International News

UK Government Will Spy on All Calls and Email (London Times) The United Kingdom Government Communications Headquarters, “the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of” a project “to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain,” reports the London Times. (See the May 23 newsletter.) “Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers.” [View article]

7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Terrorists (Wired) “Conventional wisdom holds that terrorism is inherently political, and that people become terrorists for political reasons,” writes “Security Matters” columnist Bruce Schneier in Wired. But Max Abrahms “at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation,” in “What Terrorists Really Want,” identifies seven ways in which terrorists prevent accomplishment of their own goals, and “he theorizes that people join terrorist organizations worldwide in order to be part of a community,” for social solidarity, rather than genuine political or religious ends. [View commentary] [View Abrahms paper (188MB PDF)]

Taliban Splitting With al Qaeda? (CNN; Long War Journal) “Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict—and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.… The talks—the first of their kind aimed at resolving the lengthy conflict in Afghanistan … mark a sidestepping of … Pakistan.” Representatives of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar “were keen to stress [that] the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to al Qaeda.… The Afghan government believes that the Taliban cannot be defeated militarily, and the Taliban believe that they can’t win a war against the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, the Saudi source said.” But the Long War Journal says that “there is no evidence of a split, and the members of the so-called Taliban delegation have no influence with the senior Taliban leadership.” [View CNN article] [View Long War article]

Pakistanis Flee War Between Taliban and Government (New York Times) “An estimated 250,000 people have now fled the helicopters, jets, artillery and mortar fire of the Pakistani Army, and the assaults, intimidation and rough justice of the Taliban who have dug into Pakistan’s tribal areas,” reports the New York Times. “About 20,000 people are so desperate that they have flooded over the border from the Bajaur tribal area to seek safety in Afghanistan.… the International Committee of the Red Cross flew in a special surgical team from abroad last week to work alongside Pakistani doctors and help treat the wounded in two hospitals.” [View article]

Iraq Arrests Top Qaeda Female Suicide Bomber Recruiter (Yahoo! News) “Iraqi forces arrested on Tuesday” Ibitisma Odwan—“the 38-year-old woman dubbed ‘Mother Fatima’”—“suspected of heading up the recruitment of female suicide bombers in Iraq,” reports Agence France-Presse. [View article]

British Defuse IRA Bomb in Northern Ireland (Yahoo! News) “British army experts [on Tuesday] defused a roadside bomb planted by Irish Republican Army dissidents in Northern Ireland,” reports the Associated Press. “The Police Service of Northern Ireland says the bomb was designed to ambush a passing police vehicle … IRA dissidents have wounded five police officers in shootings and explosions over the past year.” [View article]

Algeria Offers Vocational Training to Child Victims of Terrorism (U.S. Defense Dept. Magharebia) “Algeria is taking new steps to assist victims of terrorism and their families,” reports Magharebia. “The government … will open up vocational training to children affected by terrorism.” Classes, which start October 25, will include “some 80 specialities in handicrafts and other sectors.” [View article]

Spain Clears 15 in Appeal of Terrorism Case (CNN) Citing “insufficient evidence” in its ruling, “Spain’s Supreme Court has acquitted 15 men who were convicted earlier this year of membership in an Islamic terrorist group, but upheld the convictions of five others from the same trial,” reports CNN. “… The 20 men, mainly Algerians and Moroccans, were convicted by the National Court last February of Islamic terrorist activity.” [View article]

Algeria Trains Police to Fight Cyber-Criminality (Algeria Echorouk) “Algeria will train its judicial police in the fight against cyber-criminality,” reports Echorouk. “‘… Special brigades will be created to counter cyber-criminals … in the fight against terrorism and cyber-criminality’ [said National police chief Ali Tounsi] … The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat … is using the Internet to promote its crimes and recruitment among young people in Algeria.” [View article]

Australian Passengers Protest Airport ‘Virtual Strip Search’ (MSNBC) Some Australian airline passengers are worried about “body scanners [that] use a low-level radio frequency to create an image which reveals hidden objects on a person” and outlines “a person’s body shape,” reports Reuters. But “‘faces are blurred, security screeners are located elsewhere and cannot see you, images are not saved and cannot be transferred,’ the [Office of Transport Security] said”; the agency also “said passengers would not be forced to use the body scanner during the trial.” [View article]

