom Commission Faults Handling of Asylum Seekers (New York Times) The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom “warned on Wednesday that the Bush administration, in its zeal to secure the nation’s borders and stem the tide of illegal immigrants, may be leaving asylum seekers vulnerable to deportation and harsh treatment,” reports the New York Times. Asked by Congress “to assess asylum regulations,” the commission “found two years ago that some immigration officials were improperly processing asylum seekers for deportation” and “that asylum seekers were often strip-searched, shackled and held in jails.” The commission now “says officials have failed to put into effect most of its 2005 recommendations.” [View article] [View scorecard]

JIS: Islamic Extremists or Phony Muslims? (Washington Post) Four young men “charged with conspiring ‘to levy war against the United States’ via deadly attacks on military installations and synagogues in Southern California” were “incapable of responding even to … standard Islamic greetings” from a Muslim prison chaplain, reports the Washington Post. “‘They’re not Muslims,’ declared Shakeel Syed, head of the 75-mosque Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.” The “self-styled converts” were members of “what Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales called a ‘radical Islamic organization’ named Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), or Assembly of True Islam.” [View article]

Does Data Mining Work? (Government Computer News) “The specter of agencies trawling databases of personal information in search of clues to terrorist activity raises difficult questions about balancing privacy with security, but witnesses at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing helpfully cut through a lot of the fog to simplify this issue,” writes columnist William Jackson in Government Computer News. Data mining uses “algorithms not only to search data from multiple sources, but also to analyze it for patterns and relationships. The government has plenty of these programs planned.… Properly tuned, they could be useful investigative tools, providing avenues for follow-up in the wake of an event. But as a predictor of terrorist activity? Not likely, said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute.” [View article]

Mass Vaccination Tests Preparedness for Pandemic (Government Computer News) “In one day last November,” in New Mexico and Arizona, “the Indian Health Service vaccinated 24,000 members of the Navajo tribe against flu. It was the largest mass vaccination in the United States, agency officials said, and it was perhaps the closest simulation yet of an inoculation for a pandemic outbreak,” reports Government Computer News. “… The exercise tested the agency’s ability to manage communications and response resources using alert and incident response management services.” [View article]

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DHS News

DHS Wants More Pilots to Carry Guns (Washington Times) The Homeland Security Department is changing “the armed-pilot program to encourage more of the nation’s 90,000 captains and co-captains to participate,” reports the Washington Times. “Armed pilots will be issued badges to identify themselves, they will be allowed to carry their weapons on flights they are not piloting, and U.S. officials will seek to expand the program for overseas flights.… Federal air marshals, who number about 2,000, say they are concerned the agency will cut back their numbers as a cost-saving measure and instead turn to pilots to protect the aircraft.” [View article]

DHS Revamps BioWatch (USA Today) “An early-warning program in more than 30 cities aimed at detecting biological weapons was bungled by the Homeland Security Department and has since undergone a revamping, according to … Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner,” reports USA Today. A report released Wednesday cited “a series of problems in the BioWatch program, which costs $1 million a year per city. Among the issues was sloppy handling and storage of sensors designed to give early warnings of a bioterrorism attack. Such problems ‘could jeopardize (the department’s) ability to detect biological agents and protect the populace of the United States,’ the report says.… Homeland Security officials say they have ‘taken action to resolve the issues,’ the report says.…. BioWatch allows government scientists to test the air daily in high-risk cities to see whether anthrax, smallpox or other biological agents have been released.” [View article]

FEMA Gets Advisory Council A National Advisory Council is being created to advise the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on all aspects of emergency management to ensure close coordination with all involved. The FEMA Administrator will appoint the council members, who will represent a geographic and significant cross section of officials from emergency management and law enforcement: homeland security directors, adjutants general, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and emergency response providers from state, local, and tribal governments. [View press release]

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Other Federal News

Bush Issues Homeland Security Presidential Directive 18 Last Wednesday, President Bush issued “Medical Countermeasures Against Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Homeland Security Presidential Directive 18. It specifies two “tiers” of policy: “Focused Development of Agent-Specific Medical Countermeasures” and “Development of a Flexible Capability for New Medical Countermeasures,” along with “policy actions.” [View press release]

CDC Issues Planning Guidance for Pandemic Flu The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published new guidance on community planning strategies that state and local community decision makers and individuals, need to consider based on the severity of an influenza pandemic. The guidance includes a Pandemic Severity Index. The Department of Health and Human Services also issued new radio and television public service announcements that encourage people to learn more about pandemic flu and about community efforts to prepare for a potential pandemic. [View press release]

