International News

Riding With the Taliban (Rolling Stone) “Using suicide bombers and other tactics imported from Iraq, the Taliban have cut Kabul off from the rest of the country and established themselves as the only law in many rural villages,” writes Rolling Stone correspondent Nir Rosen. “‘People don’t want the Taliban back, but they’re afraid to back the government,’ says one top diplomat. ‘They know the Taliban will ride into the village and behead anybody who has made a deal with the coalition.’” Rosen not only interviewed government officials but traveled “with the Taliban” to “see firsthand how they operate.” [View article]

Four al-Qaeda Websites Knocked Down in Two Months (Washington Post) “Four of the five main online forums that al-Qaeda’s media wing uses to distribute statements by Osama bin Laden and other extremists have been disabled since mid-September,” reports the Washington Post. “… The disappearance of the forums on Sept. 10—and al-Qaeda’s apparent inability to restore them or create alternate online venues, as it has before—has curbed the organization’s dissemination of the words and images of its fugitive leaders.” [View article]

Child Porn Websites Used to Further Terrorism (London Times) “Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists,” reports the London Times. Authorities in Britain, Italy, and Spain have found “a link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography.” [View article]

Cyber-Security Threats Grow in Sophistication (Computerworld) Cyberwar—“the deliberate use by one nation of computer technology to weaken, cripple or confuse an enemy nation’s military, economic and infrastructure assets”—is “one of the most troubling sections in” the Georgia Tech Information Security Center’s “Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2009,” according to Computerworld. The report “identifies five evolving cyber security threats” and explores “the threats and the available countermeasures.” [View article] [View report (385KB PDF)]

Post-Cyclone Aid Divides Myanmar (New York Times) “The cyclone that ravaged Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta five months ago has led to an unexpectedly robust influx of foreign money and relief workers, showering aid on a small part of Myanmar’s population but leaving other, equally desperate parts of the country to fend for themselves,” reports the New York Times. “… Aid workers say … that for now the generous assistance in the delta has created a stark imbalance in the country.” [View article]

Pentagon Sees Security Progress in Pakistan (DefenseLink) “U.S. defense leaders have noted Pakistan’s improved efforts to crack down on al-Qaida and other terrorists operating there,” reports the American Forces Press Service. “… Pentagon officials have noticed ‘stepped-up operations’ and a great deal of progress by the Pakistani military since August, particularly in the Peshawar and Swat areas.” [View article]

Nuclear Waste Secretly Transported (CNN) “Enough processed uranium to make six nuclear weapons was secretly transported thousands of miles by truck, rail and ship on a monthlong trip from a research reactor in Budapest, Hungary, to a facility in Russia so it could be more closely protected against theft,” reports the Associated Press. “… It is the largest recovery to date of highly enriched uranium [that had been] provided either by the former Soviet Union or the United States … The two countries have been working to return the spent fuel from reactors around the world because at many of the facilities, including the one in Budapest, security is lax.” [View article]

Common Word Initiative Claims Progress in Fighting Islamic Extremism (Newsweek) In an initiative called “A Common Word Between Us and You,” last year “138 Muslim leaders from 40 nations addressed a plea for interfaith dialogue to the leaders of the world’s Christian churches in a bid to diminish the influence of extremism around the world,” reports Newsweek. It “led to a conference between Muslim and U.S. Protestant leaders at Yale University last summer and another last week with Church of England leaders at Cambridge University, to be followed next month by a meeting with Roman Catholic leaders at the Vatican.” Ali Gomaa, “the senior Sunni Muslim figure in Egypt,” said that Common Word has been partially successful in dampening the negative effects of terrorism,” and he told Newsweek, “We hope that Common Word becomes a massive international peace movement.” [View article]

Canadian Pipeline Bombed Twice (Vancouver Sun) “In less than a week, two explosive devices have erupted under sour gas pipelines owned by EnCana outside” Dawson Creek, British Columbia, reports Canwest News Service. “… the pipelines did not rupture and no one was injured.” Threatening letters called oil company EnCana “terrorists” for expanding gas drilling in the area. [View article]

New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security Professor Yukinori Komine has produced a very useful book on a seminal period of American and world history, says Richard C. Thornton, Professor of History and International Affairs at George Washington University, in his review of Secrecy in US Foreign Policy: Nixon, Kissinger and the Rapprochement With China. Writing about the U.S. opening to China, based on newly available archival material, Komine takes the reader through the labyrinthine intricacies of Washington’s bureaucratic politics, describing concentric rings of secrecy in which only President Nixon himself knew the full magnitude of the events he set in motion, including others only as they became integral to the implementation of his vision.

