International News

Another Al-Qaeda Dirty Dozen Ready to Act? (Homeland Security Today) American-born “Anwar Al Awlaki, the leader of” al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, “has been tied to” Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik “Hasan, Christmas day would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, [Colleen] LaRose and former New Jersey resident Sharif Mobley, a man with dual Yemeni-American citizenship who tried to shoot his way out of a hospital in San’a, Yemen,” as well as Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, another American, detained in Ireland in connection with the plot to kill a Danish cartoonist, reports Homeland Security Today. “… intelligence indicates Al Awlaki has ‘hundreds of followers’ inside the US and abroad, and … US and Western counterterrorism authorities believe they have identified at least another dozen persons tied to Awlaki who” are operational. [View article]

Jihad Jane: A Serious Terrorist? (Providence [RI] Journal) Colleen LaRose, alias Jihad Jane (see last week’s newsletter): “Is she a real terrorist, or is she a disturbed woman who never played the cards of life very well—and perhaps not with a full deck?” asks Journal columnist Froma Harrop. “Hers is the ‘changing face of terrorism,’ security experts tell us.… terrorist groups are recruiting Americans and Europeans who are lonely and angry, and can blend in with their societies.” But “one should take care in ascribing serious political motives to unstable people acting violently for some cause.” [View article]

Web Posse Tracked LaRose (ABC News) “A group of ’Net vigilantes”—groups such as “JawaReport, Quoth the Raven and the YouTube Smackdown Corps”—“claim they had been monitoring [Colleen] LaRose’s growing militancy for three years, and watched as the Internet—particularly YouTube—fed her fervor,” reports ABC News. “They also said ‘Jihad Jane’ is not the only one on the Internet that the groups are monitoring.” [View article]

Five Americans in Pakistan Charged With Terrorism (Washington Post) “Authorities in Pakistan filed terrorism charges Wednesday against five Northern Virginia men,” reports the Post. (See the Jan. 8 newsletter.) The counts “include planning to wage war against powers in alliance with Pakistan, planning to commit terrorist acts in the territories of Afghanistan and the United States, and contributing money to banned organizations.” [View article]

Turkey Uses Village Guard System Against Terrorists (Ankara, Turkey, Hürriyet Daily News) “Turkey’s chief of General Staff,” Gen. İlker Başbuğ, “said village guards had taken on ‘very important roles’ in the fight against the” Kurdistan Workers’ Party, reports the Daily News. “The village guard system was introduced” 25 years ago; “the Turkish military recruited villagers to protect areas in Southeast Turkey and provide intelligence to the military about the” party. The system has been “under fire” since “44 people were massacred in May in the village of Bilge,” raising questions of whether “the village guard system is suitable for the region’s problems.” [View article]

U.S. Contractors Train Afghan Army (Washington Post) “Roughly 2,000 contractors are working to train the Afghan army, about the same as the number of military personnel doing the job,” because of “a shortage of available service members,” reports the Post. “… Contractors are used at every level of training, from those who teach recruits how to read and write to those teaching advanced English to cadets at the Afghan version of West Point so they can go to the United States for pilot training. Other contractors help train noncommissioned officers at their own academy and in the field, where a variety of skills are needed, including logistics and driving.” [View article]

Mexican Cartels Corrupt Border Agents, Says U.S. Customs (Yahoo! News) “Mexican drug cartels are infiltrating [U.S.] federal law enforcement agencies along the southwest border and those charged with weeding them out say they don’t have the money to catch all the corrupt agents …” reports the Associated Press. “James Tomsheck, assistant commissioner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Internal Affairs, told a Senate homeland security subcommittee … that many who joined the agency during the recent hiring boom and did not take polygraphs could have joined with corruption already in mind.” [View article]

Iran Tried to Buy Nuclear Bombs, Says A. Q. Khan (Washington Post) “The father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program [Abdul Qadeer Khan] has” detailed “an Iranian attempt to buy atomic bombs from Pakistan at the end of the 1980s,” reports the Post. Khan said “that in lieu of weapons, Pakistan gave Iran bomb-related drawings, parts for centrifuges to purify uranium and a secret worldwide list of suppliers.” [View article]

