|
National News
Harvard Study Warns of Continuing WMD Threat
(Washington Post)
“A new report warns that al-Qaeda has not abandoned its goal of attacking the United States with a chemical, biological or even nuclear weapon,” reports the Washington Post. “The report, by a former senior CIA official”—Rolf Mowatt-Larssen—“who led the agency’s hunt for weapons of mass destruction, portrays al-Qaeda’s leaders as determined and patient, willing to wait for years to acquire the kind of weapons that could inflict widespread casualties.”
[View article]
[View report]
U.S. Lets in Foreigners on Watch Lists So It Can Watch Them (Global Security Newswire) “U.S. intelligence officials have acknowledged [that] the government knowingly allows foreigners whose names are on terrorist watch lists to enter the country in order to track their movement and activities,” reports Global Security Newswire. “… Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, disclosed the practice during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing” on January 20.
[View article]
|
Security and Emergency Planning for Water and Wastewater Utilities This new book by the American Water Works Association provides expert guidance on security and emergency preparedness for the nation’s water supply. It covers intentional and natural threats, actual incidents of contamination, legislation and regulation, vulnerability assessment, risk mitigation, emergency management, response training, emergency communications with the public, remediation and recovery, and response to pandemic flu outbreaks.
[View website]
International News
Nations Agree to Try Taliban Buyout, Security Handover in Afghanistan (BBC; London Telegraph) “World leaders pledged” $140 million yesterday “to win over low-level Taliban fighters,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… the international community” also said it “would continue to improve the capabilities of the Afghan security forces, boosting the army to 171,600 and the police to 134,000 personnel by October 2011.” The “Afghan forces could take control of security in some provinces by the end of 2010,” and “the process could be complete within five years.” But “Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, said his security forces could need support and training from Western troops for another decade,” reports the Telegraph. [View BBC article] [View Telegraph article]
U.S. Wants the Dutch to Stay in Afghanistan (Global Post) “The Dutch have spent almost three-and-a-half years patiently building up ties with the local population in Uruzgan, a conservative mountain region,” reports the Global Post. “… U.S. officials fear [that] a Dutch pullout”—already mandated by the Dutch parliament—“could undo that work, unraveling tenuous progress made in stabilizing a volatile region … the Dutch summed up” their strategy “with the slogan: ‘Don’t fight the enemy, make him irrelevant’”—“focusing on building confidence and security in the main population centers.”
[View article]
Chemical Ali Executed in Iraq
(London Telegraph)
“Ali Hassan al-Majid, known to the world as ‘Chemical Ali’ after he ordered the gassing of thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja, has been hanged in Iraq,” reports the Telegraph. Majid was responsible for “the brutal repression of an ill-fated Shia uprising in 1991” in which “up to 100,000 non-combatants were killed.”
[View article]
Drug Network in Guinea Bissau Funds Terrorists
(Adnkronos International) The “tiny impoverished African country” of Guinea Bissau is “being exploited by paramilitary groups and terrorists including Al-Qaeda, the Lebanese Islamist Hezbollah group and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,” reports Adnkronos, citing an article in the Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso. “… the biggest source of illegal funds flowing into the former Portuguese colony is Hezbollah which is using [a] drug smuggling network from South America to West Africa to finance its activities.”
[View article]
Southeast Asian Countries Ratify Disaster Response Pact (Reuters AlertNet) “The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has ratified a landmark agreement to improve the region’s” ability “to handle natural disasters,” reports Reuters AlertNet. “… This is the first binding agreement of its kind that focuses on managing the risk of disasters in a region. It requires member countries to draw “up a set of standard operating procedures for providing relief and recovery in the aftermath of a disaster, [set] up early warning systems, [identify] disaster risk areas and [cooperate] on technology and scientific research.”
[View article]
Coalition Works to Eliminate Chemical Weapons (Global Security Newswire) “Dozens of nongovernmental organizations from around the world are forming an umbrella group”—the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition—“to help promote the total elimination of chemical weapons and prevent their use by terrorists,” reports Global Security Newswire. The coalition “identifies itself as ‘an independent, international body whose mission is to support’ the global ban on chemical warfare materials ‘with focused civil society action aimed at achieving full membership of the [Chemical Weapons Convention], the safe and timely elimination of all chemical weapons, preventing the misuse of chemicals for hostile purposes and promoting their peaceful use.’”
