CQ Behind the Lines

From CQ Homeland Security

Behind the Lines for Tuesday, July 12, 2011 — 3 P.M. By David C. Morrison, Special to Congressional Quarterly Back to the future: Pentagon's Panetta seemingly justifies U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the war against al Qaeda, defying Dem orthodoxy . . . Coming clean: San Diego hosts nation's first car wash to partner ICE in "innovative program" to ensure documentation of employees . . . Out of the frying pan: "Although transnational terrorism remains a serious concern, it does not carry the same existential threat as does the risk of a regional nuclear war." These and other stories lead today's homeland security coverage. --------------------------------- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta yesterday "appeared to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the war against al Qaeda, an argument controversially made by the Bush administration but refuted by President Obama and many Democrats," The Washington Post's Craig Whitlock reports. The absence of Islamabad from the new Pentagon boss' current travel itinerary "is enormously significant since officially Pakistan is still the United States' non-NATO ally in the so-called war on terror," The News International's Muhammad Saleh Zaafir suggests. Feds: Foggy Bottom plans to take the anti-Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization off the U.S. terror blacklist "in a bid to use the terrorist group as a proxy to launch attacks against Iranian interests," The Fars News Agency alleges. The Honolulu FBI office's plans to shift to 155,000-square-foot quarters next year reflect "growing responsibility in both criminal cases and national security, especially counterterrorism," KGMB News' Teri Okita spotlights. Then-intel analyst Nicholas Starr, severely wounded in 1993 when Mir Amal Kasi opened fire at the CIA's Virginia HQ, is "the first domestic terrorism survivor," Tammi Truax profiles for The Exeter (N.H.) News-Herald. Homies: For the first time, DHS is expanding its community-based anti-terrorism campaign to a religious group — the Jewish community, victims of past attacks in the United States, The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel's Lisa J. Huriash relates. A San Diego biz is the first car wash in the country to partner ICE in an innovative program that helps companies ensure that all employees are legal, East County Magazine mentions. DHS's Janet Napolitano plans to visit Minot, N.D., and surrounding areas tomorrow for an aerial tour of catastrophic flooding there, The Bismarck Tribune updates. State and local: The head of the counterterrorism and intel-gathering arm of Connecticut's Homeland Security shop is among the first casualties of layoffs and downsizing by the cash-strapped state, The Greenwich Time tells. Federal lawsuits have now been filed against the five states that have passed stiff immigration laws during the past 15 months, and the Supremes will likely eventually have to settle the dispute, The Christian Science Monitor surveys. A Chicago alderman has been protected by a squad of four bodyguards for 28 years, a rare perquisite, but pressure is building for the security detail to be eliminated, The Wall Street Journal spotlights. Bugs 'n bombs: After a Pender County (N.C.) Health Department employee was temporarily suspended for alleged wrongdoing, she was "reassigned to Bioterrorism and Natural Disasters," Wilmington's WWAY 3 News notes. The International Food Protection Training Institute has delivered to Louisiana State University a pilot training course, "Team Approach to Foodborne Outbreak Response," Yahoo! News relays. "In its most recent attempt at using water as a tool of terrorism, India has suddenly released extra water in the Sutlej River causing floods in dozens of villages in south Punjab," The Nation of Pakistan pounces. In conjunction with the Canadian Embassy, the Philippines military ran a three-day course "designed to instill awareness amongst first responders to crisis situations and possible terrorist attacks," The Manila Bulletin relates. Bid-ness: From his perch on a congressional subcommittee, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., insists "that DHS has a role to play in stimulating economic growth while still protecting the nation," Sunshine State News notes. A new national survey finds a majority of Americans, impelled in part by bioterrorism concerns, wanting Washington to financially support the biotech sector, MedReps.com relays. Amid constant U.S. criticism of Afghanistan's "seemingly systemic corruption, officials from both countries acknowledge that fraud and mismanagement by American companies also threatens the U.S. mission here," The Boston Globe leads. So much for security: Three employees of a Los Angeles security transport company were bound, blindfolded and locked in a vault during a million-dollar heist, KCBS 2 News notes. Close air support: A passenger on a Chicago-Frankfurt United Airlines flight had to be bound and gagged and the jet diverted to Cleveland after he refused to come out of the bathroom and then turned violent, the Plain Dealer reports. Authorities are investigating how a stun gun made it through security and onto a flight to Newark Liberty International, FOX News notes. Over a six month spree, a Fort Lauderdale airport screener stole $50,000 worth of electronics and would still be at it had he not been caught stuffing a flyer's iPad into his pants, Gizmodo mentions. "What's next? Mandatory hair shaving before boarding a flight or train? Why not also just require tattooing of your social insurance