1. Drone to Patrol Part of Border With Canada (New York Times, 07 Dec 2008)
Federal Customs and Border Protection authorities are preparing to launch unmanned aircraft patrols from this state, the first time such monitoring will occur along the nation's northern border. A Predator B aircraft, delivered to Grand Forks on Saturday, will make runs along the northern edge of North Dakota using sensors that can provide video and detect heat and changes to landscape, Customs and Border Protection officials said. The plane, which can go 260 miles per hour and fly as high as 50,000 feet, can stay aloft for 18 hours. The first missions, designed to help spot people crossing the border illegally or avoiding ports of entry, are expected to start next month. Similar aircraft have patrolled the nation's southern border since 2005, where they have helped lead to the discovery of more than 18,000 pounds of marijuana and 4,000 illegal immigrants, a spokesman for the agency said.
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2. Experts' Report Urges Changes in National Security System (Washington Post, 04 Dec 2008)
A bipartisan panel of foreign policy experts, including some associated with the incoming Obama administration, has recommended changes in the White House national security apparatus that would provide the president and his staff with new tools to ensure interagency cooperation. Chief among its recommendations is merging the National Security and Homeland Security councils and creating a director for national security who would manage implementation of the president's policies rather than just coordinate the views of Cabinet members and present them to the president, as the national security adviser currently does.
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3. More problems for major post-9/11 security program (AP, 04 Dec 2008)
A seaports security program spurred by the 9/11 attacks has hit yet another snag, causing concern that commerce could be slowed during the busy holiday season. House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson said ID card applications for about 3,000 seaport workers were inadvertently deleted by the program's contractor, Lockheed Martin. The Mississippi Democrat's panel oversees the program that aims to make sure potential terrorists cannot access sensitive security areas of U.S. seaports. "The department's implementation of the program has been an abysmal failure," Thompson wrote in a letter dated Thursday to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
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4. U.S. to Raise 'Irregular War' Capabilities (Washington Post, 04 Dec 2008)
The Pentagon this week approved a major policy directive that elevates the military's mission of "irregular warfare" -- the increasingly prevalent campaigns to battle insurgents and terrorists, often with foreign partners and sometimes clandestinely -- to an equal footing with traditional combat. The directive, signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England on Monday, requires the Pentagon to step up its capabilities across the board to fight unconventionally, such as by working with foreign security forces, surrogates and indigenous resistance movements to shore up fragile states, extend the reach of U.S. forces into denied areas or battle hostile regimes.
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5. Chertoff Urges Tighter Security (Washington Post, 04 Dec 2008)
The Nov. 26 terrorist attacks on Mumbai underscore the need for U.S. authorities to counter the security threat posed by small boats, strengthen the U.S. Coast Guard and keep the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday. A pending FBI and DHS analysis of last week's raid in which terrorists apparently approached the coastal Indian city in a stolen fishing boat and rubber dinghies before killing at least 171 people contains "no great revelations," the homeland security secretary said. That's because U.S. intelligence officials in 2007 identified dangers posed by the reemergence of terrorist safe havens in South Asia and have long fretted about the exploitation of increasingly sophisticated consumer technology such as Global Positioning System devices and cellular and satellite phones, he said.
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6. Company to admit making false statements (The Morning Call, 10 Dec 2008)
PA: An Upper Macungie Township cargo carrier will plead guilty to illegally transporting goods on commercial air flights without the necessary security clearances. In agreeing to plead guilty to two federal charges of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yourway Transport, of 7020 Snowdrift Road, will be placed on probation for two years and pay a fine of $250,000, according to the guilty plea agreement filed with the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Weber, who is prosecuting the case, could not be reached for comment. Yourway officials also could not be reached for comment. The charges, filed last month, alleged that Yourway backdated necessary security documents required by the Transportation Security Administration after cargo had been transported.
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7. More are getting away with murder in US (AP, 08 Dec 2008)
Despite the rise of DNA fingerprinting and other "CSI"-style crime-fighting wizardry, more and more people in this country are getting away with murder. FBI figures reviewed by The Associated Press show that the homicide clearance rate, as detectives call it, dropped from 91 percent in 1963 _ the first year records were kept in the manner they are now _ to 61 percent in 2007. Law enforcement officials say the chief reason is a rise in drug- and gang-related killings, which are often impersonal and anonymous, and thus harder to solve than slayings among family members or friends. As a result, police departments are carrying an ever-growing number of "cold-case" murders on their books.
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8. Fort Dix witness cites terrorism threat (UPI, 10 Dec 2008)
CAMDEN, N.J. - U.S.-based Muslim terror groups don't need to be sophisticated to be effective, says a prosecution witness at the terrorism trial of five New Jersey men. The five are accused of plotting to enter the Fort Dix U.S. Army base in New Jersey and kill as many soldiers as they could, but defense attorneys say the naturalized Muslim immigrants never carried out any planning unless goaded to by a paid FBI informant who had infiltrated their group. Wrapping up their case Tuesday, prosecutors called a terrorism expert to the stand in Camden, N.J., who said jihadists can learn to cause mayhem merely by watching video instructions on the Internet, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Evan Kohlmann, a researcher, writer and analyst, told jurors training videos found on two of the defendants' computers were "some of the classics put out by (al-Qaida)," adding, "You don't have to be very sophisticated to kill people. Guys who have very simple weapons and a very simple plan can cause a lot of damage."
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9. Terrorism charges against Georgians detailed (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10 Dec 2008)
Atlanta terrorism defendants Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee communicated with and gave information to terrorists bent on waging violent jihad, according to new indictments by a federal grand jury. In newly amended indictments against each man, prosecutors added information on the breadth of the defendants' communications before their arrests two years ago. Both men are charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. That includes their trying, in 2005, to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group that India blames for the bloody three-day siege of Mumbai last month. Ahmed and Sadequee have pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. Ahmed's trial is set for June 1 in federal court in Atlanta. Sadequee is to stand trial next August. They are being held without bond.
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10. Prosecutors seek yet another sentencing for Ressam (AP, 09 Dec 2008)
Federal prosecutors are seeking yet another sentencing for an al-Qaida-trained terrorist convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles airport at the turn of the millennium _ this time without credit for helping to convict a fellow terrorist. Ahmed Ressam was sentenced for the second time last week to 22 years in prison for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium. Prosecutors say that isn't long enough, and the guideline range is 65 years to life. In a motion made public Tuesday, the U.S. attorney's office asked to withdraw a document prosecutors filed several years ago acknowledging that Ressam cooperated with investigators.
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STATE AND LOCAL NEWS
11. AK: Seward port security gets funding boost (Fort Mill Times, 10 Dec 2008)
KENAI, Alaska - The state's tax on cruise ship passengers will help pay for a boost in security at the Port of Seward. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly has given more than $380,000, which will help pay for the construction of a security dock and other improvements. Seward City Manager Phillip Oates says a security dock would be built in the northeast section of the city's Small Boat Harbor next to the cruise ship dock.
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12. AZ: Smugglers engage in clone wars (KVOA, 10 Dec 2008)
TUCSON, AZ - Drug and immigrant smugglers are always looking to get a leg up on law enforcement. In just the last month, smugglers have been caught twice hiding their goods behind popular American brands. On November 14, Department of Public Safety agents in Arizona pulled over, what they believed was a UPS truck. To their surprise, the truck was actually an picture-perfect clone of a UPS truck whose purpose was to hide smuggled goods. Inside the vehicle, agents seized 2,118 lbs of Marijuana worth over $1 million on the street. The UPS clone was duplicated with incredible detail. According to the report, "The suspects painted the truck a shade of brown similar to UPS brown and affixed reflective yellow decals in the same general areas as an authorized UPS vehicle." The report states, "The cloned vehicle also displayed a homemade Arizona license plate and the authentic plate number assigned to UPS in Phoenix [...] a search of UPS's vehicle inventory revealed the vehicle number on the cloned UPS truck was an actual number assigned to an authentic UPS truck servicing the Tucson area." This isn't the first time smugglers have duplicated a well-known American brand in their smuggling attempts. Also in November, agents seized a cloned Budweiser vehicle, which housed 13 illegal Mexican and Chinese immigrants.
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13. AZ: Smuggling Syndicate Crushed in "Operation En Fuego," AG's Office Says (Phoenix New Times, 11 Dec 2008)
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard will reveal details tomorrow of the break-up of large smuggling syndicate thanks to the work of several law enforcement agencies (but not the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office). While Sheriff Joe Arpaio was rousting corn vendors and trying to one-up Mesa Police Chief George Gascon, the Phoenix police, Arizona Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau were working more quietly on busting the high-level smugglers. Now it's those agencies, and state prosecutor Goddard, that appear to be doing the most on the immigration front.
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14. AZ: 19 suspected immigrants, smugglers arrested near Tonopah (The Arizona Republic, 10 Dec 2008)
Law enforcement officers have arrested 11 suspected human smugglers and eight illegal immigrants following a traffic stop near Tonopah, officials announced Wednesday. Two people fled from a Toyota minivan after a Department of Public Safety officer attempted to stop the vehicle on Interstate 10 near Tonopah around 9 p.m. Thursday, police said. After the vehicle stopped, the driver and six passengers fled and were apprehended. The driver, Paxtor-Alvarez Roberson, was charged with human smuggling. The passengers were processed as illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala.
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15. CA: Record haul in LA gun-gifts swap (BBC, 09 Dec 2008)
A scheme run by Los Angeles police to encourage people to hand over weapons in exchange for shopping vouchers has taken in a record haul this year. Police running the gun amnesty in Compton, in south Los Angeles county, say they collected 965 weapons, well up on the 387 guns surrendered in 2007. Officers say the economic downturn may be behind the increase. The scheme allows people to hand in weapons anonymously in return for gift cards worth at least $100 (£67).
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16. FL: Security huddle promises safe Super Bowl (St. Petersburg Times, 11 Dec 2008)
TAMPA - The meeting Wednesday included representatives from the FBI, Homeland Security and Energy departments, and the Coast Guard. But the topic of conversation wasn't the war in Iraq or port security. It was Super Bowl XLIII, set to be played Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium. The meeting at the stadium drew about 100 law enforcement officers from more than a dozen organizations. Ultimately, about 900 agents and officers will help keep the game safe, organizers say. "This is not the Super Bowl of security," said NFL vice president of security Milt Ahlerich. "We try very hard not to have security overwhelm our fans."
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17. LA: New Orleans Man Indicted for Murder of DEA Supervisory Special Agent Thomas J. Byrne (PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX, 11 Dec 2008)
NEW ORLEANS - Ameal Parker, a/k/a Ameal Varnado, age 46, of New Orleans, was charged by a federal grand jury today in a one-count indictment with the murder of DEA Supervisory Special Agent Thomas J. Byrne, announced U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana Jim Letten. According to the indictment, on August 28, 2008, Supervisory Special Agent Byrne was visiting New Orleans in his official capacity while attending the U. S. Department of Justice-sponsored Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Southeast Regional Conference. The conference, which took place at a downtown hotel, began on August 26, 2008. Supervisory Special Agent Byrne died on August 30, 2008, at Tulane University Hospital from injuries he received from a beating during an assault and robbery in the early morning hours of Thursday, August 28, 2008.
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18. NE: New Anti-Terrorism Group In Metro (WOWT, 10 Dec 2008)
A new effort has been launched in the Omaha Metro to combat terrorism. It's called the Terrorism Early Warning Group (TEWG), and it draws upon several area law enforcement agencies. The Omaha Police Department as well as the sheriff departments in Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties are members. Emergency fire and health agencies within these same counties are also participating. The Omaha Police Department says the TEWG was created to improve inter-agency communications, analysis, and information sharing. By doing that law enforcement hopes to reduce the threat to public safety. A central element of the TEWG is a new website, www.otewg.org, where member agencies can share information. It also has a link where members of the public can ask questions, provide tips and report suspicious activity. The Omaha Metro Area TEWG can also be contacted anonymously at 1-888-789-2616.
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19. NY: Bio terrorism preparedness drills ready Herkimer County for disaster
Tools (WKTV, 10 Dec 2008)
HERKIMER, N.Y. - Bio terrorism preparedness drills were held at three different locations throughout Herkimer County on Wednesday. The clinics were held to make sure Herkimer County Public Health Personnel are ready in case of disaster. The drills were held at Herkimer Elementary School, Herkimer County Community College, and Town of Webb School. The goal was to make sure multiple locations could simultaneously deliver vaccines in a proper manner during an emergency. For the purposes of the drills, over 700 flu shots were used in place of vaccines.
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20. NY: Rockland receives $1 million grant for terrorism preparedness efforts (Mid Hudson News, 11 Dec 2008)
NEW CITY - Rockland County has been awarded over $1 million from the State Homeland Security Program to support preparedness efforts in the event of terrorist attacks. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency provides the funding. The Rockland County Sheriff's Department submitted an application for funding in October. The Sheriff's Department, Office of Fire & Emergency Services, Health Department and EMS will utilize the funds. Twenty-five-percent of the total grant will be used by law enforcement agencies in the county. The grant will support planning, training and exercises associated with preparedness and prevention activities in the case of a terrorist event. Funds will also cover personal protective equipment for law enforcement agencies, along with reimbursement for holding training sessions.
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21. NY: Counter terrorism units to visit local malls today (Record Online, 10 Dec 2008)
Law enforcement officials in Orange and Sullivan counties will conduct checks on commercial vehicles and increase public awareness of terrorist activity in an effort to optimize holiday shopper security. On Tuesday, Counter Terrorism Zone 4 will deploy its Counter Terrorism Action Teams (CTAT) to shopping areas where they will perform checks on vehicles making deliveries to shopping centers. The teams, made up of 70 law enforcement personnel from 25 agencies, will discuss terrorist indicators with the public and will pass out flyers with New York's anti-terrorism slogan "If you see something, say something."