[View article]
British Treasury Acted Unlawfully in Freezing Suspects’ Assets (London Guardian) Britain’s highest court on Wednesday ruled that “the Treasury had exceeded its powers” in freezing the assets of five terrorism suspects in 2006, reports the Press Association. The “orders were in response to UN security council resolutions calling for steps to be taken to hit the financing of international terrorism. But the orders were not voted on in parliament,” making them unlawful, said the court.
[View article]
DHS News
U.S. Requires Greater Reporting on Inbound Ocean Cargo U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun enforcing the Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements interim final rule mandated by the Safe Port Act of 2006. The rule requires importers to provide specific information on their cargo before its arrival in the United States.
[View DHS press release]
Other Federal News
Case Dismissed Against NSA for Warrantless Wiretapping (UK Register) Federal Judge Vaughn Walker on January 21 “dismissed a complaint against the National Security Agency’s … warrantless wiretapping programme,” reports the Register. (See the August 18, 2006, and July 11, 2008, newsletters.) “… Five AT&T customers sued the NSA” because the agency persuaded AT&T “to provide a wiretap in a major internet traffic exchange … The five claimed [that] the programme … had violated privacy laws.” The judge “ruled that because the internet traffic of millions of Americans had been caught up in the dragnet, the harm alleged in the complaint was not specific to the plaintiffs, so the case should not proceed.”
[View article] [View ruling (74KB PDF)]
GSA Disaster Recovery Program Sales Triple (Federal Computer Week) “Sales for the General Services Administration’s Disaster Recovery Purchasing Program have been increased by GSA’s marketing and referrals from state and local governments,” reports Federal Computer Week. “… spending through [the] program nearly tripled during the last quarter of fiscal 2009, growing from $2.5 million in the third quarter to $6.7 million in the fourth.”
[View article]
|
New in the Journal of Homeland Security
“How should we cope with a massive anthrax attack, and how can we prepare now so that our coping is optimal?” asks Barry Kellman in “Anthrax Response: Meeting the Challenges of Preparedness.” The policy progress manifest in President Obama’s Dec. 31 executive order “Medical Countermeasures Following a Biological Attack” and the Homeland Security Department’s “Proposed Guidance for Protecting Responders’ Health During the First Week Following a Wide-Area Anthrax Attack” indicates a serious and commendable commitment to address anthrax threats, he says. But the question remains, he argues, whether all of these programs and policies add up to produce security from biothreats and whether more might usefully be done.
|
State and Local News
Arizona Sees Influx of Chinese Illegal Immigrants (New York Times) “The number of Chinese immigrants arrested while illegally crossing the border into Arizona through the busiest smuggling corridor in the United States increased tenfold in the last fiscal year,” reports the Times. “… In fiscal 2009, 332 Chinese immigrants were caught in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, up from 30 the previous year,” and another 281 were arrested in October, November, and December. “Chinese immigrants commonly pay smugglers upward of $40,000 each to lead them from their homeland to the United States,” whereas “illegal immigrants from Mexico commonly pay $1,500 to $3,000.”
[View article]
|
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.
Criminal Elements and Terrorist Threat Analysis and Threat Assessments (February 9; Winston-Salem, NC) This 4-hour course for law enforcement, emergency management, fire, emergency medical services, critical infrastructure, and special operations teams identifies the types of adversaries that have been identified as a threat to public safety agencies and operations—such as criminal elements, gangs, extremist groups and terrorists. Participants will understand the adversary, the components of threat analysis, how threat information is collected, and how threats are assessed. Students must be a member of a public-safety agency to attend.
[View class brochure (29KB Word doc)]
Rail Tank Car Responder Training (March 15-17, Riverside, CA; March 10, Barstow, CA) Six half-day sessions will focus on
rail tank car anatomy and leak mitigation.
