CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Tuesday, April 26, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly A common complaint: "There's something fishy going on over there at the Department of Homeland Security," Judicial Watch believes . . . Thy rod and thy reel: Alabama hosts free Homeland Security Bass Tournament to reward plucky first responders ... This week's worry: Al Qaeda targeting U.K.-bound flights from Pakistan "using undetectable chemical explosives available in liquid form." These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- An 18-year-old man was booked on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly firing on an LAPD helicopter, rupturing its fuel tank and forcing an emergency landing, the Los Angeles Times' Corina Knoll and Andrew Blankstein report. In a federal courtroom in Seattle yesterday, a Washington State man went on trial on charges of intentionally endangering two CBP agents by shining a spotlight on their helicopter, The Bellingham Herald's Peter Jensen curtain-raises. Feds: Touring the Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center yesterday, DHS's Janet Napolitano asked the public to remain vigilant of any suspicious activity at the Port of Los Angeles, The Times' Catherine Saillant mentions. ICE has not consistently implemented an initiative to scrutinize U.S. visa applicants and still has not expanded the program to many high-risk countries, Homeland Security Today's Mickey McCarter sees a recent GAO report rebuking. On the eve of his departure, DHS's outspoken mouthpiece is accused of threatening in an email to "f****ing decapitate" ICE press office staffers, Judson Berger reveals for FOX News. Bad Homies, no donuts: "Has anyone noticed that Ol' Nappy (Janet Napolitano) has become even less coherent as Secretary of Homeland Security than she was as our spy camera-loving governor?" Arizona automated ticketing foe CameraFraud.com condemns — as News Hounds' Ellen Brodsky hears comic Dennis Miller on FOX News, again, repeatedly referencing the oft-gay bashed Napolitano as "Frank Lutz." In recent weeks, "ICE has been accused of surrounding an elementary school, conducting warrantless, illegal searches and refusing to let a pregnant woman have access to her medication while in detention," Arab American News' Natasha Dado denounces. "There's something fishy going on over there at [DHS]. And we're trying to get to the bottom of it," Tom Fitton announces in Right Side News, in re: Judicial Watch's efforts to pry loose docs related to a nun-killing, drunken-driving undeported illegal. Bid-ness: A consortium seeks to land a federal regional center of excellence for drugs and vaccines with which to respond to a national bioterror incident, Inside INdiana Business spotlights — while The Niagara Gazette sees New York's Niagara County hiring a lobbying firm "to help it shape the form and substance of a homeland security administration." Washington State's newly rehabbed Pacific Northwest National Laboratory sports two sub-labs "to develop radiation detection methods needed for identifying weapons of mass destruction and terrorist activities," The Tri-City Herald curtain-raises — while United Press International informs of a solar power systems company and a manufacturer of military and homeland security trailers integrating their product lines. State and local: "Law enforcement agencies in northern border states for now will still be able to receive border protection grants after Congress nixed an attempt to limit the money to the Southwest," The Associated Press reports. An earthquake prep video game for kids commissioned by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force for Thursday's Midwest quake exercise is striking sparks, The Examiner relates. A half-dozen North Jersey counties are engaged all this week in a homeland exercise testing the Metro Urban Search and Rescue Strike Team's response to terror attacks and the like, The Suburban News notes. Some 300 military and first responders participated in a free Alabama Homeland Security Bass Tournament, staged exclusively for them, Huntsville's WAAY 31 News notes — while The Banning Patch sees southern California officials readying, under the slogan: "Be prepared, not scared," for the 6th Annual Banning Disaster Preparedness Expo on April 30. Know nukes: "More than 65 years after atomic bombs laid waste to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fatally sickening thousands not killed outright, even unfounded fear of radioactive contamination can spark panic," Agence France-Presse essays. "Is there a genuine risk to public security if contaminated materials get into the wrong hands in Japan?" Matthew R. Auer asks and answers in a McClatchy News Service op-ed. "Nuclear terrorism is inextricably linked to the broader phenomenon of terrorism.As the cycle of violence escalates, the use of weapons of mass destruction has become more attractive to terrorist groups like al Qaeda," an academic expert explains in a Huffington Post Q&A — as The Voice of Russia hears the U.N. Security Council last week unanimously approving a resolution urging "joint efforts to prevent and suppress acts of nuclear terrorism." Bugs 'n bombs: Multi-agent prophylaxis initiated within 24 hours post-infection prevents fatal anthrax respiratory disease, and antibiotic-immunizing treatment confers long-term protective immunity, Infection Control Today informs. The University of Texas and the Scripps Research Institute share a $4.8 million grant to perfect a vaccine for Junin virus, a deadly Argentine hemorrhagic fever pathogen IDed as a potential bioterrorism threat, The Galveston County Daily News relays. Al Qaeda is planning to target U.K.