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22. NY and more: Local man among 11 arraigned in illegal immigrant smuggling (Observer, 11 Dec 2008)
United States Attorney Terrance P. Flynn announced the arraignments on the indictments of 11 defendants, from New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. A local man, Jesus Francisco Escalante of Dunkirk, was one of those arraigned Wednesday in the Western District of New York along with Sergio Antonio Resendiz Martinez of Salamanca; Honorio Banda Mireles of Bradford; Maurilio Bautista Feria of Allegany; Javier Banda Mireles of Depew; Miguel Angel Antimo Mireles of New Martinsville, W.Va.; Alvaro Soto Paz and Agustin Quinones Torres, both of Willoughby, Ohio and Alejandro Garcia of Wheeling, W.Va. Simon Banda Mireles of Depew and Alberto Antimo Mireles of New Martinsville, W.Va. are expected to be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott today. Each of the defendants was charged with harboring and concealing illegal aliens, primarily undocumented Mexicans, who had been smuggled into the United States for the purpose of employing these aliens at seven Mexican restaurants, three in Western New York, one in Bradford, one in Mentor, Ohio, one in Wheeling, W.Va. and one in New Martinsville, W.Va. Harboring illegal aliens carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
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23. TX: Two arrested in East Texas for international organized crime (KLTV, 10 Dec 2008)
An international organized crime operation in East Texas, linked to coin operated machines? 2 Russian nationals are jailed, arrested with thousands of dollars in change, and now it's believed a nationwide criminal operation has been uncovered. KLTV 7's Bob Hallmark has more on our international burglars, and the East Texans who stopped them in their tracks. "When I got here, everybody was screaming, they were trying tell me what was going on, these guys were begging me not to ruin their life," said Cara May, the assistant apartment manager at Misty Ridge. Workers at Misty Ridge knew something wasn't right when they walked up to their laundromat and saw two men emptying out coin boxes.
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24. WY: Cody airport gets TSA scanner OK (AP, 9 Dec 2008)
CODY, Wyo. - A plan to put a high-tech baggage screening device in the new Yellowstone Regional Airport terminal in Cody has been scrapped. The Transportation Security Agency had recommended a screening machine that would scan both carryon and check-in luggage simultaneously. But federal officials now say the technology is not available for small airports like the one in Cody. Installing the new machine would have required the Yellowstone Regional Airport Joint Powers Board and the designers to alter the terminal's design to accommodate it.
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KEY PEOPLE
25. Bush Says U.S. Has Transformed National Security Strategy Against Terrorism (U.S. Department of State, 10 Dec 2008)
Washington - The results of efforts by the United States to thwart global terrorism are unfolding slowly and unevenly, but there are encouraging signs, President Bush said. And in confronting terrorism, Bush said, the United States also transformed its national security strategy and its armed forces, which have played a sobering and critical role in the struggle. "As part of our transformation effort, we are arming our troops with intelligence, and weapons, and training, and support they need to face an enemy that wages asymmetric battle," Bush said in a December 9 speech in West Point, New York. "This enemy hides among the civilian population, and they use terror tactics like roadside bombs to attack our forces, to demoralize [the] local population, and to try to shake the will of the American people." And the United States has upgraded and enhanced its counterterrorism capabilities as well as developed a new and more effective counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on the importance of following up security gains with benefits in people's daily lives and livelihoods, the president said.
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26. Top US Military Officer Concerned Economic Crisis Could Cause More Terrorism (By Al Pessin, Pentagon, 10 Dec 2008)
The top U.S. military officer says he is concerned that the global economic crisis could create instability and, potentially, more terrorism around the world, particularly in African countries and other relatively poor areas.
Admiral Mike Mullen says the global economic downturn could create more terrorists.
"I'm very concerned about the global financial crisis and its impact globally on security," he said. "I think it will impact on security, over a period of time. As food prices continue to go up, as other costs continue to go up, as this pressure is brought globally, I think the possibilities for increased instability, as opposed to increased stability, are there. Without being precise about where that might happen, I just think the extent of this, or the length of this, is going to have an impact on increased instability in countries that are already under a great deal of pressure because their economies aren't that healthy in the first place."
Admiral Mullen says jobs are the key link between the economy and security.
"With a stable economy, jobs come," he said. "You are able to expand and create the kind of positive cycle that gets you away from the violence and other options for unemployed young men, in particular."
At a Pentagon news conference, the admiral also noted that terrorists need places to train and take refuge, and he says economic troubles can also result in more of those, as governments have fewer resources to devote to securing their territory. He says the problem puts "enormous" pressure on African countries in particular, where many governments have very large areas to defend and terrorists have been trying to gain a foothold.
"I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen," Adm. Mullen said. "And I try to pay attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular, and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I'm extremely concerned about that."
Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not suggest any U.S. military operations to eliminate or prevent the creation of terrorist safe havens. The Pentagon has a variety of programs designed to improve the defense capabilities of partner nations in Africa and elsewhere, and the U.S. government also has aid and development programs that may help ease the impact of job losses caused by the economic downturn. But the admiral says the effort to reduce global terrorism may get more difficult as job losses increase and all countries tighten their defense budgets, including the United States.
GANG
27. CA: Prosecutors go after assets of LA gang members (AP, 08 Dec 2008)
Los Angeles prosecutors on Monday filed the state's first lawsuit seeking to seize homes, businesses and other assets from known members of the city's largest gang to cripple their criminal enterprises. The lawsuit, filed against nine leaders of the 18th Street gang who are all serving prison time, is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. It aims to reduce the wealth accumulated by gang leaders through illegal activities. "The days of allowing vicious gang criminals to accumulate and spend their ill-gotten gains _ sometimes even from behind bars _ are over. It's time the gang leaders literally pay for their crimes," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said.
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28. NV: Indictments Unsealed Against Alleged Organized Crime Ring (LasVegasNow.com, 10 Dec 2008)
An organized crime strike force has unveiled the results of their two year investigation into a Eurasian crime ring that may have stolen millions. Nearly two dozen suspects were rounded up in Las Vegas and in California. Law enforcement officials released specifics Tuesday about what they say is a massive fraud and counterfeiting operation. Two suspects are still on the run, but the task force made up of FBI, Secret Service Agents, and detectives from Metro and Henderson, along with other agencies, did a remarkable job of scooping up nearly everyone they wanted to nab. In all, 22 suspects were arrested, 15 were named Tuesday on federal charges. 10 will face state charges and while the allegations do not involve violent crime, lawmen were taking no chances.
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29. Bodies of 13 teens found dumped in western Mexico (Reuters, 04 Dec 2008)
The bodies of 13 teenagers were dumped by the side of a dirt road outside a town in Mexico's marijuana-producing state of Sinaloa, the latest mass killing in the country's raging drug war, authorities and media said. Passers-by found the bodies near a stolen truck in the early hours of Thursday. The victims had been shot and killed, possibly lined up first, the Sinaloa state attorney general's office said. Local media in Sinaloa said all the dead were teenagers. It was the latest group killing since drug traffickers killed 11 people in a bar in Ciudad Juarez, near Texas, in October. In August, drug hitmen dumped 11 beheaded bodies in southern Mexico and killed 13 people, including a baby, in a tourist town in the northern state of Chihuahua.
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NARCO TRAFFICKING
30. GA: Man Charged with Smuggling Cocaine - in Coat Hangers (MyFOX Atlanta, 9 Dec 2008)
ATLANTA -- Federal agents arrested a man at Hartsfield-Jackson airport and have charged him with drug trafficking because of what screeners spotted on x-rays. Julio Almonte is behind bars Tuesday after authorities said they found thousands of dollars worth of cocaine in a very unusual place Clayton County authorities said they've never seen it before. Someone tried to smuggle drugs into the country -- inside a coat hanger. The 28-year-old suspect was arrested Monday night after a random screening by federal agents.
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31. NY: Police crack massive CNY-based drug smuggling ring (WSYR, 10 Dec 2008)
Syracuse, New York - Federal authorities say they've taken down a huge drug smuggling operation centered in the Syracuse area. Investigators say the group was bringing marijuana over the border from Canada to the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in Northern New York, where it was then taken to the Onondaga Nation. Once it arrived at the Onondaga Nation, investigators say the marijuana was then distributed to places as far out as Long Island and Philadelphia. Twenty nine people in all are facing charges; 23 of them are from the Syracuse area. The acting U.S. Attorney for this area says the group was responsible for bringing thousands of pounds of marijuana and millions in cash across the New York-Canadian border. During the bust, agents seized 100 pounds of marijuana, $350,000 in cash, ten vehicles and five guns.
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32. NY: Drugs Smuggled Through Akwesasne Reservation (WCAX, 10 Dec 2008)
Investigators say they broke up a drug ring that involved several Indian Reservations in New York, including one from our area. The feds say pot and cash were smuggled into the U.S. from Canada through the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation. From there-- it went to reservations near Syracuse and Buffalo. The proceeds were then fed back into Canada using the same route. 29 people were arrested, five from the Akwesasne Reservation.
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33. TX: Man held in drug smuggling, buying of 'cop killer' gun (EL Paso Times, 11 Dec 2008)
EL PASO -- A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a U.S. citizen living in Juárez on charges of smuggling drugs and an immigrant and of providing false information to buy weapons, including an FN Herstal 5.7 "cop killer" handgun allegedly used in a crime in Mexico City, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Ramon Eduardo Gandara, 30, faces up to life in prison if convicted in the 35-count indictment. The government seeks the forfeiture of $185,000 allegedly linked to illegal activity. On Nov. 4, Gandara was arrested when 243 grams of cocaine, 17.5 grams of methamphetamine, pills and an undocumented immigrant were found in a recreational vehicle that Gandara was driving from Mexico at the Bridge of the Americas, a complaint affidavit by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent alleges.
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34. WA: Everett-based sailors nail drug smugglers (Seattle Post Intelligencer, 10 Dec 2008)
A Navy frigate from Everett that was deployed to help fight drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, scored a huge hit last Friday when it intercepted a fishing vessel carrying more than 4.5 metric tons of cocaine with an estimated value of $90 milllion, Navy officials said Monday. The USS Rodney M. Davis was working in tandem with a Navy anti-submarine helicopter detachment and a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment when the drug bust was made, capturing nine suspected drug smugglers, 4th Fleet officials said. The drugs and arrests were made under the authority of the Coast Guard law enforcement detachment 106 aboard the ship, Navy officials said. The Davis has been deployed to serve under U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command with the U.S. 4th Fleet, and the Joint Interagency Task Force-South, to intercept drug smuggling from South and Central America and in the Caribbean Sea in cooperation with other nations.
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35. Mexico Drug Cartels Send A Message of Chaos, Death (Washington Post, 04 Dec 2008)
The death squads of the drug cartels are killing in spectacularly gruesome ways, using the violence as a language to deliver a message to society. Increasingly, bodies show unmistakable signs of torture. Videos of executions are posted on the Internet, as taunts, as warnings. Corpses are dumped on playgrounds, with neatly printed notes beside them. And very often, the heads have been removed.
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36. Money to Fight Drug Gangs Is Released to Mexico (New York Times, 03 Dec 2008)
The United States formally released on Wednesday the first part of a $400 million aid package to help Mexico fight drug trafficking, a sign of how much more involved the United States is becoming in Mexico's brutal drug war. The agreement signed here makes almost $200 million available for different programs to strengthen Mexico's law enforcement agencies, treat drug addiction and upgrade the judiciary. "It should be said: sometimes the narcotraffickers are better coordinated and integrated in their transnational activities than those that are confronting them," said United States Ambassador Antonio O. Garza. The money is part of a three-year, $1.4 billion plan, called the Merida Initiative. Congress approved the first $400 million, plus an additional $65 million for Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic in June. The Bush administration has asked for an additional $550 million for 2009, with $450 million of that slated for Mexico.
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37. Killings in Drug War in Mexico Double in '08 (New York Times, 08 Dec 2008)
Killings linked to Mexico's drug war have more than doubled this year compared with 2007 and are likely to grow even further before they begin to fall, Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora said Monday. The prosecutor tied the sharp increase in deaths to a battle for control among cartels and a power vacuum created by a series of high-profile arrests and seizures. The number of gangland killings reached 5,376 from the beginning of the year until Dec. 2, a 117 percent increase over the 2,477 killings in the same period in 2007, Mr. Medina-Mora said in a luncheon meeting with foreign correspondents.
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CYBERTHREAT & THEFT
38. Foreign min. denies reports of Russian cyber attacks on Pentagon (Ria Novosti, 04 Dec 2008)
The Russian Foreign Ministry described on Thursday media reports that Russia had been involved in cyber attacks on the Pentagon as "groundless" and "irresponsible." According to media speculation in Washington, the Pentagon's computer systems suffered a large-scale cyber attack. Some media sources reported that Russia, which was accused of similar attacks on Estonia in 2007 and more recently on Georgia, was one of the countries suspected of being involved. The Los Angeles Times cited a U.S. defense source as saying "This one was significant, this one got our attention." However, Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed the reports in a statement saying, "Speculation about Russia's involvement in cyber attacks on Estonian and Georgian networks has been considered. In conditions of global computerization and the growing threat of the use of IT and telecom technology for unfriendly purposes, such informational leaks are not only groundless, but also irresponsible."
CABLE Gram Suggested URL:
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081204/118696158.html
TECHNOLOGY
39. Satellites Spy on Washington from on High [Slide Show] (Scientific American, 11 Dec 2008)
Washington, D.C., home of the CIA, National Security Administration (NSA) and FBI, is a well-known haven for spies and surveillance. But new satellite pictures of the White House, Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial show these government agencies aren't the only ones watching and being watched. These latest images from Dulles, Va., satellite-imaging company, GeoEye, are among the first to be collected by the GeoEye 1, a satellite launched into polar orbit on September 6 that can "see" objects on Earth as small as 16 inches (0.41 meter) in size in black-and-white mode or 64.6 inches (1.64 meters) in color. Images from the GeoEye 1, which stands 20 feet (6.1 meters) high and weighs more than 4,300 pounds (1,950 kilograms), so impressed Google that the Internet search giant plans to add the satellite's high-resolution, digital color photos to Google Earth next month.
