FBI Lacks Translators For Terror Intelligence

AFP cites a Justice Department audit in a report that states the FBI currently does not have enough translators to review as much as one third of the foreign-language material it collects in counter-terrorism operations.

About one third of electronic documents and one quarter of audio files collected in anti-terror probes have not been translated and reviewed, said the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, seen by AFP Tuesday.

“Not reviewing such material increases the risk that the FBI will not detect information in its possession that may be important to its counterterrorism and counterintelligence efforts,” it said.

According to Fine, Federal Bureau of Investigations agents translate and read all of the 4.8 million pages of text in foreign languages.

However, 14.2 million e-mail messages, or 31 percent of the total during the auditing period, have not been reviewed. Neither have 1.2 million hours of audio, or 25 percent of the 4.8 million hours collected.

Despite the demand for translators, the FBI has also seen the number of their linguists drop, going from 1,338 in March 2005 to 1,298 in September 2008.

“We found that the FBI failed to achieve its linguist hiring goals for critical languages,” the report read.

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Three Men Arrested For Terrorism Offences – UK

In a surprising turn of events, three men have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses after police raided a house looking for drugs and small containers of chemicals were discovered.

Two 24-year-old men and a 41-year-old from Blackwood, were originally arrested by Gwent Police on Wednesday over drugs offences.

But when specialist officers searched a house to identify the drugs, they arrested the three under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The case has now been passed on to the Metropolitan Police, but Gwent Police last night (fri)insisted the inquiry was not linked to international terrorism.

F.B.I. Agents Role Is Transformed by Terror Fight

The report last month was chilling: a 55-gallon drum of radioactive material had gone missing during shipment from North Carolina to California. Even worse, the person who signed for the cargo was not an employee of the company that ordered the load.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation here ramped up, consulting health officials, questioning radiation specialists and tracking down the trucker who dropped off the material, which could be used in a radioactive-bomb attack. Three hours later, the shipper found the drum — still sitting on a loading dock 20 miles from its destination in the Los Angeles area — having confused it with a similar shipment sent to a different company on the same day.

For an F.B.I. team here that vets tips and threats about possible terrorist activity, it was yet another false alarm in a job largely defined by hoaxes and bogus leads that must still be run to ground.

“A lot of time we are chasing shadows,” said Lee Ann Bernardino, a 20-year F.B.I. special agent who handled the case, “but it’s better to do that than find out later you let something get by.”

Spending two days with Agent Bernardino’s 21-member threat squad, known as Counterterrorism 6, or CT-6, offered a rare window on the daily workings of an F.B.I. transformed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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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.

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.

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UK – Terrorists Could Launch Dirty Bomb Attack

It is becoming “more realistic” that terrorists could get hold of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to attack the United Kingdom, the British Home Office said today. The warning was included in an updated counter-terrorism strategy designed to tackle what Home Office officials called an evolving terrorist threat.

Rather than acquiring a nuclear warhead, British officials worry more that terrorists could gather radioactive material to build a so-called “dirty-bomb.” That risk has existed for some time, but it’s increased due to the security situation in several failed states as well as a growing market in radioactive materials.

In an off-camera press briefing this morning for a handful of journalists, British officials said they continue to track a large number of British nationals of Pakistani origin who are traveling to Pakistan for terror training, and to fight in the insurgency, or both. However, they said there are some hopeful signs from Pakistan’s new government.

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Terrorism Recruiting Manual Discovered By West Point Researchers Worries Authorities

For months now, counterterrorism officials have seen signs that al-Qaida has been looking for new and innovative ways to recruit terrorists, including a new manual that has surfaced on the Internet.

Researchers at West Point recently stumbled on the 51-page manual while they were visiting a jihadi chat room, called Ecles. It’s a Web site that allows members to have interactive discussions, post videos and download manuals. Ecles is the second most popular jihadi chat room on the Web, and al-Qaida often posts things there. Because of that, it is a place counterterrorism analysts track regularly.

