Officials Investigate Threat on Fort Benning

It’s being reported that on Thursday a solider at Fort Benning discovered a suspicious package and a note threatening a massacre similar to the Nov. 5 attack at Fort Hood.

The anonymous note and package –  reported by The Army Times as a box of 20 hollow-point bullets — were found Thursday morning outside a motor pool area at Fort Benning, located near Columbus.

“There may be an update Monday,” said Jackson Saturday. “But at this time there is an ongoing investigation of the incident.”

The discovery coincided with a visit from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, who was in town for Officer Candidate School graduation. The threat prompted a criminal investigation and greater police presence on the Army base, the Army Times reports.

According to a witness on the scene, a box of 20 hollow-point shells and a handwritten note were found under the 197th Infantry Training Brigade.

“The note said ‘tell the commanding general to call off all charges or there will be a re-enactment of Fort Hood,’ ” a witness told Army Times. Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan is charged in the Nov. 5 shooting deaths of 13 fellow service members.

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NC Reports Tamiflu Resistant Cases of Swine Flu

Not a good sign in the fight against Swine Flu. Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that’s resistant to the drug Tamiflu. It’s the first cluster of that many cases seen in the U.S.

Health officials said Friday the four cases were reported at Duke University Medical Center in Durham over the past six weeks.

Tamiflu is one of two medicines that help against swine flu. Health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.

About 52 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 15 in the U.S. so far. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say almost all the U.S. cases have been isolated.

via IndyStar.com | AP National | The Indianapolis Star.

New York Tests Xbox-Based Emergency Alert System

An interesting concept is currently being tested in New York. Gamers used to confronting invading terrorists, nuclear attacks, and natural calamities, in virtual form may get a dose of reality in the middle of their game. Gamers in New York State could soon receive warnings about real emergencies through their favorite video console. My son’s reaction…”cool, could you please move out of the way”. It’s a great idea and one I’m almost certain will be implemented elsewhere.

State authorities are testing a plan that would see the Emergency Management Office issue alerts over online gaming networks in addition to regular channels.

The goal, said New York State Deputy CIO Rico Singleton, is to reach younger residents who spend more time on the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii than with television or radio.

Singleton, speaking Thursday at the Interop technology conference in New York City, said the plan makes sense, “considering the amount of time our youth spend on video games.”

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo operate online networks that allow players to compete against each other over the Internet. Under the state’s plan, authorities would tap those networks to broadcast warnings about natural or man-made disasters.

Singleton had few details, but confirmed that the plan is in the testing phase.

It’s one of many technology initiatives New York State has launched under a program called Empire 2.0. The goal is to make the state’s government more “transparent, participatory, and collaborative,” said Singleton.

Under Empire 2.0, the Department of Mental Health is monitoring some Facebook posts in an effort to spot suicidal behavior, the Office of Homeland Security is using Second Life to train 700,000 first responders, and senior members of the state CIO’s office are using Twitter to disseminate information about technology initiatives to the public.

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Americans Expect Islamic Terror Strike Within 6 Months

According to a new poll, two-thirds of Americans expect an Islamic suicide bomb attack on American soil within six months.

Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies said one of the most shocking findings of his recent polling on the subject was that 65 percent are expecting an attack within six months.

“Some of the communication between Fort Hood shooter Hasan and al-Qaida figures included discussion of such attacks inside the United States, and it has been a common form of violence in the Middle East for years,” he said. “Now, Americans appear resigned to the fact that these attacks will soon come to our shores.”

He asked a series of questions in a WorldNetDaily/Wenzel Strategies survey regarding the recent Fort Hood attack, allegedly carried out by Muslim Maj. Nidal Hasan. The survey, Nov. 13-16, used an automated telephone technology calling a random sampling of listed telephone numbers nationwide. The survey has 95 percent confidence interval. It included 806 adult respondents and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

“More than one-third of respondents – 36 percent – said they think it is ‘very likely’ that such an attack will take place in the next six months, while another 29 percent said it is ’somewhat likely,’” he reported.

via Source.

Las Vegas Urges Officials To Cancel Mock Nuclear Blast

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is asking the Department of Homeland Security to cancel it’s plans for a simulated nuclear explosion scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next May.

In a letter Wednesday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Rossi Ralenkotter said the premise of an upcoming emergency preparedness drill “will generate undue anxiety about visiting or conducting business in Las Vegas.”

FEMA has been planning its 2010 “national level exercise” since last year. The simulation, which is designed to test the capabilities of first responders to catastrophic events, involves the response to a mock nuclear blast in Clark County.

Nearly 10,000 local, state, and federal agents are expected to participate in the exercise.

In the letter to FEMA’s regional office in Oakland, Calif., Ralenkotter asked FEMA to consider “a non-nuclear scenario” for the exercise. He also requested that the simulation not be associated with the resort corridor.

