Texas Man Finds Guidance Missile Launcher On Rural Property
October 15, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News
Filed under Incident Reports
Who do you call when you find a missile launcher on your property? That’s what a man living in rural Comal County north of San Antonio was asking after he discovered a military-type guidance missile launcher while cutting down trees Tuesday.
Jarrette Schule was cutting down trees on his rural property Tuesday in Comal County north of San Antonio when he noticed a green metallic tube on the muddy ground.
“I had never seen it before,” said Schule, a 34-year-old Web developer. “I looked at it, and it kind of looked like a missile launcher.”
Schule took a closer look. It was a long, forest-green metal tube. A decal on it read: “Guided Missile and Launcher, Surface Attack.”The discovery was the start of a surreal journey for Schule. Somehow, an unarmed anti-tank weapon — or a very good fake — wound up on his land at Beck Road and Kirk Lane in the Hill Country, miles away from a military installation.
The launcher was deep in the wooded property far from the road, in an area he was familiar with.
Swine Flu – First U.S. Death Is Reported
April 29, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
American authorities confirmed the first death outside of Mexico from swine flu on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed cases of the disease continued to rise in Europe.
President Obama, in a morning news conference, called on local authorities to be vigilant in reporting new suspected cases, and called on schools to consider closing temporarily if a confirmed case was reported among its students.
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Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday in an interview with CNN that the first American death of the disease was a 23-month-old child in Texas. He gave no other details about the child. The death was confirmed by President Obama, who said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the child’s family.
Swine Flu – WHO Raises Pandemic Alert Level To 4
The World Health Organization has raised the pandemic alert level to 4 due to the swine flu outbreak, the highest since the scale was developed in 2005.
Read the announcement.
The scale has six phases, with 4 through 6 being the most serious:
• Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.”
The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.
• Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.
• Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.
The latest WHO updates can be found here.
The Obama administration is already responding as if the outbreak were a pandemic, Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security Department, told reporters earlier.
“We want to make sure that we have people where they need to be, equipment where it needs to be and, most of all, information shared at all levels,” she said. “We are proceeding as if we are preparing to a full pandemic,” she said.
Travel warnings to Mexico would remain in effect as long as swine flu is detected, she added.
FBI Warns of Drug Cartel Danger In South Texas
October 29, 2008 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Frustrated by a crackdown on South Texas drug smuggling routes, the Mexican Gulf Cartel is stockpiling high-powered weapons and recruiting local gang members on both sides of the border to prepare for possible confrontations with U.S. law enforcement, according to an FBI intelligence report.
The regional leader of the cartel’s enforcer group, the Zetas, Jaime “El Hummer” Gonzalez Duran ordered dozens of reinforcements to Reynosa, Mexico, across the river from McAllen, the report said.
“These replacements are believed to be armed with assault rifles, bulletproof vests and grenades and are occupying safe houses throughout the McAllen area,” the report obtained by The McAllen Monitor said.
The Monitor reported in today’s editions that the local FBI office refused to comment on the report.
Erik Vasys, an FBI spokesman in San Antonio, refused to discuss the details of the report but told The Associated Press “we acknowledge the Zetas are a significant problem in Mexico and they have the potential to pose a significant problem to law enforcement on this side of the border.”
Less than two weeks ago, the Border Patrol, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Hidalgo County sheriff announced that they would not be intimidated by cartel violence. At the time, they would only say that they felt the smugglers had become increasingly confrontational and the agencies planned to increase their coordination.
Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said at the time that his deputies patrolling near the Rio Grande would be issued high-powered rifles and authorized to return fire.
U.S. law enforcement has had several recent successes that have likely frustrated the cartel.
In September, “Project Reckoning” nabbed more than 175 cartel members and affiliates in the U.S.
F-16 Escorts Plane In Vicinity of South Texas Project Nuclear Plant
October 26, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Two unrelated incidents caused a scare at South Texas Project Thursday afternoon that had plant security and Matagorda County Sheriff’s officers working quickly to diffuse the situations.
Coincidentally, within a time span of ten minutes, an unidentified aircraft was detected flying in the vicinity of the plant and a man was seen walking in the nuclear support center area carrying a rifle case. Read more
