Omss Politics: CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Monday, June 27, 2011 — 3 P.M.

By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly

Extremist Makeover: "Give al Qaeda a new name -- something that says, 'Now With 20 Percent Less Eschatological Violence' " . . . This far and no further: "It's time we stop letting people with a 'getting felt up by cops' fetish determine our public policies" . . . That's a relief: TSA screener theft from screened baggage "seems rare -- or maybe the culprits just don't get caught very often." These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage.

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"As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al Qaeda was suffering from a marketing problem" and contemplated rebranding the enterprise with a name change, The Associated Press' Matt Apuzzo reports. 'Play Don Draper for a moment. What do you think about when you think about al Qaeda?" Danger Room's Spencer Ackerman leads, inviting readers to "give al Qaeda a new name — something that says, 'Now With 20 Percent Less Eschatological Violence.'" Noting what a popular media trope posthumously casting bin Laden as a corporate CEO has become, The Atlantic's Uri Friedman observes that the late terror exec, "after all, received an undergraduate degree in economics and public administration."

Feds: Senate Homelanders will host a hearing July 13th to investigate lapses that allowed two Iraqi refugees recently arrested in Kentucky on terror charges to live freely in the United States, McClatchy Newspapers' Halimah Abdullah recounts. Coordination among agencies with jurisdiction over homeland security and the intel community has improved vastly since 9/11, Government Executive's Kellie Lunney hears current and former officials agreeing — and check The Washington Post's Steve Vogel's take. The ATF says two explosive devices found inside a Borders Books & Music at a Colorado mall "partially functioned," Christina Dickinson reports for Denver's 9News.

Homies: Attacks on gay and transgender detainees are on the rise nationwide as the number of undocumented immigrants in ICE custody skyrockets, The Arizona Republic's Daniel Gonzalez learns from a new report. "ICE Wants Secret Vigilante of Spies and Rats," Cryptome headlines a posting of proposed "Suspicious/Criminal Activity Tip Reporting" regs. Janet Napolitano told Europeans last week that DHS is taking a more "layered" approach to the screening of U.S.-bound cargo, including enhanced intra-government cooperation and intel sharing, Agence France-Presse's Spencer Kimball recounts.

State and local: DHS is helping a woman who recently filed a complaint with Trenton police after allegedly being harassed by a neighbor on Facebook, The Trenton (Mich.) Patch reports. If the state ever forwards fiscal 2011 DHS grant monies to California's Butte County, most of it will be used to purchase a tactical armored vehicle, PoliceOne.com reports. ("Is that the best use of a Homeland Security grant?" a Chico Enterprise Record reader questions, accusing the sheriff of "overkill.") Two Gulf Coast lawmakers propose letting hurricane victims in the South keep disaster aid mistakenly paid by FEMA, The Hattiesburg (Miss.) American mentions — as The Birmingham News sees the agency budgeting at least $1 billion to rebuild Alabama after the early May storms. The Jefferson County (Ala.) Courts finagled an emergency $27,000 bridge to cover security over the coming three weeks, "but after that all bets are off," Birmingham's CBS 42 News notes.

Bugs 'n bombs: "Brighton Beach residents are demanding that cops step up security on the Boardwalk — including the drastic step of searching all bags for weapons," The Brooklyn Paper reports — while Gawker insists: "It's time we stop letting people with a 'getting felt up by cops' fetish determine our public policies." There are 18 categories under which the purchase of a gun is prohibited by federal law, but "playing footsie with al Qaeda" is not one of them, The Chicago News Cooperative carps. House Homelanders have rolled out a redrafted bill aimed at amping up federal efforts against bioterror attacks and other WMD threats, Global Security Newswire notes. Building on lessons learned in the 2009 mass vaccinations for the H1N1 flu virus, Fairfax County, Va. mounted a drill Saturday testing its "ability to run multiple response sites simultaneously during an outbreak or bioterror attack," WAMU 88.5 FM relates.

Chemical reactions: A Boston College doctoral student suffered minor injuries in a lab Saturday when a chemical used in making mustard gas and methamphetamine exploded in her hand, the Herald relates. There was a lot of security around Dow Chemical and Dow Corning facilities in Michigan's Midland County last Thursday as the companies and local responders drilled for a terror attack, WJRT 12 News notes. Unaddressed by current law, "an accident or terrorist attack at a chemical plant could release large quantities of hazardous chemicals, killing or injuring thousands of people," OMB Watch alerts.

