National News

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Human Rights Coalition Says U.S. Secretly Imprisoned 39 (London Guardian) “A coalition of human rights groups has drawn up a list of 39 terror suspects it believes are being secretly imprisoned by U.S. authorities and published their names in a report released Thursday,” according to the Associated Press. “Information about the so-called ‘ghost detainees’ was gleaned from interviews with former prisoners and officials in the U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen … information for at least 21 of the detainees had been confirmed by two or more independent sources.” [View article]

Abusive Detainee Practices Were Detailed in Cold War Manual (Time) “Many of the controversial interrogation tactics used against terror suspects in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo were modeled on techniques the U.S. feared that the Communists themselves might use against captured American troops during the Cold War,” reports Time. “… tactics such as sleep deprivation, isolation, sexual humiliation, nudity, exposure to extremes of cold and stress positions were part of a carefully monitored survival training program for personnel at risk of capture by Soviet or Chinese forces.” The “disclosure was made in” a newly released report, “Review of DoD-Directed Investigations of Detainee Abuse.” [View article] [View report (4.11 MB PDF)]

Judges at Guantanamo Throw Out Two Cases (Yahoo! News) “The only two war-crimes trials against Guantanamo detainees fell apart in a single day, marking a stunning setback to Washington’s attempts to try dozens of detainees in military court,” reports the Associated Press. “Two military judges dismissed charges Monday against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.… In both of Monday’s cases, the judges ruled that the new legislation says only ‘unlawful enemy combatants’ can be tried by the military trials, known as commissions. But Khadr and Hamdan previously had been identified by military panels here only as enemy combatants, lacking the critical ‘unlawful’ designation.” [View article]

Could the U.S. Repel a Cyber-Attack? (Christian Science Monitor) “Repelling major attacks on critical national networks requires enormous coordination inside and outside government, as well as expensive research and preparation,” reports the Christian Science Monitor. “However, primary responsibility for this falls on a small group within the Department of Homeland Security”—the government’s computer emergency response team—that “operates on a tiny budget and with little clout.” [View article] [View Focus on CERT]

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International News

Turkey Declares ‘Security Zones’ on Iraqi Border (Miami Herald) “Turkey has declared several areas near the border with Iraq to be ‘temporary security zones’ in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign against Kurdish rebels,” reports the Associated Press. There has been “a Turkish military buildup on the border,” and Iraq “said hundreds of Turkish troops [had] crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas who launch raids into Turkey.” The security zones might “be off-limits to civilian flights,” or “additional security measures would be implemented, and entry into the regions would be restricted and tightly controlled.” [View article]

Russia Says Terrorists Tried to Get Nuclear Material (Malaysia Sun) “Russia’s antiterrorism committee believes it has evidence of terrorists trying to gain access to weapons of mass destruction,” reports the Sun. “The intelligence has come from a joint sharing arrangement with the United States.” [View article]

Radicalism Heating Up in the Caribbean (New York Daily News) “The rise of radical Islam in the Caribbean and Latin America is alarming U.S. counterterror officials and leaders in the region,” reports the Daily News. “… All four suspects in the [JFK bomb] plot had ties to the region.… the Caribbean is not home to major terror groups aside from Trinidad’s Jamaat al Muslimeen, but a ‘loose-knit’ confederation of extremists have found it easy to move around the tourist-friendly islands.… strife-torn Haiti … is considered” a weak point. “U.S. counterterror agents [are focusing] on Argentina, its notorious border with Paraguay and Brazil, and northern Chile,” and Lebanese Hezbollah reportedly is gaining a foothold in South America. [View article]

Australian Bird Flu Exercise Finds Flaws in Laws (Melbourne, Australia, Age) “Laws that enable governments to put people under home quarantine or force them to have a medical exam should be strengthened in preparation for a bird flu pandemic, says … an evaluation of a simulation exercise carried out late last year,” reports the Age. “… Exercise Cumpston involved the imagined outbreak of avian flu in a neighbouring country, the arrival of an aircraft carrying infected passengers and the spread of the infection in Australia. State and federal government agencies, hospitals, [general practice] surgeries and non-government organisations all took part.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda and Iraqi Sunni Group Declare Ceasefire (Washington Post) “A Sunni insurgent group that waged a deadly street battle last week against the rival group al-Qaeda in Iraq in a Sunni neighborhood of west Baghdad announced Wednesday that the two forces had declared a cease-fire,” reports the Washington Post. “… the groups did not want to spill Muslim blood or damage ‘the project of jihad.’” [View article]

ETA Calls Off Ceasefire (MSNBC) “The armed Basque separatist group ETA said Tuesday it has called off the cease-fire it declared last year, setting the stage for a resumption of attacks,” reports the Associated Press. ETA had “called the truce permanent and said it wanted a negotiated end to the nearly 40-year conflict, which has left more than 800 people dead.” [View article]

