CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Monday, June 6, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly Man with a plan: Al Qaeda's Adam Gadahn calls on U.S. Muslims to attack targets using automatic arms bought at gun shows . . . Land of 10,000 Flakes: FBI investigating whether suicide bomber of African peacekeepers in Somalia was really a Minnesotan . . . Privatizing perversion: We could save $1 billion in the next five years without sacrificing security by replacing TSA gropers with contract screeners, lawmaker maintains. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- In an Internet video aired Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on U.S. Muslims to conduct deadly one-man terror raids against major institutions and public figures using automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, ABC News' Matthew Cole recounts. Thanks to hacking by Britain's MI6 intel agency, readers of al Qaeda's English-language e-zine, Inspire, instead of learning how to "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," accessed a page of recipes for Ellen DeGeneres' "Best Cupcakes in America," The Daily Telegraph's Duncan Gardham reports. Perps: While an Iraqi refugee arrested in Kentucky spent two years in the United States plotting to help al Qaeda, "federal authorities unknowingly had evidence that already linked him to a roadside bomb in his home country in 2005," The Associated Press' Brett Barrouquere reports. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., seeks a Senate Homeland hearing on the incident, The Louisville Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson adds. The FBI, meantime, strives to confirm the identity of the suicide bomber behind a deadly attack in Somalia after al Shabaab claimed he was a Somali-American from Minnesota, The St. Paul Pioneer Press' David Hanners and John Brewer recount. Feds: We could save $1 billion in the next five years without sacrificing homeland security by replacing TSA officers with private screeners, CNN's Mike M. Ahlers sees a report from Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., asserting. The National Guard is slowing its withdrawal from the border to buy the Obama administration time to convince Congress to extend the mission beyond June 30, The Capital Media Services' Howard Fischer recounts. Following on Janet Napolitano's New Delhi drop-by, CIA instructors will be training subcontinental cops "on the methods of conducting surveillance of terror suspects," India Today's Aman Sharma updates. ICE will soon have 1,300 additional beds to house people in Southern California suspected of being in the country illegally, The Orange County Register's Cindy Carcamo briefs. Dollars and Sense: The Rio Grande Valley's share of DHS grants declined to $808,000 this year from $1.7 million last year, a cut that will affect the regional response team and efforts to improve radio comm, The McAllen Monitor spotlights. Nevada's House delegation is "pushing back against" a DHS appropriations bill that would cut Sin City out of the grantage pool, The Las Vegas Sun recounts — while The Greenwich (Conn.) Time sees the House backing an amendment advanced by Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., to reopen Urban Areas Security Initiative grants to medium and small cities. In a House roll call last week, Illinois Dem lawmakers "overwhelmingly supported no slashing of DHS funding," The Examiner examines. Indiana's DHS "has been asked to spread the word that unsolicited goods and volunteers are hindering the effectiveness of response and recovery efforts in Joplin, Mo.," The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette relates. Border wars: "State-level revolts against the Obama administration's aggressive efforts to deport criminal suspects stand in stark contrast to the Arizona-style laws giving local police more power to enforce immigration offenses," Stateline surveys. Anyone lacking adequate documentation of their legal presence here, would, just for being in Alabama, be guilty of a crime, under an unprecedentedly tough bill just passed there, The Birmingham News notes — as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sees civil libertarians filing suit against a similar Georgia statute. For the Texas Legislature's special session, a state senator has rolled three immigration issues into one proposed amendment, The Texas Tribune spotlights. A CBP officer faces up to 13 years in prison upon being sentenced for exploiting his position to smuggle guns into Hartsfield-Jackson International, the Journal-Constitution, again, recounts. Bugs 'n bombs: Even before the deadly cyclone flattened Joplin, DHS planned to modify the design of a biosecurity lab under construction in Lawrence, Kan., to better withstand tornadoes, KMBC 9 News notes — while The Kansas City Star quotes critics unconvinced that that will suffice. "A new biosecurity system for Western Australia could allow sheep producers to resume trading with the eastern states," the ABC News Down Under informs — while United Press International sees a U.S. corporation helping strengthen Armenia's "human and veterinary biological threat reduction capabilities." Interpol, meantime, has decided to expand the mandate of its task force unit aimed at preventing radiological and nuclear terrorism to address biological, chemical and explosive threats, The Diplomat spotlights. The U.N. atomic agency voices growing concern about possible military aspects of Iran's nuclear program, and Western envoys believe it may firm up those suspicions later this year, Reuters