National News

When Harsh Interrogation Got the Green Light (Vanity Fair) “Starting in late 2002 a detainee bearing the number 063 … whom we now know to be Mohammed al-Qahtani, allegedly a member of the 9/11 conspiracy and the so-called 20th hijacker … was subjected to systematic sleep deprivation … shackled and cuffed … compelled to listen to threats to his family … made to stand naked … denied the right to pray,” threatened with dogs, “subjected to extreme cold,” and more, writes Philippe Sands in Vanity Fair. “… Whatever he may have done, Mohammed al-Qahtani was entitled to the protections afforded by international law, including Geneva and the torture convention. His interrogation violated those conventions. There can be no doubt that he was treated cruelly and degraded, that the standards of Common Article 3 [of the Geneva Conventions] were violated,” and Supreme Court “Justice Anthony Kennedy, joining the majority, [has] pointedly observed that ‘violations of Common Article 3 are considered “war crimes.”’” Al-Qahtani’s interrogation was carried out under pressure from Washington, not on local initiative, writes Sands, and this, not Abu Ghraib, was the beginning of such U.S. treatment of its prisoners. (See the Quote of the Week.) [View article] [View Focus on the Geneva Conventions]

Colleges Beefed Up Efforts to Spot Troubled Students in Year Since Virginia Tech Massacre (USA Today) “In the year since Seung Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech, colleges dramatically have expanded efforts to catch dangerous students in a safety net before they crash and take innocent victims down with them,” reports USA Today. “… Colleges are trying to reduce the chances of violence by creating or beefing up risk assessment teams that typically include faculty, residence advisers, psychologists, administrators and police … About 20% of colleges had assessment teams before the Virginia Tech murders, says Keith Anderson, a veteran counselor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. ‘Now I don’t know any college that hasn’t either created a team or strengthened the one they had,’ [Gwendolyn] Dungy [executive director of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators] says.” [View article]

College Security Measures: Questionable Effectiveness? (New York Times) Since the Virginia Tech massacre, “many schools have overreacted by instituting safety measures of questionable effectiveness,” writes James Alan Fox, professor of criminal justice and law, policy, and society at Northeastern University, in the New York Times. “… campus-wide notification systems, ranging from low-tech sirens to text-message alerts on cellphones, are not necessarily a reliable way to protect students. An emergency siren could signal anything from a fire to gunfire. Text alerts would fail to reach a packed lecture hall if the instructor requires students to turn off their cellphones.… a lockdown introduces dangers of its own. The same locks that bar a gunman from entering classrooms and dorms can also prevent potential victims from escaping into a locked building if they are being chased by a gunman.” [View commentary]

Toxic Rail Shipments Will Have to Use Safest, Most Secure Routes Beginning June 1, railroads will be required to route every train carrying the most toxic and dangerous hazardous materials on the safest and most secure route, under a new federal rule. Each railroad must comprehensively analyze the safety and security risks of its primary route and any practicable alternative routes over which it has authority to operate. The analysis must consider information provided by local communities and a minimum of 27 risk factors including trip length, volume, type of hazmat being moved, existing safety measures along the route, and population density. Railroads must implement their routing decisions by September 2009. [View press release]

U.S. Plans Expanded DNA Collection (Washington Post) “The U.S. government [plans to] begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database,” reports the Washington Post. “The policy will substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples from only those convicted of federal crimes, and it will build on a growing policy among states to collect DNA from many people who are arrested. Thirteen states do so now and turn their data over to the federal government.” [View article]

H-2B Guest Workers Are Often Abused by Employers Many foreign guest workers who come to the United States under the H-2B program are cheated out of wages, abused and practically held captive by their employers due to weak regulation and a lack of federal enforcement, Mary Bauer, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project, told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law on Wednesday. The program, overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor, allows U.S. employers to recruit low-skilled foreign workers for seasonal, nonfarm jobs. [View press release]

No Signs of al-Qaeda Crossing From Mexico (Reuters) “Authorities have seen no signs of al Qaeda trying to insert operatives into the United States from Mexico, but the militant group has considered doing so, [Charles Allen, Homeland Security Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis] said on” April 11, reports Reuters. “… In contrast, Islamist militants have entered the United States by land from Canada or been caught trying.” [View article]

