International News

Pakistani Muslim Leaders Unite Against the Taliban (Washington Times) “Mainstream Muslim religious leaders in Pakistan have formed an alliance to openly oppose the Taliban, a development that promises to give authorities broad-based support to fight militants who have imposed a reign of terror on much of the northwest,” reports the Washington Times. The alliance—the Sunni Ittehad Council—“consists of eight Pakistani subsects of Barelvi Islam, a tolerant branch of Sunni Islam that is prominent throughout the Indian subcontinent, especially in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. The group says it will ‘unveil the real face of the Taliban before the public,’ such as public executions, beheadings, amputations and floggings.” [View article]

Iraq’s Security Forces Are Unprepared to Work Alone (New York Times) “Iraq’s security forces, despite significant improvements, remain hobbled by shortages of men and equipment, by bureaucracy, corruption, political interference and security breaches” and “face an insurgency that remains potent,” reports the New York Times. Some “American officers who work closely with Iraqi forces emphasize the progress that has been made”—yet “Iraq’s Army and police force are not yet ready to provide adequate security,” say “two new reports by the Pentagon and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.” Still, “Obama’s plan [is] to withdraw combat forces from Iraq’s cities by the end of June.” [View article]

Swine Flu Cases Mushroom but Few Are Fatal The United Nations World Health Organization reported Wednesday that 33 countries have reported almost 6,500 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, with 2,446 of the cases (including 65 deaths) in Mexico. Cuba, Finland, and Thailand are the latest countries to report cases of infection. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday reported 4,298 cases in 47 states, with three deaths so far—the only swine flu deaths outside Mexico. [View UN press release] [View CDC website]

UK Researchers Unravel Swine Flu Genetics (BBC) “The first genetic code of swine flu from European samples has been unravelled by [United Kingdom] researchers,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… It will enable researchers to compare the virus affecting humans in Europe with that in Mexico and the US and look at the immune reaction it causes.” [View article]

Terrorists Again Traveling to Iraq Via Syria (Washington Post) “After a long hiatus, the Syrian pipeline operated by the organization al-Qaeda in Iraq is back in business,” reports the Washington Post. “… The flow of foreign fighters through Syria reached a high of 80 to 100 a month in mid-2007” and now the estimate is back up “to 20 a month.” [View article]

What Africa Wants From U.S. Africa Command (AllAfrica) “For African nations, the role of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) will be one of ‘sustained security engagement’ as a more reliable partner across the continent, says Ambassador Mary Yates,” according to the U.S. State Department. Yates, Africom’s “deputy for civil-military activities, said … African militaries described what they wanted and expected from the new partnership: … capable military forces,” strengthened “security institutions,” the ability “to support international peace efforts and peacekeeping missions,” and “the ability and will to dissuade, deter and defeat threats.… Coupled with the military cooperation is the expanded civilian cooperation through the command with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State and Treasury departments, and other agencies.” [View article]

National News

Are Biohackers a National Security Threat? (Wall Street Journal) “Biohacking, in which do-it-yourselfers … buy DNA online, then fiddle with it in hopes of curing diseases or finding new biofuels,” is causing increasing concern, reports the Wall Street Journal. “The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, a government body, has recommended that companies selling DNA be required to screen all orders for signs that the buyers might have nefarious intent.… Currently, regulation of labs like these is murky. It’s unclear what agency, if any, is responsible. So far, most garage biologists playing around with synthetic DNA are simply adding a gene or two to an existing organism, a fairly standard scientific practice involving some test-tube mixing, and not something biosecurity experts are very worried about.… the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate … is working with academia and industry to raise awareness about biosecurity … George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, says anyone using synthetic DNA should have to have a license, including garage biologists. But he says he’s not too concerned by the current home hobbyists.” [View article]

Explorer Scouts Train for Border Patrol (International Herald Tribune) “The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence—an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters,” reports the International Herald Tribune. “… Many law enforcement officials, particularly those who work for the rapidly growing Border Patrol, part of the Homeland Security Department, have helped shape the program’s focus and see it as preparing the Explorers as potential employees.” [View article]

