Japan Firm Says Nuke Shelter Sales Up

A retailer of nuclear fallout shelters in Japan said Monday that sales soared in the lead-up to North Korea’s rocket launch as jittery residents took their safety into their own hands.

Osaka-based Shelter Co said it received 12 orders in just two months ahead of Sunday’s launch — more than double the number it usually sells in an entire year.

Pyongyang said the rocket it launched over Japan on Sunday carried a satellite into orbit, but Washington, Tokyo and Seoul believe the launch was a cover for a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Most orders for the Swiss-made 2.8 million yen (28,000 dollar) “household nuclear shelters” came from northwestern Akita and Iwate prefectures, located under the rocket’s path, said company president Seiichiro Nishimoto.

“This is a record in the 30 years I’ve been in this business,” he told AFP, adding that he had also received about 150 enquiries.

“Japanese want to be prepared. I expect the number of orders to increase.”

Other retailers said they saw no dramatic rise in orders.

“Japanese people are not that worried about North Korea. They are watching the situation calmly,” said Nobuko Oribe, an executive of Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, a fallout shelter manufacturer based in Kobe city.

Japan, despite being the only country to have suffered atomic attacks, has very few nuclear shelters.

Is the Economic Crisis a Security Threat

Could the deepening global recession boost the flagging efforts of Osama bin Laden to challenge the established global order? Probably not. But the signs are there that, as President Barack Obama’s intelligence chief Admiral Dennis Blair warned last week, the economic crisis may be the source of the primary threat to global security right now. Security experts note that the economic downturn is already creating social unrest and political instability in some strategic hot spots around the world, and they warn that a prolonged slump could undermine U.S. and Western security interests.
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Blair, addressing the Senate Intelligence Committee on Feb. 12, prioritized the global recession as America’s “primary near-term security concern” and warned that the threat level would increase as the slump endures. “The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests,” Blair warned, emphasizing the danger of political instability in countries allied with Washington. “Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one-to-two-year period.” (See pictures of the global food crisis.)

Part of the strategic challenge posed by the downturn lies in the realm of the economy itself. Emerging powers such as China or India could take the opportunity presented by U.S. economic weakness to extend their own influence in regions traditionally dominated by the U.S. China, in particular, has already established itself as a major player in Latin America and Africa, and it is investing heavily in extractive industries across the globe right now, procuring energy supplies — most recently in new oil deals inked with Russia, Venezuela and Brazil — and other natural resources for its industrial economy.

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Al-Qaeda Releases Video Aimed At Germany

The terrorist network Al-Qaeda has released a new video with a message directed at Germany, a US security organization that specializes in screening Islamist internet pages said Saturday afternoon.

The 30-minute video was made by someone calling himself ‘Abu Talha, the German,’ according to an email sent by the Washington- based IntelCenter.

The video message is titled ‘Rescue Plan for Germany.’

‘This is the most significant and high-profile address by al-Qaeda to Germany and perhaps any European country,’ the center said.

The statement is in German with Arabic subtitles. The substance of the message however was not yet available.

Inauguration – Tips To FBI About Suspicious Activity On The Rise

The FBI said Saturday it is receiving more and more tips about suspicious activities and items as the inauguration approaches, though there have been no specific or credible threats.

“The closer you get to the event, the more threat streams come in. People become a little bit more aware and want to do the right thing and pick up the phone and call us and tell us,” said John Perren, the special agent in charge for counterterrorism at the FBI’s Washington field office.

“Agencies want to forward us everything they have, just to ensure that this inauguration will be the safest inauguration there has ever been,” Perren said.

The FBI is one of 58 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that are part of the largest inaugural security operation in history.

There is no credible intelligence, at this point, that indicates terrorists plan to disrupt the events. But intelligence officials are concerned about potential attack scenarios, such as a car bomb or other explosive devices.

Should such an incident occur over the next three days, the bureau is ready with emergency response equipment that stretches down a city block on 5th Street.

