Omss Politics: CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Wednesday, June 15, 2011 — 3 P.M.

By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly

X-rated: "Muslim extremists use child pornography to encrypt their messages and use pornographic websites to fund terrorist activity" . . . Unmentionable: "I've witnessed male TSA agents paying a little too close attention to every item of lingerie in a female passenger's suitcase" . . . Say it ain't so: "If terrorism is the unexpected unleashing of some primal force capable of serious destruction of person and property, Mother Nature is a terrorist." These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage.

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The FBI's 2010 raids on American dissidents suspected of lending "material support" to terror-designated Colombian or Palestinian groups "could create some political discomfort" for President Obama with his union supporters in 2012, The Washington Post's Peter Wallsten forecasts — and check NewsBusters' Tim Graham. "If you are not vitally concerned about the possibility of radical Muslims infiltrating the U.S. government and establishing a Taliban-style theocracy, then you are not a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination," Amy Sullivan opens in a USA Today op-ed.

Homies: "Homeland security is not a partisan issue, so it is disappointing that Ms. Napolitano dismisses legitimate concerns [about border security] as political posturing," Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, condemns in The Washington Times. "We can all agree that the nation must pursue responsible fiscal policies, but we should not shortchange the nation's preparedness and homeland security," Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Mich., inveighs in The Hill, decrying "dramatic and devastating" DHS grant cuts. CBP has yet to devise "a fail-safe way to check foreign visitors in and out of the United States, leaving an unknown number unaccounted for inside the country," The Houston Chronicle's Stewart Powell leads.

Company business: A federal prosecutor is probing CIA complicity in the 2003 murder of an Iraqi prisoner at Abu Ghraib and the "rendition" to Afghanistan of an innocent German tourist that same year, Adam Zagorin reveals in Time Magazine. The agency, meantime, will be operating armed drones over Yemen, "expanding the hunt for al Qaeda operatives in a country where counterterrorism efforts have been disrupted by political chaos," the Post's Greg Miller relates — while The Associated Press' Kimberly Dozier hears State's counterterror czar fretting that the Yemeni mess could knit ties between al Qaeda-linked militants there and al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia.

State and local: Alabama residents of homes trashed by tornados have been astounded to be told by FEMA that they don't merit federal aid due to "insufficient damage," The Birmingham News leads. ICE's Secure Communities effort "has damaged relations between police and immigrant communities and has not achieved the goals it was designed to achieve," a California state legislator lashes in The San Jose Mercury News. ("Will California be the fourth state to do an about-face on Secure Communities?" FOX News Latino wonders.) Although New York's governor has withdrawn from the program, the Chautauqua County Sheriff continues submitting data to ICE, The Jamestown Post Journal reports. ICE agents, meanwhile, are investigating whether the contractor reconstructing Knoxville's Henley Bridge knowingly employed an illegal immigrant, WBIR 10 News notes.

Follow the money: A full 10 years after the 9/11 hijackings, a bike ride campaign to finance the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., will take to the road, The Williamsport Sun-Gazette relates. Organized retail crime, i.e., pro shoplifting rings, "is a problem not just because it increases costs, but because in some instances it has been used to raise funds for terrorist groups," an expert tells The Bergen County (N.J.) Record. India's finance ministry is consolidating intel and criminal investigation units "to enhance prosecution powers to counter terror financing," The Economic Times tells — as Washington Bangla Radio remarks: "Counterfeit currency has long been recognized as a source of funding for terrorism in India." According to Tony Nassif, Muslim extremists use child pornography to encrypt their messages and use pornographic websites to fund terrorist activity, Charisma Magazine recounts.

Bugs 'n bombs: Following last weekend's food poisoning case, an expert warns The Jakarta Post that terrorists may be planning to poison officers via the fare dished up at police canteens. In his "House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox" (University of California), chillingly, William H. Foege "includes in an appendix instructions for managing a bioterrorism attack in case [archived virus samples] are ever weaponized," The Boston Globe reviews. Fears that terrorists could use chemical weapons in Australia have sparked a $10 million awareness campaign listing "dangerous" chemicals for the first time, The Sunday Telegraph tells. "Mother Nature is not often thought of as a terrorist. Yet if terrorism is the unexpected unleashing of some primal force capable of serious destruction of person and property, Mother Nature is a terrorist," an Iowa City Press Citizen op-ed observes.