English Schools Told to Counter Extremism (BBC) “Guidelines are being made available to primary and secondary schools in England to help them discuss the issues surrounding extremist views,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “Schools Secretary Ed Balls said schools could play a ‘key role’ in getting young people to reject extremism. Schools should have a named teacher to whom pupils can report any concerns of grooming by extremist groups. Teachers should protect the well-being of pupils who may be vulnerable to being drawn to extremism, says the government’s ‘Learning together to be safe’ kit.” [View article]

U.S. to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media (Washington Post) “The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to ‘engage and inspire’ the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government,” reports the Washington Post. But an unnamed official said that the Iraqi television stations “‘don’t know that the originator of the content is the U.S. government. If they did, they would never run anything.’ … the Pentagon is sensitive to criticism that it has sometimes blurred the lines between public-affairs activities and unattributed propaganda.” [View article]

New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security In “The Brazilian Experience in the Fight Against Terrorism” Brazilian Ambassador to the United States Antonio Patriota presents the actions carried out by the Brazilian Government to effectively assist the international community in the fight against terrorism, as well as the values underpinning Brazilian positions in that domain.

National News

Uncle Sam Listens in as Americans Phone Home (ABC News) “Hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency,” reports ABC News. “… American journalists and American aid workers were routinely intercepted and ‘collected on’ as they called their offices or homes in the United States.” [View article]

New Center Studies Identity Management (Government Executive) “Some of the largest federal contractors, including IBM, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Visa,” have “joined Indiana University and the Secret Service to” form “the Center for Applied Identity Management Research,” reports Government Executive. The center “will study ways to improve the practice of identity management, the ability to verify computer users’ identities and if they have access to sensitive information stored on a network.” [View article]

State and Local News

Maryland Put 53 Nonviolent Protestors on Terror List (Washington Post) “The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the” state Police Superintendent, Terrence Sheridan, acknowledged Tuesday, reports the Washington Post. “… the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July.… Sheridan said protest groups were also entered as terrorist organizations in the databases.” (See the July 25 newsletter and the Quote of the Week.) [View article]

300 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Caught in South Carolina Raid (New York Times) Federal agents arrested “330 suspected illegal immigrants” Tuesday in a raid at the House of Raeford chicken-processing plant in Greenville, reports the Associated Press. [View article]

Pennsylvania Says Domestic Terrorism Is Its Biggest Threat (Uniontown, PA, Herald-Standard) “There is more of a threat in Pennsylvania from angry individuals and activist groups than from foreign terrorists, according to … Pennsylvania’s Homeland Security Director James Powers,” reports the Herald-Standard. He “noted that [such] individuals … technically aren’t terrorists … ‘Whether a person is a terrorist or a criminal is irrelevant to me.’” [View article]

DHS News

Data-Mining for Terrorists Not ‘Feasible,’ DHS Study Finds (Wired) “The government should not be building predictive data-mining programs systems that attempt to figure out who among millions is a terrorist,” says a report by the Committee on Technical and Privacy Dimensions of Information for Terrorism Prevention and Other National Goals, funded by the Homeland Security Department, according to Wired. The commission’s report—Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists—“found that the technology would not work and the inevitable mistakes would be un-American. The committee, created by the National Research Council in 2005, also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of technology designed to decide from afar whether a person had terrorist intents, saying false positives could quickly lead to privacy invasions.” [View article]

Next-Gen Homeland Security Information Network Is at Risk, Says GAO The Homeland Security Department “halted further improvements on the existing” Homeland Security Information Network a year ago and “has continued to operate and maintain” it “while a replacement”—Homeland Security Information Network Next Gen—“is being planned and acquired,” reports the Government Accountability Office. However, unless management of the Next Gen project is improved, it “will be at increased risk of operating in an ad hoc and chaotic manner—potentially resulting in increased project costs, delayed schedules, and performance shortfalls.” [View GAO summary]

