Thursday, December 31, 2009

US subpoenas bloggers who wrote about security memo issued after attempted Christmas attack

As the government reviews how an alleged terrorist was able to bring a bomb onto a U.S.-bound plane and try to blow it up on Christmas Day, the Transportation Security Administration is trying to find out who leaked a security directive to bloggers. TSA special agents served subpoenas to travel bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to them. The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.

Frischling said he met with two TSA special agents Tuesday night at his Connecticut home for about three hours and again on Wednesday morning when he was forced to hand over his lap top computer. Frischling said the agents threatened to interfere with his contract to write a blog for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines if he didn't co-operate and provide the name of the person who leaked the memo. "It literally showed up in my box," Frischling told The Associated Press. "I do not know who it came from." He said he provided the agents a signed statement to that effect.

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Somali pirates hijack three ships

Somali pirates have captured a freighter, a bulk carrier and a chemical tanker - despite a large foreign warship presence in the Gulf of Aden. Ending 2009 with a flurry of hijackings in one of the most profitable years to date, the Somali sea bandits' latest catch on Tuesday was the St James Park - a UK-flagged chemical tanker with a crew of 26 from nine different countries.


Andrew Mwangura, from the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the tanker was seized en route from Spain to Thailand but had been commandeered near the northern Somali coast. He said the vessel's last safe port of call was Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and that the crew included seamen from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Philippines, Poland, Georgia, India and Turkey.



Speaking to Al Jazeera, Simon Jones from Trinton International, a maritime risk and security assessment company, said: "The problem is the area of sea they are trying to protect is so vast ... that [searching for] a few pirates sprinkled around the area ... is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.



"The only realistic way that piracy can be stopped at sea ... is for those vessels to be pratically prepared to prevent piracy occurring, preventing them getting on board and preventing them from getting close to the vessel ... the navies cannot be there all the time."

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Mexico's Cartel Criminals Manipulate Police Intelligence

Proactive security and organized crime interdiction in Mexico is being seriously compromised in at least three critical facets of national security. Those being military, diplomatic and police intelligence capabilities. The main issue that prevents the use and deployment of sound intelligence initiatives in Mexico is simply trust.



The murders of government officials, police, and military throughout Mexico are not an exaggeration of an ungovernable situation nationwide or along the U.S. border. The use of strategic and tactical intelligence as a prelude to decision and action within Mexican enforcement circles is often challenged by unauthorized disclosure. Expected damage from such leaks is resulting in rivers of blood and associated carnage. Much of this attributed to the execution of clandestine sources of narco-trafficker informers.



Twelve bodies of off-duty military intelligence officers dumped in Michoacan state, ambushed and executed by the La Familia cartel in July of this year, are graphic examples of the cartel’s reach through compromised intelligence elements. Politicians of several Michoacan cities that included seven mayors and a state prosecutor were arrested and jailed on charges that included their protection of the cartel. An arrest warrant for federal lawmaker Julio Godoy, of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the half-brother of Michoacan state Governor Leonel Godoy, was also issued

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Canadian E-Mail Fraud Tries to Extract Money

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC) are cautioning netizens that an "emergency scam" is victimizing more-and-more people by means of compromised e-mail accounts. Police stated that scammers are sending e-mails to the addresses in the contact list of compromised accounts to hunt for possible victims.

In the e-mails, the scammers, pretending to be one of the family member or a family member's friend, state that they immediately need money because some urgent situation has arisen. The situation referred to is commonly imprisonment or hospitalization during the sender's absence from home.

Significantly, while these requests are e-mailed to the contact addresses of the hijacked account, the owner of that account doesn't get to know anything. Said Iain McEwan, OPP Const. in Peterborough County (Ontario, Canada), the scam's success depends on people becoming emotional and taking hasty decisions.

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I’m the first of many, warns airline ‘bomber’

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist cell led by a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden, issued a statement saying that the failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a response to American-backed airstrikes on the group in Yemen this month. Yemeni government forces, acting on US intelligence and using what officials have admitted was American military hardware, launched air raids on suspected militants in the east of the country on December 17 and again on December 24. At least 60 people were understood to have been killed.



