National News

10 Years of the Homeland Security Newsletter This issue of the Homeland Security Newsletter marks the 10th anniversary of its publication. Conceived initially as the Homeland Defense Bulletin, the first issue was dated July 7, 2000. It has evolved into a publication that has borne witness to the tragic events of September 11, 2001; the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002; and the ongoing challenges over the past 9 years. During that time the newsletter has carried thousands of stories and links; featured hundreds of websites, quotes, and statistics; become a staple for reading on the broad topic of homeland security; and attracted thousands of subscribers to whom our thanks go for the constant feedback, comments, and suggestions. None of this could have been achieved, however, without the dedication, professionalism, and hard work of a small group of individuals who contributed in many ways to making the newsletter what it is today. They include Mark DeMier, John Wohlfarth, and Jennifer Crook. A special debt of gratitude also goes to both Steve Dunham, who has edited the newsletter for nearly all of the 10 years, and to Noëlle MacKenzie for her long-serving and dedicated work. Finally, I must pay special tribute to both Randy Larsen for overseeing the early years of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, under which name the newsletter was originally published, and to Ruth David, Ph.D., the CEO of Analytic Services Inc., whose insights and courage to launch both an institute and a weekly newsletter, covering a topic that few people had even heard of in 2000, were truly visionary. Thank you, and here is to the next 10 years and the security of our homeland, to which this newsletter, we hope, contributes. —Alan Capps

State and Local News

Justice Department Challenges Arizona Immigration Law (ABC News) “The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit [Tuesday] challenging Arizona’s new immigration law, which takes effect July 29.… on the grounds that immigration is under the purview of the federal government and that Arizona has overstepped its bounds,” reports ABC News. “Justice also claims that the law is too broad and could result in racial profiling and discrimination.” View article

Is It Really a Crime to Be an Illegal Immigrant in Arizona? (Phoenix Arizona Republic) “Arizona’s new immigration law” (see the April 30 newsletter) references “two provisions of federal law,” writes Robert Robb in the Republic. “The first requires that foreigners who are in the country legally must have their immigration documents in their possession at all times. The second provides penalties for willfully failing to register with the immigration service.… The document-possession violation … doesn’t apply to ‘a person who maintains authorization from the federal government to remain in the United States.’ Only people who are authorized will have such documents … refusing to register” has “been superseded by various registration and visa alternatives.… In all probability, no illegal immigrant can be proved to have violated this” section of the Arizona law. View commentary

No-Notice Drill Alarms Henderson, NV, Hospital (Las Vegas Sun) “Nurses were caring for 26 patients in the intensive care unit at St. Rose Dominican Hospital–Siena Campus, when a man, edgy and brandishing a handgun, appeared in a hall and began herding nurses, doctors and other employees into a break room” on May 24, reports the Sun. “… the handgun was not loaded. It was a terrorism training exercise. The role-playing gunman was an off-duty Metro Police officer. But no one told the staff.” On July 2, “the state Health Division said it may fine the hospital because patients were left unattended during those 15 minutes of terror.… The emergency drill was planned by the hospital’s heads of security, emergency management and the environmental care committee. Hospital employees had criticized previous drills as not being realistic.” View article • View state report (92KB PDF)

Central States Not Ready for a Big Quake, Says FEMA Study (Homeland Security Today) A new study by the University of Illinois, Impact of New Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquakes on the Central USA, commissioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “found that a 7.7 magnitude earthquake could leave at least 3,500 dead, more than 80,000 injured and render at least seven million temporarily homeless,” reports Homeland Security Today. “Particularly hard hit would be St. Louis and Memphis—the two largest cities near the” New Madrid, MO, fault. “Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri” would be directly impacted, and “emergency managers and first responders in the states and locales likely to be most affected by the potential earthquake were not ready to effectively respond.” View article • View report (6.6MB PDF)

International News

Britain Requires Reasonable Suspicion for Police to Stop and Search (London Guardian) “The police’s use of controversial counterterrorism stop and search powers against individuals is to be scrapped immediately, the home secretary announced” yesterday, reports the Guardian. “Under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, officers can stop and search anyone in a designated area without having to show reasonable suspicion. Interim operational guidelines to be issued to the police say that in [the] future section 44 powers will be used only to search vehicles, and officers will have to have grounds for suspecting they are being used in connection with terrorism.… The home secretary’s decision to scrap their use against individuals follows a ruling by the European court of human rights in January that the powers were unlawful because they were too broadly drawn and lacked sufficient safeguards to protect civil liberties.” (See the Jan. 15 newsletter.) View article

