International News

21 Convicted of Madrid Bombings (Yahoo! News) “A Spanish court found 21 people guilty of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings but cleared three men of masterminding Europe’s deadliest Islamist attack, which killed 191 people,” reports Reuters. “… Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez sentenced three men—two Moroccans and a Spaniard who provided the bombers with explosives—to as many as 42,924 years in prison. Nobody else got more than 23 years and seven people were acquitted.” [View article]

London Police Guilty in Menezes Shooting (London Guardian) “The Metropolitan police” yesterday were “found guilty of a catastrophic series of errors during the operation that led to firearms officers shooting Jean Charles de Menezes dead on the London underground,” reports the Guardian. “The force was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 costs after an Old Bailey jury found it had breached health and safety rules and failed in its duty to protect members of the public in the killing of the innocent Brazilian electrician at Stockwell station, south London, on July 22 2005.” [View article]

Cole Bomber Walks Free (Newsweek) Jamal al-Badawi, “a fanatic Yemeni follower of Osama bin Laden,” who “was involved in the suicide bombing of the USS Cole” and had “confessed to planning virtually every detail of the bombing … is now a free man,” reports Newsweek. “Three years ago Badawi was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court for his role in the bombing. He later escaped from a Yemeni prison … Then, mysteriously, in early October he turned himself in and pledged allegiance to the country’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Last week Badawi was set free.” [View article]

Azerbaijan Says It Foiled Attacks Near U.S. Embassy (Yahoo! News) “Azerbaijan said on Monday it had detained a group of militant Islamists armed with grenade launchers who the security ministry said were preparing an attack near the U.S. embassy. ‘Several people belonging to a Wahhabi (austere Islamic) group … were planning terrorist attacks near the U.S. embassy in Baku [the capital],’ National Security Ministry spokesman Arif Babayev told Reuters.… The security alert prompted the closure of the U.S. embassy to the public on Monday, along with the British embassy and” the offices of Norway’s StatoilHydro oil company. [View article]

Al-Qaeda Hacker Attack Predicted for Nov. 11 (InformationWeek) “An Israeli Web site [DEBKAfile (Debka.com); see the Aug. 17 newsletter] is warning that al Qaeda hackers will attack Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate, and Shiite Web sites starting on Sunday, November 11th,” according to InformationWeek. “‘… al Qaeda is retaliating against Western intelligence agencies’ tactics, which detect new terrorist sites and zap them as soon as they appear,’ reports DEBKAfile.” [View article]

Bin Laden Tape Expresses Anger at al Jazeera (Yahoo! News) “Al-Jazeera television” on October 22 aired excerpts from “Osama bin Laden’s latest audiotape …” reports the Associated Press. The recording “contained unusually strong criticism of insurgents in Iraq from bin Laden, who urges them to admit mistakes and unify.” [View article]

Syrian Nuclear Cover-Up Suspected After Israeli Raid (London Guardian; Newsweek) “Syria has removed all traces of a building targeted by a mysterious Israeli air attack last month, fuelling speculation that the structure may have concealed a partially-completed nuclear installation,” reports the London Guardian. “… Experts said [that satellite] photos indicate Syria had tried to cover up what remained after the raid by the Israelis on September 6.… [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad has said only that the Israelis targeted an unused ‘military building’ in Syria’s eastern desert near the village of At Tibnah on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river.” Satellite “photographic evidence obtained by” Newsweek shows that “the boxy main building already existed in 2003, and a European intelligence source said the program might have begun years earlier.… If true, it could be a significant intelligence failure by American and other Western spy agencies.” [View Guardian article] [View Newsweek article]

Harsh Foreign Fighters Bolster Taliban (New York Times) “Several hundred foreign militants … have gravitated to [Afghanistan] to fight alongside the Taliban this year,” reports the New York Times. “… The foreign fighters … are more violent, uncontrollable and extreme than even their locally bred allies … They are also helping to change the face of the Taliban from a movement of hard-line Afghan religious students into a loose network that now includes a growing number of foreign militants as well as disgruntled Afghans and drug traffickers. Foreign fighters are coming from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, various Arab countries and perhaps also Turkey and western China.” [View article]