CABLE Gram Suggested URL:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=spying-washington-from-satellite
40. Sagem, GTSI awarded Port of Miami contract (Third Factor, 10 Dec 2008)
GTSI Corp., an IT infrastructure solutions and services provider, announced that it has partnered with Sagem Morpho Inc. to supply the Port of Miami with physical access control readers. The fixed biometric readers are used to authenticate Transportation Workers Identification Credential smart card holders via a contactless interface. The Port of Miami is the first U.S. port to implement this system from GTSI and Sagem. This solution enhances the safety of the Port's cruise passenger terminal and expedites the verification of dock workers entering secure areas around the ships. With Department of Homeland Security funding, the Port of Miami deployed the biometric devices as part of the TWIC program mandated by the U.S. Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration. Under the TWIC program, workers who need access to secure areas of U.S. ports and vessels are being issued tamper-resistant smart cards containing their biometric identification information.
CABLE Gram Suggested URL:
http://tinyurl.com/67yv4u
RESOURCES
41. Author's New Book Offers Bio-Shields to Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Warfare Agents (Press Release, 8 Dec 2008)
The possibility of an attack by terrorists with a radiological, chemical, or biological weapon has created fear in the minds of the public and professionals alike. Some of these weapons can cause mass casualties within a short period of time, as well as induce long-term adverse health effects among survivors. Some countermeasures against radiological, chemical, and biological weapons are recommended, but they are not adequate. There are no strategies for reducing the risks of long-term adverse health effects of radiological or chemical weapons. Bio-Shield reduces people's fear by describing the nature of each of these weapons and their adverse effects, and instead of feeling helpless. The strategies described in this book can help you to understand the risk you are facing as well as what you can do to protect yourself and your family not just from uncertain risks like explosion of dirty bombs or toxic chemicals, but also from other risks such as diagnostic x-ray based procedures, radiation received during flight at high altitude, and working in the environment of radiation equipment. This book will teach you to how not to live in fear and how to take control back into your hand. Publisher's Web site is located at
CABLE Gram Suggested URL:
http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/Bio-Shield.html
FULL REPORTS
42. Fact Sheet: Defending Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism (4 Dec 2008)
Commission Report Endorses Administration Initiatives and Calls for Continuation of Successful WMD Policies to Address Increasing Threat
Today, President Bush was briefed on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Proliferation and Terrorism report on U.S. progress against the threat of WMD proliferation and terrorism. President Bush welcomes the Commission's report and findings on the greatest threat to our national security and notes their affirmation of past and current Administration efforts, which provide the foundation on which the next Administration can build. The Administration worked closely with the Commission during the course of its review and agrees that the threat of global terrorist organizations acquiring or developing WMD and using them against our homeland and interests abroad remains dangerously real.
o After September 11, 2001, the President recognized the need to change our strategy to address the new challenges of terrorism and proliferation. In 2002, the President put forth a comprehensive strategy to combat WMD, and in 2006, he established objectives tailored to meet the threat of WMD Terrorism (WMD-T):
_ Determine terrorists' intentions, capabilities, and plans to acquire and develop WMD.
_ Deny terrorists access to the materials, expertise, and other enabling capabilities needed to develop WMD.
_ Deter terrorists from employing WMD.
_ Detect and disrupt terrorists' attempted movement of WMD-related materials, weapons, and personnel.
_ Prevent and be prepared to respond to WMD-related terrorist attacks.
_ Develop the capability to determine the nature and scope of a terrorist-employed device.
o To effectuate this strategy, the Administration launched numerous initiatives including:
_ The Proliferation Security Initiative;
_ The Global Initiative for Combating Nuclear Terrorism;
_ Threat reduction programs with countries in the former Soviet Union; and
_ Intelligence community reforms.
The United States Has Made Significant Progress in Implementing Each Pillar Of This Strategy
o The Administration has reorganized and integrated the Intelligence Community under the Director of National Intelligence to provide a clearer picture of terrorist capabilities and intentions, including with respect to WMD. The Administration established the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and it also created a National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC) to cover the entire range of proliferation challenges. At the State Department, the WMD-T office was created to help partner nations assess risks from WMD and work with foreign governments to ensure continuous improvement in our collective capabilities to reduce risks from WMD-T.
o The Administration is denying access to the materials and capabilities required to develop WMD through unparalleled international outreach and cooperation. The President has created strong international partnerships such as the 2005 Bratislava Initiative, which accelerated and expanded bilateral nuclear security cooperation in five areas: emergency response, best practices, security culture, conversion of Russian-origin research reactors in third countries, and Russian nuclear security. In addition:
_ The Administration provided assistance to Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union to improve security and accounting of nuclear weapons and materials. In addition, U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles have been reduced.
_ The Administration has created international partnerships and helped convert 51 nuclear reactors in 29 countries from highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium, which cannot be used to produce nuclear weapons. The United States has also secured more than 600 vulnerable sites around the world that together contain enough material to make about 8,000 radiological, or "dirty" bombs.
_ In 2004, the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) was developed, accelerating efforts to identify, secure, and remove high-risk vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world. We have redirected former Soviet biological weapons scientists to peaceful, sustainable employment and reconfigured former facilities to accelerate drug and vaccine development for infectious diseases.
_ In 2006, the United States and Russia launched the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which is helping to build international capacity to prevent, defend against, and respond to nuclear terrorism. Today, 75 nations are working under this initiative.
_ The Administration has been at the forefront of efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The United States has developed an active, "real-world" work plan and developed model legislation on BWC prohibitions and pathogen security.
o The United States is working to detect and to disrupt terrorists' attempted movement of WMD-related materials, weapons, and personnel through innovative initiatives. Under the President's leadership, the United States launched:
_ The Proliferation Security Initiative to stem the flow of illicit materials used for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. More than 90 nations are now partners in this effort.
_ The Container Security Initiative (CSI) to detect the movement of dangerous materials in foreign countries and stop them before they are placed on vessels destined for the United States.
_ The Megaports Initiative to provide key ports around the world with radiation detection equipment.
_ The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) to improve the Nation's capability to detect and report nuclear or radiological material intended for use against the Nation. As part of a layered defense strategy, the Administration also effectively doubled the national response capacity to disable improvised WMD.
_ The Nuclear Materials Information Program to provide an enduring, centralized, and properly vetted source of information on nuclear materials worldwide.
o The Administration is employing an effective deterrence strategy tailored to the WMD-T threat by putting the terrorists, their facilitators, and their sponsors on notice of the United States' response in the event of an attack, to include holding any state, group, or non-state actors fully accountable for supporting or enabling terrorist efforts to obtain or use WMD. The Administration has also established a national technical nuclear forensics center within the DNDO and the National Bioforensics Center within the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in order to facilitate forensic investigation and attribution of WMD-related materials.
o The Administration has recognized the need to build our prevention and response capabilities in the event of a WMD-related terrorist attack. Through new technologies, assistance to State and local health professionals, and an unprecedented Federal funding commitment, the Administration launched the following:
_ The Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) deployed the first ever bioaerosol monitoring system - Biowatch - to more than 30 major metropolitan areas to provide early warning of an attack and enable quick response.
_ HHS created a laboratory response network of approximately 170 public health laboratories nationwide to assist in detecting disease outbreaks that could be associated with bioterrorism attacks.
_ The Defense Secretary has certified 53 National Guard WMD civil support teams stationed across the United States, including the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories.
_ President Bush has expanded funding for anti-bioterrorism research at the National Institutes for Health from $53 million in 2001 to more than $1.7 billion annually to study threat agents and other novel or emerging pathogens.
_ Project Bioshield was launched in 2004 with $5.6 billion in funding over 10 years for the acquisition of medical countermeasures, and in 2006, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority was created to manage the development and acquisition of needed vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tools.
_ The President revitalized the Strategic National Stockpile, increasing funding more than ten-fold since taking office, from $51 million in 2001 to more than $550 million annually, a total investment of more than $3.5 billion.
_ The Administration has stockpiled enough smallpox vaccine for every American and more than 60 million 60-day courses of preventive antibiotics and 5.6 million vaccines regimens against anthrax.
_ HHS has provided $5.2 billion in grants to improve State, local, and tribal health preparedness and mass casualty response capabilities and $3.1 billion in grants to increase hospital preparedness.
o The Administration has led international efforts to detect, prevent, and mitigate the threat of biological terrorism. Working with at-risk countries, the United States has improved global capabilities to detect, diagnose, and report bioterror attacks and potential pandemics and consolidate and secure their dangerous pathogen collections into safe national-level facilities. The United States has also worked to improve biosafety and biosecurity worldwide; eliminate biological weapons infrastructure; and focus strategic partnership research to identify and map extremely dangerous indigenous pathogens. In addition, President Bush and his Administration:
_ Expanded efforts to assist countries in the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia that face significant risks from transnational terrorist groups, have poorly secured biological laboratories and culture collections, and experience frequent outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.
_ Promoted improved diagnostics and biosurveillance in key regions; enhanced U.S. response and host nation capabilities to respond to a biological incident overseas; and trained foreign partners in forensic epidemiology as a key to respond to bioterrorism incidents globally.
_ Eliminated bio-weapons-related infrastructure and equipment in Stepnogorsk, Kazakhstan; Tabakhmela, Georgia; and Vozrozhdeniye Island, Uzbekistan; consolidated dangerous pathogen collections and research in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, with efforts underway in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. We have also transferred dangerous pathogens from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to U.S. biodefense research laboratories.
o Since 2001, the President has continued to strengthen domestic lab security. The Administration has instituted laboratory safety and security guidelines to manage the risks posed by accidental infection of researchers, intentional theft, or diversion of materials that could enable a catastrophic bioterrorism attack.
_ HHS and the Department of Agriculture have identified those select agents and toxins that present significant bioterrorism risk and increased security requirements accordingly.
_ The Administration created the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to advise the U.S. government on strategies for minimizing the potential for misuse of information and technologies from life sciences research, taking into consideration both national security concerns and the needs of the research community. The NSABB currently is developing recommendations to enhance personnel reliability practices at domestic institutes that store or work with select agents and toxins.
_ Since the inception of the Select Agent Program in 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have executed inspections and re-inspections for all of the approximately 400 registered entities in the United States working with designated Select Agents pathogens and toxins.
While Significant Progress Has Been Made, Challenges Remain
America must continue to build upon this progress and remain vigilant in our efforts to meet this dynamic threat.
_ The United States must accelerate the implementation of ODNI and NCTC initiatives to refine our intelligence on nuclear and biological WMD terrorism threats, trends, and related issues.
_ The United States also must take steps to reinvigorate our aging nuclear expertise and supporting infrastructure to ensure we have an enduring capability to support nuclear intelligence, technical forensics, and attribution activities.
_ Through U.S. leadership, we must maintain the world's focus and attention to ensure that WMD and the means to deliver them do not reach the hands of the world's most dangerous enemies.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Know your second amendent rights, Do you exercise them ....
For anyone who doesn't know what the 2nd Amendment is
for...........
GOT TO LOVE THIS GAL !!!!!!!!! SET THEM
STRAIGHT !!!!!!!!!
How sad this Texas girl had the
incroachment on her second amendment rights so graphicaly
illustrated. I see the honorable senator from New York was
getting a little uncomfortable in his chair.
The gun banners are absolutely speechless
as this little Texas gal chews them up and spits them out.
She knows what the 2nd amendment is really all about.
Watch it. You will be glad you did. And
pass it along.
Here's a video that I guarantee you
won't forget anytime soon!! She didn't cry, although
she came close to losing it, and she gave those a reality
check they dearly needed.........
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4069761537893819675
for...........
GOT TO LOVE THIS GAL !!!!!!!!! SET THEM
STRAIGHT !!!!!!!!!
How sad this Texas girl had the
incroachment on her second amendment rights so graphicaly
illustrated. I see the honorable senator from New York was
getting a little uncomfortable in his chair.
The gun banners are absolutely speechless
as this little Texas gal chews them up and spits them out.
She knows what the 2nd amendment is really all about.
Watch it. You will be glad you did. And
pass it along.
Here's a video that I guarantee you
won't forget anytime soon!! She didn't cry, although
she came close to losing it, and she gave those a reality
check they dearly needed.........
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4069761537893819675
Terrorist Missing
Mumbai: Where are the 14 Other Pakistani-Trained Terrorists?
Posted: 03 Dec 2008 10:52 PM PST
The lone gunman captured alive in Mumbai has told interrogators only 10 of the 24 young men in his year-long terrorist training course were sent to Mumbai last week, leaving 14 still in Pakistan, ready to strike again.
Security officials say they have been warned by Indian and U.S. officials that a second attack on the Indian capital city New Delhi is possible.
U.S. officials say the captured gunman’s account corroborates other intelligence that points to the role of the Pakistani-based Lashkar e Taiba, a group affiliated with al Qaeda that opposes Indian rule over the disputed state of Kashmir.
U.S. counter-terrorism officials say Lashkar e Taiba’s ability to operate with impunity inside Pakistan is one reason U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned Pakistan “this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation.”
A warning issued by U.S. intelligence agencies to Indian officials in mid-October suggests the U.S. may know the precise location of the training camps or headquarters in Pakistan, according to sources in the intelligence community.
Source
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Posted: 03 Dec 2008 10:52 PM PST
The lone gunman captured alive in Mumbai has told interrogators only 10 of the 24 young men in his year-long terrorist training course were sent to Mumbai last week, leaving 14 still in Pakistan, ready to strike again.
Security officials say they have been warned by Indian and U.S. officials that a second attack on the Indian capital city New Delhi is possible.
U.S. officials say the captured gunman’s account corroborates other intelligence that points to the role of the Pakistani-based Lashkar e Taiba, a group affiliated with al Qaeda that opposes Indian rule over the disputed state of Kashmir.
U.S. counter-terrorism officials say Lashkar e Taiba’s ability to operate with impunity inside Pakistan is one reason U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned Pakistan “this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation.”
A warning issued by U.S. intelligence agencies to Indian officials in mid-October suggests the U.S. may know the precise location of the training camps or headquarters in Pakistan, according to sources in the intelligence community.
