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The Counter Terrorist Your bi-monthly update on Homeland Security
Terrorist Screening Chief: Biometrics Crucial to Accuracy Despite improvements to the national consolidated Terrorist Watch List, as long as the database uses names rather than biometrics to chronicle suspected terrorists, it remains vulnerable to fraudulent identification, the Terrorist Screening Center's director said.
"We have to rely on our sources of information," said Leonard Boyle, TSC's director, at a Nov. 8 hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee. "But if law enforcement or the intelligence community doesn't pick up on that name change, yes that creates a vulnerability."
Biometrics are the surest way to verify travelers' identity, and TSC is working with partner agencies to develop ways to use the technology to "to better capture the true identity of the person," he added.
SSI Signs Deal with HTA for Intellligence Subscription Service Homeland Security BOOST - Bulletin of Open Source Threats
Miami-based SSI announced this week that it had signed a deal with Israel's most cutting edge defense contractor Hazard Threat Analysis, founded by Gadi Aviran. HTA supplies specialized intelligence services to Governments that are confronting the threat of Jihad. By technological and human analysis HTA is able to gleen specific threat information from the Jihad's most used resource - The Internet.
"It's an open secret that we are short of good analysts capable of understanding the nuances of Jihadi Internet sites and deciphering specific threats from these, " says Henry Morgenstern, President of SSI. "By representing HTA and together with them, creating a subscription service for Federal, State and Local agencies we are helping America's First Responders protect our country."
Gadi Aviran, CEO of HTA, is one of Israel's leading authorities in the field of Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and Improvised Explosive Devises (IED) Disposal. Before founding HTA in 2004, Mr. Aviran spent nearly a decade serving as the head of the Technical Intelligence Analysis desk in the Production Division of the Israel Defense Force's Military Intelligence directorate.
According to Mr. Aviran, "We are capable of collecting web-based Jihadi-affiliated threats and supplying timely intelligence reports. Compiling, translating and analyzing these threats, as well as post-incident analysis including finding the culprits, is our area of focus. We invest in careful, detailed analysis and understand the nuances of the Jihadi website to create the best OSINT available."
For further information please call Henry Morgenstern on 305-401-6906 or 1-866-573-3999 ext. 105
Portugal Urged to Extradite Suspect in Terrorist Threats to Three South Florida Banks By Vanessa Blum
Federal prosecutors are pressing the Portuguese government to turn over a man they say phoned in terrorist threats to three South Florida banks in March after a bungled bank heist.
Allan Sharif, a dual citizen of the United States and Portugal, is charged with threatening to blow up the Miami Beach branch of the Commercial Bank of Florida unless he received $20,000.
Later on the same day, Sharif made threatening phone calls to two other banks demanding the release of a man arrested during the robbery attempt, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Trial Starts in Probe of Muslim Charity By Lee Hammel
BOSTON- It may be a case about taxes and false statements, but it's anything but a guy who claimed too many expenses on his tax return.
Instead, it is a Shrewsbury man, a former Worcester man, and a Braintree man investigated by not only the Internal Revenue Service, but also by the FBI as part of the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The three men, all Muslims born in the Middle East, helped to run a charity that the government says supported and helped promote Islamic Holy War and the mujahedin who helped wage it.
Yesterday began the arduous task of choosing a jury to try Muhamed Mubayyid, 42, of Shrewsbury; Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, 42, of Braintree; and Samir Al-Monla, 50, formerly of 45 Williamsburg Drive, Worcester, and now of Boston, on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States, scheming to conceal material facts, and obstructing and impeding the IRS.
Smoking Backpack Found in Arizona Airport By Terry Tang
PHOENIX (AP) - A backpack caught fire Tuesday in the cargo area at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, leading to an evacuation, but authorities said the flames were likely caused by heat from a conveyor belt. The bag contained no explosives or other banned items, just leaking toiletries.