GAO Sees Gaps Between Northern Command and National Guard U.S. Northern Command, responsible for “homeland defense and civil support missions on U.S. soil,” has “several ongoing efforts to improve coordination with the states and” the National Guard Bureau but has “minimally involved the states in” developing “its homeland defense and civil support plans” and is “not familiar with state emergency response plans and has no process for obtaining this information,” according to the Government Accountability Office. Also, the command “does not know whether supporting plans that must be developed by other [Defense Dept.] organizations to assist NORTHCOM are complete,” “has few regularly allocated forces,” and “has difficulty monitoring the readiness of military units for its civil support mission.” [View GAO Northcom–Natl. Guard summary] [View GAO Northcom–Defense Dept. summary]

Bus Operations Must Prepare for Catastrophe (Metro Magazine) “Although the chances that [a] motorcoach operation will be involved in a catastrophic accident” are small, the chances are very real, reports Metro Magazine. “The first step that needs to be taken is to create a comprehensive and detailed plan” with procedures for passenger safety, emergency contacts, media communications, and documenting the incident, and a disaster response team with a “go kit” should be designated. [View article]

International News

Rendition Program’s Creator Defends It but Doubts Its Intelligence Value (Toronto Globe and Mail) “The creator of the CIA’s ‘extraordinary-rendition’ program [Michael Scheuer] says he has always distrusted interrogation intelligence flowing from the controversial practice,” reports the Globe and Mail. “… He said the program has been enormously valuable, at least in terms of taking high-level terrorists off the streets and seeing what documents they carried. But he added that resulting interrogations proved dubious once suspects were sent to third-country prisons, such as Syria or Egypt. ‘You could bet on the testimony given to you, it was altered in a way that would serve the interests of the country that was giving it,’ he said.” [View article]

Iraq Security Forces Fire 1,300 Deserters (Los Angeles Times) “Iraqi officials said Sunday that they had fired about 1,300 soldiers and police officers who refused to fight Shiite Muslim militias during the recent government crackdown,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (See the April 4 newsletter.) [View article]

Captured Letter Lists Tactics of al-Qaeda in Iraq (DefenseLink) “Use silenced guns to kill coalition forces at Iraqi security checkpoints, smuggle weapons in gradual shipments to reduce the risk of detection, and poison Iraq’s water supply with nitric acid to spread disease and death. Such tactics were fleshed out in a terrorist letter intended for Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the foreign-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq,” reports American Forces Press Service. “But the document never reached Masri. Instead, coalition forces lifted it from the body of a terrorist they killed last month … Providing a glimpse into the proposed inner workings of al-Qaida in Iraq, the author discusses the need to split jihadists into three groups: snipers, assassination experts and martyrs.” The letter also “advocated waging economic and psychological warfare” and said that “success hinged on ‘continuous conflict’ between Iraq’s Shiite government, Sunni members of ‘Awakening Movements’ and Kurdish nationalists.” [View article]

Britain Will Add 300 Antiterror Police (London Telegraph) Britain will add “300 police officers to fight terrorism and radicalisation within communities,” reports the Telegraph. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, “warned that as many as 30 active plots against the UK were now being investigated.” [View article]

Jihadis in Jail Contact Cronies via the Internet (London Daily Mail) “Terror suspects held at one of Britain’s most secure jails are secretly accessing the internet to contact their supporters,” reports the Daily Mail. “… It is thought inmates are sending the illicit messages using smuggled mobile phones, many of which now allow access to the internet.” [View article]

World Bank Tackles Food Emergency (BBC) “The World Bank has announced emergency measures to tackle rising food prices around the world,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. (See last week’s newsletter.) The aid includes “an additional” $10 million “to Haiti, where several people were killed in food riots last week, and a doubling of agricultural loans to African farmers.” [View article]

Vancouver, Canada, Transit Police Use Tasers on Fare Evaders (CBC News) “Transit police on SkyTrain stations in Metro Vancouver have used Taser stun guns on passengers who didn’t pay the fare and tried to run away, CBC News has learned. Transit police have fired Tasers 10 times since January last year, and three cases involved non-violent suspects.” Vancouver’s airport was the scene of a death last year when a disorderly passenger was tasered by police (see the Nov. 16 newsletter). [View article]

