International News

Pakistan Scraps Deal With the Taliban (Times of India) “Rattled by a fresh wave of suicide attacks, [the Pakistani] government on Monday scrapped a deal signed last month with the Taliban that had been bitterly opposed by the United States and Afghanistan,” reports the Press Trust of India. (See last week’s newsletter.) “… The government in the restive North West Frontier Province had signed the agreement with Taliban militants in the restive Swat valley under which the militants had given a commitment that they would stop attacks on security forces. It was also decided that [the] army would be gradually withdrawn from the region.” [View article]

Rand Says Pakistan Aided Taliban (MSNBC) “Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary forces have helped train Taliban insurgents and have given them information about American troop movements in Afghanistan, said a report published Monday by” the Rand Corporation, according to the Associated Press. [View article] [View report]

Russia Says It Blocked New Attacks (Itar-Tass) The Russian Federal Security Service “prevented terrorist attacks in the Moscow subway and spa towns in the Caucasus” over the May holidays, reports the Itar-Tass News Agency. Police “intercepted the activities of the criminal group” and seized “a large quantity of firearms, ammunition and bomb” parts, according to the Security Service. [View article]

Canadian Report Warns of ‘Lone Wolf’ Terror Threat (Canada National Post) “A newly declassified Canadian intelligence report is warning about the emerging threat posed by ‘lone wolf’ Islamist terrorists who operate completely on their own,” reports the National Post. “… It adds that lone wolf Islamist extremist attacks and conspiracies ‘seem to be on the increase’ and that ‘several such cases have been recorded since 9/11’ although the list of examples appears to have been censored from the … report, ‘Lone-Wolf Attacks: A Developing Islamist Extremist Strategy?’ [which] was written by the Canadian government’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre.” [View article] [View redacted report]

Wife of 2005 London Bomber Found Guilty (London Guardian) “The wife of the attempted suicide bomber Hussain Osman was [on Wednesday] found guilty of failing to tell police about her husband’s plan to cause ‘carnage and mass murder’ on London’s underground [railway],” reports the Guardian. “… Yeshi Girma, 32, knew of Osman’s intention to bomb Shepherd’s Bush tube station on July 21 2005, two weeks after the July 7 bombings that killed 52 people, and could have stopped it from going ahead.” The attack failed when the bombs did not explode as intended. [View article]

Israel Says It Foiled Major Gaza Border Terror Attack (Jerusalem Haaretz) “The Israel Defense Forces foiled a large scale terror attack planned to coincide with a barrage of some 50 Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza into western Negev Thursday afternoon,” reports Haaretz. The Israel Defense Forces “said that Gaza militants were planning to use the heavy barrage as a diversion in order to carry out a massive attack at the border fence between Israel and the [Gaza] Strip.” [View article]

Israeli Supreme Court Upholds Unlawful Combatants Law (Jerusalem Haaretz) The Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday “upheld the constitutionality of the law allowing for the detention of ‘unlawful combatants,’ which Israel uses to hold Hezbollah fighters,” reports Haaretz. The law “authorizes the state to detain foreign nationals who belong to terror organizations or have participated directly or indirectly in hostile actions against the State of Israel. Its goal is to prevent their continued activities.” [View article]

Venezuelan President Urges Farc to Lay Down Arms (AlJazeera) “Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has called on Colombian rebels to lay down their weapons, free all their hostages and put an end to a decades-long armed struggle against the Bogota government,” reports AlJazeera. “He said efforts by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) to overthrow Colombia’s democratically elected government are unjustified.” Colombia has accused Venezuela of aiding Farc. (See the March 7 newsletter.) [View article]

China Holds Pre-Olympics Antiterror Drills (China View) “China launched a series of [national] anti-terrorist drills … on Wednesday to cope with threats to the upcoming Beijing Olympics,” reports the Xinhua News Agency. The drills, “dubbed ‘Great Wall 5,’ … will include missions to deal with a chemical attack, hijacking athletes’ buses and other possible contingencies.” [View article]

Extended Terror Detention Bill Passes British House of Commons (BBC) “Prime Minister Gordon Brown has narrowly won a House of Commons vote on extending the maximum time police can hold terror suspects to 42 days,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… the government still faces a battle in the House of Lords.” And although opponents claim that Brown swayed the opposition with “with extra cash for Northern Ireland,” he “firmly rejected claims he ‘bought’ victory,” reports the BBC in a separate article. Hoping to force an election that would focus on the issue, “shadow home secretary David Davis has resigned” as a Member of Parliament, reported the BBC in another article. [View bill article] [View Brown article] [View Davis article]