Source
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Drug Cartels More deadly than ever
Terror At The Border - Mexico Drug Cartels Send Message of Torture and Death
Posted: 03 Dec 2008 11:19 PM PST
The death squads of the drug cartels are killing in spectacularly gruesome ways, using the violence as a language to deliver a message to society.
Increasingly, bodies show unmistakable signs of torture. Videos of executions are posted on the Internet, as taunts, as warnings. Corpses are dumped on playgrounds, with neatly printed notes beside them. And very often, the heads have been removed.
When someone rolled five heads onto the dance floor in a cantina in Michoacan state two years ago, even the most hardened Mexicans were shocked. Now ritual mutilations are routine. In the border city of Tijuana, 37 people were slain over the weekend, including four children. Nine of the adults were decapitated, including three police officers whose badges were stuffed in their mouths.
“There is a new and different violence in this war,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, the founder of the Binational Center for Human Rights, who moves around Tijuana accompanied by bodyguards. “Each method is now more brutal, more extreme than the last. To cut off the heads? That is now what they like. They are going to the edge of what is possible for a human being to do.”
Source - More
Over 38 Murders In Tijuana Over The Weekend
At least 38 people have been killed in Tijuana since Saturday, nine of them decapitated, in escalating drug-related violence that appears to have left in tatters a Mexican military offensive launched two weeks ago.
The killing spree marked the end of the tenure of the city’s top law enforcement official. Secretary of Public Security Alberto Capella Ibarra was removed from his post Monday evening after a year marked by upheaval in the police ranks and increasing violence.
Dozens of soldiers and federal agents patrolling the eastern part of the city have failed to stop the killings between rival drug cartels, which continue brazen and brutal attacks across Tijuana.
Three of the nine decapitated bodies discovered in an empty lot Sunday were those of police officers, according to the Baja California attorney general’s office. On Saturday night, two brothers, 4 and 13 years old, were gunned down along with their father outside a grocery store, authorities said.
The nephew of Baja California’s tourism secretary, Angel Escobedo, was found fatally shot inside his car Saturday morning. In nearby Rosarito Beach, police over the weekend discovered a dismembered body in a car outside a taco stand, and another outside a small church.
Source - More
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Posted: 03 Dec 2008 11:19 PM PST
The death squads of the drug cartels are killing in spectacularly gruesome ways, using the violence as a language to deliver a message to society.
Increasingly, bodies show unmistakable signs of torture. Videos of executions are posted on the Internet, as taunts, as warnings. Corpses are dumped on playgrounds, with neatly printed notes beside them. And very often, the heads have been removed.
When someone rolled five heads onto the dance floor in a cantina in Michoacan state two years ago, even the most hardened Mexicans were shocked. Now ritual mutilations are routine. In the border city of Tijuana, 37 people were slain over the weekend, including four children. Nine of the adults were decapitated, including three police officers whose badges were stuffed in their mouths.
“There is a new and different violence in this war,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, the founder of the Binational Center for Human Rights, who moves around Tijuana accompanied by bodyguards. “Each method is now more brutal, more extreme than the last. To cut off the heads? That is now what they like. They are going to the edge of what is possible for a human being to do.”
Source - More
Over 38 Murders In Tijuana Over The Weekend
At least 38 people have been killed in Tijuana since Saturday, nine of them decapitated, in escalating drug-related violence that appears to have left in tatters a Mexican military offensive launched two weeks ago.
The killing spree marked the end of the tenure of the city’s top law enforcement official. Secretary of Public Security Alberto Capella Ibarra was removed from his post Monday evening after a year marked by upheaval in the police ranks and increasing violence.
Dozens of soldiers and federal agents patrolling the eastern part of the city have failed to stop the killings between rival drug cartels, which continue brazen and brutal attacks across Tijuana.
Three of the nine decapitated bodies discovered in an empty lot Sunday were those of police officers, according to the Baja California attorney general’s office. On Saturday night, two brothers, 4 and 13 years old, were gunned down along with their father outside a grocery store, authorities said.
The nephew of Baja California’s tourism secretary, Angel Escobedo, was found fatally shot inside his car Saturday morning. In nearby Rosarito Beach, police over the weekend discovered a dismembered body in a car outside a taco stand, and another outside a small church.
Source - More
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Emergency Mangement
"disaster recovery" OR "business continuity" OR "emergency management" OR "service level agreements" - Google News
"disaster recovery" OR "business continuity" OR "emergency management" OR "service level agreements" - Google News
Research and Markets: Disaster Recovery Services Market Report ... - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:02 PM
Research and Markets: Disaster Recovery Services Market Report ...
MarketWatch - 19 hours ago
Financial institutions are expecting more business continuity regulations due to financial crisis and credit crunch. There is a large volume of ...
Emergency Management Coordinator Essentially Fired - KCBD-TV
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 10:01 PM
Emergency Management Coordinator Essentially Fired
KCBD-TV, TX - 10 hours ago
The City and County Joint Emergency Management Coordinator has essentially been fired. Kevin Overstreet filed a grievance Wednesday to get his job back. ...
Kevin Overstreet Requests Grievance To Appeal Removal myFOXlubbock.com
all 3 news articles
Sheriff takes over as Emergency Management Director in Suwannee - Branford News
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:04 PM
Sheriff takes over as Emergency Management Director in Suwannee
Branford News, United States - 20 hours ago
The move follows the recent firing of former County Coordinator Johnny Wooley, who also wore the hat of emergency management director. ...
Stratify Introduces First eDiscovery Disaster Recovery - SYS-CON Media
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:01 AM
Stratify Introduces First eDiscovery Disaster Recovery
SYS-CON Media, NJ - Dec 3, 2008
Stratify complements this new disaster recovery infrastructure with business continuity protocols for client matters, maintaining a back-up team of project ...
Keeping pace with disaster recovery - InfoWorld
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 5:02 AM
Keeping pace with disaster recovery
InfoWorld, CA - Dec 3, 2008
Roughly five years ago, I wrote a book titled "Enterprise Storage Solutions" that centered on the latest and greatest in disaster recovery methodology: SANs ...
Hitachi Data Systems: Hitachi Data Systems raises the bar in ... Trading Markets (press release)
all 2 news articles
SafeData Issues White Paper on Business Continuity - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 9:45 AM
SafeData Issues White Paper on Business Continuity
MarketWatch - 23 hours ago
This white paper discusses the challenges of small and mid-sized organizations that are dependent on their Windows environments for business continuity. ...
Kaseya Simplifies Remote IT Automation with Seamless Endpoint ... - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:06 AM
Kaseya Simplifies Remote IT Automation with Seamless Endpoint ...
MarketWatch - Dec 3, 2008
The new backup and disaster recovery functionality now includes Incremental Forever and Synthetic Full Backups for efficient offsite replication and ...
Board OKs Transfer Of Emergency Management - Tampa Tribune
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:29 PM
Board OKs Transfer Of Emergency Management
Tampa Tribune, FL - Dec 2, 2008
Former Emergency Management Director Tom Leto was fired May 9 after a sheriff's investigation and a county audit revealed questionable management practices. ...
Emergency management employees to become part of Hernando ... Tampabay.com
all 2 news articles
Woman opens emergency management consulting business - Weekly Vista
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:31 PM
Woman opens emergency management consulting business
Weekly Vista, AR - 19 hours ago
... of Applied Science Degree in Homeland Security / Emergency Management and started her consulting business: PFAD Consulting: Prepare for All Disasters. ...
Verizon Business Rolls Out Enhancements to Make Voice Over IP More ... - MarketWatch
Thursday, December 04, 2008 6:34 AM
Verizon Business Rolls Out Enhancements to Make Voice Over IP More ...
MarketWatch - 2 hours ago
Availability in Europe of automatic call rerouting for VoIP customers, to provide business-continuity benefits unavailable in a traditional ...
"disaster recovery" OR "business continuity" OR "emergency management" OR "service level agreements" - Google News
Research and Markets: Disaster Recovery Services Market Report ... - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:02 PM
Research and Markets: Disaster Recovery Services Market Report ...
MarketWatch - 19 hours ago
Financial institutions are expecting more business continuity regulations due to financial crisis and credit crunch. There is a large volume of ...
Emergency Management Coordinator Essentially Fired - KCBD-TV
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 10:01 PM
Emergency Management Coordinator Essentially Fired
KCBD-TV, TX - 10 hours ago
The City and County Joint Emergency Management Coordinator has essentially been fired. Kevin Overstreet filed a grievance Wednesday to get his job back. ...
Kevin Overstreet Requests Grievance To Appeal Removal myFOXlubbock.com
all 3 news articles
Sheriff takes over as Emergency Management Director in Suwannee - Branford News
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:04 PM
Sheriff takes over as Emergency Management Director in Suwannee
Branford News, United States - 20 hours ago
The move follows the recent firing of former County Coordinator Johnny Wooley, who also wore the hat of emergency management director. ...
Stratify Introduces First eDiscovery Disaster Recovery - SYS-CON Media
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:01 AM
Stratify Introduces First eDiscovery Disaster Recovery
SYS-CON Media, NJ - Dec 3, 2008
Stratify complements this new disaster recovery infrastructure with business continuity protocols for client matters, maintaining a back-up team of project ...
Keeping pace with disaster recovery - InfoWorld
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 5:02 AM
Keeping pace with disaster recovery
InfoWorld, CA - Dec 3, 2008
Roughly five years ago, I wrote a book titled "Enterprise Storage Solutions" that centered on the latest and greatest in disaster recovery methodology: SANs ...
Hitachi Data Systems: Hitachi Data Systems raises the bar in ... Trading Markets (press release)
all 2 news articles
SafeData Issues White Paper on Business Continuity - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 9:45 AM
SafeData Issues White Paper on Business Continuity
MarketWatch - 23 hours ago
This white paper discusses the challenges of small and mid-sized organizations that are dependent on their Windows environments for business continuity. ...
Kaseya Simplifies Remote IT Automation with Seamless Endpoint ... - MarketWatch
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:06 AM
Kaseya Simplifies Remote IT Automation with Seamless Endpoint ...
MarketWatch - Dec 3, 2008
The new backup and disaster recovery functionality now includes Incremental Forever and Synthetic Full Backups for efficient offsite replication and ...
Board OKs Transfer Of Emergency Management - Tampa Tribune
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:29 PM
Board OKs Transfer Of Emergency Management
Tampa Tribune, FL - Dec 2, 2008
Former Emergency Management Director Tom Leto was fired May 9 after a sheriff's investigation and a county audit revealed questionable management practices. ...
Emergency management employees to become part of Hernando ... Tampabay.com
all 2 news articles
Woman opens emergency management consulting business - Weekly Vista
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:31 PM
Woman opens emergency management consulting business
Weekly Vista, AR - 19 hours ago
... of Applied Science Degree in Homeland Security / Emergency Management and started her consulting business: PFAD Consulting: Prepare for All Disasters. ...
Verizon Business Rolls Out Enhancements to Make Voice Over IP More ... - MarketWatch
Thursday, December 04, 2008 6:34 AM
Verizon Business Rolls Out Enhancements to Make Voice Over IP More ...
MarketWatch - 2 hours ago
Availability in Europe of automatic call rerouting for VoIP customers, to provide business-continuity benefits unavailable in a traditional ...
Friday, November 28, 2008
One man cells may be the new order for al-Qaeda
New manual signals possible shift in AQ strategy from large-scale, "spectacular" events to smaller, more successful and locally devastating smaller-scale attacks. Possible migration to Western societies of successful and repeatable tactics seen in ME theater. Also, could dictate a willingness of AQ Central to loosen control over planning and production of operations in order to allow local, autonomous and self-recruited/funded cells to act alone on the AQ name.
From article:
Intelligence officials have discovered an online Al Qaeda manual that prescribes that group leaders should training new recruits to operate as smaller cells around the globe. The manual, called Method for Building the Personality of a Terrorist Mujahid and written by an Islamist forum contributor nicknamed “Shamil al-Baghdadi,” encourages militant followers to stop focusing on pulling off attacks on the scale of 9-11 and to start executing numerous smaller attacks.
If for some reason the mission fails, the Jihadi must not abort, but instead carry on alone, as a one-man cell. It advocates assassinations by shooting, poisoning and booby-trapping cell phones and computers. Further, targets are to be prioritized by ranking them into categories such as “high profile,” which represent presidents and prime ministers. Recruits are also told to organize credit card scams and to rob police stations in order to get hold of weapons. However, the most shocking revelation are the lessons on kidnapping, with orders to slaughter hostages in a way that will terrify the public.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/one-man-cell-the-new-face-of-al-qaeda-terror_10084517.html
From article:
Intelligence officials have discovered an online Al Qaeda manual that prescribes that group leaders should training new recruits to operate as smaller cells around the globe. The manual, called Method for Building the Personality of a Terrorist Mujahid and written by an Islamist forum contributor nicknamed “Shamil al-Baghdadi,” encourages militant followers to stop focusing on pulling off attacks on the scale of 9-11 and to start executing numerous smaller attacks.
If for some reason the mission fails, the Jihadi must not abort, but instead carry on alone, as a one-man cell. It advocates assassinations by shooting, poisoning and booby-trapping cell phones and computers. Further, targets are to be prioritized by ranking them into categories such as “high profile,” which represent presidents and prime ministers. Recruits are also told to organize credit card scams and to rob police stations in order to get hold of weapons. However, the most shocking revelation are the lessons on kidnapping, with orders to slaughter hostages in a way that will terrify the public.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/one-man-cell-the-new-face-of-al-qaeda-terror_10084517.html
The Week in Terror
Homeland Security National Terror Alert - Homeland Security News
Homeland Security News and Information
Report: al Qaeda Wants To Cripple Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor
Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:46 AM
The world’s economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting ...
Mumbai Terror Continues
Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:27 AM
Update: Reports of gunshots an several new locations including VT/CST station, GT hospital turn out to be false alarm.
Follow live here:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
—————-
Officials said as many as 30 people could ...
Mumbai Under Terror Attack - Live Coverage
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:09 PM
For live update please view the live video stream or follow us on Twitter. NTARC Twitter Mubai Stream
Mumbai Terror Attack: Hotels, hospital, bus stands, cinema halls attacked.