Mr Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who set himself alight in a packed Airbus approaching Detroit on Christmas Day, bought his one-way ticket from a KLM office in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on December 16, indicating that his attack was planned well before these latest air raids. A US military effort to deny al-Qaeda a stronghold in Yemen has been under way for at least a year.



The fresh-faced engineering graduate was transferred yesterday from hospital in Detroit to a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, where agents questioning him said he told them that he was one of many bombers being groomed by the Yemeni alQaeda affiliate to attack American-bound aircraft, according to ABC News. The Yemeni authorities confirmed yesterday that Mr Abdulmutallab had been in the country since August.

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Dozens of criminal RNs identified by California regulators

Dozens of registered nurses who have been convicted of serious crimes including murder, sex offenses, robbery and assault have been identified by California regulators reviewing newly required fingerprints from tens of thousands of caregivers. The state Board of Registered Nursing expanded its review of nurses' criminal records after an October 2008 story by The Times and the nonprofit news organization ProPublica found that regulators often didn't know about nurses' convictions and didn't act quickly once they learned of them.

At the time, nurses who had received licenses before 1990 were exempt from providing fingerprints, which are used to flag arrests for regulators. Since March, the board has required those nurses to submit their fingerprints. Most of the crimes turned up are misdemeanors, such as driving under the influence, petty theft or fraud. But the records as of November also included two murders, two solicitations for murder, an attempted murder, a manslaughter and a vehicular homicide. There also were 19 convictions for assault, including five felonies, and 39 for sex offenses, three of them felonies.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Jailbreak fugitive updates Facebook page

British police have appealed for information about the whereabouts of an escaped prisoner who has been telling the world via Facebook about his life as a fugitive. Craig Lynch, 28, escaped Hollesley Bay open prison near Suffolk, eastern England, back in September, but has continued to update his Facebook status regularly -- describing everything from his meals to who his next girlfriend will be.

"Mmm i just had a 12lb venison steak. Roasted veg and chips, bangin meal. I feel stuffed but still got room for the j.d's . Hope you enjoyed the meal babe's. We'll have to eat here again" Lynch wrote on his wall. In another posting from earlier this week Lynch wrote "Is thinkin, which lucky girl will be my first of 2010!!."

Police are trying to use clues left by Lynch on his Facebook to track down where the convicted burglar may be hiding. Maybe we should all get cracking and help to track this cheeky toad down!

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Analyst Skills: The Use of Environmental Scanning

Introduction
For the intelligence analyst there are a number of analytical tools that can be used to determine which of all the competing crimes or hazards should be given the most time, or which of all new trends is likely to affect your agency the most. This can result in tactical, operational and strategic plans being implemented to meet those threats. The environmental scan is one of those tools.

What is it?
The environmental scan provides a systematic overview of the external factors that are important to the organisation (or sector) and indicates whether the organisation can influence them or not. In general the factors are classified in factors influencing the demand/need for services (and products), the supply of inputs to the project/organisation concerned, the competition and collaboration and general policy factors. The factors are also classified with respect to the positive (+) or negative (-) influence on the organisation and whether or not the factor can be influenced or just be appreciated (known and understood).

What can you do with it?
Making an environmental scan results in identifying the impact of relevant factors in the entire environment of an organization or sector (such as in Critical Infrastructure Protection). Whereas people often complain as powerless victims about negative factors in their environment, the environmental scan helps you to take action or adapt yourself to your environment. Scanning promotes an active response to positive (opportunities) and compliant factors, and leads to insights how to live with the ‘hard facts’. While the scan is a simple tool, it nevertheless helps to get a comprehensive view of the chief factors, helping to go beyond reacting to scattered observations.

Source
This information comes from sportanddev.org and is available as a PDF from http://assets.sportanddev.org/downloads/environmental_scan.pdf

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Parents trap Facebook predator

A British couple posing as their young daughter on Facebook have trapped a man who was grooming the girl for sex. Thomas Gibbs, 52, was arrested after the 11-year-old's parents handed evidence of their online exchanges to police, and then arranged to meet him in public, at which point he was arrested. Gibbs was jailed yesterday for 16 months after admitting in Oxford Crown Court to meeting a child following sexual grooming, the Daily Mail said.



