National News

Cyber-Spies Penetrate U.S. Electric Grid? (Wall Street Journal; Wired) “Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “The spies came from China, Russia and other countries … and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.… The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. … Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies … Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.… Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components,” and “water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.” The article “contains almost no details,” writes Wired “Threat Level” blogger Kevin Poulsen. “… It’s an unusually opportune time for this revelation, since the NSA is at this very moment jockeying to take over cyber security from DHS.” [View Journal article] [View Wired blog]

Taliban and al-Qaeda Websites Use U.S. Hosts (Washington Post) An “odd pairing of violently anti-American extremists and U.S. technology companies continues … and appears to be growing,” reports the Washington Post. “Intelligence officials and private experts cite dozens of instances in which Islamist militants sought out U.S. Internet firms—known for their reliable service and easy terms that allow virtual anonymity—and used them to incite attacks on Americans.” [View article]

U.S. Funds to Fight Mexican Drug Trafficking Mostly Unspent (Washington Post) “After promising $1.4 billion last year under a landmark initiative to help fight drug trafficking in Mexico, the U.S. government has spent almost none of the money,” reports the Washington Post. “… In June, Congress appropriated $400 million to assist Mexico under the first installment of the Merida Initiative … In December, the State Department announced that $197 million had been ‘released.’ … about $7 million from the aid package has been spent—mostly on administration and planning. The most critical items, a $50 million surveillance plane and five rapid-response helicopters, may take as long as two years to deliver.” [View article]

International News

Britain Blocks ‘Imminent and Credible’ Threat (London Times) “A huge police operation against a suspected al-Qaeda cell in the UK” was carried out Wednesday night, reports the London Times. “… Twelve people were arrested, including 10 Pakistani nationals on student visas and one Briton, at eight addresses across Manchester and Merseyside after a long covert surveillance operation involving both police and MI5.… Senior detectives said that there was an ‘imminent and credible’ threat.” The Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Bob Quick, who has since resigned, nearly blew the operation when he walked up Downing Street “carrying under his arm a document marked ‘Secret’ which detailed the broad lines of the operation.” [View article]

Quake in Italy Kills 283 (Detroit Free Press) “The death toll from Italy’s worst quake in three decades [has] reached 283, including 20 children and teens,” reports the Associated Press. Nearly 18,000 are homeless, and reconstruction could “cost several billion euros.” [View article]

Pakistan Says No to Joint Operations, Wants to Take Over Drones (Karachi, Pakistan, Dawn) “Pakistan rejected on Tuesday a US proposal for joint operations in the tribal areas against terrorism and militancy,” reports the Dawn. “… US officials were also told that continuing drone attacks inside Pakistan’s territory were counter-productive and they were asked to shift the drone technology and authority to the Pakistan Army.” [View article]

Iran Opens Nuclear Fuel Facility (London Times) Iran yesterday opened its “first plant for producing nuclear fuel,” reports the London Times. President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said “that Iranian scientists have tested two new types of enrichment centrifuges with a higher capacity for producing uranium.” He “has insisted that the nuclear fuel will be used only for generating electricity.” [View article]

India’s Youth Vote Rises From Ashes of Mumbai Attacks (Washington Post) The “November terrorist attacks” in Mumbai, India—“known as India’s 9/11”—have “spurred India’s disillusioned middle-class youths to previously unseen levels of political action,” reports the Washington Post. “At a time when young Indians have rising aspirations for their own futures, the attacks forced them to question why their expectations for their political leaders have fallen so low. Indian political analysts say young voters will play an unprecedented role in this year’s vote, which will determine the composition of India’s next government.… dozens of new and youth-oriented political parties have formed, led by Web designers, call-center employees, Bollywood script writers and musicians. Their platforms include fighting terrorism, stemming job losses, and improving the nation’s crumbling public schools and roads.” [View article]

Ex-Peruvian President Gets 25 Years for Death-Squad Murders (MSNBC) “A special tribunal convicted former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori of murder and kidnapping on Tuesday and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, saying he authorized a government death squad during the Shining Path insurgency,” reports the Associated Press. “The 70-year-old former leader, who remains popular for rescuing Peru from the brink of economic and political collapse in the early 1990s, was convicted of what the court called ‘crimes against humanity,’ including 25 murders by a military hit squad.” [View article]

Splintered Taliban Thwarts Afghan Peace (Washington Post) “There is a widespread desire among Afghan Taliban fighters to seek a settlement that would end intervention by NATO forces on one side and foreign Islamists, including al-Qaeda, on the other,” reports the Washington Post. But “there is strong resistance to negotiations among some Taliban leaders” and “insurgent violence that continues to plague Afghanistan.” [View article]