National News

Nuclear Terrorism Not the Top Threat? (Government Executive) Some “experts and presidential candidates continue to put nuclear terrorism atop their lists of the gravest threats to the United States. Yet Brian Michael Jenkins, a longtime terrorism expert with the Rand Corp., says that the threat lies more in the realms of Hollywood dramas and terrorist dreams than in reality,” reports Government Executive. Jenkins addresses the subject in “his new book, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?” and in an interview with Government Executive. [View interview]

Technology Hits and Misses in the ‘War on Terror’ (National Defense) National Defense magazine lists its picks of hits and misses in the “War on Terror.” Hits: V-hull trucks, bomb-detonating robots, iPod translators, biometrics, haptic-friendly gadgets, “America’s Army,” ROVER, and tiny spy aircraft. Misses: battlefield energy, directed energy, gun-toting robots, radiation monitors, space-based radar, liquid-explosives detectors, mission control centers for unmanned vehicles, and mobile broadband for troops. [View article]

In Many U.S. Airports, Guns Are Allowed in Public Places (CBS News) “It’s perfectly legal to take a loaded gun right up to the security checkpoint” at the “Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco” airports, finds a survey by the Associated Press. The seven airports “let people with gun permits carry firearms in the general public areas of the terminal.… Under federal law, it is illegal everywhere to try to carry a gun through a security checkpoint. The rest of the terminal, however, has long been the domain of state and local authorities.” [View article]

U.S. Drops War-Crimes Charges Against Five Detainees (New York Times) “The Pentagon announced Tuesday [that] it dropped war-crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees,” reports the Associated Press. “… Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld had been appointed the prosecutor for all five cases,” but he “said the military was withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense, and was doing so in other cases. [See the Sep. 26 newsletter.] The chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has now appointed new trial teams for the five cases to review all available evidence, coordinate with intelligence agencies and recommend what to do next.” But the U.S. “system of military commissions planned for suspects currently detained at Guantánamo Bay is not likely to reach international standards about the right to a fair trial,” according to Martin Scheinin, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism. [View article] [View UN press release]

Homeland Security Worries Lead to More Teleworking (Government Executive) “Homeland security concerns and commuting conditions are creating strong incentives to work away from the office,” reports Government Executive. “… Josh Sawislak, the acting chief emergency response and recovery officer at the General Services Administration, noted there were eight people in his office and they all worked blocks from the White House. ‘From a continuity perspective, [that is] not a really good thing’ in case a terrorist attacks the White House and the surrounding area, he said … [so] everyone in the office does some telework.” [View article]

DHS News

DHS Has Poor Security for Portable Data Devices, Says Its Inspector General (NextGov) “The Homeland Security Department has ineffective security controls for portable electronic storage devices such as flash drives, external hard drives and iPods, according to a new report from” the department’s inspector general, reports NextGov. “Auditors found that Homeland Security has not complied with an Office of Management and Budget memorandum (M-06-16) that directed agencies to encrypt data on mobile computers and devices, require two-factor authentication for remote access, implement a time-out function that kicks in after 30 minutes of inactivity and verify that all sensitive data downloaded is erased within 90 days. The deadline for implementing these protections was August 2006.” The inspector general “also found several instances where unauthorized devices were connected to the department’s unclassified networks.” [View article]

TSA to Take Over Air Passenger Name Matching Under the Secure Flight Final Rule, the Transportation Security Administration will take over predeparture watch list matching. Airlines will be required to collect a passenger’s full name, date of birth, and sex when making a reservation. TSA expects this “to prevent most inconveniences at the airport” and plans to begin implementing Secure Flight in “early 2009.” [View press release]

Coast Guard photo

Customs and Border Protection Joins the National Gang Intelligence Center The center is a multiagency effort led by the FBI. It integrates the gang intelligence assets of the FBI and other federal, state, and local law enforcement entities to serve as a centralized intelligence resource for gang information and analytical support. [View press release]

