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Feds Want To Require Visitors’ Fingerprints When Leaving US

Posted: 22 Apr 2008 03:34 AM CDT


The Bush administration would require commercial airlines and cruise-line operators to collect information such as fingerprints from international travelers and send the information to the Homeland Security Department soon after the travelers leave the country, according to a proposed rule.

The proposal, which will be announced Tuesday, will close a security gap identified after the 9/11 attacks and identify which visitors have overstayed their visas.

Airlines and cruise ship operators must already provide the department with biographical information on international passengers before they leave the country. But this rule would require biometric information — such as fingerprints — to be collected and then transmitted within 24 hours of a visitor leaving the U.S., according to a Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

Over 10 years, officials estimate it will cost air and sea carriers about $2.7 billion to carry out the requirement. The department plans to enforce the rule by June 30, 2009. Some air carriers have complained the federal government should cover the cost of implementing this rule.

U.S. officials already collect fingerprints from visitors when they come into the country, but the administration has yet to complete the exit portion of the tracking program — known as US-VISIT.

Lawmakers, including Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have pressed the department to roll out its biometric exit system for more than a year.

“Any uncertainty about who is entering and leaving our country is an unacceptable risk that must be addressed,” Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement Monday.

There will be a 60-day comment period for the proposed rule.

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Megahed, Mohamed To Receive Separate Trials In Goose Creek Case

Posted: 22 Apr 2008 03:19 AM CDT

A judge has severed the federal trials of two former University of South Florida students whose legal battle began after their car was pulled over by deputies in South Carolina.

A judge made the decision this morning in U.S. District Court after the two defendants, Ahmed Mohamed and Youssef Megahed, entered not guilty pleas today before a different judge during their arraignment on charges handed up last week.

The new seven-count indictment adds terrorism and weapons charges against Mohamed. It also includes a new charge against Mohamed and Megahed relating to devices found in the trunk of their car when they were arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina.

The new indictment replaced a two-count indictment handed up in 2007.

Megahed’s trial is now scheduled to start May 5 and Mohamed’s July 7 under the ruling by Judge Steven Merryday.

The two defendants appeared together this morning to enter their pleas.

A half-hour later in another courtroom, the men were not present when their attorneys disagreed on when trial should begin.

Megahed and Mohamed had been scheduled to go on trial April 28 on a charge of illegally transporting explosives.

Megahed’s attorney asked to proceed as scheduled. Mohamed’s attorney said she needed more time due to the new indictment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer, meanwhile, asked for two to three more weeks before a trial begins.

Merryday said it was in the best interest of all to sever the trials. All sides, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, ultimately agreed.

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Judge Won’t Toss Charges Against Man Accused of Bombing Salt Lake City Library

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 09:00 PM CDT

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball today refused to throw out charges against an Illinois man accused of bombing the downtown Salt Lake City Library, saying Thomas Zajac’s constitutional rights were not violated when Weber County jailers recorded his telephone calls to his attorneys.

Defense lawyers claimed the recording was an egregious violation of attorney-client privilege and asked for a dismissal. They alleged that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had reviewed recordings of about 40 telephone calls and provided written reports on them to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors denied the allegations and said they received only a listing of the calls made.
Kimball ruled the government had a legitimate reason for subpoening the telephone records from the jail - investigators say they had reason to believe Zajac had made incriminating statements to the press and family members - and noted that the ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated they did not review recordings that could be protected by attorney-client privilege.

The judge also denied a motion to throw out two charges that Zajac used explosives to damage a building used in any activity affecting interstate commerce. Zajac’s attorneys contended that library operations do not affect out-of-state businesses.

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Charges Dismissed Against NY Professor Who Obtained Biological Materials For Art

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 08:56 PM CDT

A judge on Monday dismissed charges against a college professor accused of illegally obtaining biological materials for an art exhibit protesting U.S. government food policies.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that a mail and wire fraud indictment brought nearly four years ago against Steven Kurtz, a University at Buffalo professor, was “insufficient on its face.”

Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, which has used human DNA and other biological materials in works meant to draw attention to political and social issues. His arrest drew international attention, with artists in several countries protesting the charges as an intrusion on artistic freedom.

