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International News
Taliban Get Pakistani Intelligence Help (New York Times) “The Taliban’s widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan’s military intelligence agency,” reports the New York Times. “… The support consists of money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to Taliban commanders … Support for the Taliban, as well as other militant groups, is coordinated by operatives inside the shadowy S Wing of Pakistan’s spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence … proof of the ties between the Taliban and Pakistani spies came from electronic surveillance and trusted informants.”
[View article]
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| White House photo | Obama Video Offers Fresh Start With Iran (Washington Post) “President Obama sent a videotaped holiday greeting [for the start of the Iranian new year] to Iran [on March 20] that hailed the country’s contributions to world civilization and told its people and leaders that the United States seeks engagement with Tehran ‘that is honest and grounded in mutual respect,’” reports the Washington Post. “The message … speaks of a ‘new day’ in which Washington and Tehran could move beyond three decades of distrust and strained relations and build constructive ties. At the same time, Obama warns that Iran cannot ‘take its rightful place in the community of nations … through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization.’”
[View article]
Montrealer Thwarts British School Arson (Toronto Globe and Mail) “Police in the United Kingdom are crediting a Montreal university student for thwarting a firebomb plot aimed at a British school,” reports the Globe and Mail. “J.P. Neufeld, a student at Concordia University, had logged onto an online chat forum over breakfast [on March 17] when he spotted the threat to burn down Attleborough High School in Norfolk with 950 students inside.…
Within 18 minutes, Mr. Neufeld was on the line with the Norfolk Constabulary via Internet phone. About 30 minutes after Mr. Neufeld’s call, a 16-year-old student was detained just outside the school carrying a jug of fuel, matches and a knife.”
[View article]
Sydney, Australia, Airport Security Fails to Stop Gang Fight (Australian; Melbourne, Australia, Age) A battle between “members of the Hells Angels and the Comancheros” who departed a flight at the Sydney airport left one gang member “dying from serious head injuries on the concourse floor,” reports the Australian. But “the airport police team run by the Australian Federal Police did not arrive until after the fight was over.” A “message about the potentially dangerous passengers never made it from the plane and the security at the gate to the airport police,” and “despite the banks of CCTV cameras, which are supposedly monitored, it took a member of the public to dial 000 and alert police to the brawl that raged for about 10 minutes.” Reportedly, “the CCTV coverage is so grainy and poor that it is virtually useless,” writes Nick O’Brien in the Age.
[View article] [View commentary]
Bangladeshi Orphanage a Terrorism School? (London Times) “Police in Bangladesh have arrested on suspicion of terrorism a British man whose charity runs an orphanage that they say is a front for a training camp and arms factory for Islamic militants,” reports the London Times. “Dr Faisal Mostafa of Stockport, Greater Manchester, who was acquitted in 2002 of being part of an al-Qaeda bomb plot, was arrested yesterday in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.”
[View article]
France Will Compensate Nuclear Victims (Australian) “France is to compensate victims of nuclear testing carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria, after decades of denying its responsibility,” reports the Australian. $19.3 million “has been set aside for military and civilian staff, as well as local populations who fell ill from radiation exposure … About 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Algerian Sahara desert and the Pacific between 1960 and 1996.”
[View article]
Thousands in Britain Get Counterterror Training (London Observer) “Not only the police and security and intelligence officers, and our armed forces, but also the emergency services, local councils, businesses, and community groups are involved in state-of-the-art civil contingency planning” for terrorism, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in the Observer. “Tens of thousands of men and women throughout Britain—from security guards to store managers—have now been trained and equipped to deal with an incident and know what to watch for as people go about their daily business in crowded places such as stations, airports, shopping centres and sports grounds. This is not just about training and equipping professionals, however. I believe that the better we inform the public, the more vigilant the public will be. And there is a duty on all of us—government, parliament, and civic society—to stand up to people who advocate violence and preach hate, to challenge their narrow and intolerant ideology—in public meetings, in universities, in schools and online.” The British government has issued a revision of its “Contest” counter-terrorism strategy: “Contest Two.”
[View article] [View Contest Two]
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| Royal Navy photo |
Britain Thinks of Scrapping Nuclear Weapons (London Times) “Behind the scenes,” the British “Government is taking a long hard stare at the” Trident nuclear missile submarine program, writes Rachel Sylvester in the London Times. Replacing the submarines could cost £20 billion, and they have an “annual upkeep of £1.5 billion.” And “the biggest threat is now from extremist groups rather than enemy states at which missiles can be aimed.… One minister says that Trident is more useful as a ‘tool for global disarmament than for UK defence.’” The time to eliminate the weapons is “‘when it will spur maximum disarmament by others’ [he said].”