New York Subway Bomb Plot Linked to Britons (Yahoo! News) “A failed plot to set off bombs in the New York subway system last year was part of a larger al-Qaida terrorist conspiracy that planned a similar attack in England,” reports the Associated Press. “… In an indictment unsealed Wednesday … prosecutors added several al-Qaida figures to the case, including Adnan Shukrijumah, an FBI most-wanted terrorist. Shukrijumah, one of the al-Qaida leaders in charge of plotting attacks worldwide, was directly involved in recruiting and plotting the New York attack, prosecutors said.… The indictment added new terrorism charges against Adis Medunjanin, who already was awaiting trial in the subway case. It also named three other men—Abid Naseer, Tariq Ur Rehman and an alleged al-Qaida operative in Pakistan known only as ‘Ahmad.’” View article

Afghans in Special Immigrant Visa Program Not Properly Screened? (Homeland Security Today) “Allowing Afghans unbridled access to the United States” under the Special Immigrant Visa program “in part because they have been vetted by their country and shown to have no criminal record is ludicrous in light of the fact that record keeping in Afghanistan is virtually non-existent,” writes Godfrey Garner in Homeland Security Today. “An FBI check is also virtually useless since the FBI has had minimal oversight in Afghanistan and little access to these applicants.” View commentary

Al-Qaeda Publishes Inspire Magazine in English (Washington Times) The “online recruitment magazine” Inspire is “published by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” reports the Times. It “offers messages from Osama bin Laden on ‘the way to save the earth,’ from his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri to the ‘people of Yemen’ and from Mr. [Anwar] al-Awlaki to ‘the American people and Muslims in the West.’” View article

U.S. Can Now Request Europeans’ Bank Data (BBC) European Members of Parliament “have approved a new deal to allow US anti-terror investigators to access Europeans’ bank data,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “… the EU police agency Europol will assess whether specific data requests are necessary for the fight against terrorism before the data is sent to the US.” View article

China Mobilizes Emergency Flood Response (China Daily) The Chinese “Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters” yesterday began “emergency response, as floods hit parts of northwest China’s Qinghai Province,” reports the Xinhua News Agency. “A serious flood hit the Golmud River basin in Qinghai,” and “Wenquan Reservoir, a large reservoir filled by a tributary of the Golmud River, reported a dangerously high water level … The Office has dispatched a task force to the reservoir, as well as teams from Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality to fight the flood … At least 12 people are dead and three missing after torrential rains triggered flash floods.” (See the Statistics of the Week.) View article

Nuclear Nonproliferation Commission Wants Follow-on Group (Global Security Newswire) “A new international organization should be established to evaluate nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament efforts by various countries, the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament said at its last meeting,” on July 5, reports Global Security Newswire. “… The new organization’s mandate would extend beyond maintaining the provisions of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, said the panel, which called for the potential entity to help prepare a new treaty that would ban nuclear weapons.… In addition, the commission said nuclear-armed nations outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should be convinced to join the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and a future fissile material production pact.” View article

United Nations News

Private-Sector News

Natl. Security Agency Hires Raytheon to Create ‘Perfect Citizen’ Cyber-Shield (Wall Street Journal) The National Security Agency “is launching an expansive program dubbed ‘Perfect Citizen’ to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants,” reports the Journal. The program “would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, though it wouldn’t persistently monitor the whole system … Defense contractor Raytheon Corp. recently won a classified contract for the initial phase of the surveillance effort valued at up to $100 million.” View article

Railroad Technology Center Gets DHS Training Grant (Progressive Railroading) For the second year in a row, the Transportation Technology Center Inc.—“an Association of American Railroads subsidiary”—will receive a Homeland Security Department “grant for training state, local and tribal first responders at the Security and Emergency Response Training Center” in Pueblo, CO, reports Progressive Railroading. The technology center “is one of seven members of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium,” and the training center “manages and provides surface transportation response courses.” View article

