How To Survive A Dirty Bomb Attack

Tonight on the National Geographic Channel, don’t miss Dirty Bomb Attack, a one-hour docudrama on how to survive a dirty bomb attack. A US city is the target of a hypothetical radiological attack. The episode begins with a dramatization of a car bomb detonating in a busy street and sets up the question, what happens next?”

The answer is given through the lens of representative characters: a victim near the blast site whose radiation symptoms develop over time; first responders who go into the hot zone to save lives and help with the clean up; a pregnant mother and her child living in a contaminated area who must be evacuated and forensic scientists who comb through evidence to determine how lethal the attack was and who is responsible.

By concentrating on these key story lines and weaving back and forth between them Dirty Bomb Attack paints an accurate and often gripping picture of the aftermath of a radiological attack and gives viewers useful information in the event that we ever find ourselves faced with this kind of disaster in the future.

Read more: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/4252/protectyourself#tab-Overview#ixzz0WuYpu9M7

Naked Science | Dirty Bomb Attack | Protect Yourself | National Geographic Channel.

Terrorists Using Blogs To Engage Counter-terrorist Experts Online

This is an interesting article from the UK. Although I have never received any response from known terrorists on this site, I’ve often wondered if someone like Adnan G. el Shukrijumah, Adam Gadahn or others go online to research and read stories and posts about themselves. When someone like Gerald Posner does an in-depth investigative piece on a terrorist like el Shukrijumah, does el Shukrijumah see it? My assumption has always been that he does. Many well known terrorists have an obvious strong desire for attention in the media and this article makes that case.

A senior Arab Afghan adviser to al Qaeda and the Taliban has openly challenged an Australian counter-terrorism expert in a series of blog posts. Abu Walid al Masri has written direct responses to Leah Farrall, an Australian academic who writes the All things Counter Terrorism blog and has years of experience fighting terrorism with the Australian Federal Police.

Farrall recently described al Masri as “one of Mullah Omar’s most trusted advisers” in an op-ed for the Australian. He has written 12 books in Arabic relating to Afghanistan and al Qaeda, and has just re-emerged as an author for the Taliban’s flagship magazine publication, in which he recently encouraged the Taliban to engage in the kidnapping of British and American soldiers. Because of this, Al Masri has been one of Farrall’s “main academic interests for many years” and she was shocked read his blog posts about her: “To say that I am blown away by this would be a pretty massive understatement”.

In his first blog post, Abu Walid al Masri joked that Farrall’s “focus on academic research will give us a bit of comfort and space so we can work safely in the field (terrorism). Therefore I thought it would be a good to distract her with these dialogues so the rest of the gang can do the work.”

He compares Farrall to the “beautiful female soldiers” who tortured “our brothers” in Abu Ghraib, and then begins the dialogue sardonically:

Read Full Article

NY, NJ and Connecticut Push For Dirty Bomb Alarms

Three states are combining forces in an effort to mount a last-ditch appeal to rescue the $40 million New York City needs to finish building a terrorism defense system. In a letter sent to House and Senate leaders, the 42 legislators from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are calling for the funds to be approved.

The government has been investing in radiation detectors and other measures for the last three years to guard the city from someone trying to sneak in a dirty or nuclear bomb. But the White House requested zero funding for the effort in next year’s budget, and left it up to Congress.

The House passed the needed cash – $40 million for the Securing the Cities anti-nuke program, and another $10 million to help protect other ports in the nation.

The Senate, though, only passed $10 million, and New York would have to compete for it. The New York region lawmakers are urging the Senate to accept the House version.

via Source.

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.”

Source

America Hiroshima Plotter Adnan Shukrijumah,”Jaffar The Pilot” Is On The Move

“Jafar the Pilot,” leader of al Qaeda’s post-9/11 ambitions for a nuclear attack, is on the move again. The Daily Beast’s Gerald Posner reports that he may be using a Saudi diplomatic passport.

One of the world’s most wanted terrorists, with a $5 million bounty on his head and a suspected desire to attack the United States with nuclear weapons, has been traveling across the Middle East recently with relative impunity, courtesy of a Saudi diplomatic passport, a U.S. intelligence source tells The Daily Beast.

