U.S. Resumes Military Financing for Indonesia The United States will resume selected areas of military assistance for Indonesia and provide assistance for specific military programs and units that will help modernize the Indonesian military, provide further incentives for reform of the Indonesian military, and support U.S. and Indonesian security objectives, including counterterrorism, maritime security, and disaster relief. [View press release]

International Coordination and Outreach Strategy to Enhance Maritime Security Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month signed an International Outreach and Coordination Strategy to Enhance Maritime Security. It will foster coordination of U.S. maritime security activities with foreign governments and international organizations and solicit international support for a strengthened global maritime security framework. The strategy follows the directive of the National Strategy for Maritime Security, approved by President Bush in late September, to prevent the maritime domain from being used by terrorists, criminals, and hostile states to commit acts of terrorism and criminal or other unlawful or hostile acts against the United States. [View press release] [View Coordination Strategy]

HHS Supports Digital Health Recovery for the Gulf Coast The Department of Health and Human Services has entered two agreements with organizations that will plan and promote the widespread use of electronic health records in the Gulf Coast regions affected by this year’s hurricanes. The agreement with the Southern Governors’ Association will bring together local and national resources and coordinate the planning for a digital health information recovery, and the agreement with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals will help with the development of a prototype of health information sharing and electronic health record support that can be replicated throughout the region. [View press release]

Nuclear Facilities’ Response to Katrina Was Good, Says NRC The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has created a task force to continue assessing preparations for and response to the 2005 hurricane season, focusing especially on agency actions related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their effects on nuclear power plants in Louisiana and Florida. “Our response to this year’s hurricane season was very good. We are pleased with how our staff handled the storms and interacted with affected states and licensees,” said Melvyn Leach, the task force team leader and an official in the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. “We are always looking for ways to do better. We want to apply lessons learned here to incidents other than those involving hurricanes.” [View press release]

U.S. Foreign Counterterror Efforts Need Better Planning, Says GAO “The U.S. government lacks an integrated strategy to coordinate the delivery of counter-terrorism financing training and technical assistance to countries vulnerable to terrorist financing,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday. It recommended that the State and Treasury departments develop “an integrated strategic plan and a Memorandum of Agreement for the delivery of training and technical assistance.” The report noted that the State Department disagreed with some of the recommendations and that the Treasury Department faces two accountability issues in its efforts to block terrorist assets. [View highlights]

Air Marshals Could Use Improved Planning and Controls, Says GAO To ensure the smooth transfer of the Federal Air Marshal Service back from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau to the Transportation Security Administration in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security needs to “adopt key practices for successful mergers and transformations,” including “an overall strategy with implementation goals and milestones and a communication strategy,” according to a report by the Government Accountability Office to Congressman Peter DeFazio. The report also recommended that the service “improve management controls for recording, tracking, and addressing mission incidents and communicating the outcome of actions taken to address them.” [View highlights]

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National News

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‘Enemy Combatant’ Padilla Indicted (Yahoo! News) “Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held in a Navy brig as an enemy combatant for more than three years, was charged [on 22 November] with being part of a North American terror cell that sent money and recruits overseas to ‘murder, maim and kidnap,’” reports the Associated Press. “However, absent from the indictment were the sensational allegations made earlier by top Justice Department officials: that Padilla sought to blow up U.S. hotels and apartment buildings and planned an attack on America with a radiological ‘dirty bomb.’” [View article]

Bush Unveils ‘Strategy for Victory’ in Iraq (Washington Post) “President Bush laid out his administration’s vision [Wednesday] for winning the war in Iraq, acknowledging that the U.S. military has suffered ‘setbacks’ but asserting that it is making unmistakable progress in training Iraqi security forces—a mission he vowed will not be cut short by political pressures on the homefront,” reports the Washington Post. A “35-page document outlining his administration’s strategy for winning the war,” the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, “says that the administration is working toward winning the war on three fronts: by training Iraqi security forces, by helping the nation establish a democracy, and by targeting economic development and rebuilding efforts in areas of the country cleared of insurgents.” [View article]

Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans (Washington Post) A 19 October raid “in Sarajevo confirmed a suspicion among several intelligence agents that Bosnia and other parts of the Balkans are becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks in Europe,” reports the Washington Post. “In particular, Islamic radicals are looking to create cells of so-called white al Qaeda, non-Arab members who can evade racial profiling used by police forces to watch for potential terrorists.” [View article]

Two Avian-Flu Deaths in Indonesia Not Linked to Birds (Bloomberg) “Two Indonesian women who died from avian influenza [last] month had no known contact with flu-infected birds, said a doctor at a hospital that treated one of the patients,” reports Bloomberg. “‘It remains unclear how the two people contracted the disease,’ said Ilham Patu, 47, a medical officer with Sulianti Saroso, one of two hospitals in Jakarta designated to treat bird-flu cases. A government investigation found no fowl or other birds were infected with the bird-flu virus near their homes, Patu said.” [View article]

More Sophisticated Cyber-Attacks Are Likely (ComputerWorld) “The cyberattacks of recent years have been relatively unsophisticated and inexpensive compared to the potential of organized attacks, an information security expert said” Tuesday at E-Gov Institute’s Security Conference in Washington, DC, reports IDG News Service. “Organized attacks by teams of hackers that have members with expertise in business functions and processes—as well [as] the rudimentary access and coding expertise that many current attackers have—could have a huge impact on a nation’s economy, said Scott Borg, director of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, an agency supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” [View article]

Justice Dept. Disputes Report on FBI ‘National Security Letters’ (Washington Post) “The Justice Department has criticized as misleading and inaccurate a Washington Post report about the FBI’s expanded power to collect the private records of ordinary Americans while conducting terrorism and espionage investigations,” reports the Washington Post. The 6 November article detailed the FBI’s use of “national security letters [to] allow investigators to secretly scrutinize some records of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies.… Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella said that the report contained ‘distortions and factual errors.’ He presented a 17-point rebuttal to what he variously described as inaccurate claims, insinuations and implications, either by The Post or by critics quoted in the article.” [View article]

CDC Plans to Track Travelers and Quarantines (Government Health IT) “Battling a pandemic disease such as avian flu requires the ability to quickly track sick people and anyone they have contacted. In response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have proposed new federal regulations to electronically track more than 600 million U.S. airline passengers a year traveling on more than 7 million flights through 67 hub airports,” reports Government Health IT. The regulations “would require airlines, travel agents and global reservations systems to collect personal information that exceeds the quantity of information currently collected by the Transportation Security Administration or the Homeland Security Department.” The CDC will accept public comments for 60 days. The CDC also “plans to use a secure, Web-based system to track people who are isolated or quarantined in accordance with new rules the agency announced Nov. 22.” [View travel article] [View quarantine article]

Defense Dept. Helps Secure Former Soviet Anti-Plague Sites (Government Executive) “The Defense Department has been increasingly engaged in efforts to secure from proliferation dozens of former Soviet pathogen collection and research stations,” reports Global Security Newswire. “… Still, most of the ‘antiplague system’ institutes and regional and field stations across 11 former Soviet states lack sufficient safety and security and their scientists on average are poorly paid.… The Pentagon has budgeted $61 million for security at facilities in six countries in fiscal 2006.” [View article]

Detainee Strategy Avoids Court Tests (New York Times) “The government has yet to settle on a consistent strategy for holding and punishing people it says are terrorists,” according to the New York Times. “Its efforts remain a work in progress, notable for false starts and a reluctance to have the executive branch’s broadest claims tested in the courts.” The transfer of Jose Padilla from the Defense Department to the Justice Department is an example that, “the administration says, renders Mr. Padilla’s appeal to the Supreme Court moot.” However, “a federal appeals court threw up a surprise obstacle on Wednesday to the Bush administration’s plan to transfer Jose Padilla from military custody to face terrorism charges in a civilian court. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., issued a brief order suggesting it might withdraw an earlier opinion that gave President Bush sweeping powers to detain Mr. Padilla, an American, indefinitely without trial.” And last month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether the government can try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [View Supreme Court article] [View Appeals Court article]