The court heard how the girl's parents had noticed their daughter chatting on Facebook in the family living room. The mother took over the laptop and and saw Gibbs had commented on the girl's profile picture, saying he wanted to kiss her. He also wrote: "I really like you" and "I want to meet you". After notifying police, the woman and her husband continued to chat online with Gibbs for a week, posing as their daughter.

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Monday, December 21, 2009

Product Review and the Egoless Office

There is a paradox in intelligence analysis that may, or may not, be readily noticeable. That apparent contradiction is that to work best in a team situation a crime or intelligence analyst should really be able to map their ego , cut it out, and leave it safely at the door before entering the office. More than most any other place of employment or endeavor; the intelligence office is not a place for egos getting in the way of a polished and useful intelligence product. Inflated egos and infighting can cause an intelligence product to be defective and this can mean higher crimes rates and damaged lives. Why is it a paradox, you ask? Because analysts are usually highly intelligent, well trained and balanced individuals who have a definite point of view. However, they operate in an environment where educated opinion must be checked and re-checked against all available information to produce actionable intelligence.


Intelligence is not fact and never exact; but is a tool to direct finite resources to the areas of greatest possible effect. It may be based on certain, specific facts, but is not fact in its own right. This is because intelligence operates in the realm of prediction and gaps with parts of it being subjective. And, of course, subjectivity can be dangerous. The methodology used to reduce the risk of subjectivity producing erroneous prediction is to establish a healthy and robust product review mechanism. This would involve both peer and supervisory review and editing of intelligence products submitted formally for dissemination.



Robust intelligence products that meet the needs of operational police, law enforcement, and public safety officers are best created in an atmosphere of mutual trust. This is where each member of the team put individual fears and prejudices aside and works for the common good to bring together the best possible result. Difficult as this may be at times, this is a win-win for all concerned.

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Europol announces arrests of 115 'child sex offenders'

Europol says 115 alleged child sex offenders have been arrested in raids across 18 EU nations and Canada. It says its two-year Operation Typhoon - targeting child sex offenders on the internet - has now been concluded.



The suspects had different professional backgrounds, some of them being teachers or caretakers in close contact with children. It says it identified five children - aged between four and 12 - who had been victims of sexual crimes.



Europol says its investigation was led by Austria's Criminal Intelligence Service (.BK) which had detected an internet service provider misused by child sex offender groups to distribute illegal content on the internet. Log files collected by the .BK were then sent to Europol together with offending images. In all, 221 suspects have been identified of which 115 have been arrested, Europol says.

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Cops with cameras future of policing: Vancouver chief

Wearing video cameras will be routine for Vancouver police officers in the next few years, says the police chief in Canada's third-largest city. Chief Constable Jim Chu says he favours the idea, suggesting it would be the ultimate means of preserving the truth in incidents that draw police attention.



“This is a new world. Ten years ago, you would never see video. Now you're going to see it all the time,” Chief Chu said in an interview. “I'll give you the future: Officers will be wearing body cameras.”



Chief Chu, who was appointed chief in 2007, said he expects they will be routine in Vancouver before his term as chief is over. Police chiefs in Vancouver serve five-year terms, although their contracts can be renewed with the agreement of the chief and the police board.



Chief Chu said he expected body cameras would “ensure many more guilty pleas than what we have now,” referring, for example, to domestic-abuse cases. He also referred to cases of causing a disturbance. “The person is yelling and screaming and everything like that. The best evidence is actually a video of what the person is doing, and the crowd around it.”

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Terrorists, Crooks Allowed to Keep FAA Pilot's Licenses

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has asked the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Inspector General to investigate why suspect individuals – including terrorists and drug kingpins – have been able to retain their Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilot's licenses. In a letter to DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner, the senators cited media reports, including an ABC News investigation, that questioned the ability of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to purge the FAA's aviation list of individuals posing a threat to transportation security.



