New York Police Expand Dirty Bomb Security

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Thousands of additional law enforcement officers within 50 miles of New York City will have access to radiation detectors for dirty bombs and nuclear devices, New York police said on Wednesday.

The detectors, including cell phone-sized devices that officers wear on their belts, could help uncover a dirty bomb that might be assembled outside New York and smuggled in, police said at a security conference. New York Police Department officers have used such devices for several years.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said thousands of law enforcement officers would be using the devices in areas surrounding New York City, including state police and sheriff’s departments in New Jersey and Connecticut.

The increase in officers and equipment was being funded by a federal program called “Securing the Cities” that had been allocated $54 million in the past three years, Browne said.

Nearly eight years after the September 11 attacks in 2001, New York remains the top target for groups like al Qaeda planning attacks on the United States, police and lawmakers said, and the possibility of a radiological attack on a public transport system remained high.

“We know that terrorists come here and we know that they are surveying here,” said Captain Michael Riggio of the NYPD counterterrorism division.

The belt devices, which buzz when they detect radiation, are the “first line of defense” against a possible dirty bomb or a small-scale nuclear device, he said.

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Group of Somali-Americans Indicted on Terror Charges

A federal grand jury has indicted a group of Somali-Americans on terror-related charges after more than 20 young men from the Minneapolis area were recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, according to two law enforcement sources.

The indictments have yet to be unsealed, but an announcement is expected in the next few weeks. One law enforcement source told FOX News the grand jury already has handed up indictments against at least three people.

Among those charged is a man from Minneapolis who went to war-torn Somalia and then, about four months ago, relocated to Seattle, according to the two sources and a leader in the Minneapolis Somali community. The man was then arrested in a Seattle airport and transferred to a jail in Minneapolis, where he is currently being detained, according to the law enforcement sources.

The law enforcement sources said the man, described as in his 20s, has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, in this case al-Shabaab, which has been warring with the moderate Somali government since 2006.

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Warren Air Force Base Conducts National-level Terror Exercise

A simulated terrorist attack on a 90th Missile Wing ICBM launch facility provided the exercise scenario for Nuclear Weapon Accident/Incident Exercise 2009.

This national-level exercise involving 11 federal agencies and 1,300 personnel was the largest and most complex exercise ever conducted at a missile base.

Accident response and associated consequent management procedures are routinely practiced by local responders and the 90th Missile Wing; however, this exercise was made far more complex by the criminal aspect associated with terrorist activities.

Close and careful coordination with a number of federal agencies, particularly the FBI, was essential to gather information swiftly to identify and capture the terrorists responsible for the attack.

The exercise challenged responders in several ways. Balancing the need for personnel safety in a potentially hazardous situation while allowing law enforcement officials to gather time critical evidence for criminal response, required a clear understanding of the risks involved.

Minutes counted in determining which terrorist group was responsible and developing courses of action to track and capture them.

As response elements arrived from across the nation, the wing’s initial response force transitioned to a response task force with a formal transfer of incident command between the wing commander Col. Mike Morgan, 90th MW commander, and the

Twentieth Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Roger W. Burg.

General Burg then led the federal agency response for consequence management along with supporting the FBI in their counter-terrorism mission.

In addition to the FBI, major exercise players included the Department of Energy providing weapon system technical expertise, Homeland Security and FEMA for consequence management, US Northern Command for operational command of the IRF/RTF, the State of Wyoming and the Wyoming Guard for initial response and logistical support, and Air Force Space Command for filling key RTF leadership positions.

“This is the first time the country has brought together military operators with a very robust interagency package,” said Exercise Director and Director of Nuclear Support at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency U. S. Army Brig. Gen. Ernie Audino “This is a complex exercise with many moving parts.” “It is critical to make the U.S. military the best in the world,” he continued. “And it’s not just the extensive training we go through, but it’s how we capture the lessons learned from that training. It is an endless, necessary cycle.”

Source

DHS Report Concludes General Aviation Security Threat is Limited

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) recently welcomed a conclusion in a recent report conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS-0IG) that “general aviation presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats to security.”

“This report validates what we in the general aviation community have said before: General aviation does not represent a significant security threat,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “The industry has always emphasized security, and in the years since the 9/11 attacks, we have remained diligent and adopted numerous measures to ensure that our aircraft, crews and passengers are safe and secure.”

Following are the key findings included in the 30-page study by the DHS-OIG:

* “We determined that general aviation presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats to security. We also determined that the steps general aviation airport owners and managers have taken to enhance security are positive and effective.”

* “The current status of [general aviation] operations does not present a serious homeland security vulnerability requiring TSA to increase regulatory oversight of the industry.”

* “Although [TSA's Office of Intelligence] has identified potential threats, it has concluded that most [general aviation] aircraft are too light to inflict significant damage, and has not identified specific imminent threats from [general aviation] aircraft.”

