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ON LAND, IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA SSI MEANS SECURITY.
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November 2009 |
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Your Bi-monthly Homeland Security News Source |
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Terrorist plotter danger 'has not passed,' says AG
By Louis Chunovic
 In the wake of the recent arrests in New York and Colorado that disrupted an alleged terrorist plot, Attorney General Eric Holder has warned that the danger posed by Najibullah Zazi and other plotters has not passed. "I caution that our work continues in that matter," the AG said in a speech last week at the University of Maine, in which he called the the alleged plot "one of the most serious threats this nation has faced since 9-11." The plot, he said, was "serious, developed, and had it not been disrupted, it could have led to the loss of American lives."
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NEW CRC Press Book Explores U.S. Terrorism Policy in the Wake of Aviation Security Threats
 Beginning with a historical backdrop describing the dawn of the age of global terrorism in the 1960s and continuing up until the present time, this volume demonstrates the broad social and political context underlying the aviation security system that was in place on September 11th and the system that has evolved in response to the 9/11 attacks. Examining ongoing threats and vulnerabilities, the book describes how they have come to shape U.S. policy and strategy. Topics discussed include legislation, intelligence gathering, best practices for risk management, in-flight security measures, and passenger, baggage, and employee screening methods.
List Price: $79.95
Discounted Price: $67.96
Cat. #: AU7029 ISBN: 9781420070293 Pub Date: Sept. 2009 Pages: 439 Apply discount Code 618LA at Checkout to Receive 15% Off the List Price!
Secure your Copies Today! |
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New Strategies Considered to Curb US-Mexico Drug Trade
by Alicia Lozano
Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder said the U.S. dealt a "significant blow" to one of Mexico's most reviled drug cartels in a massive 19-state drug raid. More than 300 people connected to La Familia were arrested and $32 million in U.S. currency was seized over two days.
Though new to the drug trade, the Michoacan-based La Familia has emerged as one of Mexico's deadliest cartels. The group started several years ago as a vigilante anti-drug organization but eventually evolved into a ruthless supplier and manufacturer of methamphetamine and cocaine, according to media reports.
Law enforcement indicated that the raids would cripple the notorious cartel, infamous for beheading their victims. In addition to the arrests, authorities seized 29 pounds of heroin, 2,700 pounds of methamphetamine, 4,400 pounds of cocaine, and 16,000 pounds of marijuana.
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Detroit Mosque Leader Killed in FBI Raid
By Paul Egan and Oralandar Brand-Williams
 The leader of a Detroit mosque who allegedly espoused violence and separatism was shot and killed Wednesday by the FBI in a gun battle at a Dearborn warehouse.
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was being arrested on a raft of federal charges including conspiracy, receipt of stolen goods, and firearms offenses.
Charges were also filed against 11 of Abdullah's followers. Eight were in custody Wednesday night awaiting detention hearings today; three remained at large.
A federal complaint filed Wednesday identified Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group." His black Muslim group calls itself "Ummah," or the brotherhood, and wants to establish a separate state within the United States governed by Sharia law, Interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg and Andrew Arena, FBI special agent in charge in Detroit, said in a joint statement.
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Train Hard - Play Hard!
The scope of this training is to teach SWAT team members how to conduct an operation with the special characteristics peculiar to terrorist incidents and accomplish the mission, whether there are hostages involved, IED's, booby traps, or suicide terrorists with maximum safety for: citizens, team members and surrounding assets. By nature, the operation may become more similar to a military operation because, as mentioned above, this is a criminal act with a strategic goal. It is part of an ideological struggle against a state or population and may be carried out by a professional team of well equipped terrorist subjects.
For more information on hosting an SSI SWAT Counter Terrorism Course at your agency, please contact Sol Bradman at (305) 302-2790.
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Old Trick Threatens the Newest Weapons by John Markoff
Despite a six-year effort to build trusted computer chips for military systems, the Pentagon now manufactures in secure facilities run by American companies only about 2 percent of the more than $3.5 billion of integrated circuits bought annually for use in military gear.
That shortfall is viewed with concern by current and former United States military and intelligence  agency executives who argue that the menace of so-called Trojan horses hidden in equipment circuitry is among the most severe threats the nation faces in the event of a war in which communications and weaponry rely on computer technology.
As advanced systems like aircraft, missiles and radars have become dependent on their computing capabilities, the specter of subversion causing weapons to fail in times of crisis, or secretly corrupting crucial data, has come to haunt military planners. The problem has grown more severe as most American semiconductor manufacturing plants have moved offshore.
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Chicago terrorism case inverts a common fear
This time, it's a U.S. citizen accused of traveling outside the country to plot a terrorist attack.
It is a worrisome first: an American accused of going to Europe to plot a terrorist attack there. Recent arrests in Chicago underscore a growing concern among Western officials about the threat  posed by U.S. militants who take advantage of their passports to travel easily around the world on violent missions. "We never thought it could be persons from the U.S. coming here to commit attacks," said Hans Jorgen Bonnichsen, a former chief of Denmark's police security intelligence service. "This shows a new tendency." The Chicago case centers on David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani American businessman who allegedly traveled to Denmark to plot an attack on a newspaper targeted by Islamic extremists because it published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
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 Homeland1.com is revolutionizing the way in which the homeland security community finds relevant news, identifies important training information, interacts with each other and researches product purchases. It is becoming the most comprehensive and trusted online destination for industry personnel and aspiring professionals alike. |
The Hunt for the Kill Switch by Sally Adee
Last September, Israeli jets bombed a suspected nuclear installation in northeastern Syria. Among the many mysteries still surrounding that strike was the failure of a Syrian radar--supposedly state-of-the-art--to warn the Syrian military of the incoming assault. It wasn't long before military and technology bloggers concluded that this was an incident of electronic warfare--and not just any kind.