In one high-profile case a well-known drug boss named Fernando Zevallos Gonzalez was able to keep his U.S. aviation license despite being on a "black list" of foreign drug kingpins since 2004. Two other men tied to drug trafficking and two convicted arms traffickers still had their licenses as of Oct. The New York Times revealed that individuals charged or convicted of terrorism-related crimes were also able to retain their FAA licenses. While some of the individuals named in the ABC News and Times reports have since been stripped of their licenses, others have not, according to Safe Banking Systems (SBS), the New York computer security firm that first uncovered the suspect cases.

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Police expect Mumbai-style terror attack on City of London

Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital. In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.” The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.



The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year.It was issued by the Met through its network of “security forums”, which provide business leaders, local government and the emergency services with counter-terrorism advice. During a “commando-style” raid by 10 gunmen on hotels and cafes in Mumbai in November 2008, 174 people were killed and more than 300 injured over three days.



Officials now report an increase in “intelligence chatter” — communications captured by electronic eavesdropping agencies. One senior security adviser said the police warnings had intensified and become much more specific in the past fortnight. “Before, there has been speculation. Now we are getting what appears to be a definite plot to carry out a firearms attack on London.”

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Al-Qaeda's New Business Model: Cocaine And Human Trafficking

Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization has become increasingly reliant on organized crime, including cocaine smuggling, human trafficking and kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Manhattan's federal court. The charges filed against three alleged al-Qaeda associates by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is the latest chilling evidence of a convergence between terrorism and organized crime.



Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman were snatched in Ghana on Wednesday by a Drug Enforcement Administration sting and shipped to New York, where they arrived on Friday to face charges of conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and providing material support to al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization. The arrests mark the first time that al-Qaeda associates have been charged with narco-terrorism offenses.



The complaint accuses the three men of agreeing to transport large amounts of South American cocaine through West and North Africa and ultimately to Spain for $2,000 a kilogram, a fee slated to be partly turned over to al-Qaeda and its affiliated group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, in return for protection along the route.



"It's pretty compelling evidence, but not the only evidence that has been growing that al-Qaeda and its affiliates are becoming more and more involved in the global drug trade to help fund their operations," says Michael Braun, former chief of operations at the DEA and a founder of Spectre Group International. "They have to pay for their operations somehow."

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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Stratfor Annual Report: Mexican Drug Cartels - Two Wars and a Look Southward

In this report on Mexico’s drug cartels, we assess the most significant developments of 2009 and provide an updated description of the country’s powerful drug-trafficking organizations, as well as a forecast for 2010. This annual report is a product of the coverage we maintain on a weekly basis through our Mexico Security Memo as well as the other analyses we produce throughout the year.



Two cartel wars in Mexico combined to produce record levels of violence in 2009. The first war is the struggle between the government of Mexico and the drug cartels. In a parallel war, cartels compete with one another for control of lucrative supply routes. Shortly after his inauguration in 2006, President Felipe Calderon launched a major campaign targeting the cartels, which he viewed as a major threat to Mexico’s security and stability. Over the past three years, the government has weakened and fragmented some of the major cartels (namely the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels), but in the progress has upset the balance of cartel power. The result has been an increase in violence as formerly allied cartels have been pitted against each other in battles of attrition, as they fight for control of lucrative smuggling routes.



The turbulence within individual Mexican cartels that was seen in 2008 was absent in 2009, although the changes created by that turbulence have persisted, along with the divisions in previous alliances caused by Calderon’s 2008 campaign against the cartels. With these continued divisions came a continuation of Calderon’s strategy, and a continuation of high levels of violence. With the success experienced in 2008, Calderon continued to pursue his strategy of deploying Mexican military personnel and federal police against the cartels. Calderon has vowed to pursue this strategy into 2010 despite mounting public criticism and issues with rising violence.

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Mexican navy kills top cartel kingpin in shootout

Two hundred sailors raided an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed Mexican drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon's drug war.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the "boss of bosses," and three members of his cartel were slain in the shootout Wednesday in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, according to a navy statement. A fifth cartel member committed suicide during the shootout.

