International News

New North Korean Nuclear Test Increases Proliferation Threat (Wall Street Journal) “The concerns about North Korean weapons proliferation were heightened this week with Pyongyang’s underground test of a nuclear weapon and several short-range missile launches,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “… Pentagon officials say just the possibility” that North Korea “might sell nuclear-weapons designs poses a security challenge.” [View article]

U.S. Relies More on Aid of Allies in Terror Cases (New York Times) “The United States is now relying heavily on foreign intelligence services to capture, interrogate and detain all but the highest-level terrorist suspects seized outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan,” reports the New York Times. “… The current approach, which began in the last two years of the Bush administration and has gained momentum under Mr. Obama, is driven in part by court rulings and policy changes that have closed the secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency, and all but ended the transfer of prisoners from outside Iraq and Afghanistan to American military prisons.” [View article]

MI5 Accused of Blackmailing British Muslims (London Independent) “Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants,” reports the Independent. “The men claim they were given a choice of working for the Security Service or face detention and harassment in the UK and overseas.… Three of the men say they were detained at foreign airports on the orders of MI5.” When back in the United Kingdom, the men said, MI5 officers “falsely accused them of links to Islamic extremism. On each occasion the agents said they would lift the travel restrictions and threat of detention in return for their co-operation. When the men refused some of them received what they say were intimidating phone calls and threats.” The men all work “at the Kentish Town Community Organisation” and its chairman “said: ‘The only thing these young people have in common is that they studied Arabic abroad and are of Somali origin. They are not involved in any terrorist activity whatsoever, nor have they ever been, and the security services are well aware of this.’” [View article]

Eta Says That Britons Are a Threat to Basque Country (London Guardian) “Armed Basque separatist group Eta [on May 24] pointed to British holidaymakers and second-home buyers in the French Basque country as a threat to the region’s future,” reports the Guardian. “… Although most of its attacks have been on Spanish soil, three of the seven Basque ‘provinces’ that it wants to bring together are Labourd, Basse Navarre and Soule—all of which are in France. Historically Eta has used France mostly as a base from which to attack Spain. In recent years, however, it has also carried out a handful of attacks in France.” [View article]

America Can Learn From Israel’s Preparedness, Says DHS Study (Homeland Security Today) “When it comes to emergency preparedness, the American public remains incredibly unengaged in the process, largely lacking both the knowledge and the opportunity to participate proactively and constructively,” according to Homeland Security Today. The report—Public Role and Engagement in Counterterrorism Efforts: Implications of Israeli Practices for the U.S.—“prepared for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Science and Technology by the Homeland Security Institute, examines both why that is the case, and how study of Israeli citizen involvement in crisis response might help US preparedness and ‘social resilience’ improve.… As the report describes it the Israeli government pursues a multi-[faceted] strategy to inspire effective public participation in counterterrorism efforts”—“and perhaps most crucially, ‘the Israeli government’s risk communications with the public on terrorism-related issues are balanced, precise and honest.’” [View article] [View report (2.6MB PDF)]

Pakistani Extremists Host Refugees (Washington Post) In Pakistan, “extremists are filling needs that the government can’t,” reports the Washington Post. “… With Pakistan experiencing its largest exodus since the nation’s partition from India in 1947, only a fraction of the displaced civilians are receiving assistance in government-run camps. The rest are fending for themselves or getting help from private charities, including some that are allied with the very forces the Pakistani army is fighting in Swat.” [View article]

Not All British Terror Victims Get Compensation (BBC) “For years [United Kingdom] victims of overseas terror attacks and their families have battled to get compensation,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… the UK government does not guarantee compensation for people injured in attacks abroad.… other countries such as Australia, France and Israel have schemes in place offering financial support for their citizens.” [View article]

U.S. Probes Divisions Within Taliban (Boston Globe) “US intelligence agencies have launched an intensive effort to examine the various tribes linked to the Taliban to determine whether some can be broken off …” reports the Boston Globe. “Top military and intelligence officials … believe [that] many fighters have been incorrectly labeled as the Taliban.” (See the March 27 newsletter.) [View article]

