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National News
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Bush Signs Homeland Security Bill (USA Today) “President Bush signed legislation [on August 3] that intensifies the anti-terrorism effort at home, shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding scrutiny of air and sea cargo,” reports the Associated Press. “The bill elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which states and cities get federal security funds. That would mean more money for such cities as New York and Washington. It also puts money into a new program to ensure that security officials at every level can communicate with each other. It requires screening of all cargo on passenger p***s within three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports.” [View article]
Bush Signs Expanded Wiretap Bill (Baltimore Sun) “President Bush signed a bill [Sunday] expanding the powers of spy agencies to carry out wiretap activities in the United States without a court warrant,” reports the Baltimore Sun. “The measure … gives the National Security Agency and other agencies broader authority to monitor phone conversations, e-mail and other private communications that are part of a foreign intelligence investigation. It was approved by Congress with surprising swiftness, amid warnings from the Bush administration about a new gap in the nation’s terrorism defenses and criticism from opponents who called it an erosion of the privacy rights of ordinary Americans. It revises a 1978 law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has been amended at least eight times since 2001.” [View article]
Hospitals Are Shutting Down Burn Centers (Hartford [CT] Courant) “U.S. hospitals are increasingly shutting down their burn centers in a trend experts say could leave the nation unable to handle widespread burn casualties from a fiery terrorist attack or other major disaster,” reports the Associated Press. “… Experts say burn centers are expensive to maintain and often lose money because they are staffed with highly specialized surgeons and nurses and stocked with sophisticated equipment designed to ease patients’ excruciating pain, fend off deadly complications and promote healing. The number of burn centers in the U.S. has dropped from 132 in 2004 to 127, and burn beds have fallen from 1,897 to 1,820.” [View article]
Natl. Guard Troops Are Leaving the Border Early (Washington Times) “National Guard troops assigned to help increase security along the U.S.-Mexico border are being pulled off the line a year earlier than promised …” reports the Washington Times. “‘The drawdown of Operation Jump Start’s strength level is ill-timed and should be halted and re-examined,’ Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wrote in a letter last week to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.” She “said President Bush’s deployment of the Guard troops in her state had ‘made real progress’ in cutting the number of people sneaking illegally into the country, and noted that the Border Patrol is not yet up to the manpower totals promised by the presidentially mandated program. The reductions, which began July 1 and will be completed by Sept. 1, will result in a cut of Guard troops in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas from 6,000 to 3,000--half of that promised by Mr. Bush in 2006.” [View article]
Coping With Terrorism: Lessons From Britain and Israel Leonard Cole and Toby Harnden discussed this topic in a Policy Forum at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last week: “Following Israel’s example, national mandates for preparedness measures, such as drills, should be issued and enforced by observers. Neighboring communities can work together to create a much larger safety net than they would have independently in the event of a terrorist attack.” The British learned in Northern Ireland that “overwhelming force and force protection measures are not always the best option; sometimes it is better to take on more dangerous operations that minimize civilian casualties.” [View report]
Emergency Notification Systems Must Be Versatile (Government Computer News) “Emergency notification systems can alert the right people, no matter where they are, in a variety of formats,” reports Government Computer News. An effective “emergency notification system has four major elements:” it must be able “to track recipients and” their communication devices, “specify who has authority to create and broadcast alerts,” determine “which device to try [if] the first one fails and … help manage preconfigured response” messages, and “ensure connections to most of the devices that need to be reached.… The field’s one real standard is the Common Alerting Protocol”--it “defines a standard message format so disparate systems can talk to one another and the Federal Emergency Alert System while creating a common database of events that can be analyzed for suspicious activity.… The emerging frontier seems to be in generating alerts from monitoring devices, such as temperature sensors at nuclear plants, tsunami detectors, stress sensors on dams and door alarms at other high-value facilities.” [View article]
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International News
30% of Arms Given to Iraq Are Unaccounted For, Says GAO (Washington Post; DefenseLink) “The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to” the Government Accountability Office, “raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq,” reports the Washington Post. The GAO report “says [that] U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops.… The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq. The Pentagon did not dispute the GAO findings.” But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, “‘Just because you can’t provide a strict paper trail, that doesn’t mean the weapons are not being used for their intended purposes: the Iraqi security forces.’” [View Post article] [View GAO abstract] [View DefenseLink article]
An In-Depth Look at Suicide Bombers (Newsweek) A Newsweek series on suicide bombers explores the sharp rise in suicide bombings in Iraq, who the suicide bombers are, and where they are coming from.