Cartel gunmen hurled grenades that injured three sailors, the navy said. An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard at least 10 explosions. During the gunbattle, sailors went door-to-door to evacuate residents of the apartment complex to the gym, according to a woman who said she was speaking by cellphone to her husband inside. She would not give her name out of fear for her safety.

Beltran Levya is the highest-ranking figure taken down under Calderon, who has deployed more than 45,000 troops across Mexico to crush the cartels since taking office in December 2006. Mexico's navy often has been used in the battle as well. The offensive has earned Calderon praise from Washington even as 14,000 people have been killed in a wave of drug-related violence.

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Terrorism: Muslim families as first line of defense

There is a heartening aspect to the otherwise unnerving story of five young American Muslims who flew to Pakistan Dec. 1 with the apparent intention of enrolling in a jihadist group. Law enforcement officials received crucial cooperation from anxious relatives of the five young men. The family members told imams and the Council on American-Islamic Relations of their worries, and CAIR officials swiftly arranged a meeting with the FBI. The five were then found in the house of a Pakistani man associated with an extremist group and detained by Pakistani authorities.



It would be hard to exaggerate the value of having Muslim community leaders take the lead, as they did in this instance, in guarding against terrorism - and in rescuing impressionable young Muslims from the effects of indoctrination in an alluring ideology rooted in a disfiguring of Islam.



Americans have thus far been spared the sort of mass killings perpetrated by locally grown terrorist groups in London, Madrid, and Bali. But recent incidents of Muslim Americans coming under the influence of Islamist extremists raise the specter of the jihadist pathology coming to this country. The first line of defense against that threat will have to be alert families, clerical authorities, and Muslim-American community groups.

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Great Cyber Security Advice for the Holiday Season and the 12 Scams of Christmas: Part 2

Here is a list of the dozen most-common cyber-scams perpetrated during the holidays, according to McAfee Labs, makers of the McAfee computer security software suites:


Phishing schemes. Playing off recipients' Christmas-time impulses, e-mails are sent that appear to be from legitimate charities. They actually lead victims to Web sites that not only steal donations, but glean credit card data and identities.



Fake invoices. Bogus invoices and delivery notifications appearing to be from Federal Express, UPS or the U.S. Customs Service arrive, seeking credit card details and installing malware on recipients' computers.



A scammer "Wants to be Your Friend". These messages look like real "New Friend Request" from social networking sites, but clicking on these e-mails may install malware on computers that steals your personal information.



E-cards. A holiday e-card arrives promoting some socially- or environmentally-conscious cause. They can spoof such corporations as Hallmark, McDonald's, Coca-Cola , etc. The attachments, however, could lead you into trouble.



You've won a chance to buy expensive, brand-name jewelry! You could end up paying a much higher price, however, when clicking on such deals installs data-mining software on your PC.



Practice safe shopping; cyber-thieves are watching. Using public Wi-Fi hot spots, or from a public computer with an open network connection is inviting trouble. Hackers routinely spy on users in such scenarios.



Risky holiday searches. One of holiday hackers' favorite schemes is to create Web sites specific to the season offering ringtones, screensavers, PC wallpaper and Christmas carol lyrics. However, downloading such offerings poses the risk of unknowingly installing spyware, adware or malware on your computer.



Job-related scams. Risks associated with these schemes are particularly pronounced this year, with unemployment topping 10 percent. Promises of high-paying jobs or work-from-home opportunities ensnare the unaware into paying so-called "set up" fees; not only does the victim lose money, but personal information also is compromised.



Auction site fraud. Scammers may lurk on auction sites offering deals that appear just too good to be true for products that actually are too good to be true; money is transferred but the items are never delivered.



Purloined passwords. By tricking victims into logging on to bogus sites or filling out fake forms, thieves gain access to private passwords. A twist on this scheme is offering downloads of games or programs that secretly install "keylogging" malware on computers that record passwords for banking and credit card accounts.



E-mail banking scams. Tricking victims into revealing bank account details through official-looking e-mails warning of accounts due to be suspended or cancelled allows cyber-thieves to harvest information that often then is sold to criminals on the Internet black market.