Top policie officials have been killed by terrorists in ...
Feds Warn Of Possible al Qaeda Terror Threat To New York Subway Trains
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:52 AM
Feds Warn Of Possible NYC Terror Plot, FBI: “Plausible But Unsubstantiated” Report Of Al Qaeda Plans To Attack Subway System
The FBI has warned New York area law enforcement of a “plausible but unsubstantiated” al Qaeda ...
U.S. Will Ask Youth To Fight Crime and Terrorism Online
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:41 AM
The US State Department announced plans on Monday to promote online youth groups as a new and powerful way to fight crime, political oppression and terrorism.
Drawing inspiration from a movement against FARC rebels in Colombia, ...
DHS to Regulate Buying and Selling Ammonium Nitrate
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:27 AM
In an effort to prevent future terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security has announced new plans to regulate the selling and purchasing of ammonium nitrate. The widely used fertilizer was used in the 1995 ...
Fake Budweiser Van Was Carrying 13 Alleged Illegal Immigrants
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:20 AM
Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents seized a vehicle replicating a Budweiser delivery van smuggling thirteen illegal aliens near Three Points, Ariz.
Yesterday morning at 9:00am, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Tucson Station encountered a suspicious ...
Holy Land Foundation Defendants Guilty On All Counts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:13 AM
After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group ...
Al-Qaeda Increases Efforts To Obtain Dirty Bomb
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:16 AM
MI6 has issued a global priority warning to all security services that Islamic terrorists are now closer to obtaining material to create a “dirty bomb” to launch against Western targets.
Osama bin Laden has long made ...
CIA Getting Closer To bin Laden
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:10 AM
Osama bin Laden is no doubt feeling that his days of hiding may soon be coming to an abrubt end. Watching his al Qaeda leadership getting picked off by predator drones day after day, almost ...
US Kills Al Qaeda Mastermind of Airline Liquid Bomb Plot - Rashid Rauf
Sunday, November 23, 2008 1:20 AM
In what would be another major blow to al Qaeda, a CIA missile strike reportedly killed the long-sought British al Qaeda figure believed to have coordinated and planned the 2006 plot to use liquid bombs ...
Southcenter Mall - Shots Fired In Shopping Mall - Tukwila Washington
Saturday, November 22, 2008 6:37 PM
UPDATE: The gunman remains at large and police are searching for him, police said.
The mall, located off Southcenter Parkway, is being locked down, officials said. It will remain closed for the rest of the night.
An ...
New Report Calls Nuclear Terrorism Risk Unacceptably High
Friday, November 21, 2008 1:48 AM
A new report says the world still faces a serious risk that terrorists could obtain a nuclear bomb and urges President-elect Barack Obama to make reducing that risk a top priority of U.S. security policy ...
Iran Said to Have Enough Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon
Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:10 AM
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 ...
Al-Qaeda Message Condemns Obama - al Zawahiri
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:33 AM
The second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has hit out at US President-elect Barack Obama.
In a message purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda deputy called Mr Obama a “house negro” - a demeaning term implying ...
Homeland Security News and Information
Report: al Qaeda Wants To Cripple Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor
Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:46 AM
The world’s economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting ...
Mumbai Terror Continues
Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:27 AM
Update: Reports of gunshots an several new locations including VT/CST station, GT hospital turn out to be false alarm.
Follow live here:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
—————-
Officials said as many as 30 people could ...
Mumbai Under Terror Attack - Live Coverage
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:09 PM
For live update please view the live video stream or follow us on Twitter. NTARC Twitter Mubai Stream
Mumbai Terror Attack: Hotels, hospital, bus stands, cinema halls attacked.
Top policie officials have been killed by terrorists in ...
Feds Warn Of Possible al Qaeda Terror Threat To New York Subway Trains
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:52 AM
Feds Warn Of Possible NYC Terror Plot, FBI: “Plausible But Unsubstantiated” Report Of Al Qaeda Plans To Attack Subway System
The FBI has warned New York area law enforcement of a “plausible but unsubstantiated” al Qaeda ...
U.S. Will Ask Youth To Fight Crime and Terrorism Online
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:41 AM
The US State Department announced plans on Monday to promote online youth groups as a new and powerful way to fight crime, political oppression and terrorism.
Drawing inspiration from a movement against FARC rebels in Colombia, ...
DHS to Regulate Buying and Selling Ammonium Nitrate
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:27 AM
In an effort to prevent future terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security has announced new plans to regulate the selling and purchasing of ammonium nitrate. The widely used fertilizer was used in the 1995 ...
Fake Budweiser Van Was Carrying 13 Alleged Illegal Immigrants
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:20 AM
Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents seized a vehicle replicating a Budweiser delivery van smuggling thirteen illegal aliens near Three Points, Ariz.
Yesterday morning at 9:00am, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Tucson Station encountered a suspicious ...
Holy Land Foundation Defendants Guilty On All Counts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:13 AM
After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group ...
Al-Qaeda Increases Efforts To Obtain Dirty Bomb
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:16 AM
MI6 has issued a global priority warning to all security services that Islamic terrorists are now closer to obtaining material to create a “dirty bomb” to launch against Western targets.
Osama bin Laden has long made ...
CIA Getting Closer To bin Laden
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:10 AM
Osama bin Laden is no doubt feeling that his days of hiding may soon be coming to an abrubt end. Watching his al Qaeda leadership getting picked off by predator drones day after day, almost ...
US Kills Al Qaeda Mastermind of Airline Liquid Bomb Plot - Rashid Rauf
Sunday, November 23, 2008 1:20 AM
In what would be another major blow to al Qaeda, a CIA missile strike reportedly killed the long-sought British al Qaeda figure believed to have coordinated and planned the 2006 plot to use liquid bombs ...
Southcenter Mall - Shots Fired In Shopping Mall - Tukwila Washington
Saturday, November 22, 2008 6:37 PM
UPDATE: The gunman remains at large and police are searching for him, police said.
The mall, located off Southcenter Parkway, is being locked down, officials said. It will remain closed for the rest of the night.
An ...
New Report Calls Nuclear Terrorism Risk Unacceptably High
Friday, November 21, 2008 1:48 AM
A new report says the world still faces a serious risk that terrorists could obtain a nuclear bomb and urges President-elect Barack Obama to make reducing that risk a top priority of U.S. security policy ...
Iran Said to Have Enough Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon
Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:10 AM
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 ...
Al-Qaeda Message Condemns Obama - al Zawahiri
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:33 AM
The second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has hit out at US President-elect Barack Obama.
In a message purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda deputy called Mr Obama a “house negro” - a demeaning term implying ...
Terror Alerts
Report: al Qaeda Wants To Cripple Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor
Posted: 27 Nov 2008 08:46 AM PST
The world’s economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York’s subways and railroads.
If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations.
“The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible,” said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Uniformed officers, including NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City’s mass transit system.
The report said: “These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems.”
Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak’s northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.
Source
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Mumbai Terror Continues
Posted: 27 Nov 2008 08:27 AM PST
Update: Reports of gunshots an several new locations including VT/CST station, GT hospital turn out to be false alarm.
Follow live here:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
—————-
Officials said as many as 30 people could still remain hostage in a luxury hotel tonight after terrorist attacks that have plunged the Indian financial capital of Mumbai into chaos.
Indian military commandos continued to exchange fire with an unknown number of militants one day after coordinated groups of gunmen shot and blasted their way through tourist sites around Mumbai on Wednesday night, apparently targeting American, Israeli and British citizens for use as hostages.
By late today, the toll had reached 125 dead and several hundred wounded. Among the dead were at least one Australian, a Japanese and a British national, officials say.
Indian officials say commandos are engaged in a fierce gunfight with terrorists holding an unknown number of hostages inside the luxury Oberoi-Trident hotel complex in Mumbai.
Police have taken at least seven people out of the two-hotel complex, one of three buildings where gunmen are still holding hostages in country’s financial capital.
The roof of the Oberoi hotel was ablaze as a result of explosions inside the building.
Commandos reportedly were sweeping through the adjoining Trident hotel, checking to see if terrorists were using it as an escape route.
There are reports that some of the terrorists may have fled Mumbai in stolen government Jeeps, and that police and military forces were setting up checkpoints and roadblocks around the city.
The Associated Press reports one of the rescued hostages told reporters he had seen many bodies inside the hotel. He did not give his name.
Indian TV, meanwhile, reports government officials fear the death toll at the Taj Mahal hotel could be high, with as many as 80-90 bodies inside. Some of the dead appear to have been killed by the gunmen, while others may have died in subsequent explosions and fires.
Reuters reports a militant at the Lubavitch Center phoned an Indian TV station with an offer to talk with government officials about the release of hostages.
The caller reportedly also complained about abuses in Indian Kashmir.
Live information, details and updates will be available via the following links:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
Images - Warning Graphic
Follow Us Via Twitter
Read More
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Posted: 27 Nov 2008 08:46 AM PST
The world’s economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York’s subways and railroads.
If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations.
“The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible,” said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Uniformed officers, including NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City’s mass transit system.
The report said: “These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems.”
Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak’s northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.
Source
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Mumbai Terror Continues
Posted: 27 Nov 2008 08:27 AM PST
Update: Reports of gunshots an several new locations including VT/CST station, GT hospital turn out to be false alarm.
Follow live here:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
—————-
Officials said as many as 30 people could still remain hostage in a luxury hotel tonight after terrorist attacks that have plunged the Indian financial capital of Mumbai into chaos.
Indian military commandos continued to exchange fire with an unknown number of militants one day after coordinated groups of gunmen shot and blasted their way through tourist sites around Mumbai on Wednesday night, apparently targeting American, Israeli and British citizens for use as hostages.
By late today, the toll had reached 125 dead and several hundred wounded. Among the dead were at least one Australian, a Japanese and a British national, officials say.
Indian officials say commandos are engaged in a fierce gunfight with terrorists holding an unknown number of hostages inside the luxury Oberoi-Trident hotel complex in Mumbai.
Police have taken at least seven people out of the two-hotel complex, one of three buildings where gunmen are still holding hostages in country’s financial capital.
The roof of the Oberoi hotel was ablaze as a result of explosions inside the building.
Commandos reportedly were sweeping through the adjoining Trident hotel, checking to see if terrorists were using it as an escape route.
There are reports that some of the terrorists may have fled Mumbai in stolen government Jeeps, and that police and military forces were setting up checkpoints and roadblocks around the city.
The Associated Press reports one of the rescued hostages told reporters he had seen many bodies inside the hotel. He did not give his name.
Indian TV, meanwhile, reports government officials fear the death toll at the Taj Mahal hotel could be high, with as many as 80-90 bodies inside. Some of the dead appear to have been killed by the gunmen, while others may have died in subsequent explosions and fires.
Reuters reports a militant at the Lubavitch Center phoned an Indian TV station with an offer to talk with government officials about the release of hostages.
The caller reportedly also complained about abuses in Indian Kashmir.
Live information, details and updates will be available via the following links:
Live Video Coverge From IBN
Live Twitter Stream
Images - Warning Graphic
Follow Us Via Twitter
Read More
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
URGENT
Your Gun Right
For all those that might be concerned about this. I did this and it is true.
Dave
ISRA Alert:
> County County Phone Poll For Gun Control Ordinance Is Still Active
>
>
> Larry Suffredin and his cohorts on the Cook County Board are up to
> their old tricks again.
>
> In order to justify passage of gun control ordinances designed to
> close all gun shops and ban and confiscate most guns owned by
> citizens of the county, the Cook County Board is conducting a
> telephone poll where callers can vote for or against the gun
> control ordinances.
>
> Like everything else in Cook County, this poll is probably rigged.
> So, it’s very important that you do the following:
>
> 1. Call 1-312 -603-6400 and select Option #1 when prompted. At the
> next prompt, select Option #1 again. Then, when prompted to vote on
> the gun control ordinance, press #2.
>
> 2. You should also forward this alert on to all your gun owning
> friends and have them vote too.
>
> 3. You should also post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin
> boards or blogs to which you belong.
>
> YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A RESIDENT OF COOK COUNTY TO VOTE!
>
>
> Let’s beat Suffredin at his own game! And, save your guns.
For all those that might be concerned about this. I did this and it is true.
Dave
ISRA Alert:
> County County Phone Poll For Gun Control Ordinance Is Still Active
>
>
> Larry Suffredin and his cohorts on the Cook County Board are up to
> their old tricks again.
>
> In order to justify passage of gun control ordinances designed to
> close all gun shops and ban and confiscate most guns owned by
> citizens of the county, the Cook County Board is conducting a
> telephone poll where callers can vote for or against the gun
> control ordinances.
>
> Like everything else in Cook County, this poll is probably rigged.
> So, it’s very important that you do the following:
>
> 1. Call 1-312 -603-6400 and select Option #1 when prompted. At the
> next prompt, select Option #1 again. Then, when prompted to vote on
> the gun control ordinance, press #2.
>
> 2. You should also forward this alert on to all your gun owning
> friends and have them vote too.
>
> 3. You should also post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin
> boards or blogs to which you belong.
>
> YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A RESIDENT OF COOK COUNTY TO VOTE!
>
>
> Let’s beat Suffredin at his own game! And, save your guns.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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Obama
I found the following article by Stratfor very informing.
Obama and the Presidential Security Challenge
November 6, 2008
Global Security and Intelligence Report
Editor’s Note: We have renamed the Terrorism Intelligence Report, which will now be known as the Global Security and Intelligence Report to better reflect its content. We will continue to use this report as a platform to discuss crime, security and counterintelligence topics.
By Fred Burton and Ben West
The U.S. presidential campaign trail presents a host of challenges for the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) protective detail assigned to cover the presidential candidates, something we’ve discussed previously. Major presidential candidates have been afforded USSS protection since the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy at a campaign event. Due to the nature of modern presidential campaigns, the candidates’ schedules are packed with events that often start at breakfast and continue long after dinner. Candidates also hopscotch across the country, often visiting several cities in a day and sometimes visiting multiple venues in the same city.
