Behavior Detection Officers Keeping A Watchful Eye On Airports

Although you probably couldn’t spot one of the if you tried, chances are they spotted you if you were exhibiting suspicious behavior in one of over 160 U.S airports.

To identify dangerous people, the Transportation Security Administration has stationed specially trained Behavior Detection Officers at 161 U.S. airports, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The officers, who can be anywhere from the parking garage to the gate, try to spot passengers with an unusual level of nervousness or stress.

They don’t focus on a person’s nationality, race, ethnicity or gender, said Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the TSA.

“We’re not looking for a type of person but at behaviors,” she said.

The program started in Boston in 2003; expanded to Miami in 2006 and then to Fort Lauderdale in 2007. The TSA won’t disclose whether detection officers roam Palm Beach International Airport.

Under the program, a suspicious passenger might be given a secondary screening or referred to police; detection officers don’t have arrest powers.

Last year, officers nationwide required 98,805 passengers to undergo additional screening. Police questioned 9,854 of them; 813 were arrested.

While the TSA doesn’t break down the numbers for individual airports, the officers require dozens of travelers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to undergo a secondary screening each week.

via Airport officers covertly keep an eye out for suspicious behavior — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

MS-13 Allegedly Put Hit on ICE Agent After Arrests

The New York Daily News is reporting  that El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions of the group.

The brazen plot to assassinate the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was revealed in an arrest warrant for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres. Torres tipped authorities to the plan after he and four other MS-13 members were stopped by NYPD detectives for hassling passersby on Northern Blvd. in Queens last month. He told cops he had information to pass on, and was debriefed Oct. 22 at Rikers Island, where he was being held on a warrant issued in Virginia, according to court papers.

Torres said “the order for the murder came from gang leadership in El Salvador,” ICE agent Sean Sweeney wrote in an affidavit for a new warrant charging Torres with conspiracy. Torres, who belonged to an MS-13 “clique” in Virginia, said he was put in charge, and traveled to New York in August “for the specific purpose of participating in the planning and execution of the murder plot,” Sweeney wrote.

Gang members were allegedly trying to get their hands on a high-powered assault rifle, like an M-16. to penetrate the agent’s bulletproof vest.

Another MS-13 informant told authorities the agent was marked for death because the gang was “exceedingly angry” at him for arresting many members in the past three years, the affidavit states.

The murder was supposed to be carried out by the Flushing clique, according to the informant.

Read Full Article.

Seaports Still At Risk of Biological and Chemical Threats

U.S. Customs and Border Protection should consider taking additional steps to counter biological and chemical threats in maritime cargo, according to the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general.

The IG recommends that the agency update its guidance for inspecting sea cargo containers for biological and chemical threats, and assess the benefits of deploying new detection devices in a maritime environment, according to a redacted version of a report released Nov. 2.

CBP is responsible for examining cargo containers entering the country. During a performance audit conducted between November 2008 and March, the IG’s office observed different operating procedures at several ports that were visited, the report states.

As a result, the IG recommended that CBP develop and issue guidance to help ensure its officers use consistent examination processes for all potential threats. The agency agreed with the recommendation and said it was making updates.

Meanwhile, CBP officials said new technologies are being developed and tested to help officers rapidly identify such threats during inspections, according to the report. However, CBP hasn’t formally identified the pathways through which biological and chemical threats are most likely to enter the country, the IG said.

via Read Full Story.

Download Report

WRTAC Warns Of Reprisals After Radical’s Islamic Leaders Death

The Washington Times reports Federal officials have issued a warning that the shooting death of a radical Sunni Islamic leader in Michigan last week may engender retaliatory violence against law enforcement officers there as well as in the Washington area, though law enforcement officials played it down as a routine measure.

Gunfire erupted during the arrest of Ummah leader Luqman Abdullah and members of his group after Abdullah pulled a gun and shot and killed an FBI canine, according to a document obtained by The Washington Times from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center (WRTAC).
FBI agents returned fire at the warehouse in Dearborn, Mich., and killed Abdullah, who was charged with selling stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms.

“Abdullah’s death and associated arrests may foster resentment, violent rhetoric, and threats from Ummah adherents,” said the raw intelligence document issued by the WRTAC.

“Because of the group’s anti-law enforcement sentiments, law enforcement officers should be particularly mindful of this change in the threat environment and the possibility for retaliation,” the WRTAC said.

As for implications in the D.C. area, the WRTAC said that “Ummah sympathizers or other similar groups may be operating in the National Capital Region. Officers should be alert for possible retaliatory actions as a result of the FBI Detroit raid.”

Supervisory Special Agent Katherine W. Schweit of the FBI’s Washington office declined to comment or even confirm the contents of the document.