[View article]
Mountie Recants Testimony in Airport Taser Death (Vancouver [British Columbia] Sun) A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Monty Robinson, “involved in the fatal incident” in which “Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski” was Tasered (see the Nov. 16, 2007, newsletter) “recanted many details of his police statement during testimony Monday,” reports the Sun. “… Robinson admitted … that Dziekanski did fall after the first Taser and did not have to be wrestled to the ground.… He also admitted he was wrong when he said in his police statement that Dziekanski was ‘swinging the stapler’ at police. He said Dziekanski swung the stapler wildly after he was Tasered.… all four officers involved in the fatal in-custody death have admitted their police statements were wrong.” But “‘There’s nothing we could have done differently,’ Robinson said under cross-examination,” according to a separate story in the Sun.
[View testimony article] [View cross-exam article]
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New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security
In “Strategic Supply Chain Security,” Andreas Wieland, Chair of Logistics, Competence Center for International Logistics Networks, at the Technische Universität Berlin, describes a 6-level holistic approach to supply chain security. The framework extends from a macro view to the atomic elements of a supply chain managed in a micro view by pursuing a top-down approach. Every level represents a security-relevant view of a supply chain or a part of it. A systematic layout allows transmitting strategy requirements used in a certain level to another (less abstract) level and enriching its application within the narrower context of the derived level by adding more operational details.
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United Nations News
UN-Backed Cyber-Security HQ Opens in Malaysia The headquarters of the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Threats (IMPACT)—a global coalition to tackle the world’s most serious cybersecurity threats, backed by the United Nations International Telecommunication Union—was inaugurated outside of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on March 20. IMPACT will host the Global Cybersecurity Agenda, which promotes international cooperation to make cyberspace more secure. The initiative brings together governments, industry leaders, and cybersecurity experts to enhance the global community’s capacity to prevent, defend against, and respond to cyberthreats, and it aims to provide real-time analysis, aggregation, and dissemination of global cyber-threat information.
[View press release]
DHS News
80,000 Air Passengers on TSA ‘Cleared’ List (USA Today) “A government list of ‘cleared’ fliers, developed to cut airport hassles for people whose names are confused with suspects on the terrorist watch list, has grown to 80,000 names, records show,” reports USA Today. (See the March 13 newsletter.) “The additions to the Transportation Security Administration’s ‘cleared list’ reflect an influx of requests from people asking to be removed from the watch list.… The cleared list has grown because about 99% of the fliers seeking to be removed from the watch list were never on it.”
[View article]
DHS Has Backlog of 75,000 Freedom of Information Requests (Federal Computer Week) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “has reduced its Freedom of Information Act” backlog, from 89,124 overdue requests “in September 2006 to 70,175 in October 2008,” reports Federal Computer Week, citing a new report by the Government Accountability Office. However, four other Homeland Security Department agencies “saw sharp increases in their overdue requests during that period.”
[View article] [View GAO summary]
Napolitano Wants to Move ‘Away From the Politics of Fear’ (Spiegel, Germany) In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano discussed “immigration, the continued threat of terrorism and the changing tone in Washington.” “I presume there is always a threat from terrorism,” she told Spiegel. “In my speech [her first testimony before Congress], although I did not use the word ‘terrorism,’ I referred to ‘man-caused’ disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”
[View article]
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| CBP photo by Gerald Nino | DHS Screens All Railcars Bound for Mexico Customs and Border Protection “is now screening 100 percent of outbound rail cars on the southwest border,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday. “There are eight rail crossings along the southwest border, and previously, CBP did not screen any outbound cars, instead focusing only on inbound cargo. We are using existing non-intrusive inspection equipment to screen all outgoing cars for anomalies that could be weapons. DHS is also developing protocols to inform Mexican authorities of anomalies CBP uncovers, since the rail cars will be on Mexican soil immediately after CBP inspection.”
[View testimony]
Other Federal News
Obama Sends Reinforcements to the Mexican Border (Los Angeles Times) “The Obama administration plans to send more agents and equipment to the southwestern border to fight Mexican drug cartels and keep violence from spilling over into the United States,” reports the Associated Press. The government will double “the border enforcement security teams that combine local, state, and federal officers,” add “16 new Drug Enforcement Administration positions in the southwest” to the “more than 1,000 agents working” there already, and send “100 more people [from] the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to the border in the next 45 days.” (See last week’s newsletter.) Officials are “considering whether to deploy the National Guard.”