The Security Challenge of Campaign Season
In the last weeks before the Nov. 4 election, the campaign of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama hit several different cities in one day, meaning that several teams of advance agents were deployed around the country at any given time. For example, on Nov. 3, Obama visited Jacksonville, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Manassas Park, Va. Campaign managers often adjust itineraries on the fly to meet the needs of the campaign.
This tempo constantly forces protection agents into new environments with very little time to plan and implement security measures. Wherever Obama traveled during the campaign, USSS agents would send advance teams to scout airports and motorcade routes, plan security for campaign sites, conduct liaison with local police and keep tabs on any persons of interest during the visit. The advance agents are supplemented by teams of extra agents to help secure sites; dog handlers and explosive ordnance disposal technicians to check for explosive devices; and uniformed officers to help control access to sites, man metal detectors and provide countersniper support.
Due to the nature of political campaigns, once a candidate like Obama lands and safely arrives at an event location, there is frequently tremendous exposure to the public. This is true not just on stage behind a podium but also as the candidate works the crowd, shaking hands, kissing babies and talking to voters. As seen during the May 1972 attempted assassination of George Wallace and the later attempts against presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, it is during these times of close interaction with the public that a VIP is at the highest risk. Would-be assassins can use the crowd for camouflage and quickly get a close shot at the VIP, leaving little time for agents to respond to the threat. Because of this, working the crowd is a difficult task and one protection agents hate. Fortunately for the Obama protective detail, with the election period over they will find themselves in these kinds of situations less frequently.
Finally, there is the issue of the USSS being stretched very thin due to the nature of an election season. The USSS is charged with protecting former presidents and first ladies as well as, of course, the first family and the vice president. But during an election season, the presidential and vice presidential candidates are also assigned a security detail. Due to the perceived threat against Obama, a detail equivalent to a full presidential protection team was assigned to him. Such a high level of protection is unprecedented for a presidential candidate, and it helped stretch the USSS very thin.
Now that the election is over, Obama’s schedule will be greatly simplified, and it will take far less manpower to cover him. Obama will certainly have some travel, but the majority of this time probably will be spent between Chicago and Washington. This will allow the USSS agents protecting him to catch a breather and to establish a more secure, stable perimeter around the president-elect. Sen. John McCain’s protective detail also will be eliminated, freeing up even more bodies. The relative calm of the transition period will end with the January 2009 inauguration ceremony and festivities, the next serious headache the USSS will face.
Past Threats to U.S. Presidents
U.S. presidents always face an array of threats. Four U.S. presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Assassination attempts have frequently occurred, with every president since Richard Nixon having been targeted for assassination, with some threats more credible than others.
The tremendous amount of power and symbolism of the office makes U.S. presidents prime targets for assassination. Obama will be no exception. But in addition to bearing the title of president, Obama also will be the first black president — something that introduces a whole new and more serious threat matrix. Obama uniquely faces a threat from white supremacist groups, some of which believe a black president should be killed.
Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. During his campaign, Obama was the target of a few threats that attracted considerable press coverage but in the end didn’t amount to much. Press portrayals aside, reviewing the facts establishes that these incidents were certainly not viable threats to Obama.
In one instance, authorities announced in late August that three Colorado men had been arrested after police found illegal weapons and methamphetamines on the men. During interrogation, federal agents learned that the group of methamphetamine users had discussed harming Obama. One of the men wore a swastika ring, indicating a possible link to the neo-Nazi movement. In the end, though, the three men were indicted on drugs and weapons charges alone, as the U.S. attorney overseeing the case said the evidence was insufficient to charge the men with conspiring to do bodily harm to a presidential candidate. While the group had discussed the topic, it apparently had made no overt acts in furtherance of an attempt, an element required to bring conspiracy charges.
In another instance, two young men from Tennessee and Arkansas who had conspired to go on a crime spree that would end with an attempt on Obama’s life were arrested Oct. 22. Their scheme was outlandish from the start, and included robbing a gun store, killing 88 blacks and beheading 14 (both significant numbers to the white supremacist movement) and then performing their coup de grace on the presidential candidate while dressed in white tuxedos and top hats. As it was, the two managed only to be scared off by dogs during an attempted home burglary, shoot out a window of a nearby African-American church and draw neo-Nazi symbols on their car in sidewalk chalk. The two had met to discuss their plans on a Web site associated with white supremacists and skinheads. While their plan hardly got off of the ground, the two did show a high level of enthusiasm for their mission that certainly could be replicated within the white supremacist movement.
White Supremacists and an African-American President
The Obama presidency occurs against the unfortunate backdrop of a history of assassinations of prominent African-American leaders in the United States. These have included Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (Evers’ assassin was a Ku Klux Klan member, while King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, at the very least harbored racist sentiments.)
Broadly, there are three schools of thought among white supremacist groups on how to view Obama’s election.
The first school of thought is that someone should (or will) threaten Obama because of his race since his election has outraged white supremacists. While publicly making such a call is grounds for arrest, plenty of white supremacist blogs and Web message boards talk of the inevitability of an attack on Obama in a very suggestive way. This school of thought believes that such an attack would inflame racial tensions, sparking riots along the lines of those that followed the 1968 King assassination. Such violence would be viewed as positive in this thinking, as open combat between whites and blacks would bring their ideology to the forefront.
The second school, reflecting perhaps the most widely echoed dogma within the white supremacist movement, believes that an Obama presidency benefits their movement since it will serve as a wake-up call to white America. Once Americans of European descent realize how far they have fallen now that a black man has been elected to the most powerful office in the country, goes the argument, they will flock to join white supremacist groups to reassert their power. An Obama presidency, this school argues, is thereby good for the white supremacists since it would swell their membership rolls and give them more influence and publicity. Former Louisiana state representative and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke supports this line as does fellow white supremacist leader Tom Metzger.
This second school of thought is bolstered by the argument that the other candidates weren’t going to be any better, as they were all under the influence of the even more despised Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG). Adherents of this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory believe that Jews pull the strings behind a puppet U.S. government. Obama, in their opinion, is at least not under the heavy influence of Jewish interests. This line of reasoning is in no way an endorsement of Obama, but more of an instance of them making the best of a situation they see as terrible for whites in the United States.
The third and last school of thought holds that the U.S. government, which is secretly controlled by the ZOG, is plotting to attack Obama itself. This group believes ZOG will blame white supremacists for the killing, which they will use as an excuse to clamp down on white supremacist hate speech as well as gun ownership.
Conspiracies and Lone Wolves
The USSS is much more adept at countering group conspiracies than lone wolf actors. Lone wolves are very, very difficult to uncover, especially if they remain isolated and tell no one of their plans. Groups are much easier to track, as their movements are more noticeable and their operational security weaker, as all members must remain silent to keep the plot clandestine. The money trail is also a dead giveaway for groups, as outside organizations will often fund their operations, helping them buy equipment and supplies in preparation for an attack.
Considering this, white supremacist groups are under very tight surveillance by U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, and scrutiny of their activities will only increase as Obama takes office. As seen in the Tennessee case, online discussions and postings can come back to haunt Internet collaborators. It would be very difficult for even a small group to operate below the radar of not just the USSS but also the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency, all of which will have their proverbial ear to the ground to protect the president — one of the most important national security missions these groups have.
The lone wolf, in the end, poses the most likely threat to Obama, and to any target for that matter. The lone wolf’s ability to act alone, keeping his intentions, activities and whereabouts to himself, makes it very difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify a threat before it is too late. But the lone wolf also must be very smart and have some access to resources such as weapons and vehicles — characteristics severely lacking in the two cases above that targeted Obama.
The real threat emerges when intent and capability are joined. White supremacists have the intent, but so far have not exhibited capability. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues. So long as they remain amateurish like those in Denver and Tennessee, the president remains secure from the white supremacist threat. But if a combination of ideology and ability to act as a lone wolf comes along, the threat level rises.
Given the ties that figures within the white supremacist movement like Duke have with hostile foreign countries such as Russia and Iran, a scenario comes to mind in which a foreign country could secretly fund and train a low-level member or simply a sympathizer of the white supremacist movement to carry out an assassination. Duke has praised Russia’s nationalist movement and has traveled there several times. He also attended a 2006 Holocaust denial conference in Tehran, Iran, where he was in general agreement with the Iranian regime.
Indications of such foreign connections have come up during investigations of past assassinations. Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to obtain Cuban and Soviet visas in Mexico City before he assassinated JFK. Recently, declassifications have tied Oswald to known KGB assassin Valery Kostikov. While these circumstances alone are not enough to conclusively link outside meddling with the JFK assassination, they certainly do raise questions. Additionally, Ray fled to Europe on a fake Canadian passport after killing King. He was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport two months after the King assassination with large amounts of cash, indicating Ray had outside help in the killing.
Presidential security is a serious national security matter. A successful (or even unsuccessful) attack on a president causes instability in the United States and in the wider world. And given the especially delicate balance that the United States, Russia and countries of the Middle East are striking right now, an attack on the president would destabilize U.S. foreign policy and have a heightened impact on national security. Domestically, the assassination of the country’s first black president would run the risk of devastating race relations — and white supremacist movements see themselves as substantially benefiting from racial strife.
Tell Stratfor What You Think
This report may be forwarded or republished on your website with attribution to www.stratfor.com
Obama and the Presidential Security Challenge
November 6, 2008
Global Security and Intelligence Report
Editor’s Note: We have renamed the Terrorism Intelligence Report, which will now be known as the Global Security and Intelligence Report to better reflect its content. We will continue to use this report as a platform to discuss crime, security and counterintelligence topics.
By Fred Burton and Ben West
The U.S. presidential campaign trail presents a host of challenges for the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) protective detail assigned to cover the presidential candidates, something we’ve discussed previously. Major presidential candidates have been afforded USSS protection since the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy at a campaign event. Due to the nature of modern presidential campaigns, the candidates’ schedules are packed with events that often start at breakfast and continue long after dinner. Candidates also hopscotch across the country, often visiting several cities in a day and sometimes visiting multiple venues in the same city.
The Security Challenge of Campaign Season
In the last weeks before the Nov. 4 election, the campaign of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama hit several different cities in one day, meaning that several teams of advance agents were deployed around the country at any given time. For example, on Nov. 3, Obama visited Jacksonville, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Manassas Park, Va. Campaign managers often adjust itineraries on the fly to meet the needs of the campaign.
This tempo constantly forces protection agents into new environments with very little time to plan and implement security measures. Wherever Obama traveled during the campaign, USSS agents would send advance teams to scout airports and motorcade routes, plan security for campaign sites, conduct liaison with local police and keep tabs on any persons of interest during the visit. The advance agents are supplemented by teams of extra agents to help secure sites; dog handlers and explosive ordnance disposal technicians to check for explosive devices; and uniformed officers to help control access to sites, man metal detectors and provide countersniper support.
Due to the nature of political campaigns, once a candidate like Obama lands and safely arrives at an event location, there is frequently tremendous exposure to the public. This is true not just on stage behind a podium but also as the candidate works the crowd, shaking hands, kissing babies and talking to voters. As seen during the May 1972 attempted assassination of George Wallace and the later attempts against presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, it is during these times of close interaction with the public that a VIP is at the highest risk. Would-be assassins can use the crowd for camouflage and quickly get a close shot at the VIP, leaving little time for agents to respond to the threat. Because of this, working the crowd is a difficult task and one protection agents hate. Fortunately for the Obama protective detail, with the election period over they will find themselves in these kinds of situations less frequently.
Finally, there is the issue of the USSS being stretched very thin due to the nature of an election season. The USSS is charged with protecting former presidents and first ladies as well as, of course, the first family and the vice president. But during an election season, the presidential and vice presidential candidates are also assigned a security detail. Due to the perceived threat against Obama, a detail equivalent to a full presidential protection team was assigned to him. Such a high level of protection is unprecedented for a presidential candidate, and it helped stretch the USSS very thin.
Now that the election is over, Obama’s schedule will be greatly simplified, and it will take far less manpower to cover him. Obama will certainly have some travel, but the majority of this time probably will be spent between Chicago and Washington. This will allow the USSS agents protecting him to catch a breather and to establish a more secure, stable perimeter around the president-elect. Sen. John McCain’s protective detail also will be eliminated, freeing up even more bodies. The relative calm of the transition period will end with the January 2009 inauguration ceremony and festivities, the next serious headache the USSS will face.
Past Threats to U.S. Presidents
U.S. presidents always face an array of threats. Four U.S. presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Assassination attempts have frequently occurred, with every president since Richard Nixon having been targeted for assassination, with some threats more credible than others.
The tremendous amount of power and symbolism of the office makes U.S. presidents prime targets for assassination. Obama will be no exception. But in addition to bearing the title of president, Obama also will be the first black president — something that introduces a whole new and more serious threat matrix. Obama uniquely faces a threat from white supremacist groups, some of which believe a black president should be killed.
Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. During his campaign, Obama was the target of a few threats that attracted considerable press coverage but in the end didn’t amount to much. Press portrayals aside, reviewing the facts establishes that these incidents were certainly not viable threats to Obama.
In one instance, authorities announced in late August that three Colorado men had been arrested after police found illegal weapons and methamphetamines on the men. During interrogation, federal agents learned that the group of methamphetamine users had discussed harming Obama. One of the men wore a swastika ring, indicating a possible link to the neo-Nazi movement. In the end, though, the three men were indicted on drugs and weapons charges alone, as the U.S. attorney overseeing the case said the evidence was insufficient to charge the men with conspiring to do bodily harm to a presidential candidate. While the group had discussed the topic, it apparently had made no overt acts in furtherance of an attempt, an element required to bring conspiracy charges.
In another instance, two young men from Tennessee and Arkansas who had conspired to go on a crime spree that would end with an attempt on Obama’s life were arrested Oct. 22. Their scheme was outlandish from the start, and included robbing a gun store, killing 88 blacks and beheading 14 (both significant numbers to the white supremacist movement) and then performing their coup de grace on the presidential candidate while dressed in white tuxedos and top hats. As it was, the two managed only to be scared off by dogs during an attempted home burglary, shoot out a window of a nearby African-American church and draw neo-Nazi symbols on their car in sidewalk chalk. The two had met to discuss their plans on a Web site associated with white supremacists and skinheads. While their plan hardly got off of the ground, the two did show a high level of enthusiasm for their mission that certainly could be replicated within the white supremacist movement.