“We recognize that this report doesn’t mean our industry can take its eye off the ball on security,” Bolen continued. “We will continue working with policymakers to promote effective proposals for enhancing security while recognizing the business aviation community’s need for mobility and flexibility. At the same time, we welcome this recognition of our industry’s long-standing commitment to security, and the effective measures we’ve taken to minimize security threats.”

U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen Outlines Top U.S. Threats

At any given moment, U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen is juggling at least a half dozen critical situations around the world.

The final hours before taking off for Moscow to iron out details of a military cooperation agreement with Russia were no different for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against the Taliban inside Pakistan, al-Qaida’s intent to attack the U.S. and Iran are the issues Mullen says he is grappling with right now.

“The biggest concern I have right now is in the broader Middle East,” says Mullen. “We are in a position in Iraq where we’re decreasing our footprint over the next year and a half, considerably to meet the president’s direction to have all troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.”

At the same time Mullen says, “We’re increasing the number of forces we’ve got in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is in that region — in Afghanistan and Pakistan — I think the No. 1 threat that we have right now, is al -Qaida.”

Mullen says al-Qaida’s main goal “is to attack Western interests.”

But another threat, North Korea, is most pressing.

“What is most important in my view is that somehow this leader gets the message that he’s just continuing to isolate himself and his people,” says Mullen.

He pulled no punches when discussing Kim Jong il’s behavior.

“He is somewhat unpredictable. Clearly that’s the case,” says Mullen.

When asked about U.S. military preparation to deal with a possible missile launch in the direction of Hawaii, Mullen responded confidently.

“I think we’re very well postured and in a position to be able to address the threat. I have great confidence in our forces and our ability to do that.”

When pressed on just what would be done, Mullen says the U.S. would “take all necessary measures to defend our people.”

While clear on the threats, he’s keenly aware of the advantage he has.

via Mullen outlines top U.S. threats – wtop.com.

Pentagon, DHS Divided On Military’s Role at Border

A proposal to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to counter drug trafficking has triggered a bureaucratic standoff between the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security over the military’s role in domestic affairs, according to officials in both departments.

The debate has engaged a pair of powerful personalities, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in what their subordinates describe as a turf fight over who should direct the use of troops to assist in the fight against Mexican cartels and who should pay for them.

Source

Boeing To Staff Seattle FBI Fusion Center

To advance information sharing against terrorism, Boeing Co. expects to be among the first major corporations ? maybe the first ? to assign its own analyst to the Seattle FBI Fusion Center intelligence sharing office, according to a senior Boeing official.

The center is one of dozens around the country created by state and local governments to share anti-terrorism intelligence. Boeing wants to set an example of how private owners of critical infrastructure can get involved in such centers to generate and receive criminal and anti-terrorism intelligence, said Richard Hovel, Boeing senior advisor on aviation and homeland security.

“Hopefully, this will be the first of many similar efforts across the nation that will establish a collaborative partnership between the public sector and industry, and protect our critical infrastructure more effectively and expeditiously,” Hovel testified at a May 25 field hearing in Bellevue, Wash., sponsored by the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment.

Boeing and the fusion centers have similar goals, Hovel said. The private sector, which owns about 80 percent of critical infrastructure, needs to have real-time access to information from the fusion centers. At the same time, the fusion centers need access to “mature intelligence capabilities” in private companies, Hovel said.

via Boeing to staff FBI Fusion Center — Washington Technology.

After Minneapolis, FBI Eyes Atlanta’s Somalis

In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town’s young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.

There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That’s why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.

In Minneapolis, as many as 20 young men have been reported missing from their homes since last fall. They are thought to have been lured into the ranks of al-Shabaab in Somalia. That group got a terrorist designation from the U.S. State Department, which ties it to al-Qaeda, bombings, assassinations and attacks on peacekeepers. A powerful faction fighting Somalia’s transitional government, al-Shabaab’s agenda is extremely strict Sharia law.

To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an “outreach” program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.

Source

NYPD’s Counterterrorism Operations

Yesterday afternoon, the Washington Institute hosted Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism, as part of a lecture series the Institute has been running since late 2007 with senior US counterterrorism officials.

Here is an excerpt of his remarks:

The threat is both external and internal. The external threat, I think, is best understood by the federal government and by the Beltway experts. I think the internal threat – the homegrown threat – is far less well understood by counterterrorism experts in Washington. And there’s a reason for that, which is our entire counterterrorism intelligence collection process in the United States requires predication. It requires various conditions to be met in order for the FBI or the other agencies involved to proceed with their investigations.

Now, that predication is usually foreign intelligence of one kind or another. And when we get it, the federal government is well-positioned to proceed with counterterrorism investigations. It’s far more difficult when there is no connection to a foreign terrorist organization, and when there’s no connection to any terrorist organization – when it’s just an individual or a small number of individuals who may be watching television or downloading videos or getting on Web sites, but not actually connected to anyone who we know to be bad, but who might themselves decide to go try something.

