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.

New Features At National Terror Alert – Poll

The primary goal of the National Terror Alert website has been to promote homeland security and emergency preparedness through awareness, education, community involvement and partnerships between individuals, groups and organizations.

Moving forward we would like to implement a few additional features on the site to enhance this mission but would first like to get your input.

Please select the 4 items that interest you the most. If you have additional suggestions, please add them in the comments.

Why Is Terror Alert Threat Level Still Yellow

This week’s “most asked ” question in our email… The answer: DHS didn’t change the threat level before and after agents nabbed Najibullah Zazi because advisories to local police were deemed sufficient. Actually there’s a little more to it than that. James Carafano, a homeland-security expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington and writer of one of my favorite and perhaps “largest” books on my bookshelf , responds in this article.

The investigation into a potential Al Qaeda plot in the US has triggered a raft of warnings from federal authorities about suspicious activity around stadiums, hotels, and train stations, among other places. But it hasn’t moved the color-coded terror alert system.

The Department of Homeland Security’s national threat level was yellow – or elevated – before and after counterterrorism agents nabbed Najibullah Zazi. He’s the Denver airport shuttle driver at the center the investigation into an alleged plot that authorities say involves plans to build peroxide-based bombs.

In fact, the alert system has been static since 2006, when British officials foiled a plan to blow up transatlantic flights headed to North America from London. That caused the warning to jump to red (severe) for those flights and to orange (high) for general attacks.

But there’s no reason this latest terror investigation should have raised the terror alert, says James Carafano, a homeland-security expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

“What is widely perceived as a system to update the American people about terrorist threats is not really designed for that,” he says. “When you raise the color-coded system, it’s a blunt instrument” that triggers specific actions by law enforcement and federal agencies.

Read Full Article

Panel Recommends Changes To Color-coded Terror Alert

Whew…. After a 60-day review of the nation’s terror-alert system, a special task force is expected to recommend that the Obama administration keep color-coded alerts, but reduce the number of colors (possibly to 3 colors) or levels of risk.

Currently our NTARC  “Live Alert” is featured on over 50,000 web pages. If you have the advisory on your website, you will not need to make any changes. We will design the new alert to fit within the same area on your site. We are also planning to take this opportunity and design a couple of updated alerts with additional social media features, once DHS determines the new colors and look.

There are currently five colors in the coded terrorism advisories, long derided by late night TV comics and portrayed by some Democrats as a tool for Bush administration political manipulation.

A bipartisan task force is expected to recommend reducing that to three colors, an official familiar with the review told The Associated Press. The official did not provide details of spoke on condition of anonymity because the results of the review have not publicly been released. The review period concludes Tuesday.

Under the current system, green, at the bottom, signals a low danger of attack; blue signals a general risk; yellow, a significant risk; orange, a high risk; and red, at the top, warns of a severe threat. It was put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was designed to help emergency responders get prepared. The nation has never been below the third threat level, yellow — an elevated or significant risk of terrorist attack.

From Secretary Napolitano

Secretary Napolitano believes the American people deserve an alert system that is effective and trusted. She thanks the task force for its hard work on this important issue. The Secretary looks forward to reading the report and sharing its recommendations with the White House and other Cabinet officials so that appropriate follow-up action can be taken.

To view the task force report, visit Click Here Click Here

Though some members of the task force argued for scrapping the system altogether, that move could prove complicated because many local governments have policies and procedures triggered when the federal government changes the alert level.

Read Full Article

DHS – New Directives On Screening Electronic Media At Border

US Department of Homeland Security takes critical step to bolster the US efforts to combat international crime and terrorism while still respecting the civil liberties and privacy of individuals. “Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States,” said Secretary Napolitano as she announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry.

The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders.”

The new directives address the circumstances under which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can conduct border searches of electronic media—consistent with the Department’s Constitutional authority to search other sensitive non-electronic materials, such as briefcases, backpacks and notebooks, at U.S. borders.

The directives, available at DHS.gov, will enhance transparency, accountability and oversight of electronic media searches at U.S. ports of entry and includes new administrative procedures designed to reflect broad considerations of civil liberties and privacy protections—measures designed to ensure that officers and agents understand their responsibilities to protect individual private information and that individuals understand their rights.

