Cyberwar Is Hell

We’ve been focused on the wrong spies. When 11 Russian sleeper agents were discovered living in the United States—and then sent home in exchange for their counterparts—it was hard to resist the sexy espionage tale with echoes of the Cold War. But while we’ve fixated on Anna Chapman and her cohorts, top diplomats were working on a wonkier but more important advance in spycraft. This month, experts from 15 countries agreed to begin serious negotiations on establishing international norms on cybersecurity. This story is far more significant in the long run because, without basic agreements about cyberspace, cyberattacks, and even cyberwars could become a daily danger.

Sure, spy stories are irresistible—particularly when a sexy redhead like Chapman is involved and there are plenty of racy photos to titillate readers. It’s also true that the press may have been too quick to write off the Russian sleeper agents as a bunch of bunglers who accomplished nothing. We don’t know what support roles they may have had for more serious operations; human intelligence can still trump electronic spying in many situations, and spying will always be with us.

But, increasingly, international relations will be shaped by new challenges that require new tactics—and new assumptions about where we can and should cooperate, even with former enemies. Look at the United Nations group of experts that overcame at least some of their mutual suspicions to take a first step toward international cooperation on cybersecurity last week. After years of talks that went nowhere, they—United States, Russia, China, India, and several others—agreed to begin discussing ways to exchange information about national cyberstrategies, strengthen protection of computer systems around the world, including in less-developed countries, and even set some ground rules on cyberwarfare. Other nations in attendance may not be G7 economies, but online they are powerhouses: Israel, Brazil, South Korea, and Estonia.

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Mexican police investigate possible new drug gang after group claims credit for 6 killings

Mexican authorities are investigating the possible emergence of a new drug gang that appeared to take credit for six killings through a message left with the bodies Monday, officials said. The six men were found inside a car in the southwestern city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero state police said in a statement. Next to them lay a message reading: "This will happen to all rapists, extortionists and kidnappers. Attentively, the New Cartel of the Sierra."

Authorities are investigating the authenticity of the gang, said an official with the state prosecutors office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. The official said authorities had no previous knowledge of such an organized crime group. The car was reported stolen hours before the bodies were found, according to the police statement. The owner told police that armed men intercepted him on a highway and forced him out of the car. One body was found stuffed inside a black bag and the rest were tied up.

At least seven major drug trafficking cartels operate in Mexico, but there are many smaller gangs throughout the country, often affiliated with one of the bigger groups. The cartels have increasingly splintered since President Felipe Calderon launched an intensified crackdown after taking office in late 2006, deploying thousands of troops and federal police across Mexico. Mexican authorities have blamed the infighting for a surge of gang violence that has killed nearly 25,000 people in less than four years.

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Rape charges dropped after evidence gleaned from iPhone

A man's business and reputation are tainted, a young woman's HSC and mental health are in tatters and prosecutors have been ordered to pay more than $30,000 in legal costs for a bungled rape investigation on Sydney's northern beaches. But it could have been worse still, if not for the trove of secrets stored in one of the world's most popular mobile phones. In what may be the first time an iPhone's elephantine memory has saved someone accused of a serious crime, deleted data retrieved by a leading surveillance expert appears to have led to the dropping of five rape charges against a Sydney man. Robert*, in his 60s, was a property manager to the rich and famous and a dog breeder. Jessica* was the 18-year-old daughter of a friend, who never knew her father and dreamed of working with animals. Their friendship blossomed as they spent mornings training his prize German shepherds. He gave her a $20,000 dog. For three months, they had sex repeatedly en route to dog shows and at a Whale Beach mansion where Elle Macpherson has stayed.

In August last year she accused him of rape. It was - and remains - a case of his word against hers. Robert lost a job with the Catholic Church, from which he had earned more than $100,000 over the past three years, and was told he could no longer worship there. The only thing standing between Robert and five sentences of up to 14 years were the messages from her on his iPhone, which he had deleted to conceal the relationship. Robert's lawyer, John Gooley from Collins & Thompson solicitors, commissioned Gary Coulthart, a former covert operations policeman and ICAC surveillance expert, to plumb the depths of Robert's iPhone. Mr Coulthart retrieved more than 300 deleted texts and phone calls from the alleged victim, some of which appeared to undermine the allegations. Prosecutors later withdrew the charges and have been ordered to pay $30,056 of Robert's legal costs. ''Without the ability of Coulthart to drag the content out, a man's life may have been ruined,'' Mr Gooley said. ''[iPhone evidence is] a bit like DNA. It can work both ways.''

