| Behind the Lines for Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 — 3 P.M. Viagra of violence: Osama bin Laden emerges as "possibly a key figure in a European terror plot, raising speculation he may be flexing his muscles" . . . Fifth columnists: Plot renews focus "on a stream of Europeans who have traveled to Pakistan in recent years for training" . . . Not that sort of security: DHS "spends millions of taxpayer dollars helping hungry and homeless people in 'communities impacted by unemployment,' " critic carps. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- Osama bin Laden has emerged as “possibly a key figure in a European terror plot, raising speculation he may be flexing his muscles in a move to show that a besieged al Qaeda remains strong and able to launch major attacks on Western targets,” The Associated Press’ Lolita C. Baldor leads — while Der Spiegel fingers one of al Qaeda’s seemingly bottomless supply of No. 3s, this one named Sheikh Yunis al-Mauretani, as the conspiracy’s apparent hands-on manager. “These plots and threats undercut the argument recently made by the current administration about the size and capabilities of al Qaeda,” Foreign Policy’s Mary Habeck maintains. Outsourcing, insourcing: The detention in Afghanistan of a German citizen who disclosed these potential terrorist plots against targets in Europe, “has renewed focus on a stream of Europeans who have traveled to Pakistan in recent years for training,” The Washington Post’s Peter Finn and Greg Miller report. Some of the German-speaking militants training overseas may have come from the same Hamburg mosque where the 9/11 hijackers gathered, an ABC News team explains — and check The Daily Telegraph on “the at least 20 Britons undergoing terrorist training in Pakistan to launch Mumbai-style shootings and suicide attacks.” Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, meantime, insisted yesterday “that his country would go after terrorists on its soil,” CNN’s Nasir Habib adds. Feds: “Some of the nation’s top intelligence, military, national security and law enforcement experts are calling for [White House] Homeland Security Adviser John Brennan to resign from his post,” Jim Kouri contends in The Examiner. DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office will wrap up work on the next generation of radiation detection monitors within the coming year, Global Security Newswire’s Martin Matishak hears its new chief vowing. “Small businesses have borne the brunt of the recession, and [DHS] hopes they won’t bear the worst in the event of a national disaster,” Executive Gov’s Ashley Timmons leads. “I’m not saying that people should not report suspicious activity, but what is considered ‘reasonable suspicion?’” a NetworkWorld poster summarizes, in re: DHS’s coming suspicious activity reporting database. Bad homies, no donut: If “Identifying Homegrown Violent Extremists Before They Strike” is “the best the billions of dollars spent by [DHS] with its tens of thousands of employees can produce, then we’re all in trouble,” ex-Rep. Bob Barr blasts in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.DHS, created “to keep the nation safe from terrorists, also spends millions of taxpayer dollars helping hungry and homeless people in ‘communities impacted by unemployment,’” Cybercast News Service complains. DHS’s deployment of mobile X-ray technology to randomly scan cars and trucks riles privacy proponents, The Christian Science Monitor mentions. “Our former governor, before taking over as director of Homeland Security, refused to address the excessive drain on state resources by illegal immigrants,” a Yuma (Ariz.) Sun reader rebukes Janet Napolitano. State and local: There’s no formal structure to evaluate sophisticated IT systems used at DHS’s 72 state and local intel fusion centers on an ongoing basis, Federal Computer Week quotes from a GAO report. Amid a chorus of acrimony, the Pennsylvania homeland czar who hired an excessively zealous anti-terrorism contractor to monitor threats to state infrastructure resigned Friday, ProPublica reports. A constitutional amendment addressed by Louisiana voters on Saturday’s ballot would make 425 workers in the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security not subject to civil service rules and protections, Houma Today highlights — while The New Orleans Times-Picayune sees state lawmakers approving a $540,000 security boost for the Louisiana Capitol building. Planners of the much-reviled Ground Zero Muslim center, meantime, have revealed sketches of the planned building to the wider public for the first time, The New York Times tells. Bugs ‘n bombs: A West Virginia man is behind bar for allegedly threatening to put devices on employee’s cars at a credit union and blow them up, WDTV 5 News notes. A state-of-the-art facility in Albuquerque will enhance the New Mexico’s “testing for infectious diseases [and] boost its response to threats like bioterrorism,” The New Mexico Independent informs. The Stuxnet computer worm seemingly unleashed to attack Iran’s new nuke reactor “could, technically, make factory boilers explode, destroy gas pipelines or even cause a nuclear plant to malfunction,” Agence France-Presse spotlights — while the Post reports that the malware could be a blueprint for sabotage in the United States (“Just how dangerous has this worm and cyberwarfare become?” a Times feature, relatedly, asks and answers.) A Libyan jihadist leader has revealed that al Qaeda sought to acquire WMDs to ensure that Americans would not