DHS News

DHS Withdraws Report on Rightwing Extremism (Washington Times) “A contentious ‘Rightwing Extremism’ report that warned of military veterans as possible recruits for terrorist attacks against the U.S. [see the April 17 newsletter] was not authorized, has been withdrawn and is being rewritten, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano” said, according to the Washington Times. [View article]

Coast Guard Issues Antipiracy Maritime Security Directive The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday issued a maritime security directive in response to the rise in piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa and in light of recent pirate attacks on U.S.-flagged vessels, which before entering high-risk waters must have, by May 25, a Coast Guard–approved antipiracy plan to prevent attacks and subsequent boarding. Ships shall also use established transit lanes, erratic maneuvering, and increased speed, cooperating with military forces patrolling the area. (See the Quote of the Week.) [View press release]

DHS Starts Building SBINet Towers (NextGov) “The Homeland Security Department has begun installing a series of networked towers armed with sensors and cameras to monitor a stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border in Arizona,” reports NextGov. (See the Feb. 29, 2008, newsletter.) “… The department started the technology portion of the Secure Border Initiative, known as SBINet, on May 4.” [View article]

Obama’s Budget Cuts Nuclear Detection (Washington Post) “President Obama would eliminate new funding for advanced-generation equipment to detect nuclear weapons and radiological materials at U.S. borders and ports and around New York City in his 2010 budget,” reports the Washington Post. (See the March 7, 2008, and Sep. 19, 2008, newsletters.) “… Technical flaws and doubts about the integrity of scientific testing have delayed multi-billion dollar plans to buy advanced spectroscopic portal monitors … and automated cargo radiographic imaging systems … to scan for nuclear materials aboard cars, trucks, trains and cargo moving through air and land ports. Congress has forced” the Homeland Security Department’s “Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to hold off on new purchases.… Obama is also ending Securing the Cities, a three-year, $90 million pilot program intended to test whether it is possible to secure an urban area—in this case New York City—against nuclear terrorism by draping it with an integrated system of handheld, aerial, truck-mounted and waterborne sensors.” [View article]

PDAs Let Air Marshals Communicate on Board Flights (Wired) U.S. Air Marshals are now using “the Federal Air Marshal Service Communication System (FAMSCOM), an application that runs on any off-the-shelf wireless” personal digital assistant, writes Wired “Threat Level” blogger Kim Zetter, who then quotes “Honeywell, maker of the FAMSCOM”: “These integrated technologies allow the officer to roam anywhere in the aircraft cabin, communicating securely and covertly with FAMS ground operations, cockpit crew, other onboard air marshals and airline cabin crew as well as digital aircraft systems.” And “an officer can coordinate a response and [its] timing with other officers or cabin crewmembers, greatly increasing the probability of success” in an emergency. [View blog]

United Nations News

UN Aids 650,000 Refugees in Pakistan The World Food Programme has been providing emergency food rations to around 650,000 people who have fled the conflict areas in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. (See last week’s newsletter and the Statistics of the Week.) [View press release]

U.S. Rejoins UN’s Human Rights Forum (Christian Science Monitor) “The United States won a seat on the United Nations’ top human rights organization Tuesday, closing out another vestige of the Bush administration’s confrontational relationship with the world body,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “But the US election to the 47-seat Human Rights Council was overshadowed by the election of several countries—including Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, and China—that human rights organizations often cite as violators of their own citizens’ rights.” (See the April 17 newsletter.) [View article]

State and Local News

Pennsylvania Issued Bogus Driver’s Licenses, Says State Attorney General (Philadelphia Inquirer) Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said Tuesday “that the state Department of Transportation had endangered public safety by issuing numerous fake driver’s licenses because of lax security,” reports the Inquirer. “… Corbett said that the investigation began in December 2004 and that 45 people had been arrested in the last 18 months. About half of those have been convicted in Dauphin County Court [in Harrisburg] or have pleaded guilty.” [View article]

