International News

Commission Cites ‘Tipping Point’ on Nuclear Proliferation (Washington Post) “The development of nuclear arsenals by both Iran and North Korea could lead to ‘a cascade of proliferation,’ making it more probable that terrorists could get their hands on an atomic weapon,” says the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States in a report released Monday, according to the Washington Post. “… the commission called for a global nonproliferation strategy as the best way to keep nuclear materials out of terrorists’ hands” and “for the United States to begin discussing with allies how to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That pact, the commission said, provides a legal framework but lacks the tools to make it work.” [View article] [View report web page]

23 Pirates Captured, Eight Others Charged (CNN; Wired) “The Indian navy captured 23 piracy suspects who tried to take over a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula,” reports CNN. “… In addition to the 12 Somali and 11 Yemeni suspects, the Indian navy seized two small boats and ‘a substantial cache of arms and equipment,’ the military said.” And last week in Kenya, “eight suspected Somali pirates, captured by a British frigate while allegedly trying to hijack a Danish cargo vessel off the coast of Yemen in November, … were officially charged with piracy,” writes Wired “Danger Room” blogger David Axe. “… France has put on trial six suspected pirates captured in an April raid to free French hostages, but France is too far from the action to be a regular destination for suspects. Kenya is the best choice for a piracy court: it’s fairly democratic, pretty stable and has a major stake in the piracy fight. Kenya’s shipping and tourism economy has been hit hard by this year’s spike in ship hijackings.” [View CNN article] [View Wired blog]

Number of Children Immunized Has Been Inflated for Years (Washington Post) “Many of the world’s poorest countries have for decades routinely exaggerated the number of children being immunized against disease, apparently driven by political pressure and, more recently, financial incentives,” says a “finding of a huge analysis that has provoked heated discussion even before its publication in the Lancet, a European medical journal,” reports the Washington Post. (See the Statistics of the Week.) “Since 1986, progress in childhood immunization in the developing world has been about half that officially reported by governments in the developing world. Not only are year-to-year improvements overstated, but the total percentage of children immunized is far lower than publicly acknowledged.” In 1990, UNICEF “declared [that] the goal of 80 percent global coverage” had been met for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine. “But it is now clear, [lead researcher Christopher J. L.] Murray said, ‘they weren’t even close.’” [View article]

Canada’s Airports Infiltrated by Criminals, Say Mounties (Vancouver, BC, Province) A Royal Canadian Mounted Police “inquiry has concluded that all of Canada’s major airports have been infiltrated by organized crime,” reports Canwest News. “The investigation, dubbed Project Spawn, … concluded [that] hundreds of people were involved in criminal activity at airports, including almost 300 current or former airport employees. More than 1,000 people not employed at an airport were still able to use connections for criminal purposes.” The report also “warned that airport staff compromised by criminal activity can be easily exploited by sophisticated terrorist groups.” [View article]

Greek Riots Continue and Cause Unrest Across Europe (New York Times; Yahoo! News) In Athens, Greece, “economic stagnation, widespread corruption, a troubled education system, rising poverty, [and] precarious security” have caused rioting in “protest against the government” ever since the December 6 death “of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, who was killed by a police officer’s bullet,” reports the New York Times. On Thursday, “rioters threw rocks and firebombs at the police,” reports another Times article. The demonstrations “have caused more than an estimated $1.3 billion in damage to businesses at the height of the Christmas shopping season.” And the unrest in Greece spilled “over into the rest of Europe” as “protesters in Spain, Denmark and Italy smashed shop windows, pelted police with bottles and attacked banks [last] week, while in France, cars were set ablaze,” reports the Associated Press. [View 1st Times article] [View 2nd Times article] [View AP article]

Glasgow, Scotland, Airport Car Bomber Jailed for 32 Years (London Guardian) Bilal Abdulla, a doctor with Britain’s National Health Service, was convicted Wednesday “of conspiracy to murder and two charges of conspiring to cause explosions,” reports the London Guardian. Abdulla “plotted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow” (see the July 6, 2007, newsletter) and was “sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 32 years.” Abdulla’s friend Kafeel Ahmed also took part in the attacks but later died of self-inflicted burns. Mohammed Asha, also an NHS doctor, was “cleared of all charges.” The Guardian says it “has learned that Abdulla was on an MI5 watchlist,” and UK government “officials said MI5 held ‘tracers’ on Abdulla including information that proved helpful” in his identification, but “the officials insisted there was no evidence available to them at the time to show he was plotting an attack.” [View article]

