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January Mid-Month 2010 |
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Your Bi-monthly Homeland Security News Source
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German counter-terror force to help set up Mumbai SWAT team
by Pranab Dhal Samanta
The Mumbai Police have been in touch with Germany's elite counter-terrorism force, GSG-9, to create for the first time a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team from within their ranks to address 26/11's biggest shortcoming-the lack of response in the first 10 hours.
A GSG-9 team visited Mumbai over a month ago and it has now extended an invitation for a Mumbai Police team to visit its central facility near Bonn. Senior GSG-9 officials told The Sunday Express that they were willing to extend all help to the city's police for this purpose. The cooperation will gain momentum once the two countries sign the MoU for internal security cooperation.
While the Mumbai Police hope to do specialised training courses with the GSG-9, the NSG plans to engage with the German Force on a different plane to work on the lessons learnt from Mumbai and then chalk out an assistance programme. There is strong mutual admiration between the two elite forces, particularly since the NSG was modelled after the GSG-9.
Train your SWAT Team with SSI's SWAT to CTU Course ... Find out more here!______________________________________________
The United States is in the midst of numerous terror related issues such as:
· Five Americans held in Pakistan
· Chicago Businessman charged with planning the attacks in Mumbai
· Denver man charged with terror plot
· American Somali Terrorist Connections
· Radicalized Americans such as the Fort Hood attacker
· And the possibility of Guantanamo detainees being brought to the United States
It is now more than ever that homeland security professionals at the local level must be armed with the skills and knowledge to protect us.
SSI has courses already scheduled in 2010 to provide this knowledge:
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Editorial: Change Required at the DHS
Dear Reader,
We take pride in the fact that we don't interfere with opinionated editorials that take up your valuable time. Despite the fact that SSI owns the Counter Terrorist Magazine, the e-newsletter, many conferences and events, and many websites, we try never to interject our opinions, believing yours to be more important.
However, there are times when remaining silent is tantamount to a crime. We held back when the newly appointed Secretary of Homeland Security, Ms Janet Napolitano, claimed that - with all the gusto of a PTA head - that there was no more terrorism and that we should speak of "man-caused incidents".
"In my speech, although I did not use the word 'terrorism,' I referred to 'man-caused' disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur." From Janet Napolitano.
This was, we suppose, some semantic exercise, a kind of "let's play nuance" and could actually make the bullies in the playground kinder and gentler.
Likewise, did we hold back when a Islamic Terrorist attacked and killed Americans at Fort Hood. He had been in touch with Imam Anwar Aulaqi frequently. Despite this, USATODAY reported:
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano on Sunday echoed weekend remarks by President Obama cautioning against saying that religion played a role in the attack or that it was "terrorism."
Do these people really believe that this message will help motivate the troops, the First Responders throughout the country that live and breathe to protect the US - us? Will we allow some erroneous notions of "political correctness" be the equivalent of a war doctrine? Is this the way to win a war that resulted in over 2000 attacks globally and thousands dead in 2009 alone? As the December Detroit incident clearly demonstrated terrorism is alive and well and has not succumbed to Ms Napolitano's nuances.
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The Seeds of Terror
The apparent consensus based on all we've seen so far in the media is that terrorism is alien to Nigeria. Nigerians are not and can never be terrorists. Our people love life so much that they can't be suicide bombers. Umar Farouk AbdulMuttalab is an exception, a one-off incident. In fact, that his father took action to report his concerns about his son's radicalization to the US embassy and Nigerian security agencies confirms our people's abhorrence for terror.
As usual, these arguments lack rigour. First of all, which nation of the world has terrorism or suicide bombing as an integral part of its culture? Was there a history of terrorism in Iraq before Saddam Hussein? In Palestine before 1967? In Iran, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan etc before the 1970s? Why then do we make the redundant argument that terrorism is not in our character?
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines " terror" as "a feeling of extreme fear", " terrorism" as "the use of violent action in order to achieve political aims or to force a government to act", "terrorist" as "a person who takes part in terrorism and to "terrorize" is "to frighten and threaten people so that they will not oppose sth or will do as they are told" By these definitions, our entire political class with few exceptions can be described as terrorists! Elections in Nigeria are an act of terror!!! In order to win an election, what you need are thugs, security agencies, police men, local government officials and electoral officers.
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Years of Spotty Data-Sharing on Suspects
by Siobahn Gorman
Programs to help intelligence analysts connect disparate bits of data to prevent terrorist attacks have made halting progress in the past few years because they received only intermittent support from the White House and spy-agency leaders, intelligence officials say. President Barack Obama faulted U.S. intelligence agencies again for failing to stop a Nigerian man from a boarding a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas and allegedly attempting to blow it up, despite red flags about the suspect and warnings that al Qaeda in Yemen was plotting an attack. The White House review of the attack found that the technology at the spy agencies didn't allow them to bring all the relevant information on the emerging plot together. The president has ordered spy agencies to bolster their technology.
In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush and Obama administrations have said that clearing away technical and bureaucratic obstacles to effective intelligence analysis among government agencies was a top priority. But execution has fallen short of ambition.
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Christmas Day Bombing: Africa can't afford new airport security
by Robyn Dixon
Western countries are rushing to upgrade airport security to meet new threats, but African countries don't have the money to even meet the old standards that Western airports now find inadequate, according to aviation analysts.
The answer, some say, is to screen passengers from developing countries with poor security more thoroughly at transit airports.
The alleged attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a flight to Detroit with explosives concealed in his underwear highlighted security weaknesses. He boarded a plane in Lagos, Nigeria, for Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, apparently carrying explosives and a detonator. Both airports failed to detect a bomb.
In the wake of the Christmas Day incident, the U.S. announced last week that passengers arriving from certain countries, including Nigeria, would face enhanced screening.