Africa at High Risk of Terror Raids (All Africa) “African countries are still at a high risk of terror attacks … African Union” director in charge of peace and security Geofrey Mugumya said “addressing a key security council committee on counter-terrorism at the United Nations headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi,” reports the Nairobi, Kenya, Nation. “This is because they lack the capacity and resources to stop the vice that is responsible for the death of many people over the last two decades.” Mugumya “expressed concern that most of these countries could not effectively police their borders making it easy for terrorists to filter through.” [View article]

For Oil Producers, Energy Security Tops Political Agenda (International Herald Tribune) “Direct threats to energy infrastructure, by such groups as Al Qaeda” have “underlined the specific nature of the terrorist challenge to [oil] producers,” reports the International Herald Tribune, citing Neil Patrick, a Gulf analyst with the International Crisis Group. But “he added that it was not clear if Gulf governments saw an actual heightened security threat, or were taking precautionary steps aimed mainly at projecting a message of political strength through their U.S. alliances.” [View article]

10 Tribal Sheiks Kidnapped in Iraq (Yahoo! News) “Gunmen in Baghdad snatched 10 Sunni and Shiite tribal sheiks from their cars Sunday as they were heading home to Diyala province after talks with the government on fighting al-Qaida, and at least one was later found shot to death,” reports the Associated Press. “The bold daylight kidnapping came as the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the threat from the terror network has been ‘significantly reduced’ in the capital.” [View article]

Police Track 20 More Terror Plot Suspects in Scotland (Scotsman) “A hard core of 20 Islamic extremists with links to foreign terror groups is operating [in Scotland] and poses a ‘significant’ risk to public safety,” reports the Scotsman. The “concern at the terror threat is now so great that up to 1,000 Scottish Asians will be placed under surveillance in coming months because they associate with known radicals.” The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland will be appealing “to community leaders, teachers and lecturers to help them identify potential terror recruits,” reports the Scotsman in another article. A security services source said “that the help of the Asian community would be needed to make the system work effectively.” [View 1st article] [View 2nd article]

The Case for Potassium Iodide (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “Every family medicine cabinet should have potassium iodide as a partial antidote to a radiation-related attack … Dr Kathryn Antioch told the Counter-Terrorism Summit” in Melbourne yesterday, reports the Age. “… The president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Dipak Sanghvi, warned that the substance was only effective against radiation that had radioactive iodine in it. It would not work against radiation in the kind of bombs in which terrorists used explosives to spread other kinds of radioactive materials, he said. Potassium iodide was also limited in that it protected only the thyroid gland; radiation would damage other glands in the body too.” [View article]

National News

U.S. Spent $44 Billion on Spying Last Year (New York Times) “Congress authorized spending of $43.5 billion over the past year to operate spy satellites, remote surveillance stations and C.I.A. outposts overseas, according to a budget figure released Tuesday by Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence,” reports the New York Times. “… The number released Tuesday does not include the billions of dollars that military services spend annually on intelligence operations.” [View article]

FBI and DHS Warn of Terrorists Using Explosives in Shoes (CNN) “The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are urging state and local law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the possible use of shoes to conceal and smuggle explosive components,” reports CNN. “A September incident in Europe prompted the alert” when “authorities found electric blasting caps in the hollowed-out soles of shoes that were packed in luggage and crossed international boundaries in a bus.” [View article]

New Commission Will Advise Next President on Cybersecurity (Federal Computer Week) “The House Homeland Security Committee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies unveiled [on Tuesday] a new cybersecurity commission that will provide recommendations on how to improve the state of public- and private-sector networks to the next president,” reports Federal Computer Week. “… The commission will hold five meetings in the next year” and “will have about 35 members, including former federal officials, private-sector experts, and representatives from industry and government.” It “will set an agenda, study existing cybersecurity policies, examine federal organizations, look at the government’s authorities, and identify necessary incentives, legislation or policy initiatives.” [View article]

