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DHS News
DHS Needs Better Cyber-Security, Says Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) The Homeland Security Department “should improve its cybersecurity programs for some major control systems, according to a new report from DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner,” reports Federal Computer Week. “The control systems … operate primarily in power plants, factories and utilities.”
[View article] [View report (1MB PDF)]
FEMA Needs Centralized IT for Disaster Relief, Says Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) “The Federal Emergency Management Agency should centralize how it buys disaster-aid goods and services into a single system supported by integrated information technology systems, [the DHS] inspector general recommends,” according to Federal Computer Week. FEMA “currently uses a combination of warehoused goods, interagency agreements, new contracts and existing contracts to get disaster supplies and services, and decisions about disaster relief sourcing don’t allow for centralized decisions, DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner wrote.”
[View article] [View report (1.3MB PDF)]
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| CBP photo | Border Patrol Checkpoint Effectiveness Is Overstated, Says GAO “Checkpoints have contributed to the Border Patrol’s ability to seize illegal drugs, apprehend illegal aliens, and screen potential terrorists,” but “additional staff, canine teams, and inspection technology” would be “needed to increase checkpoint effectiveness,” reports the Government Accountability Office. “In addition, GAO found that a lack of management oversight and unclear checkpoint data collection guidance resulted in the overstatement of checkpoint performance results.”
[View GAO summary]
Napolitano Talks Up Preparedness Month In September, National Preparedness Month, “we ask all Americans to visit Ready.gov to learn what they can do to help their families, businesses and communities stay safe during an emergency—whether it be hurricanes like Katrina, the fires we are fighting in California or pandemic influenza,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. DHS and the Ad Council have launched a new series of Ready Campaign public-service announcements encouraging all Americans to prepare for emergencies.
[View press release] [View Ready.gov]
Other Federal News
CIA Doctors Assisted in Harsh Interrogation, Say Physicians for Human Rights (London Guardian) “Doctors and psychologists the CIA employed to monitor its ‘enhanced interrogation’ of terror suspects came close to, and may even have committed, unlawful human experimentation,” Physicians for Human Rights “has alleged,” according to the Guardian. In the organization’s report “Aiding Torture,” it claims “that doctors actively monitored the CIA’s interrogation techniques with a view to determining their effectiveness, using detainees as human subjects without their consent.”
[View article] [View report]
Lack of Translators Hurts U.S. Antiterror Efforts (Washington Times) “U.S. national security agencies remain woefully short of foreign-language speakers and translators,” reports the Times. “… The necessary cadre of U.S. intelligence personnel capable of reading and speaking targeted regional languages such as Pashto, Dari and Urdu ‘remains essentially nonexistent,’ the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence wrote in a rare but stark warning in its 2010 budget report.” (See too Medha Tare’s article “Assessing the Foreign Language Needs of the Department of Homeland Security” in the Journal of Homeland Security, June 2006.)
[View article]
Swine Flu Deaths Are Higher in Kids Over 4, Says CDC
(Yahoo! News)
“About one in 13 U.S. swine flu deaths have been children and most of the kids have been of school age,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reports the Associated Press. “… More than 40 U.S. children have died from the virus … It’s not clear why such a large percentage of the swine flu pediatric deaths are in kids aged 5 and older.”
[View article]
[View report]
Intellipedia Grows Slowly (Washington Post) “Intellipedia, the intelligence community’s version of Wikipedia, hummed in the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election in June, with personnel at myriad government agencies updating a page dedicated to tracking the disputed results,” reports the Post. “Similarly, a page established in November immediately after the terrorist attack in Mumbai provided intelligence analysts with a better [understanding] of the scope of the incident, as well as a forum to speculate on possible perpetrators.… Intellipedia is a collaborative online intelligence repository” that “still meets with formidable resistance from many quarters.” (See the Feb. 20 newsletter.) The site “is available only to users with proper government clearance.” (See the Statistics of the Week.)
[View article]
White House Conference Discusses Biothreats
(Global Security Newswire) An “Aug. 13 meeting at the White House Conference Center brought together roughly 40 participants to discuss” biological threats, reports Global Security Newswire. “… the discussion focused on three broad themes: biological threats to the nation, existing international initiatives used to combat bioterrorism, and the role nongovernment organizations could play in the administration’s strategy. The conversation also addressed ways the White House could approach the Biological Weapons Convention and its 2011 review conference.”
[View article]
Sesame Street Ads Aim to Fight Flu The Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Education have teamed up with Sesame Workshop to launch a national public-service advertising campaign to encourage American children and families to practice healthy habits and prevent the spread of the 2009 H1N1 flu virus.
