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International News
Sri Lanka Defeats Tamil Tigers but Restricts Outside Aid
(Christian Science Monitor) “The former theater of war in northeastern Sri Lanka has been out of bounds for aid workers for months, with the Sri Lankan government only granting sporadic access to the International Committee of the Red Cross [which has] permission to supply food aid and to evacuate the injured,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “… In recent months, as the military aggressively went after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam … determined to crush the three-decade-old insurgency, this has largely been a war without witness. Journalists, independent observers, and aid groups have been persistently denied access to the region. Even now, with the government having announced victory against the rebels this week, the region still remains inaccessible … According to United Nations estimates, more than 7,000 people have been killed since January alone, and aid groups are pressing for unfettered access to provide aid to 265,000 people, including 80,000 children.”
[View article]
Could Obama Peace Plan Save Israel? (Jerusalem Haaretz) “Obama is sending us … the substance of a complete peace plan, a plan that would save Israel,” writes Gideon Levy in Haaretz. The occupation of Palestinian territory is “the real existential threat to Israel … An Israeli refusal of Obama’s efforts will reveal that there is no peace partner in the Middle East. The absent partner is Israel.” Obama’s plan offers “peace with 57 countries” and would “neutralize the threat of the Iranian bomb.”
[View commentary]
Hamas Blocks Attacks on Israel (Jerusalem Haaretz) “Hamas has prevented recent terror attacks against Israel because it is scared of angering Egypt,” reports Haaretz. “… Hamas has also acted recently to prevent the firing of Qassam rockets and mortars at Israel from the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist organization controls. The occasional rocket is still being fired but those responsible are smaller Palestinian factions that do not obey Hamas orders.”
[View article]
Can Terrorists Be Deradicalized? (Jerusalem Haaretz) “Professor Arie Kruglanski, co-director of the National [Consortium] for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism at the University of Maryland [see the Dec. 9, 2005, newsletter], has interviewed Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in jails” as part of a “study financed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” reports Haaretz. “… initial results indicate at least two primary motives that might cause what is called ‘de-radicalization’”: intellectual-cognitive and emotional. The first “method proved itself, especially in Egypt,” whereas “the Saudis have been the most effective in using [the emotional] rehabilitative approach” (see the Dec. 14, 2007, newsletter).
[View article]
6 of 7 Freed Detainees Shun Terrorism (New York Times) “An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are engaged in terrorism or militant activity,” reports the New York Times.
[View article]
Study Ranks Countries on Oil Security (Washington Times) “A new Energy Security Index compiled by Energy Security News and The Washington Times” using “data from the Energy Information Administration and the CIA World Fact Book” ranks Canada, Norway, and China first, second, and third in oil security, because their “oil-exporting businesses would suffer the least from disruption caused by government or internal strife, terrorist attack or a sudden inability to ship by sea … Iraq, Kazakhstan and Indonesia are Nos. 19, 20 and 21 as the least energy secure nations because of government instability, the substantial likelihood that a terrorist attack or conflict at sea could prevent them from exporting oil, and the amount of oil the countries refine per day. [See the Statistics of the Week.] The index also ranks how secure countries are in their oil-consumption habits. And on that list, the U.S. practices the riskiest oil-consumption behavior” because it imports two-thirds “of the 21 million barrels of oil” it “uses per day.”
[View article]
Pakistan Rapidly Adds Nuclear Arms
(New York Times)
“Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency” and “is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium,” reports the New York Times.
[View article]
MI5 and Police Lacked Resources to Block July 7, 2005, London Bombings
(BBC;
London Guardian)
The British “security service MI5 did not have the manpower to do extra checks on the 7 July ringleader before he carried out the attacks,” according to the British Broadcasting Corporation, citing a new report from the Intelligence and Security Committee. “Despite the increased efforts of the agencies, the odds are stacked against them,” the BBC quotes the Committee as saying. The report “revealed that the bombers’ leader had crossed the radar of police and MI5 on eight occasions but had never been assessed as a threat,” reports the Guardian. The committee “cleared the police and agencies of any blame for failing to track Mohammad Sidique Khan and his right-hand man, Shehzad Tanweer, after they appeared as part of an investigation into a plot to detonate fertiliser bombs in the UK, almost 18 months before the 2005 attacks … the committee also revealed a lack of co-operation between MI5 in London and police special branch.”