But, speaking in general terms, she said, “Any time an incident occurs elsewhere in the country, information is provided to all state, federal and local offices to provide them with the status, and urging them to be cautious regarding similar incidents.”

via Read Full Article.

1,600 Are Suggested Daily For Watch List

The Washington Post reported that during a 12-month period ending in March of this year, 1,600 people were recommended daily by the U.S. intelligence community to be put on the list due to ‘reasonable suspicion.’  It’s important to know,  each nomination does not necessarily represent a new individual, but may instead involve an alias or name variant for a previously named to the watchlist.

Newly released FBI data offer evidence of the broad scope and complexity of the nation’s terrorist watch list, documenting a daily flood of names nominated for inclusion to the controversial list.

During a 12-month period ended in March this year, for example, the U.S. intelligence community suggested on a daily basis that 1,600 people qualified for the list because they presented a “reasonable suspicion,” according to data provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI in September and made public last week.

FBI officials cautioned that each nomination “does not necessarily represent a new individual, but may instead involve an alias or name variant for a previously watchlisted person.”

The ever-churning list is said to contain more than 400,000 unique names and over 1 million entries. The committee was told that over that same period, officials asked each day that 600 names be removed and 4,800 records be modified. Fewer than 5 percent of the people on the list are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Nine percent of those on the terrorism list, the FBI said, are also on the government’s “no fly” list.

via Read Full Article.

Deadline Looming – How Will Airline Cargo Get Screened

Here’s the dilemma. By next August, every piece of freight that is shipped aboard a commercial airline will be required to be screened for bombs just as luggage already is. The catch? There are not enough screeners to scan the thousands of tons of cargo that will need to be scanned.

Airlines, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and shippers that use the cargo holds of passenger planes face an Aug. 3 deadline to create a system of private cargo screeners to make sure cargo doesn’t carry bombs or other explosives.

It’s no small challenge. On virtually every flight, airlines stuff the holds of passenger planes with everything from North Atlantic lobsters to delicate computer chips. As much as 10 million pounds of cargo up to 500,000 boxes are shipped on passenger planes every day, and Orlando International Airport is one of the nation’s busiest air freight hubs.

Until recently, almost none of it went through security.

Shippers and federal authorities are meeting in Orlando this week to review what must be done to get enough companies certified in time to beat the August deadline.

And the industry has a lot of work to do, said Marc Rossi, a branch chief for the TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Program.

“There will not be enough (certified screeners) to meet the demands of the supply chain, not at the current rate of certification. …,” he said. “That’s millions of pounds (of cargo) that don’t have a solution, projected out.”

The problem is that most freight flown on passenger planes comes pre-packaged on pallets or in large cargo bins. But federal law calls for every little box to be individually screened by either humans, X-ray machines, explosive-detection equipment or trained dogs.

via Read Full Article.

Security Checks Friday for MARC Commuter Train Stations

If you commute using Maryland’s MARC commuter trains, you’ll notice increased security on Friday. The Maryland Transit Administration Police will launch a program of random security checks at MARC commuter train stations, using bomb-sniffing dogs to screen passengers’ luggage and packages to detect explosives.

The MTA warned riders that delays could occur and urged passengers to allow extra time to board trains on the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines.

Lt. Col. John E. Gavrilis, chief of the MTA police, said the tighter security is not a response to a specific threat but part of a general effort to “target-harden” Maryland transit facilities. He said the effort will begin at MARC stations but would eventually extend to the Baltimore Metro and light rail stations.

via Read Full Article.

The Threat of Homegrown Terrrorism

Lydia Khalil, a former counterterrorism analyst for the New York Police Department, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations looks at homegrown terrorism, recent plots and arrests and what they may signify.

The apprehension last week of Sudbury native Tarek Mehanna is the fifth terrorism-related arrest in the United States in as many months, putting homegrown radicalism back on the radar screen. But many question whether individuals like Mehanna are the “real deal.’’ Do they really pose a significant terrorist threat or are they acting out but lack the capability to inflict any real damage? How dangerous are homegrown radicals? Will the United States, like Europe, become more susceptible to native radicals rather than terrorist plots hatched abroad from organized groups like Al Qaeda?

Terrorism specialist Marc Sageman claims that we are facing a “leaderless jihad.’’ Al Qaeda central is not the driving force of terrorism as an operational machine but rather its ideology serves as an inspiration for self-organizing local groups to carry out their own attacks.

Read Full Article

TSA Hopes To Keep Terrorists Off-Guard With Security Checks

Hoping to keep terrorists and others off-guard the TSA conducted a random security check of nearly 700 Bus passengers in Orlando Florida yesterday, using the agency’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR.

Bryce Williams wasn’t expecting to walk through a metal detector or have his bags screened for explosives at the Greyhound bus terminal near downtown Orlando.