Australia Wants to Let Employers Read Workers’ Email (Australian) The Australian “federal government is developing new counter-terrorism measures which include changes to the Telecommunications Act that would allow companies providing services critical to the economy to read workers’ emails,” reports the Australian. The changes are “needed to protect vital electronic infrastructure from terrorist attacks, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.… civil liberty groups … say the new laws will be abused by employers.” [View article]

Increased Mexican Security Blocks U.S.-Bound Central Americans (Google News) “Central Americans without documents now face increased security within Mexico, including checks on [freight trains] for stowaways,” and the rail service itself has been disrupted by hurricane damage, reports the Associated Press. “The result: The number of non-Mexican migrants stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol has dropped almost 60 percent from 2005, despite increased detention efforts. About 68,000 non-Mexican migrants—mostly Central Americans—were detained last year, compared to 165,000 in 2005. Non-Mexicans make up about 10 percent of all migrants caught by Border Patrol officers. Mexico itself is also seeing fewer illegal immigrants—120,000 were arrested last year, a 50 percent drop from 2005.” [View article]

Terrorists Still Have Haven in Pakistani Border Areas “The United States has not met its national security goals to destroy terrorist threats and close the safe haven in Pakistan’s” Federally Administered Tribal Areas, despite almost $6 billion in military aid, according to the Government Accountability Office. [View GAO summary]

Japan Vaccinates Bird Flu Workers (BBC) “Japan is to become the first country in the world to vaccinate thousands of officials against bird flu,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “Six thousand health workers and other staff will be inoculated over the next few months, and the programme might be extended to cover millions more. Although bird flu has caused 240 deaths since 1993, none has been in Japan.” [View article]

South Korea Goes on Nationwide Alert Over Bird Flu (Google News) “South Korea on Wednesday issued a nationwide bird flu alert, deployed troops and put firefighters on standby to try to contain the spread of the disease,” reports Agence France-Presse. “… the ‘orange’ vigilance level was extended to the whole country after previously covering only the badly hit southwest. The [agriculture] ministry said it had confirmed 20 outbreaks involving the H5 virus, of which at least six were the deadly H5N1 subtype, since the first case was reported in … early April. It is investigating 14 more suspected cases … Officials have slaughtered 2.2 million chickens and ducks in and around infected farms.” [View article]

Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism Begins Planning Exercises In Paris on April 15, planners from defense, energy, foreign affairs, law enforcement, intelligence, and other ministries from over 20 nations participated in an inaugural meeting to set the agenda for the initiative’s exercise program. [View press release]

DHS News

DHS Needs a Cyber-Security Coordination Office, Says Its Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department is moving too slowly to protect its most critical internal computer systems, according to … the department’s inspector general, Richard Skinner,” reports Federal Computer Week. He “recommends creating an office within DHS to determine protection priorities for its critical cyber infrastructure and coordinate efforts to protect those information technology assets.” [View article]

Much Work Remains for TSA Although the Transportation Security Administration “has made significant progress in” developing “an advanced passenger prescreening system, known as Secure Flight, challenges remain, including unreliable program cost and schedule estimates,” according to the Government Accountability Office. And “TSA’s efforts to enhance perimeter security at airports may not be sufficient … While TSA is pursuing the procurement of several checkpoint technologies to address key existing vulnerabilities, it has not deployed technologies on a wide-scale basis, and has not yet developed and implemented technologies needed to screen air cargo. Further, TSA’s efforts to develop security standards for surface transportation modes have been limited to passenger and freight rail, and TSA has not determined what its regulatory role will be with respect to commercial vehicles or highway infrastructure.” [View GAO summary]

A Quick Look at Topoff 4 The Federal Emergency Management Agency has released preliminary observations on October’s Topoff (“Top Officials”) 4 exercise, which simulated attacks using radiological dispersal devices (“dirty bombs”) and involved 23,000 federal, state, local, and private-sector participants as well as representatives from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The report indicates that intelligence and information sharing and dissemination, onsite incident management, emergency operations center management, emergency public information and warning, and economic and community recovery were generally satisfactory but identifies problems to be remedied. [View press release] [View report (69KB PDF)]