[View BBC article]
[View Guardian article]
Australia Creates National Computer Emergency Response Team
(Occupational Health & Safety)
The Australian government “will invest $79.3 million in a Disaster Resilience Australia Package to help local communities threatened by wildfires and other disasters …” reports Occupational Health & Safety Magazine. “‘This funding will support counter-terrorism efforts, enhance Australia’s policing and intelligence capacity in our region, bolster computer security, and continue the national security public information campaign,’ [Attorney-General Robert] McClelland said.” The “existing computer emergency response arrangements [are] being shifted to a new national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) that will be created in collaboration with AusCERT.… The government will spend $6.8 million on upgrading wireless emergency communications capabilities during major national security or disaster events.”
[View article]
‘Killer Chip’ Tracks Humans, Releases Poison
(WorldNetDaily)
Germany has rejected a Saudi man’s “request to patent” a “tiny semiconductor device … intended to be surgically implanted or injected into the body,” according to WorldNetDaily. “… Under Germany’s patent law, inventions that are unethical or a danger to the public are not recognized.” The implanted “device would emit encrypted radio waves that would be picked up by satellites and ‘used to track fugitives from justice, terrorists, illegal immigrants, criminals, political opponents, defectors, domestic help, and Saudi Arabians who don’t return home from pilgrimages,’ Sweden’s The Local reported. The application included … a model B of the device that could release poison to ‘eliminate’ the individual if he or she became a security risk.”
[View article]
Cuba Holds Hurricane Preparedness Exercise (Radio Cadena Agramonte, Camaguey, Cuba) Last weekend, Cuba carried out a hurricane drill called Meteoro 2009 “to exercise the measures typically adopted when facing highly intense hurricanes,” said Oscar González Vázquez. “A considerable number of citizens were trained on this matter, contingency plans were updated and measures to reduce the impact on vulnerable places of the territory were taken.”
[View commentary]
DHS News
DHS Takes Narrow View of Freight Rail Security, Says GAO The Transportation Security Administration’s “efforts to assess vulnerabilities and potential consequences to freight rail have focused almost exclusively on rail shipments of certain highly toxic material,” neglecting “risks to critical infrastructure and cybersecurity,” reports the Government Accountability Office. Also, “TSA lacks a mechanism to monitor security actions and evaluate their effectiveness.”
[View GAO summary] [View Focus on Railway Security]
| Secure Flight Gets 9 Out of 10, Says GAO The Transportation Security Administration’s Secure Flight system—which matches “passenger information against terrorist watch-list records” and was implemented this spring (see the April 3 newsletter)—has “generally achieved 9 of [its] 10 statutory” requirements and “conditionally achieved 1,” reports the Government Accountability Office. As of April, “TSA had not yet developed plans to periodically assess the performance of the Secure Flight system’s name-matching capabilities.”
[View GAO summary]
TSA Scraps Puffing Bomb Detectors (USA Today) “A $36 million anti-terrorism program designed to detect bombs on airline passengers by shooting air blasts to dislodge explosive particles is being scuttled because the machines proved unreliable at airports,” reports USA Today. (See the Sep. 8, 2006, newsletter.) “… Ninety-four were installed in 37 airports. The other 113 machines stayed in storage.” The machines were also tested on rail commuters. (See the April 7, 2006, newsletter.)
[View article]
New U.S. Entry Requirements Start June 1 New document requirements go into effect on June 1 for entering the United States at land or sea ports. To comply with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, U.S. and Canadian citizens must have U.S. or Canadian passports, a Trusted Traveler Card, a U.S. Passport Card, or a state or province enhanced driver’s license.