Typhoon Displaces Millions in India and Bangladesh (Reuters AlertNet) “Millions of people in India and Bangladesh have been temporarily displaced and are in desperate need of water, food and adequate shelter after” Cyclone Aila “struck the region” on Monday, reports Reuters. “The storm has killed at least 210 people and injured over 6,400 in both countries. While hundreds of thousands of residents were evacuated to cyclone shelters, schools, colleges and other buildings, the high winds and floods destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, ravaged crops, killed livestock and damaged roads and bridges.” [View article]

Swine Flu Spreads, but Not as Fast As of Wednesday, the United States had 7,927 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu and 11 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—up from 5,764 cases and 9 deaths as of last week. Worldwide, there have been 13,398 cases with 95 deaths, reports the United Nations World Health Organization—up from 11,034 cases and 85 deaths as of last week. [View CDC page] [View WHO page]

U.S.-Canadian Shiprider Program Becomes Permanent (Sympatico MSN News) The United States and Canada have agreed to make the Shiprider program permanent. Shiprider involves joint law enforcement teams stationed along the international maritime border, with “law enforcement officials from both countries operating together in integrated teams,” using Royal Canadian Mounted Police and U.S. Coast Guard vessels to “combat smuggling, organized drug crime, gun trade and other criminal activity in shared waterways,” said Peter Van Loan, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety. He also “[said] Canadians would be naive to think the threat of terrorism is behind them …” reports the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “‘There are very real terrorist threats and some of them, we have to confess to ourselves in Canada, are homegrown,’ Van Loan said.” [View press release] [View article]

DHS News

Sci-Fi Writers Help Plot the Future of Homeland Security (Washington Post) “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security … is enlisting the expertise of science fiction writers” to help the department find new “ways to break old habits of thought,” reports the Washington Post. Last week’s “2009 Homeland Security Science & Technology Stakeholders Conference” had science fiction writers exchanging ideas with Homeland Security officials because “the writers help managers think more broadly about projects, especially about potential reactions and unintended consequences.” DHS “first reached out to science fiction writers a couple of years ago” and now the writers will help the officials “to imagine what kinds of construction infrastructure and architecture the economy will support in 50 years.” [View article]

Other Federal News

White House National Security and Homeland Security Staffs Merge (Government Executive) “President Obama on Tuesday announced the creation of an integrated White House national security staff that will work as one team to tackle homeland security and counterterrorism issues,” reports Government Executive. “The move is designed to ‘end the artificial divide’ between those in the White House working on homeland security and national security, Obama said … The group will report to James L. Jones, the president’s national security adviser.” [View article]

Obama Endorses Indefinite Detention Without Trial for Some (Washington Post) “President Obama acknowledged publicly for the first time [on May 21] that some detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have to be held without trial indefinitely …” reports the Washington Post. “Obama said … ‘there may be [some] people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States.’” [View article]

Obama and Cheney Debate National Security in Dueling Speeches (Washington Post) “President Obama and former vice president Richard B. Cheney [on May 21] gave the country the national security debate it never had during last year’s campaign, with the two outlining starkly divergent views of American power and the presidency in the fight against terrorism,” reports the Washington Post. Obama “aimed at convincing the American public and a recalcitrant Democratic Congress that strict adherence to the rule of law combined with an embrace of civil liberties is the most effective way to defeat America’s enemies.” In another venue and in a separate speech, Cheney defended “the Bush administration’s national security record, including its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and its adoption of harsh interrogation tactics and detention policies.” [View article]

FBI Plans Bigger Role in Global Counter-terrorism (Los Angeles Times) “The FBI and Justice Department plan to significantly expand their role in global counter-terrorism operations, part of a U.S. policy shift that will replace a CIA-dominated system of clandestine detentions and interrogations with one built around transparent investigations and prosecutions,” reports the Los Angeles Times. [View article]