[View press release] [View ad website]
International News
Is It Time to Negotiate With the Taliban? (New York Times) “Yes,” “No,” or “Yes, but …” say eight experts asked by the Times. They discuss “whether the coalition should negotiate with the Taliban,” how talks might be carried out, and what risks are involved.
[View article]
Is the U.S. Funding the Taliban? (Global Post) “The United States Agency for International Development has opened an investigation into allegations that its funds for road and bridge construction in Afghanistan are ending up in the hands of the Taliban, through a protection racket for contractors,” reports the Global Post. (See the Aug. 14 newsletter.)
[View article]
Afghan Drug Cartels Emerging (New York Times) “Though the Afghan opium harvest has declined for the second consecutive year, a new United Nations report says, there is growing evidence that some Afghan insurgent forces are becoming ‘narco-cartels’—similar to anti-government guerrilla groups in Colombia—that view drug profits as more important than ideology,” reports the Times. “Afghanistan’s multibillion-dollar illicit narcotics industry finances much of the country’s insurgency,” and “perhaps more than 10,000 tons of illegal opium—worth billions of dollars and enough to satisfy at least two years of world demand—is now secretly stockpiled.”
[View article]
Iraq Takes Another Look at Its Security (DefenseLink) “Iraqi security forces have undertaken a broad self-assessment in the wake of [a] series of deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital last month,” reports the American Forces Press Service. A meeting of “top Iraqi military officials … culminated in a directive that changed aspects of security, including procedures and locations for checkpoints and inspections.” U.S. “defense officials … characterized the attacks as an isolated security breach.”
[View article]
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British Home Office Advises on Photography and Terrorism Laws The British Home Office on August 18 “sent out advice to all the Chief Police Officers in the UK about the use of Terrorism laws on photographers,” according to the photographers’ organization I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist. Under British law, it is “an offence to photograph a police officer or member of the armed forces,” notes the group. “Concerns have been raised that sections of the Terrorism Act 2000 are being used to stop people taking photographs—whether this is photographs of buildings or people—and that cameras are being confiscated during such searches,” according to the Home Office circular. The law “does not prohibit the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place and members of the public and the press should not be prevented from doing so … Legitimate journalistic activity (such as covering a demonstration for a newspaper) is likely to constitute [a statutory] excuse” for photographing police officers. “Similarly an innocent tourist or other sight-seer taking a photograph of a police officer is likely to have a reasonable excuse.”
[View website] [View circular]
China Expands Armed Police Force Authority (Beijing China Daily) China last week gave the armed police “force new duties and statutory authority to respond to security emergencies,” reports the Xinhua News Agency. The new law “mandates the mobilization of the 660,000-strong [People’s Armed Police Force] to deal with riots, disruptions, serious violent crimes, terrorist attacks and other emergencies.… officers will patrol China’s municipalities, provincial and regional capitals during periods of unrest, and take responsibility for the security of major transport lines and important public facilities.” The force “will also have a duty to assist other law enforcement forces in arrest, pursuit and escort operations.” Its “troops can establish security checkpoints to examine all personnel and vehicles entering and departing an area under their authority,” and its “personnel can interrogate suspicious persons and check their identification documents, belongings and vehicles.”
[View article]
U.S. and Mexico Agree to Strengthen Cross-Border Security Communications Senior officials on the United States–Mexico High-Level Consultative Commission on Telecommunications have signed a bilateral agreement to support a new cross-border communications network for public safety and law enforcement organizations focused on strengthening border security. The agreement establishes a bilateral working group through which the U.S. Homeland Security Department and the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security will coordinate the installation and operation of the network, which will allow participating public safety organizations to coordinate incident response and cooperate on a broad array of law enforcement activities via voice, data, and video channels. The agreement also provides radio interference protection for the network’s infrastructure and a process under which the bilateral working group can establish interoperable communications for qualifying federal, state, local, and tribal public safety and law enforcement organizations that are invited to participate.
[View press release]
Young British Muslims Feel Oppressed by Society (Washington Post) “Many young British Muslims feel demonized by the police and the media and say they have come under pressure to prove their loyalty since the September 11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings,” reports Reuters, citing a study by “the Policy Research Center, an Islamic think tank … It said young Muslims had been portrayed in the media as a threat to society and often struggled to convince people that they can be both British and Muslim at the same time.… Young Muslims are too often asked to prove that their religion is peaceful and they are law-abiding, the report said.”