[View press release]
Middle Names on Airline Tickets Must Match ID
(Baltimore Sun)
U.S. citizens having a “passport or driver’s license [that includes] a full middle name” will “have to include that name” when flying, writes travel columnist Ed Perkins in the Baltimore Sun, citing a new Transportation Security Administration requirement. Americans must “travel under [the] name as it appears on the ID [used] to get on a flight.” A “ticket and/or boarding pass should also be in [a person’s] full name.”
[View article]
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New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security
In “A Comparative Analysis of Modern-Day Aviation Security: Understanding Public and Private Systems at the Global Level,” Yildirim Uryan, Gerald-Mark Breen, and Jonathan Matusitz analyze the status of U.S. aviation security by describing its advantages and disadvantages and by recommending policies that could improve it, using systems theory. They compare “the U.S. private system with the European Union public system.” Overall, they say, the latter scores much higher in terms of indicators such as airport screener performance, checkpoints, screener training, screener pay and benefits, screener turnover, and acuity with rules.
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Other Federal News
Obama Restarts Bush-Era Guantánamo Tribunals
(Washington Times)
President Obama “plans to restart the military commissions launched under President Bush to try some suspected terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay detention site,” reports the Washington Times. “… Obama argued that changes he was making to the system would give detainees the due process previously unavailable to them.” He “said the Department of Defense would make several changes to the tribunal process that require only a 60-day congressional review, and the White House will ‘work with the Congress on additional reforms’ … changes include restricting the use of hearsay evidence against detainees, in which evidence is introduced without the defendant having the option to cross-examine the witness.”
[View article]
Top U.S. Officials Can’t Be Sued for Post-9/11 Abuse, Says Supreme Court
(Reuters)
“The Supreme Court rejected on Monday a lawsuit by a Pakistani man [Javaid Iqbal] against a former U.S. attorney general [John Ashcroft] and the FBI director [Robert Mueller] claiming abuse while he was imprisoned in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,” reports Reuters. The decision “overturned a ruling that Javaid Iqbal, who was held more than a year after the attacks, could sue” them. “Iqbal, a Muslim, said in the lawsuit that he had suffered verbal and physical abuse, including unnecessary strip searches and brutal beatings by guards. He said he had been singled out because of unlawful ethnic and religious discrimination.”
[View article]
U.S. Expands Immigration Checks to All Local Jails
(Washington Post)
“The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails,” reports the Washington Post. “In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation … By matching inmates’ fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants at any time.”
[View article]
National News
Swine Flu Hits Teens, Extends Flu Season (Washington Post) “More than half of the states are reporting unusually high levels of flu-like illness at a time of year when the respiratory disease usually disappears,” reports the Washington Post. The virus “seems to have a predilection for young adults,” reports the Post in a separate article. “… The average age of the confirmed and probable cases is 15.” As of 11 a.m. yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nine U.S. deaths from swine flu and 5,764 confirmed or probable cases, up from three deaths and 4,298 cases a week ago. The United Nations World Health Organization reported, as of yesterday, 11,034 cases, including 85 deaths, in 41 countries, up from 6,500 cases and 65 deaths a week ago.
[View flu season article] [View flu age article] [View CDC website] [View WHO website]
State and Local News
4 Arrested in New York Plot (New York Times) Four men were “arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.,” reports the New York Times. They “were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone, not in concert with any terrorist organization.” They were arrested after “after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside” two synagogues. However, an antiaircraft missile system and “the bombs, obtained with the help of an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were fake.”
[View article]
Satellites Track Mexican Drug Cartels Along the Border
(U.S. News & World Report)
“The U.S. intelligence community is using satellites to track the activities of drug cartels operating along the U.S.-Mexican border,” reports the Associated Press. “… If a satellite picks up on activities by drug runners, U.S. authorities could then transmit information to agents along the border. In turn American authorities could notify their Mexican counterparts … The use of satellite imagery for border security has been limited because of concerns about a military agency assisting domestic law enforcement … Any border-security surveillance will be done over Mexico.” Since “the military photographs may be classified,” the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency “is wrestling with legal questions about what can be shared with law enforcement.”