Source

US Embassy in Sudan Warns of Terror Threat

The U.S. embassy in Sudan is warning of a threat by Islamist extremists to attack the Sudanese government as well as “Western interests.”

A statement on the U.S. embassy website warned that a post on a radical Islamist website threatened an attack on the Sudanese government. It indicated the threat is related to the recent death of a suspected Islamic extremist.

The statement provided few details of the threat, but warned that calls for violence against the government as well as “Western interests” could also be made during prayers on Friday, and urged Americans in Sudan to exercise caution.

Sudan has been on the U.S. government’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993. Sudanese officials have been pushing Washington to remove Sudan from the list in recent years, as the country has cooperated in sharing intelligence as part of the war on terror. The United States says terrorists remain active in the country.

Source

Homeland Security Television Returns – HSTV

The National Terror Alert Response Center is pleased to announce the return of Homeland Security Television. Watch Homeland Security Television Online Now

The Homeland Security Television Channel (HSTV) is the world’s first online, on-demand television network dedicated to homeland security and global development 24/7, featuring broadcast-quality video programs that focus on all aspects of homeland security and the role of global development in fighting terrorism.

HSTV is also dedicated to facilitating rapid awareness of new technologies and services, and assisting in the transfer of those technology solutions to the government and critical infrastructure marketplace.

In addition to its online content, HSTV Channel offers its content for distribution to broadcast satellite and cable networks. The online and on-demand television programs will contain an interactive component that features a powerful blogging and social networking platform to enable community discussions of security challenges on a global scale, particularly among people interested in security related current events and college students who are entering public service or the security industry.

HSTV was founded by Neal Award-winning journalist and renowned security author, Dan Verton, and is dedicated to bringing the highest traditional reporting and production standards to its online video programming.

Since its founding in 2005, Homeland Security Television has become the Web site of choice for broadcast quality videos on all aspects of homeland and cybersecurity. The network streams hundreds of hours of programming to viewers every month and has presented interviews with some of the highest profile personalities in homeland and global security today including Tom Ridge; Somalia’s Abdinur Darman, former FEMA  Director Michael Brown; and legendary FBI agent Joseph Pistone (Donnie Brasco).

Read More At Homeland Security Television Site

Homeland Security Drone Patrolling New York

A monitor inside an operations trailer shows a close-up view of a boat skimming across the water on Lake Ontario.

The image was taken from an unmanned aircraft more than three miles away.

A Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) has been temporarily based at Fort Drum since early June in an experiment by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office.

The Department of Homeland Security is using the extensive restricted air space over Fort Drum to test whether the drone could be a good fit along this stretch of the northern border.

Source

New Detector Not Much Better Catching Nuke Material

Federal investigators say the government’s next generation radiation detectors are only marginally better at detecting hidden nuclear material than monitors already at U.S. ports, but would cost more than twice as much.

The machines are intended to prevent terrorists or criminals from smuggling into the U.S. a nuclear bomb or its explosive components hidden in a cargo container.

The monitors now in use can detect the presence of radiation, but they cannot distinguish between threatening and nonthreatening material. Radioactive material can be found naturally in ceramics and kitty litter, but would be of no use in making a bomb, for instance.

The Department of Homeland Security has said the new machines it is developing can distinguish between kitty litter and dangerous radioactive material and produce fewer false alarms than the current ones.

The new one are also better at detecting lightly shielded material. But the machines perform at about the same level when detecting radiological and nuclear materials hidden in a lead box or casing, the most likely way a terrorist would try to sneak the materials into this country, the Government Accountability Office said in a report to be released Monday.

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Navy Tracking Possible North Korean Nuke Shipment

The Navy is tracking a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying illegal weapons, equipment or nuclear fissile material that North Korea has been prohibited from transporting by the U.N. Security Council, top U.S. defense officials said Thursday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that “clearly, we intend to vigorously enforce the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874,” although the Navy cannot use force to stop or board the vessel suspected of carrying the contraband.

A U.S. warship could hail the North Korean ship and ask to search it, and if the ship’s crew didn’t comply, the U.S. sailors could order the vessel to sail to the nearest port and request officials in that port to do the search — although the U.S. ship couldn’t use force for that, either.

[..]

Mullen, who briefed reporters with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, gave few details about how the Navy was tracking the North Korean ship — whether U.S. warships or aircraft were shadowing it — and what led U.S. officials to believe it was carrying contraband material.

The U.N. Security Council voted to place additional strictures on North Korea after the country detonated a nuclear bomb May 25 and launched ballistic missiles into the ocean off Southeast Asia. One of the restrictions was that North Korean ships suspected of carrying nuclear material would be interdicted at sea, but the North has said it would consider the boarding of any of its ships as an act of war.

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