Todays Threats Exposed

Michael Chertoff: Cyber Terror Threat On Par With 9/11

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 02:01 AM CDT


Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary, said that computer-based attacks had the ability to cripple financial institutions and government networks and that the threat posed by cyber-crime is “on a par” with the attacks of September 11, 2001.

“We take threats to the cyber world as seriously as we take threats to the material world,” Mr Chertoff told a gathering of security industry experts in San Francisco. (more…)

Post from: Homeland Security National Terror Alert

Michael Chertoff: Cyber Terror Threat On Par With 9/11

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New Weapon In War On Terror - Hand-held Lie Detector

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 01:34 AM CDT


The Pentagon will issue hand-held lie detectors this month to U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan, pushing to the battlefront a century-old debate over the accuracy of the polygraph. (more…)

Post from: Homeland Security National Terror Alert

New Weapon In War On Terror - Hand-held Lie Detector

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Philippine Police Seize Bomb Materials During Terror Hunt

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 01:12 AM CDT


Manila: Police have found hundreds of bomb parts during a search for a suspected Al Qaida-linked terrorist in Laguna, an official said on Wednesday.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said suspected Filipino terrorist Khalid Pagayao was the target of the manhunt. (more…)

Post from: Homeland Security National Terror Alert

Philippine Police Seize Bomb Materials During Terror Hunt

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Al Qaeda Chief Abu Ubaida al Masri Dead

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 01:07 AM CDT

Abu Ubaida al Masri, a suspected mastermind of Al Qaeda plots including the London transportation bombings of 2005, has died of an infectious disease in Pakistan, Western anti-terrorism officials said Wednesday.

The Egyptian militant is thought to have died of hepatitis C, a U.S. anti-terrorism official said. Masri was the powerful, if little-known, chief of the terrorist network’s external operations who allegedly trained recruits in hide-outs in Pakistan and dispatched them to carry out attacks against the West, according to Western investigators.

As The Times reported last week, anti-terrorism officials in at least three countries had come to believe that Masri had died in recent months, but investigators did not have confirmation and noted that Al Qaeda had not paid tribute to Masri with eulogies on the Internet as it has with other fallen leaders.

Recently, however, anti-terrorism investigators detected conversations among Al Qaeda militants revealing that Masri had died of hepatitis C, the U.S. official said. Death by illness would explain the lack of eulogies, which are generally reserved for extremists who die violently as “martyrs,” officials said.

“The bad guys have been talking about it among themselves,” said the U.S. anti-terrorism official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitive information. “I would say it happened during the last three months. If it had been an airstrike they would have said it. But Abu Ubaida al Masri wasn’t well known enough or high-ranking enough to warrant automatic obituaries unless he died [as a ‘martyr’].”

Source- Los Angeles Times

Post from: Homeland Security National Terror Alert

Al Qaeda Chief Abu Ubaida al Masri Dead

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HazMat Identifies Chemical Found In Water Treatment Discharge Pipe

Posted: 09 Apr 2008 07:48 AM CDT

Emergency personnel from Fayette County HazMat identified a substance found Monday in a pipe at the Kalp discharge site located off Route 711 as ammonium chloride.

Krissy Kasserman, Youghiogheny Riverkeeper for the Mountain Watershed Association (MWA), said HazMat is conducting a more detailed lab analysis to determine if any other chemicals were included in the compound initially found on top the manhole covering the pipe by officials from the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR) and National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

According to Kasserman, the substance was found to cause respiratory tract and eye irritation and is typically used in welding.

Kasserman added ammonium chloride could be purchased at local hardware stores.

Beverly Braverman, Mountain Watershed Association (MWA) executive director, said BAMR and NCRS were going to clean the pipe as part of a routine maintenance when they discovered the substance.

Braverman added the substance was brought to the site.

“Someone tired to sabotage the system,” said Braverman who was at the site Friday, but didn’t notice anything suspicious.

Braverman said she immediately called Fayette Emergency Management and state police upon the discovery.

Kasserman said the filters were shut down at the site so that Stoy Excavating of Somerset could use a boring device to remove the blockage from the pipe.

The site is part of the Anna and Steve Gdosky Indian Creek Restoration project that involves the remediation of nine miles of the Indian Creek Watershed.

The MWA dedicated the $4 million project in December that earmarked the treatment of the single largest abandoned mine discharge in Indian Creek.

Braverman said BAMR and NRCS officials said the substance first looked like silicone while the containers it was in could be seen in the pipe.

While HAZMAT took the substance back to the lab to identify it, Braverman said BAMR and NRCS officials were looking for a way to shut down the system.

“Maybe they think they were just hurting us (MWA), but the potential of endangering life and limb for this community are huge,” said Braverman of the person or persons who committed the act.

If the substance had not been detected as early as it was, Braverman said it could have potentially backed up the discharge from the treatment site and filled up the mine pool.

Rich Beam of BAMR, said the discharge serves as a vertical flow wetlands system where the retention pond is used to remove metals such as iron and aluminum from the acid mine water.

Additionally, Beam said the system is designed to handle a maximum flow of about 350 gallons per minute.

Braverman said officials are still determining the extent of the damage since the Youghiogheny River serves as a tributary to the Indian Creek Watershed.

Source The Herald Standard

Post from: Homeland Security National Terror Alert

HazMat Identifies Chemical Found In Water Treatment Discharge Pipe

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