number on your arm as well? Better safe than sorry, right?" a Howe Street poster protests. Urging passengers to pack more intelligently, Edinburgh Airport says it spent $30,000 disposing of or recycling 21.7 tons of contraband items seized from passengers at checkpoints last year, BBC News notes. Railroaded: "Nearly 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is shocking that Amtrak still has no system in place that would tell officials how many passengers are on a train," The Reno Gazette-Journal jabs. Among other innovations, D.C. Metro's next generation of subway cars will boast security cameras and brighter lights, The Washington Examiner examines. "In a scene taken straight out of an American Wild West movie, masked men robbed a freight train in southern France Thursday night after blocking the railway tracks with shopping carts and metal beams," Reuters reports. Courts and rights: A Florida judge has ordered a psych evaluation for the driver of a vintage hearse loaded with replica weapons that broke down on a Miami freeway, sparking a terror scare, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel says — while The Chicago Tribune sees an 18-year-old charged after police found a suspicious package that forced the evacuation of that city's Millennium Park. The legal team defending the Fort Hood shooter "faces what seems like an impossible task of preventing a conviction and potential death sentence in one of the highest profile cases in military history," The Associated Press spotlights. "For those convicted on dubious charges of domestic terrorism, the probability of mounting a successful entrapment defense is slim to nil," Eurasia Review reminds. Strategerizing: "Hezbollah has established a vast network of operatives throughout Latin America, and even in North America, which could be used to wage terrorist attacks against American interests if the group or its Iranian patrons see fit," IPT News quotes from a hearing last week. While al Qaeda focused on the global jihad under Osama bin Laden, the speeches and writings of his Egyptian successor show that renewing his own failed jihad in Egypt has never been far from Ayman al-Zawahiri's mind, Hani Nasira writes for Terrorism Monitor. "There seems to be a shift in the M.O. of al Qaeda and its allies, which means security measures have to be updated in order to meet that threat," Digital Journal has "international counterterrorism expert Shmulik (Sam) Juchtman" prescribing. "Jihadist sympathies run deep within Pakistan, and remaining in Afghanistan serves al Qaeda's long-term goal of weakening the West militarily and economically," Malou Innocent maintains in The National Interest, stressing the difficulty of "eradicating an ideology." Talking terror: Pentagon boss Leon Panetta knows that his optimistic claim that the defeat of al Qaeda is "within reach" of the United States "won't even slightly impede the always-expanding National Security State and the War on Terror which justifies it," Salon's Glenn Greenwald grumbles. What President Obama's new counterterror strategy "fails to acknowledge are the risks, limits and consequences of waging covert offensives in countries with which the United States is not at war," Maleeha Lodhi maintains in a Khaleej Times op-ed. "International terrorism keeps high potential [sic], despite a series of successful anti-terrorist missions throughout the world," The Voice of Russia's Frolova Inessa hears Moscow's top spook telling the 10th annual meeting of security service chiefs. "Although transnational terrorism remains a serious concern, it does not carry the same existential threat as does the risk of a regional nuclear war," Greg Chaffin gauges in a Foreign Policy in Focus look at South Asian security issues. Over there: A judgment by MI5 and British police that a Mumbai-style attack in the U.K. is now less likely has prompted a reduction in the terrorist threat from "severe" to "substantial," The Guardian reports. A U.S. think-tank study, meantime, terms Britain a "hub" for exporting international terror and says it faces a problem at home as 15 convicted terrorists are due to be released before the Olympic games next year, The Daily Telegraph relates. The Obama administration has said that counterterrorism cooperation with India is a "very high priority" as it would help prevent Mumbai-type attacks in future, The Hindu recounts. DHS's inclusion of Thailand on a terrorism risk list "is not a criticism of the government's effort or handling of the global war on terrorism," Bangkok's The Nation consoles. Welcome to Really Deadwood: "The Nuevo Laredo Tourist Department has announced its newest tourist attraction, the Narco-Terrorism Tour for Gringos, to be launched Aug. 10," Glossy News notes. "'This exciting adventure will appeal to many rich gringos, we think," organizer Alberto X. Rodriguez enthuses. " 'For just 10,000 American dollars you can visit Mexico's border regions and towns where even la policia won't go. And we're sure Americans will be safe the whole time and not be shot or kidnapped.' Participants will be loaded onto armor-plated buses with bulletproof windows and blowout-resistant tires and taken on a 500-mile journey of discovery along the Mexican border through a region where more than 817 Mexican civilians have been shot just during the last month. 'Nobody comes down here anymore," says Rodriguez, "so this is our idea to bring more tourists. There's a great chance to see history in the making. Some towns even have active gang wars going on and monuments and cemeteries worth seeing.'" 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