Post after post speculated that the commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors in the Syrian  radar might have been purposely fabricated with a hidden "backdoor" inside. By sending a preprogrammed code to those chips, an unknown antagonist had disrupted the chips' function and temporarily blocked the radar.
That same basic scenario is cropping up more frequently lately, and not just in the Middle East, where conspiracy theories abound. According to a U.S. defense contractor who spoke on condition of anonymity, a "European chip maker" recently built into its microprocessors a kill switch that could be accessed remotely. French defense contractors have used the chips in military equipment, the contractor told IEEE Spectrum . If in the future the equipment fell into hostile hands, "the French wanted a way to disable that circuit," he said.
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Puerto Rico firefighters work to contain massive fuel blaze
from CNN
A raging blaze at a fuel storage complex in Puerto Rico lit up the night sky Friday near San Juan as firefighters battled to keep it from spreading further.
Fifteen of the 40 tanks at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. facility in the city of Bayamon were  ablaze more than 19 hours after an explosion of unknown origin rocked the complex, Gov. Luis Fortuno said at an evening news conference. The governor had put the tally at 11 a few hours earlier. "I don't think there's ever been a fire like this in Puerto Rico," Fire Lt. Jose Atorre told CNN affiliate WLII-TV.
The fire started shortly after midnight, when at least one fuel tank exploded. Residents described a surreal scene after the blast woke them from their sleep and shattered windows miles away.
"I was in bed and all of a sudden heard this really horrible sound, so I ran upstairs and thought the whole town had blown up," said Teo Freytes, who filed an iReport for CNN.
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Deadly Bombings, worst Iraq attack in two years
from CNN
Twin car bombs exploded near three Iraqi government buildings Sunday in central Baghdad, killing at least 132 people. It was the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years. More than 500 people were wounded.
The blasts had ripple effects throughout the country, triggering questions about the state of Iraqi security and about national elections planned for January.
No one immediately claimed responsibility.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to punish "the enemies of the Iraqi people who want to spread chaos in the country and derail the political process and prevent the parliamentary elections from taking place as planned." Read On... |
New Product from SSI: BlastSax®
Security Solutions International is proud to introduce BlastSax® TMD (Transportable Mitigation Device). The patent pending BlastSax® devices are engineered for the military, private industry and public safety to save lives in the field during wartime, training, industrial construction and homeland terrorist attacks. BlastSax® are extremely lightweight, portable and always ready to deploy in seconds.
When dry, each is less than 1 lb. They activate in less than three minutes with water and deploy to a 50 lbs blast absorbing cushion. BlastSax® can provide protection against incendiary devices and can stop a variety of firearm rounds.
In addition to suppressing shock waves from an explosion, BlastSax® can assist in containing the flash, smoke and most importantly the fragmentation or "frag". A unique feature that was engineered into BlastSax® is its capability to "capture" and "cool" hot frag pieces to assist in forensic analysis for a more complete reconstruction of the device.
BlastSax® can assist to:
- Reduce demand on resources
- Considerably reduce blasts
- Contain blast frag pieces and contaminants
- Save lives & protect property from blasts or flood water (see FloodSax®)
Learn More... |
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The pocket spy: Will your smartphone rat you out?
By Linda Geddes
There are certain things you do not want to share with strangers. In my case it was a stream of highly personal text messages from my husband, sent during the early days of our relationship. Etched on my phone's SIM card - but invisible on my current handset and thus forgotten - here they now are, displayed in all their brazen glory on a stranger's computer screen.
I've just walked into a windowless room on an industrial estate in Tamworth, UK, where three  cellphone analysts in blue shirts sit at their terminals, scrutinising the contents of my phone and smirking. "If it's any consolation, we would have found them even if you had deleted them," says one.
Worse, it seems embarrassing text messages aren't the only thing I have to worry about: "Is this a photo of your office?" another asks (the answer is yes). "And did you enjoy your pizza on Monday night? And why did you divert from your normal route to work to visit this address in Camberwell, London, on Saturday?"
A decade ago, our phones' memories could just about handle text messages and a contacts book. These days, the latest smartphones incorporate GPS, Wi-Fi connectivity and motion sensors. They automatically download your emails and appointments from your office computer, and come with the ability to track other individuals in your immediate vicinity. And there's a lot more to come. Among other things, you could be using the next generation of phones to keep tabs on your health, store cash and make small transactions - something that's already happening in east Asia.
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TSA Behavior Detection Efforts Under Fire Again By Anthony L. Kimery
 Undercover Government Accountability Office investigators in recent years have gotten past Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners with components to make unconventional explosives at airports that do not have the technology to detect such materials. Meanwhile, highly motivated, well-resourced terrorists continue to experiment with novel new ways to destroy passenger planes.
Taking all that into consideration, TSA and counterterror officials believe it makes perfect sense to continue to use - and expand - TSA's airport behavior detection program, which statistics indicate works, regardless of whether it has yet to disrupt a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft.
In the United States since January 2006, there have been more than 1,575 arrests resulting from TSA's Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) referrals, TSA told HToday.us.
"These passengers met a threshold and our highly trained Behavior Detection Officers [BDOs] referred them for either additional screening or to law enforcement," TSA spokesman Greg Soule told HSToday.us Wednesday.
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