National Terror Alert Launches New Online Community Preparedness Network

Grassroots Network of Citizens and Community and Government Leaders Take on the Challenge of Readiness

visit www.homelandsecurityresponse.com.

While many U.S. citizens fear terrorist attacks and other threats to homeland security, very few are aware of basic emergency plans or strategies that could potentially save their lives, and the lives of those around them in the event of an attack or disaster. To help better equip citizens with the knowledge and resources they need to become more prepared, the creators of the National Terror Alert Response Center have launched the Homeland Security Response Network, an online, collaborative community of concerned citizens, and government and community leaders. The network is designed to promote discourse and community involvement, and help to create safer, more secure communities, with an emphasis on engaging citizens at the community level. Read more

Homeland Security – Study Finds Serious Vulnerabilities in U.S. Passport Process

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found serious weak spots in the process of issuing of passports, raising concern over terrorists’ access to American identities.

According to the report, “terrorists or criminals could steal an American citizen’s identity, use basic counterfeiting skills to create fraudulent documentation for that identity, and obtain a genuine U.S. passport.”

The GAO used counterfeit methods to successfully obtain passports in four different tests. In one case, the GAO investigator used the identity of a man who died in 1965.

The investigator was also able to purchase an airline ticket and bypass airport security using fraudulent identification.

According to the report, U.S. Department of State officials said fraud detection efforts are “hampered by limitations to its information sharing and data access with other federal and state agencies.”

View the full report

Highlights

FBI Concerned Young Men Being Recruited For Terrorism

Sources told KING 5 News that Seattle FBI agents are now working on a nationwide terrorism investigation.

The FBI has confirmed some cases of young men traveling to the East African nation of Somalia to join al Qaeda-sponsored groups there.

One of the cases they’re looking at includes a man killed in fighting in Somalia last year – an American citizen from Seattle. Read more

Domestic Terror Threat Growing, Senate Committee Warns

There is an increasing threat of homegrown terror stemming from segments of a deeply isolated and alienated Somali-American community, a U.S. Senate committee hearing concluded Wednesday.

The hearing, conducted by the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee, focused on the attempted recruitment of young Somali-American men by al-Shabaab, “a violent and brutal extremist (Somali) group” with significant ties to al Qaeda, according to the U.S. State Department.

“Over the last two years, individuals from the Somali community in the United States, including American citizens, have left for Somalia to support and in some cases fight on behalf of al-Shabaab,” noted the committee’s chairman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut.

Al-Shabaab — also known as the Mujahedeen Youth Movement — was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in March 2008.

The hearing highlighted the case of Shirwa Ahmed, a 27-year-old Somali-American who had been radicalized by al-Shabaab in his adopted home state of Minnesota before traveling to Somalia and blowing up himself and 29 others in October.

The idea that Ahmed was radicalized in the United States raised red flags throughout the U.S. intelligence community. The incident — the first suicide bombing by a naturalized U.S. citizen — was the “most significant case of homegrown American terrorism recruiting based on violent Islamist ideology,” Lieberman said.

“The dangers brought to light by these revelations is clear: radicalized individuals trained in terrorist tactics and in possession of American passports can clearly pose a threat to the security of our country,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

via Domestic terror threat growing, Senate committee warns – CNN.com.