Nigeria criticized as discriminatory the new U.S. policy, which subjects passengers from Yemen, Nigeria and other countries to more full-body pat-downs, carry-on bag searches, body scanning and explosive detection screening.
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Many Caribbean, Latin America airports lack safety zones
By Alan Levin
Many of the busiest airports in the Caribbean and Latin America lack basic safety features that could have prevented the recent crash of an American Airlines jet in Jamaica, according to pilots, aviation safety experts and public documents.
No one died when the American Boeing 737-800 slid off a wet runway and slammed onto an adjacent  rocky beach on Dec. 22, but dozens were hurt and the jet's fuselage was torn open in several places. It was the most serious accident involving a U.S. carrier since 50 people died in a commuter plane crash near Buffalo on Feb. 12.
As a result of a string of similar crashes in this country, Congress and U.S. regulators have required airports to install safety zones at the end of each runway by 2015 to minimize the chances of damage when a jet skids off the pavement.
However, despite years of pressure from the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), few airports south of the border have built safety zones. Each year, 23.6 million people travel from the U.S. to these destinations, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
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Bombing attempt was a test run, Ottawa fears
by Colin Freeze
The federal government fears that al-Qaeda's "underwear bomber" attack on a trans-Atlantic flight was simply a test run.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan suggested that Canada will be on a heightened state of aviation alert  for the foreseeable future.
"That may very well have been, if you will, a kind of pilot project by the organization to see how viable [the bombing technology] was," he told reporters yesterday. "And we have reason to believe that we have to be concerned, all of the countries of the West."
After cabinet discussions earlier this week, Conservative ministers yesterday attempted to allay public fears about boarding aircraft. But without elaborating, they also said they have obtained "two or three" new intelligence tips concerning serious threats since the failed Christmas Day attack.
None were described as an imminent threat to Canada, and none have apparently led the government to take measures any tougher than the airport-scrutiny regimen imposed on Dec. 26.
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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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Report suggests mentality on information sharing should change
by Dorothy Ramiensky
Following the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on that Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Federal News Radio has been covering the complex issue of how to share critical information.
The Migration Policy Institute has just released a report, Transatlantic Information Sharing: At A Crossroads that looks at how the U.S. shares information with its allies.
Susan Ginsburg is the co-author of the report and also served as the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission. She said it's is complicated, and the real issue has to do with what kind of information can the U.S. Share with E.U. partners by law, and visa versa.
She added that both governing bodies also have to consider the privacy laws and rights of each other's citizens. "For example, with respect to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, very little was shared with us. There were two possible avenues for sharing. One was through the border authorities. He had been denied a visa on the grounds of applying to be a student at an unaccredited university.
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Tel Aviv, Israel - May 7-15th, 2010
A brand new program, global expertise and global best practices.
Security Solutions International, SSI, is proud to announce that our CEO and Global Counter Terrorism Operations Director, Sol Bradman, is taking over our Training in Israel Mission, with an exciting new program, locations and experts.
Join the more than 300 Homeland Security Professionals that have selected SSI's training in Israel program over 15 missions from 2005 to 2009 (making it the most successful program for overseas training in Homeland Security) on an exciting advanced workshop and get the benefit of featured International speakers.
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More cyberattacks likely from group that took down Chinese search engine
by Jill R. Aitoro
The source and motivation behind a cyberattack against China's largest Internet search engine on Tuesday remains unclear, as does its relation to an attack on Google, but more computer networks likely will be targeted, security professionals said.
The same group that took down Twitter in December 2009 hacked China's most popular search engine,  Baidu, taking down the Web site for almost four hours.
The attacker changed the Web site's DNS settings, which translate IP addresses into domain names, so visitors to Baidu.com would be redirected to a Web page with an Iranian flag and a message from the Iranian Cyber Army claiming responsibility for the attack.
Whether the group has legitimate ties to Iran or Iranian terrorist organizations is unclear.
"The attack is rather simple," said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the Sans Institute Internet Storm Center, a Web security monitoring and alerting system. "I doubt that the Iranian government is behind [this]. Sounds more like some kids having fun."
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Man Gets Through Security with Gun at Bozeman Airport
The Transportation Security administration said Wednesday that screeners at Gallatin Field near Bozeman inadvertently allowed a passenger with a firearm in his carryon luggage through security last month.
The unidentified man realized he had the gun when he was in the boarding area Dec. 13 and turned himself into TSA officials.
Gallatin Field Board Chairman Dick Roehm said the TSA re-screened every passenger at the airport, including those on a Horizon Air flight that had left the gate but had not yet taken off - delaying three flights for more than an hour.
The gun was turned over to local law enforcement and the passenger was allowed to continue on the flight, TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird said in a written statement.
Roehm said the incident is raising the prospect of turning to a private company to handle security at the airport.
"If those guys can't detect a handgun, which is pretty basic, not some exotic explosive sewn to your underpants, then we get upset," he said, referring to the botched attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.
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Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network
by Tim Gaynor and Tiemoko Diallo
In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11."
The document warned that a growing fleet of rogue jet aircraft was regularly crisscrossing the Atlantic  Ocean. On one end of the air route, it said, are cocaine-producing areas in the Andes controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. On the other are some of West Africa's most unstable countries.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was ignored, and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat.
The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been held responsible for car and suicide bombings in Algeria and Mauritania.
Gunmen and bandits with links to AQIM have also stepped up kidnappings of Europeans for ransom, who are then passed on to AQIM factions seeking ransom payments.
The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe.
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Sincerely,
Security Solutions International |
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For further information:
Security Solutions International,
13155 SW 134th Street STE 204,
Miami, FL 33186
866-573-3999 Office, 866-573-2090 Fax
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