[View article]
FBI and CAIR Split Up (Christian Science Monitor) “Law enforcement efforts to root out home-grown terrorists are jeopardized by deteriorating relations between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muslim and Arab-American communities,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “The situation began last fall when the FBI quietly withdrew formal relations with all local chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the largest Muslim American civil rights organizations. The FBI cited ‘a number of distinct narrow issues’ that it has refused to make public. The situation worsened in February, when it became public that the FBI had planted an informant at a California mosque who, a coalition of more than a dozen Muslim American groups charges, actively tried to recruit terrorists.”
[View article]
‘Scholarship for Service’ Program Trains Cyber-Security Pros (Government Computer News) “A Scholarship for Service program … run jointly by the National Science Foundation and” the Homeland Security Department aims “at narrowing a critical need for cybersecurity skills at federal agencies,” reports Government Computer News. “It underwrites two-year stipends for full-time students who specialize in information assurance at approved four-year colleges and universities. In exchange for agreeing to serve at a federal agency in a cybersecurity position for at least two years, the program provides scholarships covering tuition, room and board, and books. Since its inception in 2001, the program has channeled almost 900 students into federal cyber positions.”
[View article]
State and Local News
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| Coast Guard photo by Brendan Evans |
North Dakota Floods Prompt Massive Response (USA Today) “Hundreds of volunteers” in Fargo “were trying to stop the [Red] river on the eastern border of North Dakota from swelling into homes and businesses” yesterday, reports USA Today. “… near the capital of Bismarck, crews were using explosives to blast apart an ice jam on the Missouri River to ease flooding that has forced evacuation of at least 1,700 people.… A winter much colder and longer than predicted is giving way to a torrential spring melting,” and “thick blocks of ice that have yet to thaw have made flooding worse by backing up the flowing rivers.” On Tuesday, President Obama declared it a major disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Emergency Response Team is working with the National Incident Management Assistance Team–West, the National Guard, the Red Cross, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and the Small Business Administration, along with state and local agencies, to provide assistance. [View article] [View FEMA press release]
Missouri Report on Militia Threat Warned of Third-Party Affiliation (Springfield, MO, News-Leader) A report issued last month by the Missouri Information Analysis Center on the “Modern Militia Movement” noted that “Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups.… These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.” The report was “distributed to the state highway patrol,” reports the News-Leader. The state agreed “to remove the third party politicians’ names from the report,” and “Department of Public Safety Director John Britt” apologized for their inclusion.
[View article] [View report (1MB PDF)]
Volcano Monitors Warned of Mount Redoubt Eruption (KTUU-TV, Anchorage, AK) “The Alaska Volcano Observatory was ready with warnings to flight officials Sunday night when Mount Redoubt blew five times, sending potentially deadly ash clouds north of Anchorage,” reports the Associated Press. “The volcano blew at night, and even after sunrise, Mount Redoubt was socked in by clouds, obscuring ash that … can clog a jet engine and knock aircraft from the sky. Seismometers and atmospheric pressure sensors alerted scientists that an eruption had occurred. Weather radar confirmed the presence of an ash cloud that ascended more than eleven miles above sea level.” The volcano erupted again Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
[View article]
Dallas Police Switch From Codes to Plain English (Dallas Morning News) “So long ‘7,’ hello ‘minor accident.’” Like many other police departments, Dallas on Monday “moved to a new plain-language system that’s supposed to make communications more universal and less complicated,” reports the Dallas Morning News. “No more of those distinctive radio codes or signals. The department says it’s following a nationwide trend … During the terrorist attacks” of September 11, 2001, “different agencies had problems communicating because they used different codes or their signals had varying meanings. Federal officials require that plain language be used during major disasters and exercises that involve several agencies or jurisdictions,” and “the department already has practice using plain language.”
[View article]
TSA Insists on TWICs for Mule Drivers (Hanover, PA, Evening Sun) “Mule drivers at an eastern Pennsylvania historical park need the same federal security clearance as port workers,” reports the Associated Press. “The Homeland Security Department has refused to grant an exemption to workers who operate a mule-pulled boat at the National Canal Museum in Easton,” which will have to purchase Transportation Worker Identification Credentials.
[View article] [View Focus on TWIC]
| How to Maximize FEMA Funding After a Natural Disaster (New Orleans Times-Picayune) “New Orleans Sanitation Director Veronica” White’s “book, ‘How to Maximize FEMA Funding After a Natural Disaster,’ finally has hit store shelves,” reports the Times-Picayune. The book jacket “cites White, who oversees the city’s hurricane-related demolition and debris-removal contracts, as an expert in the field.” The State Ethics Board ruled “that because the book project was not closely aligned with White’s duties at City Hall,” she could publish and keep compensation from the book.
