CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly The Hidden Imam: House Homelanders probing whether radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki "was an overlooked key player in the 9/11 attacks" ... Dial D-cup for Destruction: Plastic surgeon discusses "how a terrorist could turn a procedure like breast augmentation into a potentially destructive threat" . . . Paging Calvin Klein: San Diegan displeased with checkpoint security insists on confronting TSA screeners in his briefs. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- The House Homeland Security panel "has initiated an investigation" into radical U.S.-born imam Anwar al-Awlaki and whether he was an overlooked key player in the 9/11 attacks, FOX News ' Catherine Herridge sees chairman Pete King informing A.G. Eric Holder. Democrats on that committee, meantime, are derisively referring to a new TSA behavior-detection program launched on Monday as "chat downs," a play on the agency's much-despised "pat-downs," The Hill 's Keith Laing recounts. Feds: Recent estimates count some 400,000 individuals on the federal watch list , denoting "reasonable suspicion" that the person is engaged in terrorism, and about 14,000 on the more dire " selectee list ," The Associated Press ' Matthew Barakat surveys. "The Obama administration contends that using drones to kill 10 or 20 more al Qaeda leaders would eliminate the organization. This is wishful thinking," ex-DNI Dennis Blair objects in The New York Times . The war against terrorism "is now the longest war in U.S. history, and Gen. [David] Petraeus has clearly distinguished himself as a leader worthy of joining the ranks of [five-star generals] MacArthur, Marshall and Nimitz ," The Moderate Voice 's Dorian De Wind declares. Homies: "Attention all airline passengers and those who are unhappy about security procedures at airports: [TSA] is rebooting its Aviation Security Advisory Committee with a new collection of experts," SmartMoney 's Quentin Fottrell alerts. ICE pays between $50 to $200 per day per person to local, county and state prisons to house apprehended aliens , Gabriel Lerner relates in The Huffington Post — while Buffalo Business First 's Tracey Drury sees the USCIS director dropping by up there "to meet with staff and reporters." Virtual USA is DHS's effort to coordinate the "integration of geospatial tools at all levels of government," Government Computer News ' Patrick Marshall spotlights. State and local: The Jackson County (Fla.) Commissioners will hire a company on a $19,000 contract to create the state-mandated full-scale terrorism preparedness exercise and a comm plan to go along with it, The Floridian relates. FEMA's letters to disaster victims nationwide have become kinder and gentler thanks to complaints raised in Alabama, The Birmingham News boasts — while The Denver Post sees Colorado's agreement with ICE "outlining how the Secure Communities program should work becoming a template for how the program is implemented nationwide." Idaho's $5 million-a-year criminal alien tab "helps illustrate the need for immigration reform ," the Statesman editorializes. Bugs 'n bombs: The Montgomery County (Tenn.) Sheriff responded to a "suspicious package" call at a Walmart when "two suspects" left a pair a of suitcases in the parking lot, Business & Heritage Clarksville recounts. A local FBI agent last week briefed Columbia (S.C.)-area utilities execs on the terrorist threat to pipelines, energy plants and water treatment plants, WACH-TV News notes. Software at the core of a computer model of the spread of West Nile virus in California could be adapted as an early warning system for bioterror attacks and pandemics, Futurity forecasts. "Terrorists, rogue states, China or Russia could launch an electromagnetic pulse attack that would collapse critical civilian infrastructures," WorldNetDaily hears two congressional commissions warning — as a Heritage WebMemo touts a National EMP Awareness Day. Follow the money: Osama bin Laden was protected by elements of Pakistan's security apparatus in return for millions of dollars of Saudi cash, The Daily Telegraph relays from a controversial new account .The arrest of a top Colombian operative, accused of laundering money for the Mexican drug cartel, will do little to hamper a group that operates in as many as 50 countries, including the United States, The Christian Science Monitor leads. More than 90 U.S. senators signed a letter to President Obama pressing him to sanction Iran's central bank , The Wall Street Journal leads — as The Tehran Times retorts that "sanctions against CBI could hurt the global economy." A federal judge, meantime, ruled last week that terrorism victims owed hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran can garnish funds that Sprint Nextel Corp. owes a state-owned Iranian telecom, Dow Jones Newswires notes. Close air support: Although he covers up with a trench coat, a San Diegan displeased with checkpoint security procedures insists on confronting TSA screeners in his briefs, KGTV 10 News unveils. A smartphone app could help accelerate trips through the TSA gantlet by guiding flyers through the security process, D.C.'s WTOP 103.5 FM spotlights. A project to upgrade security at a Will Rogers World Airport 's terminal took off this week, Oklahoma City's KFOR 4 News notes — while North Carolina's WTVD 11 News sees "some new security technology coming to Raleigh-Durham International ." A Post-it Note bomb threat on the back of a passenger headrest recalled and emptied an already taxiing flight at Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport , The Mumbai Mirror mentions. Coming and going: "The air shipping industry must take the initiative now