Five-foot-four Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah was selected after 9/11 by Osama bin Laden to be the terror group’s next Mohamed Atta for any second wave of attacks on America. The Saudi-born el-Shukrijumah was the son of a radical Muslim cleric who moved his family to the U.S. in 1985 and settled eventually in Miramar, Florida, a Fort Lauderdale suburb. There he became friends with José Padilla, who was later arrested as an “enemy combatant,” and also with Mandhai and Shueyb Mossa Jokhan, who were jailed for plotting to blow up Florida power plants, a National Guard armory, and Jewish businesses. Adnan attended flight schools in Florida and Oklahoma, and within al Qaeda was dubbed Jafar al-Tayyar (“Jafar the Pilot”).

How Do We Know of The Existence of Adnan?

Newly declassified documents, as well as other evidence, make it clear that intelligence was gained during Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s interrogations. His confessions led to the identification of at least three al Qaeda sleeper agents who operated on U.S. soil. They are: Uzair Paracha, Adnan El Shukrijumah and Iyman Faris.

Source

A senior CIA intelligence analyst told The Daily Beast that the agency had tracked Adnan “somewhere in late spring to early summer” on several trips in the Middle East. On those travels, he used an alias—which the analyst did not disclose—and traveled with relative impunity on a Saudi diplomatic passport.The news of Adnan’s travels was alarming to the American intelligence community because it had previously concluded he was in Pakistan, coordinating the fight against Western forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. A U.S. counterterrorism official summarized to me the mainstream U.S. intelligence view: “It is generally believed that El Shukrijumah stays in the tribal areas of Pakistan—where he probably thinks he’s more secure—and does not travel abroad.”

According to the same analyst, who disclosed the discovery of Adnan’s travels on a Saudi diplomatic passport, the CIA requested “offline” that the State Department make an official inquiry of the Saudis about the passport to determine its authenticity. The CIA provided the State Department both the passport number and the alias. According to the CIA analyst, the State Department refused, telling the agency that its information was “not reliable enough” to question the Saudis.

Read the Full Article At The Daily Beast

We’ve featured several posts on Adnan Shukrijumah,”Jaffar The Pilot”, including the following:

A Mystery Man That Keeps The FBI Up At Night

Eight years ago, as 19 Al Qaeda operatives in the United States put the finishing touches on what would become the Sept. 11 attacks, a frail, asthmatic computer engineer from South Florida paid a visit to this tiny Muslim enclave where he’d lived as a boy.

Adnan Gulshair Muhammad el Shukrijumah, then 25, kept a low profile over the course of the week. He hung out with a small circle of devout older men who were leaders of the local Islamic community. They prayed in mosques, went fishing and enjoyed long walks and leisurely dinners, recalled one of the hosts, Imtiaz Mohammed.

Shukrijumah spoke fondly of his father, an influential Islamic scholar and Charlieville community leader two decades earlier. He also spoke of his family life in Miramar, Fla., his computer technician business and his travels to the Middle East and other exotic locales.

But Shukrijumah said nothing about why he was in Trinidad, nor what his plans were, acquaintances here say.

Two years later, the FBI put out an urgent all-points bulletin for Shukrijumah, depicting him as one of Al Qaeda’s most well-trained, intelligent and deadly operatives. He was described as the ultimate “sleeper agent,” intent on attacking the U.S., possibly with weapons of mass destruction.

Law enforcement officials and terrorism experts now believe Shukrijumah is one of several young, street-smart leaders of Al Qaeda handpicked by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, to keep the terrorist network alive and humming in the face of U.S.-led efforts to unravel it.

American Hiroshima

Paul L. Williams is a former consultant to the FBI on organized crime and terrorism. Since then, he has become an award-winning investigative journalist and written several books. In his new book, “The Al Qaeda Connection,” he claims Osama bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons and smuggled them into the U.S. through Mexico for use in a plot known as “American Hiroshima.”

Ryan Mauro: Much has been written about the “American Hiroshima” report. How did you first learn about the plot?

Paul Williams: I have a unique background. I hold a Ph.D. in philosophy from Drew University and I am a seasoned and award-winning journalist. I came upon the story of bin Laden’s acquisition of tactical nuclear weapons while working as the editor/publisher of The Metro and a consultant on organized crime for the FBI. Several members of the Chechen Mafia, who had emigrated to Little Odessa, muscled into the operations of the Bufalino Crime Family in Northeast Pennsylvania by selling choice No. Four heroin, guns of every description, and stolen high-end cars from New York and New Jersey .

