| Behind the Lines for Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010 — 3 P.M. Watching the watchers: Pittsburgh and Omaha FBI field offices on the griddle for overzealous and misdirected domestic terror probes . . . Department of Health Security: "Because of the devastating nature of an antibiotic-resistant superbug, DHS has become involved with the issue" . . . Perfect storm: Is "a financial version of 9/11 that combines the worst elements of the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2008 financial meltdown possible?" These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- Questionable tactics and inaccurate reports by agents in Pittsburgh’s FBI field office could prompt an internal investigation into recent domestic terrorism cases, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Mike Wereschagin updates — while The Des Moines Register’s William Petroski hears Iowa’s top FBI official defending his 2008 investigation of Iowa City anti-war protesters, citing the threat of criminal activity to disrupt national political conventions, and The Omaha World-Herald’s Juan Perez Jr. learns that feds from the same office monitored a peace rally there, as well. Ay, yi, I spy: Pennsylvania homeland boss James Powers apparently lied when he said he didn’t know if a private contractor hired to provide terror intel was tracking activist groups, The Harrisburg Patriot-News’ Donald Gilliland leads. Pennsylvania’s governor won’t heed the co-director of the firm that provided intel reports lumping peaceful protesters with terrorists who has warned that posting the bulletins online increases the risk to potential targets, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Brad Bumsted reports. “I suppose this was the danger they risked when they decided to lump anti-war and anti-gas drilling protesters in with anarchists and terrorists,” John Morgan pounces for The Pennsylvania Progressive. Feds: New internal DHS rules have effectively opened a possible backdoor amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan sees Senate GOPers charging in a letter yesterday to Janet Napolitano. Senate homeland honcho Joseph I. Lieberman is pushing for changes at the DHS agency responsible for protecting thousands of federal buildings more than 14 months after promising to take quick action, The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe recounts. “Because of the devastating nature of an antibiotic-resistant superbug, DHS has become involved with the issue,” gather’s Kate James relates. State and local: A federal appeals court has set a Nov. 1 date for hearing arguments in Gov. Jan Brewer’s appeal of a ruling putting parts of Arizona’s new immigration law on hold, The Arizona Capital Times relays. DHS is staging a job fair Saturday at the Virginia Beach Convention Center focused on recession-era employment opportunities for veterans, The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot briefs. New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness has honored a Park Ridge police officer for his outreach training on “the pitfalls and dangers of the Internet,” The Bergen County Record records. Miami has devolved into a gateway for arms smuggling, not only to Latin America but also to the Middle East and Far East, the Herald reports. Follow the money: “Given their shared September timing, it’s not surprising that people are starting to wonder if a financial version of 9/11 that combines the worst elements of the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2008 financial meltdown is possible,” Daily Finance ponders. Banks and bankers are now potential targets for a 100-member strong IRA faction, its leaders warn The Guardian. (And see Homeland Security Newswire on “resurgent Irish terrorism.”) Notable for the sophistication of the weapons used, an Indonesian bank robbery that left a police officer dead has also sparked concern about linkages to militants looking to finance future terror bids, The Sydney Morning Herald spotlights. The Turkish Finance Ministry can now freeze the properties of those involved in financing terrorism without obtaining a judge’s decree first, The Daily Zaman mentions. “Shady Asian cricket betting rings are reported to be directly funding al Qaeda terrorism,” ANI informs. “Forget terrorism, cheap labor will kill us,” a Monroe (Mich.) News editorial alerts, in re: illegal immigration. Bugs ‘n bombs: Citing fears that terrorists might try to blow up natural gas pipelines, federal regulators and the industry have made it extremely difficult for homeowners to learn the location and condition of the conduits, The Associated Press leads. The Missouri National Guard’s 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team trained with first-responders and civil authorities in a series of bioterror exercises earlier this month, BioPrepWatch reports — while Global Security Newswire hears an Israeli expert urging nations to ready themselves for the increasing threat of chemical terrorism in the years ahead. “Electromagnetic pulse attacks with nuclear weapons detonated at high altitude and cyberwarfare can enable ostensibly weak adversaries to deliver a crippling blow far greater than 9/11,” FrontPage Magazine maintains, evoking a familiar fear — which threat, incidentally, The Daily Telegraph sees Britain’s defense secretary viewing as a mounting menace. Close air support: With a Nov. 1 Secure Flight deadline nearing, American Airlines is sending e-mail notices and making calls to its customers requesting DHS-mandated birth date and gender info, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram tells. Colorado’s Grand Junction Regional