Pay up: We've got your files. In some cases, once personal identities and financial data are captured, hackers may encrypt them -- in effect holding the information hostage until the victim makes payment.

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Great Cyber Security Advice for the Holiday Season and the 12 Scams of Christmas: Part 1

The FBI has this holiday-time warning: 'Tis the season to be wary, especially when opening up those particularly alluring offers popping into Utahns' e-mail in boxes. Ken Porter, acting agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City Office, said Tuesday that whether these unsolicited messages pose as prize announcements, banking correspondence or purport to offer legal services, they have this in common: they seek money or your personal information.



People who unknowingly comply with the scams end up losing hundreds of dollars for so-called processing fees to collect lottery or sweepstakes winnings, or provide cyber-criminals with sensitive data such as bank account, credit card and Social Security numbers to clear up nonexistent problems with accounts.



In the latter case, such information has often left victims on the hook owing thousands of dollars in bogus charges, along with credit rating headaches. Another danger in opening such e-mails, or downloading provided links, is that virus or malware programs can be installed on the victims' computers. In recent years, such scams have become increasingly sophisticated, spoofing not only banks and other corporations official logos, but even government agencies -- among them the FBI itself.


Some good rules of thumb to avoid being scammed online:

  • Don't respond to unsolicited e-mail.

  • Don't click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.

  • Don't open e-mail containing attached files (i.e. pictures, documents) from senders you do not know. Or at the very least, run the attachments through your virus scanner before opening.

  • Don't fill out forms contained within e-mails seeking personal information, period.

  • If you do plan to follow a provided link, carefully compare the purported link in the e-mail with the link where you are actually directed, careful to make sure they match.

  • Or, log on directly to the official Web site of the business identified in the e-mail instead of linking to it from the e-mail. Better yet, contact the business by its telephone number -- as listed on your actual billing statements or official correspondence -- to verify the e-mail's claims.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Analyst Skills: Peer Review

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines peer review as: "A process by which something proposed (as for research or publication) is evaluated by a group of experts in the appropriate field." In a law enforcement fusion center or intelligence unit peer review is a critical component in report or product creation. Peer review can be very useful as it suggests different perspectives and provides valuable feedback on what is compelling and what is problematic in a document.

Intelligence in law enforcement basically covers two areas, intelligence analysis and crime analysis. Both of these fields create products for the decision maker that can be enhanced and edited by ones own work colleagues. This is because co-workers generally have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter and are in a unique position to enhance the product through their input.

Peer review however, is not without its problems. Some find it very difficult to critique other people's work, or put their own efforts up for peer evaluation. This is understandable, considering that so much effort goes into intelligence products. Personality clashes can interfere with clear analysis of peer performance, as can fear of other people 'stealing' ideas or just not wanting other analysts to see your work.

However, peer review is a vital cog in the intelligence office machine. It adds extra pairs of eyes looking at the problem being examined. It can identify gaps in reasoning and provide solutions to those gaps. Peer review can show an author where grammar, punctuation or spelling can be improved. It is for the purpose of product improvement that peer review exists. Thus a much more accomplished final result is available to the supervisor or manager at the outset, saving time and showing the skills of the analyst in a better light. in the long run, both the writer and the reviewer become better skilled and more proficient at their craft. Losing a little bit of fear is not a bad thing either, so give peer review a try!

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Update: Al-Qaida leader killed in Pakistan not al-Libi

The al-Qaida extremist killed Tuesday by a U.S. drone strike in northern Pakistan was the group's director of external operations, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News on Friday.

Abdirizaq Abdi Saleh, better known by his nom de guerre Saleh al-Somali, was a member of al-Qaida's senior leadership, said the official, and "probably responsible" for planning and executing attacks in the U.S. and Europe.

Al-Somali was killed when two missiles fired from a Predator drone struck his car as he and another man left a home. While al-Somali was a senior official, he was not al-Qaida's No. 3 leader after Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The U.S. has long targeted men who held al-Qaida's No. 3 role as director of all international operations. Five of them, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is facing trial in New York, have been killed or captured since 9/11. The strike marks the first time coalition forces killed a top al-Qaida figure in almost a year.