[View article]
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New Approaches to Biological Risk Assessment This report presents the findings of an international workshop held in February at the British Royal Society jointly with the International Council of the Life Sciences. International experts on infectious disease, international security, and risk assessment explored new approaches to assessing the full range of biological risks, from naturally occurring diseases to the deliberate misuse of biological agents as weapons, and encompassing unintended risks such as laboratory accidents and those associated with dual-use research. The report outlines some implications of advances in science and technology, and it highlights key issues for the development of a common international approach to assessing and managing biological risks.
[View press release] [View report (457KB PDF)]
Australian Pleads Guilty to Planning Terror (Sydney [Australia] Morning Herald) “Justice Bernard Bongiorno [on Wednesday] sentenced [Shane] Kent, 32, to five years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to being a member of a Melbourne terrorist cell between July 2004 and November 2005, and contributing to an internet video glorifying martyrs,” reports the Morning Herald. “… A jury failed to reach a verdict on whether Kent was a member of the cell when he and 11 others, seven of whom were found guilty of terrorism offences, stood trial last year. Kent’s guilty plea came as he was about to face a retrial.”
[View article]
Four Tajiks Jailed in First al Qaeda Trial (Reuters AlertNet) “Tajikistan’s Supreme Court has handed down long prison terms to four men found guilty of terrorism, in the ex-Soviet state’s first trial of al Qaeda members,” reports Reuters. The four “‘went to Afghanistan in the early 1990s and took an active part in war actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan on al Qaeda’s side,’ the Tajik State Committee on National Security said.”
[View article]
Cyber-Links to Pakistan Seen in Mumbai Attacks (Times of India) “An e-mail address created by a person—who opened the internet telephone service account—was accessed by terrorists from 10 internet protocol (IP) addresses” in connection with the November 26 attacks, Mumbai Crime Branch inspector Mukund Pawar testified on Wednesday in the trial of Mumbai terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab (see the July 31 newsletter), reports the Times News Network. The “terror conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan and executed with the help of modern gadgets, including global positioning system devices, satellite phones and voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) to ensure that the 10 gunmen were in constant touch with their handlers back home.”
[View article]
National News
Many U.S. Colleges Report Swine Flu (Washington Post) “More than half of the nation’s colleges and universities tracking swine flu cases are reporting infected students, with more than 1,600 cases within the first weeks of classes,” reports the Post, citing a report from the American College Health Association. “The 165 institutions” tracking the flu “represent more than 2 million students.”
[View article]
GAO Notes Lessons From Past Disasters The Government Accountability Office “has identified four collaborative practices that may help communities rebuild from the Gulf Coast hurricanes as well as future” catastrophes:
- “Develop and communicate common goals to guide recovery”
- “Leverage resources to facilitate recovery”
- “Use recovery plans to agree on roles and responsibilities”
- “Monitor, evaluate, and report on progress made toward recovery”
[View GAO summary]
State and Local News
Maine Declares Swine Flu Emergency (Bangor [ME] Daily News) “Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday declared a statewide civil emergency because of the H1N1 influenza virus, paving the way for mass immunization of Maine schoolchildren and other residents,” reports the Bangor Daily News. “The emergency designation protects schools and health care providers against liability claims related to their participation in school-based vaccine clinics this fall for both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu.”
[View article]
Washington, DC, Area Officials Coordinate Flu Fight (Washington Post) “Top officials from Maryland, Virginia and the District [of Columbia] met Tuesday to coordinate plans for fighting the swine flu, taking advantage of a structure set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to try to sharpen the region’s response to outbreaks expected this fall,” reports the Post. “… officials said the jumble of jurisdictional lines in the region demands particular vigilance in what might seem the most mundane of tasks: communicating.”
[View article]
United Nations News
At Least 20 UN Outposts Are Unsafe for Staff (Washington Times) “At least 20 U.N. outposts in dangerous corners of the world suffer from inadequate security despite rising threats to the organization, the U.N. director of security [Gregory B. Starr] says,” according to the Washington Times. “… veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi … said the blue U.N. flag is now more of a target than a safety blanket.”
[View article]
WHO Reports Severe Form of Swine Flu (Fox News) “Doctors are reporting a severe form of H1N1 that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said” on August 29, according to Reuters. “Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients hospitalized with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care.”
