CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly Home front: Local communities best suited to combat violent domestic extremism that inspires people to kill, new national terror strategy insists. . . Is it live, or is it Memorex: Training bomb for testing airport screening causes security scare and evacuation at Cincinnati hotel . . . Cape Fear: DHS reportedly notifies Texas sheriffs a supposed accomplice of Fort Hood terror plotter possibly headed their way to avenge his arrest. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- Local communities are best suited to take on the challenge of combating the kind of violent extremism that inspires people to kill, The Associated Press' Eileen Sullivan sees the Obama administration concluding in a new counterterrorism strategy — while The New York Times' Scott Shane reports about White House officials warning that casting suspicion on Muslim Americans could backfire. The president and first lady will attend tenth anniversary events at all three 9/11 attack locations: Ground Zero, Shanksville, Pa. and the Pentagon, the Los Angeles Times' Michael Muskal mentions — while Reuters' Jeremy Pelofsky quotes DHS's Janet Napolitano's assurance that there have been no credible or specific threats targeting Sept. 11 commemorations. Take me to the limit: Although Vice President Joe Biden denies having done so, GOP White House hopefuls are making much of his alleged comparison of Tea Party debt-limit hardliners to "terrorists," ABC News' Shushannah Walshe spotlights — and see The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Mike Wereschagin on a similar flap facing Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. The laboriously crafted debt deal sets up what will likely be a painful fight for funding between the Pentagon and other security agencies, not least DHS, The Washington Times' Shaun Waterman spotlights — as Nextgov's Aliya Sternstein is told that the agreement could undermine cybersecurity. Feds: DHS and other federal agencies "are looking to hire hackers to help find holes in government security and to even launch offensive attacks when needed," Daily Tech's Tiffany Kaiser recounts. A danger with hacker groups such as Anonymous is that they could align with better-skilled Internet outlaws to target critical infrastructure, IDG News Service's Jeremy Kirk hears DHS warning. The Senate Intel panel has extended a wide-ranging surveillance law targeting foreigners overseas, but Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says he will block the measure pending more info on its impact inside the United States, AP's Pete Yost reports. Claiming they were beaten by ICE agents during a "botched" raid, a Southern California family is now fighting for its right to remain here, Dave Mecham reports for Los Angeles's KTLA 5 News. Thin Blue Line: DHS notified sheriffs in two Texas counties that a supposed accomplice of Fort Hood terror plotter Naser Jason Abdo might be headed their way to avenge his arrest, Waco's KWTX 10 News notes. The San Diego P.D.'s Criminal Intelligence Unit "has set an example for other U.S. police departments by successfully becoming active participants in the national intelligence community," Security Management leads — and check an associated HSPI Issue Brief. By imposing a $15 fine on convicted criminals, Delaware hopes to raise $2.25 million for its homeland security agency and State Police and another $2.25 million for local law enforcers, WDEL 1150 AM informs. Sacramento cops are losing more than $3 million in emergency preparedness tools, including mobile command posts and terrorism response, Capital Public Radio reports. Bugs 'n bombs: A training bomb for testing airport screening caused a security scare and evacuation at a Cincinnati hotel, WKRC 12 News notes. The NYPD is testing groundbreaking counterterror tech expected to dramatically increase its ability to thwart a potential radiation attack, WNYC News notes. India's National Institute of Virology is building a Bio Safety Level 4 lab to study dangerous diseases that could be used in a bioterrorist attack, BioPrepWatch reports. Bioterrorists "might not take out a city, but many would potentially die. Underestimating our enemies could be deadly," Security Debrief inveighs. Ivory (Watch) Towers: ICE has warned the University of Northern Virginia, apparently a suspected visa mill, that it could lose its authorization to enroll foreign students, The Washington Post relays. With a new bachelor's program, "Fresno State could take the lead in training the next generation of security experts to protect California from terrorist attacks," the Bee buzzes. The College of DuPage's just-approved associate's degree in homeland security will debut this fall as the Illinois college opens its Homeland Security Education Center, The Naperville Sun says. "Three winners walked away from the [University of Missouri's] United States Cyber Challenge Regional Cyber Security Boot Camp with $1,000 scholarships," The Columbia Missourian mentions. Middle Tennessee State University has partnered with a nonprofit to launch a new master's program in aviation security and safety, The Murfreesboro Daily News Journal relates. Close air support: Part of Sea-Tac Airport was evacuated due to an unattended bag left at a carousel, The Highline Times briefs. The second person to walk through a full-body scanner as part of a $6 million trial at Sydney's airport triggered the alarm three times, which screeners blamed on the passenger's