UN Court Convicts Bagasora of Rwandan Genocide (Christian Science Monitor) “A United Nations–backed court in Tanzania on Thursday convicted … Theoneste Bagasora, a former Rwandan Army colonel … of ‘genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes’ in the 1994 slaughter of more than 800,000 people,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda also convicted ex-military commanders Anatole Nsengiyumva and Aloys Ntabakuze of genocide. All three were sentenced to life in prison.” [View article]

Mounting Civilian Casualties Are Aiding Taliban Recruiting (London Guardian) “More than 600 civilians have died in Nato and US air strikes this year”—“almost doubled from last year”—and “these attacks are weakening support for the Afghan government and turning more and more people against the foreign occupation of the country,” reports the Guardian. “… The latest figures from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission … suggest [that] about 750 civilians have been killed by foreign forces this year.… Humanitarian aid agencies say privately that they believe the figure is significantly higher, as many victims classed as ‘insurgents’ are actually non-combatants.” And a “Human Rights Watch report said [that] US investigations, when launched, have been ‘unilateral, ponderous, and lacking in transparency, undercutting rather than improving relations with local populations and the Afghan government.’” (See the Quote of the Week.) [View article]

British Military to Withdraw From Iraq by June 2009 (London Guardian) “Britain’s six-year occupation of southern Iraq will end by the summer, [Prime Minister] Gordon Brown announced” Wednesday, reports the Guardian. “… the bulk of the 4,100 British troops [will] leave the country by June, with all military operations ending on 31 May.… Around 300 troops will remain to help with the training of Iraqi forces.” [View article]

British Computer Society Sets Up Cybercrime Think Tank (Public Technology) “The explosion in UK-based cybercrime has led the British Computer Society (BCS) to set up a specialist ‘think tank’ to offer expertise to the police and others fighting increasingly sophisticated online fraud,” reports Public Technology. The “Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group will give special attention to the role cybercrime forensics—the use of scientifically proven methods to gather process and interpret digital evidence for criminal investigations—could play in the lead up to and during the London 2012 Olympic Games.” [View article]

White Powder Mailed to U.S. Embassies in Europe (ABC News) “The U.S. embassies in Berlin, Bucharest, Bern, Brussels, Dublin, Copenhagen, Riga and Rome each received at least one envelope” that contained “a suspicious white powder,” reports ABC News. “… So far, all tests for dangerous substances have come back negative.” [View article]

Indonesia Holds Major Antiterror Drill (International Herald Tribune) “Indonesian security forces launched a major anti-terror drill [today] ahead of the Christmas holidays, a period when the Southeast Asian nation previously suffered bomb attacks,” reports Reuters. “Indonesia has not suffered a major attack for three years, but it is still considered at risk.” [View article]

Briton Gets Life for Directing Terror (Reuters) Rangzieb Ahmed—“the first person to be found guilty of directing a terrorist organisation in Britain—was jailed for life” today, reports Reuters. He had been “found guilty of belonging to Osama bin Laden’s group and of leading a three-man terrorist cell engaged in the plotting of an attack … His co-defendant Habib Ahmed, 29, who is not related, was given a total of 10 years in jail, nine for being a member of al Qaeda and an additional year for possessing a document for terror-related purposes, the Press Association reported.” [View article]

Egyptian Student Gets 15 Years for YouTube Terror Video (Wired) Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed—a former “engineering student … at the University of South Florida”—“was sentenced in the United States on Thursday to 15 years” in prison “after pleading guilty to uploading a 12-minute video to YouTube that demonstrated how to convert a remote-control toy car into a bomb detonator,” writes Wired “Threat Level” blogger David Kravets. [View blog]

National News

Court Narrows Secrecy in Telecom Warrants (Wired) The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “on Monday narrowed the scope of when telecommunications companies must keep the self-issued FBI search-warrant requests secret”: only “if the FBI certifies that disclosure … ‘may result in an enumerated harm that is related to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,’” writes Wired “Threat Level” blogger David Kravets. But “the court noted that judges must review the validity of a secrecy order, in private if necessary, only when a telecommunications company challenges” it. [View article]