Kassir Convicted of Starting al-Qaeda Camp in Oregon (United Press International) “A federal jury in New York found Oussama Abdullah Kassir guilty of providing support to al-Qaida by setting up a militant training camp in the United States,” reports UPI. “Prosecutors said Kassir went to Bly, Ore., in late 1999 to establish a military-style facility under the direction of Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, designated a terrorist by the United States.” (See the Oct. 5, 2007, newsletter.) [View article]

Photo courtesy of Steve Dunham

New York City Streamlines 911 Call Taking (Government Technology) “New York City is undertaking an initiative to streamline its call taking process when a citizen dials 911,” reports Government Technology. Under the existing system, information is repeated when the call is routed to the fire or police department. “The unified call taking program will streamline the process through improved technology and training. It also will enable the police call taker to handle both fire- and law enforcement-related phone calls, and the information will be shared electronically between the departments and dispatchers.” [View article]

Katrina Victims Lose Temporary Housing (New York Times) “Though more than 4,000 Louisiana homeowners have received rebuilding money only in the last six months, or are struggling with inadequate grants or no money at all, [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] is intent on taking away their trailers by the end of May,” reports the New York Times. “The deadline … ends temporary housing before permanent housing has replaced it”—“Thousands of rental units have yet to be restored, and not a single one of 500 planned ‘Katrina cottages’ has been completed and occupied.” But “FEMA wants its trailers back, even though it plans to scrap or sell them for a fraction of what it paid for them.” FEMA still has two groups of people in its “temporary housing program: more than 3,000 in trailers and nearly 80 who have been in hotels paid for by FEMA since last May, when it shut down group trailer sites.” [View article]

Detroit Public Schools Seek Disaster Funding (Detroit News) “Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb on Wednesday asked the federal government to put the school district under a ‘special presidential emergency declaration’ to allow it to receive emergency funding,” reports the Detroit News. “… Presidential emergency declarations are typically made available only in natural disasters.” Although “the U.S. Department of Education did not comment on the request,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan “said he hopes the Detroit schools can move from being a ‘national disgrace’ to a ‘national model,’ and he would like to commit significant federal resources to help the system.” [View article]

Private-Sector News

Electric Industry Approves Cyber-Security Standards (Government Computer News) “The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has approved a set of revised cyber-security standards for the North American bulk power system,” reports Government Computer News. “… The revised Critical Infrastructure Protection reliability standards” comprise “approximately 40 ‘good housekeeping’ requirements designed to lay a solid foundation of sound security practice.” (See the April 10 newsletter.) [View article]

New Upcoming Events (Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page) Homeland Security Innovation Conference (May 19-21; Charleston, SC) The theme of this 5th annual conference, hosted by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, is “Cyber Terrorism: Threats and Solutions of a Net Enabled Nation.” [View event website] Chemical Biological Executive Roundtable Breakfast (June 3; Arlington, VA) S. Elizabeth George, Director of the Chemical and Biological Division in the Homeland Security Department’s Science & Technology Directorate, will speak. [View event website] (June 15-17; Washington, DC) The conference will discuss current countermeasure research, development, and procurement programs and give participants the chance to interact face to face with high-level government representatives tasked to build the country’s biodefense and pandemic influenza capacity. [View event website] Emergency Planning & Response Conference (August 6-9; Kansas City, MO) This year’s conference will feature four tracks designed for decision makers and first responders in the emergency industry: Health and Medical Homeland Security/Emergency Management Technology Enhanced Local Emergency Planning Committees [View event website] Northern Border Highway Carrier Conference (August 19; Buffalo, NY) The conference will cover Free and Secure Trade, sealing, the Automated Commercial Environment and E-manifest, highway carrier minimum-security criteria, validation and revalidation of a highway carrier, Partners in Protection–Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism activities, and more topics specifically for northern border highway carriers. Attendance is limited to people representing highway carriers certified by the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. [View event website] This year’s conference features an expanded educational program, with tracks focusing on leadership, fiscal management, safety, and much more; the Company Officer Leadership Symposium Level 3; the Solutions Showcase, featuring key products and solutions; a new technology pavilion on the expo floor. [View event website]