I learned that they came to the U.S. after Makhmud and his associates sold tactical nukes and nuclear materials to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. I began to search for evidence of this sale and came upon stories in The Jerusalem Report and The London Times and Arab stories in Muslim magazines, Al-Watan al-Arabi and al-Majallah This led me to other sources and reports of further sales of nukes from the former Soviet Union to al-Qaida not only by the Chechens but also the Russian Mafia and black-marker arms-dealers, including Semion Mogilevic from the Ukraine . Such information can be obtained by any journalist with a telephone, a computer, and a library card.

I further learned that the sales to al-Qaida have been verified by a host of intelligence officials and weapons inspectors, including Hans Blix, former director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. The sales were even verified by bin Laden and al-Zawahiri in their pronouncements that they have obtained a small arsenal of nuclear weapons from black-market sources. My research took me farther into dealings between bin Laden and Dr. A. Q. Khan and the fact that over 20 nuclear scientists and technicians from Khan’s research laboratories in Pakistan worked with al-Qaida on a regular basis to maintain and modify the weapons that had been purchased and to develop other weapons from the highly enriched uranium and plutonium that bin Laden hade purchased from Uzbekistan and other countries.

Dr. Mahmood and Dr. Majeed, two of the leading officials at the Khan facility, confessed to CIA and ISI interrogators that they participated in al-Qaida’s nuclear projects. The fact that the Chechens possessed the nukes should be no surprise to any reporter or investigator. In 1995, the Chechens under Com. Shamail Basayev planted a radiological bomb in Izmailovsky Park near Moscow . The bomb was made of cesium-137, and, if detonated, would have killed thousands of Russians. This incident represented the first case of a nuke to be deployed as a weapon of terror. Later that same year, Dzokhar Dudayev, the leader of the Chechen Mafia, offered to sell his collection of nuclear weapons to the United States in exchange for U. S. recognition of Chechnya ’s independence. The Clinton Administration declined and so the weapons were sold to al-Qaida.

Read Full Article

Wanted – Adnan el Shukrijumah Jafer The Pilot

DETAILS: Adnan G. El Shukrijumah is wanted in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States.

REWARD: The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the capture of Adnan G. El Shukrijumah.

Wanted Info

Surviving Disaster Premieres Sept 1st – Spike TV

Surviving Disaster Premieres Sept 1st on Spike TV. What will you do when disaster strikes? Spike TV’s new original series Surviving Disaster, led by Navy SEAL Cade Courtley, vividly takes viewers through catastrophic scenarios and arms them with the knowledge needed to survive the unthinkable. Courtley tackles worst-case scenarios and equips viewers with the practical information needed to save their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Whether the threat is natural or man-made or on a national or personal level, Courtley speaks directly to the viewers and guides them through a comprehensive, step-by-step process to not only survive the big picture disaster, but endure the many dangerous obstacles that may occur within each catastrophic event. While leading viewers out of danger, Courtley not only provides helpful tips and hands-on instruction, but swiftly points out common misconceptions and fatal mistakes. Unlike any other series, Surviving Disaster may actually save lives by providing actions that anyone can perform.

Having had the opportunity to assist in the research for an upcoming episode I can attest that “Surviving Disaster”, is unlike anything you’ve seen on television.  The show will have you on the edge of your seat as you’re instructed step-by-step, how to stay alive when disaster strikes. It’s a show you won’t want to miss and as stated, “could save your life”.

Watch A 7 Minute Preview

Related post on Spike TV’s Surviving Disaster

Homeland Security Launches Pilot to Counter Small-Vessel Attacks

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is undertaking a pilot program aimed at countering the threat of a small-vessel attack on the nation’s ports, an official told Global Security Newswire last week (see GSN, July 24).

Boats docked at a marina in San Diego, Calif. The United States has launched a new effort to protect its ports from small vessel attacks, an official said last week (Don Emmert/Getty Images).

The agency’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has launched a “West Coast Maritime Pilot” effort, based in San Diego and Washington state’s Puget Sound region.

The program is slated to deploy and evaluate radiation and nuclear detection equipment, to include human-portable and mobile, or boat-mounted, systems, according to Chris Inman, the detection office director for the San Diego portion of the effort.