White Supremacists and an African-American President
The Obama presidency occurs against the unfortunate backdrop of a history of assassinations of prominent African-American leaders in the United States. These have included Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (Evers’ assassin was a Ku Klux Klan member, while King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, at the very least harbored racist sentiments.)
Broadly, there are three schools of thought among white supremacist groups on how to view Obama’s election.
The first school of thought is that someone should (or will) threaten Obama because of his race since his election has outraged white supremacists. While publicly making such a call is grounds for arrest, plenty of white supremacist blogs and Web message boards talk of the inevitability of an attack on Obama in a very suggestive way. This school of thought believes that such an attack would inflame racial tensions, sparking riots along the lines of those that followed the 1968 King assassination. Such violence would be viewed as positive in this thinking, as open combat between whites and blacks would bring their ideology to the forefront.
The second school, reflecting perhaps the most widely echoed dogma within the white supremacist movement, believes that an Obama presidency benefits their movement since it will serve as a wake-up call to white America. Once Americans of European descent realize how far they have fallen now that a black man has been elected to the most powerful office in the country, goes the argument, they will flock to join white supremacist groups to reassert their power. An Obama presidency, this school argues, is thereby good for the white supremacists since it would swell their membership rolls and give them more influence and publicity. Former Louisiana state representative and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke supports this line as does fellow white supremacist leader Tom Metzger.
This second school of thought is bolstered by the argument that the other candidates weren’t going to be any better, as they were all under the influence of the even more despised Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG). Adherents of this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory believe that Jews pull the strings behind a puppet U.S. government. Obama, in their opinion, is at least not under the heavy influence of Jewish interests. This line of reasoning is in no way an endorsement of Obama, but more of an instance of them making the best of a situation they see as terrible for whites in the United States.
The third and last school of thought holds that the U.S. government, which is secretly controlled by the ZOG, is plotting to attack Obama itself. This group believes ZOG will blame white supremacists for the killing, which they will use as an excuse to clamp down on white supremacist hate speech as well as gun ownership.
Conspiracies and Lone Wolves
The USSS is much more adept at countering group conspiracies than lone wolf actors. Lone wolves are very, very difficult to uncover, especially if they remain isolated and tell no one of their plans. Groups are much easier to track, as their movements are more noticeable and their operational security weaker, as all members must remain silent to keep the plot clandestine. The money trail is also a dead giveaway for groups, as outside organizations will often fund their operations, helping them buy equipment and supplies in preparation for an attack.
Considering this, white supremacist groups are under very tight surveillance by U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, and scrutiny of their activities will only increase as Obama takes office. As seen in the Tennessee case, online discussions and postings can come back to haunt Internet collaborators. It would be very difficult for even a small group to operate below the radar of not just the USSS but also the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency, all of which will have their proverbial ear to the ground to protect the president — one of the most important national security missions these groups have.
The lone wolf, in the end, poses the most likely threat to Obama, and to any target for that matter. The lone wolf’s ability to act alone, keeping his intentions, activities and whereabouts to himself, makes it very difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify a threat before it is too late. But the lone wolf also must be very smart and have some access to resources such as weapons and vehicles — characteristics severely lacking in the two cases above that targeted Obama.
The real threat emerges when intent and capability are joined. White supremacists have the intent, but so far have not exhibited capability. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues. So long as they remain amateurish like those in Denver and Tennessee, the president remains secure from the white supremacist threat. But if a combination of ideology and ability to act as a lone wolf comes along, the threat level rises.
Given the ties that figures within the white supremacist movement like Duke have with hostile foreign countries such as Russia and Iran, a scenario comes to mind in which a foreign country could secretly fund and train a low-level member or simply a sympathizer of the white supremacist movement to carry out an assassination. Duke has praised Russia’s nationalist movement and has traveled there several times. He also attended a 2006 Holocaust denial conference in Tehran, Iran, where he was in general agreement with the Iranian regime.
Indications of such foreign connections have come up during investigations of past assassinations. Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to obtain Cuban and Soviet visas in Mexico City before he assassinated JFK. Recently, declassifications have tied Oswald to known KGB assassin Valery Kostikov. While these circumstances alone are not enough to conclusively link outside meddling with the JFK assassination, they certainly do raise questions. Additionally, Ray fled to Europe on a fake Canadian passport after killing King. He was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport two months after the King assassination with large amounts of cash, indicating Ray had outside help in the killing.
Presidential security is a serious national security matter. A successful (or even unsuccessful) attack on a president causes instability in the United States and in the wider world. And given the especially delicate balance that the United States, Russia and countries of the Middle East are striking right now, an attack on the president would destabilize U.S. foreign policy and have a heightened impact on national security. Domestically, the assassination of the country’s first black president would run the risk of devastating race relations — and white supremacist movements see themselves as substantially benefiting from racial strife.
Tell Stratfor What You Think
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Latest
Al-Qaeda Weapons and Poison Expert Killed - Pakistan
Posted: 29 Jul 2008 02:01 AM CDT
Al-Qaeda’s top expert on chemical and biological weapons is believed to have been killed in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas on Monday, security officials said.
Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, had a $ 5 million bounty on his head. He allegedly trained hundreds of extremists at camps in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.
Both the US-led coalition and a separate NATO force in Afghanistan have said they were not involved in the missile strike. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency is also known to operate drones in the region.
Officials earlier said that three Arab militants and three Pakistani boys were killed when missiles fired by a suspected US drone hit a house attached to a mosque in the South Waziristan tribal district.
“We believe he was killed in this strike,” a senior intelligence official based in the northwestern city of Peshawar said on condition of anonymity.
“It was his hideout and information that has been shared with us says he was targeted in this strike.”
Umar’s wife and children were believed to have been injured in the attack, Pakistani officials said. Residents said the victims of the missile strike were hastily buried in the hours after the attack.
Source
al Qaeda Wants Saudi King killed Over Interfaith Call
Posted: 29 Jul 2008 02:01 AM CDT
A key al Qaeda figure has said Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah should be killed for calling for an interfaith dialogue that amounted to joining a Western crusade against Islam.
“Hurrying to kill this wanton tyrant (King Abdullah) who has announced himself to be a leader of atheism would be among the most pious acts,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video posted on Monday on Islamist websites often used by al Qaeda supporters.
The message followed a groundbreaking Saudi-sponsored interfaith conference in Spain this month in which King Abdullah called on followers of the world’s major faiths to turn away from extremism and seek reconciliation.
“The call for a rapprochement of religions issued by the (Saudi) tyrant … is an integral part of the overt Crusader war against Islam and Muslims,” Libi said. He likened King Abdullah to a “corrupting fountainhead” that had to be buried.
“This in fact is a call to turn one’s back on Islam and … to look for commonalities with Judaism and Christianity so whatever the three agree on would become the new modern religion which would be allowed to be propagated,” Libi said.
Source
High-Profile Events Put U.S. in Period of Heightened Alert ‘POHA’ for Terrorism
Posted: 28 Jul 2008 09:15 AM CDT
Government officials have been quietly stepping up counterterror efforts out of a growing concern that al Qaeda or similar organizations might try to capitalize on the spate of extremely high-profile events in the coming months, sources tell ABC News.
Security experts point to next month’s Olympics as evidence that high-profile events attract threats of terrorism, like the one issued this past weekend by a Chinese Muslim minority group that warned of its intent to attack the Games.
Anti-terror officials in the U.S. cite this summer and fall’s lineup of two major political parties’ conventions, November’s general election and months of transition into a new presidential administration as cause for heightened awareness and action.
This is what the Department of Homeland Security is quietly declaring a Period of Heightened Alert, or POHA, a time frame when terrorists may have more incentive to attack.
According to drafts of government memos described to ABC News, the period would run roughly from this August through July 2009.
Source
Posted: 29 Jul 2008 02:01 AM CDT
Al-Qaeda’s top expert on chemical and biological weapons is believed to have been killed in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas on Monday, security officials said.
Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, had a $ 5 million bounty on his head. He allegedly trained hundreds of extremists at camps in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.
Both the US-led coalition and a separate NATO force in Afghanistan have said they were not involved in the missile strike. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency is also known to operate drones in the region.
Officials earlier said that three Arab militants and three Pakistani boys were killed when missiles fired by a suspected US drone hit a house attached to a mosque in the South Waziristan tribal district.
“We believe he was killed in this strike,” a senior intelligence official based in the northwestern city of Peshawar said on condition of anonymity.
“It was his hideout and information that has been shared with us says he was targeted in this strike.”
Umar’s wife and children were believed to have been injured in the attack, Pakistani officials said. Residents said the victims of the missile strike were hastily buried in the hours after the attack.
Source
al Qaeda Wants Saudi King killed Over Interfaith Call
Posted: 29 Jul 2008 02:01 AM CDT
A key al Qaeda figure has said Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah should be killed for calling for an interfaith dialogue that amounted to joining a Western crusade against Islam.
“Hurrying to kill this wanton tyrant (King Abdullah) who has announced himself to be a leader of atheism would be among the most pious acts,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video posted on Monday on Islamist websites often used by al Qaeda supporters.
The message followed a groundbreaking Saudi-sponsored interfaith conference in Spain this month in which King Abdullah called on followers of the world’s major faiths to turn away from extremism and seek reconciliation.
“The call for a rapprochement of religions issued by the (Saudi) tyrant … is an integral part of the overt Crusader war against Islam and Muslims,” Libi said. He likened King Abdullah to a “corrupting fountainhead” that had to be buried.
“This in fact is a call to turn one’s back on Islam and … to look for commonalities with Judaism and Christianity so whatever the three agree on would become the new modern religion which would be allowed to be propagated,” Libi said.
Source
High-Profile Events Put U.S. in Period of Heightened Alert ‘POHA’ for Terrorism
Posted: 28 Jul 2008 09:15 AM CDT
Government officials have been quietly stepping up counterterror efforts out of a growing concern that al Qaeda or similar organizations might try to capitalize on the spate of extremely high-profile events in the coming months, sources tell ABC News.
Security experts point to next month’s Olympics as evidence that high-profile events attract threats of terrorism, like the one issued this past weekend by a Chinese Muslim minority group that warned of its intent to attack the Games.
Anti-terror officials in the U.S. cite this summer and fall’s lineup of two major political parties’ conventions, November’s general election and months of transition into a new presidential administration as cause for heightened awareness and action.
This is what the Department of Homeland Security is quietly declaring a Period of Heightened Alert, or POHA, a time frame when terrorists may have more incentive to attack.
According to drafts of government memos described to ABC News, the period would run roughly from this August through July 2009.
Source
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Todays threats
Pentagon Official Tells ABC News Israel May Attack Iran
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:01 AM CDT
Israel is increasingly likely to attack Iranian nuclear facilities this year, a U.S. Defense Department official told ABC News.
Iran’s government dismissed as propaganda the ABC report on the unidentified Pentagon official’s comments. Israeli government officials declined to comment on the report.
In the U.S., Pentagon spokesmen Bryan Whitman declined to address the report. “I don’t comment for Israel,” he said. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said he had “no information that would substantiate” the ABC report and criticized the official for not speaking publicly.
An Israeli strike might be triggered by the production of enough enriched uranium at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant to make a bomb, ABC cited the official as saying. A second possible trigger would be the delivery of a Russian SA-20 air-defense system, the installation of which would make an Israeli attack more difficult, the U.S. official told ABC.
Oil rose on concern any conflict would cut supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer. Crude oil for August delivery increased as much as $2.95, or 2.1 percent, to $142.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Former Israeli Air Force General Isaac Ben-Israel, now a lawmaker in Israel’s ruling Kadima party, told Germany’s Spiegel that his nation is “prepared” for an attack if diplomacy and United Nations sanctions fail to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon. Ben-Israel helped plan Israel’s 1981 strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor, the magazine said.
Source - Read More
Joint Terrorism Task Force Arrests Man For Possession of Illegal Toxin
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:44 AM CDT
A Lake in the Hills man arrested with puffer fish toxin in Algonquin on Monday may have been looking for a hitman.
Edward F. Bachner IV was questioned by the FBI in 2006 about e-mail messages soliciting the killing of a Chicago area woman. He told agents, “I was bored. I had no intent,” according to an FBI affidavit released Tuesday morning.
A hazardous materials team decontaminates in the driveway after a search of a Lake in the Hills home Monday afternoon. An FBI-led joint terrorism task force arrested a man on a charge of possession of an illegal toxin.
Bachner, 35, was taken into custody Monday in Algonquin after accepting a Federal Express package containing tetrodotoxin, a poison extracted from puffer fish that is 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide.
In a search of Bachner’s home, agents found six empty tetrodotoxin vials, needles and syringes, and a book dealing with effective doses for killing people, according to the FBI.
Bachner was charged with one count of illegal possession of a toxin, namely tetrodotoxin, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Rockford. If convicted he faces a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The toxin appears in varieties of puffer fish that are considered a delicacy in Asia. They fish are specially prepared to remove the poison. Tetrodotoxin is a poison so potent the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it can “produce rapid and violent death.” Ingesting the toxin can cause paralysis, vomiting, heart failure and death.
The FBI did not give a motive for why Bachner allegedly purchased the poison under an alias and fake company name.
Source - Read More
US Fears Possible Al Qaeda Attack Next Year
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:46 AM CDT
The White House warned on Monday that Al Qaeda could launch a major attack on the United States in 2009, endorsing a similar warning by an independent senator Joe Lieberman.
The warnings coincide with media reports that top Bush administration officials drafted a secret plan late last year to enable US forces to operate inside Fata, but Washington turf battles and the diversion of resources to Iraq have held up the effort.At a White House briefing, press secretary Dana Perino did not confirm or deny the reports – saying that she could not “comment either way” – but she assured US citizens that the Bush administration had never allowed a “let up” in the search for Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.