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Symantec Announces May 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report

Symantec Corporation today announced the publication of its May 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report. Analysis reveals that nine out of ten spam emails now contain a URL link in the message. In May, five percent of all domains found in spam URLs belonged to genuine web sites. Of the most frequently used domain names contained in spam URLS, the top four belong to well-known web sites used for social networking, blogging, file sharing and host other forms of user-generated content.

"Domains belonging to well-known web sites tend to be recycled and used continuously compared with 'disposable' domains which are used for a short period of time and never seen again," said MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Paul Wood. "Perhaps this is because there is some work involved in acquiring them: the legitimate domains require CAPTCHAs to be solved to create the large numbers of accounts that are then used by spammers."

While Rustock is the botnet that uses the greatest number of disposable domains, Storm, which has recently returned to the spamming scene, is the only botnet that uses genuine domains in greater number than disposable domains. Sixty-five percent of spam from the Storm botnet uses a legitimate domain, many of which are for URL shortening services. Disposable domains are often used quickly after being first registered; and on average, 50 percent are used within nine days, before spammers switch to newer domains.

• July 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report

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Memphis Cracks Crime Trends With Forecasting Technology

Six years ago, the Memphis, Tenn., Police Department (MPD) decided to use technology to look into the future. With the local crime rate soaring, software that could forecast where criminal activity would take place seemed like a promising idea, packed with potential. But crime analysts never predicted such explosive results. Since 2006, with IBM predictive analytics technology, the MPD has reduced crime by 31 percent, including a reduction of 15.4 percent in violent crime, according to MPD officials.

In the days before the technology, the MPD -- like most police departments -- relied on human abilities to put offenses in spreadsheets and analyze trends the old-fashioned way, said John F. Williams, crime analysis unit manager with the MPD. In Memphis, those days are history. "By putting the crime data on the map, we could concentrate on focus areas," Williams said. "The software spits out frequencies and cross tabs. We could see the base, the time of day, day of the week and the types of crimes, and we were able to deploy resources at the exact time the crimes were occurring. It blew our minds how accurate things were."

With predictive analytics, the MPD can evaluate incident patterns throughout the city and forecast criminal hot spots. The data allows the department to allocate resources to target areas and develop deployment strategies, including directed patrol, targeted traffic enforcement, task forces, operations, high-visibility patrol and targeted investigations.

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Radical police shake-up outlined for UK

Plans for a massive shake-up in policing in England and Wales have been outlined by the home secretary. A new national crime-fighting agency, to replace the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), and establishing police reservists are among the proposals. People will also be able to vote in two years' time for locally-elected officials to oversee each police force. Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson said police did not back the plans as they would "make their job harder".

The Home Office consultation paper - Policing in the 21st century - was described by Home Secretary Theresa May as the "most radical reform of policing for 50 years". She told the Commons on Monday that the police had "become too bureaucratic, too much accountable to Whitehall, rather than to the people they're serving".

Key changes include:

• the abolition of Soca in favour of a new National Crime Agency, which will include organised crime, border policing, and the child exploitation and online protection centre (Ceop)
• the scrapping of Police Authorities. Instead, elected police and crime commissioners will have the power to hire and fire chief constables from May 2012
• the proposed introduction of police reservists - a pool of volunteers to undertake police duties
• "community crime fighters" - ordinary people could take part in joint patrols with officers. There will also be a push for more to become special constables or join Neighbourhood Watch schemes
• phasing out of watchdog the National Policing Improvement Agency

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Terrorism case baffles remote Alaska town

So beloved were Paul Rockwood Jr. and his wife, Nadia, that when they left King Salmon, Alaska in May to move to England, where Nadia was born, more than 30 people — pretty much their entire circle of friends — showed up at the airport. The choir sang "Wherever You Go," and "people were just bawling," said Rebecca Hamon, a friend of the couple. What none of them could have known was that FBI agents were meeting the small turboprop plane in Anchorage to question the Rockwoods on suspicion of domestic terrorism-related crimes. This week, Paul and Nadia Rockwood pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Anchorage to one count of willfully making false statements to the FBI; in Paul Rockwood's case, it was a statement about domestic terrorism.