Program officials will develop a regional maritime concept of operations and provide naval-specific training on nuclear detection equipment, he said. It also will “identify any gaps that may still be remaining in that maritime architecture,” Inman said.

National concern about the threats posed by small naval vessels appears to be on the rise.

Bethann Rooney, manager of port security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, sees a small-vessel attack as the greatest security risk facing the nation’s ports today.

“For us, we’ve essentially got a single choke point that all deep draft vessels need to pass,” she said during a July 10 panel discussion at the Center for National Policy. “If that choke point is compromised by a small vessel attack … it will essentially shut down the entire port of New York and New Jersey.”

Read Full Article For More Details

New Drug Protects From Nuclear or Dirty Bomb Radiation

A drug that can protect people exposed to normally lethal doses of radiation from a nuclear or a “dirty” bomb has been developed, reports say.

In tests involving 650 monkeys exposed to radiation equivalent to that recorded during the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in 1986, 70 per cent died while the rest suffered serious maladies, the newspaper Yediot Achronot said yesterday.

Of the group given anti-radiation shots, almost all survived and had no side effects. A test on humans not exposed to radiation showed none suffered side effects from the medication.

The medication was developed by Andrei Gudkov, chief scientific officer at Cleveland BioLabs in the US. Also involved was Israel’s Elena Feinstein.

“We made a breakthrough that may save the lives of millions,” Dr Gudkov was quoted as saying.

The medication has important implications in the treatment of cancer, the report said, since it permits use of more powerful radiation.

Source

Exclusive: Dramatic discovery by Jewish-American scientists could change world; anti-radiation medication proves effective, safe in tests. Further experiments to be fast tracked, FDA approval possible within 1-2 years

Medication that can protect humans against nuclear radiation has been developed by Jewish-American scientists in cooperation with a researcher and investors from Israel. The full story behind the dramatic discovery will be published in Yedioth Ahronoth’s weekend edition.

The ground-breaking medication, developed by Professor Andrei Gudkov – Chief Scientific Officer at Cleveland BioLabs – may have far-reaching implications on the balance of power in the world, as states capable of providing their citizens with protection against radiation will enjoy a significant strategic advantage vis-à-vis their rivals.

For Israel, the discovery marks a particularly dramatic development that could deeply affect the main issue on the defense establishment’s agenda: Protection against a nuclear attack by Iran or against “dirty bomb” attacks by terror groups.

Gudkov’s discovery may also have immense implications for cancer patients by enabling doctors to better protect patients against radiation. Should the new medication enable cancer patients to be treated with more powerful radiation, our ability to fight the disease could greatly improve.

Dramatic test results
The process that led up to the medical innovation dates back to 2003, when Professor Gudkov came up with the idea of using protein produced in bacteria found in the intestine to protect cells from radiation.

Gudkov recounted an experiment he held with two groups of mice.

“We exposed both groups to lethal radioactive radiation,” he said. “All the mice in the control group died within a short period of time. A few days later, when I approached the cage with the mice that received the protein, I could see that they’re ok, that they’re alive. They survived. It’s hard to describe the joy all of us felt. We realized that finally, after so many years and so many experiments and frustrations, we made a breakthrough that may save the lives of millions.”

Source

New drug offers radiation protection

A drug developed with Pentagon approval offers protection from radiation in the event of a nuclear attack, U.S. and Israeli researchers said.

The medication could offer effective protection in the event of nuclear or dirty bomb attacks, an exclusive report published Friday in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth said.

The drug developed by Professor Andrei Gudkov may affect the future balance of world powers, the paper said, and will offer cancer sufferers better protection as they undergo radiation treatment.

Source

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.

Read Full Article

Nuclear Terror Would Strain Bomb Sleuths

If the unthinkable happened, would we be left on the day after, as radioactive dust settled, with the unknowable?

If a terrorist nuclear bomb destroyed the heart of a great city, how would we know who did it, with what? Mideast fanatics with a device improvised from stolen uranium? A weapon smuggled in by a rogue regime? A hijacked U.S. bomb?

Where do you strike back?  How do you head off another attack?

President Barack Obama calls nuclear terrorism “the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.” It’s an unthinkable that’s being thought about daily in classified corners of world capitals.

But knowledgeable scientists and the investigators behind a new U.S. government report say the American nuclear establishment needs more specialists and more background data on possible bomb sources to do the detective job that awaits on that day after.