[View article]
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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.
Free DHS-Certified Courses (Online; ongoing) The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) is a DHS training partner providing high-quality training to emergency responders throughout the United States and its territories under the NCBRT’s Homeland Security National Training Cooperative Agreement. The NCBRT offers e-learning courses as challenging as those taught onsite.
[View event website]
Certificate in Terrorism Studies (May 1 and September 1; online) This 16-week program of study from the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) introduces the fundamental issues behind terrorism and the motivations, methodology, and modus operandi of the various strains of terrorism in the world today: how and why terrorists plot against civilians, governments, corporations, commercial operations, transport, or information technology networks, providing context for the operational duties of military, police, or security personnel.
[View course website]
Managing the Threat of Suicide Bombers and Improvised Explosive Devices (May 13-14; Las Vegas) This workshop provides background on the bombing methods employed by different terror groups, assists with detection techniques for suicide terrorists, helps with understanding what an effective protective policy might look like, and gives considerable detail about attempted and actual incidents that have occurred in the United States and overseas. It also teaches how to conduct building and vehicle searches and evacuations, mitigate bombing attacks, and understand the sources, costs, and evaluation of physical security enhancements.
[View event website]
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New Upcoming Events
(After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page)
Combined Joint Operations From the Sea Maritime Security Conference (March 31–April 2; Sorrento, Italy) The theme of this year’s Combined Joint Operations From the Sea Center of Excellence conference is “Delivering Maritime Security in Global Partnership: Improving Collective Capabilities.” It will highlight developments in regional maritime security partnerships around the world and focus on the information-sharing standardization initiatives under way.
[View event website]
| Defense Industrial Base Critical Infrastructure Protection Conference & Technology Exhibition (March 31–April 3; San Antonio, TX) This year’s theme is sector resiliency, providing defense industrial base critical infrastructure and key resources owners and operators (small business through major corporations), their subcontractors, vendors, and other security partners with insightful information for implementing the critical infrastructure and national preparedness-resiliency concept with sustainable results. The conference will bring together national and local experts and practitioners to discuss the full spectrum of natural and man-made events and the impact those events have on government and commerce.
[View event website]
Fifth World Congress on Chemical, Biological and Radiological Terrorism (April 5-10; Dubrovnik, Croatia) This symposium will explore the scientific, medical, and policy aspects as well as the effects of terrorism on the community and the individual and on each layer of infrastructure and each echelon of government, along with a look at proliferation.
[View event website]
Cyberspace Symposium (April 7-8; Omaha, NE) This year’s theme is “Advancing Cyberspace Capabilities to Deliver Integrated Effects.” The symposium is intended as an information exchange and collaboration among the Defense Department, the U.S. government, industry, academia, and international partners to facilitate resolution of
key cyber issues. Symposium sessions will include speakers and workshops.
[View event website]
Law Enforcement Intelligence Units Training Conference (April 20-24; Las Vegas) The theme of this year’s conference is “Criminal Intelligence: Improving the Odds.” Training topics include legal issues, domestic and international terrorism, analytic writing and presentation, data mining, open-source research and analysis, and critical thinking.
[View event website]
(April 27-30; Ponta Vedra Beach, FL) This conference brings together policy makers, Defense Department and Homeland Security Department leaders, law enforcement, and solutions providers to exchange and share best practices and opportunities to improve the security of our nation’s maritime borders.
[View event website]
| Are We Prepared? Four WMD Crises That Could Transform U.S. Security (May 6-7; Washington, DC) This symposium, which requires Secret clearance, will examine the nation’s preparedness to prevent or manage four crises involving weapons of mass destruction: (1) Collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime, in which a number of current, unresolved nuclear proliferation challenges threaten to unleash a sudden and destabilizing wave of proliferation. (2) Failure of a WMD-armed state, creating unprecedented risks that radical actors will obtain WMD and unprecedented challenges for prevention. (3) A biological terror campaign, in which terrorists employ deadly biological pathogens to strike at multiple cities. (4) A nuclear detonation in a U.S. city, delivered covertly and leaving great uncertainty about who did it, whether it will happen again, and how we should respond.
[View event website]
| | (June 25-26; Baltimore) This conference will address such topics as threat detection and identification, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, detector sensitivity, and field-deployable devices.
[View event website]
National Conference on Community Preparedness (Aug. 9-12; Arlington, Virginia) This year’s theme is “The Power of Citizen Corps.” The conference is open to all who are interested in making their communities safer, stronger, and better prepared for all types of hazards.
[View event website]
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