The plea agreements state that Rockwood, 35, had become an adherent of extremist Islam who had prepared a list of assassination targets, including U.S. service members. And, though no plot to carry out the killings was revealed, he had researched methods of execution, including guns and explosives, the agreements say. Federal charging papers said his wife, 36, who is five months pregnant with the couple's second child, lied to investigators when she denied knowing that an envelope she took to Anchorage in April at her husband's request contained a list of 15 intended targets. (None were in Alaska.) She told FBI agents that she thought the envelope contained a letter or a book. She gave it to an unidentified individual who her husband believed shared his radical beliefs, the FBI said.Nadia knew exactly what was on the list and what it was for, federal authorities said.

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Hezbollah Looks for a Shield From Indictments’ Sting

For more than five years, much of Lebanese politics has seemed to revolve around a single question: Who killed Rafik Hariri? For years, billboards bearing the face of the former prime minister — killed in a Beirut car bombing in 2005 — hung in the city with the words “The Truth — for the sake of Lebanon.” An international tribunal was established under United Nations auspices, and many Lebanese believed that an indictment of top Syrian officials — widely believed to be the culprits — could help protect Lebanon’s sovereignty.

But in recent weeks, a consensus has emerged in Lebanon — presumably, through leaks — that the tribunal will soon indict members of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement, for playing a role in the killing. That accusation, which has been rumored since last year, is already raising tensions in Lebanon, and some fear it could provoke another bloody internal conflict between Hezbollah and its pro-Western rivals like the one that took place in May 2008.

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Top Secret America

"Top Secret America" is a Washington Post project nearly two years in the making that describes the huge national security buildup in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

When it comes to national security, all too often no expense is spared and few questions are asked - with the result an enterprise so massive that nobody in government has a full understanding of it. It is, as Dana Priest and William M. Arkin have found, ubiquitous, often inefficient and mostly invisible to the people it is meant to protect and who fund it.

The articles in this series and an online database at topsecretamerica.com depict the scope and complexity of the government's national security program through interactive maps and other graphics. Every data point on the Web site is substantiated by at least two public records.

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Al-Qaeda Second-in-Command Ayman Al-Zawahiri: The Only Hope for Palestine is to Depose the 'Arab Zionists'

In a new 1-hour 3-minute audio recording, Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri reaffirms Al-Qaeda's basic strategy regarding Palestine and promised imminent victory in Afghanistan, and addresses words of praise and encouragement to the jihadist groups in North Africa, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The video, dated Rajab 1431 (June-July 2010), was produced by Al-Qaeda's media wing, Al-Sahab, and posted on jihadist websites on July 19, 2010. Despite the date shown on the release, it is likely that Al-Zawahiri's audio was recorded earlier, since there is no mention of the Gaza flotilla incident, which took place in late May.

Al-Zawahiri opens with the "good tidings" that victory is near in Afghanistan. He ridicules the U.S. for its early confidence in the Marjah operation and for its hopes that the arrest of senior commander Mullah Baradar would adversely affect the Taliban, saying that these hopes were crushed by the Taliban's stiff resistance in Marjah and subsequent martyrdom operations in Kandahar and Kabul. He also accuses the Arab and Western media of underreporting the Taliban's achievements – contrasting it with the wide coverage given to Hizbullah if it so much as fires a missile – and likewise blasts Turkey and a number of Arab states for their support for the coalition in Afghanistan, as well as 'ulema who have ruled that such support is permissible.

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Hezbollah Terrorists On Our Southern Border

Although U.S. officials cannot confirm reports of the arrest Jamel Nasr recently in Tijuana, they should acknowledge that the reports are consistent with increasing concern that Hezbollah is seeking an operational base in the Americas. Nasr was no ordinary tourist or would-be immigrant. He is a made member of the Lebanese-based terror group, Hezbollah. Mexican authorities have released few details about his arrest, but they appear to have uncovered a network traceable back to the terrorist group’s headquarters in the Middle East.