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Friday, December 11, 2009

Italian police recover hoard of looted artifacts

Italian police have broken up a ring of looters who raided tombs for ancient artifacts and exported them illegally to countries including the United States, officials said Friday. During more than a year of investigations, authorities recovered nearly 1,700 statues, vases and other artifacts dating from pre-Roman times to the heyday of the empire. Police flagged 19 people for possible investigation by prosecutors.

The artifacts were mainly dug out from tombs in the areas around Naples and Venice and included a bronze bust of the emperor Augustus, customs police in Rome said .

Part of the loot had been smuggled to the United States to be sold to collectors, they said. The Italians said they worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Haven, Connecticut, to recover 47 ceramic and bronze statutes that had been looted from a tomb in southern Italy dating between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.

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Al-Qaeda Leader Possibly Killed in CIA Drone Attack

A Central Intelligence Agency drone is believed to have killed a top strategist and spokesman for al Qaeda, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in the tribal areas of Pakistan near the Afghan border, according to officials familiar with the strike.


Top Al Qaeda strategist Abu Yahya al-Libi is believed to have been killed by a CIA drone. Mr. al-Libi has been one of the most sought-after terrorist targets since his escape from the prison at Bagram Air Force base in 2005. A rising star in al Qaeda, he was on the CIA's list of top-20 al Qaeda targets, according to an official familiar with the list.


He was killed Tuesday near Miram Shah in North Waziristan. He was believed to be under the protection of the Haqqani network, a militant group with a tight relationship with al Qaeda. The State Department announced a $1 million award earlier this year for information leading to his capture. "Based on a Pakistani tip, the Americans got him," one official said.

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Americans thought 'jihad must be waged,' Pakistani report says

Several American men arrested in Pakistan this week amid suspicion that they were plotting terrorist attacks planned to go to Afghanistan, a Pakistani police interrogation report said. The report, dated Thursday, sheds more light on a case that led Pakistani police to arrest five Americans Wednesday at a home in Sargodha, a town about 120 miles south of Islamabad. The men will be transferred to Lahore, Pakistan, for security reasons, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told CNN on Friday.



The report carries details about the men and shows pictures of Internet sites, laptops, mobile phones, an iPod and an external hard drive seized by police. "They had deep interest in the religion, and they were of the opinion that a jihad must be waged against the infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world," said the report, which refers to the five as college student.



The report focused on one of the suspects identified as Ahmed Abdullah Minni, a 20-year-old American born in Virginia. It said he regularly went online to watch attacks on the U.S. military in Afghanistan and that he left comments praising the actions. That caught the attention of militants, and he was eventually contacted by a person named Saifullah, the report says.



A Yahoo! e-mail account was set up so the men and militants could communicate, the report says. E-mails were never sent from the account, but people would leave messages in the draft folder and delete them after reading, the Pakistani police report said. "This mode of communication enabled them to pass on messages without fear of interception by the FBI," it said.

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Monday, December 7, 2009

Chicago Terrorism Suspect Charged In Mumbai Attack

U.S. prosecutors have charged a Chicago man with helping to plan the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed 166 people, including six Americans. American David Coleman Headley, 49, was arrested in October. At that time, he was accused of planning to attack the offices of the Danish newspaper that had published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. That attack never took place. Headley was also accused of training with a Pakistani terrorist group called Lashkar-e-Taiba. He now faces much more serious charges related to the massacre in India, which was carried out by the group.



Court documents unsealed Monday allege that Headley conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years before the attacks. According to the court papers, Headley's reconnaissance helped the gunmen decide how to come into India undetected.



Lashkar-e-Taiba's leaders allegedly asked Headley to take a number of boat trips around Mumbai's harbor to scout the best landing sites for attackers to come in by sea. The attackers did end up landing in Mumbai by water. Prosecutors also allege that he provided Lashkar-e-Taiba with videotapes and maps, and details on a number of the sites that were attacked — including the Taj Mahal hotel, the Leopold cafe and a train station.