[View course website]
Surviving the IED Response (April 10; Guilford, NC) This 8-hour course at Guilford Technical Community College on response to explosives incidents for first responders includes live demonstrations. The course is for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, hazmat, emergency management, and special operations teams. Students must be a member of a public-safety agency to attend. [View class brochure (1.29MB Word doc)]
|
|
New Upcoming Events
(Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page)
International Disaster Management Conference (February 18-21; Orlando, FL) The conference “has been designed to meet the educational needs of all persons and agencies involved with emergency preparedness, response, and disaster recovery.” This year’s theme is “Prepare Freedom’s Lifelines …”
[View event website]
National Severe Weather Workshop (March 4-6; Norman, OK) Emergency managers, weather enthusiasts, teachers, students, meteorologists, broadcasters, and vendors in weather data and information will gather, present, and discuss topics related to the theme of “A Decade of Sharing Information About Weather Emergencies, Communications, and Response.”
[View event website]
National Hurricane Conference (March 29–April 2; Orlando, FL) The purpose of the conference is to improve hurricane preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation in order to save lives and property in the United States and the tropical islands of the Caribbean and Pacific. It also is a national forum for federal, state, and local officials to exchange ideas and recommend new policies to improve emergency management.
[View event website]
Partners in Emergency Preparedness (April 6-7; Tacoma, WA) This regional conference hosts nearly 700 people representing business, schools, government, nonprofits, emergency management, and volunteer organizations, with expertise in earthquake research, contingency planning, school preparedness, technology, news media, and public health. Speakers and exhibitors cover topics such as business continuity planning, school safety, public health preparedness, homeland security, and public information.
[View event website]
Qualified personnel from government, military, law enforcement, intelligence, and private-sector organizations from the UK and overseas will have a focused and comprehensive information program of conference streams, technology workshops, and an exhibition of products from over 250 solution providers at this event in Britain.
[View event website]
Search and Rescue 2010 (April 21-22; Aberdeen, Scotland) The conference will cover human factors, increased use of unmanned vehicles for surveillance and detection, simulator training, and the increased emphasis on rescue as technology makes searches easier. [View event website]
(April 28-29; Phoenix) This conference on international border security will offer technology, workshops, and speaker presentations
on critical issues, plus free certified training for law enforcement professionals.
[View event website]
(June 13-18; Miami) The theme of this year’s Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams is “Past the Faded Perimeter: Threat & Incident Response.” It will bring together computer security incident response teams from over 200 corporations, government bodies, universities, and other institutions across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. It will cover topics such as advanced techniques in security incident prevention, detection, and response; the latest advances in computer and network security tools; and shared views, experiences, and resolutions in computer security incident response.
[View event website]
 |
(June 28–July 1; Aspen, CO) This forum, sponsored by the Aspen Institute and Government Security News, will bring together government decision makers, industry leaders, think tank and academic policy experts, and journalists to discuss and debate key homeland security issues of the day, including aviation security, maritime security, border security, mass transit security, critical infrastructure and soft target protection, emergency preparedness, intelligence, and counterterrorism strategy.
[View event website]
|
|
Calls for Papers
(Calls for papers are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Calls for Papers page)
Workshop on Radio-Frequency ID Security (June 8-10; Istanbul, Turkey) The workshop focuses on approaches to solve security and data-protection issues in advanced contactless technologies such as radio-frequency identification. It stresses implementation aspects imposed by resource constraints. The deadline for submitting papers is April 20.
[View call for papers]
Advanced Video and Signal Based Surveillance (August 29–September 1) This conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society welcomes contributions on sensors and data fusion; processing, detection, and recognition; analytics, behavior, and biometrics; interaction and description; applications; and systems, performances, and ethical issues. The deadline for submitting papers is March 26.
[View call for papers (224KB PDF)]
Uncertainty in Fire Standards and What to Do About It (June 16, 2011; Anaheim, CA) The symposium will cover how testing laboratories, enforcement authorities, manufacturers, and practicing engineers incorporate uncertainty into their use of results from fire safety tests and calculations, along with the legal, technical, and ethical implications for these different approaches, and provide overviews of some of the latest technical guidance. Abstracts are due by July 16, 2010.
[View call for papers]
|
|
