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ON LAND, IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA SSI MEANS SECURITY.
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November Mid-Month 2009 |
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Your Bi-monthly Homeland Security News Source |
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Fort Hood Shooting Suspect Sent Money to Pakistan
By Dave Michaels and Lee Hancock
An Austin congressman said Thursday that he has confirmed that Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasanwired money to Pakistan, which Muslim extremist groups use as a base to raise funds and carry out terrorist attacks.
Rep. Michael McCaul's statement followed a Dallas Morning News report that authorities were looking into whether such wire transfers had occurred. It also came as Army officials announced charges of premeditated murder against Hasan, who could face the death penalty.
"I have confirmed through independent sources that there were communications and wire transfers made to Pakistan," McCaul said in a prepared statement provided by his spokesman. "This Pakistan connection just raises more red flags about this case and demonstrates why it's important for Congressto exercise its oversight authority."
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by Evan Kohlmann - Foreign Police (Argument)
Upon learning of the reported "missed" link between the alleged culprit responsible for the massacre at Ft. Hood -- Maj. Malik Nidal Hasan -- and Anwar al Awlaki, my heart sank for a multitude of reasons. Al Awlaki is an infamous character in the halls of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and he has been for several years at least. The cleric's recurring presence again in the Ft. Hood case seems to be powerful and disturbing evidence of how fringe extremists -- who otherwise might remain in obscurity with no real means of living out their private jihadi fantasies -- are quite literally being equipped for battle by so-called "theological" advisors known only to them through the Internet. In short, it is a reminder of how real online terrorism networks have become.
In mid-2008, I was invited by the FBI to look at the voluminous evidence they had gathered against a group of defendants who were caught plotting to attack various military installations on the East Coast, including Fort Dix in New Jersey. At first, I was a skeptic. Most of the men under scrutiny were Westernized Albanian Muslims who spoke little to no Arabic, were into hip-hop music, and were working as pizza delivery boys and taxi drivers. They didn't have any obvious connection to al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, they had never visited a real terrorist training camp, and they cut a pretty kooky appearance. They certainly didn't seem to fit the classical terrorist stereotype.
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New Yorkers Cry for 9/11 Plotters' Execution
By Rebecca Rosenberg and Carl Campanile
Outraged New Yorkers said yesterday that admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terrorists deserve to be put to death -- and some even volunteered for the job.
"Kill them without a trial. Just a bullet in the head and say goodbye. Why waste taxpayer money?" said Thomas Pland, 70, a truck driver from Astoria, Queens.
"If they want me to do it," he added, "I will."
Mike Keane, owner of O'Hara's Restaurant & Pub a block from Ground Zero, said: "They should have taken care of them in Guantanamo Bay. Hang them there. It would have been quicker and easier."
Families of 9/11 victims slammed the White House for affording the mass murderers the same legal rights as Americans, instead of prosecuting them as foreign enemies in military tribunals.
"I'm a hundred thousand percent against this move. They're war criminals!" said retired firefighter Joe Holland, whose son, Joseph III, a commodities trader, died in the World Trade Center's north tower.
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Analyze your Security Risk and Critical Infrastructure with Two New and Timely Books from CRC Press, A Leading Publisher in Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
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Keeping pace with changes in laws and policies made by the Department of Homeland Security, this new edition continues to provide an invaluable resource for emergency managers and disaster response professionals as well as public safety officials and those involved with maintaining infrastructure. It adds information to reflect the development of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the total revision of National Response Plan (NRP), which were implemented this year. The book expands sections on the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Homeland Security Presidential Directives and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisitions Systems (SCADA) security initiatives.
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Marine Special Operations 2009 - December 8th-11th
Tactical handcuffing - High Risk Boarding's - Exotic Weapons Identification - Marine Medical Equipment - Counter Terrorism Training
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Domestic crimes may be considered 'terrorist' acts from Wisconsin Law Journal
Radical environmentalists may not see themselves as terrorists, but asked whether a terrorism enhancement applies to their sentences for destroying government property, the Seventh Circuit found the issue clear cut.
On Nov. 9, the court affirmed application of U.S.S.G. 3A1.4 to members of the Earth Liberation Front who destroyed several research projects at a U.S. Forest Service facility in Rhinelander. 
In 2000, the defendants, Katherine Christianson and Bryan Rivera, and two others entered the facility and damaged or destroyed more than 500 trees that were part of a genetic engineering experiment, either by cutting them down or girdling them. ("Girdling" consists of removing a strip of bark from around a tree's entire circumstance, causing eventual death.)
Christianson and Rivera were implicated in 2007, when one of the other conspirators was arrested for the attempted bombing of the Michigan Tech University campus.
They pleaded guilty to willfully injuring property belonging to the United States; at sentencing, U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb applied the terrorism enhancement.
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NEW COURSE:
Middle Eastern Culture and Terrorist Strategies
Upcoming: May 10-12, 2010
Hosted by MBTA (Quincy, MA)
In a fascinating, insightful and packed three-day program, you are taken through the formative phases of the Islamic religion and will understand the different branches of Islam, understand how these were formed and on what ideology they are based. You are taken through a journey up to the present time, to really understand how extremism is organized in Radical Islam. You will also get practical hands-on information on recognizing Suicide Bombers, planning and changing protocols to respond to acts of terror, the detection of terrorists through fake ID's and the basics of their tools such as IED and VBIED's.
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Police, hospitals eye security link, training
Boston police and hospital security staff are considering plans to link their radio communications and to conduct training for "active shooter" scenarios after a psychiatric patient was shot dead last week at a doctor's office.