Agency Networks Face Cyber-Threats From Within (Government Computer News) “Agency networks are more vulnerable than ever, according to a former CIA official and cybersecurity expert, and the greatest threat to an organization’s network security may come from within,” reports Government Computer News. “Eric Cole, who worked for the CIA for more than five years, … said an emerging threat for organizations is that the emphasis on thwarting outside attacks and tracing their origins has led them to overlook the insider threat,” but he cautioned that employees have been falsely accused of network sabotage, having been framed by the inside saboteurs. [View article]

Bush Tries Balancing Act on Illegal Immigration (Reuters) “President George W. Bush on Monday tried to balance differences in his own Republican Party over illegal immigration by rejecting amnesty and calling for a hardened Mexico border but also vowing the United States would remain ‘a welcoming society,’” reports Reuters. “… Bush portrayed his proposed temporary worker program—which many Republicans say rewards lawbreakers and provides ‘backdoor amnesty’—as a way to relieve pressure on enforcement” by offering “the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States the chance to register and work—mostly at low-skilled jobs Americans don’t want—for up to six years. They must then return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.” [View article]

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International News

Ottawa Light Rail photo

Canada Plans Rail Transit Security Initiatives (Transport Canada) Canada will fund a $110 million Immediate Action Plan to enhance the security of high-volume commuter rail and public transit systems in six urban areas: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The financial assistance is based on a targeted, risk-management approach. Operators in other communities will be eligible for assistance to carry out security assessments and develop plans. [View press release]

Sydney, Australia, Airport Security Cards Missing (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “Hundreds of security cards giving people access to restricted areas at Sydney Airport in Australia are lost or stolen each year,” reports the Australian Associated Press. Thousands of Aviation Security Identification Cards “were issued every year to people who work in restricted areas at Sydney airport, including the airstrip and baggage rooms.” “Australia’s largest airline [Qantas] could not account for 384 of the cards [that went missing] over the past two years.” Although the airline disabled a security card when it was reported missing so that it could not pass electronic access systems, “the card could still be used to get into areas that were” guarded by people. [View article]

Philippines and Australia Sign Pact Against Terrorists and Illegal Immigrants (Manila [Philippines] Times) The Philippines “Bureau of Immigration has signed an agreement with its Australian counterpart to pool their resources in fighting terrorism and human trafficking,” reports the Manila Times. The agreement calls “for bilateral cooperation to stop the movement of foreign terrorists and illegal immigrants across their borders,” and the countries will “continuously exchange information on such matters as the issuance of passports and visas, border management, immigration-law enforcement, intelligence gathering and control of irregular migration.… [and will] facilitate the immediate deportation of their nationals who might be arrested for illegal migration.” [View article]

Website Gave Blueprint for Terror (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “Australian Federal Police are investigating a website linked to the Jemaah Islamiah group that tells would-be terrorists how to attack westerners,” reports the Australian Associated Press. “The website, called Anshar El Muslimin, warns of attacks at … locations across Jakarta, including shopping centres, sports venues, hotels and the zoo. It showed detailed maps and attack sites and escape routes, singling out the Kuningan area where the Australian embassy, International Trade Centre and Marriott hotel are located.” The website, “which has since been shut down,” advised “attacks in lunch areas, overhead walkways and traffic snarls, where westerners would be trapped in their vehicles.” [View article]

EU Official Urges Halt of European Passenger Data Transfer to DHS (Government Computer News) “European airlines should stop providing passenger information to the Homeland Security Department, a top official of the European Union’s highest court says, because the legal basis for the data transfers is inadequate,” reports Government Computer News. “Phillipe Leger, advocate general of the European Court of Justice, has recommended annulment of a May 2004 trans-Atlantic agreement permitting the European passenger data to be shared with Customs and Border Protection as an anti-terrorism measure.” [View report]

