State and Local News

FBI Raids Suspected al-Qaeda Cells in Denver and New York (New York Daily News; Reuters) “A suspected Al Qaeda cell—the first uncovered in the U.S. since 9/11—drew round-the-clock FBI surveillance Tuesday as authorities said they thwarted its plans for a major terror attack,” reports the Daily News. “Scores of FBI agents inundated Denver as they closed the noose on the five-man cabal” and “swarmed into three apartments this week” in Flushing, NY. Najibullah Zazi, “an Afghan national, said he’s a hardworking airport shuttle driver who is married and lives with his elderly parents in the Denver suburb” of Aurora, reports the Daily News in another article. “… He confirmed he drove to New York last week to visit friends, but he denied being part of any Al Qaeda bomb plot or terror cell,” yet the “the feds [say they] found documents and papers about bomb-making and bombs” in his rental car. And “FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday there was no imminent security threat,” according to Reuters. [View Post raids article] [View Post Zazi article] [View Reuters article]

MTA photo

NYPD Leads in Counterterrorism “Part think tank, part detective agency, part paramilitary organization, the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) counterterrorism program has become one of the most sophisticated in the world,” writes Lydia Khalil of the Council on Foreign Relations. “In its efforts to anticipate new threats, thwart emerging plots, nip radicalization in the bud, and harden the city’s targets, the NYPD monitors developments in hot spots around the world for tactical innovations, keeps an eye out for radicalization trends in Europe, and tracks al-Qaeda affiliates.… But New York’s efforts have run into a range of challenges, including clashes with federal authorities over jurisdiction and with civil liberties groups over the scope and legality of its counterterrorism methods. It also continuously grapples with the task of where to deploy its resources most effectively.” [View commentary]

Coast Guard Drill in Washington, DC, Creates Frenzy (Washington Post) “Radio traffic about a Coast Guard training exercise [on Sep. 11] led to erroneous television news reports that guardsmen had fired on a recreational boat in the Potomac River, near where President Obama was remembering the 9/11 attacks,” reports the Post. “… D.C. police raced to the riverside, and the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded planes at Reagan National Airport … no local, state or federal agencies were notified of the training exercise because it was ‘routine’ and ‘low-profile.’” [View article]

New York 9/11 Museum Will Present Hijackers’ Words (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “A museum dedicated to the September 11 attacks [see last week’s newsletter] will display written quotations drawn from ‘martyrdom’ videos made by the hijackers, along with witness testimonials that will be screened to prevent sympathizers from praising the perpetrators,” reports Reuters. [View article]

Kassir Gets Life Sentence for Planning Oregon Terror Training Camp (Portland Oregonian) Oussama Kassir “was sentenced to life in prison [Tuesday] for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in Oregon in 1999 to help al-Qaida,” reports the Associated Press. “… Kassir was convicted in May.” (See the May 15 newsletter.) [View article]

NY National Guard Task Force Has Been on Duty Since 2001 (DefenseLink) “A New York National Guard task force”—Joint Task Force Empire Shield—“has continuously served since the terrorist attacks eight years ago,” reports American Forces Press Service. Their mission “is to provide homeland security and defense support to civilian authorities, as needed … The task force works with 53 local, state and federal partners.” They patrol “Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport, Penn Station and other” transportation hubs. “They join New York State Naval Militia and Coast Guard reserve colleagues on boats … They also conduct foot patrols in and around airports and nuclear power facilities.” [View article]

International News

Iran Is Not Building an A-Bomb, Says U.S. Intelligence Community (Newsweek) “The U.S. intelligence community is reporting to the White House that Iran has not restarted its nuclear-weapons development program,” reports Newsweek. “… U.S. agencies had previously said that Tehran halted the program in 2003” and say “that the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence Estimate” in 2007. [View article]

Prisoners in Afghanistan Can Challenge Detention (Yahoo! News; Washington Times) The Pentagon is giving “some 600 prisoners held in the US air base in Bagram, Afghanistan [see the Jan. 9 and April 3 newsletters], the right to challenge their detention,” reports Agence France-Presse. “… unlike the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, they have had no access to lawyers, no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as ‘enemy combatants.’ … Last month,” U.S. Major General Douglas Stone “called for as many as 400 of the 600 inmates to be released, saying they posed no threat to the United States.” However, “the Obama administration … urged an appeals court to deny access to U.S. courts for [the] detainees,” reports the Washington Times. [View AFP article] [View Times article]

United Arab Emirates Disrupt Bombing Plot (Washington Times) “Authorities in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year quietly broke up a major terrorist ring affiliated with al Qaeda that had plotted to blow up targets in Dubai,” reports the Times. Authorities “said the plotters had designated suicide bombers.” [View article]