Australians Big on Internet Bomb-Making (Melbourne, Australia Herald Sun) “Five Australian cities rate in the top 10 English-speaking cities for Google searches on bomb-making,” reports the Herald Sun. “… Counter-terrorism associate professor Nick O’Brien said … criminal elements including bikie gangs, could be responsible for the search numbers recorded, but the results were significant and a terrorist attack could happen in Australia.” [View article]

Angry Aceh Residents Disable Tsunami Warning System (Reuters AlertNet) “Angry residents in Indonesia’s Aceh have disabled a tsunami warning system after a false alarm spread panic in a province still traumatised by the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,” reports Reuters. The siren rang “for about 30 minutes in Aceh Besar district on Monday, sending residents rushing out of their homes in panic.” [View article]

U.S. Pays $10 Million Reward for Killing Philippines’ Top Terror Suspects (Tacoma, WA, News Tribune) “The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward [Thursday] to four Filipino informants whose tip led to the killing of the country’s two top terror suspects,” reports the Associated Press. “… The U.S. promised a reward of up to $5 million each for Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was slain in a September clash on southern Jolo island, and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, who was killed on Jolo in January.” [View article]

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United Nations News

Africa Falling Short of Anti-Poverty Goals Despite faster growth and strengthened institutions, Africa is not on track to meet the world’s shared goals for fighting poverty in all its forms, Deputy UN Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said Wednesday, urging international support for the continent. “The number of countries on track to achieving the [Millennium Development Goals] is zero,” said Guido Schmidt-Traub, head of the goals support team. [View press release]

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Heralding Unheard Voices The Homeland Security Institute report Heralding Unheard Voices (a 974k PDF) looks at how faith-based organizations and secular nongovernmental organizations stepped in to fill the gaps when the geographic scales, intensities, and durations of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita overwhelmed the existing disaster response resources. They undertook a surprisingly large, varied, and demanding set of activities with extraordinary effectiveness. They provided shelter, food, medical services, hygiene services, mental health and spiritual care, physical reconstruction, logistics management and services, transportation, children’s services, and case management. By studying their successes, we can learn lessons that may make the nation better prepared for, and thus more responsive to, such disasters. For further information on this report, please contact Peter Hull.

DHS News

DHS Adds Homeland Security Graduate Education in West Virginia The Homeland Security Department is increasing homeland security graduate education opportunities for government officials with the DHS Homeland Security Academy at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Eastern Management Development Center in Shepherdstown, WV. The master’s degree program is taught, and the degree awarded, by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. All classes have local, state, and federal government officials from public health, law enforcement, fire, emergency management, and other disciplines. [View press release]

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Other Federal News

CIA Declassifies 420,00 Pages of Records The Central Intelligence Agency delivered more than 420,000 additional pages of redacted declassified electronic records to the National Archives and Records Administration. The declassified records are hosted on the CIA Records Search Tool (CREST), an electronic search and retrieval system that now includes more than 10 million pages of records declassified under Executive Order 12958. [View press release]

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State and Local News

States Oppose Real ID for Employment The National Conference of State Legislatures objects to expanding “the ‘official purpose’ of the Real ID to include securing employment.” Texas Senator Leticia Van de Putte, president of the conference, in a letter sent Wednesday to U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia), pointed out that substitute amendment 1150 to the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 “requires all citizens to present either a” Real ID–compliant driver’s license or identification or a U.S. passport “to establish both employment authorization and identity in order to be hired by an employer.” She pointed out that “only one of the five databases necessary for document verification is” available nationally. [View letter]

Four Charged in NYC Terror Plot (Boston Globe) “Federal authorities announced [on June 2] they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a ‘chilling’ attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods,” reports the Associated Press. “… In an indictment charging the four men”—Russell Defreitas, Abdul Kadir, Kareem Ibrahim, and Abdel Nur—“one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would ‘cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,’ destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of New York’s borough of Queens, where the line runs underground.… Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK air cargo employee, said the airport named for the slain president was targeted because it is a symbol that would put ‘the whole country in mourning.’” [View article]

Army Helps States Fill National Guard Gaps (DefenseLink) The Army is “issuing or loaning 2,600 pieces of equipment to a handful of coastal states, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands” because they “are in the paths of potentially deadly hurricanes,” reports American Forces Press Service. The equipment will “help fill shortages identified by National Guard commanders.” [View article]

700 Responders Get FEMA Equipment Training in New Orleans Last week, more than 700 emergency responders from 47 states and Puerto Rico traveled to New Orleans to receive training on equipment their departments will receive through the Federal Emergency Management Agency fiscal year 2006 Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program. Representatives from 19 departments received accelerated training and equipment delivery because they were located in areas at high risk of hurricanes, tornadoes, or wildfires. (Fiscal year 2006 ended September 30, 2006.) [View press release]