European Charity Funds May Have Been Diverted to Palestinian Terrorists (New Zealand Herald) “Millions of euros donated by European charities to help the Palestinian poor were diverted to fund terror and support the families of suicide bombers, Israeli prosecutors have claimed,” reports the Auckland, New Zealand, Independent. “… The charge sheet named British charities Human Appeal International and Interpal, the French CBST, the Italian ABSPT and the Al Aqsa Foundation, which operates in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.” [View article]

Japanese Disposal of Chemical Weapons Moves Into High Gear (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) “The chemical weapons that Japan’s imperial army forces abandoned in China during the closing days of World War II are a ticking time bomb. Periodically, one of the weapons leaks its deadly toxic load with tragic results. Now, after years of attempting to clean up the mess, Tokyo is gearing up to build a facility to safely dispose of the ordnance,” reports the Asahi Shimbun. “The project is monumental, and technically, Japan is obliged to finish the job by April 2007.” [View article]

Malaysia and Singapore Will Continue Jointly Countering Terrorism and Extremism (Malaysia Star) “Malaysia and Singapore will maintain the excellent cooperation between the various security agencies of both countries to combat threats of terrorism and extremism,” reports the Star. Malaysia’s “Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said it was important for both countries to give a clear signal that the existing level of cooperation must continue so that the respective agencies would respond appropriately.” [View article]

Air Travelers Still Packing Forbidden Objects (Calgary [Alberta] Herald) “Many air travellers are still shoving all kinds of forbidden items into their carry-on luggage,” reports CanWest News Service. “So far this year, passengers across the country have had 450,000 items seized”—including water pistols, tools, knives, scissors, clubs, bats, bludgeons, and flammable irritants. [View article]

EU, Israel, and Arabs Endorse Antiterror Code (CNN) “The European Union, Israel and its Arab neighbors endorsed an anti-terrorism code of conduct Monday after overcoming differences at a fractious two-day summit,” reports the Associated Press. They “reiterated their ‘total condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and [their] determination to eradicate it.’” [View article]

Interpol and UN to Test Readiness for Terrorist Attack (Reuters) “Interpol will hold a global simulation under the auspices of the United Nations to test the world’s readiness to deal with a natural disaster or terrorist attack,” reports Reuters. The tabletop exercise is “likely to happen in New York early next year. Representatives from police forces and international organizations such as the World Health Organization and Civil Aviation Authority would take part.” [View article]

Terrorists Plan to Bomb Embassies in Philippines (Alto Broadcasting System–Chronicle Broadcasting Network, Philippines) Philippine “Intelligence officials on Tuesday” confirmed that “that members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jema’ah Islamiyah are out [to] ‘detonate 1,000 kilos of super bomb’ targeting embassies, particularly the US Embassy,” reports ABS-CBN. “… retired Gen. Cesar Garcia, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, explained that the terrorists have manufactured ‘an improvised explosive device.’” [View article]

U.S. Terror Expert Can Return to Indonesia (Reuters) “An American expert on terrorism in Southeast Asia”—Sidney Jones, Indonesia director of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group—“said on Tuesday she would be allowed back to live in Indonesia after being expelled last week,” reports Reuters. Indonesian “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said she had been expelled because of a previous administration’s decision that had not been updated by immigration authorities.” Jones had been “expelled in June 2004 under the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri after a series of hard-hitting reports on terrorism in Indonesia. In July this year, she was allowed back to live in Jakarta.” [View article]

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State and Local News

States Adjust Disaster Plans for Elderly (Stateline) “In the hurricane zone and beyond, state aging departments and emergency responders are drawing a lesson from storm death tolls and are updating their disaster plans to make special arrangements for the elderly,” reports Stateline. “More than half of Hurricane Katrina’s 1,000-plus fatalities were over age 50,” and now “advocates for the elderly are putting the issue before state legislatures, and Congress has called on experts to explain what went wrong and what went right during this summer’s catastrophic storms.” [View article]