Other Federal News

Security Varies at Biosafety Labs The nation’s five Biosafety Level 4 Labs “handle the world’s most dangerous agents and diseases” and “work with agents for which no cure or treatment exists,” notes the Government Accountability Office. The labs, regulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have “significant differences in perimeter security.” Two “demonstrated a significant lack of” measures “such as perimeter barriers, roving armed guard patrols, and magnetometers in use at lab entrances.” Besides “creating the perception of vulnerability, the lack of key security controls at these labs means that security officials have fewer opportunities to stop an intruder or attacker.” [View GAO summary]

Supreme Court Takes Case on Immigrant Identity Theft (CNN) “The Supreme Court agreed Monday to examine whether prosecutors can aggressively prosecute illegal immigrants for identity theft if they didn’t know the documents they were given belonged to someone else,” reports CNN. “The justices announced they will hear arguments in the appeal of a Mexican national arrested in a government work site raid in the Midwest. A ruling is expected by June.” [View article]

Rand Presents Options for a Domestic Intelligence Agency (CNN) “At the request of Congress, the RAND Corporation outlined the pros and cons of establishing a domestic intelligence agency,” reports CNN. In one option, “a new agency would be created using intelligence agencies from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence community. A second option is to create an ‘agency within an agency’ in the FBI or DHS.” [View article]

Better Federal Information Sharing Needed, Says Stimson Center (Government Executive) “Federal decision-makers must improve the way they collect and share information among themselves and with state, local and private organizations, if they are to respond to future security threats effectively, according to a new study from a nonprofit research organization [the Henry L. Stimson Center],” reports Government Executive. “… Information about things like pandemic disease, extreme weather and environmental factors can be critical in regional or global disasters, yet the methods for sharing such vital information remain at a nascent stage … [says] the report, ‘New Information and Intelligence Needs in the 21st Century Threat Environment.’ The center studied information sharing across three sectors: terrorism, infectious disease and natural hazards. Each has its own culture that affects how information is used and shared.” [View article] [View report (1.3MB PDF)]

Seven Countries Added to Visa Waiver Program The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea are being admitted to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program; soon their citizens will be able to travel to the United States for business or tourism without a visa. [View press release]

State and Local News

NY Immigration Lawyer Convicted of False Green Card Applications Ihab Tartir of Brooklyn was found guilty last week of conspiring to defraud the Homeland Security Department by helping others obtain permanent resident cards, commonly known as green cards, through sham marriages. [View press release (130KB PDF)]

NY Man Pleads Guilty to 2001 Ecoterrorism in Michigan Ian Jacob Wallace of East Setauket, NY, pled guilty last week to the November 5, 2001, attempted fire-bombing of U.S. Forest Service property on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton. [View press release (70KB PDF)]

United Nations News

Too Few Countries Test Their Bird Flu Plans, Says UN Most countries that have strategies in place to deal with a possible avian influenza pandemic have not properly tested those plans, leaving them extremely vulnerable if a major outbreak were to occur, said David Nabarro, United Nations System Influenza Coordinator. [View press release]

Private-Sector News

Guidelines Help Retailers Prepare for Mall Shooting Incidents (Reuters) The National Retail Federation “and International Council of Shopping Centers on Monday released guidelines to help retailers prepare for shooting incidents at shopping malls and retail stores,” reports Reuters. “A joint effort with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and retailers, the plan deals with an ‘active shooter,’ or individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.… The guidelines … encourage employees to create an escape plan and be aware that law enforcement first responders may show up in bulletproof vests and Kevlar helmets and be carrying rifles, shotguns or handguns, and might use pepper spray.” (See the statistics of the Week.) [View article]

Private Sector Can Control Risks of Cyberattack (Government Executive) Companies can “mitigate the economic impact of cyberattacks,” reports Government Executive, citing a new report by the American National Standards Institute and the Internet Security Alliance. And “if industry fails to team with the federal government to address national cyber concerns, consumer trust could deteriorate, bringing dire consequences like the recent fallout in the financial market, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Tuesday.” [View report article] [View Chertoff article]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) 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] Coast Guard Innovation Expo (November 17-20; Virginia Beach, VA) This year’s theme is “Collaboration Fuels Innovation.” The conference will cover Joint Capability Technology Demonstration collaboration between the Defense Department and the Coast Guard, Coast Guard modernization, strategy-driven acquisition, and interagency innovation. [View event website]