He became the target of a federal terrorism investigation in May 2004 when firefighters found the materials — two kinds of bacteria — and equipment they deemed suspicious after a 911 call to his home. Kurtz had called to report that his wife was dead from an apparent heart attack.

Investigators later determined that the lab equipment used for DNA extraction and amplification equipment was part of his artwork and that Hope Kurtz died naturally. But Kurtz was indicted a month later on the mail and wire fraud charges that carried a maximum of 20 years in prison.

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Secret Service Probes Suspicious Package Discovered Near White House

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 08:49 PM CDT

The Secret Service says a suspicious package found on the northeast grounds of the White House has been declared safe.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the package was spotted around 3 p.m. and was cleared at 5:10 p.m. He declined to say what type of package it was, or whether any arrests were made.

He says Lafayette Park and Pennsylvania Avenue by the White House were closed to the public during the investigation, but have been reopened.

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Suspicious Object at Dirksen Federal Building - Chicago

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 08:38 PM CDT

Chicago police are investigating a “suspicious object” found at the Dirksen Federal Building.

Police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor says the object was located around 5:00 p.m. on Monday.

Taylor says the police departments Bomb and Arson squad has been called to the scene.

She did not have further details on what the object was and who located it.

Authorities are blocking traffic around the downtown Chicago building and several nearby buildings have been evacuated.

Officials from the Chicago Fire Department are on the scene.

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Woman Accused Of Falsely Claiming Bomb In Suitcase At JFK

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 09:20 AM CDT

A 44-year-old woman trying to board a JetBlue flight in New York City is accused of falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase. The woman has denied the allegation.

Prosecutors say in a complaint filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court that Rosalinda Baez was trying to board the flight on Wednesday but that an attendant barred her because the jetway had closed.

The complaint alleges Baez told the attendant her suitcase was on the aircraft and asked, “What if I had a bomb in my bag?”

Baez says she asked: “Isn’t it a security risk to let my bag travel without the passenger when there could be a bomb in the bag?”

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Additional details from the NY Daily News

A globe-hopping executive was grounded by JetBlue after she threw a hissy fit at Kennedy Airport and triggered a bomb scare aboard a flight, the Daily News has learned.

Rosalinda Baez was arrested by the FBI for falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase at JFK, according to a complaint filed last week in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Baez, who earns $190,000-a-year and has homes in Manhattan and Texas, was returning from a business trip in Costa Rica last Tuesday when she was blocked by a gate attendant from boarding JetBlue Flight 1061 to Austin, Tex., because the jetway had closed.

Her suitcase was already aboard the aircraft.

“What if I had a bomb in my bag?” the 44-year-old told the gate attendant, according to the federal complaint. “Well, I have a bomb in my bag, so are you guys going to turn the plane around cuz I need my bag.”

Baez then raged that the Transportation Security Administration “does not know how to do their f—— job because if it did TSA would not catch it and let it go through,” authorities said.

The flight took off anyway, but was forced to make an emergency landing in Richmond, Va., according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy.

Three hundred passengers were yanked off the aircraft and screened, while bomb-sniffing dogs checked the commercial jet, authorities said.

Meanwhile, Baez waited several hours in a Wi-Fi computer lounge at Kennedy for another flight - until she was approached by JetBlue officials and federal agents.

Baez, a Web consultant to Dell Computers, said an FBI agent questioned her about “my love of this country.”

“I was asked, have I ever had any thoughts of suicide or thoughts of doing damage to the United States,” she said.

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Utility Workers Face MI5 Background Checks Amid al-Qaeda Fears - UK

Posted: 21 Apr 2008 09:16 AM CDT

Thousands of utility workers face MI5 checks amid fears al-Qaeda is trying to infiltrate vital industries and businesses.

The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure is carrying out a threat assessment on gas, electricity and telecoms staff.

Engineers, plumbers and even caretakers could also be subject to vetting.

Cpni Director Stephen Cummings told the Royal United Services Institute: “The insider threat is real. It is a concern.”

Sabotaging power supply and transport or utilities would hugely damage the economy, cripple hospitals and emergency services and could cause loss of life.

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