The possible arrest is not the first incident indicating Hezbollah’s interest in establishing a beachhead in the Americas. Last month, Paraguayan police arrested Moussa Ali Hamdan, a naturalized U.S. citizen. He had been sought by the U.S. since last November, when he was indicted for involvement in bogus passports, counterfeiting, and selling fake merchandise to finance Hezbollah operations. South and Central America hold definite attractions for the terror crowd. For starters, there’s money. Profits from the region’s lucrative drug trade help fuel many international terrorists.

Hezbollah craves a share of the action. The Tri-Border region—the weakly-governed space where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay join—has been an area of ongoing concern for, U.S. counter-terrorism experts since 9/11. It boasts a high density of inhabitants of Arab descent. That, coupled with a robust smuggling trade, makes the Tri-Border a lawless breeding ground ideal for fueling international terrorism.

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How Legal Pot Could Harm the Cartels

So far, no modern country has ever legalized marijuana production—not even the Netherlands. Yet with heavy drug-related violence plaguing the U.S.-Mexican border, some analysts and policymakers now say that America should legalize weed in order to reduce the power of Mexico’s drug cartels. Marijuana carries the least amount of overhead cost for many of the cartels and provides some of their cash flow for buying guns and influence.

Estimates vary, but analysts say pot accounts for somewhere in the range of 20 to 50 percent of the cartels’ profits. But that could soon change with competition from El Norte: California has a proposition set for the November ballot—on which voters are roughly split—that would legalize the drug’s domestic production and sale. If the measure passes, says a recent analysis by the RAND Corporation, California could become a major supplier of the drug to the rest of the U.S. That, according to George W. Grayson, a professor of government at William & Mary, “would hurt the cartels badly.” RAND estimates that it could reduce the drug’s pretax price by more than 80 percent.

Of course, whether legalization has any real effect depends on the rate at which the drug is taxed. A tax rate of $50 per ounce, for example, would generally not make high-grade California cannabis cost-competitive with less potent Mexican imports. Yet a lower tax rate could significantly decrease the cartels’ market share. That wouldn’t put them out of business—they’d still be major players in the markets for cocaine, heroin, and meth—but it could reduce their power.

• "Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets", RAND, 7/7/10.
  

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Arrests shed light on border kidnappings

The bedraggled immigrants were picking their way through the boulders and scrub when a group of heavily armed men descended on them just short of the California-Mexico border. They corralled them in a cave and pointed their guns on the 10 men and one woman. These lawless badlands in the hills east of Tijuana have long teemed with bandits and rapists, but these criminals demanded only phone numbers. They started calling the immigrants' loved ones in Pomona, San Diego and Bakersfield: Send us money or we'll shoot, they said. The days-long kidnapping ordeal in May illustrates a growing trend as roaming gangs of well-organized, heavily armed gunmen turn their sights on illegal immigrants, making a treacherous journey ever more dangerous for people trekking north.

In the spree of kidnappings, which began about two years ago, gunmen hold people captive until family members in the U.S. send wire transfers of up to $5,000 to accounts in Mexico. Some immigrants are beaten; several have been killed, including a pair of brothers from Mexico. Many straggle across the border and turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents. Others end up in migrant shelters in Tijuana, too frightened to report the cases to Mexican police. Little was known about how the criminals operate until Mexican authorities dismantled two gangs in recent months, including the one in May, when 11 suspects were arrested after a shootout and a wild foot chase through the hills. The arrests provided authorities with a rare glimpse into criminal networks whose reach stretches from the border to cities across the U.S. and Mexico. The gang was allegedly run by a career criminal from Nayarit and included a former Mexican army soldier. They admitted kidnapping more than 100 immigrants over 18 months, holding them in remote caves, makeshift camp and ranches.

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Turkey's tourist resorts threatened with terrorist campaign

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group, has said it plans a wave of violence following the breakdown of a year-long ceasefire. The PKK strategy will target major Turkish cities, rather than just army patrols and bases in the Kurdish heartlands. These are likely to include the metropolises of western Turkey, including those popular with tourists and businessmen, which have occasionally been hit by bombings in the last decade.

A triple-bombing struck the resort of Marmaris in 2006, while a year later a suicide bomber struck a popular shopping street in the capital, Ankara. Around 2.5 million British tourists visit Turkey each year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night said they advised "against all but essential travel" to the south east of Turkey due to the "high threat from terrorism".