Bioterrorism Drill at Los Angeles Sports Arena (NBC-TV, Washington, DC) Almost 750 “first responders conducted a bioterrorism drill [on 17 November] at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, simulating a biological attack or pandemic,” reports NBC-TV. “County health officials, local politicians, police and firefighters were all involved in testing the county’s Cities Readiness Initiative Plan.” The plan—“funded through a $2 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”—tests whether medication can be provided “to those in jeopardy within 48 hours of an outbreak.” [View article]

Virginia Receives National Emergency Accreditation (Government Technology) Virginia has become the fifth state “to receive full accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program,” reports Government Technology. Arizona, Florida, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia have also been accredited. [View article]

California Says It’s Shortchanged in Homeland Security Funding (Whittier, CA, Daily News) “Maine, Vermont and other small states have out-muscled California this year in the wrestling match for anti-terrorism funding, forcing target-rich states to temporarily abandon their quest to allocate homeland security money based on risk,” according to the Whittier Daily News. “Lawmakers and lobbyists fighting to direct more money to Los Angeles said last week that when the USA Patriot Act comes up for reauthorization next month it will retain the same formula to distribute an estimated $2.9 billion in grants to police, firefighters and other first responders. It’s a formula that gives Wyoming several times more funds per capita than California.” [View article]

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Private-Sector News

Businesses Rethink Disaster Recovery (Nashville [TN] Business Journal) “For most businesses, information technology is a core operating priority, and it should be a focus in the overall recovery plan,” writes Ned Ramage, a certified information security consultant, in the Nashville Business Journal. “Unfortunately, many crisis plans assume the use of technology that fails in a disaster.… it’s vital to have a written plan developed by a management team that authorizes people to take action using information compiled and made available for use in an emergency.” [View article]

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Upcoming Events

December

4th North American Cargo Security Forum (5-6 December; Washington, DC) Attendees will hear the latest government updates and regulations compliance, loss prevention strategies, and how to develop a comprehensive security program to reduce their exposure to terrorist threats and cargo crime. The latest technological and physical security solutions will be on show in a dedicated exhibition. Security and loss-prevention executives from Fortune 1000 retailers and manufacturers, cargo security executives from all modes of transport, freight forwarders, port authorities and terminal and warehouse operators, government officials, and federal state law enforcement will be there. [View conference website]

National Infrastructure Fortification Strategies 2005 (5–7 December; Miami) This conference will produce a requirements and solution domain document for use by industry and government that can guide the refinement and development of specific solution domains to the challenge of protecting and increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure. A keynote speaker is Robert Stephan, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection. [View conference website]

2006

Airport Security Planning Courses for General Aviation (13-14 February, Columbus, OH) Ohio University and Robinson Aviation will hold two courses for general aviation facilities. For further information, please visit www.ohiou.edu/gasecurity/. [View course website]

5th Annual Critical Infrastructure Resilience & Infrastructure Security for the Built Environment Congress & Expo (15-17 February 2006; Washington, DC) This event will bring together government and industry officials from around the world to discuss and formulate solutions to protect the homeland. Issues such as physical security, cyber-security, standards, interoperability, biometrics, threat and vulnerability assessments, research and development efforts, and first responder requirements will be discussed. [View conference website]

Radiological Device and Nuclear Event Symposium (7–9 March; Richmond, VA) The symposium will be a forum for government and industry to discuss radiological and nuclear threat materials, their specific hazards, and capabilities for detection, protection, decontamination, and medical response; present results from recent Defense Dept. and Homeland Security Dept. research and development studies; display new equipment, software, algorithms, and procedures for dealing with radiological and nuclear incidents. Contact Joseph Roehl at (540) 729-3927 or jroehl@scentczar.com. [View conference website]

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