National Academies Seek to Balance Information Sharing and Protection (Government Executive) “The National Academies is recommending that the government establish a science and security commission to strike a balance between freely exchanging unclassified research with foreigners and controlling information that terrorists might use against the United States,” reports National Journal’s Technology Daily. “… The commission would be housed within the National Security Council and co-chaired by the national security adviser and the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.… The commission would review policies relating to exports, visas, classification categories and other areas that affect scientific discovery.” [View article] [View report]

After 9/11, Campus Pranks Are Security Concerns (Christian Science Monitor) “Cultural shifts have altered the boundaries of what’s acceptable, and 9/11 has raised new security concerns. All of this has made administration-monitored pranking the norm for universities that wish to preserve the tradition,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “… For university police on campuses with an established pranking culture, officers ‘walk a fine line,’ says John DiFava, director of security and campus police services at MIT in Cambridge,” MA. “In most cases, his department will not actively try to stop pranks, although if they see students trespassing, they will intervene.” [View article]

Immigration Becomes Hot Topic in Campaigns “U.S. immigration reform has become a rogue political issue, inflaming passions from local town boards to the presidential campaign trail,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations, which also presents a debate on the extent to which U.S. security is affected by immigration. [View article] [View debate]

State and Local News

New Jersey Campaign Trades on Fort Dix Conspiracy (Philadelphia Inquirer; NJ News Flash) Robert B. Kugler, “the U.S. district judge presiding over a pretrial hearing for the group known as the ‘Fort Dix Six’” (see the May 11 newsletter), condemned “a campaign flyer being circulated by Republicans vying for state legislative seats in Burlington County,” reports the Inquirer. The flyer attacks “Democratic Assembly hopeful Tracy Riley” because “her husband, Michael Riley, is defending one of the men accused in the alleged plot.” The judge “examined the flyer for its impact on potential jurors.” One man accused of aiding the Fort Dix Six “pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to provide weapons to” the group. “Agron Abdullahu, 25, faces up to five years in federal prison. He is the first person to be convicted in connection with the” plot. [View Inquirer article] [View AP article]

DHS Approves New York’s Secure Driver’s Licenses (New York Newsday) “The Bush administration and New York cut a deal Saturday to create a new generation of super-secure driver’s licenses for U.S. citizens, but also allow illegal immigrants to get a version,” reports the Associated Press. “New York is the fourth state to reach such an agreement on federally approved secure licenses, after Arizona, Vermont and Washington.” (See the Aug. 31 newsletter.) “The issue is pressing for border states, where new and tighter rules are soon to go into effect for crossings.” [View article]

Gang Member Convicted Under New York Antiterror Law (New York Times) On Wednesday, “in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, jurors for the first time found a defendant guilty under New York’s [antiterror] statute, and he did not fit the stereotype of a terrorist,” reports the New York Times. “The defendant, Edgar Morales, is a 25-year-old recreational soccer player and gang member who fatally shot a 10-year-old girl and wounded a second man outside a christening party in 2002.… Robert T. Johnson, the Bronx district attorney, … said … Mr. Morales and his gang had terrorized Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the west Bronx for years through violence and intimidation. ” [View article]

Federal Jury Acquits Terror Prosecutor (Detroit News) “In a rebuke to the U.S. Justice Department, a federal jury on Wednesday found former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino and his co-defendant, Harry ‘Ray’ Smith, not guilty of obstruction of justice and other charges related to Convertino’s prosecution of a terror trial in 2003,” reports the Detroit News. (See the Sep. 7 newsletter.) Though a “high-profile trial in 2003 convicted two of the four defendants of terrorism-related charges, the case unraveled amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. The Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to throw out the terror convictions in 2004. Convertino resigned in 2005 and was indicted by a grand jury a year later.” [View article]

10-Year-Old May Face Wildfire Arson Charges (Los Angeles Times) “Prosecutors grappled on Wednesday with what charges, if any, to file against the 10-year-old boy who admitted he set a fire last week that charred more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes in northern Los Angeles County,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (See last week’s newsletter.) “… Though fire officials said it was unlikely that the boy would face criminal charges, they said that his parents could possibly be held civilly liable for the damage.” [View article]