to face down the challenges of supply chain security in the same way its maritime cousins did in 2004," a Forbes columnist counsels. "There is no reason to give the same level of scrutiny to all cargo from Wichita and all cargo from Yemen," Supply & Demand Chain Executive aphorizes. "Six wild horses from Nevada are headed to the Mexican and Canadian borders to help U.S. Border Patrol agents keep a watch on remote areas," The Carson City Nevada Appeal recounts. The number of refugees being resettled in Nashville has slowed dramatically because of security-related federal regs enacted this year, The Tennessean tells. Terror tech: A plastic surgeon discusses "how a terrorist could turn a procedure like breast augmentation into a potentially destructive threat," The San Francisco Chronicle relays. " Crisis maps in hostile political situations can let dictatorial governments , as well as protesters, see where the action is," Technology Review cautions — as another buzz-killing Tech Review item relates that British rioters "are unlikely to have their identities protected by the BlackBerry Messenger service, contrary to reports that such data is 'untraceable,'" and see AP on the CCTV-facial recognition nexus in IDing looters . "What should you do when alarms are ringing, the building is filling with smoke and the crackle of fire is just around the corner? Follow the robot ," New Scientist teases. Lightning gun maker Applied Energetics recently lost a $3 million contract after the Marine Corps decided its device, meant to zap IEDs , "just isn't what they needed," Danger Room updates. Cyberia: Bush and Obama experts alike feared that the Chinese telecom giant prez-wannabe and Texas Gov. Rick Perry welcomed into his state "poses a potential cybersecurity risk to U.S. military and businesses," The Washington Post reports. "Old-fashioned policing, such as less severe sentences for those who snitch, is proving effective" in corralling hackers/cyberattackers , The Economist informs. Charging that Israel "ranks first in cyberterror across the globe," Iran's Information and Communications Technology minister claims Tehran is not only fighting back, but also implementing "retaliatory measures," Yedioth Ahronoth reports. The NYPD has formed a new unit to track troublemakers who announce plans or brag about their crimes on Twitter , MySpace and Facebook , The New York Daily News leads. "Cybersecurity is one of those hot topics that has launched a thousand seminars and strategy papers without producing much in the way of policy. But that's beginning to change ," a Post columnist commends. Courts and rights: Attorneys for North Carolina men accused in a 2009 terror plot yesterday questioned the credibility of a government witness in the case, Raleigh's WRAL News notes. The trial of a man charged with planting a bomb at Spokane's MLK Day parade has been delayed lest publicity about a King memorial being unveiled in D.C. the same week influence the jury, The Tacoma News Tribune tells. In an internal report, Pakistan's Punjab admits that more than two-thirds of terrorism cases have collapsed due to mistakes by investigators and the intimidation of witnesses, prosecutors and even judges, The Australian learns — and see The Express Tribune on Pakistan's jury-rigged judiciary, generally. Over there: A planned attack by rioters on the London Olympic site was foiled after Scotland Yard intercepted Twitter and BlackBerry messages about the plot, The London Evening Standard relates. In a video released three weeks before the 9/11 anniversary , new al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urges followers to continue targeting the United States, a "criminal country," ABC News Radio reports. " Al Qaeda in Iraq is in terrible shape . . . Al Qaeda, of course, does not want to admit how bad off they are. But the signs are everywhere," The Strategy Page updates. An Egyptian man renditioned by the CIA from Sweden to Egypt, where he was convicted on terror charges and held in a Cairo prison for nearly a decade, has been freed , United Press International informs. What a tangled web we weave: "A spider triggered an evacuation of Manchester Airport today when it was mistaken for a terror attack ," The Spoof spoofs. "It was not a massive mutated beast crushing planes under one of its eight feet. It wasn't even a venomous spider . Or hairy . It was an ordinary spider, but it spun it's web across the explosives detector in the luggage area , triggering every item of luggage as a potential bomb , until the computer decided there was enough explosives in the cargo waiting area to flatten the northwest of England from Workington to Stoke .'Whilst some might say that this is a good thing,' said chief of security , Tony Aching, 'I think it would be a bad thing, what with my house being near here.' The airport was cleared while the bomb squad were called." See also, on The Onion News Network : "Millions Irrationally Feared Dead In Minor Train Accident — After a small train derailment in Delaware , Americans all across the nation are senselessly fearing for their loved ones' lives . . . " Source: CQ Homeland Security --------------------------------- Other CQ Roll Call Products CQ Floor Video CQ.com CQ Weekly CQ Today CQ Amendment Text CQ BillTrack CQ Budget Tracker CQ Energy & Climate CQ HealthBeat CQ Homeland Security CQ Hot Docs CQ House Action Reports CQ LawTrack CQ MoneyLine CQ StateTrack CQ Politics Roll Call See all CQ Roll Call products Rob Margetta, CQ Homeland Security Editor Arwen Bicknell, Behind the Lines Editor Published by CQ Roll Call To sign up for CQ Roll Call's free newsletters, click here. Source: CQ Homeland Security Copyright © 2011 CQ Roll Call. All rights reserved.