Other Federal News

Intelligence Agencies Have Contradictory Classification Rules (Washington Post) “U.S. intelligence agencies have contradictory rules that govern classification of information, including inconsistencies over what would constitute harm if the information were disclosed,” according to the Washington Post, citing a report by the Director of National Intelligence. There is “no common understanding of the meanings of ‘Confidential,’ ‘Secret’ and ‘Top Secret’” and “people classifying information routinely ignored a directive that they should be able to support decisions in writing by describing the damage to national security that would result from public disclosure.” [View article]

FCC Approves National Emergency Wireless Alert Framework (PC Magazine) The Federal Communications Commission on April 10 “adopted a framework for a national, mobile alert system,” reports PC Magazine. The voluntary Commercial Mobile Alert System “available to wireless providers … will send text out message blasts in the event of a national disaster like Hurricane Katrina, or the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Alerts will be available in three forms: presidential alerts; imminent threat alerts and child abduction emergency or Amber alerts.” [View article]

State and Local News

Bloodshed in Los Angeles: Domestic Terrorism? (Los Angeles Sentinel) Pointing to “what the Los Angeles Police Department is categorizing as ‘random acts of gang violence,’” the Los Angeles Sentinel says that “the body count in American communities has escalated while the killings in Iraq have decreased.… Los Angeles homicides have increased 27 percent with at least 75 killings so far in 2008”—“what the Sentinel this week is chronicling as domestic terrorism,” saying that the bloodshed meets the accepted definition as “the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological.” [View article]

Man at Center of Las Vegas Ricin Case Arrested, Charged (Google News) A Utah man, Roger Bergendorff, “who authorities believe was sickened by the deadly toxin ricin was arrested Wednesday,” reports the Associated Press. He “had been hospitalized since Feb. 14. He is charged with possession of a biological toxin and two weapons offenses.” He allegedly made the ricin. “Bergendorff’s cousin, Thomas Tholen, 54, was indicted earlier this month in Salt Lake City for allegedly failing to report that the substance was being illegally produced.… The manufacture or possession of ricin, a biological agent, is prohibited by federal law.” [View article]

Another Mistrial in Sears Tower Terrorism Case (New York Times) “The second trial of six men accused of plotting attacks on Chicago’s Sears Tower and FBI offices ended with a second hung jury Wednesday …” reports the Associated Press. “U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard ordered a mistrial when jurors reported they were deadlocked after 13 days of deliberation in the case of the so-called ‘Liberty City Seven.’ The first trial ended in December in a hung jury for the same six defendants and the acquittal of a seventh.” (See the Dec. 21, 2007, newsletter.) [View article]

Private-Sector News

Immigration Agents Raid Pilgrim’s Pride Plants (Houston Chronicle) “Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants in five states Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers …” reports the Associated Press. “More than 100 people were expected to be charged in the raids at the nation’s largest chicken producer … no criminal or civil charges have been filed against the company.” [View article]

Dual-Benefit Solutions

Drug Protects Mice and Monkeys Against Radiation (Reuters) “An experimental drug help[s] protect mice and monkeys from the damaging effects of radiation … in a finding that may lead to less toxic cancer treatments or an emergency treatment for radiation exposure,” reports Reuters. “… the drug protect[s] animals’ bone marrow and cells in the gut from being destroyed by radiation without interfering with radiation therapy’s ability to fight cancer.” [View article]

ASA Electronics Donates Camera System to Air Force (Metro Magazine) “Elkhart, Ind.-based ASA Electronics donated its Voyager Observation/Back-up Camera system to the U.S. Air Force to aid its Iraq-based Weapons Intelligence Team,” reports Metro Magazine. “The system, complete with a heavy-duty [liquid crystal display] monitor, backup camera and accompanying cables, will be utilized to increase visibility and safety while backing up and maneuvering the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle used in the field.” The system is commonly used on buses, trucks, and other large motor vehicles. [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

