CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Monday, Aug. 1, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly Al Qaeda on the brink of collapse: "Don't worry, there will always be terrorists named 'al Qaeda' to fight," writer reassures . . . More bollards and FPS guards, please: Al Qaeda's anti-American targeting "focus of the future will probably be on government symbols" . . . It pays to advertise: Far-right group praised in Oslo slaughterer's 1,500-page manifesto racks up 10,000 new members as a result. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- President Obama's top adviser on Pakistan says the United States has six months to deliver "a knockout blow" to al Qaeda's senior leadership while they're still reeling from the killing of Osama bin Laden, The New York Times' Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger report. Other U.S. counterterrorists claim "al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. But if there's one thing the past 10 years of the fight against jihadi groups has taught us, it is: Don't believe the hype," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross rebukes in The National Review. "Don't worry, there will always be terrorists named 'al Qaeda' to fight," Mother Jones' Kevin Drum consoles. Feds: "The al Qaeda focus of the future will probably be on government symbols. It would show that this was al Qaeda against the American government," U.N. terror-monitor Richard Barrett tells J.J. Green of D.C.'s WTOP 103.5 FM. A measure proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden and Mark Udall would force the Director of National Intelligence, and by extension the entire intel community, to admit that they've gone too far in their Patriot Act interpretations, Danger Room's Spencer Ackerman relates. Two GOP House members, meantime, have introduced legislation to reconstitute the 9/11 commission to evaluate progress made executing the original panel's ideas, FOX News' Jake Gibson reports. Homies: Lawmakers from both parties are challenging DHS over policies they say impede efforts to stop imports of counterfeit electronics used in military devices, Medill News Service's Michelle M. Stein relates. "Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of local cooperation with ICE is how arbitrary and inhumane that agency's enforcement efforts often are," ex-Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau rebukes in The New York Daily News, in re: Secure Communities — while the Times Union's Bryan Fitzgerald sees an ICE detainee held at the Albany County (N.Y.) Jail awaiting deportation to France dying of a heart condition. ICE, again, tells The Dayton Daily News' Cornelius Frolik it deported almost three times as many criminal illegal immigrants in Ohio and Michigan in as they did three years earlier. The Connection's Deb Cobb, meantime, profiles at some length CBP's Canine Training Center in Front Royal, Va. State and local: "On any given day, private security officials in downtown high-rises and senior LAPD counterterrorism officers spend time on a secure online messaging system that functions like a real-time tip line," Los Angeles Downtown News spotlights. The Asheville (N.C.) Fire Department recently received delivery of a mass evacuation bus, capable of transporting 19 patients on stretchers, purchased with DHS grant money, the Citizen-Times tells. The Weather Channel says it will produce a new series featuring Coast Guard rescue swimmers and pilots stationed on Alaska's Kodiak Island, the Daily Mirror mentions. Melbourne, Fla., city leaders may beef up a City Hall security plan in light of a recent lockdown triggered by two men bringing a pellet gun into the building, Florida Today tells. "Young Maine residents apparently are not being recruited for international terrorism, but law enforcement officials are keeping close watch," The Lewiston Sun Journal leads. 9/11 Now: As the 9/11 tenth anniversary approaches, "local synagogues are seeking to upgrade security on their property by installing surveillance cameras," The Long Beach (Calif.) Examiner explores. Presidents Obama and Bush will be part of a small group of politicians (former mayor Rudolph Giuliani being another) attending this year's Ground Zero ceremony, CNN hears Mayor Mike Bloomberg announcing — but, NY1 adds, there will be no presidential stem-winders delivered. Letters written by Helen Keller and 40,000 photo negatives of JFK are among artistic and historical items still missing from the 9/11 disaster area, The Associated Press spotlights — while USA Today profiles a summer camp for youthful survivors of terrorism sponsored by Tuesday's Children, a 9/11 victims organization. Bugs 'n bombs: Accused Fort Hood bomb plotter Army Pfc. Naser Abdo had in his possession a bombmaking article posted online in Inspire, the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda's English-language e-zine, The Christian Science Monitor sees court docs showing. Multiple former U.S. counterterrorists stated last week that biochemical attack by al Qaeda or its offshoots is still a threat, despite the killing of Osama bin Laden, BioPrepWatch reports — as another AP item spots the NYPD testing "ground-breaking technology expected to dramatically increase its ability to detect and thwart a potential radiation attack." A new report on the Japanese cult that killed 13 Tokyo subway riders in 1995 with nerve agent "shows how extremists are driven toward ever more toxic weapons [and] how lax police can be until disaster happens," a Washington Post columnist spotlights. Close air support: