CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly Won't get fooled again: NYPD cohort securing redeveloped Ground Zero site to boast 670 officers, more than any other station house in city . . . Not working on the railroad: "One billion taxpayer dollars later, the nation's train system is quite vulnerable to a terrorist attack" . . . Growth sector: Sponsoring, waging and resisting of terror in Pakistan worth more than $3 billion, or 6.6 percent of GDP. These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- NYPD officers assigned to Lower Manhattan to safeguard the Ground Zero site after it opens to the public for the first time since 9/11 will eventually number 670, more than any of the city's other 76 precincts and many cities' entire P.D.s, The Associated Press ' Tom Hays spotlights. "How much longer will Ground Zero be known as Ground Zero?" The Wall Street Journal 's Aaron Rutkoff queries, sketching tenth anniversary agitation by stakeholders in what is officially called One World Trade Center for closure on that 9/11 nastiness a decade back. Feds: Pentagon chief Leon Panetta "has disconcertingly started his tenure fearmongering about al Qaeda as a justification not to go beyond the president's proposed $400 billion cuts to the Defense Department over ten years," The Atlantic 's Steve Clemons chides. Terror prisoners at federal isolation units in Terre Haute, Ind., and Marion, Ohio, "are being held in conditions that civil liberties groups regard as another post-9/11 challenge to normal judicial standards," BBC News ' Paul Adams spotlights. The CIA station chief in Pakistan had to leave late last month due to post- bin Laden raid revelations he'd been running a clandestine network of U.S. and Pakistani agents without the knowledge of Pakistan's ISI , Amir Mir maintains in Asia Times . Homies: Security agents escorted DHS's Janet Napolitano ("dark blue jacket, black pants") and her nephew in and out of an opening-night Northwest D.C. screening of " Rise of the Planet of the Apes ," The Washington Post 's Reliable Source makes sure we know. A Washington State man just handed two months in prison for shining a spotlight on a CBP chopper clattering over his home has won support "from others living near the Canadian border bothered by the increased federal presence there," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 's Levi Pulkkinen relates — as Bellingham's KGMI 790 AM hears the feds admitting a need for better border relations. DHS, meantime, has named Brock Nicholson special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta, The Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer relays. Thin blue lines: New York's police commissioner itemizes in a New York Daily News op-ed the 13 terror plots his force has allegedly helped thwart since The Big One — while The Newark Star-Ledger sees the Port Authority Police promoting 38 officers. Initially nabbed by O'Hare TSA officers carrying an unauthorized Chicago P.D. badge in his bag, a police search showed a suburban Chicago man to have 50 state and federal badges in his home, The Arlington Heights Daily Herald relates. No Portland (Ore.) police yet serve on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force , even though the City Council authorized participation back in April, The Portland Tribune tells. Indianapolis' Division of Homeland Security plans to install at least a dozen more police surveillance cameras downtown in time for next year's Super Bowl game , the Star says. Bio-terrible: Five metropolitan areas that have demonstrated the ability to deliver anthrax antibiotics through the National Postal Model will receive $400,000 in HHS grants, BioPrepWatch relays — while CIDRAP News reports that a 2006 NewYork City pilot project demonstrated that a " native air sampling " strategy could be used in response to the release of an aerosolized bioweapon . Gotham, meantime, "has contracted Kennebec River Biosciences to determine the cause of any fish kills in its reservoir system and wants to know: Was it a bioterrorism event or was it a fish disease?" The Brunswick (Me.) Times Record recounts. "Quantitative analysis processes have been used to investigate the proteins involved in smallpox virus infections," Chromatography Today updates, noting that pox viruses still pose "a considerable threat ," not least from bioterrorism. Bid-ness: DHS "generously intends to funnel more than a million dollars to area malls so they can better secure their premises. The reason is simple: They asked for it," a disapproving Times of Trenton (N.J.) editorial explicates. More than any other industry, nuclear power utilities already reflect the new post-9/11 "cold war" that has "diverted billions of dollars into defense and changed the very character of the business," The Cleveland Plain Dealer leads. The state of Queensland is demanding that all locksmiths submit to fingerprinting in a nationwide crackdown on the security industry, The Australian informs. The president of an Indian think-tank tells CNBC that the sponsoring, waging and resisting of terrorism in Pakistan is worth more than $3 billion, or 6.6 percent of GDP. Iran could have nearly $5 billion in cash trapped in South Korea as sanctions stop it repatriating money from oil sales, Reuters reports. Close air support: In the second such security incident in a week, hundreds of people were pulled