Spain Leads Europe in Legalizing Immigrants (International Herald Tribune) “With little domestic opposition,” three years ago “Spain legalized nearly 600,000 of the African, Latin American and eastern European workers who helped power its economy …” reports the International Herald Tribune. “No country has run more legalization programs than Spain.” But “northern Europeans who see the south as the Continent’s weak back door” are alarmed: “With free movement across much of Europe, legalized immigrants can easily head north.” [View article]

U.S. and EU Threaten New Sanctions on Iran (BBC) The United States and the European Union “have threatened Iran with further sanctions unless it verifiably suspends nuclear enrichment,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… The ‘additional measures’ would include ‘steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot … support proliferation and terrorism.’” [View article]

U.S. Arms Shiite Patrols in Sadr City (Washington Post) The U.S. military has recruited “former Shiite militiamen [into] American-created security groups” to patrol “the Iraqi capital’s Sadr City area,” reports the Washington Post. The program, modeled on the Awakening movement (see the Dec. 21, 2007, newsletter), is “the first to focus solely on a heavily Shiite area.” [View article]

U.S. Cyber-Security Policy Creator Warns Canada of Dangers (InterGovWorld) “Canadian public sector security experts who assume the Americans are on top of potential IT threats may be in for a nasty surprise,” Al Purdy “warned the InfoSecurity Canada” conference on Wednesday, reports InterGovWorld. Purdy, “who helped draft the United States’ cyber-security policy, described an often frustrating and dysfunctional culture in the U.S. government that could leave major regions and infrastructure exposed to devastating denial of service, botnet or other attacks.” [View article]

European Union Extends Cyber-Security Charter (New York Times) “European Union telecoms ministers agreed [yesterday] to extend the life of the bloc’s” European Network and Information Security Agency” by three years, reports Reuters. [View article]

National News

Guantanamo Detainees Have Rights, Says Supreme Court (Washington Post) “The Supreme Court” yesterday ruled that “detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, … have a constitutional right to challenge their captivity in federal courts,” reports the Associated Press. [View article]

Guantanamo Detainees’ Mental Health at Risk, Says Human Rights Watch (MSNBC) “Over two-thirds of the detainees in the Guantanamo Bay prison are suffering from or at risk of mental health problems,” according to Human Rights Watch, reports Reuters. In “‘Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo,’ the group says 185 of the 270 detainees at the U.S. military prison for terrorism suspects are housed in facilities similar to ‘supermax’ prisons. They spend 22 hours alone in cramped cells, have very limited contact with other human beings and are given little more than the Koran to occupy themselves … Detainees held in this manner include many that have not been charged with crimes and have already been cleared for release or transfer … none of the Guantanamo detainees have been allowed visits by family members.” [View article] [View report]

U.S. Reopens Arar Torture Case (Los Angeles Times) Homeland Security Department Inspector General Richard Skinner “said [June 5] that his office would reopen an inquiry into the case of a Canadian engineer who was sent secretly by the U.S. to his native Syria for interrogation because of suspected ties to Al Qaeda,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (See the Sep. 22, 2006, newsletter.) Skinner said “that U.S. officials may have broken laws related to torture in the case of Maher Arar.… The Canadian government has acknowledged that it supplied faulty information to the U.S.” [View article]

DHS photo

Attempted Bush Assassin’s Conviction Upheld (MSNBC) “The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals” on June 6 “upheld the conviction” of “Ahmed Omar Abu Ali,” who was “convicted of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush,” reports the Associated Press. The court “rejected a 30-year prison term.” Prosecutors said that federal sentencing guidelines called for life in prison. [View article]

DHS News

FEMA Needs More non-Federal Involvement in National Response Framework, Says GAO While the National Response Framework is published by the Homeland Security Department, “it belongs to the nation’s emergency response community,” says the Government Accountability Office, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not fully involve non-federal stakeholders in drafting the framework. In periodically reviewing and revising the framework, it is essential that FEMA develop policies and procedures to ensure partnership with “non-federal stakeholders in building the nation’s emergency management system.” [View GAO summary]

DHS Gets ComputerWorld Award (Imperial Valley [CA] News) “The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection received the Computerworld Honors Program’s 21st Century Achievement Award for continuing development of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the new commercial trade processing system that enhances border security and expedites legitimate trade …” reports the Imperial Valley News. “‘This achievement is the result of support from DHS, CBP senior leadership, Congress, CBP’s Office of Information and Technology, numerous representatives from other participating government agencies, as well as the trade community,’ said CBP Cargo Systems Program Office Director Lou Samenfink … ACE is one of the largest government information technology projects today and will replace CBP’s 20-year-old trade processing system.” [View article]