In yet another such incident occurring at air hubs nationwide, a Tampa International flyer was charged over a knife in his carry-on, the Tribune tells. Police arrested a woman at Philadelphia International after she allegedly made terroristic threats and intimidated passengers and crew, CNN says. The grandson of actor Clark Gable was busted for allegedly pointing a laser at a police helicopter in Hollywood, the Los Angeles Times tells — as the Inquirer sees another man in custody for lasing a Philadelphia P.D. chopper. "A $62 million makeover at Logan Airport's Terminal C will move you along through the security lines a bit quicker," CBS Boston promises — as The Grand Rapids Press sees a new checkpoint lane at Gerald R. Ford International delivering the hoped-for shorter lines. Several months after New Delhi police ran a comprehensive security audit of Indira Gandhi International, "most of the problems highlighted in their report have not been addressed," The Times of India informs. Border wars: The head of a special Arizona legislative panel on border security wants to use some of the money being donated to build a border fence instead for deploying invisible buried sensors, Capitol Media Services mentions. A federal judge ruled last Thursday that there is no apparent legal basis for an Arizona government request that the Obama administration be ordered to do more to protect the border, The East Valley Tribune tells. Thirty-three armed and uniformed Mexican soldiers in four military vehicles crossed the Rio Grande into South Texas without authorization, Harlingen's KGBT 4 News confirms. CBP last week swore in a new director for the El Paso Port of Entry, KTSM 9 News reports — while a long New York Times Magazine feature ponders El Paso-Juarez border dilemmas, and SooToday.com sees two Canadians turned back at the Sault Sainte Marie crossing after lying about ownership of $11,853 in cash. Courts and rights: The trial for five North Carolina men arrested in 2009 for plotting terror against U.S. military installations will start Sept. 19 and could last up to nine weeks, Raleigh's WRAL News hears a judge announcing. An indictment has been filed against a Chinese national arrested by ICE agents as he tried to check in for an outbound flight to L.A. using allegedly fake documents, The Saipan Tribune tells. With a courtroom recreation of the final "21 minutes of terror'' on United Flight 175, lawyers for the only 9/11 family still suing for damages want to ask jurors "to put a dollar value on those last moments of horror," The Boston Globe reports. Four NYPD detectives were hauled last week before a federal grand jury probing leaks of top-secret info about the Najibullah Zazi plot to hit Gotham's subways, The New York Daily News notes. Over there: The ranks of the English Defence League, a far-right group praised in Oslo-murderer Anders Behring Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto, has swelled by 10,000 members since he slaughtered 77 Norwegians on July 22, AP reports. A Muslim extremist, meantime, who posted a call for attacks on Brit MPs supporting the Iraq War along with information on where to buy a knife, has been jailed for 12 years, The Daily Telegraph tells. A terrorism-monitoring organization says jihadists are threatening Belgium for banning the wearing of face-covering burqas in public, FOX News relays. Treasury has blacklisted American al Shabaab mouthpiece Abu Mansour al-Amriki, along with a Kenyan fundraiser and recruiter, The Wall Street Journal relates. Qaeda Qorner: In what appeared to be his first video message since succeeding Osama bin Laden as the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri expressed strong support for anti-government protesters in Syria, The New York Times tells — as Reuters hears an al-Qaeda-in-the-Arabian-Peninsula audio message pledging allegiance to Zawahiri "in the fight to liberate the holy places of Islam." A Pakistani Taliban leader claims the kidnapping of two Swiss citizens, saying he would release the couple if the United States freed convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, a/k/a "Lady al Qaeda," The Long War Journal relates. Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi's regime has claimed that al Qaeda is responsible for the killing of the Libyan rebels' military chief Abdel Fatah Younes, ANI informs. Popular support for al Shabaab has been dwindling in Somalia with the food crisis and the al Qaeda-linked group's merciless response to aid efforts, France 24 leads. Criticized infrastructure: "In a 30-minute video, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri criticized the mass transportation infrastructure of the United States, claiming significant repairs and upgrades would need to be implemented before the militant group would consider destroying any roads, bridges or railways with terrorist attacks," The Onion reports. "Reading from a prepared statement, Zawahiri blasted the U.S. government for its lack of foresight and admonished its leaders for failing to provide Americans with efficient and reliable modes of public transport to reduce traffic congestion, lower carbon emissions, improve air quality, and supply suitable targets for terrorists. 'The al Qaeda network is fully prepared to continue the jihad against the American infidels by launching deadly attacks, but your outdated and rusting transportation infrastructure needs to be completely overhauled for those strikes even to be noticed,' Zawahiri said. Check, also, Homeland Security Watch. 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.