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Fear of homegrown terror up in U.S.

The Obama administration, grappling with recent Islamic terrorism cases on U.S. soil, has concluded that the country is confronting a rising threat from homegrown extremism. The warnings point to a threat more immediate than that posed by terrorism from overseas, because U.S.-based militants are frequently American citizens who are able to travel freely and strike at home or abroad.

The growing administration concern comes at a time when anti-terrorism officials and experts have pointed to signs of accelerated radicalization among some American Muslims, a trend driven by online propaganda and the influence of foreign networks. Until recently, Europe has been the front line for Islamic terrorist activity, suffering successive attacks and major plots, while the U.S. remained relatively calm.

But the number, variety and seriousness of recent U.S. cases make 2009 seem the most dangerous year here since 2001, anti-terrorism officials and experts say. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned of the homegrown threat last week in her strongest public comments yet on the issue.

"We've seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as al-Qaida," Napolitano said in a speech in New York on Wednesday. "Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Yemen the new training ground for terrorists

US President Barack Obama warned in his speech about Afghanistan this week that the world would face new threats as Al Qaeda established a foothold in other parts of the world. One of the countries he singled out was Yemen. It is the poorest state in the Arab world and is rapidly running out of oil and water. There are now growing fears that the impoverished nation could become an increasingly attractive Al Qaeda base.



During his speech, Mr Obama singled out Yemen and Somalia as two nations where Al Qaeda's influence was increasing "We'll have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power," he said. Where Al Qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold, whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere, they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships." For many years, Yemen has faced political and economic crises. With a population of 23 million people, it is the poorest Arabic nation and security is a growing concern.



Dr Sarah Phillips works at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. She has just written a paper on Al Qaeda in Yemen for the Lowy Institute and says the country is an increasingly attractive base for the terrorist group. "Yemen is quite a desirable operating environment in a number of ways," she said. "For one, there is a strong tribal structure there, which if approached sensitively by people affiliated with Al Qaeda can afford some opportunity, particularly with regard to refuge, being able to hide while they plan operations both within Yemen but also abroad.

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Mafia's No. 2 nabbed in Sicily

The Italian interior minister says police in Palermo have captured the Cosa Nostra's No. 2 in a raid in Palermo, Sicily. Authorities describe convicted Mafioso Gianni Nicchi as a "young, dangerous, ambitious, pitiless killer."

Police found Nicchi, 28, hiding Saturday in an apartment in Palermo. News reports say he tried to flee. Investigators say Nicchi quickly climbed to the top of Palermo-based crime families after the arrest a few years ago of mob boss Salvatore LoPiccolo.

Nicchi, a fugitive since 2006, was convicted last year of extortion and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The news agency ANSA says the bugged conversations of bosses convinced police Nicchi was one of the Mafia's top new bosses.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Six arrested for helping suspected cop killer

Police now have six people in custody for helping suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons elude police during a two-day manhunt. The six have been identified as Douglas Davis, Eddie Davis, Rickey Hinton — Clemmons' half brother — Letricia Nelson, Quiana Williams and Darcus Allen, the Pierce County prosecutor's office said. Allen is being held as a fugitive from Arkansas, where he is wanted on robbery and theft charges and parole violations.

Even with a gunshot wound to the torso, Clemmons, 37, managed to elude police until early Tuesday, when a Seattle police officer spotted him and told him to show his hands. Clemmons ran and appeared to reach into his pocket, and the officer shot and killed him, Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said. Authorities say relatives and friends aided Clemmons during those days that he evaded authorities.

Relatives and friends drove Clemmons from the scene of the coffeehouse shooting, bandaged his wound, drove him 40 miles to Seattle and hid him, affidavits filed by Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist say.

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Who am I?

I am a law enforcement professional with over 35 years experience in both sworn and civilian positions. I have service in 3 different countries in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

My principal areas of expertise are: (1) Intelligence, (2) Training and Development, (3) Knowledge Management, and (4) Administration/Supervision.

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