Taliban Makes IEDs Deadlier (Washington Times) “The Taliban has been building simpler, cheaper anti-personnel bombs made of hard-to-detect nonmetal components, increasing the number of lethal attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan,” reports the Washington Times. “… The shift … away from larger anti-armor bombs has allowed the Taliban to produce more weapons and hide them in more places.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda Allies Build Huge Pakistan Base (London Telegraph) “Jaish-e-Mohammad (‘army of Mohammad’), which is linked to a series of atrocities including an attack on the Indian parliament and the beheading of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, has walled off a 4.5 acre compound just outside the town of Bahawalpur,” reports the Telegraph. “Pakistani authorities have turned a blind eye to the new base, in the far south of Punjab province, even though it is believed to have been built to serve as a radical madrassah—Islamic school—or some kind of training camp.” [View article]

Pakistan Sacks 350 Police Who Caved in to Taliban Threats (Yahoo! News) “Authorities in northwest Pakistan Saturday sacked more than 350 tribal police when they failed to report for duty after a militant leader threatened reprisals against those who did not resign,” reports Agence France-Presse. “… Around 500 tribal policemen in the lawless border district of Khyber were Friday given 24 hours notice to report but only 142 turned up on Saturday … Militant commander Mangal Bagh, who has ties to the Taliban, in an FM radio broadcast threatened that lawmakers, army and paramilitary troops in the region who did not resign would see their homes demolished and other harsh penalties. Hours after his speech on Thursday, militants blew up three houses belonging to khasadars, or tribal police.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda–Linked Group Says It Fired Rockets Into Israel (Reuters) “A militant group claiming links to al Qaeda said on Monday it was behind the firing of rockets into northern Israel last week,” reports Reuters. A “statement was signed by the Ziad al-Jarrah division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades,” and a posting on a militant website “linked the group to Sunni Muslim militant network al Qaeda.” [View article]

Researchers Produce One-Dose Swine Flu Vaccine (Washington Times) The flu vaccine that “U.S. and Australian researchers … have been testing for months not only works but is effective with adults after just one dose,” reports the Washington Times. “… Scientists have been warning for months that … multiple shots of vaccine might be required to combat” swine flu. “They now think that a single dose will be enough to protect an adult within 10 days of its application.” [View article]

Two Canadian Swine Flu Cases Resist Tamiflu (Toronto Globe and Mail) “Canada has recorded its second Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 case in an Alberta woman who was being treated for the flu virus,” reports the Globe and Mail. “The antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are effective in fighting swine flu, if taken within days of the first symptoms. But there have been people who have shown resistance to the drugs. The case in Alberta was a lab-confirmed H1N1 infection.” [View article]

2006 Airliner Plotters Get Life Sentences (BBC) “Three men who plotted to blow up liquid bombs on flights from the UK to North America have been jailed for life, with minimum terms of up to 40 years,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. (See last week’s newsletter.) [View article]

Three Terrorist Leaders Reported Killed (Washington Post) “An Al-Qaida operations chief in Pakistan [Ilyas Kashmiri] and an Uzbek militant commander [Nazimuddin] were believed killed in U.S. missile strikes in the northwest of the country earlier this month,” reports the Associated Press. And “Indonesia’s most wanted Islamist militant [Noordin Mohammad Top] was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java” this week, reports Reuters. [View AP article] [View Reuters article]

U.S. and Poland Sign Nuclear Security Agreement (Global Security Newswire) “Polish and U.S. diplomats [on Sep. 11] signed an agreement authorizing the United States to conduct nuclear-security operations inside the East European nation,” reports Global Security Newswire. “… the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration” plans to repatriate “Soviet- or Russian-origin nuclear fuel from two Polish research reactors.” (See the Statistics of the Week.) [View article]

DHS News

Task Force Says Use at Most Three Colors in Alert System (Global Security Newswire) “If the U.S. government continues to have a terrorism alert system, it should only have three levels and be narrowly focused when used, a government task force recommended” in its report issued Tuesday, according to CongressDaily. [View article] [View report (331KB PDF)]

ICE Needs a Better Detainee Database, Says Institute (Federal Computer Week) Immigration and Customs Enforcement “should make a comprehensive review of the databases and information systems it uses for tracking the 32,000 detainees it has in custody, according to” the Migration Policy Institute, reports Federal Computer Week. “… ICE may not be collecting and tracking all the information it needs to ensure that it is complying with existing laws and regulations, especially because varying standards apply to its criminal and non-criminal detainee populations.” [View article] [View report (700KB PDF)]

Secure Border Initiative Delayed, Value of Border Fencing Uncertain, Says GAO Secure Border Initiative (SBInet) “technology capabilities have not yet been deployed,” and the estimated completion dates is now 2016 rather than 2009, reports the Government Accountability Office (see the Feb. 29, 2008, newsletter). Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection is spending $11 million a mile for more border fencing, but its “impact on border security has not been measured.” [View GAO summary]