strike Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban regime after Sept. 11, Central Asia Online recounts. Close air support: Post-Sept. 11, TSA’s federal air marshals try to travel incognito, often in pairs, choose flights likely to be threatened and “they almost always fly first class—something some airlines would like to change,” The Wall Street Journal spotlights. A Florida man is charged with almost blinding the pilot of a county sheriff’s chopper with a green laser, The Hernando Times tells — while the Post hears the Arlington (Va.) Health Department saying Sept. 23 users of Reagan National Airport may have been exposed to measles. An aircraft mechanic has admitted breaching the perimeter at Bermuda’s main airport, climbing on board a plane and sparking a security scare, The Bermuda Sun updates. A bomb hoax kept security personnel on tenterhooks at both the Jaipur and the Mumbai airports on Saturday, The Times of India informs. Coming and going: DHS should carry out more thorough testing of technologies aimed at countering potential illicit transfers of WMDs in U.S.-bound cargo containers, Global Security Newswire sees a GAO report urging. Texas police have yet to find the body of a man shot by “Mexican pirates” while jet skiing on a border lake, Weslaco’s KRGV 5 News updates — as Tacoma Weekly sees the city and port of Tacoma agreeing to jointly purchase a secure patrol/firefighting boat. As the Mexican border is thickened, tunneling has gained in popularity, with Nogales, Ariz., becoming the capital, The New York Times spotlights. In view of new al Qaeda threats, the Obama administration yesterday issued a travel alert for U.S. citizens to avoid public places in Europe, Bloomberg relates — while The Sudan Tribune sees State renewing a warning to Americans tempted to visit that kidnap- and violence-plagued land. Courts and rights: Opening arguments are expected today in the New York trial of the Guantanamo detainee charged in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, AFP reports — while The New York Daily News hears a judge ruling Friday that those jurors will be allowed to hear from Osama bin Laden because he is the leader of the conspiracy. “The feds are turning up the heat on the father of the New York subway bomb plotter, who is accused of covering up his son’s bomb-making laboratory,” The New York Post leads. Prosecutors who convicted the Oregon leader of an Islamic charity branch provoked prejudice and emotion by waving the Koran in the air, The Associated Press has the defense saying in a motion requesting a new trial — and check IPT News on the same. A man linked to a group plotting to attack U.S. targets in Germany has confessed in court to several charges, AP, again, relates. Over there: Aerial drones and weaponry are being secretly shifted from the Afghan battlefront to significantly expand the CIA’s campaign against Pakistani terror havens, The Wall Street Journal reveals — while The Hindu reports two Saturday drone attacks “killing at least 15 alleged terrorists in North Waziristan,” and The Washington Times highlights a poll showing most Pakistanis in the tribal regions opposing such strikes. Brit police have apologized for a controversial CCTV scheme under which more than 200 surveillance cameras were installed in two Muslim neighborhoods in Birmingham, The Independent informs. Nigerian securicrats admit having received advance warning of the threat before car bombs killed at least a dozen at a Friday event marking the 50th anniversary of independence, Reuters reports. Qaeda Qorner: In a new tape, Osama bin Laden criticizes Pakistan’s government for its handling of massive floods in that country, and, greenly, weighed in on climate change, NPR notes. (“A kinder, gentler terrorist?” ABC News wonders.) Yemen-based, U.S.-born radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki has also re-emerged with a video calling, naturally, for more terror attacks on the West, ANI informs. Italian anti-terrorist police announce having arrested last month a suspected French al Qaedaite capable of securing explosives, Reuters reports. Interpol’s secretary general tells AP that al Qaeda-aligned militants in northern Africa and Somalia will soon pose more of a terrorist threat than those based in Afghanistan — as The Johannesburg Mail & Guardian hears a Somali official accusing Al Shabaab of seeking to establish “a base for al Qaeda to bring terror to the whole of the Horn of Africa.” Iran last week allowed an al Qaeda terrorist who served as bin Laden’s spokesman to return to Afghanistan, The Long War Journal relates. This just in, from The Onion: “WASHINGTON — Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn III revealed the results of a three-year, $83 million project culminating in a device that shoots Friday. ‘This new, state-of-the-art thing that shoots will be an invaluable part of our arsenal,’ said Lynn of the high-tech thing that rolls around and shoots things. ‘When combined with our thing that goes underwater and our thing that flies around and drops exploding stuff, this cutting-edge shooting thing will help ensure American military dominance for decades.’ Lynn also emphasized to reporters that the new device will only shoot at bad people. See, also, Onion Network News: “CIA Accidentally Overthrows Costa Rica: In this O-SPAN clip from 1963, the CIA explains that the accidental overthrow was due to ‘a little miscommunication’ while overthrowing some nearby Central American countries.” |
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