North African States Discuss Response to al-Qaeda (Yahoo! News) “Seven north African states—Algeria, “Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger”—“held talks Tuesday in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to Al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the Sahara-Sahel region,” reports Agence France-Presse. [View article]

‘Border Crossing Improvements, Induced Travel, and Security’ This research brief by the Institute of Homeland Security Solutions reviews and discuss how social scientists have studied induced travel (such as route switching) to help decision makers better understand and prioritize ways to improve border crossing benefit-cost analysis. [View brief (377KB PDF)]

DHS News

DHS Will Spend SBInet Money on Proven Technology Instead (Washington Times) “Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday said she will spend $50 million of stimulus funds originally intended to build a ‘virtual fence’”—the Secure Border Initiative, or SBInet—“along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border on other more proven and cost-effective security technology,” reports the Times. DHS will instead “buy security technology such as mobile surveillance, thermal-imaging devices, body scanning units, mobile radios, cameras and laptops for pursuit vehicles.… ‘We are freezing all SBInet funding beyond the initial deployment to the Tucson and Ajo regions until the assessment I ordered in January is completed’ [she said].” (See the Feb. 5 newsletter.) [View article]

GAO Questions Cost-Effectiveness of Whole-Body Scanners Noting that the Transportation Security Administration is accelerating the deployment of advanced imaging technology (whole-body scanners) “from 878 to 1,800 units and using AITs as a primary—instead of a secondary—screening measure where feasible,” the Government Accountability Office points out that the TSA “has not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the original deployment strategy or the revised AIT deployment strategy.” The TSA more than doubled its planned deployment of the machines “in response to the December 25, 2009, attempted attack on Northwest flight 253,” says the GAO, even though “it remains unclear whether the AIT would have detected the weapon used.” [View GAO summary]

DHS Lags in Checking Data Center Invoices, Says Inspector General (Federal Computer Week) “Homeland Security Department officials haven’t reviewed invoices for more than $160 million in spending related to DHS’ primary data center operating on Navy property,” according to Federal Computer Week, citing a new report by DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner. “Also, DHS is paying too much rent to the Navy and has failed to include major elements in its interagency agreement, such as how much space it is renting and what percentage of shared costs it will absorb, according to the March 12 report. DHS officials set up the data center in 2005 in a former Naval munitions facility that required extensive renovation.” [View article] [View report (952KB PDF)]

DHS Reaches Out to Ethnic and Religious Groups (Government Security News) The Homeland Security Department is reaching out to “Arab American, Muslim, Sikh, Somali and South Asian communities in its effort to build trust and foster a two-way dialogue with these groups,” reports Government Security News, citing the testimony of Margo Schlanger, who is “in charge of the department’s “civil rights and civil liberties activities.” On Wednesday she “told members of the House Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittee on intelligence, information sharing, and terrorism risk assessment … that her office ‘has no operational role in disrupting terror plots’ and that her outreach to various community groups [does] ‘not involve source development or intelligence collection.’” [View article]

Other Federal News

Federal Protective Service Says Security Has Improved at Government Buildings (Washington Post) The Federal Protective Service announced Tuesday that it “has developed new training on X-ray machines and magnetometers for the almost 15,000 private security guards it employs” and has “reviewed the certifications of contract guards and increased spot inspections at guard posts,” reports the Post. (See the Statistics of the Week.) The improvements “follow a 2009 Government Accountability Office investigation that exposed serious security gaps at 10 major federal buildings” (see the July 10, 2009, newsletter). [View article]

State Dept. Upgrades Visa Security (Homeland Security Today) “After the Christmas bombing attempt, the State Department implemented a new search engine to check visa records, conducting searches that allow for variations in the spelling of names and differences in dates of birth, places of birth, and nationalities,” reports Homeland Security Today. Although “the father of suspected bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reported his son to the US Embassy in Nigeria in late November 2009 … US consular officials misspelled the name when checking his visa records.” However, a departmental “officer in Nigeria today would know Abdulmutallab was in possession of a US visa when his father reported him.” [View article]

