National News

Bin Laden’s Driver Convicted of Terror Support, Acquitted of Conspiracy (Washington Post; BBC) “A military jury on Wednesday found a former driver for Osama bin Laden guilty of supporting terrorism but not of conspiring in terrorist attacks,” reports the Washington Post. He was “sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. [View Post article] [View BBC article]

FBI Is Sure Ivins Was Anthrax Killer (Baltimore Sun) “Federal authorities released hundreds of pages of documents” Wednesday as proof “that Bruce Edwards Ivins, the Army scientist who killed himself last week, was the sole person responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks,” reports the Sun. “The investigators explained how they traced the anthrax used in the attacks back to Ivins’ lab at Fort Detrick in Frederick [MD], how Ivins allegedly stymied their investigation, and how what they called a history of mental illness and obsessive behavior helped them build a case that is circumstantial but, they said, irrefutable.… Five people were killed and 17 injured from anthrax that was sent in letters to Congress and news organizations in September and October 2001.” [View article] [View released documents] [View Sun anthrax archive]

Travelers’ Laptop Computers May Be Detained at the Border (Washington Post) “Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed,” reports the Washington Post. “Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” [View article]

U.S. Hospitals Deporting Illegal Immigrants (New York Times) “Many American hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance,” reports the New York Times. (See the May 23 newsletter.) “Medicaid does not cover long-term care for illegal immigrants, or for newly arrived legal immigrants, creating a quandary for hospitals, which are obligated by federal regulation to arrange post-hospital care for patients who need it.” (See the Statistics of the Week.) [View article]

America’s Medical Volunteer Corps (Newsweek) “Since 1985,” Remote Area Medical volunteers—“doctors, eye specialists and dentists”—“about 37,000 strong, have provided more than $33 million in free care on some 600 expeditions around the country,” reports Newsweek, which interviewed the organization’s founder, Stan Brock. [View interview]

International News

IntelCenter Claims Islamic Threat to Olympics (Fox News) “A U.S. group that monitors extremist Web sites says that a Chinese Islamic group has posted a new video that shows a burning Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the Beijing Games,” reports the Associated Press. “The video, reported Thursday by the IntelCenter, follows the posting of a similar video dated July 23. Both are attributed to the Turkistan Islamic Party, which experts say is an offshoot of a secessionist group from China’s Central Asian frontier with ties to Al Qaeda.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda in Yemen (Johannesburg, South Africa, Mail & Guardian) “Al-Qaeda may be in trouble in Iraq and elsewhere, but a second generation of terrorists is now thriving in Yemen, ‘better organised and more ambitious’, according to the American expert Gregory Johnsen,” reports the Mail & Guardian. “… loyalty is bought and” President Ali Abdullah “Salih is said to have had quiet ‘understandings’ with al-Qaeda.” [View article]

Pakistan’s Intelligence Service Infested with Taliban Elements (Times of India; Los Angeles Times) Pakistan says it “needs to purge the Inter-Service Intelligence of Taliban sympathisers,” reports the Times of India. The “statement comes after the United States confronted Pakistan with clean evidence of ISI involvement in the terror attack on India’s embassy in Kabul last month. [See last week’s newsletter.] Pakistan government spokeswoman Sherry Rehman, however, blamed individuals [rather] than the organisation. She said individuals in the ISI were acting on their own and going against official policy.” “The high-profile arrest of” a Pakistani-born neuroscientist, Aafia Siddiqui, “suspected of Al Qaeda links casts a spotlight on an issue her nation’s fledgling civilian government has been slow to confront: years of official secrecy surrounding the fate of hundreds of people rounded up as terrorism suspects,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “… Siddiqui, who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initially dropped out of sight in 2003 in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, at a time when U.S. authorities wanted to question her … Many presumed detainees are believed to be languishing incommunicado, denied access to counsel but not charged with any crime.… Most of the missing”—reported to be hundreds of people—“are thought to be held under the auspices of the military or security agencies such as the powerful” ISI. [View Times of India article] [View Los Angeles Times article]

British Fighters Helping the Taliban (London Telegraph) “British Muslims are helping the Taliban in their war against UK soldiers in southern Afghanistan, according to the former commander of Britain’s forces in Afghanistan,” Brigadier General Ed Butler, reports the London Telegraph. “Butler, who spent six months commanding British forces in Afghanistan, also revealed fears that militant Islamic groups in south-east Asia are supporting terrorist plots in the” United Kingdom. [View article]