United Nations News

UN Counterterrorism Meeting Produces Action Plan The Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee wrapped up a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, with a plan to boost border security. The Committee and some three dozen international, regional, and subregional organizations intend to share information on border control and security matters, giving due regard to confidentiality of information, by providing guidance material on regional policies, legal instruments, and best practices. They also called for coordinated activities to encourage countries to develop plans and strategies to protect their borders and assistance to member states with devising strategies and policies to counter the scourge of terrorism. [View press release]

Asylum Seekers Need Protection From Counterterror Measures, Says UN Counterterrorism measures—such as pre-entry interception and screening, detention of asylum-seekers, their exclusion from refugee or other protection status, and repatriation or resettlement of people detained for terrorism-related reasons—disproportionately impact asylum-seekers, refugees, and immigrants, according to Martin Sheinin, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights. [View press release]

DHS News

FEMA’s Fake News Conference (Government Executive) A “televised FEMA news conference last Tuesday on the California wildfires … was announced on short notice and featured questions for FEMA's deputy administrator, Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson,” reports the Associated Press. “No genuine journalists attended, although they were given a conference call number they could use to listen in—but not ask questions. A half-dozen questions were asked at the event—by FEMA staff members posing as reporters.… ‘I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government,’ [Homeland Security Secretary Michael] Chertoff said later.” [View article]

GAO Sees Progress, Ongoing Problems in DHS Cargo Program (Government Executive) “The Homeland Security Department must improve acquisitions management to avoid cost overruns and scheduling delays in updating and expanding its cargo processing system, according to a new Government Accountability Office report,” notes Government Executive. “Over the past four years, GAO has issued a series of recommendations on DHS’ Automated Commercial Environment, a program aimed at replacing and supplementing existing cargo processing technology. ACE is designed to ease legitimate trade while securing the border against unlawful commercial traffic. The ambitious program, slated as a $1.3 billion, five-year contract upon its award in 2001, already has far exceeded its anticipated costs and has repeatedly been called risky and unrealistic by GAO and Congress.” [View article] [View GAO summary]

Workforce Issues Complicate Planning for Cyberattacks (Government Executive) “The Homeland Security Department has yet to develop a comprehensive plan for how companies would recover from cyberattacks disrupting the Internet, in part because the department has not been able to find and keep highly trained cybersecurity experts, according to … the Government Accountability Office,” reports Government Executive. “In 2006, DHS developed a plan for how businesses and the government could recover from a cyberattack … the response that would be coordinated by the National Communications System, which would be responsible for the hardware and security infrastructure”—but no final plan or date for completion have been set by the department. [View article] [View GAO summary]

Other Federal News

Guidelines for Privacy Laws of Mentally Ill Students Released (Washington Post) The U.S. Education Department on Tuesday released what Secretary Margaret Spellings “called ‘user-friendly’ guidelines to help educators and parents interpret federal privacy laws in an initiative prompted by the mass shooting at Virginia Tech,” reports the Washington Post. (See the Aug. 31 newsletter.) Three brochures—“one for K-12 educators, one for colleges and one for parents”—explain how to follow the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. [View article] [View Ed. Dept. guidance]

Private-Sector News

Govt. Decides Whether to Absorb Risk as Private Disaster Insurance Dries Up (Christian Science Monitor) “Rather than allow market signals of higher insurance rates to force changes in where and how people live in hurricane-prone areas, the state [of Florida] recently put taxpayers on the hook by promising to be the insurer of last resort,” notes the Monitor. “Government is now the largest insurer in Florida. Another major storm could overwhelm its revenues.” In contrast, “not only has California allowed higher insurance rates to send signals to homeowners who live recklessly in risky danger zones, it is also imposing tougher property standards.” [View commentary]

Dual-Benefit Solutions

Mexican Program Boosts Employment, Discouraging Emigration (Christian Science Monitor) Adriana Cortes is working to “create small cooperative enterprises to make … small communities in Mexico” self-sustaining, thus “plugging the labor drain …” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “‘Officials always think the answer is to bring a new factory in, but that doesn’t work,’ she says, explaining that weekly commutes to low-paid factory jobs … makes international migration—with its promises of higher pay—more attractive.” Instead, “Cortes has established programs … in alternative tourism and weaving factories” as well as cheesemaking and a sewing cooperative. [View article]