U.S. Asks Firms to Make Swine Flu Vaccine (Washington Post) “The federal government has asked three drug companies to make enough swine flu vaccine to immunize at least 20 million people in key positions in health care, national security and emergency services …” reports the Washington Post. “‘This is really to reserve our place in line,’ [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius said … Although questions remain unanswered about the effectiveness of a swine flu vaccine, how many doses it will take to protect a person and who should get it, Sebelius said that ‘we can’t wait’ for the answers … The government’s pandemic preparedness plan divides the U.S. population into five tiers of priority for getting the vaccine. The first tier, of about 24 million people, includes deployed armed forces members; critical health-care workers; fire, police and ambulance workers; pregnant women and small children.” [View article]

NRC Wants Greater Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposes to make some voluntary practices mandatory for nuclear power plants: reviewing security and emergency plans to maximize compatibility, assessing the adequacy of staffing plans at emergency response facilities, coordinating with offsite response organizations, making sure that duties assigned to responders do not interfere with emergency response, and implementing site-specific emergency action levels for anticipatory response to a credible threat. The commission will accept comments through August 3. [View press release] [View rule notice]

New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security In “How to Protect Ourselves From a Terrorist-Induced Nuclear Incident at a Commercial Site in the United States,” Rod Propst argues that the vulnerability of energy production critical infrastructure in the United States indicates the real potential for attacks on these facilities by transnational terrorists. Al-Qaeda, among others, has specifically mentioned its desire for a nuclear yield weapon. Nuclear materials onsite at our power production facilities represent the most direct route for these adversaries to obtain the capability for an attack producing a nuclear yield. The means and methods would be via the assembly of a nuclear improvised explosive device onsite. Al-Qaeda’s modus operandi and stated desire, coupled with its innovative, thorough attack means and methods, makes this threat a viable scenario of concern. Worse, all of the required information to complete such attacks is visible to even the most unimaginative researcher, using the Internet and other open-source materials. Given that potential, the article presents a six-step road ahead that establishes a better protective profile approach: a paradigm designed to lessen the vulnerability and the attractiveness of these facilities as terrorist targets.

National News

Supermax Prisons in U.S. Already Hold Terrorists (Washington Post) “Thirty-three international terrorists, many with ties to al-Qaeda, reside in a single federal prison in Florence, Colo., with little public notice,” reports the Washington Post. “Detained in the supermax facility in Colorado are Ramzi Yousef, who headed the group that carried out the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993; Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted of conspiring in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; Ahmed Ressam, of the Dec. 31, 1999, Los Angeles airport millennium attack plots; Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, conspirator in several plots, including one to assassinate President George W. Bush; and Wadih el-Hage, convicted of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya.… For many of the most serious terrorists and violent criminals, Justice Department and prison officials impose special restrictions, allowing few visitors, for example, and closely monitoring mail. The inmates also are kept in solitary confinement.” [View article]

Creator Discusses Death Map (Government Technology) Kevin Borden, of “the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina,” with other researchers “analyzed natural-hazard mortality data from the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States,” he writes in Government Technology. The team “used natural-hazard mortality information … to calculate the relative risk of death from natural events at the county level.” It “was soon dubbed the ‘Death Map.’” But it “isn’t predictive,” showing “only what has happened during the past 35 years. Therefore, these maps won’t reveal where people will die in the next hurricane, earthquake or heat wave.” [View article]

Small Vendors Exhibit High-Tech Security (Los Angeles Times) “About 650 mostly small vendors peddled their sometimes-bewildering wares to government officials at a federally funded exhibition for three days last week” in Virginia, reports the Los Angeles Times. “… only companies with proven technology were invited to exhibit.… Officials from Pentagon agencies and the departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Energy—as well as foreign diplomats, state police officers and other first responders—crowded the carnival-like fairgrounds” and later attended demonstrations at “a firing range at the Marine Corps Base Quantico.” [View article]

State and Local News

States Act to Cut Driver’s License Fraud (USA Today) “States across the USA are taking unprecedented steps to cut down on driver’s license fraud, making forgeries and alterations harder than ever,” reports USA Today. “… Almost every state has produced or plans to produce new licenses with hard-to-replicate features such as holograms, multiple photographs, images that can be seen only under ultraviolet light or ‘microprinting’ that can be read only with a magnifying glass.” [View article]

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]