Airport is starting on a new perimeter security fence funded with $4.1 million from DHS, the Daily Sentinel says — while News Center 1 sees the Rapid City (S.D.) Airport growing from five gates to seven while “greatly expanding” and updating its security systems. A new poll “reveals that a large number of Brits are clueless when it comes to airport security, with 21 percent believing it’s acceptable to take large scissors on a plane, Travel Daily News notes. Terror tech: South Carolina authorities who have pushed for permission to block cellphone signals inside prisons say an officer in charge of keeping out contraband was nearly killed at his home in a cellphone-coordinated attack, The Washington Post reports. Boeing has been given $89 million to build Vulture, a large solar-powered UAV intended to cruise the stratosphere for five years without landing, The Register reports. “Prior to 9/11, there were mass feelings of foreboding and clear premonitions of the terrorist attack to come,” says a Basil & Spice essay on “the connectiveness of 9/11 premonitions.” Studies analyzing anecdotal accounts suggesting that most terrorists have engineering educations do a disservice to “the trust between the public and the engineering profession,” an Ottawa Citizen op-ed objects. Speaking of engineering, on the critical infrastructure front, Today’s Concrete Technology sees a recent Dutch study finding that some types of bacteria could potentially act as self-healing concrete. Cyberia: “Cyber Storm is about to be unleashed, bringing chaos to Australia and across the world,” The Sydney Morning Herald leads, in re: a DHS exercise that will also test Australia’s ability to respond to “the real and growing threat from cyber-attacks.” A Pentagon deputy last week discussed strategy with NATO leaders in Europe to promote joint cybersecurity initiatives, Defense Tech details. After the arrest of an Indian suspect who allegedly coordinated terror activities from a cybercafe, police there are closing down unlicensed commercial Internet outlets, Indian Express informs — as The Times of India sees an e-mail claiming responsibility for last weekend’s terror attack on tourists in New Delhi traced back to a Mumbai IP address. Garden State securicrats need to prepare for cyber-attacks, The Newark Times-Ledger hears ex-White House terror czar Richard Clarke advising, as has been his wont. “One doesn’t have to attend a training camp to be a suicide bomber; he can download the detonating recipe from a terrorist website,” a UAB Kaleidoscope commentary comments. Courts and rights: The trial of the only Guantanamo prisoner brought to the United States will soon start in Manhattan with virtually none of the elaborate security once envisioned for confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, The Wall Street Journal relates. The lead plotter in the alleged Bronx synagogue bomb plot told an undercover informant less than two months before his arrest that he was “struggling” and needed time to think about the plan, Bloomberg reports from yesterday’s New York trial proceedings. Appealing his life sentence, attorneys for the Toronto 18 ring leader argue that he was young when he plotted to cause mass carnage by detonating truck bombs, The Canadian Press recounts — as IANS reports a Mumbai court setting an Oct. 18 date to begin hearings to confirm the death sentence for the sole surviving attacker in the 2008 terror massacre. Over there: Military officials deny, unfortunately, claims that U.S.-born jihad inciter Anwar al-Awlaki has been surrounded in a south Yemen siege, CBS News notes. A New York hotel has been turned into an armed fortress to house Iranian Prez Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addresses the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow, United Press International informs. In other VIP travel news, Texas officers who protect Gov. Rick Perry cost taxpayers more than $129,000 for a weeklong trip to Asia in June, numbers compiled by AP demonstrate. October’s 2010 Commonwealth Games were meant to highlight India’s development, but gunned-down tourists and infrastructure woes have hurt the subcontinent’s image, The Christian Science Monitor spotlights. A brazen attack by Islamist militants killing at least 23 Tajiki soldiers stokes concerns that the war in Afghanistan is spilling across the border, the Journal, again, reports. No Such Agency: “Members of the brilliant, highly trained, and dedicated team of elite professionals who work tirelessly behind the scenes to protect our nation and keep its citizens out of harm’s way announced Thursday that they do not exist,” The Onion reports. “’I know most Americans like to believe there are selfless, ultra-intelligent operatives like me out there watching over everything from an underground control room,’ said the Rhodes Scholar Navy SEAL national security official who for the past 10 years we have all mistakenly presumed to be an actual human being. ‘Unfortunately, though, I’m not employed by the U.S. government, I’m not working at all hours to foil terrorist plots, nor am I part of some secret network of sharp, capable agents, because no such network exists.’ According to the utterly nonexistent super-geniuses who we’ve been telling ourselves are keeping our nation safe with their superior technology and lightning-fast decision-making abilities, there are currently no living people who resemble them at the Pentagon, CIA, FBI, DHS, TSA, or any other federal, state, or local law enforcement agency, and there never really have been at any point in American history.” |
CQ Behind the Lines
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