“Our destination already receives a disproportionate amount of attention when the Department of Homeland Security releases even the most routine bulletin,” Ralenkotter wrote. “This exercise has the potential to escalate that attention and potentially harm our economy.”

Ralenkotter also sent his letter to Nevada’s congressional delegation and other local politicians.

Sen. Harry Reid, in a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano today, weighed in with objections to the exercise.

“I am deeply sympathetic to the need of our first responders to conduct preparedness training, and I look forward to revisiting this issue when Nevada’s economy has improved,” Reid wrote. “However, at this time, economic recovery efforts would be stymied, or reversed entirely, by artificially creating anxiety surrounding tourism and investment in Las Vegas.”

via Read Full Articel.

U.S. Reviews Air Defenses to Thwart Terror From Skies

I’m not sure how one can ever place a price tag on preventing another 9/11…or worse.

The commander of military forces protecting North America has ordered a review of the costly air defenses intended to prevent another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack, an assessment aimed at determining whether the commitment of jet fighters, other aircraft and crews remains justified.

Senior officers involved in the effort say the assessment is to gauge the likelihood that terrorists may succeed in hijacking an airliner or flying their own smaller craft into the United States or Canada. The study is focused on circumstances in which the attack would be aimed not at a public building or landmark but instead at a power plant or a critical link in the nation’s financial network, like a major electrical grid or a computer network hub.

The review, to be completed next spring, is expected to be the military’s most thorough reassessment of the threat of a terrorism attack by air since Al Qaeda’s strikes on Sept. 11, 2001, transformed a Defense Department focused on fighting other militaries and led to the Bush administration’s “global war on terror.”

The assessment is partly a reflection of how a military straining to fight two wars is questioning whether it makes sense to keep in place the costly system of protections established after those attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Though the last of the air patrols above American cities were discontinued in 2007, the military keeps dozens of warplanes and hundreds of air crew members on alert to respond to potential threats.

“The fighter force is extremely expensive, so you always have to ask yourself the question ‘How much is enough?’ ” said Maj. Gen. Pierre J. Forgues of Canada, director of operations for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, which carries out the air defense mission within the United States military’s Northern Command

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Swine Flu Mutation Concerns Norwegian Scientists

As with the story yesterday from the Ukraine, this is something to keep an eye on. The primary concern over Swine Flu is it’s potential  to mutate into a much more serious disease.

Scientists in Norway have identified a mutated form of the swine flu virus that is raising concern because it was found in two patients who died of the flu and a third who was severely ill with the disease, officials announced Friday.

In a statement, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said the mutation “could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease,” such as pneumonia.

Scientists have analyzed about 70 viruses from confirmed Norwegian swine flu cases and found the mutation in only those three patients, Geir Stene-Larsen, the institute’s director general, said in the statement.

“Based on what we know so far, it seems that the mutated virus does not circulate in the population, but might be a result of spontaneous changes which have occurred in these three patients,” the statement said.

The institute has been analyzing H1N1 virus from “a number of patients as part of the surveillance of the pandemic flu virus,” and has detected several mutations, the statement said. While the existence of mutations is normal, and most “will probably have little or no importance . . . one mutation has caught special interest.”

The two patients who had the mutation and died were the first swine flu fatalities in Norway. The third patient found to have the mutated form of the virus also became severely ill.

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Charge Dropped Against Woman Arrested Near ANG Base

27 East News reports that the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office has dropped a trespassing charge filed against an East Quogue woman who was arrested in July for taking pictures at the Air National Guard base in Westhampton with two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in her car.

The misdemeanor charge was dropped Tuesday because an investigation found that the woman, 53-year-old Nancy Genovese, remained inside her car and outside the base’s property just prior to her arrest, Robert Clifford, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, wrote in an e-mail.

Ms. Genovese was arrested on July 30 by the Suffolk County sheriff’s office after Air National Guard officials said they saw her taking photographs near the entrance of the base at Gabreski Airport. Authorities said they found an XM-15 assault rifle and a shotgun—both registered and unloaded—in her car, and an estimated 500 rounds of ammunition in her trunk at the time of her arrest.

She was released four days later from the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside after posting $50,000 bail.

When reached Thursday morning, Ms. Genovese said she was relieved that the trespassing charge had been dropped.

“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “I’m just really happy that the justice system finally worked.”

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Syria Suspected Of Concealing Nuclear Activity

It appears Iran may not be the only nuclear concern in the middle east. WTOP reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency ‘IAEA’ and Syria are walking a tightrope and appear to be headed toward a collision over two nuclear sites where undeclared uranium was recently found.

The agency found traces of uranium at the Dair Alzour nuclear site that are not included in Syria’s declared inventory, according to a just released report. The Syrians said the uranium came from the Israeli missiles used to destroy the nearby al-Kibar reactor in September 2007.