Funding Eliminated for New DHS Personnel System (Government Executive) The Homeland Security Department will scrap its new “personnel system, formerly known as MaxHR,” because “the fiscal 2009 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and Continuing Appropriations Act” eliminates funding for the system, reports Government Executive. [View article]

Report on Apex, NC, Chemical Fire Shows Value of Preparedness A U.S. Fire Administration report on the October 5, 2006, chemical fire in Apex that required evacuation of 17,000 people says that there were no fatalities thanks to “a well coordinated response in the worst of conditions.” [View press release] [View report (746KB PDF]

Other Federal News

CDC Establishes Seven Preparedness Centers The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have awarded $10.9 million to seven accredited schools of public health for establishing Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers, which will conduct research to evaluate the structure, capabilities, and performance of public health systems. [View press release]

CDC Funds Web System to Battle Flu The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have awarded a $16.9 million contract to American Type Culture Collection of Manassas, VA, to implement the CDC Influenza Reagent Resource, a secure, web-based system that will improve access to influenza viruses, test kits, and other reagents for approved laboratories. [View press release]

United Nations News

New UN Center to Protect Nuclear Facilities From Earthquakes The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency has launched the new International Seismic Safety Centre to coordinate global efforts to protect nuclear facilities from earthquakes. The center will push for the sharing of knowledge and experiences worldwide, as well as provide training courses. It will be advised by high-level experts in seven specialized areas: geology and tectonics, seismology, seismic hazard, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, equipment, and seismic risk. [View press release]

Nuclear Terror Attack Is Number-One Threat, Says ElBaradei (Bloomberg) “The likelihood that terrorists will detonate a nuclear weapon poses the greatest risk to world security, surpassing proliferation threats from Iran and North Korea, United Nations atomic chief Mohamed ElBaradei said,” reports Bloomberg. The International Atomic Energy Agency “has recorded 18 attempts to sell bomb-grade uranium and plutonium to black-market intermediaries since 1993. During the same period, the agency has tracked more than 1,300 incidents involving less-potent nuclear material that may be used to spread radioactive contamination.” [View article]

Dysfunctional Security Permitted Algiers UN Bombing A dysfunctional United Nations security management system, a lack of adequate supervision and training, and significant lapses in judgment and performance all played a major role in the 2007 terrorist bombings of UN offices in Algiers, which killed 17 staff members, the Independent Panel on Accountability reported Wednesday. It also found that the UN “phase system” for grading security risks in Algeria had been “seriously compromised” through politicization. [View press release]

Private-Sector News

Americans Stocking Up on Emergency Essentials (Marysville, CA, Appeal-Democrat) “September’s financial disasters have been driving Americans into survival supply stores for Meals Ready-to-Eat, and other emergency goods for long-term storage,” reports the Appeal-Democrat. [View article]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) Homeland Counter-Terrorism: Where We Are, Where We Are Going (October 18; Newark, NJ) This symposium, presented by the New Jersey U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Association and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, will cover schools and homeland security, the Wounded Warrior Regiment, managing the radius of risk in special operations, health infrastructure preparedness and emergency response, transportation industries and port security, and Internet and cyber-security. [View event website (209KB PDF)] U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trade Symposium 2008 (October 29-31; Washington, DC) This year’s symposium will focus on the agency’s commitment to security and trade programs amid transition within the administration and enable the agency to incorporate feedback from the private sector on trade strategy, importer security filing, import safety, the Automated Commercial Environment, trade partnerships, regulatory changes, the World Customs Organization, and the agency’s agriculture mission. [View event website] 7th International Bird Flu Summit (November 13-14; Las Vegas, NV) Attendees will draw on firsthand best practices to create the solid business continuity plans that their companies and organizations need in order to prepare for, respond to, and survive a pandemic. [View event website] Terrorism Seminar 2009: Preparing Law Enforcement for Threats to National Security (March 9-12; San Antonio) Current or former local, state, and federal agents experienced in terrorism investigations and subject matter experts or prosecuting attorneys in terrorism matters will discuss cyber-terrorism, interview and interrogation issues, case studies from agents and prosecutors, narco-terrorism, legal issues and terrorism, Hamas and Hezbollah, emerging trends in respect to terrorism, and international issues regarding terrorism. [View event website]