Surge in Antiterror Stops and Searches by London Police (BBC) “Anti-terror stop and searches in London have risen five-fold since the alleged attempted car bomb attacks in June,” reports the British Broadcasting Corporation. “Metropolitan Police chiefs said officers were making more use of special powers to ‘deter, disrupt and prevent terrorist activity’. Provisional figures reveal there were almost 11,000 stops in July--five times more than the monthly average. Under the controversial law, officers can stop and search people without needing to suspect them of a crime” if “they take place in an area classed as a potential terrorist target.” But “the Metropolitan Police Authority, the force’s watchdog, warned earlier this year [that] the stops were doing ‘untold damage’ to community relations.” [View article]
Reconstruction Teams Guide Progress in Iraqi Provinces (DefenseLink) Twenty-five “joint Defense and State Department provincial reconstruction teams are guiding Iraqis through the intricacies of forming local governments and generating economic development …” reports the American Forces Press Service. “‘Local government, as well as democracy as a whole, is sort of a whole new concept,’ [U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker] explained. ‘There was no tradition of the provinces working on their own. For a lot of people, this political process has been much more difficult than anticipated.’” [View article]
Japan Helps U.S. Plan for Nuclear Terrorism and Reconsiders Atomic Victim Criteria (Japan Times; Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) “A U.S. antinuclear terrorism laboratory”--the Cytogenetics Biodosimetry Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN--“has received data from Japanese specialists who researched Japanese atomic bomb survivors and victims of U.S. nuclear testing in the 1950s,” reports Kyodo News. “… Japan’s Radiation Effects Research Foundation” and “another Japanese radiation research institute, the National Institute of Radiological Sciences,” are assisting the Oak Ridge lab. Meanwhile, Japan’s government, responding to lawsuits, is preparing to review its strict criteria for certifying radiation victims, according to the Asahi Shimbun. “Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki … developed cancer, leukemia and other serious diseases.… But the central government’s criteria … limited the number of officially certified patients.” [View Times article] [View Asahi editorial]
Shopping Mall Bomb Plotter Arrested in Philippines (Reuters AlertNet) “Philippine police [have] arrested a suspected Muslim militant plotting to bomb a crowded shopping mall in Manila’s southern suburbs,” reports Reuters. The man had “‘an improvised bomb made from a 60mm mortar shell and some plastic explosives,’ [police chief Robert] Rosales” said, and orders “‘to explode the bombs on Saturday.’” [View article]
Medics in Libya Were Tortured Into Confession, Says Gadaffi Son (Johannesburg, South Africa, Mail & Guardian) “Foreign medics freed from a Libyan jail were tortured into confessing they deliberately infected hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi said,” reports Reuters. “… The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were freed on July 24 after a deal between Tripoli and the European Union, having spent eight years in jail.” (See the July 27 newsletter.) [View article]
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United Nations News
Security Council Sees Larger Role in Iraq There is strong consensus within the Security Council on an expanded United Nations role in Iraq, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe said Tuesday (see last week’s newsletter). [View press release]
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New this week in the Journal of Homeland Security
In “Securing Collegiate Sport Stadiums in the 21st Century: Think Security, Enhance Safety,” Stacey Hall, Lou Marciani, Walter E. Cooper, and Robert Rolen argue that collegiate sport programs must take the lead and realize the risk that exists today. Their athletic facilities may be considered soft targets, since they are not as nationally recognized as professional sport stadiums. |
DHS News
US-VISIT Computer System Faces Cyber-Threats (Washington Post) “The U.S. government’s main border control system [US-VISIT] is plagued by computer security weaknesses, increasing the risk of computer attacks, data thefts, and manipulation of millions of identity records including passport, visa and Social Security numbers and the world’s largest fingerprint database …” reports the Washington Post, citing a Government Accountability Office report. “Homeland Security officials said that many vulnerabilities exist throughout the network and the computer stations used at 400 airports, seaports and land crossings. These vulnerabilities could, in turn, spread the risk of cyber-attacks or data losses to some of the government’s most sensitive security databases.” [View article] [View GAO abstract] [View Focus on US-VISIT]
DHS Plans to Screen Departing International Passengers The Homeland Security Department intends to collect preboarding manifest information for international flights departing from or arriving in the United States and to assume watch-list matching responsibilities from air carriers for domestic flights and align domestic and international passenger prescreening--the first step, said DHS, toward the Secure Flight program. [View press release]
DHS Launches Online Training System (Federal Computer Week) “The Homeland Security Department [on Tuesday] launched a new online training system to offer its employees around-the-clock access to the agency courses,” reports Federal Computer Week. “Named DHScovery, the Web database offers more than 1,900 courses, online books and other tools through an automated system.” [View article]
DHS Cuts Time It Will Save Passenger Data (Federal Computer Week) “In response to more than 600 public comments, the Homeland Security Department has shortened the amount of time it will retain data and made other changes to its Automated Targeting System,” reports Federal Computer Week. Under the system, information “on incoming U.S. and foreign travelers” is checked “against several terrorist threat databases.” The personal information “was to be held for 40 years, but now that time has been reduced to 15 years.” [View article]
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Other Federal News