The presence of uranium particles was detected at a second site near Damascus — the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor. Syria said it came from the accumulation of samples and reference materials used in neutron activation analysis.

The IAEA is not buying either of the two explanations and is pressing Damascus for more answers and wants to know from where the uranium came. The agency has run its own tests and is certain the Syrian government is not telling the truth.

That’s where the tightrope act comes in. The IAEA won’t comment on what clearly appears to be evasive behavior by the Syrian government because of concern about its tenuous relationship with Syria.

The Syrian government, also aware of the slippery state of affairs, tells WTOP:

“We are taking up the matter with IAEA, and are in constant consultation with them. We are going through appropriate channels and Syria stands by its legal obligations to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty).”

A U.S. counter-proliferation official is not convinced.

“Syria has a record of concealing nuclear activities. The whole world saw that with the al-Kibar reactor, an undeclared facility, destroyed in 2007.

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Bin-Laden’s Son Would Like UN Job

The son of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Omar, has told a British magazine that he would like to promote peace and work for the United Nations.

“I do not believe that I would be a good politician – I have a habit of speaking the truth, even when it does not serve me well. But I would like to be in a position to promote peace. I believe that the United Nations would be ideal for me,” said Omar Bin-Laden.

Last year in November, Omar requested asylum in Spain, but his application was refused.

He was traveling on a Saudi Arabian passport and was detained at Madrid’s Barajas Airport after arriving on a flight from Egypt.

Source

Black Lung Virus Mystery In Ukraine

According to this news report, televised on Russia Today,  scientists now suspect that swine flu virus may have mutated in Ukraine. Some doctors say that flu in the country has shown unprecedented symptoms, creating the effect of “burnt” or black lungs.

Sources in the report say that while scientists are running tests of the virus samples from Ukraine, some doctors are claiming the strain is dangerously mutating and another ‘wave’ may be coming.

Details of this report have not been confirmed by US health experts or WHO.

Source

X-Flex Bomb-proof Wallpaper Could Save Your Life

X-flex bomb-proof wallpaper is one of the most incredible inventions I’ve seen. Imagine a kevlar-type wallpaper that makes rooms and buildings, nearly indestructible.

X-Flex is a new kind of wallpaper: one that’s quite possibly stronger than the wall it’s on. Invented by Berry Plastics in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this lifesaving adhesive is designed for use anyplace that’s prone to blasts and other lethal forces, like in war or natural-disaster zones, chemical plants or airports. To keep a shelter’s walls from collapsing in an explosion and to contain all the flying debris, you simply peel off the wallpaper’s sticky backing, apply the rollable sheets to the inside of brick or cinder-block walls, and reinforce it with fasteners at the edges. Covering an entire room can take less than an hour.

X-Flex bonds so tightly, it helps walls keep their shape after blast waves. Two layers are strong enough to stop a blunt object, like a flying 2×4, from knocking down drywall. During our tests, just a single layer kept a wrecking ball from smashing through a brick wall. The wallpaper’s strength and ductility is derived from a layer of Kevlar-like material sandwiched by sheets of elastic polymer wrap. The combination works so well that the Army is now considering wallpapering bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Civilians could soon start remodeling too—Berry Plastics plans to develop a commercial version next year.

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Taliban Threatens To Poison Waziristan Water Supply

Pakistani Taliban have threatened to contaminate water sources and reservoirs with poisonous materials to pressure the army to stop.

The cantonment boards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala received the threat from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. A letter, faxed to the Directorate of Military Lands and Cantonments in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, said the Taliban had procured 200 litres of poisonous materials that would be used to contaminate water.

Source

From The Deccan Herald

Confirming reports of the threat from the Taliban, Rafiq Adil Siddique, the CEO of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, said the Directorate of Military Lands and Cantonments has taken “effective security measures”.

All six wards in the area have been divided into four zones headed by engineers, supervisors, directors, tube-well operators and valve men to ensure the security of water sources.

Tube-well operators and valve men have been issued special instructions to keep the doors of their offices closed and boundary walls of tube-well sections are being raised, the daily reported.

Source

FEMA Conducting Preparedness Drill At Nuclear Plant

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency will evaluate a Biennial Emergency Preparedness Exercise at the Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County. The week-long exercise, which began on November 16, will test the ability of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to respond to an emergency at the nuclear facility.

Held every other year, these drills test government’s ability to protect public health and safety. FEMA will evaluate state and local emergency response capabilities within the 10-mile emergency-planning zone of the nuclear facility.

Within 90 days, FEMA will send its evaluation to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for use in licensing decisions. The final report will be available to the public about 120 days after the exercise.

FEMA will present preliminary findings of the exercise in a public briefing at 11:00 a.m. on November 20 at the Courtyard by Marriott, 150 Park Road, Reading, Pa. Scheduled speakers include representatives from FEMA, NRC, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

via FEMA: FEMA To Evaluate Commonwealth’s Readiness.

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