off of flights at Omaha's airport when a passenger tried to board with a homemade firework in his carry-on, KETV 7 News notes — while ABC News sees ex-NBA player Darius Miles arrested at St. Louis's air hub last week preparing to enplane with a loaded gun, and Bloomberg reports a US Airways jet evacuated and inspected in Philadelphia after a "threatening note" was found. While TSA's " new policy of routinely questioning passengers poses only a minor threat to civil liberties . . . there's a rather basic flaw: It hasn't yet proved to be an effective security measure ," The Boston Globe editorializes. DHS will conduct a management audit of ops at Honolulu International , responding to lawmakers' calls for a comprehensive probe after the TSA fired 36 officers for improperly screening baggage, KITV 4 News notes. Coming and going: "The bottom line is that, one billion taxpayer dollars later , the nation's train system is quite vulnerable to a terrorist attack," The Moral Liberal laments — while BioPrepWatch reminds that since 9/11 attacks on subway systems around the world have killed at least 250 people and injured some 2,000 more. Thanks to $3.5 million from DHS, the Chicago P.D.'s Marine Unit can patrol the Lake Michigan shoreline with three new patrol and rescue boats , NBC Chicago notes. The Jackson County Sheriff tells The Mississippi Press that a $358,485 port security grant will provide new training and equipment to monitor and protect critical business at the Port of Pascagoula . The U.K.'s top government terror expert , finally, warns The Sunday Mercury "that Birmingham faces a new threat from poorly guarded ports." As goes Norway: "Who deserves the blame for the terrorist attacks in Norway ? My answer would be the perpetrator and no one else — unless it turns out there really is a modern Knights Templar . . . that sent him on his mission of mass murder," The National Review 's Clifford D. May maintains. "The despicable but successful attacks in Norway by Anders Breivik stand in contrast to al Qaeda's difficulties ... There is a risk that growing Islamist trends in Scandinavia will be overshadowed because of the shock caused by Breivik's attacks," Ryan Mauro reasons for FrontPage Magazine . "If the Oslo terrorist suspect Anders was Ahmad , the blame game would have revealed a double standard ," Joseph Wakim argues for The Australian Broadcast Corp . Talking terror: Post-Osama bin Laden "there is a possibility that we are being lulled into a false sense of complacency that will allow al Qaeda and other radical groups to stage a resurgence," Max Boot broods in the Los Angeles Times . The new White House plan aimed at preventing domestically based violent extremism "offers little substance, and seems more concerned with not offending the U.S. Muslim community," Ed Husain critiques in a CFR First Take — while Rep. Susan Myrick , R-S.C., tells AP that the strategy "raises more questions to me than it answers." "It took years after 9/11 for policy makers to realize they could draw on Cold War-style thinking and skullduggery to protect America from its new global enemies," The New York Times ' Eric Schmitt and Thom Shankar lead. Over there: Saudi Arabia has revised an anti-terrorism law and made it less severe than a leaked version that was heavily criticized by human rights groups, Reuters reports. Sentencing a man to 10 years in prison for burning alive his newlywed 18-year-old bride for dowry, a federal judge in New Delhi compared the all too common crime with "terrorism," The Economic Times tells. Citing a recently leaked intel document , a former CSIS spy warns The Toronto Sun that the incident "casts a glaring light on weaknesses" in Canada's ability to try terror cases. Courts and rights: A Nigerian American arrested after using expired boarding passes in other people's names has agreed to plead guilty to a federal stowaway charge, the L.A. Times tells. The attorney for a Florida imam accused of supporting terrorists wants to learn the identity of a key FBI informant, The Miami Herald relays. A federal judge in Spokane last week denied motions from attorneys representing domestic terrorism suspect Kevin Harpham , allowing evidence of racist postings found on his computers to be used at trial, The Spokesman-Review reports. A suspected illegal immigrant is accused of running a Maryland-based operation to create fake green cards and Social Security cards for other illegal aliens, The Washington Examiner informs. Full Faith and Credit Clause: "Just days after downgrading the credit rating of the United States, Standard & Poor's was on high alert this morning after an unmanned Predator drone was seen hovering over its headquarters in lower Manhattan ," The Borowitz Report reports. "While the mission of the Predator was unclear, some insiders speculated that S&P might be in for a downgrade of its own," Andy Borowitz writes. "The Predator appeared in the skies above the company's headquarters minutes after it was rumored that S&P was about to downgrade the United States to the same status as Pluto . At the White House, President Obama offered no comment on the drone's mission , saying only, 'The Predator is an effective weapon against the enemies of the United States of America.'" See also, in The Onion : "Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition ." 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.