Problems Could Undermine Animal ID System The Agriculture Department’s National Animal Identification System faces problems “that, if left unresolved, could undermine the program’s ability to achieve the goal of rapid and effective animal disease traceback,” according to a Government Accountability Office report to the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. The Agriculture Department “is implementing” the program “for numerous species simultaneously, causing federal, state, and industry resources to be allocated widely, rather than being focused on the species of greatest concern.” Also, the department “has not developed a plan to integrate” the program with existing federal “and state animal ID requirements.” Furthermore, the department “does not require potentially critical information to be recorded, such as species or age, in the” National Animal ID System databases. [View abstract]
Congressional Earmarks Create Transportation Security Center of Excellence Section 1205 of the “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007” sets aside $18 million a year for the next four years to establish a Transportation Security Center of Excellence at Texas Southern University, Rutgers University, Tougaloo College, the University of Connecticut, Long Island University, and the University of Arkansas “to conduct research and education activities, and to develop or provide professional security training, including the training of transportation employees and transportation professionals.” [View law (680kb pdf)]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Seeks Comments on Draft Strategic Plan The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comments on its draft Strategic Plan, covering fiscal years 2007 to 2012. The plan addresses the commission’s mission to protect people and the environment; it includes nuclear power plant security. [View press release] [View draft plan]
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State and Local News
States Feel Left Out of Disaster Planning (Washington Post) “A decision by the Bush administration to rewrite in secret the nation’s emergency response blueprint has angered state and local emergency officials, who worry that Washington is repeating a series of mistakes that contributed to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago,” reports the Washington Post. “State and local officials in charge of responding to disasters say that their input in shaping the National Response Plan was ignored in recent months by senior White House and Department of Homeland Security officials, despite calls by congressional investigators for a shared overhaul of disaster planning in the United States.” [View article]
Minnesota’s Emergency Response Worked After Bridge Collapse (Washington Post) “Minnesota officials said the emergency response to the deadly failure of a major bridge in Minneapolis went smoothly with the exception of some communications glitches, in an event that is being viewed as a good test of a large regional city’s ability to respond to terrorist attack or natural disaster,” reports the Washington Post. “The Minneapolis police and fire chiefs and the Hennepin County sheriff jointly led rescue and recovery efforts after the 40-year-old Interstate 35W bridge plunged into the Mississippi River, killing at least four and injuring 79. The sheriff’s office organized operations in the water while the fire department managed those on the ground and police officials secured the scene … It was all part of a unified command set up according to the principles of the National Incident Management System.” [View article]
In Virginia, Fearful Immigrants Pursue Marriage (Washington Post) “Since Prince William [County] approved a resolution [on July 10] to root out illegal immigrants [see the July 13 newsletter], officials say, calls from Hispanics wanting quick civil marriages have increased, a sign of growing desperation and fear,” reports the Washington Post. “Immigration lawyers and community activists say many undocumented immigrants could be turning to matrimony as a route to legal status or choosing to tie the knot before the county starts denying public services to those who are here illegally.… After the Prince William vote, county staff members were given 90 days to figure out which services could be denied to illegal immigrants lawfully. The police department has 60 days to establish how it will check residency and what constitutes probable cause.” [View article]
FBI Arrests Two for Bomb Possession, Seizes Computers and Store Video (St. Petersburg Times) The FBI has seized computers and a Wal-Mart surveillance video in connection with the arrest of Yousseff Samir Megahed, “a University of South Florida student accused of having pipe bombs in his car,” reports the St. Petersburg Times. Megahed and another student at the university, Ahmed Abda Mohamed, were “arrested near a naval base in South Carolina over the weekend.” [View article]
Community Measures Prevent Deaths During Pandemic School closures and other community strategies designed to reduce the possibility of spreading disease between people during an epidemic can save lives, particularly when the measures are used in combination and implemented soon after an outbreak begins in a community, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing an article published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reporting the results of a study based on public records from the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. Strategies such as voluntary isolation and quarantine, dismissal of students from school classrooms, and social distancing in the workplace and community form the basis for the CDC’s guidelines for how American communities can empower themselves to confront the next influenza pandemic. [View press release] [View article]
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Dual-Benefit Solutions
Software Tracks Aircraft, Watercraft, and Road Vehicles (New Zealand Herald) Daestra New Zealand, a software company, “is taking the guesswork out of search and rescue missions using satellite tracking and the internet to keep tabs on boats, p***s and road vehicles in the South Pacific region …” reports the New Zealand Herald. “It now plans to take its service global, having secured a deal with US company EarthStar Geographics which gives it digital mapping for the entire p***t. Daestra’s TracPlus service is already being used by helicopter rescue operators, such as the Auckland Helicopter Rescue Trust, which tracks the location of its helicopters using a global positioning module and satellite data link. Daestra takes details on the helicopters’ locations and feeds them over the internet into mapping software on computers in rescue co-ordination centres around the country.” [View article]
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| Please submit events and educational programs by noon Wednesdays for consideration as items in that week’s newsletter. |
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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.