Army Tests Satellite Communications in Wildfire Response (Government Executive) “Army North, the Army component of [Northern Command], last year purchased 10 SUV emergency response vehicles that are equipped with a wide range of communications systems for defense coordinating officers, who are colocated with Federal Emergency Management Agency regional headquarters nationwide,” reports Government Executive. “… Each vehicle is equipped with a KU-band satellite system that allows the coordinating officers to quickly hook into Defense’s secure and non-classified Internet Protocol data networks and secure and nonsecret video teleconferencing networks.… The vehicle can provide data connectivity for 10 to 20 users and comes with radio equipment that can form a network with systems used by state and local first responders.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, new events will be moved to the Upcoming Events page) Public Meetings on Nuclear Power Plant Security and Emergency Preparedness (November 8-9; Rockville, MD) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting on nuclear security on November 8 and one on security-based emergency preparedness drills on November 9. The commission is actively seeking public participation. [View conference website] ACE Exchange VIII (November 27-29; San Francisco) Learn how the Automated Commercial Environment—the commercial trade processing system developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection—has helped companies comply with a new regulatory mandate and given thousands of importers, brokers, and truck carriers an advantage over their competitors. New ACE functionality just released benefits cartmen, lightermen, facility operators, foreign trade zone operators, sureties, software vendors, and service providers. Many regulatory and technical changes under way will affect the business of importing goods into the United States. The ACE Exchange also offers private appointments with Customs and Border Protection for ACE account assistance, reports training, or other ACE issues. [View conference website] (December 3-5; London) The conference focuses on key challenges facing the security industry: homeland security and resilience; security of maritime, aviation, and transport networks; border management and security; counterterror intelligence and emergency response; infrastructure security; and technological development and implementation. [View conference website] National Congress on Secure Communities (December 17-18; Washington, DC) The second annual congress—cohosted by the Community Institute for Preparedness, Response and Recovery; the Corporate Crisis Response Officers Association; the National Council on Readiness and Preparedness; and other partners of the ReadyCommunities Partnership—brings together federal, state, and local officials, first responders, members of the media, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, academic experts, and 5-Pilot community leaders who will help develop simple, effective pilot demonstrations that leverage the assets of the private and community sectors to augment the local public-sector preparedness and response plan during the first 72 hours of crisis. [View conference website] 2008 Homeland Security S&T Stakeholders Conference–West (January 14-17; Los Angeles) The theme of the 2008 conference, presented by the National Defense Industrial Association, is “Putting First Responders First.” Its purpose is to inform first responders, state and local governments, industry, and academia of the direction, emphasis, and scope of the research investments by the Homeland Security Department’s Science & Technology Directorate and describe the business opportunities for private-sector organizations and universities. [View conference website] Border and Maritime Security Conference (February 26-27; Washington, DC) The conference will bring together subject matter experts from the government and industry to discuss what’s next and the Secure Border Initiative, the Temporary Worker Program, US-VISIT, SBINet, the Container Security Initiative, and the Maritime Transportation Security Act. Attendees can learn how the executive and legislative branches propose to address border and maritime security, what technologies might be available to support the government’s efforts, the integration of disparate security systems, the detection of nuclear materials, upcoming legislation, and federal initiatives. [View conference website] National Hospital Emergency Preparedness Conference (March 3-4; Washington, DC) The ER One Institute’s 5th annual conference, “Hospitals on the Frontline: Emergency Preparedness—Today’s Questions and Tomorrow’s Answers,” will provide information on the new Joint Commission standards, the new NIOSH requirements, how the federal funding stream works, the role of the corporate office in the midst of a crisis, and how to handle staff behavioral health support. CME, ANCC Contact hours and ACEH credits are offered. For more information, call Lisa Rizzolo at (202) 877-7453. [View conference website]

Calls for Papers 2008 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security (May 12-13; Waltham, MA) This conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is seeking technical papers that focus on next-generation technologies capable of deployment within 3 to 5 years, emphasizing applied research and addressing hard problems where breakthroughs are needed. Abstracts are due by November 10. [View call for papers]