DHS News

DHS Acquisition Needs Improvement, Says GAO The Homeland Security Department “continues to develop its acquisition oversight function and has begun to implement a revised acquisition management directive that includes more detailed guidance,” reports the Government Accountability Office. However, “DHS acquisition management processes do not inform budget decisions as required by DHS policy, and as a result DHS is at risk of failing to maximize resources and ultimately meet critical mission needs.… over half of the programs GAO reviewed initiated acquisition activities without approved key planning documents that set operational requirements and establish program baselines.” View GAO summary

Three Airports Get Recovery Act Grants Charlotte (NC) Douglas International Airport, Orlando (FL) International Airport, and St. Louis International Airport will get a total of $56 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to pay for inline baggage screening systems and expanded surveillance capabilities. View DHS press release

New Institute Abstracts Released Seven new one-paragraph abstracts of HOMELAND SECURITY STUDIES AND ANALYSIS INSTITUTE reports have been approved for public release by the Homeland Security Department. They are on the institute’s website:

1. A Notional Suspicious Activity Reporting Implementation Strategy for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, April 2010
2. Federal Emergency Management Agency Workforce Baseline Assessment, March 2010
3. Community Perceptions of Technology: Standoff Imaging, November 2009
4. Concept Development: Community-Based Countering Radicalization Initiatives in the United Kingdom, October 2009
5. Concept Development: Developing an Approach to Assess Tactical Deterrence, September 2009
6. Concept Development: A Notional Technology Readiness Assessment Process for Homeland Security Technology Assessment and Acquisition, September 2009
7. Concept Development: From Web 2.0 to AWW [America’s Waterway Watch] 2.0 Citizen Participation in Maritime Domain Awareness, August 2009

Other Federal News

Border-Crossing and Passport Cards Need Full Testing, Says GAO The State Department “developed a passport card and second generation” border-crossing card “that generally meet standards and guidance for international travel documents and include numerous, layered security features,” reports the Government Accountability Office. But the department “tested and evaluated the security of only prototypes of the passport card, which did not include … the background artwork, personalization features, and other security features that were added or changed for the final passport card. Moreover, State did not test the security of the second generation” border-crossing card “or the updated passport card … Fully testing” them “and addressing identified problems would provide State … a greater assurance that its cards are adequately secure.” View GAO summary

National Biosurveillance Needs a National Strategy and a Designated Leader, Says GAO “While national biodefense strategies have been developed to address biological threats such as pandemic influenza, there is neither a comprehensive national strategy nor a focal point with the authority and resources to guide the effort to develop a national biosurveillance capability,” reports the Government Accountability Office. “… complex interagency efforts, such as developing a robust, integrated, national biosurveillance capability, could benefit from an effective national strategy and a focal point with sufficient time, responsibility, authority, and resources to lead the effort.” View GAO summary

Obama Orders Security Ranking of Biological Agents (Global Security Newswire) President Obama on July 2 “issued an executive order that would rank the government’s directory of disease agents based on their threat to public health and increase physical security and personnel screening at U.S. biological research facilities,” reports Global Security Newswire. View article • View White House press release

Federal Appeals Court Frees Guantánamo Prisoner for Lack of Evidence (New York Times) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit “has sided with” Algerian Belkacem Bensayah—“a Guantánamo prisoner … who was arrested in Bosnia in 2001 and accused of helping people who wanted to travel to Afghanistan and join Al Qaeda …” reports the Times. “‘The government presented no direct evidence of actual communication between Bensayah and any Al Qaeda member, much less evidence suggesting Bensayah communicated with’ anyone else to facilitate travel by an Al Qaeda member, Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg wrote.” View article

NRC Reports on Security Inspection of Nuclear Facilities The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday published its annual report to Congress outlining the 2009 security inspection program. The commission conducted 179 security inspections at commercial power reactors, of which 24 were force-on-force inspections, which use a well-trained mock adversary force to test a facility’s ability to respond to the level of threat the facility is required to defend against. Most of the commission’s findings “were of very low security significance,” but “12 were of low to moderate security significance.” The report does not say which facilities had security shortfalls. View NRC press release • View report (619KB PDF)

HHS Grants Fund Hospital Preparedness and Emergency Response All states and territories and four large metropolitan areas—New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC—will receive grants totaling $390.5 million this month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help hospitals and other health care organizations strengthen the medical surge capability across the nation. View HHS press release