Security directors from 18 hospitals met yesterday at Boston police headquarters to discuss security, intelligence sharing and other issues facing hospital safety personnel, said police Superintendent in Chief Daniel Linskey. 
Linskey said police want to improve radio communications between law enforcement and hospital security personnel and hold drills to simulate an active shooter scenario in a hospital setting.
He also said hospital security personnel have to be mindful of helping police preserve evidence and identify witnesses in situations where crime victims show up for treatment or violence erupts at the hospital.
The session was set up after a person was stabbed in an emergency waiting room at Boston Medical Center on Oct. 25, but became more urgent after Jay Carciero, 37, was shot dead while stabbing Dr. Astrid Desrosiers at a Massachusetts General Hospital office a few days later.
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For more information on hosting an SSI SWAT CTU OPS Course for your agency, please contact Sol Bradman at (305) 302-2790.
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Improving Security with Face Recognition Technology from University of Miami
A number of U.S. states now use facial recognition technology when issuing drivers licenses. Similar methods are also used to grant access to buildings and to verify the identities of international travelers. Historically, obtaining accurate results with this type of technology has been a time-intensive activity. Now, a researcher from the University of Miami College of Engineering and his collaborators have developed ways to make the technology more efficient while improving accuracy.  Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb, professor and chair in the UM Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has developed state-of-the-art systems capable of photographing an image of someone's face and ear and comparing it against pre-stored images of the same person, with 95-100 percent accuracy.
Abdel-Mottaleb presented his findings at the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, November 7 - Tuesday, November 10. He describes his research as "satisfying, especially when you know that what you're doing has real-world applications that will benefit people and enhance personal security."
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Construction Underway on Southern California Emergency Reservoir from Government Security News
Santa Ana, CA-based Sukut Construction, Inc., which describes itself as California's largest earth moving construction company, has begun work on a 260-million-gallon reservoir for the Rancho Santa Margarita Water District. Sukut Construction will build the reservoir under contract with the Santa Margarita Water District, and with the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources' Division of Safety of Dams, the company notes. The reservoir will create an emergency backup water supply for 168,000 South Orange County families -- 200 gallons of water per day for one week, according to project manager Jordan Sukut. Sukut pegs the value of the contract at $36 million.
The company will lay more than 10,000 feet of pipe to connect the reservoir to South Orange County's main distribution network, the company notes. The project is expected to be completed by December 2010.
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China proves to be an aggressive foe in cyberspace
by Ellen Nakashima and John Pomfret
One day in late summer 2008, FBI and Secret Service agents flew to Chicago to inform Barack Obama's campaign team that its computer system had been hacked. "You've got a problem. Somebody's trying to get inside your systems," an FBI agent told the team, according to a source familiar with the incident.
The McCain campaign was hit with a similar attack. 
The trail in both cases led to computers in China, said several sources inside and outside government with knowledge of the incidents. In the McCain case, Chinese officials later approached staff members about information that had appeared only in restricted e-mails, according to a person close to the campaign.
American presidential campaigns are not the only targets. China is significantly boosting its capabilities in cyberspace as a way to gather intelligence and, in the event of war, hit the U.S. government in a weak spot, U.S. officials and experts say. Outgunned and outspent in terms of traditional military hardware, China apparently hopes that by concentrating on holes in the U.S. security architecture -- its communications and spy satellites and its vast computer networks -- it will collect intelligence that could help it counter the imbalance.
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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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Why I Murdered 13 American Soldiers at Fort Hood:
Nidal Hassan Explains It All to You
from The Rubin Report
How do we know that the attack at Fort Hood was an act of Islamist terrorism? Simple, Major Nidal Hassan told us so. You've seen reports of a long list of things he did and said along these lines. But what's most amazing of all is this: Hassan is the first terrorist in history to give an academic lecture (see image) explaining why he was about to attack. Yet that still isn't enough for too many people-including the president of the United States--to understand that the murderous assault at Fort Hood was a Jihad attack.  It was reported that the audience was shocked and frightened by his lecture. He was supposed to speak on some medical topic yet instead talked on the topic: "The Koranic World View as it Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." All you have to do is look at the 50 Power Point slides and they tell you everything you need to know.
It is quite a good talk. He's logical and presents his evidence. This is clearly not the work of a mad man or a fool, though there's still a note of ambiguity in it. He's still working out what to do in his own mind and is trying to figure out if he has a way out other than in effect deserting the U.S. army and becoming a Jihad warrior. Ultimately, he concluded that he could not be a proper Muslim without killing American soldiers. Obviously, other Muslims could reach different conclusions but Hassan strongly grounds himself in Islamic texts.
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Olympic Private Security Force Raises Concerns
From CBC News
With 100 days to go until the opening of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, questions are being raised about the process used to hire thousands of private security guards.
The company contracted to find 5,000 security guards for the Olympics, Contemporary Security  Canada (CSC), announced Tuesday that more than 90 per cent of them have already been hired.
But security experts told CBC News they're concerned about the screening of applicants.
"The hiring itself could represent a vulnerability in security," said David Harris, a former director with CSIS, Canada's national security agency.
"When you consider the many months required in adequate screening of security in government, it does seem a little surprising that we expect masses of individuals taken on board in less time," Harris said.
"We know people can overlook certain facets of security if they're in a rush to bring people on," he added.
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Security Solutions International, Kendall Tamiami Executive Airport, 14300 S.W. 129th Street, Suite 204, Miami, Fl. 33186
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