Iraqi Army Is Willing, but Not Ready, to Fight (New York Times) “Interviews with more than a dozen Iraqi soldiers and officers in Diyala Province, at the outset of a large-scale operation against insurgents [that is] led by Iraqis but backed by Americans, reveal a military confident of its progress but unsure of its readiness,” reports the New York Times. “The army has made huge leaps forward, most of the soldiers agreed, and can hold its own in battles with the insurgency with little or no American support. But almost all said the time when the Iraqi Army can stand alone as a national defense force is still years away.… Iraq needs viable artillery units, armored divisions, air force support and more reliable battlefield equipment, the officers said, plus the training all that requires.” [View article]

U.S. Counterterror Efforts Flounder in North Africa, GAO Says (Government Executive) “North Africa presents a growing security threat to U.S. interests” with its “vast ungoverned spaces, porous borders and groups aligned with al Qaeda,” reports Government Executive. The federal “agencies most responsible for implementing a key counterterrorism partnership program—the State and Defense departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development—can’t seem to agree on how to implement policy there. Disagreements between State and Defense over the control of personnel and activities, and funding fluctuations in USAID programs have hindered U.S. objectives in the region, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.… The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership is the primary vehicle of U.S. counterterrorism policy in northwest Africa … A central problem, GAO found, was that the three agencies developed separate plans.” [View article] [View GAO summary]

European Warning on al-Qaeda’s New Female Recruits (London Guardian) “European intelligence chiefs have launched a major investigation into the threat posed by female Islamic militants within the [European Union], whose involvement runs from logistics or propaganda activity to suicide bombing,” reports the London Guardian. “… The moves follow a spate of attacks in the Middle East conducted by women bombers and increasing concerns among European security services about increased radicalisation of female militants.… There are also fears of women bombers being sent from overseas.” [View article]

Iran Executes Journalist Convicted of Terrorism (Yahoo! News) “An Iranian journalist”—Yaghoob Mirnehad—“sentenced to death on terrorism charges … [see the Feb. 22 newsletter] was executed Monday,” reports the Associated Press. “Iran accused Mirnehad of being involved in the armed Jundallah group, which operates along the Iranian-Pakistani border. Authorities said he set up a group to ‘cooperate’ with Jundallah.” The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran “said Iranian prosecutors held a secret trial and provided no evidence of Mirnehad’s links with Jundallah or involvement in any armed attacks. In addition to writing for a Tehran-based daily newspaper, Mirnehad ran a charity focused on improving childhood education in Iran. The International Campaign said he was targeted because, as part of that work, he had criticized local government officials and called for their resignations.” [View article]

India and Pakistan Pledge to Fight Terror Amid Tensions (Bloomberg) “India and Pakistan pledged to unite in the fight against extremism, seeking to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors that overshadowed [the annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka] on tackling terrorism, poverty and food security,” reports Bloomberg. “Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani joined leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives saying terrorism remained the biggest threat to progress in the region, hampering efforts to eradicate poverty and spur economic growth.” [View article]

China Blames Two Uighurs for Xinjiang Police Attack (Channel NewsAsia) Two men suspected of “killing at least 16 police officers … in the border city of Kashgar” in the Xinjiang region on Monday “were members of the Muslim Uighur ethnic group,” say Chinese authorities, according to Channel NewsAsia. [View article]

Italy Begins Military Effort to Quell Crime (New York Times) “Soldiers were deployed throughout Italy on Monday to embassies, subway and railway stations, as part of broader government measures to fight violent crime … for which illegal immigrants are broadly blamed,” reports the New York Times. By “next week, the effort will flank regular police officers and the military police with 3,000 troops.” [View article]

New Terrorist Group Claims Greek Bomb Attack (Google News) “A previously unknown terrorist group” calling “itself Popular Will” has claimed “responsibility for the 2004 bombing of a courthouse in central Greece and two failed bombings in Athens,” reports the Associated Press, citing the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia. [View article]

Bomb Kills Two on Russian Beach (BBC) “A bomb explosion has killed two people on a beach in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… Sochi is one of Russia’s most popular beach resorts. It will also host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.” [View article]

Sriharan Regrets Assassination of Rajiv Ghandi (Madras, India, Hindu) “Nalini Sriharan, serving a life sentence for her involvement in the [1991] assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, has said she ‘regretted’ the killing of the former Prime Minister [he had resigned in 1989] and claimed that the real conspirators had not been booked yet,” reports the Press Trust of India. [View article]

New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security In “A Look at Ben Gurion International Airport’s Security,” Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association, discusses security operations at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport—arguably the most protected aviation facility in the world—which Fried visited in May 2008 with a group of airport managers, Department of Homeland Security officials, elected community leaders, and biometric experts.