Army Brigade Trains for Homeland Disaster Response (DefenseLink) “Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team” (see the Oct. 3 newsletter) spent three days last week “training in skills they would depend on to provide humanitarian support during a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive incident,” reports the American Forces Press Service. The Consequence Management Force to which the brigade is assigned “includes various military assets assigned to U.S. Northern Command that could be called on to respond to a natural or manmade disaster.” [View article]

Test Shows That People Are Willing to Torture (BBC) “Decades after a notorious experiment, scientists have found [that] test subjects are still willing to inflict pain on others—if told to by an authority figure,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “US researchers repeated the famous ‘Milgram test’, with volunteers told to deliver electrical shocks to another volunteer—played by an actor. Even after faked screams of pain, 70% were prepared to increase the voltage, the American Psychology study found.” [View article]

U.S. and EU Agree on Data Protection At a meeting in Washington, DC, on December 12, the French European Union Presidency, the European Commission, and the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State agreed to a statement on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection and recorded progress on a set of principles that will advance both data privacy and data sharing in a law enforcement context. [View DHS blog] [View agreement]

Cyber-Security Exercise Tests Cross-Sector Communication (Federal Computer Week) Senior “government and industry officials in a two-day cybersecurity simulation exercise that concluded [Thursday] said it demonstrated the importance of a cross-sector, integrated approach to cybersecurity,” reports Federal Computer Week. “… The 230 participants in the Cyber Strategy Inquiry came from the public and private sectors in areas such as homeland security defense, transportation, telecommunications and information technology, and intelligence. The … game involved four government teams, four from industry and one from civil society. The groups had to communicate through a control team, which represented Congress and the White House. However, those teams also included members from other sectors so they would be forced to consider the perspectives of other people.” [View article]

United Nations News

UN and Japan Will Use Space Info to Reduce Disaster Risk The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific will boost their cooperative use of space-based information and services to help reduce the risk of disasters in Asia and the Pacific. The technology includes satellite imagery, remote sensing, and satellite-based communications. [View press release]

DHS News

Thousands Remain in FEMA Trailers “As of May 2008, several thousand households remained in” Federal Emergency Management Agency group trailer sites set up for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, reports the Government Accountability Office. More than 20,000 households have occupied such trailers, and “another 106,000 households received trailers that were placed on their property while repairs were being made to their homes.” Those who remain are “the hardest to serve … including the elderly, persons with disabilities, and unemployed people.” [View GAO summary]

DHS Streamlines Rules for Seasonal Workers U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is streamlining the H-2A regulations, which govern the hiring of temporary and seasonal agricultural workers. The changes allow employers to request multiple, unnamed agricultural workers; extend the legal length of stay; and make it easier for workers to move on to another employer. [View press release]

DHS Expands Collection of Biometrics for Visitors The Homeland Security Department is expanding the categories of non–U.S. citizens required to provide digital fingerprints and a photograph upon entry to the United States through the US-VISIT program. Among those added to the list are lawful permanent residents, persons seeking asylum or admission on immigrant visas or as refugees, Canadians who require a waiver of inadmissibility, persons paroled into the United States, and those applying under the Guam Visa Waiver Program. [View press release] [View Focus on US-VISIT]

DHS Offers Driver’s License Security Grants The Homeland Security Department is taking applications for $48.6 million in fiscal year 2009 Driver’s License Security Grants to assist states in preventing terrorism and reducing fraud. [View press release]

DHS Offers Emergency Operations Center Grants The Homeland Security Department is taking applications for $34 million in fiscal year 2009 Emergency Operations Centers Grants to improve state, local, and tribal emergency management and preparedness capabilities by supporting flexible, sustainable, secure, and interoperable emergency operations centers. [View press release]

Other Federal News

Nationwide Emergency Radio System Needed, Says GAO (NextGov) “Congress should require the Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury departments to develop a nationwide joint radio communications system to coordinate responses to emergencies such as a terrorist attack, according to” the Government Accountability Office, reports NextGov. “The Integrated Wireless Network, first conceived in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is envisioned to allow law enforcement and disaster response agencies to communicate in the aftermath of a natural disaster or domestic terrorist attack. But instead of working together to create a secure, interoperable network, each of the departments is working independently to modernize its own communications system, which are not interoperable, according to the GAO report.” [View article] [View GAO report]

NRC Expands Security Regulations for Nuclear Plants The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday added security rules for nuclear power plants, requiring a safety-security interface to manage plant activities, a comprehensive cyber-security program, and strategies and response procedures to address an aircraft threat or loss of large areas of the facility due to explosions and fire. [View press release]