But Williams and 689 other passengers went through tougher-than-normal security procedures Thursday as part of a random check coordinated by the U.S.Transportation Security Administration.

The idea is to keep off guard terrorists and others who mean harm, thereby improving safety for passengers and workers. There was no specific threat to the bus station on John Young Parkway south of Colonial Drive.

Although the TSA is best known for its agents at airports, the agency’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams stage periodic operations at bus and train stations, ports and other transportation centers. They began work in December 2006.

Thursday’s daylong event was the first at a Greyhound station in Florida, said John Daly, TSA security director for the Orlando region.

Read Full Article

DHS Urged to Implement Ammonium Nitrate Regulations

The Department of Homeland Security is being urged to implement regulations designed to make it harder for terrorists to build homemade bombs. The legislation was created 2 years ago and members of the House Committee on Homeland Security are saying it’s time enact the laws.

From ABC News
“This delay in implementing the rules for ammonium nitrate regulation is unacceptable. We are talking about matters of life and death,” says Rep. Pete King (R-NY), the Republican ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “The Department of Homeland Security must move quickly.”

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of House Committee on Homeland Security, agrees that the delays have been frustrating and worrisome. “Congress addressed the threat of ammonium nitrate through legislation over two years ago. Regulating the sale of this chemical is vital to the security of the nation.”

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying that the “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” is complete and that they are in the final stages of internal vetting.

via Read Full Article.

The Case Against Alleged Terror Suspect Tarek Mehanna

Alleged terror suspect Tarek Mehanna, arrested earlier this week, plotted to attack Americans at a shopping mall according to the FBI. Failing at that,it is alleged he turned to cyber attacks.

Frustrated at failing in his travels overseas to locate a terrorist training camp, a Massachusetts man returned home in 2003 to begin plotting a domestic terror attack. Thrilled by the 9/11 attacks and impressed by the success of the Washington, D.C., snipers in terrorizing the public in late 2002, Tarek Mehanna and several friends began planning an attack on a shopping mall, a Federal Bureau of Investigation complaint alleges.

In “multiple conversations, discussions, and preparation,” Tarek Mehanna, a student living at home with his parents in Sudbury, Mass., discussed with three other men how to “obtain automatic weapons, go to a shopping mall, and randomly shoot people,” according to the federal criminal complaint filed in a US district court Wednesday.

The trio – Mehanna, Ahmad Abousamra, and an unnamed informant – debated logistics, types of weapons needed, the number of attackers needed, how to coordinate the attack, and how to attack emergency responders, the FBI says.

via Read Full Article.

U.S. Food Supply Seen As Vulnerable To Terrorism

For years, security experts have been warning that the nations food supply, often taken for granted, could be among the most significant risks for a terrorist attack.

Imported food makes up a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. food supply and, considering the health and safety concerns of keeping American’s safe, Washington insiders seem oblivious to that part of protecting American citizens.

To ensure imported food safety, federal agencies must focus their resources on high risk foods and coordinate efforts, according to a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office.

The report, submitted to the US Congress and obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, assesses how the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service are addressing challenges in overseeing the safety of imported food.

Read Full Article

Napolitano Says Al-Qaeda-Style Terrorists Are in U.S.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said terrorists with al-Qaeda leanings are in the U.S. and that the threat of attack “is always with us.”

“It is fair to say there are individuals in the United States who ascribe to al-Qaeda-type beliefs,” Napolitano said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “And so it makes information-sharing, it makes effective law enforcement and it makes the shared responsibility of law enforcement ever so important.”

Information-sharing between federal, state and local law- enforcement agencies is “much improved” since the Sept. 11 attacks, she said.

In September, U.S. authorities indicted Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant and former Denver airport shuttle-van driver, on federal terrorism conspiracy charges. They found bomb-making instructions on a laptop computer in his rental car.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the case had connections to al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

Napolitano said she met in New York today with leaders in financial security in order to discuss ways to protect the nation’s financial system from cyber-terrorism or other attacks.

“The financial institutions of this country are part of our bedrock infrastructure,” she said. “They need to be protected. We need to be able to protect them.”

FBI: Terrorism Fundraising, Recruitment Among Top Threats

Interesting  perspective from the  FBI’s outgoing special agent in St. Louis who says fund-raising for terrorist activities is one of the top three threats in the eastern Missouri region.

FBI Special Agent John Gillies outlined his top three threats in one of his last interviews before leaving to head the Miami division.

Gillies listed recruitment of individuals to send overseas for training in terrorism as the No. 2 threat, displacing organized crime.

Gangs are Gillie’s choice as the third leading threat. He said the St. Louis FBI office has recently led the nation in disrupting and dismantling gangs.

Gillies was beginning his new assignment in Miami on Monday. Roland Corvington will take over as the special agent in charge of the FBI in St. Louis.

Read Full Article

Next Page »