Medical Response in Hostile Environments (August 24-26; Caldwell, OH) This classroom and field training program provides students with hands-on training in suturing, bandaging wounds and lacerations, sterile procedures, minor surgery, fracture management and casting, and dental emergencies, as well as prophylaxis and treatment of anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia and avian influenza. [View conference website]
 | Hospital Disaster Life Support II (September 10; Washington, DC) The ER One Institute at the Washington Hospital Center is holding an update course on hospital disaster management response principles for those who want to renew their Hospital Disaster Life Support certificate. The course combines classroom discussion of critical all-hazards response issues with a hands-on exercise simulation involving a complex mass-casualty incident in an emergency department setting. The course goal is to improve personnel expertise in responding to and coordinating hospital mass-casualty incident response. It provides 16 CNE/CEU and ACHE/CME credits. [View course website]
 | Terrorism: Threats, Training, Tactics and Technology (September 24-26, Quincy, MA) Nationally renowned experts will discuss terrorism, emerging threats, training, tactics, and technology issues. Participants will have the opportunity to explore some of the challenges and gain a comprehensive understanding of issues related to terrorism. [View course website]
Hospital Security Preparedness Course (October 29–November 1; Washington, DC) The ER One Institute at the Washington Hospital Center is holding a course for hospital protective services and law enforcement. The goal is to achieve competency in handling all hazards to hospital security, from routine situations to mass-casualty incidents and terrorist attacks against the facility. Students will experience comprehensive hands-on training, live drills, and classroom instruction from faculty with extensive security and counterterrorism experience. For more information, call Lisa Rizzolo at (202) 877-7453. [View course website] |
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New Upcoming Events
(After four weeks, new events will be moved to the Upcoming Events page)
2007 Homeland Security Symposium and Exhibition (September 5-7; Arlington, VA) This event, produced by the National Defense Industrial Association, will look at the future of homeland security, homeland defense, and related issues and highlight detailed updates of selected key homeland security programs. It will also provide an interactive forum on doing business with the Homeland Security Department and give the small business constituencies an opportunity to have their issues addressed. [View conference website]
(September 11-13; Baltimore) The conference will examine biometric-based solutions for homeland security as well as the utilization of biometrics in other government and commercial applications. The Biometrics Research Symposium will be held again this year as part of the program in conjunction with the Biometrics Technology Expo. [View conference website]
National First Responders’ Conference (October 1; Colorado Springs) This conference is cosponsored by the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs and the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. Topics will include “The Impact of 4th Generation Warfare on First Responders,” establishing interagency communications systems, and managing trauma. [View conference website]
Homeland Defense/Homeland Security Symposium V (October 2-4; Colorado Springs) The symposium features high-level participation by the Defense and Homeland Security departments and their corporate, academic, and media counterparts for an exchange of views on how best to protect our country and our friends. International participants will offer their perspectives on our shared challenges. [View conference website]
Physical and Critical Infrastructure Resilience Conference (October 9; Arlington, VA) The conference will discuss approaches to securing critical infrastructure, such as how the government and private stakeholders can work together and how to build and maintain a risk assessment, create partnerships, and reduce vulnerabilities. Speakers will discuss the nation’s physical and information technology security, including lessons learned, tools, and methods used and those that need to be developed. [View conference website]
Road and Rail Security Symposium and Expo (October 29-31; Charleston, SC) Leading transportation and security professionals discuss threat assessment, prevention, and consequence management and how real the threat is to your community, business, or agency; whether you are prepared; and how to respond and where to turn for help. Networking events, tabletop displays, and presentations and workshops will facilitate industry, military, and government interaction to construct a system of prevention, mitigation, and containment and response initiatives. The expo will explore emerging technologies and the latest in products and services in transportation security and response capabilities. [View conference website] |
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