There is a 40-foot bomb truck to handle suspicious items with a bomb-detecting robot that performs jobs considered too dangerous for a person. The FBI has a separate truck with a 12,000-pound blue steel ball that is strong enough to contain blasts of explosives.

There is also a mobile command center with seven laptops, 15 televisions, six cell phones, a microwave, mini fridge and 12-cup coffee maker; an armored assault vehicle; and evidence response team trucks to process a crime scene.

The FBI will have as many as 1,000 employees helping to secure the inauguration, with 155 two-person intelligence teams dressed in plain clothes and strategically placed to look for specific threats.

“We’re very, very confident that if anything happens, we know how to respond to it,” Perren said.

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Obama Inauguration Attractive Target For Terrorists

Although no credible or specific threat is being reported or investigated, the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama is no doubt an attractive target for both international and domestic terrorists. According to AP sources,  an internal intelligence assessment, says the high visibility of the event, the presence of dignitaries and the significance of swearing in America’s first black president make the inauguration vulnerable to attacks.

What concerns analysts most, the report says, is the potential use of improvised explosive devices, a hostage situation or suicide bombers.

While security will be tight around the U.S. Capitol, the joint FBI and Homeland Security assessment says nearby hotels, public gatherings, restaurants and roads could be vulnerable to some kind of attack.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said security concerns during inaugurations have been elevated since the 2001 terror attacks. “I think it will be the most security, as far as I’m aware, that any inauguration has had,” Chertoff said in an interview .

Chertoff also said there is no specific intelligence pointing to terrorist plots during the event.

“We have scrubbed very hard to look at anything that would suggest a credible, imminent threat or one that was specifically focused on the inauguration,” Chertoff said, though not referring to the intelligence assessment. “We’re not, at this point, aware of a credible, specific, imminent threat that would affect the inauguration.”

The Secret Service, which is in charge of the overall security for the event, announced Wednesday that bridges into Washington and about 3.5 square miles 9 square kilometers of the downtown will be closed on Jan. 20. The security perimeter covers more of the city than previous inaugurations.

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Passenger Arrested For Bomb Threat At St. Louis Airport

An airline passenger was arrested after authorities say he made a bomb threat when flight attendants asked him to close his laptop computer before takeoff.

The man was on board a United Express flight to Washington Saturday afternoon at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Airport spokesman Jeff Lea said that when attendants asked him to close his laptop, “he mentioned a bomb or made a bomb threat.”

Police were called, and the man was arrested. The flight was delayed more than two hours while police searched the plane for explosives but nothing was found.

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Suspicious Letters SentTo At Least 6 Governors

Suspicious letters containing powdery substances addressed to governors were intercepted in at least six states on Monday, but no injuries were immediately reported.

The letters were reported in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island. They disrupted state governments in a few of the states, forcing some evacuations and testing for workers who might have been exposed.

Preliminary tests found the powders sent to Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana and Rhode Island were not harmful. The Missouri letter never made it to state offices.

Alabama officials said the FBI was working with police agencies in each state to investigate the letters. An FBI spokeswoman in Washington referred questions about the investigation to the bureau’s offices in each state.

Alabama’s public safety director, Christopher Murphy, said “my gut is there may be more” letters still moving through the mail system.

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Iran Said to Have Enough Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon

Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.

“They clearly have enough material for a bomb,” said Richard L. Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised Washington for decades. “They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that’s another matter.”

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FBI Headquarters Evacuated After Electrical Fire

Authorities say the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., was briefly evacuated because of a small electrical fire in the basement.

No injuries were reported, but two streets were closed while authorities investigated.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko says no criminal activity was suspected and that everything was “under control” by late afternoon.

D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter says there appeared to have been an electrical fire in a utility room underneath the building.

Etter said officials received a call from inside the building around 4:15 p.m. about a loud, explosion-like noise and smoke coming from the ventilation system.

The few people working on the holiday had to leave the building but were later allowed to return.

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