Senator Feinstein to Chair Senate Intelligence Committee (San Francisco Chronicle) “California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been tapped as the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The post “would give her immense clout over U.S. intelligence agencies and the power to shape policies on wiretapping and the treatment of detainees.” [View article]

Admiral Blair to Head National Intelligence (Washington Post) “President-elect Barack Obama has settled on” Adm. Dennis C. Blair—“a former commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific”—to be Director of National Intelligence, reports the Washington Post. [View article]

State and Local News

Database Tracks Cuban Exiles to the U.S. (Miami Herald) “The Miami Herald’s Cuban Freedom Flights Database Project … includes the names and arrival dates of the 265,000 exiles” who fled Cuba after Fidel Castro “announced that any ‘anti-revolutionary’ Cuban wishing to leave the island could do so,” reports the Miami Herald. Charter flights “to Miami ran twice a day on weekdays from 1965 through 1973” and were “the largest, longest resettlement program of Cuban refugees ever sponsored by the U.S. government, financed with a $12 million budget and the help of religious and volunteer agencies.” [View article]

Virginia Tech Sets Up Massacre Archives (Roanoke Times) “E-mails and documents related to the Virginia Tech shootings and made available to victims’ families Wednesday through a password-protected electronic archive were posted on the Web site of Tech’s student newspaper Thursday,” reports the Roanoke Times. “… The entire archive totals about 7,600 documents, many of which have already been made public.” [View article]

New Orleans Wants National Guard to Stay (WWL-TV, New Orleans) New Orleans “is asking that the National Guard stay just a little bit longer,” reports WWL-TV. The “110 to 120 National Guard troops” in the city now are scheduled to leave by January 1, after a six-month extension of service. Mayor Ray Nagin wants to “keep 120 guard members in the city through February.” [View article]

National Guard Responds to Winter Storms in New England (DefenseLink) Winter storms, which “hit Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Dec. 12, brought down trees, closed schools and left thousands of residents without power,” reports the American Forces Press Service. “… Nearly 900 Guard members were on duty” Sunday in Massachusetts, “clearing debris, providing power generation, water, security, shelter and evacuations … In New Hampshire, more than 340 Guard members … were called up.” [View article]

Private-Sector News

WMD Insurance Remains Scarce, Says GAO Commercial property and “casualty policyholders, including companies that own high-value properties in large cities, generally” cannot obtain terrorism insurance covering attacks involving nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological weapons, reports the Government Accountability Office. “Workers’ compensation, group life, and health insurers … generally cannot exclude” such coverage and “face challenges in managing these risks.” If required to provide coverage, even with federal backing, “some insurers might withdraw from the market.” Yet if the federal government provided the insurance, it “might face substantial losses.” [View GAO summary]

Businesses Serving Immigrants Often Have Poor Data Security (NextGov) “About 60 percent of the computers at multiservice businesses that serve the immigrant community are actively infected with malware, according to a study released on Thursday by Panda Security,” reports InformationWeek. “This puts customers at considerable risk of identity theft and money transfer interception.” [View article]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) (January 27-28; Arlington, VA) With the Association of American Railroads, the American Public Transportation Association, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and the Railway Supply Institute, Railway Age presents this forum to address topics such as state compacts, passenger and baggage screening, fusion centers, tunnel operations, tracking and tracing technology, resilience, and “not in my backyard” activism. [View event website] (January 27-28; Arlington, VA) MarineLog’s Maritime & Port Security 2009 Conference & Expo will examine the “scan every box” container security requirement, the terrorism threat to ports and shipping, piracy off the Horn of Africa, new technologies, and more. [View event website] (March 2-9; Miami) This conference will present biometric objectives and proven methods, processes, and approaches for achieving results from biometric initiatives. Presentations will cover biometric applications and best practices in government, telecommunications, border control, law enforcement, healthcare, and more. [View event website]

Calls for Papers TIEMS 2009 (June 9-11; Istanbul, Turkey) The International Emergency Management Society’s 16th annual conference will address global cooperation in emergency management, geographic information systems in emergency management, terrorism and security, critical infrastructures, emergencies and the media, psychological aspects of disasters, health emergencies and response, and more. The deadline for submitting abstracts is December 31. [View call for papers (290KB PDF)]