sweaty armpits, The Daily Telegraph tells. Fraudulent or duplicated boarding passes could be used by imposters to board aircraft at Canadian airports and mount "attacks," The Toronto Star quotes a government review. Following a threat by the Boko Haram sect to unleash terror to mark the anniversary of the death of its leader, Nigeria has beefed up airport security, The Nigerian Tribune tells. Waterworld: "I didn't realize it, but the Coast Guard has established a Cyber Command," a Security Management a columnist takes note — while Stars and Stripes profiles a remotely operated river craft potentially useful for port or dam security and counterpiracy operations. The $184,000 on offer from DHS for a 25-foot fire-rescue vessel "is a lot of money for a small boat with a marginal role to play in our security," a Bangor (Maine) city councilor comments in the Daily News. India's post-Mumbai-assault coastal defenses were "brutally exposed" by an abandoned 1,000-ton vessel that ran aground "undetected by the new, three-tier security ring," The Hindu relates. Over there: According to an official U.K. counterterrorism notice, "if you discover anarchists living next door you must report them to police immediately," The Guardian relates — and see Reason's reaction. Olympic security officials say testing is under way for the "mammoth task" of safeguarding the 2012 London Games, ESPN relays. In the wake of the Oslo bombing and shooting spree, some European officials are now calling for increased Internet surveillance as a preventative, Deutsche Welle reports. Saudi Arabia should withdraw a draft counterterrorism law that potentially facilitates serious human rights violations, Reuters hears Human Rights Watch urging. Over here: "While the number of violent Islamists among active or former military remains extremely small at around a dozen serious cases, they've left a legacy of suspicion and fear of American Muslims in the military," CNN notes, in re: the Fort Hood plotter. Muslim Americans are more likely than any other religious community in the United States to reject violence against civilians, whether perpetrated by national armies or militant groups, The National cites from a new Gallup poll. "A confluence of factors has fueled the anti-Sharia movement . . . But the campaign's air of grass-roots spontaneity, which has been carefully promoted by advocates, shrouds its more deliberate origins," The New York Times traces. A Nova Scotia newspaper says it stands behind an editorial cartoon commenting on the Oslo massacre "depicting two men in turbans, long beards and tunics sitting on a pile of human skulls," Postmedia News mentions. Holy Wars: "People have a hard time seeing extremism in their own religion," AP muses, in re: the debate whether Norway's mass murdering Anders Behring Breivik is, in fact, a "Christian terrorist." Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto "reveals a new doctrine of civilizational war that represents the closest thing yet to a Christian version of al Qaeda," the Times assesses. "The news from Norway reminds us that Christianity is also a religion with a bloody history, and perfectly capable of creating dangerous, violent extremists just as Islam does," political comedian Bill Mahr tells, again, the Times — and check Weasel Zippers' reliably negative reaction. "The sudden, understandable alarm over violent right-wing fanaticism in Europe must not lead us to lower our guard against a form of terrorism to which some have become inured," a New York Daily News editorial counsels. "It's been hard for me get traction on how complex and convoluted a relationship there is in the world among religious ideas, political extremism, and [those] willing to use horrific violence to advance their cause," a theology professor admits in the Post. Courts and rights: The self-confessed Little Rock recruiter shooter says in a letter sent to the FBI that he also shot at the home of a rabbi in that city days earlier, AP reveals. A federal judge refused to let a Muslim file a third amended complaint claiming that a Florida church violated the First Amendment with its ultimately successful, highly publicized attempts to burn the Koran last year, Courthouse News Service notes — as another CNS item sees a federal judge allowing a man who says he was falsely labeled a terrorism fund raiser to examine the FBI background check that led the Illinois State Police to reject his application to become a Muslim chaplain. Sticks and stones: "Vice President Joe Biden ignited an international incident when he called the Tea Party "terrorists," causing the leader of al Qaeda to demand an apology," The Borowitz Report reports. "Just moments after Biden made his controversial remark, al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a video to condemn the comment, which the terrorist called 'hurtful,'" Andy Borowitz writes. "'I demand that the Vice President take back his offensive comment immediately,' al-Zawahiri said in the video, broadcast on Al-Jazeera.'It has been very bad for our brand.' Biden attempted to clarify his remark later in the day, telling reporters he in no way intended to insult the members of al Qaeda. "Both al Qaeda and the Tea Party tried to destroy the U.S. economy," Biden elaborated.'But in fairness to al Qaeda, the Tea Party came a lot closer.' " See, also, on the cover of Onion Magazine: "What Would You Do If You Saw A Mouse On An Airplane? Be Pretty Weird, Wouldn't It?" 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