‘Global Entry’ Begins at Three Airports Global Entry, a customer service and security program to expedite the screening and processing of preapproved, low-risk travelers entering the United States, began June 6 at George Bush Intercontinental, John F. Kennedy International and Washington Dulles International airports. Applicants voluntarily provide their biographic and biometric information, undergo a background check, and are interviewed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. Once accepted into the Global Entry program, travelers can use a kiosk at any of the airports to verify their identity electronically and make any needed customs declarations. Only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are eligible. [View press release]

Cobra Course Teaches WMD Response (FireRescue1) The Center for Domestic Preparedness weeklong weapons of mass destruction technical emergency response training and Cobra (chemical, ordnance, biological, and radiological) course shows that “DHS is serious about first responder training,” writes Joel Lashley in an article for FireRescue1. At the Noble Training Facility at the Army’s Fort McClellan, the Center for Domestic Preparedness trains not just “personnel responsible for preventing and detecting threats, but also … those responsible for disaster mitigation and the maintenance and recovery of post-incident assets. By including emergency medical, fire, police, public works, hospital personnel and all the people who actually control and run the country’s long-term survival assets,” the center makes sure that “the survivors of a catastrophic attack will actually have a chance at long-term survival.” [View article]

Other Federal News

Justice Dept. Faults Immigration Backlog (Washington Post) “The FBI system for checking the names of immigration applicants suffers from ‘serious deficiencies’ that have produced overwhelming backlogs [see the Statistics of the Week] and questions about the reliability of the information,” according to “an internal audit … by the Justice Department inspector general,” reports the Washington Post. “… The bureau’s name checks have fallen victim to ‘outdated and inefficient technology’ as well as inadequately trained employees, according to” the Inspector General. [View article]

Intelligence Agencies Adopting Online Collaboration (Government Executive) The Intelligence Community is “moving inexorably toward embracing online collaboration tools, known as Web 2.0 applications, which hold the promise of improving U.S. intelligence efforts,” writes Anne Laurent in the Agile Mind Blog. [View blog]

Federal Contractors Must Verify Employees’ Legal Status (Government Executive) “President Bush issued a sweeping executive order Monday that will require federal contractors to verify the legal status of all employees hired to work on new contracts,” reports CongressDaily. [View article]

United Nations News

UN photo by Paulo Filgueiras

State and Local News

Identity Theft Laws Used Against Illegal Immigrants (New York Times) In Florida and Iowa, “illegal immigrants using stolen Social Security numbers” have been charged with violating “federal identity theft laws,” reports the New York Times. And in the past “year, local police departments from coast to coast have rounded up hundreds of immigrants for nonviolent, often minor, crimes, like fishing without a license in Georgia, with the end result being deportation.” [View article]

Exercise Tests Port Security in New Hampshire and Maine (Dover, NH, Foster’s Daily Democrat) “Frontier Sentinel,” a “five-day training exercise” held this week in the waters of New Hampshire and Maine, involved “hundreds of United States and Canadian forces,” reports the Democrat. The “many scenarios” included “the explosion of a 600-foot tanker ship, a report of three men hijacking a tug boat and a disabled ship pinned against the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge” over the Piscataqua River. [View article]

Arlington, TX, Mayor IDs Drug in Drinking Water (Fort Worth [TX] Star-Telegram) “Arlington’s drinking water tested positive for trace concentrations of the anti-anxiety medication meprobamate, city officials revealed Monday,” reports the Associated Press. “… Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck [a physician] said a few months ago that concentrations of one pharmaceutical had been found in treated drinking water, but he declined to name it, saying the information could prompt a terrorist to release more of the drug, harming residents. However, the Texas attorney general’s office said that [Cluck’s] concern wasn’t well-founded.… trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals have been detected in drinking water systems for 24 major U.S. metropolitan areas, affecting 41 million Americans.… Arlington was the only place … that declined to release its test results.” [View article]

Private-Sector News

General Dynamics Will Update Homeland Security Information Network (Computer Business Review) “General Dynamics has won a five-year $62m contract from the US Department of Homeland Security to develop, implement, and maintain the Homeland Security Information Network”—“a computer-based counter-terrorism communications system connecting all 50 states, five territories, and 50 major urban areas,” reports Computer Business Review. “General Dynamics will update the current system [see the Jan. 25 newsletter] with the addition of HSIN Next Generation requirements.” [View article]