Phoenix police Lt. Rick Gehlbach said the backpack likely began to smoke after it got jammed between two larger pieces of luggage on a conveyor belt.
The impact probably caused toiletries containing alcohol to leak, and a combination of heat from the conveyor belt and its track rubbing against the backpack caused it to catch fire, Gehlbach said.
Anaheim, CA - February 14th and 15th, 2008 Yakima, WA - February 22nd and 23rd, 2008
No 'Electronic Jihad,' But Serious Threat By Gautham Nagesh
Rumors of a pending cyber-jihad led by Al Qaeda that was set to take place yesterday seemed to have been overblown.
Information security expert Paul Henry, vice president of Technology Evangelism at Secure Computing, told us last week, "The bottom line is that this is nothing to panic over. The Internet is not going to come crashing down on Nov. 11."
The Israeli online military intelligence magazine DEBKAfile was the first to report rumors that followers of Osama Bin Laden were planning to launch a large-scale attack on Western networks and servers on Sunday, Nov. 11, using an "Electronic Jihad" program. The report was met with a good bit of skepticism across the web. DEBKAfile also reported in 2003 that Saddam Hussein would be using weapons of mass destruction against U.S. troops. Still, Henry cautioned that while the threat isn't serious, he said organizations should still exercise caution.
The Bishop, a Time Domain Reduction System, is a unique directed energy platform designed specifically for EOD operations and bomb technicians. The high-frequency generator produces a continuous electromagnetic wave which is focused on the target circuitry. The Bishop serves as a front line tool in Render Safe operations.
CELL PHONE JAMMERS FOR SWAT and Special Operations Available!
Project Seeks to Track Terror Web Posts By Arthur H Rotstein
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The quivering images and militant writings are frightening: an exploding Humvee blankets passing cars with dust; a lab technician makes explosives, step by step; hatred oozes from "A guide to kill Americans in Saudi Arabia."
Tens of thousands of Web pages are now devoted to terrorist propaganda designed to attract followers. On the surface, the messages and videos reveal little about their creators. But programmers and writers leave digital clues: the greetings and other words they choose, their punctuation and syntax, and the way they code multimedia attachments and Web links.
Researchers at the University of Arizona are developing a tool that uses these clues to automate the analysis of online jihadism. The Dark Web project aims to scour Web sites, forums and chat rooms to find the Internet's most prolific and influential jihadists and learn how they reel in adherents.
Suitcase Nukes Said Unlikely to Exist By Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have warned about the dangers of suitcase nuclear weapons. Hollywood has made television shows and movies about them. Even the Federal Emergency Management Agency has alerted Americans to a threat - information the White House includes on its Web site.
But government experts and intelligence officials say such a threat gets vastly more attention than it deserves. These officials said a true suitcase nuke would be highly complex to produce, require significant upkeep and cost a small fortune.
Counterproliferation authorities do not completely rule out the possibility that these portable devices once existed. But they do not think the threat remains.
"The suitcase nuke is an exciting topic that really lends itself to movies," said Vahid Majidi, the assistant director of the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. "No one has been able to truly identify the existence of these devices."
BLAINE - Tucked in the rural countryside where rusted car bodies are buried under dense blackberry vines and paved roads abruptly give way to gravel is the Smuggler's Inn, a bed and breakfast literally on the U.S.-Canadian border.
Rooms come equipped with night vision binoculars so guests can track the almost nightly catand- mouse game between Border Patrol agents and those trying to sneak into the United States. Over the past three years, 105 people have been arrested in the inn's yard. Just mowing the lawn can accidentally trip hidden sensors, prompting a flyover by Border Patrol helicopters, said Bob Boule, the inn's operator.
Life along the border can be unpredictable. At most points, the only thing separating Zero Avenue in Canada from the houses, fields, woods and narrow roads of the United States is a shallow, 3-foot ditch or a metal highway guardrail. Security cameras on tall poles swivel to track suspicious vehicles. Border Patrol cars barrel around corners to confront uncertain threats.
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