Ms Perino, however, did not hesitate to confirm Mr Lieberman’s fears. “Unfortunately, he could be right,” she said. “We know there are people who are very dangerous and are trying to do that.”
Mr Lieberman, who was a vice-presidential candidate in 2004, said in a television interview on Sunday that history shows the United States would likely face a terrorist attack in 2009.
“Our enemies will test the new president early,” he said. “Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Centre happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration.”
At the White House, Ms Perino noted that the people who were planning to attack the United States were “very dangerous and very secretive,” and operated from “a very dangerous terrain, hiding in caves.”
Explaining President Bush’s strategy for dealing with this threat, she said the president was clear that “whenever we can we will take action” against such people. “We will not wait.”
She said that people hiding in this “dangerous terrain” were “plotting to kill innocent people not just in the US but in other countries as well, even Muslims like in Iraq.”
Mr Perino said that as part of its strategy to deal with this threat, the Bush administration was trying to help establish a better economic and political environment in Fata and elsewhere.
“So Senator Lieberman could be right but we are doing anything we can” to prevent a terrorist attack on the United States, she said.
Source
Woman Arrested Smuggling C-4 Explosives Inside Coconuts - Sri Lanka
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:14 AM CDT
A woman was arrested in Vavuniya yesterday (June 1) at a Police roadblock, while clandestinely transporting C-4 high explosives concealed in coconut nuts at around 5.15p.m.
According to the Vavuniya Police, the woman had been traveling in a bus plying towards Siddambarapuram, along the Vavuniya - Horowpotana main road when the bus was stopped at a Police roadblock at the Cemetery junction in Vavuniya.
The police searched the woman for her suspicious behavior and found the high explosive weighing 1kg separately stuffed in packets and concealed inside 4 coconut nuts.
Vavuniya Police is conducting further investigations.
\Source -Read More
Couple Admits To Sending Explosives, Threatening To Blow Up Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:05 AM CDT
A couple has been convicted of sending explosive devices throughout the Carolinas and threatening to blow up Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Christopher Gilberto and his wife Cruz De Jesus Gilberto pleaded guilty in federal prison and are awaiting their sentence. They are charged with aggravated identity theft, the manufacturing of an explosive device, as well as two separate conspiracies related to mailing the devices.
Christopher Gilberto, Cruz De Jesus Gilberto
Federal authorities say the Gilbertos were the masterminds behind the plot, which spanned over two years. They sent explosive devices to banks and former coworkers, as well as threatening letters to the FBI and Charlotte Douglas International. One of the threatening letters stated a bomb would go off on at the airport at 9:11 a.m. in March 2007, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Authorities say Christopher Gilberto began sending the explosive devices in February of 2006, the first to a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Rock Hill. They say he was upset because the restaurant did not renew his license to clean the windows.
The couple would send letters with other people’s addresses in the “return address” spot, in an effort to harass people they were upset with and make them a target of law enforcement, according to federal officials.
The couple was arrested in at their home in York, S.C. in March of last year. Neighbors say they had no idea what was going on when they saw police cars on the property.
Source -Read More
Police Find Arsenal - Suspect Said To Be Preparing To Engage In Combat With Terrorists
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:51 AM CDT
Scores of bullets, firearms and pipe-bomb-making material were confiscated today from a home where local police first responded to a domestic dispute.
The man living at the house in the 5200 block of Graening Street NE, identified by police as Timothy Ward, 43, had been terrorizing his wife before police arrived, they said. The woman, according to police, was placed in handcuffs and forced to watch gospel television programs.
“She was able to escape the handcuffs and called the police at a neighbor’s (home),” Officer Ryan Wise of the township Police Department said. “He exited the house after I got here. He came up and approached me. I asked him what was going on, and he said he dispatched demons.”
After Wise placed Ward in handcuffs, police discovered firearms in the house, ranging from rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, handguns and ammunition. Also, authorities say they confiscated material to make pipe bombs.
“There are going to be an assortment of felonies and misdemeanors involved in this,” police Chief Ron Devies said. “We think he is an extremely dangerous individual. Based on our investigation thus far, he had an obsession with killing. We see pictures of dead dogs and dead cats. We found skins of dead cats in his house. And he had a collection of animal skulls. He is not our garden-variety-type of domestic violence arrest we get here.”
To prepare charges, township police will consult with the Alliance Law Department. Marlboro Township is under jurisdiction of the Alliance Municipal Court.
The couple’s home is about 100 yards south of the driveway entrance on Graening Street NE in a remote farming area less than a mile east of Hartville.
Police said Ward’s wife mentioned that her husband was harboring a willingness to engage in combat with extremist Islamic terrorists.
Source
Two Arrested For Carrying Bullets At Airport - India
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:32 AM CDT
Two men were detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport for carrying live cartridges on Tuesday morning. One of them was identified was Shiv Vardhan Singh, who is a nephew of an Uttar Pradesh minister.
Singh was to board an Air India flight for Mumbai when officials at the X-ray counter stopped him after they found a strip of 10 bullets of .32 bore in his hand baggage, said an officer.
“He said the bullets perhaps belonged to the ministers son, who has a licensed revolver.
We are verifying his claims,” an officer said.
During baggage screening, a live cartridge was found inside his bag. He was detained by the security personnel at the airport and subsequently handed over to the police.
Another man who was detained was identified as Darshan Singh, who was to take flight to take to Malaysia and detained for carrying 11 rounds of .32 bore.
“He said it were of his licensed revolver and he carried them accidentally. We are also verifying his claims,” an officer said.
Source
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:01 AM CDT
Israel is increasingly likely to attack Iranian nuclear facilities this year, a U.S. Defense Department official told ABC News.
Iran’s government dismissed as propaganda the ABC report on the unidentified Pentagon official’s comments. Israeli government officials declined to comment on the report.
In the U.S., Pentagon spokesmen Bryan Whitman declined to address the report. “I don’t comment for Israel,” he said. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said he had “no information that would substantiate” the ABC report and criticized the official for not speaking publicly.
An Israeli strike might be triggered by the production of enough enriched uranium at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant to make a bomb, ABC cited the official as saying. A second possible trigger would be the delivery of a Russian SA-20 air-defense system, the installation of which would make an Israeli attack more difficult, the U.S. official told ABC.
Oil rose on concern any conflict would cut supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer. Crude oil for August delivery increased as much as $2.95, or 2.1 percent, to $142.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Former Israeli Air Force General Isaac Ben-Israel, now a lawmaker in Israel’s ruling Kadima party, told Germany’s Spiegel that his nation is “prepared” for an attack if diplomacy and United Nations sanctions fail to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon. Ben-Israel helped plan Israel’s 1981 strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor, the magazine said.
Source - Read More
Joint Terrorism Task Force Arrests Man For Possession of Illegal Toxin
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:44 AM CDT
A Lake in the Hills man arrested with puffer fish toxin in Algonquin on Monday may have been looking for a hitman.
Edward F. Bachner IV was questioned by the FBI in 2006 about e-mail messages soliciting the killing of a Chicago area woman. He told agents, “I was bored. I had no intent,” according to an FBI affidavit released Tuesday morning.
A hazardous materials team decontaminates in the driveway after a search of a Lake in the Hills home Monday afternoon. An FBI-led joint terrorism task force arrested a man on a charge of possession of an illegal toxin.
Bachner, 35, was taken into custody Monday in Algonquin after accepting a Federal Express package containing tetrodotoxin, a poison extracted from puffer fish that is 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide.
In a search of Bachner’s home, agents found six empty tetrodotoxin vials, needles and syringes, and a book dealing with effective doses for killing people, according to the FBI.
Bachner was charged with one count of illegal possession of a toxin, namely tetrodotoxin, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Rockford. If convicted he faces a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The toxin appears in varieties of puffer fish that are considered a delicacy in Asia. They fish are specially prepared to remove the poison. Tetrodotoxin is a poison so potent the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it can “produce rapid and violent death.” Ingesting the toxin can cause paralysis, vomiting, heart failure and death.
The FBI did not give a motive for why Bachner allegedly purchased the poison under an alias and fake company name.
Source - Read More
US Fears Possible Al Qaeda Attack Next Year
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:46 AM CDT
The White House warned on Monday that Al Qaeda could launch a major attack on the United States in 2009, endorsing a similar warning by an independent senator Joe Lieberman.
The warnings coincide with media reports that top Bush administration officials drafted a secret plan late last year to enable US forces to operate inside Fata, but Washington turf battles and the diversion of resources to Iraq have held up the effort.At a White House briefing, press secretary Dana Perino did not confirm or deny the reports – saying that she could not “comment either way” – but she assured US citizens that the Bush administration had never allowed a “let up” in the search for Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.
Ms Perino, however, did not hesitate to confirm Mr Lieberman’s fears. “Unfortunately, he could be right,” she said. “We know there are people who are very dangerous and are trying to do that.”
Mr Lieberman, who was a vice-presidential candidate in 2004, said in a television interview on Sunday that history shows the United States would likely face a terrorist attack in 2009.
“Our enemies will test the new president early,” he said. “Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Centre happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration.”
At the White House, Ms Perino noted that the people who were planning to attack the United States were “very dangerous and very secretive,” and operated from “a very dangerous terrain, hiding in caves.”
Explaining President Bush’s strategy for dealing with this threat, she said the president was clear that “whenever we can we will take action” against such people. “We will not wait.”
She said that people hiding in this “dangerous terrain” were “plotting to kill innocent people not just in the US but in other countries as well, even Muslims like in Iraq.”
Mr Perino said that as part of its strategy to deal with this threat, the Bush administration was trying to help establish a better economic and political environment in Fata and elsewhere.
“So Senator Lieberman could be right but we are doing anything we can” to prevent a terrorist attack on the United States, she said.
Source
Woman Arrested Smuggling C-4 Explosives Inside Coconuts - Sri Lanka
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:14 AM CDT
A woman was arrested in Vavuniya yesterday (June 1) at a Police roadblock, while clandestinely transporting C-4 high explosives concealed in coconut nuts at around 5.15p.m.
According to the Vavuniya Police, the woman had been traveling in a bus plying towards Siddambarapuram, along the Vavuniya - Horowpotana main road when the bus was stopped at a Police roadblock at the Cemetery junction in Vavuniya.
The police searched the woman for her suspicious behavior and found the high explosive weighing 1kg separately stuffed in packets and concealed inside 4 coconut nuts.
Vavuniya Police is conducting further investigations.
\Source -Read More
Couple Admits To Sending Explosives, Threatening To Blow Up Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 03:05 AM CDT
A couple has been convicted of sending explosive devices throughout the Carolinas and threatening to blow up Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Christopher Gilberto and his wife Cruz De Jesus Gilberto pleaded guilty in federal prison and are awaiting their sentence. They are charged with aggravated identity theft, the manufacturing of an explosive device, as well as two separate conspiracies related to mailing the devices.
Christopher Gilberto, Cruz De Jesus Gilberto
Federal authorities say the Gilbertos were the masterminds behind the plot, which spanned over two years. They sent explosive devices to banks and former coworkers, as well as threatening letters to the FBI and Charlotte Douglas International. One of the threatening letters stated a bomb would go off on at the airport at 9:11 a.m. in March 2007, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Authorities say Christopher Gilberto began sending the explosive devices in February of 2006, the first to a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Rock Hill. They say he was upset because the restaurant did not renew his license to clean the windows.
The couple would send letters with other people’s addresses in the “return address” spot, in an effort to harass people they were upset with and make them a target of law enforcement, according to federal officials.
The couple was arrested in at their home in York, S.C. in March of last year. Neighbors say they had no idea what was going on when they saw police cars on the property.
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Police Find Arsenal - Suspect Said To Be Preparing To Engage In Combat With Terrorists
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:51 AM CDT
Scores of bullets, firearms and pipe-bomb-making material were confiscated today from a home where local police first responded to a domestic dispute.
The man living at the house in the 5200 block of Graening Street NE, identified by police as Timothy Ward, 43, had been terrorizing his wife before police arrived, they said. The woman, according to police, was placed in handcuffs and forced to watch gospel television programs.
“She was able to escape the handcuffs and called the police at a neighbor’s (home),” Officer Ryan Wise of the township Police Department said. “He exited the house after I got here. He came up and approached me. I asked him what was going on, and he said he dispatched demons.”
After Wise placed Ward in handcuffs, police discovered firearms in the house, ranging from rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, handguns and ammunition. Also, authorities say they confiscated material to make pipe bombs.
“There are going to be an assortment of felonies and misdemeanors involved in this,” police Chief Ron Devies said. “We think he is an extremely dangerous individual. Based on our investigation thus far, he had an obsession with killing. We see pictures of dead dogs and dead cats. We found skins of dead cats in his house. And he had a collection of animal skulls. He is not our garden-variety-type of domestic violence arrest we get here.”
To prepare charges, township police will consult with the Alliance Law Department. Marlboro Township is under jurisdiction of the Alliance Municipal Court.
The couple’s home is about 100 yards south of the driveway entrance on Graening Street NE in a remote farming area less than a mile east of Hartville.
Police said Ward’s wife mentioned that her husband was harboring a willingness to engage in combat with extremist Islamic terrorists.
Source
Two Arrested For Carrying Bullets At Airport - India
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 02:32 AM CDT
Two men were detained at Indira Gandhi International Airport for carrying live cartridges on Tuesday morning. One of them was identified was Shiv Vardhan Singh, who is a nephew of an Uttar Pradesh minister.
Singh was to board an Air India flight for Mumbai when officials at the X-ray counter stopped him after they found a strip of 10 bullets of .32 bore in his hand baggage, said an officer.
“He said the bullets perhaps belonged to the ministers son, who has a licensed revolver.
We are verifying his claims,” an officer said.
During baggage screening, a live cartridge was found inside his bag. He was detained by the security personnel at the airport and subsequently handed over to the police.
Another man who was detained was identified as Darshan Singh, who was to take flight to take to Malaysia and detained for carrying 11 rounds of .32 bore.
“He said it were of his licensed revolver and he carried them accidentally. We are also verifying his claims,” an officer said.
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