[View article]
Private-Sector News
Back Up Laptop Files Before Crossing Borders, Say Executives (PC World) “If you’re traveling [internationally] for business and have important files you’ll need on your trip, it wouldn’t hurt to save them to multiple locations so you aren’t left without them” in case your laptop is searched or confiscated, advises PC World. “Better yet, use Google Docs or another Internet-based storage system to ensure your private information stays private. In the case of a search,” the Association of Corporate Travel Executives “recommends you inform the agent that you have sensitive information on your computer. Try to get your concern noted in writing; at least, be sure to express it verbally.”
The association “says this will help you retain more legal rights for registering your concern.”
[View article]
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Education
The HOMELAND SECURITY STUDIES AND 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.
Railroad Emergency Response Haz-Mat Awareness (September 14, Flagstaff, AZ; September 19, Ash Fork, AZ; September 23, Wickenburg, AZ) This class will familiarize first responders with railroad communication, safety, paperwork, and equipment.
[View class website]
Professional Analytic Tools and Writing Workshop (September 14-18; Reston, VA) This workshop introduces students to the principles of structured analytic tools and techniques and introduces the basic concepts of professional analytic writing. It can be taken in its entirety or separately in two components: Analytic Tools (3 days) and Analytic Writing (2 days).
[View course website]
Rail Tank Car Responder Training (November 4-5; Oakland, CA) A half-day class sponsored by Dow Chemical teaches responders the basics of rail tank car anatomy and leak mitigation.
[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)
Global Conflict & Terrorism Trends (September 14; Washington, DC) The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management will host this panel presentation and discussion.
[View event website]
National After Action Workshop on a Federal Public Health Emergency:
The Novel Influenza A H1N1 Epidemic of Spring 2009 (September 21-22; Los Angeles) The University of California–Los Angeles Center for Public Health and Disasters is convening this workshop to review the key actions taken as this epidemic unfolded, seeking to identify those strategies that were effective and those that could have been handled differently. Those attending can interact with colleagues from all levels of the response and participate in working sessions to help identify gaps to be addressed in future national disease outbreaks.
[View event website]
Keeping the World Working During the H1N1 Pandemic (September 22-23; Minneapolis) The theme of this conference is “Protecting Employee Health, Critical Operations, and Customer Relations.” Pandemic response experts in the public and private sectors who know their business and are ready to act will convene to tackle with candor, urgency, and practicality how to brace their enterprises for the months ahead.
[View event website]
Advances in BioDetection Technologies (October 9; London) The conference will cover topics such as anthrax detection, fluorescent imaging, rapid diagnostics of infectious agents, field diagnosis of diseases, and nucleic acid testing.
[View event website]
Symposium VII (November 9-11; Colorado Springs) This year’s theme is “Homeland Defense and Security in Transition: Threats. Priorities. Initiatives.” Among the topics covered will be evolving international threats, border security, nuclear threats, and new educational programs.
[View event website]
EPA Emergency Preparedness and Prevention & Hazmat Spills Conference (November 15-18; Baltimore) This conference sponsored by Environmental Protection Agency Region III offers training programs, off-site tours, workshops, general sessions, lectures, and an exhibit hall.
[View event website]
(November 17-19; New Orleans) This emergency planning and response conference will focus on the challenges, trends, and solutions that affect the energy industry, regulatory community, and responders. Companies from throughout the oil and chemical spill, maritime security, and marine salvage industries will attend, along with key professionals and decision makers from throughout the Gulf Coast.
[View event website]
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Calls for Papers
4th International Conference on Digital Society (February 10-15, 2010; St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles) The conference, sponsored by the International Academy, Research and Industry Association, will cover a large spectrum of topics related to advanced networking, applications, and systems technologies in a digital society. Among the topics for which the conference is soliciting presentations is “Homeland Security and Public Records.” The deadline for submitting a full paper is October 5.
[View call for papers]
ASIS International 9th European Security Conference (April 18-21, 2010; Lisbon, Portugal) This event focuses on up-to-the-minute solutions and security management issues affecting European and global businesses, attracting more than 500 high-level professionals and business leaders from around the globe. The submission deadline is October 10.
[View call for papers]
Advances in Reactor Physics to Power the Nuclear Renaissance (May 9-14; Pittsburgh) Among the topics for which the conference is soliciting presentations is nuclear
techniques for non-proliferation and homeland security. The deadline for submission of full papers is October 31.
[View call for papers (344KB PDF)]
ASIS International 56th Annual Seminar and Exhibits (October 12-15, 2010; Dallas) The American Society for Industrial Security International is soliciting presentations from knowledgeable and articulate subject matter expert willing to share their insights and real-world experience at next year’s conference. The submission deadline is March 1.
[View call for papers]
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