DHS News

National Emergency Communications Plan The Homeland Security Department’s new National Emergency Communications Plan is intended to address gaps and determine solutions so that emergency response personnel at all levels of government and across all disciplines can communicate as needed, on demand, and as authorized. [View press release]

Audit Shows Continued Weaknesses in FEMA, Coast Guard IT Security (NextGov; Federal Computer Week) “A recent audit found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has failed to correct a number of information technology security weaknesses flagged last year,” reports NextGov. “The audit, conducted by the accounting firm KPMG on behalf of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner and released Monday, found that FEMA failed to correct 31 security issues discovered in fiscal 2007. The agency successfully addressed only 10 of the issues identified. Moreover, auditors found 13 new weaknesses for fiscal 2008.” Likewise, “the Coast Guard showed little progress in 2007 in correcting more than 40 weaknesses in its information technology security that pertains to its financial systems,” reports Federal Computer Week. “Auditors found 42 IT-related control deficiencies, of which 40 were repeated deficiencies, either partially or fully, from the year before.” [View NextGov article] [View FCW Article]

Illegals ‘Invited’ to Leave Voluntarily Under New ICE Program (Government Executive) “The Bush administration is inviting people who have ignored orders to leave the country to surrender at immigration offices and leave voluntarily …” reports CongressDaily. “‘Operation Scheduled Departure’ will be launched Tuesday in Santa Ana, Calif.; San Diego; Phoenix; Chicago and Charlotte, N.C. The program will end Aug. 22. People who have been ordered to leave the country but remain and have not committed a crime can participate … ‘Those folks will be able to walk into an ICE office and say I’m here and I want to go home,’ [Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Cori] Bassett said.” [View article]

Chertoff Discusses Cybersecurity (Wired) In an interview with Wired “Threat Level” columnist Ryan Singel, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff discusses critical infrastructure protection, laptop computer seizure, watch lists, and more. [View interview]

National Cybersecurity Initiative Will Have a Dozen Parts (NextGov) “President Bush’s largely classified governmentwide cybersecurity initiative will have a dozen components designed to better protect computer networks and systems, and to improve information technology processes and policies,” reports NextGov. The “National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23—more commonly known as the Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative—[was signed] in January,” and “work already is underway on some of the initiative’s 12 components.” [View article]

U.S. Fire Administration’s “After Action Critique: Training Through Lessons Learned” This report is designed to assist fire service members in gathering critical preparedness, response, and recovery information from all emergencies; documenting the lessons learned; and assisting with the continuous evolution of firefighter training. [View press release]

Other Federal News

FBI and TSA Confer on Terrorism and Transportation This week more than 700 law enforcement personnel, intelligence professionals, and private-sector officials attended the Terrorism and Transportation Conference in New York, hosted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Transportation Security Administration. The conference brought together terrorism first responders, private industry representatives, and experts in weapons of mass destruction. [View press release]

United Nations News

Ban Ki-moon Hopes for a Future Free of Nuclear Weapons Commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack (on Hiroshima, Japan), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed his hope for a world free of nuclear weapons. He emphasized the worldwide support for nuclear disarmament, with educators, religious leaders, government officials, journalists, and others actively taking steps to achieve the goal. [View press release]

State and Local News

Two California Firebombings Target University Researchers (Santa Cruz [CA] Sentinel) “Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two [University of California] Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early [Aug. 2] in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism,” reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel. “Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.… a faculty member’s home” was firebombed; “the residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop. In the second incident at about the same time, a Volvo station wagon parked in a faculty member’s driveway … on campus also was firebombed … The Santa Cruz incidents occurred one day after a mass e-mailing by Stop Animal Exploitation Now! … highlighting what the group called ‘mounting violations of the animal welfare act’ at private labs in Santa Cruz and Berkeley.” [View article]

Local Govts. Unprepared for Exodus From FEMA Trailers (New York Times) “At the end of May, the doors closed at Renaissance Village, the FEMA trailer park outside of Baton Rouge that had been home to hundreds of families, its end hastened by an official acknowledgment of unhealthy levels of formaldehyde in the trailers,” reports the New York Times. “… when the park closed earlier than expected, government planners said they were left unprepared. State and federal officials blamed each other.” Other “support systems have been slow to catch up. Red Cross money … ran out just as Renaissance Village and most of the other trailer sites were closing.” [View article]