DHS and Justice Dept. Streamline E-Verify Complaint System (Homeland Security Today) “The departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice Wednesday announced additional resources for employees and employers to clarify their rights and responsibilities under the E-Verify employment verification program, while DHS strives to improve the system’s accuracy,” reports Homeland Security Today. “DHS struck a deal with the Justice Department to streamline how the Office of Special Counsel for Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practice would handle cases of discrimination and abuse under E-Verify when an employee protests any misuse of the system. The memorandum of agreement also clarifies the interaction between the Justice Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which administers the program at DHS.” [View article]

National News

Terrorism: Not Necessarily Spectacular (StratFor Security Weekly) The attacks by individuals at the Pentagon and in Austin and Fort Hood in Texas look like terrorism, write Fred Burton and Ben West, citing the definition in the USA Patriot Act, which “does not include the magnitude of the violence involved in the attack … Terrorist attacks in the United States” over the past 100 years have included many events that “are no more violent or consequential than a common criminal incident—what sets them apart are the political motivations of their perpetrators.… Terrorist attacks also do not need to have foreign links,” nor do they “have to be part of a larger conspiracy.” [View article]

New Scholarship Encourages Government Service The Robertson Foundation for Government on Tuesday announced a new scholarship fund “to inspire, encourage and assist talented college graduate students” in pursuing careers in federal government service. Scholarships, graduate fellowships, mid-career training programs, and other initiatives will be funded with $7 million a year, emphasizing foreign affairs and international relations. [View press release (18KB PDF)]

State and Local News

Ground Zero Workers Settle Health Claims (New York Times) “A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of … rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero who sued the city over damage to their health,” reports the Times. “… the settlement would compensate about 10,000 plaintiffs according to the severity of their illnesses and the level of their exposure to contaminants at the World Trade Center site.… Payouts to the plaintiffs would come out of a federally financed insurance company with funds of about $1.1 billion that insures the city. At least 95 percent of the plaintiffs must accept its terms for it to take effect.” [View article]

Private-Sector News

Lionbridge Gets DHS Phone Interpretation Contract (Government Security News) Lionbridge Technologies of Waltham, MA, has won a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services contract for “for over-the-phone interpretation services,” reports Government Security News. Lionbridge “provides a wide range of language expertise, including the ability to support many rare languages, and qualified interpreters who possess security clearances as well as language skills.” [View article]