Court Refuses to Block E-Verify (Federal Computer Week) The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has “denied an emergency motion for an injunction” to “suspend implementation of the E-Verify employment verification rule to cover federal contractors, meaning the rule now covers contractors’ employees,” reports Federal Computer Week. (See last week’s newsletter.) [View article]

DHS Broke Rules on 70 Noncompetitive Contracts, Says Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department did not comply with federal regulations in the awarding of 70 noncompetitive contracts in fiscal 2007,” according to Federal Computer Week, citing “a new report from DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner.” [View article]

DHS Needs Better IT Management, Says GAO “Since its inception,” the Homeland Security Department “has made uneven progress in its efforts to institutionalize a framework of interrelated management controls and capabilities associated with effectively and efficiently acquiring large-scale IT systems,” reports the Government Accountability Office. [View GAO summary]

DHS Needs Better Management for OneNet, Says Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department’s program to consolidate its component agencies’ network infrastructures into one wide-area network is delayed and isn’t saving the department money, according to a new report from DHS’ inspector general,” reports Federal Computer Week. The project was supposed to be finished in 2006. “OneNet will ultimately provide a global communications environment that offers improved security and interoperability throughout the department,” giving “agencies secure data, voice, video, tactical radio and satellite communications.” [View article] [View report (2.5MB PDF)]

How the Coast Guard Plans Contingencies (Emergency Management) The Coast Guard examines its responses to emergencies and looks at how they could have been done better, says Coast Guard contingency planner John Stanley in an interview with Emergency Management. It also holds discussions, tabletop exercises, and full-scale exercises to practice emergency response. Contingency planners prepare response plans for commanders, freeing them to concentrate on daily business. [View article]

Other Federal News

U.S. Is Not Ready for a Radiation Incident, Says GAO “Almost all cities and states would be so overwhelmed by” a radiological dispersal device or improvised nuclear device “that they would rely on the federal government to conduct almost all analysis and cleanup,” reports the Government Accountability Office. But “to date, much federal attention has been given to developing a response framework, with less attention to recovery.” The United Kingdom, by contrast, is better prepared, “issuing national recovery guidance, conducting a full-scale recovery exercise, and publishing a national handbook for radiation incidents.” [View GAO summary]

Obama Extends 9/11 State of Emergency On September 11, President Obama extended for one year the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist attacks and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States. [View press release]

White House Wants to Delay Guantánamo Trials (Reuters) “The Obama administration said on Wednesday it would seek a two-month delay for all military trials for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay while Congress weighs new rules for the proceedings and the White House considers trying them in U.S. courts,” reports Reuters. “… The prison at a U.S. naval base in Cuba currently holds 226 detainees.… About 10 cases are pending before military judges.” [View article]

Machine Guns Permitted for Nuclear Power Plant Security The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on September 11 authorized nuclear power plants to apply for permission for their security personnel to possess and use “machineguns, short-barreled shotguns or short-barreled rifles.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would first designate eligible facilities, radioactive material, or other property, and the applicant would have to update its security, training and qualification, and contingency response plans to reflect the new weaponry. [View press release]

Nuclear Plants to Get Cybersecurity Help (Federal Computer Week) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “will cooperate to ensure cybersecurity for nuclear power plants,” reports Federal Computer Week. “… the commissions will work together to ensure the reliability of the electric power grid and nuclear power plants.… areas for cooperation include cybersecurity and information sharing during emergency responses.” [View article]

9/11 Plotters Got Away While FBI Informant Caught Small Fry (ABC News) Former “FBI informant” Elie Assaad “infiltrated alleged terrorist cells” but “focused more on undercover stings than on the man who would later become known as 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta,” reports ABC News. “… Assaad says he spotted and became suspicious of Atta in early 2001, when he was sent by the FBI to infiltrate a small mosque outside Miami. Atta was there with Adnan Shukrujuman, an al Qaeda fugitive who now has a $5 million U.S. reward on his head.” [View article]

Fusion Centers Get Access to Classified Defense Information on Terrorism Select state and major urban area fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will get access to classified terrorism-related information on the Defense Department’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network. The data will be accessed via the Homeland Security Department’s Homeland Security Data Network. [View press release]

FCC Upgrades Emergency Communications (Federal Computer Week) “The Federal Communications Commission is expanding its involvement in maintaining emergency communications during disasters,” reports Federal Computer Week. (See last week’s newsletter.) “… the commission is buying a computer-based rapid notification system that will enable outreach to public safety officials during major incidents … It also is coordinating its disaster communication improvement efforts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and with the Health and Human Services Department.” [View article]

FDA Approves Swine Flu Vaccine (MSNBC) “The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday,” reports the Associated Press. “… The bulk of vaccine will start arriving Oct. 15, and [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius said it should be available at 90,000 sites around the country.” [View article]