reports. Coming and going: At a Seattle ferry terminal the obstruction of a "See Something — Say Something" poster by a lottery ticket vending machine "may be the homeland security equivalent of the self-licking ice cream cone," a Homeland Security Watch blogger suggests. "This year, while no one was looking, President Obama made Florida's ports more vulnerable to terrorists," an Orlando Sentinel columnist feints, ironically. A passenger on a Metra commuter train that collided with an Amtrak train at Chicago's Union Station tells AP she at first feared it was a terror attack — as Homeland Security Today hears chief John Pistole testifying last week that TSA upped its info sharing with state, local and Amtrak rail security stakeholders due to post-bin Laden intel. "Hundreds of rail passengers fled in terror when dozens of deadly snakes were found on a train traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi," Sky News not quite relatedly notes. Close air support: "Since 9/11, five attempted terrorist attacks on U.S. airliners and airports have made airport security a continued priority," a CFR Backgrounder opens. A YouTube vid shot last weekend shows a woman "yelling hysterically" at Phoenix's airport that she was molested by a TSA agent, KPHO 5 News notes — while The Oklahoman reports that a noise-making box at a baggage claim office that prompted a partial evacuation and lockdown at Will Rogers World Airport contained a bullhorn that plays Christmas carols. A former TSA agent at Orlando International could spend a decade in jail after being accused of stealing from passengers' luggage, WFTV 9 News updates. "Anyone under 18 can walk into an airport, go through security, and board an airplane without showing any form of ID," El Paso's KFOX 14 News reminds. Courts and rights: A Texas woman who sued after saying her breasts were exposed during a 2008 search at Corpus Christi International received a $2,350 settlement from TSA, the Caller-Times tells. Another plea deal could be in the works for an alleged terror cell based in North Carolina, Raleigh's WRAL News notes. A young Florida imam accused along with family members of helping finance the Pakistani Taliban pleaded not guilty Friday, The Miami Herald relays. Erie County (Pa.) Judge Michael E. Dunlavey apologized after forwarding to colleagues a Buckwheat joke referencing Muslims, The Erie Times-News notes. "If military officials make it through to trial this time, it is virtually certain that admitted [9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik] Mohammed will be convicted," The Atlantic handicaps — as Andy Worthington updates in Eurasian Review his "definitive list" of Guantanamo detainees. Yemenistan: Yemen's now-departed president, reportedly, deployed U.S.-trained-and-funded counterterrorism forces against opposing forces in what is rapidly devolving into a civil war, The Christian Science Monitor mentions — which charge Reuters hears the Pentagon denouncing as unfounded, while CNN sees the conflict helping al-Qaeda-in-the-Arabian-Peninsula extend its influence into tribal areas. "Over the past three years, 3,900 Pakistanis have lost their lives in 225 suicide attacks. All these attacks were perpetrated by groups within Pakistan," Asia Times assesses — while AP sees the United States and Pakistan trying to bandage a relationship bruised by the bin Laden hit by forging a new joint intel team to dog top terror suspects. After a nine-day lull, U.S. Predator drones killed five "militants" in the Pakistani borderlands Friday, The Long War Journal relates — as The New York Times sees another strike later that day killing one of Pakistan's most wanted militants, Ilyas Kashmiri. Qaeda Qorner: Documents seized from bin Laden's compound in Pakistan confirm that the terrorist organization functioned like a multinational corporation, Rediff News records. Al Qaeda still has the capacity to stage international attacks from Pakistan despite U.S. forces' killing of bin Laden, Agence France-Presse hears a State official testifying Friday. "Having lost all hope," large numbers of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are seeking peace deals with the Afghan government since U.S. commandos killed bin Laden last month, The Washington Times is told. His death is also a severe blow to Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine militant group that the al Qaeda leader helped create in the late 1980s, Asia Times, once more, spotlights. Israeli reports about al Qaeda's presence in the Sinai Peninsula are "groundless," Bloomberg quotes Egypt's Interior Ministry. We Bombed in New Haven: "The much-heralded Sarah Palin One Nation Bus Tour has been given an added level of excitement after it was revealed that there is a bomb on board that will detonate if she takes her foot off the pedal," News Biscuit notes. "It is unclear who planted the bomb although it may have been the work of a crazed Dennis Hopper fan, or a desperate attempt by Keanu Reeves to find work. The former vice-presidential candidate was first alerted to the danger when FOX News presenter Glenn Beck pulled up alongside the bus waving and screaming like a madman. 'At first we thought it was just Glenn being Glenn,' said Palin, 'but it turns out he was trying to warn us.' Beck has so far done everything he can to help save Palin by clambering on and off her bus while wildly flapping his arms about. However, this was to no avail as a visibly panicked Palin performed a number of extreme maneuvers, veering wildly to the right and totally out of control." 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.