New Upcoming Events (Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page) National Preparedness and Response: Pandemic, Emergencies and Disaster (March 25; London) This conference will reiterate why advanced planning and readiness are essential if high-risk workplaces are to remain in action, services kept running, and business continuity maintained. Expert speakers will explore how improved planning can reduce social and economic effects, outlining current strategies and best practices to minimize disruption. A reflection on the nation’s response to the swine flu outbreak will ascertain which strategies and policies have worked well, and what has been learnt that will fortify future plans. A panel debate will discuss how agencies can work together to improve coordinated response and recovery plans in related emergencies. [View event website] (March 29-31; Vienna, VA) This conference on chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense will address industry standards and requirements, state and national preparedness, coordination response efforts among various departments and agencies, and research and development and future technologies and medicine (that is, vaccines). [View event website] 2010 Emergency Preparedness Conference (April 8-9; Washington, DC) The theme is “Emergency Preparedness Compliance 2010.” This conference brings together the best practices and case studies for “planning, maintaining, responding, executing and evaluating the six critical elements of emergency preparedness,” and it fulfills 13 continuing education contact hours. [View event website] (May 1-5; Las Vegas) This conference of the International Association of Fire Chiefs is for “fire-based” emergency medical service leaders who are pioneering change; it gives them a chance to connect with other key leaders, expand their EMS network, and share ideas with colleagues. [View event website] Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (May 2-5; Seattle) This year’s conference theme is “Defining Crisis Management 3.0.” It will look at the future of crisis management systems and consider how rapidly changing socio-technical environments are affecting the ways we respond to crises in our ever more interconnected world. [View event website] Chemical and Biological Medical Treatment Symposia (May 2-7; Spiez, Switzerland) These symposia will explore the scientific, medical, and policy aspects of chemical, biological, and radiological warfare and terrorism. They will consider the effects of such agents wrongly used or abused, intentional or accidental, on the community and individuals, military and civilian, and on the infrastructure of government. [View event website] Transformational Medical Technologies Initiative Partnership Symposium (May 3-4; Lansdowne, VA) The initiative was pioneered by the Defense Department in 2006 to better prepare and protect warfighters and the nation from emerging, genetically engineered, and unknown biothreat agents. Professionals from government, academia, and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are invited for a unique opportunity to learn about the initiative, network with the initiative’s performers, and discuss collaborative opportunities with the program, the state of medical countermeasure preparedness, and plans for enhancing national capabilities to respond to emerging and novel biological threats. [View event website] BioDefense 2010 (May 3-4; Washington, DC) This conference will evaluate the state of America’s biodefense readiness. Speakers will discuss strategy and policy, collaboration, detection and situational awareness, and consequence management. [View event website] Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction Symposium (May 5-6; Washington, DC) This year’s symposium will explore the administration’s emerging strategic approach to challenges involving weapons of mass destruction: explicating its key elements, considering the implications for practitioners, and assessing how it all adds up to a comprehensive blueprint for success. It will focus on recent and forthcoming reviews, including the Nuclear Posture Review, the Ballistic Missile Defense Review, and WMD aspects of the Quadrennial Defense Review as well as the National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats and ongoing chemical threat policy deliberations. [View event website] Disaster Forum (May 10-13; Banff, Alberta) This is a forum for professionals in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, supplemented with ongoing educational opportunities. [View event website] (May 11-13; Nashville, TN) The exposition is an opportunity for local, state, and federal public health and emergency preparedness practitioners and policy makers to discover the latest equipment, technologies and services. [View event website] (May 12-16; Nashville, TN) This training summit is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of participants and improve their capability to deliver public health and medical care services during disasters of any origin. This year’s theme is “Learning, preparing, and responding together.” [View event website] 8th UCLA Conference on Public Health and Disasters (Revisited) (May 16-19; Torrance, CA) This multi-disciplinary conference will bring together academicians, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers from public health, mental health, community disaster preparedness and response, social sciences, government, media, and non-governmental organizations to promote a dialogue and exchange of ideas between local health departments and others involved in improving emergency public health preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. [View event website] (May 17-18; Tallinn, Estonia) This conference brings together international experts from across the cyber-security sector in partnership with the Estonian Ministry of Defence. The event will examine the threats in cyberspace and offer the chance to take part in panel discussions and multiple-stream sessions. [View event website] (May 17-19; Baltimore) More than 50 speakers, along with over 15 conference sessions, panel discussions, and workshops, will address port and maritime security, inland waterway spills, liquefied natural gas, hazmats, and environmental concerns. The expo features 65+ exhibitors. [View event website] (May 19-23; Baltimore) The conference features top hazmat thinkers, strategists, and leaders as they share ideas and insights. The expo offers the chance to talk one on one with leading company representatives about the latest hazmat equipment and technology. [View event website] Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Consequence Management Conference (June 8-10; Chantilly, VA) The conference will provide a professional forum for decision makers and planners; develop a deeper understanding of capabilities, limitations, and challenges; and discuss how Defense Department supporting organizations can best provide integrated efforts to domestic and foreign lead federal agencies. [View event website] Homeland Security Conference (August 30–September 3; Monterey, CA) This year’s theme is “Security: Inside and Out—‘Are We Prepared?’” Among the issues it will cover are “border security challenges, the new and evolving cyber security threat, and delicately balancing our civil liberties.” [View event website]