National News

Five Views on Better Transport Security (National Journal) In response to National Journal’s question “How Can We Improve Transportation Security?” Ron Kuhlmann, aviation analyst; James May, president of the Air Transport Association; Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation; Michael P. Jackson, former Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Transportation; and Norman Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation; give answers ranging from “Dedicated opponents, willing to die for their cause, have an inherent advantage” to “Travel screening today is working well.” [View article]

START Puts Global Terrorism Database Online (Government Technology) “The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) [see the Dec. 9, 2005, newsletter]—a Homeland Security center of excellence at the University of Maryland—has posted a Global Terrorism Database” online, reports Government Technology. “The database is open-source and includes information on 80,000 domestic and international terrorist events from 1970 through 2007.” [View article] [View database]

United Nations News

Israelis and Palestinians Committed War Crimes, Says UN (CNN) “A United Nations report issued Tuesday says both Israel and the Palestinians committed actions amounting to war crimes during Israel’s military incursion into Gaza from December 27 to January 18,” reports CNN. “Although the U.N. investigation found that Palestinian militants also committed war crimes, the overwhelming majority of the criticism in a summary of the 574-page report” addresses Israel’s “war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity,” in the words of the report. [View article] [View report (6.5MB PDF)]

Private-Sector News

Swine Flu Preparedness Guide for Small Businesses The Homeland Security Department, the Small Business Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Influenza Division are offering a preparedness guide to assist small businesses in planning for the H1N1 flu. It offers employers tools and information to help them plan for and respond flexibly to varying levels of severity of an H1N1 outbreak. [View press release] [View guide website]

WebEOC and E*Sponder Give Responders a Common Operating Picture (Government Computer News) “The Kentucky Department of Public Health’s Preparedness Branch,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and AT&T’s Network Discovery Recovery team use “WebEOC [emergency operations center], which provides access to real-time information for a common operating picture,” reports Government Computer News. The “crisis incident management software … can be customized to meet the requirements of a jurisdiction, and any number of authorized users can log in to a jurisdiction’s WebEOC platform.” E*Sponder, “built on Microsoft SharePoint, … lets users store templates so their operations can improve every time they handle an event, whether [planned] or unplanned. The E*Sponder alerts module lets agencies contact thousands of people simultaneously via pager, phone, e-mail or text message. E*Sponder was used in Tampa, Fla., earlier this year for Super Bowl activities.” [View article]

New Upcoming Events (Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page) 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] (October 15; statewide) At 10:15 a.m., millions of Californians will participate in the largest earthquake drill ever. Its purpose is to practice protecting ourselves during earthquakes and to get prepared at work, school, and home. [View event website] Emergency Management 2009 All-Hazards, All-Stakeholders Summit (October 22; Los Angeles) The summit will address the natural and man-made hazards facing the Los Angeles area—fires, earthquakes, mudslides, terrorism—and address best practices in preparing for and mitigating these crises. [View event website] (February 3-5; New Orleans) This event will bring together professionals, academics, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, consultants, emergency managers, and transportation planners to discuss evacuation planning for cities and regions across the United States. [View event website] Cyber Security—Legal and Policy Issues for National Security, Law Enforcement and Private Industry (March 18-19; San Antonio) This conference is designed for the Defense and Homeland Security departments, corporate security managers, law enforcement, and the business community to receive critical information on the full range of legal and policy issues related to cyber-security. [View course website] Homeland Security: Global and Domestic Perspectives (March 29-30; Warrensburg, MO) This conference will investigate the range of issues surrounding the efforts to secure the homeland from threats of human origin and natural threats. It will examine best practices and assess and examine policies. [View event website (163KB PDF)]

Calls for Papers (February 3-5; New Orleans) This event will bring together professionals, academics, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, consultants, emergency managers, and transportation planners to discuss evacuation planning for cities and regions across the United States. Papers are welcome on topics such as evacuation policy, carless and vulnerable populations, nuclear power plants, communications and human behavior, legal issues, evacuation modeling, and issues for first responders and voluntary organizations. Abstracts are due by September 30. [View event website] 4th International Conference on Digital Society (February 10-15; 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] Homeland Security: Global and Domestic Perspectives (March 29-30; Warrensburg, MO) This conference will investigate the range of issues surrounding the efforts to secure the homeland from threats of human origin and natural threats. It will examine best practices and assess and examine policies. The deadline for paper proposals is January 31. [View call for papers (163KB PDF)] ASIS International 9th European Security Conference (April 18-21; 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] AIAA Infotech @ Aerospace 2010 Conference and Exhibit (April 20-22; Atlanta) In the category “Information Technology Applications to Unmanned Systems,” discussions of homeland security and disaster response are especially welcome. The deadline for submitting abstracts is October 23. [View call for papers (873KB PDF)] 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)]