Florida Would Have to Rely on Itself in Flu Pandemic, Exercise Shows (Miami Herald; Tallahassee Democrat) “The state will have to rely on its own stockpiles of flu remedies and drugs, the training of its emergency workers and the help of its 20 million citizens, five million of whom would become infected” in an avian flu pandemic, reports the Herald. According to the exercise held Wednesday, “more than 100,000 Floridians” died and “up to 16,000 children” became orphans. Mandatory quarantines were in effect for the sick and at schools, and sporting events were canceled. However, “Florida is more ready for a hurricane and other disasters than ever before, Gov. Charlie Crist” said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. [View Herald article] [View Democrat article]

Private-Sector News

Tourism Continues in India Despite Terrorism (Madras, India, Hindu) “Notwithstanding the threat perception in the wake of the recent serial blasts in some metro cities, domestic tourists still evince keen interest on tourism and travel around” India, reports the Hindu. [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. Security Specialist Course (August 19-22, Huntsville, AL) This course teaches the security specialist how to properly protect classified information (including intelligence information related to the terrorist threat) in accordance with Executive Order 12958 and Information Security Oversight Office Directive One and addresses additional areas of personnel security, information security, and information systems security. [View course website] Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Workshop (September 2-5; Sacramento, CA) The workshop brings together prominent, skilled presenters to provide the most recent information available to enhance or grow skills critical to ensuring a safe and effective response. Featured are classroom sessions, hands-on workshops, and contests to test new skills. [View event website]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) American Bar Assn. Annual Meeting (August 7-12; New York) Tomorrow’s sessions include “Local Police Fighting International Terrorism,” “Privacy and National Security in a Networked World,” “The American Press in Times of War,” “Privacy, Security and Data Management,” “Individual Rights, Terrorism and the Rule of Law,” and “Protecting New York City: 2008.” [View event website] 2nd Annual Missouri Conference on Coordinated School & College Safety & Security (August 14-15; Branson, MO) The conference will feature lessons from Breslan and Columbine and workshops on topics such as school shootings, surveillance cameras, bullying, and gangs. [View event website] (August 14-16; Denver) This is a conference for the fire-service leaders of today and tomorrow. It offers education, exhibits, and networking with peers. [View event website] Public Health Information Network Conference (August 24–28; Atlanta) The theme this year is “Public Health Informatics: Collaboration at the Crossroads.” The conference, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will feature workgroups and ancillary meetings, informatics workshops and tutorials, networking with informatics colleagues, and opportunities to make suggestions on how to implement the Public Health Information Network in the context of the larger national Health Information Technology Initiative. [View event website] International Disaster and Risk Conference (August 25-29; Davos, Switzerland) The conference will take an integrated, multidisciplinary approach in addressing the risks affecting society today—risks that might be far beyond any particular stakeholder’s capacity to control and that may adversely affect multiple parties across geographic borders, sectors, and industries. It will address global problems and attract participants from all over the globe. More than 1,300 participants from 130 countries are expected. [View event website] Disruptive Technologies Conference (September 4-5; Washington, DC) The Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Division of the National Defense Industrial Association will convene a forum for government and industry senior leaders to exchange the status of programs that have innovative technology applications possessing disruptive operational capabilities. The leaders will learn of the pressing areas of need and promising technology prospects that will affect air, cyber, ground, sea, space-based, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (see-act-decide) operations. [View event website] ASTHO-NACCHO Joint Conference (September 9-12; Sacramento, CA) The theme of this year’s Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Association of County and City Health Officials conference is “Becoming the Healthiest Nation in a Healthier World.” Members, affiliates, alumni, partners, and the public can learn about the associations’ recent activities and accomplishments, as well as current public health issues, resources, and innovations. Conference features will include skills-building training, educational sessions, networking opportunities, and access to information about available resources. [View event website] Making the World Safer From Disasters: The U.S. Role (October 2; Washington, DC) The Disasters Roundtable of the National Research Council–National Academies is organizing this public workshop, which will feature presentations by experts from the hazards research, policy, and practitioner communities on issues related to U.S. efforts to help reduce disaster losses globally. [View event website] 2008 Tactical World Cup (October 18-23; Camp Bullis, TX) Elite special operations teams from around the world will participate in this international SWAT competition, which is designed to closely mirror real-life crises on a realistic training ground. [View event website] 3rd System of Systems Conference (December 9-10; Gaithersburg, MD) The conference will stimulate scientific, technical, and professional interest in systems of systems and bring together members of the system-of-systems community including acquisition professionals, program managers, scientists, engineers, and policy makers spanning government, academia, and industry and provide a forum to share experiences, best practices, and research in the management, engineering, and support of system-of-systems solutions. [View event website]

Calls for Papers The American Water Works Association 2009 Water Security Congress is soliciting papers on security & emergency response, physical & cyber security, and contamination warning systems. Abstracts are due by October 1. [View event website]