U.S. and Liberia Will Work to Improve Aviation Security The Transportation Security Administration and the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority plan to develop and enhance aviation security, conducting assessments, developing programs, and sharing best practices. [View press release]

Ayatollah Fadlallah Welcomes Obama’s Outreach to Muslims (Reuters) “One of Shi’ite Islam’s highest religious authorities”—Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah—on Wednesday “praised … the ‘sincerity’ of U.S. President Barack Obama’s message to the Muslim world and predicted a positive outcome for his approach to Iran,” reports Reuters. (See the Jan. 23 and March 27 newsletters.) He “said Obama appeared to be a man of ‘human values’ but would be judged on his actions. The ayatollah urged Obama to rethink policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” [View article]

State and Local News

14 Dead in Binghamton, NY, Immigration Center Shooting (Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin; CNN) “Fourteen are dead after a gunman went on a shooting spree inside the American Civic Association in Binghamton” on April 3, reports the Press & Sun Bulletin. “Jiverly Wong, a 41-year-old Vietnamese immigrant from an ethnic Chinese family,” used “two semiautomatic handguns” and “fired 98 shots,” reports CNN. Wong, who shot and killed himself after the shootings, had become “a U.S. citizen in 1995” and “had been taking English classes at the association, which helps immigrants and refugees from around the world.” The firearms were “licensed to Wong.” He “also was wearing body armor when he went on his spree.” [View Press & Sun article] [View CNN article]

North Central Texas Has Mom-and-Pop Fusion Center (Texas Observer) In February, the North Central Texas Fusion System was alerting the police that “threats to Texas are significant,” according to the Texas Observer. Yet that same month “the North Central Texas gauge registered a threat level of zero.” The Fusion System is “a terrorism and crime-prevention intelligence center run by the Collin County Department of Homeland Security. The system gathers and shares information for a 16-county area that includes Dallas and Forth Worth.” It was built by ADB Consulting LLC—the husband-and-wife team of Anita and Bob Miller, plus “Anita’s brother, Elbert Bassham, who runs a one-person consulting firm listed at a Marfa post-office box that he shares with a beauty salon.” Since 2004, ADB has “received $1.1 million in no-bid contracts.… Funding for the fusion system comes from state and federal Homeland Security grants as well as Collin County funds.” [View article]

Los Angeles Crime Map Points to First Street (Los Angeles Times) “Since the inception of the” Los Angeles Police Department’s online crime map three years ago, the 200 block of West 1st Street has consistently shown up as the most likely place in Los Angeles to be victimized by crime,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “… The crimes reported there were real, but they actually happened somewhere else. The only thing they had in common was an address that proved impossible for a computer to find.… Unable to parse the” geocoding for some addresses, “the computer used a default point for Los Angeles,” listing that as the location of 4% of crimes. [View article]

DHS News

Immigrant Detainee Deaths: Accountability Lacking? (New York Times) The case of immigrant detainee “Ahmad Tanveer, … a Pakistani New Yorker, shows how death can fall between the cracks in immigration detention, the rapidly growing patchwork of more than 500 county jails, profit-making prisons and federal detention centers where half a million noncitizens were held during the last year while the government tried to deport them,” reports the New York Times. “The case underscores the secrecy and lack of legal accountability that continue to shield the system from independent oversight.” Only after a request “by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act” did Immigration and Customs Enforcement release “the latest list of deaths in immigrant custody” that “names 90 such deaths.” (See the Quote of the Week.) [View article]

Whole-Body Scans Will Replace TSA Metal Detectors (New York Times) “The Transportation Security Administration plans to replace the walk-through metal detectors at airport checkpoints with whole-body imaging machines—the kind that provide an image of the naked body,” reports the New York Times. “Initially, the machines were supposed to be used only on passengers who set off the metal detectors, to provide them with an option to the customary secondary physical pat-downs and inspections by electronic wand.” (See the Nov. 14, 2008, newsletter.) But “the initial results from pilot tests at some checkpoints at 19 airports in the United States had been so good that” the TSA plans to use “the machines as the standard checkpoint detectors.” [View article]

U.S. and Mexico Reach Repatriation Agreement Mexico and the United States have agreed on formal arrangements for expedited repatriation of Mexican nationals. The agreement comprises 30 local arrangements for safe, orderly, humane repatriation; timely, effective consular access; special procedures for the safe return of juveniles and vulnerable individuals; communication protocols for daily operations; and a periodic review system. [View press release]