[View article]
Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Supporting al-Qaeda Mohammed Abdullah Warsame of Minneapolis has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda. From 2000 to 2003, he conspired with others to provide support in the form of personnel, training, and currency.
[View press release]
Maryland Requires Proof of Lawful Residence for Drivers (Gaithersburg, MD, Gazette) “Come June 1, … potential Maryland drivers also will have to prove they belong in the United States,” reports the Gazette. “The change is part of a federal anti-terrorism law called Real ID that requires states to issue photo identification cards only to people who are lawfully in the country.… Marylanders [who] already have a verified Social Security number on file with the” Motor Vehicles Administration will not need proof, but others “need to bring their Social Security cards” and “a current passport or a birth certificate.” (See the April 3 newsletter.)
[View article]
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| Port Authority photo | Subway Disaster Drill at World Trade Center Site (New York Times) On Sunday morning, “Operation Safe PATH 2009, an exercise involving about 800 emergency workers from multiple agencies, coordinated a response to a simulated explosion aboard a PATH train,” reports the New York Times. The exercise involved a “PATH tunnel beneath the Hudson River” and the terminus at the World Trade Center station. The PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rapid-transit system suffered serious damage in the September 11, 2001, attack and minor damage in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
[View article]
New York City Expands Emergency Notification System
(ABC News)
New York “is moving to expand a ‘Notify NYC’ system that alerts residents and businesses by e-mail, text message and telephone to emergencies either city wide or in a targeted area or borough,” reports ABC News. The system “has been successfully used … in a pilot program across four neighborhoods.”
[View article]
Local Disaster Exercises Build Real Networks (New York Times) “The national exercise system is broken, focusing too much on senior officials and neglecting training at the state and local levels,” writes Stephen Ganyard, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, in the New York Times. In contrast, Golden Phoenix, “a collaborative disaster response training event” held in the Los Angeles area “each year since 2006,” has been “open to any organization, public or private, willing to use its own funds.… we found plenty of groups eager to participate and willing to experiment.” Golden Phoenix is an example of “effective collaboration” via “social networking and exploiting the natural mutual attractions of communities with common interests.” (See also “Local Government Resources Are National Assets in a Disaster,” Journal of Homeland Security, August 2008.)
[View commentary]
United Nations News
UN Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction (Reuters AlertNet) The new United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction report finds that global disaster risk is on the rise because of unsafe cities, environmental destruction, and climate change, jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Low- and middle-income nations are increasingly susceptible to disasters because of government inattention, unplanned urbanization, and deplorable economic conditions, and disaster risk is highly concentrated in poorer nations with weaker governance. On May 16, Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN head of disaster risk reduction, answered people’s questions via Reuters AlertNet.
[View press release] [View report] [View Q&A with Wahlstrom]
U.S. Leads in Aiding Pakistani Refugees (Reuters AlertNet) The United States has pledged $100 million in humanitarian support for Pakistan’s refugees (see last week’s newsletter), and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited the American people to join in the worldwide effort by texting the word SWAT “to the number 20222 and [making] a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people.” Altogether, donors have “promised $224 million,” reports Reuters.
[View White House blog] [View Reuters article] [View UN donations page]
WHO Debates Pandemic Definition (Las Vegas Sun) “Britain, Japan and other nations urged the World Health Organization on Monday to change the way it decides to declare a pandemic,” reports the Associated Press. “… The debate arose as WHO began its annual meeting … WHO’s current system focuses on how widespread the disease has become without regard to its severity.”
[View article]
Private-Sector News
Food Companies Often Unable to Guarantee Safety (New York Times) “Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients,” reports the New York Times. Some “companies do not even know who is supplying their ingredients, let alone if those suppliers are screening the items for microbes and other potential dangers … almost every element, not just red meat and poultry, is now a potential carrier of pathogens … The problem is particularly acute with frozen foods, in which unwitting consumers who buy these products for their convenience mistakenly think that their cooking is a matter of taste and not safety.”