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. Public Health Emergency Law and Forensic Epidemiology (CDC; on CD) The Public Health Law Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just released version three of the Public Health Emergency Law and Forensic Epidemiology training materials on CD-ROM. These self-contained training packages were developed by for use by instructors in any jurisdiction in the United States who provide public health preparedness training to frontline practitioners. [View course website] Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties (May 11-16; Aberdeen, MD, and Ft. Detrick, MD) This course is conducted by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. It is designed for Medical Corps and Nurse Corps officers and physician assistants, Medical Service Corps officers, and other selected medical professionals. It comprises classroom, laboratory, and field training. [View course website] Field Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties (June 9-13; Aberdeen, MD) This course is conducted by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. It is designed for Medical Service Corps officers and noncommissioned officers in medical or chemical specialties. It comprises classroom, laboratory, and field training. [View course website] Airport Security (July 4; London) This class will teach best practices, identity screening, and requirements for improving current capabilities. Experts will explain initiatives to combat and prevent current threats, their approaches and operational challenges, and how to improve security. [View conference website]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) Infrastructure Security Partnership Breakfast With Chris Geldart (April 24; Washington, DC) Chris Geldart, Director of National Capital Region Coordination for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will discuss FEMA activities related to critical infrastructure resilience. Registration deadline is 1 pm Eastern Daylight Time on April 22. [View breakfast website] Midwest Hazardous Materials Response Conference (May 2-3; Northbrook, IL) The main program presentations are complemented by 42 workshops on hazardous materials, terrorism planning, and response training. [View conference brochure (1MB PDF)] WMD Symposium 2008 (May 7-8; Washington, DC) This year’s theme is “WMD Proliferation and Use: Have We Been Effective, Lucky, or Overly Concerned?” The symposium will examine why our worst fears about weapons of mass destruction proliferation and use have not been realized to date, addressed by distinguished speakers representing multiple viewpoints inside and outside government. [View conference website] Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research Workshop (May 12-14; Oak Ridge, TN) The workshop will challenge, establish, and debate a far-reaching agenda that broadly and comprehensively outlines a strategy for cyber-security and information intelligence that is founded on sound principles and technologies. [View conference website] Cyber Defence: National Security in a Borderless World (May 14-15; Copenhagen, Denmark) The conference is a practical and strategic networking event for military communication and critical infrastructure protection practitioners. It will provide an overview of how cyber-attacks are evolving and which technologies have been developed to counter the threats. Security experts will discuss how state-of-the-art technologies are exposed to cyber-threats and which preventative measures to take. [View conference website] (May 29–June 1; Hunt Valley, MD) Hazmat teams, technicians, and specialists from around the country will learn firsthand from education sessions, industry experts, hands-on training, rapid intervention team exercises, field trips, and facility tours what is new and how it impacts their daily job. [View conference website] Sound Transit photo Road and Rail Security Symposium & Expo West 2008 (June 2-3; Tacoma, WA) The symposium will address key issues facing road and rail security on the home front: Is there a real threat? How are we preventing or mitigating the threat? Presentations by transportation and security professionals will include threat assessment, prevention, and consequence management. Through April 21, all military, government, and law enforcement personnel may register for the presentations and speaker sessions at no charge. The symposium will be co-located with the Pacific Northwest National Security Forum and the SpecOps West Symposium & Expo. [View conference website] (June 23-25; Alexandria, VA) The program will focus on emerging trends, such as expansion of regional information sharing and collaboration and the latest technological innovations. With presentations and representation from a broad cross-section of federal and state agencies, delegates will develop a thorough understanding of the solutions and best practices employed to meet operational requirements. The program will also review the status of current systems such as the DHS Secure Border Initiative and the Justice Department’s Interconnect Wireless Network. [View conference website] ER One Institute Hospital Security Conference (July 15; Washington, DC) The theme of the conference is “Are We Prepared for Today’s Challenges? Looking Directly into the Eye of the Enemy.” This conference, sponsored by the Simulation and Training Environment Lab at the Washington Hospital Center’s ER One Institute, will empower hospital-based security professionals to become better prepared for the current security situation. Participants will receive a realistic perspective of the hazards confronting healthcare facilities, learn how to investigate opponents’ motivations, and be readied to respond to threats proactively. [View conference website]