-bound flights taking off from Pakistani airports, using undetectable chemical explosives available in liquid form, ANI learns from Pak-intel reports. Close air support: By the time DNC delegates land in Charlotte, N.C., for their convention next year, expect to see law enforcers swarming in and around the city's airport, WBTV 3 News forecasts. A Philly airport screener faces charges of distributing more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook, the Inquirer informs. JetBlue plans to add a "fast-track" security option that will give top-fare customers access to elite security lanes at airports where such an option exists, USA Today tells. "Sydney Airport has issued an unreserved apology after a security breach left thousands of passengers stranded and as budget airline Jetstar says it will seek damages over the disruption," The Australian Associated Press leads. Borderline personalities: Much of the problem in getting comprehensive immigration reform rolling is the lack of clarity as to what it means exactly to "secure" the border, The American Prospect propounds. DHS is forcing Maryland's Montgomery County to participate in an ICE deportation program for illegal immigrant felons that officials have resisted implementing, The Washington Examiner informs — while The McAllen Monitor sees a bill eliminating a Secure Communities loophole passing a Texas state Senate committee. Alabama's Senate has approved an Arizona-style immigration bill allowing law enforcers to detain those they suspect of being in the country illegally, The Birmingham News notes — as Reuters charts the deep divisions that continue to roil Arizona a year after its landmark bill passed. See, also, new from CRS: "Asylum and 'Credible Fear' Issues in U.S. Immigration Policy." Talking terror: "Terrorism isn't labor-intensive. It doesn't take many terrorists to cause a lot of harm," George Jonas advises in The National Post, referencing, in particular, the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. "Many Libyan rebels are devout Muslims; some have even supported al Qaeda against U.S. troops abroad. But Western support has raised their opinion of the United States," The Christian Science Monitor's Dan Murphy assesses. "There are worrying signs that Salafist jihadism movements in the Arab world are suddenly regrouping and relaunching themselves on the scene in the wake of popular uprisings," Osama Al Sharif alerts for Arab News. "Suicide terrorism has emerged as a modern insurgency tactic since the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan and its illegal drone attacks in Pakistan," Musa Khan Jalalzai blame-lays in a Lahore Daily Times op-ed. Fear Index: A U.K.-based psychic who warned the CIA just prior to 9/11 that Manhattan towers were in danger of being hit by aircraft reports "a new vision of another skyscraper collapse," Gary S. Bekkum leads in The American Chronicle. "Through its diplomatic channels Azerbaijan should communicate to the world how it is urgent to take steps to fight a new wave of Armenian terrorism," News.Az alerts. Irish security chiefs "have drawn up two plans for the forthcoming visits of the Queen and U.S. President Barack Obama — one dealing with dissident republicans and the other for Islamic extremists," The Belfast Telegraph's Tom Brady relates. Meanwhile, ABC News' Richard Esposito reports, Brit securicrats worry that Irish terrorists may target Kate and William's royal nuptials — as FOX News quotes a CIA agent's observation that highly intrusive security measures for Friday's royal wedding in London would "never fly" in the United States. Over there: Al-Qaeda-in-the-Islamic-Maghreb is building a new base in Mali near the Mauritanian border for attacks on that country, AFP learns from "security sources." Europol worries that terrorists may seek entry into the E.U. by concealing themselves among waves of migrants fleeing North African trouble spots, The Malta Independent informs. Jordan's State Security Court on Sunday charged 146 Islamist extremists with plotting to carry out "acts of terrorism," Deutsche Presse Agentur quotes judicial sources — asArab News learns that Saudi Arabia currently has 1,325 non-Saudis on trial for direct or indirect involvement in terror plots. Kenyan authorities, meantime, boosted security at border entry points before transferring three suspected terrorists arrested along the Somali border to the anti-terrorism police unit in Nairobi, Chinese Radio International informs. Graveyard shift: "Rebel forces hoping to oust Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi confirmed today that they were having difficulties coordinating their rebellion while still working a full 40-hour week at their other jobs," The Onion reports. "'Obviously I'd love to combat Qaddafi's army and win our nation's freedom all day, but the reality is I've got to make a living here and my boss is pretty stingy about time off,' said Libyan resistance fighter and day-shift cab driver Husni Deghayes, adding that while he occasionally lobs a few grenades at government forces on his lunch break, he rarely has time to do so before he has to rush back and clock in again. 'Plus, I'm a father. So really I have three full-time jobs.' Deghayes went on to tell reporters that the situation is unlikely to get any easier, as he has to cover a number of upcoming shifts for his coworker who got killed in a skirmish outside Benghazi last night." Check also, in The Onion Review: "268 Feral Cats Removed From U.N Headquarters." 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