So when the West Point analysts discovered a step-by-step primer called “The Art of Recruiting Mujahedeen,” it got their attention. On one level, the manual might be an early indication that al-Qaida is trying to identify new sleeper terrorists. On the other hand, the book is so basic it seems to suggest al-Qaida is getting desperate for new members.

Brian Fishman, the head of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, says he was struck by the remedial tone of the book. At the end of a chapter, for example, there are questions to judge both the recruiter’s progress and the recruit’s.

“The recruiter himself doesn’t have to use a lot of judgment — they are simply the intermediary for the technique that is being taught in the handbook,” Fishman says.

Here’s how the manual, as translated by the CIA, suggests a recruiter build a rapport with a recruit:

“This stage lasts approximately three weeks,” it says. “You must do something important at this stage. You must identify his interests and relations with people and how he spends the whole 24 hours, meaning you study him secretly to be reassured about your choice.”

This section touches on such things as being nice to the recruit. It suggests the recruiter pretend to be his friend, perhaps even buy him small gifts. It ends with a questionnaire to assess progress. “Is the recruit anxious to see you?” it asks. You get one point for “no” and three points for “yes.” Does he accept your advice and respect your opinion? It reads a little like one of those relationship quizzes in women’s magazines. “If you have received less than 10 points, you are on the wrong path, repeat the stages from the beginning. From 10 to 18, you are on your way.”

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London Police Launch Counter-terrorism PR Campaign

London police launched a new counter-terrorism publicity campaign on Monday, calling on residents of the capital to keep their ears and eyes open for anything suspicious and to report it.

The campaign is not linked to any specific threat, police said, but rather a reminder that attacks have happened in the past and could easily happen again. The slogan is: “Don’t rely on others. If you suspect it, report it.”

“Terrorists can be stopped in their tracks if suspicious activity is passed to the police,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, the head of the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command, said in a statement.

“They will not succeed if people report something unusual they have seen while going about their daily lives.

“We want people to look out for the unusual — some activity or behaviour which strikes them as not quite right and out of place in their normal day-to-day lives — and to take responsibility for reporting it.”

London has seen several failed and successful attacks in recent years, most notably the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on the Underground and the bus network which killed 52 people.

The Metropolitan Police have overall responsibility for counter-terrorism policing and have been at the forefront of gathering evidence in a series of cases against suspected terrorism plotters in recent years.

The campaign calls on London’s 8 million residents to pay particular attention to anyone suspicious who is buying chemicals, logging on to militant websites or carrying out surveillance of prominent buildings.

via London police launch counter-terrorism PR campaign | Top News | Reuters.

Israel Issues Terror Warning

Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau warned Sunday night of a “concrete, high-level threat” that the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group planned an attack against Israelis to avenge the February 2008 assassination of Imad Mughniyah, its deputy leader. “The Hezbollah organization is apparently prepared to carry out a serious attack (assassination, kidnapping) against an Israeli target, including abroad. This attack threatens every Israeli, especially those holding senior position,” a statement from the counter-terrorism bureau said.

The statement warned Israelis travelling overseas to take precautions, and to avoid visiting countries the bureau has warned against.

Israelis abroad should be on the alert and avoid, for example, tempting offers, whether for business or pleasure, from suspicious or unfamiliar persons, and should refrain from unscheduled meetings in remote areas after dark.

Israelis staying abroad for long periods of time should also vary their routine, for example by changing hotels or switching between restaurants and other venues visited frequently.

Gunmen May Have Survived Mumbai Terror Attack

Reports that several terrorists may have survived the three-day siege of Mumbai and escaped into the population will certainly not do much to calm the fears of a city already on edge.

“I think there are more. My sources say (there were) at least 23 of the gunmen,” said Farhana Ali, a former CIA and Rand Corp counterterrorism analyst and expert on militant networks. Ali, who most recently visited India and Pakistan last month before the attacks, said her information came from Pakistan, but declined to further identify the source. Read more