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. Hospital Security Preparedness Course (June 30–July 3; September 8-11; November 3-6; December 1-4; Washington, DC) The ER One Institute at Washington Hospital Center is holding a course for hospital protective services and law enforcement. The goal is to achieve competency in handling all hazards to hospital security, from routine situations to mass-casualty incidents and terrorist attacks against the facility. Students will experience comprehensive hands-on training, live drills, and classroom instruction from faculty with extensive security and counterterrorism experience. [View course website] National Transit Institute—Terrorist Activity Recognition and Reaction (July 25; Williamsburg, VA) This class for transit employees who have direct contact with the public teaches participants to identify and report suspected pre-attack terrorist activity; distinguish normal, suspicious, and dangerous activity; define roles in recognizing and reacting to suspicious activity; and describe immediate actions to take when confronted with dangerous activity. [View course website] Combating Bioterrorism/Pandemics: Implementing Policies for Biosecurity (17.60s) (July 28-30; Cambridge, MA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology experts and affiliates will explore the obstacles to implementing policies and strategies to overcome the obstacles. [View course website] Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties (September 7-2; October 19-24; 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] Hospital Disaster Life Support Course (September 10-11; October 15-16; December 10-11; Washington, DC) This course by the ER One Institute at the Washington Hospital Center teaches hospital disaster management response principles for physicians, critical care and emergency nurses, physician extenders, paramedics, hospital administrators, protective services, and emergency preparedness staff. The course combines classroom discussion of all-hazards response issues with hands-on exercise simulation for conventional, chemical, and biological mass-casualty incidents. For those who have already taken the course, ER One has a Hospital Disaster Life Support II update course. Contact Rick Tappan at (202) 877-4468. [View course website] Field Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties (September 22-26; November 17-21 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] Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (Oct. 6-8, Virginia Beach, VA; Nov. 17-20, Las Vegas, NV) The course provides information on the basic steps in the decommissioning process and imparts lessons learned from experiences in decommissioning. Elements learned in this course will assist in decision making, planning, and implementation of the decommissioning of various types of nuclear facilities. A major objective is to demonstrate the need for early and complete project planning to achieve safe and cost-effective decommissioning of research reactors and other small nuclear installations. [View course website]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) (July 10-11; New York) The expo, presented by premier law enforcement and tactical associations, features exhibits and sessions free of charge to all law enforcement personnel. [View event website] Illinois Public Health Emergency Preparedness Summit (July 15-17; Oak Brook, IL) Representatives from local health departments and hospitals throughout Illinois, plus liaisons from local, regional, and state emergency response agencies as well as private industry, will focus on “exercising and assessing the heartland.” [View event website] (July 15-18; Las Vegas, NV) The conference brings together international, national, and regional experts in preparedness basics, law enforcement, disaster mental health, patient care, and business planning and continuity for training, tabletop exercises, and post-conference workshops. [View event website] Homeland Security in Action (Monterey, CA; August 25-29) This conference provides a current overview of Homeland Security Department hardware and systems. [View event website] Academy of Certified Hazmat Managers 2008 Conference (September 7-10; Minneapolis) Hazardous materials managers, homeland security professionals, and others will discuss hazmat management and transportation, the Incident Command System, and more. This year’s theme is “Navigating the future of environmental health, safety, and security.” [View event website] International Crisis Management Symposium on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Threats and Emerging Infectious Diseases (September 13-16; Chiba, Japan) The conference will cover bio-material, chemical, and radiation disasters; high-risk infectious diseases; food safety; and more. [View event website] CBRN-E 2008 (September 15-16; Prague, Czech Republic) Military, first responder, and commercial practitioners will hear chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive case studies from the 2006 World Cup in Germany and Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, analyze the latest detection technologies, understand how first responders assess CBRN-E risks, identify country-specific training requirements, and learn how to overcome the civil-military divide in CBRN-E operations. [View event website] CBRNE Convergence (September 22-24; Bucharest, Romania) CBRNe World’s 2008 annual conference and exhibition will have the theme of “Convergence, Growing Closer, Staying Distinct” and look at merging civilian and military response to CBRN and explosive ordnance disposal and improvised explosive device threats. [View event website] 2008 Safe and Secure Schools: Superintendents Lead the Way (October 8-10; Chicago) This conference, designed for school system superintendents, security directors, and teams, will show through in-depth conversations and practical advice how to effectively lead a public school system that is both open and secure and how to best communicate to the community that all children are safe at school. [View conference website]