Know nukes: New Hampshire's Homeland Security office believes evacuation plans for the Seabrook nuclear plant suffice, despite some teachers' refusal to accompany students on outgoing buses, The Hampton Union reports. Four security guards at the Arkansas Nuclear One plant are accused of sleeping on the job, Fort Smith's KHBS 40 News notes. It is in the U.S. interest to persuade Islamabad that it "has no desire for any kind of raid against Pakistan's nuclear forces. If they fear that we're going to do that, that will actually make matters worse," an expert assures The GlobalPost. "For a country that . . . perceives proliferation and nuclear terrorism as its number one threat, the United States sure seems to be going about achieving its goals in a rather complicated manner," The Diplomat concludes.

Close air support: For the second time in three days, NORAD interceptors deterred a small aircraft entering D.C.-area restricted airspace, The Washington Post reports. "I've witnessed male TSA agents paying a little too close attention to every item of lingerie in a female passenger's suitcase," a Periscope Post blogger comments, arguing against screeners "broadcasting" the unmentionables in flyers' baggage. Some of the TSA screeners fired from Honolulu's airport for failing to scan for explosives will contest that decision, HawaiiNewsNow notes — as The Honolulu Star-Bulletin demands closure of "the airport safety gap." An ExpressJet Airlines flight returned to its Newark gate after a flight attendant found "by the beard of mohamed and mighty sword of allah" scrawled in the plane's bathroom, the Star-Ledger relates.

Terror tech: "It can be abused easily and I think a smart terrorist will always find a gap in your defenses," a Defense Tech blogger posts, in re: DHS field testing of techniques for divining air passengers' "mal-intent." Debate over "killer robot drones" that actually aren't autonomous diverts attention from a more groundbreaking development, i.e., "preparations to delegate targeting decisions to truly autonomous weapons platforms," an NPR analysis suggests. Russia's biggest retail bank is testing an ATM with a built-in lie detector to prevent consumer credit fraud, The Sydney Morning Herald relates — while The St. George (Nev.) Spectrum suggests that the AVATAR project, a kiosk using a virtual agent to question subjects and determine their veracity, "could revolutionize border security." NATO scrambles warplanes against Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces after Libyans tweet troop movements on a micro-blogging website, Agence France-Presse reports.

Cyberia: "Not every cyberattack is an act of war . . . Before the Defense Department can start threatening military action in response to cyberattacks, it must be able to determine with certainty who is responsible," a Boston Globe editorial adjures — while Techworld airs experts who view as exaggerated the much-discussed need for cyber-retaliation. "Cyberthreats are probably going to have to get worse before the issue gets policy traction in Washington," a security specialist tells Reuters. The U.K. is stepping up its "cyberwar" against Islamist extremists as part of a new counterterror strategy published last week, The Daily Mirror mentions — as Charter 97 catches "Belarusian special services terrorizing their own citizens" with viral infections, DDoS attacks and online spying. "Jihadi media organizations are forming Facebook pages to bypass restrictions on terrorist organizations, and to pass on videos, pictures, and documents to followers," IPT News informs.

Courts and rights: As was the case with his March hearing on Muslim American radicalization, detractors contend that House homeland chair Peter T. King's hearing today on prison-spawned extremism is "rooted in no more than Islamophobia," The Washington Post curtain-raises. The terror trial of Khalid Aldawsari, accused of plotting against nuclear plants and President George W. Bush has been postponed to next January, Lubbock's KCBD 11 News notes. The chief prosecutor in the Chicago terror trial says a plea bargain with a confessed American terrorist "was justified because of his value as a source of intelligence and as a key witness in any future prosecutions," ProPublica reports. "Oregon's federal public defender has created a crack legal team to follow the rule of law, even fighting for those accused of terrorism," The Oregonian profiles.

Over there: "As the United States and NATO battle al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, radical Islamic organizations are expanding north through the porous borders of Central Asia," a Heritage WebMemo spotlights. Elements of Pakistan's military and intel service assisted Osama bin Laden before he was killed by U.S. commandos, The Washington Times hears the House intelligence committee chairman saying. A Mauritanian former U.N. diplomat has launched a security think-tank to help fight terrorism and crime in western Saharan countries, News24 notes.

No harm, no foul: "According to informed sources, the government has come up with an imaginative solution to the problem of invasive image scanning at airports," Glossy News notes. "Many travelers, especially women, have complained about the fact that the new scanning technology in effect showed them naked to the TSA screening attendant. And they have been equally unhappy about the alternative, being patted down.' Now federal planners have devised a solution, says a knowledgeable insider. 'To defuse the sexual intimacy issue,' she says, 'all personnel who operate invasive scanners and do pat-downs will undergo mandatory castration at government expense.' In effect, only eunuchs will be allowed to view airline travelers by means of the new scanning technology or conduct pat-downs. Since these personnel will in effect be neither male nor female, and will be without any sexual orientation whatsoever, no one need fear being exposed in a lascivious manner while passing through airport security."