FEMA Awards 2009 Preparedness Grants The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday announced final allocations of nearly $970 million in fiscal year 2009 preparedness grants to assist state, local and tribal governments and private industry in strengthening community preparedness. By far, the largest amounts will go toward port security and transit security. (See the Statistics of the Week.) [View press release]

Purdue and Rutgers Will Lead DHS Research of Data Tools (United Press International) “Purdue and Rutgers universities will co-lead a U.S.-Canadian research group in a six-year, $30 million U.S. Department of Homeland Security study” to “create methods and tools to analyze and manage data,” reports United Press International. Purdue will focus “on the ‘Visualization Sciences,’ while Rutgers will lead the efforts of the Data Sciences component.” The other “schools are Georgia Tech, Indiana, Jackson State, Pennsylvania State, Simon Fraser, Stanford, Florida International and Virginia Polytechnic universities, along with the universities of Houston-Downtown, North Carolina–Charlotte, Washington, British Columbia and Texas-Austin.” [View article]

Other Federal News

State Dept. Replaces Xe (Blackwater) as Iraq Security Contractor (Government Executive) “The State Department said Wednesday it has signed the private U.S. security firm Triple Canopy to take over the protection of U.S. diplomats on the ground in Iraq from Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe …” reports the Associated Press. “The Iraqi government refused to renew the firm’s license to operate in the country.” [View article]

After Peanut Recall Fiasco, FDA Signals Change in Food Safety (Washington Post; New York Times) “Despite four outbreaks of salmonella illness from peanut products in the past three years, the federal government has not changed the safety measures required of peanut companies or instructed its inspectors to test for the bacteria,” reports the Washington Post. The Food and Drug Administration “did not increase checks or require microbial testing at peanut plants … even after Congress and President Obama sharply criticized the FDA for oversight failures leading to the recent outbreak of salmonella illness linked to products sold by Peanut Corporation of America.” (See the Jan. 30 newsletter.) However, “As the nation’s second-largest processor of pistachios agreed Monday to recall its entire 2008 crop despite no confirmed illnesses, the Obama administration … signaled that it was substantially changing the way the government oversees food safety,” reports the New York Times. The FDA last week “told consumers to avoid eating pistachios—the first time it had issued such a blanket warning in the absence of reports that anyone had been sickened.” And “when tests of the processing plant of Setton Pistachio … found salmonella contamination and an inspection revealed troubling gaps in sanitary measures, agency officials urged the company to recall its entire 2008 crop, increasing tenfold the recall announced last week.” [View Post article] [View NY Times article]

Progress Stalled in Preventing Foodborne Illness, Says CDC The incidence of the most common foodborne illnesses has changed very little over the past three years, according to a 10-state report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although there have been significant declines in the incidence of some foodborne infections since surveillance began in 1996, these declines all occurred before 2004. [View press release]

Free Software Assists in Connecting to the Nationwide Health Information Network The Department of Health & Human Services’ Federal Health Architecture is making free Connect software available to help public and private health information technology systems communicate to the Nationwide Health Information Network, a federal initiative to facilitate the electronic exchange of health information. [View press release]

Sensitive Security Information Control for Transit Agencies This new document published by the Federal Transit Administration assists mass transit agencies in identifying and handling sensitive security information that should be controlled and protected. [View web page]

Dual-Benefit Solutions

Virtual Earth Displays Disasters for Relief Agencies (Wired) After the May 2008 earthquake in China, Ron Eguchi, “CEO of ImageCat, a risk-management company that uses satellite imagery and computer modeling to assess the impact of natural disasters and terrorist attacks,” used “Virtual Earth to display the quake zone as a set of zoomable images,” reports Wired. With help from “the UN and several international aid groups,” he “plans to have a coordinated relief-mapping system ready for use by midyear.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

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 course 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 course website] Executive Program in Counter-Terrorism (July 19-24; Los Angeles) This course is designed to challenge international counter-terrorism leaders—specifically public-sector professionals and policymakers—and enhance their analysis, coordination, and response capabilities. It employs an interdisciplinary academic and experiential learning environment. Participants will strengthen their cross-functional skills through immersion in key issues and best practices presented by world-class research and public policy experts. The program will foster academic, professional, and personal development amid a diverse group of peers from around the world. The application deadline is May 15. [View course website] Pandemics and Bioterrorism: From Realistic Threats to Effective Policies (July 27-29; Cambridge, MA) The threats of bioterrorism and global pandemics pose new challenges, yet security and public health agencies have deeply embedded professional norms and organizational cultures, which resist change. This course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explores the obstacles to implementation and strategies to overcome them. [View course website]

New Upcoming Events (After four weeks, events are moved to the Upcoming Events page) (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]