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Private-Sector News

Security Delays Are Off the Clock, Court Rules (Miami Herald) “An appellate court [has] ruled that construction workers at Miami International Airport could not charge their employer for time spent on parking-lot shuttles and clearing security checkpoints to get to their job site,” reports the Miami Herald. “… Citing the 1947 Portal-to-Portal Act, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that found these steps … were not an ‘integral and indispensable’ part of the employees’ job.” [View article]

TSA to Use Boeing Risk-Assessment Tool (Government Computer News) The Transportation Security Administration will enter “a no-fee agreement with Boeing” to “use its Monte Carlo simulation model ‘to identify U.S. commercial aviation system vulnerabilities against a wide variety of attack scenarios,’” reports Government Computer News. “The Monte Carlo method refers to several ways of using randomly generated numbers fed into a computer simulation many times to estimate the likelihood of an event.” [View article]

Facial Recognition Technology Much Improved (Government Computer News) A “Face Recognition Vendor Test sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology … showed improvements in recognition accuracy of an order of magnitude, or 10 times better than in the previous test in 2002,” reports Government Computer News. “… the accuracy of face recognition software was documented to exceed that of humans.… As camera resolutions, image preprocessing and face recognition algorithms improve, the technology becomes capable of performing more sophisticated tasks.” Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom “are moving much more aggressively than the United States on implementing face recognition technologies—particularly for surveillance,” reports Government Computer News in another story. [View 1st article] [View 2nd article]

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Dual-Benefit Solutions

Balloons May Help Protect Tunnels (USA Today) “Homeland Security officials seeking to counter terrorist bombs in subway and highway tunnels are hoping to use inflatable balloons, giant plugs and blast-resistant liners that could protect the nation’s transit systems from underground fires and floods,” reports USA Today. “The new program, dubbed ‘Resilient Tunnel,’ aims to address post-9/11 concerns that terrorists will target vulnerable tunnels, trapping and killing countless commuters, flooding cities and causing billions of dollars of damage.” [View article]

Robot to Rescue the Injured (BBC) “The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear-style head to help carry injured soldiers away from the battlefield,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) can scoop up even the heaviest of casualties and transport them over long distances over rough terrain.… It is expected to be ready for testing within five years.… other potential applications for the robot technology” include “helping move heavy patients in” hospitals. [View article]

Can Science Fiction Beat bin Laden? (London Daily Express) “Science fiction writers have been recruited to give the US Department of Homeland Security the upper hand in the war on terror,” reports the Express. “After a damning indictment of America’s intelligence community following 9/11—the official commission accused the authorities of a ‘failure of imagination’—orders were given to prevent another outrage by using lateral thinking. The answer was to turn to Sigma—a group of America’s best-selling science fiction writers pledged to defend the country with sheer imagination. Intelligence chiefs have given the visionaries the simple briefing of ‘think the unthinkable’, to stop terrorists repeating the horrors of the 9/11 attacks.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive

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Education The Homeland Security 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. Identifying and Controlling Human Infections and Illness Associated With Avian Influenza (online) This three-day training course sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists provides a standardized curriculum to state and local public-health responders. [View press release] [View course website] Mirror Image (June 17-22; Moyock, NC) Mirror Image is an intensive classroom and field training program, designed to realistically simulate terrorist recruiting, training techniques, and operational tactics. Participants will receive insight into the mindset and rationale of terrorists through hands-on experience with the methods and means they use, plus education about the ideologies that motivate them and cultural dimensions that influence their decision making. [View course website] C-TPAT Enrollment Seminar (June 27-29; Mexico City) U.S. Customs and Border Protection will hold a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Enrollment Seminar at the Camino Real Hotel. [View seminar website] Combating Bioterrorism/Pandemics: Implementing Policies for Biosecurity (July 23-25; Cambridge, MA) The course will address impediments to organizational change, the U.S. postal anthrax outbreaks, rethinking the public health approach, the smallpox immunization program, expanding the law enforcement approach, biological weapons and national security, the case of the Ebola virus, the new focus on vaccine development, swine flu, SARS, and avian flu. [View course website] Physical Security for Facilities (July 24-25; Millington, TN) This course teaches risk management techniques, how to identify and implement cost-effective security solutions, basic defense measures, how to develop countermeasures, and how to create a security plan. [View course website] Radiological Emergency Planning: Terrorism, Security, and Communication (August 7-10; Boston) The course will examine the latest principles and regulatory requirements for responding to a radiological emergency and the newest roles and rules from federal and state agencies regarding emergency preparedness for terrorist activities, the new federal framework for homeland security, terrorist incidents involving radioactive materials, lessons learned in communicating with the media and public, and updates on emergency preparedness issues for nuclear utilities. [View course website]

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