“I don’t believe the intelligence community is ready for the challenge,” said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who worked for years as a U.S. intelligence leader on weapons of mass destruction.

Read Article

NYC Tests Ability To Detect Dirty Bomb

A New York City test of its response to a so-called dirty bomb involved 700 FBI agents and city police officers and a radiation device created for the drill.

The radiation device, while safe, had the same radioactive signature as a dirty bomb, WPIX-TV reported. Dirty bombs add nuclear material to explosives to spread radiation over a wide area.

The drill tested the ability to detect a radioactive device concealed in a vehicle on the Clearview Expressway in Queens. Other drivers participated in the test without knowing it.

But communities in the area were notified a drill would be conducted between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 2 a.m. Wednesday so they would not be caught off-guard. A recent low-altitude flight by a presidential jet over lower Manhattan sparked panic, including hundreds of phone calls to 911 from witnesses who thought they were seeing another attack like the one on Sept. 11, 2001.

Source

Empire 09 – Capital Region Practices For Dirty Bomb Scenario

Imagine a “dirty bomb” exploding in downtown Albany.

Now envision two going off only blocks apart.

That very possibility was simulated Tuesday as hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement officials manned would-be command posts on Albany-Shaker Road to prepare for the potentially catastrophic event.

The mock reaction, part of a three-day exercise called “Empire 09,” was staged around a hockey facility near Albany International Airport. It featured radiation screenings, officials in white “space suit”-type outfits and aircraft to surveil contaminated areas from the sky.

The exercise, hosted by the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. It comes only weeks after the FBI arrested four alleged conspirators in a plot to blow up two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at Stewart Airforce Base in Newburgh.

“Our enemies are patient and they are ruthless,” said Mary Kavaney, assistant secretary for public safety in Gov. David Paterson. “We can’t let our guard down and this exercise shows we will not let our guard down.”

The “attack” showed the aftermath of two radiactive dirty bombs going off during the workday – one at Eagle and State streets, the other at Eagle and Madison Avenue. Projected maps show evacuations, from mandatory to voluntary, would stretch from a wide range of downtown Albany across the Hudson River to the city of Rensselaer.

Source

Man Had Enough Uranium For Dirty Bomb – Melbourne

A Victorian man who was arrested and charged last month with serious drug offences held enough uranium at a storage facility to make a “dirty bomb”.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday that investigators found the uranium oxide powder at Harcourt, outside Castlemaine, along with drug equipment and a confidential police document.

It was alleged by a detective that Andrew John McNaughton, 45, became a target of the police Petra taskforce in December after “intelligence indicated that he was involved in police corruption by way of sourcing and distributing restricted confidential Victoria Police information”.

The court heard that an explosives expert found that the uranium could be used in the “construction” of a dirty bomb and that other chemicals for drug manufacture could in combination make an “incendiary device”.

Detective Sergeant Peter Kos said in evidence that the uranium was “depleted” and only dangerous if ingested.

He agreed with defence lawyer Rob Stary that it “effectively has no use at all” except as a measure to determine radioactivity.

But Sergeant Kos, who said the maximum penalty in Victoria for possessing uranium was about a $15,000 fine, said its other possible use was for a dirty bomb.

Mr Stary told magistrate Peter Lauritsen that while its presence might cause “disquiet”, there was no suggestion by police the uranium was for “any other sinister purpose”.

Prosecutor Stephen Payne said police opposed bail for McNaughton on grounds that included that he was an unacceptable risk of reoffending and endangering the public.

Man had ‘enough uranium for bomb’ | theage.com.au.

3 Held Over Radioactive Material

The three men were arrested in the western Ternopil region last Thursday when they tried to sell a container of radioactive material for $10m, the SBU said in a statement.

The men – identified as a member of the Ternopil regional parliament and two businessmen – believed they were selling 3 672kg of radioactive plutonium-239, the statement said.

The material “could have been used for terrorist purposes for the creation of a dirty bomb”, the SBU said, referring to a kind of weapon combining radioactive material with conventional explosives.

Authorities were seeking to determine what substance was in the container, but the SBU said its radioactivity level was 250 times greater than normal background radiation.

The SBU said the substance had been produced on Russian territory in the Soviet era and could have been transferred to Ukraine from a neighbouring state, without providing further details.

The men have been charged with illegal handling of radioactive material and face from eight to 15 years in prison.

Source

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