[View article]
Dual-Benefit Solutions
FBI Utilizes Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Second Life (Federal Computer Week) The Federal Bureau of Investigation is using “social media programs [to] supplement other information technology tools the bureau has deployed in recent years to make it easier for people to submit tips and get news from the FBI,” reports Federal Computer Week. “… In addition to a Facebook page and tweets sent via Twitter, the bureau also has a YouTube page and is testing the usefulness of the virtual world Second Life.” It is using them to disseminate information “about fugitives, missing children, threats and scams.”
[View article]
Antiterror Cameras Hunt Wild Golfers
(Everett, WA, Herald)
“Golf balls are bombarding the Port of Everett and anti-terrorism cameras are being trained on a residential neighborhood to hunt down the source,” reports the Herald. “Port officials believe [that] someone on Rucker Hill is whacking golf balls down the hill onto port property, endangering dozens of workers and millions of dollars worth of equipment and cargo.”
[View article]
| Dual-benefit news archive |
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Education
The Homeland Security Studies & Analysis 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.
Introduction to Terrorism & CBRNE (May 28-29; Arlington, VA) This workshop will discuss terrorist groups, their methodologies, the threat they pose, and the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive weapons at their disposal. It is designed as a primer for those working in or around possible targets such as large office complexes, schools, industries, transportation centers, government centers, convention centers, stadiums, shopping centers, tourist attractions, amusement parks, fairs, festivals, or other venues expected to attract large crowds. [View class website]
Congress and Homeland Security (June 8-11; Washington, DC) This course is designed for personnel from the Department of Homeland Security and from any other department, agency, or organization with an interest in Congress and homeland security issues.
Its purpose is to increase participants’ understanding of Congress’s role in the oversight of the Homeland Security Department and in Congress’s interactions with other departments and agencies with respect to homeland security issues.
[View class website]
Incident Management for First Responders in Different Cultures (June 16-17; Arlington, VA) This workshop provides first responders with techniques and strategies to safely handle crises involving or caused by cross-cultural or racial conflicts and to manage and avoid escalating dangerous circumstances such as riots, demonstrations, domestic violence, and neighborhood conflicts involving people from different backgrounds. It will discuss real-life dangerous situations with different cultures. Attendees will get to practice their skills during simulations.
[View class website]
Emergency Capabilities Analysis Workshop (June 19; Arlington, VA) This workshop aims to equip state and local government emergency managers to examine in detail their community’s readiness for emergencies and systematically examine resources, technology, equipment, and other factors needed for effective response. It also aims to help communities identify areas where preparedness and mitigation efforts may be useful and give senior leaders an assessment of actual emergency response under controlled conditions.
[View class website]
All-Hazards Regional Evacuation Plans (June 23-24; Arlington, VA) The workshop will walk participants through the regional planning process. Using proven planning methodologies, it will guide participants in creating sound strategies for a variety of catastrophes, both natural and man-made.
[View class website]
Best Practices for Disaster Communications (July 15; Arlington, VA) The workshop will look at some of the best practices being deployed for establishing and implementing emergency communications during disasters. It also will review the newly released all-hazards Type III Communications Unit Leader training and certification program and development of the all-hazards Communications Technician Radio Operator, and Communications Center Manager courses and programs that are compliant with the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System.
[View class website]
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New Upcoming Events
(Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page)
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]
(July 30-31; Columbia, MO) This conference brings together K-12 and higher education officials and the first responder community to collectively discuss and learn about relevant safety and security issues, such as threat assessment considerations to avoid violence on school and college campuses, dealing with hyper-vigilance, and lessons learned from Israel.
[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; and a new technology pavilion on the expo floor.
[View event website]
2009 Homeland Security Conference (August 31–September 4; Monterey, CA) The theme of the third annual conference and showcase is “mission integration.” Planned panel topics include “Mission Integration Best Practices,” “DHS National Mission Planning
and Operations Centers,” “DHS State and Local Mission Planning and Operations Centers,” “Intel/Information Sharing,” and “Border Security.”
[View event website]
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