Searches of electronic media, permitted by law and carried out at borders and ports of entry, are vital to detecting information that poses serious harm to the United States, including terrorist plans, or constitutes criminal activity—such as possession of child pornography and trademark or copyright infringement.

The DHS Privacy Office also released today a Privacy Impact Assessment, available at www.dhs.gov/privacy, in connection with the new directives to enhance public understanding of the authorities, policies, procedures and controls employed by DHS during border searches of electronic data to protect individuals’ privacy. The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) will also conduct a Civil Liberties Impact Assessment within 120 days.

In conjunction with the Privacy Office and CRCL, CBP will ensure training materials and procedures promote fair and consistent enforcement of the law relating to electronic media searches. CBP will also provide travelers subject to electronic device searches with clear and concise material informing them of the reasons for the search, how their data may be used and detailed information about their constitutional and statutory rights.

DHS conducts border searches of computers and other electronic media on a small percentage of international travelers seeking to enter the United States—searches often as basic as asking a traveler to turn on a device to ensure it is what it appears to be.

Between Oct. 1, 2008, and Aug. 11, 2009, CBP encountered more than 221 million travelers at U.S. ports of entry. Approximately 1,000 laptop searches were performed in these instances—of those, just 46 were in-depth.

The new directives will also allow DHS to develop automated, comprehensive data collection and analytic tools to facilitate accurate, thorough reporting on electronic media searched at the border, the outcomes of those searches and the nature of the data searched—further enhancing transparency and accountability.

America Needs A More Effective Warning System

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has appointed a 17-member board to review and evaluate the Homeland Security Advisory System, the familiar, if often ignored, five-color terror-alert warning. The system is long overdue for review and should be improved.

Editor’s Note – I agree that there are long overdue changes needed to the current Homeland Security advisory system. But as pointed out, that doesn’t necessarily mean getting rid of the color-coded system. The color coded system is an widely recognized and could be very useful if specific actions were tied directly to the threat level. I also agree that the appearance or potential opportunity to use it politically needs to removed. A neutral agency or organization could administer the alert according to a very specific criteria, removing any doubt from the public’s mind as to the actual severity of the threat.

The system was established in March 2002 as a readiness measure for state and local law enforcement and the public generally. It has been the butt of many jokes, and most Americans have no idea what the current alert level is at any given time. But the system has some utility. It works best when there are concrete signs of increased terrorist activity. The last time the system went to red alert was in 2006 after evidence emerged about a plot in Britain to bomb trans-Atlantic airliners.

Unfortunately, the alert status often has fallen victim to politics. During the George W. Bush years, the president’s political opponents charged that the administration was trying to whip up hysteria any time the alert status moved up, despite concrete evidence that the terror threat had increased.

The political equation at the lower end of the scale is more mundane. The United States has been at yellow alert (signifying “significant risk” of attack) since 2006, with airlines at orange alert (”high risk”). Some localities maintain their own alert levels. For example, the New York City metro area is at orange alert and generally stays one level above the federal alert status.

Read Full Editorial At The Wash. Times

Homeland Security Terror Alert System Under Review

A senior U.S. official says the Obama administration will announce Tuesday that it will review the nation’s multicolored terror alert system that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to appoint a panel to reevaluate the system and determine whether it should be changed, or possibly eliminated.

The five-tiered system that goes from green, which signals a low danger of attack, to red, which signals a severe threat of attack, has proven to be confusing at times. Critics say the different colors are too vague to deliver enough information to be useful.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made public.

Our color-coded National Terror Alert “live alert” button was the starting point for this website over seven years ago. It’s now featured on over 50,000 web pages world-wide and viewed by millions, each month.

Source

Take Our Poll

The National Terror Alert Response Center will continue to maintain a “live terror alert” ; however we will wait upon the findings of this review prior to making our decision of how to best move forward.

Our position is that the color-coded system should remain. It’s highly recognizable with strong awareness across all age groups; however it needs to be overhauled. Each level of the alert should require specific criteria be met prior to elevation and correlate to actions needed to be taken by individuals, businesses and government agencies.

We hope to be considered for any “citizen advocate” positions available on the panel.

Should The Color-coded Terror Alert Advisory Remain?

• Yes
• No

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