US-VISIT Faces Problems at Land Ports of Entry The U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology for visitors entering the United States has been installed at 154 of the 170 land ports of entry, notes the Government Accountability Office, and “officials at all 21 sites [GAO] visited reported that US-VISIT had improved their ability to process visitors and verify identities,” Richard M. Stana, GAO Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues, testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security (Judiciary Committee) on Jan. 31. However, installing US-VISIT “could increase processing times and adversely affect operations … where space constraints, traffic congestion, and processing delays already exist.” DHS lacks “measures to gauge” these factors, so “neither DHS nor Congress is in a good position to prioritize and allocate program resources or plan for” facilities modifications at ports of entry. [View abstract] [View Focus on US-VISIT]

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State and Local News

Los Angeles Jail Finds That Many More Inmates Are Illegal Aliens (Los Angeles Times) “The number of Los Angeles County jail inmates identified as suspected illegal immigrants nearly doubled in the year since the Sheriff’s Department started investigating their legal status,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “The number red-flagged to face possible deportation once they serve their sentences went from 3,050 in 2005 to 5,829 last year.” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

Soaring Crime in Tijuana Threatens Border Economy (USA Today) “Violence, killings and kidnappings have reached frightening new levels in Tijuana [Mexico] over the last 24 months, exposing the weaknesses of police and threatening the tourism and trade that underpin the economy on both sides of the border,” reports USA Today. The border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego “is the busiest in the world as tens of thousands of people move legally in both directions every day, pursuing jobs and commerce, housing, the arts, even health care.” [View article]

Indonesia May Sell Bird Flu Virus Samples (New York Times) “Indonesia, which has had more human cases of avian flu than any other country, has stopped sending samples of the virus to the World Health Organization, apparently because it is negotiating a contract to sell the samples to an American vaccine company,” Baxter Healthcare, reports the New York Times. “The strains of the H5N1 virus circulating in Indonesia are considered crucial to developing up-to-date vaccines and following mutations in the virus.” [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. New education listings are posted for four weeks.

Upcoming Events

New Events (After four weeks, new events will be moved to the list below, in chronological order) EastWest Institute Worldwide Security Conference (February 20-22; Brussels, Belgium) The conference aims to bring together government officials and key business and civil society leaders from the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, and other countries to enhance cooperation and identify new ways to counter terrorism; to focus on prevention of extremism and examine the root causes; and to develop practical recommendations for next steps that the international community should take to enhance security domestically and worldwide. [View conference website] DHS WMD Awareness Training Course (Feb. 24; Tonawanda, NY) This 7-hour program provides emergency responders with awareness-level instruction on recognition, avoidance, isolation, and notification techniques in an environment of weapons of mass destruction. The course covers prevention and deterrence and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive hazards. Training will be conducted by the Peace Officers Training Academy. All training and course materials are free. [View course schedule] (Feb. 27-28; Washington DC) This conference will assess the state of homeland security and defense education, discuss research and accreditation issues, give academic institutions the opportunity to share highlights of their programs, and hear top policy authorities in the Homeland Security and Defense departments discuss future directions. The summit is hosted by the Naval Postgraduate School (Center for Homeland Defense and Security), the North American Aerospace Defense Command–Northern Command Homeland Security/Defense Education Consortium, the Homeland Security Department (Grants and Training and the Chief Learning Officer), and George Mason University. [View conference website] (Feb. 28–March 1; Washington, DC) “Intelligence and Information Fusion … Beyond Sharing” is the theme of this year’s Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Homeland Security Conference. Numerous leaders in government have been invited to speak. Panel sessions will focus on “Fusion Centers,” “Border Fusion,” “Enabling Fusion: Survivable/Interoperable,” and “Cyber Fusion: National Cyber Defense.” [View conference website] C-TPAT Supply Chain Security Training Seminar (April 3-6; New Orleans) This Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism seminar focuses on supply chain security in a post-9/11 environment. There is no registration fee, but space is limited. [View conference website] Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education Conference (June 2-4; Emmitsburg, MD) This 9th annual conference is for those active in fire service professional development or with an interest in the field of fire and emergency services professional development. [View conference website] 2007 National Conference on Community Preparedness (June 10-13; Alexandria, VA) “Partnerships and Collaboration Through Citizen Corps” is the theme of this year’s conference, hosted by the International Association of Emergency Managers and the National Emergency Management Association. It is open to all who are interested in making their communities safer, stronger, and better prepared for all types of hazards. [View conference website] Interdisciplinary Analyses of Aggression & Terrorism (Sep. 27-30; Madrid, Spain) This conference of the International Colloquium on Conflict and Aggression and the Society for Terrorism Research is open to all interested persons. [View conference website] The Emergency Management and Homeland Security Expo of the International Association of Emergency Managers provides a forum for current trends and topics, along with the latest tools and technology in emergency management and homeland security. Sessions encourage stakeholders at all levels of government, the private sector, public health, and related professions to exchange ideas on collaborating to protect lives and property from disaster. [View conference website]

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

March 15-16; Washington, DC: University Network Summit on Research and Education

March 28-29; Arlington, VA: 6th Annual Infrastructure Security Partnership Congress

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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Calls for Papers

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