Close air support: The author of a Texas bill to criminalize TSA "groping" doubts the revisited measure will pass during the current special session ending Wednesday, Austin's KXAN News notes. Despite regularly reported incidents, judging from official statistics, TSA screener theft from baggage "seems rare — or maybe the culprits just don't get caught very often," the Los Angeles Times assesses. Amid "growing indications of abuse at the hands of TSA screeners, opposition to screening procedures has seemingly grown," the Bircherite New American spotlights. As to which, Northwest Florida Regional Airport screeners allegedly forced a 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman to remove her adult diaper, the Daily News notes. TSA, meanwhile, evacuated Newport News' airport when a "fake hand grenade" was found in a piece of luggage, the Daily Press reports.

Coming and going: "The security theater continues. There's no question that there is a threat out there but these policies sound like they're overboard," The America Blog broods, in re: again, TSA's transit center VIPR exercises. The D.C. Metro's crime fighting resources might be dipping thanks to a cut in police personnel, but "its budget for terrorism prevention is going up," WAMU 88.5 FM reports. As summer tourists descend on the Hudson Valley, a New York State Office of Counter-Terrorism exec advises camp counselors to take "common sense" precautions regarding perimeter security, lighting and signage, MidHudson Radio reports.

Rights and wrongs: The use of informants and sting operations have become major tools in the fight against domestic terrorism, illustrated in the arrest of two men charged with plotting an attack on a Seattle recruit processing station, The Christian Science Monitor surveys. A Senate Armed Services-approved package of revised rules for detaining terror suspects would mandate military detention for al Qaeda suspects, even if they are captured on U.S. soil, The New York Times clarifies. CIA nominee Gen. David Petraeus testified last week in favor of using "special interrogation techniques" when a detainee is withholding info needed immediately to save lives, the L.A. Times mentions. "Pending revisions to an FBI operations guide could help agents more quickly and aptly perform . . . counterterrorism-related inquires," IPT News leads.

At the bar: Federal prosecutors seek to deny bail to two terror-charged Florida imams because another relative, a Miami cab driver, reportedly belongs to the Pakistani Taliban and is wanted on terror charges back home, The Miami Herald mentions. A Texan accused of plotting to help al Qaeda "has been a thorn in the side of U.S. efforts to prosecute him, but it so far has done little to help him," The Houston Chronicle recounts. A New York court's decision to order reargument in the appeal of a ruling that ascribed 68 percent of the fault for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to the Port Authority and 32 percent to the terrorists will serve to delay even further an 18-year-old case, The New York Law Journal notes. The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review has refused to overturn the August 2008 conviction of Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, The Miami Herald mentions.

Qaeda Qorner: Bin Laden used the militant group Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, which has links to Pakistani intel, as part of his support network, The New York Times learns — as a Heritage WebMemo urges Pakistan to act immediately to sever such ties. An ex-Egyptian radical familiar with Ayman al-Zawahri's mindset warns that al Qaeda's new leader may steer the group onto an even more aggressive course and seems intent on inflicting "any form of pain" on perceived "infidels," Asia Times tells — as a National Review columnist, too, "reads" Zawahiri's mind: "I have waged jihad against the nonbelievers for a very long time." The use of assassination by al Qaeda, affiliated groups or sympathizers "is nothing new," In Homeland Security says. A day after announcing its official partnership with al Qaeda, the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram launched Nigeria's first suicide bombing, FrontPage Magazine spotlights.

Over there: An Amsterdam court last week acquitted solon and Muslim basher Geert Wilders of five counts of hate speech and discrimination, The Economist informs. The leaders of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan agreed Saturday to join forces in combating militancy at a Tehran counterterrorism summit overshadowed by an Afghan hospital bombing that killed at least 20 people, AFP reports — as the Islamic Republic News Agency hears Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei welcoming an emerging "Islamic alliance" in North Africa, to prevent which, he claims, Washington is bombing Libya. A U.S. dip says that either side that emerges from Yemen's four-month political crisis on top will cooperate with Washington in battling Yemeni jihadists, AP briefs.

The big Bedouin tent: "Recognizing the similarities between their doctrines and that of the Christian Right, the Taliban have started an Evangelical Taliban branch in the United States," Glossy News notes. "'Although Christian fundamentalists are heathen dogs who will burn in Hell fire for eternity, we find parts of their creed to be attractive: intolerance for anything not of your religion, repression of women, ignorance of individual rights, moral control over others and committing atrocities in the name of God to cite a few,' spokesman Tali Wozati stated. 'Also the question of forgiveness, a worthless Jesus virtue. Chopping off hands and heads is so much quicker and cheaper, not to mention has more entertainment value . . . But all of these things will be worked out as we slowly weed out those who have difficulty being totally obedient . . . er . . . .totally submissive to the Evangelical Allah. We have a lot to offer fundamentalism. We can teach ways of control over Believers they never dreamed of.' "