Education & Training The HOMELAND SECURITY STUDIES AND ANALYSIS INSTITUTE lists these education and training 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. Mass Shootings Planning and Response for Public Safety (August 2, Winston-Salem, NC; August 18, Greenville, NC) This is a four-hour planning and response course for law enforcement, special response teams, fire, emergency medical services, emergency management, and school and college officials. View course website (September 13-16; Washington, DC) This training for security and identity professionals presents the latest plans, solutions, and requirements for identity credentials to help attendees move to an integrated system and achieve results. It includes four pre-conference and post-conference workshops on identity management. View event website Transcaer Whistle Stop Tour (September 20, Mobile, AL; September 21, McIntosh, AL; September 22, Selma, AL; September 23, Jasper, AL; September 24, Muscle Shoals, AL) This event increases community understanding of the importance of emergency planning and hands-on training. Demonstrations and presentations focus on rail, truck, and chemical-specific information. The tour helps emergency responders to dialog about transportation topics such as tank car recognition and managing a hazmat incident. View event brochure Rail Tank Car Responder Training (November 16-17; Oakland, CA) This half-day training sponsored by Transcaer and Dow Chemical focuses on rail tank car anatomy and leak mitigation. View event website

New Upcoming Events (Events are listed for four weeks; after that, they are still on the Upcoming Events page) Networking to Critical Infrastructure Information Owners and Mission Operators to Share and Exchange Within and Across Boundaries (July 13; College Park, MD) This forum will discuss various perspectives on how the public and private industry organizations within each of the 18 critical infrastructure sectors can actively exchange information, rather than be isolated to information within their sector. This forum is designed to create a networking opportunity for public- and private-sector stakeholders interested in issues establishing accessibility to public safety and critical infrastructure information. View event website Australasian Hazards Management Conference (August 10-13; Wellington, New Zealand) This conference for emergency managers, planners, risk assessors, asset and utility managers, natural hazards researchers, and scientists provides a forum to discuss the integration of hazard information into effective risk management. Among the topics to be discussed: applying hazard information to best-practice planning, developing effective warning systems, improved response and recovery from events, and creating resilient communities through integrating science into practice. View event website Social Media 4 Responders (September 13-14; Charlotte, NC) Practitioners from the fire service, law enforcement, public health, and crisis and disaster response will present how and why their agencies and others are going directly to their communities using the Internet. They will walk participants through the latest developments in high-tech Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs to help participants’ organizations communicate with their target audiences. View event website California Emergency Services Assn. Conference and Training (September 14-17; Monterey, CA) This year’s theme is “Emergency Management—The Next Generation.” The gathering includes representatives from government agencies, utilities, academic institutions, and businesses of all types, nonprofits and faith agencies, as well as media, funders, and elected officials—leaders and practitioners in preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and protection in California. People with diverse expertise and interest in law, fire, public information, care and shelter, animal care, finance, logistics, public works, utilities, public policy, medical, public health, and volunteers are all welcome. View event website (September 15; Reading, England) This conference discusses the core elements of business resilience—business continuity, crisis communications, security, health and safety, and sustainability—to help strengthen the resilience and competitive advantage of British public limited companies by improving the resilience of the supply chain. View event website (September 20-23; Toulouse, France) This conference presents the latest research in infrared, electro-optical remote sensing, imaging, and more, bridging the divide between fundamental optical science and the application of the underpinning technologies in advanced security and defense systems. View event website 4th National Bio-Threat Conference (December 7-9; New Orleans) This conference will provide a forum for dialogue among government, industry, academia, and first responders to address critical issues in environmental sampling and bio-detection as well as special focus sessions on biosurveillance and microbial forensics. 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) IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defence Applications (April 11-15, 2011; Paris) The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is soliciting papers on these security topics for this symposium: surveillance; suspect behavior profiling; automated handling of dangerous situations or people; stationary or mobile object detection, recognition, and classification; air, maritime, and land security; and network security, biometrics security, and authentication technologies. The submission deadline is October 31. View call for papers NDRExpo & Conference (May 2-5, 2011; New Orleans) The conference is soliciting papers on a variety of topics involving emergency response, continuity, recovery, and mitigation. A complete list is available on the conference website. The deadline for submitting papers is July 30. View call for papers