Tourist Arrested In Disney World Bomb Threat

WKMG reports a German tourist was arrested Sunday after he told a cast member at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom that he had two bombs in his backpack, according to authorities.

Jochen Naumann, 37, was arrested on charges of making a false report of a bomb.

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Naumann was going through a security checkpoint at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom at about 10:22 a.m. and told a worker that he had two bombs in his backpack.

The Disney cast member questioned Naumann, of Leipzig, Germany, and he again stated that there were two bombs in his backpack, deputies said.

The cast member contacted an Orange County deputy who was posted nearby, and a bomb-sniffing dog checked the bag, the sheriff’s office said. No explosive devices were found in the bag.

via Source.

Chemical Purchases Investigated In New York Terror Probe

A report from the Wall Street Journal states that investigators are trying to track purchases of chemicals that could be used to make explosives, as part of the ongoing New York / Denver terror probe.

Two officials familiar with the probe said investigators were combing records on the purchases of chemicals, particularly hydrogen peroxide, that could be used to make bombs. Peroxide-based explosives were used in a deadly attack on London’s subway and bus system in July 2005, and al Qaeda’s interest in such explosives has been a top concern for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for almost two years, according to intelligence assessments made public.

The officials stressed that the potential target of any plot remained unknown. But one of the officials said that much of the evidence authorities have gathered in raids on homes in New York City and a suburb of Denver, Colo., was suggestive of a plot to attack trains or buses, although there was no specific evidence of such a plan.

Read Full Artcle – WSJ.com

US Cities, Fed. Unprepared For Recovery From Dirty Bomb

US cities would be so overwhelmed by a dirty bomb or nuclear bomb attack that they would invariably rely upon the federal government for recovery, but agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have not yet completed their planning for delivering such assistance, congressional investigators warned Monday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed 13 major US cities and their states and related FEMA regional offices, discovering that each quickly would require assistance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for analysis and cleanup activities, which would significantly mitigate the impact of a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or an improvised nuclear device (IND), Gene Aloise, GAO director of Natural Resources and Environment, testified before the House Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology.

“However, we found that the federal government has not sufficiently planned to undertake these activities,” Aloise stated. “For example, FEMA has not issued a national disaster recovery strategy or plans for RDD and IND incidents as required by law. Existing federal guidance provides only limited direction for federal agencies to develop their own recovery plans and conduct exercises to test preparedness. Out of over 70 RDD and IND exercises conducted in the last five years, only three have included interagency recovery discussions following a response exercise.”

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PA. – Police Uniform Discovered In Bomb Suspects Home

The man arrested for carrying a bomb in a backpack on Saturday had a police badge and a police uniform with a Hudson Falls patch in his western Pennsylvania home when it was searched after his arrest, officials said.

Hudson Falls Police were trying Monday to determine from where the uniform came, said Police Chief Randy Diamond. The uniform was being sent to Hudson Falls by police in Washington Township, Pa., who found it in a home rented by Jason A. Babson.

The metal police badge apparently was not from the Hudson Falls Police Department, Diamond said. It’s possible Babson acquired a Hudson Falls Police uniform patch (patch collecting and trading is common) and affixed it to a uniform he acquired elsewhere, Diamond said.

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New York Police Expand Dirty Bomb Security

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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Backpack With 7 Pipe Bombs Leads To Evacuations

Santee California - A man who found seven pipe bombs in a backpack turned them in to the Sheriff’s Department substation Monday afternoon, prompting authorities to evacuate nearby businesses as they neutralized the explosive devices.

The man entered the station on Cuyamaca Street, near Buena Vista Avenue, around 2:15 p.m. and left the backpack in the lobby, Lt. Mike Munsey said. The man said he found the bag with the bombs the night before and one of them was leaking.

The sheriff’s bomb-arson unit inspected the backpack and neutralized each bomb individually, Munsey said.

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