Murat Karayilan, the top commander of the PKK, said he had been left with no choice but to act following Turkish bombing raids on PKK bases in Iraq. He said the PKK would soon declare "democratic autonomy" in Kurdish regions of south-east Turkey. "If Turkey does not accept this, it is their problem," he said. The war between the Turkish government and the PKK, which has lasted 26 years and claimed 40,000 lives, has already moved into a new phase after the collapse of a ceasefire.

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Australia opens Fusion Centre targeting organized crime

Attorney General Robert McClalland has opened a new intelligence analysis centre in Canberra targeting organised crime backed by more than a billion dollars in information technology assets. The so-called Criminal Intelligence Fusion Centre within the Australian Crime Commission draws data and expertise from some of the federal government's largest IT operations, from the Australian Taxation Office, Customs and Border Protection, Centrelink, Austrac, Immigration and the Australian Federal Police.

The Fusion Centre aims to boost the ability of state and federal law enforcement to identify and analyse high-risk cash flows, patterns of crime and their links to individuals, businesses and corporate structures that may be involved in crime. Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the social and economic cost to Australians of organised crime was about $15 billion annually. Government's Organised Crime Strategic Framework would make sure Commonwealth intelligence, policy, regulatory and law enforcement agencies were working together to prevent, disrupt, investigate and prosecute organised crime, Mr O'Connor said.

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Targeting Oil Pipelines

Blasts hit two oil pipelines in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, Friday. An explosion first hit a 0.9 meter-diameter oil pipeline at about 6 p.m. and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian Xingang Harbor. Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), caught fire and more than 400 firefighters and 110 fire engines are working at the site. Blaze of the larger pipeline has been extinguished by 11:30 p.m. but more than 200 meters of the smaller one is still on fire as firefighters failed to turn off its oil pump. The government is sending special jets to transport fire foam for the campaign. An oil tank that was unloading oil in the harbor when the blast broke out had left the scene unharmed. The pipelines were links between oil ships and land tankers. Local authorities are investigating the incident.

Oil pipeline attacks are a major threat from terrorist and extremist groups that seek serious disruption and major media attention. The energy sector is one of the most critical to nations' critical infrastructure. Although the cause of the Chinese explosions have not been determined as terrorism based, the harm is the same. In early July an explosion and fire on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline halted the flow of at least 5,000 barrels of oil. Turkish officials said the pipeline would be back up and running quickly, however. No organization claimed responsibility for the explosion, though analysts say the incident bore the hallmarks of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Nihat Ozcan, an analyst with the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, told Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman that such events are capable of sending strong messages to the international community. "The financial cost of attacking the pipeline is minimal but still able to inflict much harm," he said. "Pipelines are easy targets."

• "Inside the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)", Council on Foreign Relations, 10/19/07.
• "Nigerian pipeline blast kills up to 200", USA Today, 5/12/06.
  

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The Shifting Landscape of Passport Fraud

The recent case involving the arrest and deportation of the Russian intelligence network in the United States has once again raised the subject of document fraud in general and passport fraud in particular. The FBI’s investigation into the group of Russian operatives discovered that several of the suspects had assumed fraudulent identities and had obtained genuine passports (and other identity documents) in their assumed names. One of the suspects assumed the identity of a Canadian by the name of Christopher Robert Mestos, who died in childhood. The suspect was arrested in Cyprus but fled after posting bail; his true identity remains unknown. Three other members of the group also assumed Canadian identities, with Andrey Bezrukov posing as Donald Heathfield, Elena Vavilova as Tracey Foley and Natalia Pereverzeva as Patricia Mills.

Passport fraud is a topic that surfaces with some frequency in relation to espionage cases. (The Israelis used passport fraud during the January 2010 operation to assassinate Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas militant commander.) Passport fraud is also frequently committed by individuals involved in crimes such as narcotics smuggling and arms trafficking, as well as by militants involved in terrorist plots. Because of the frequency with which passport fraud is used in these types of activities — and due to the importance that curtailing passport fraud can have in combating espionage, terrorism and crime — we thought it a topic worth discussing this week in greater detail.

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Mexican drug gang uses car bomb for first time

A drug cartel has used a car bomb for the first time in Mexico's decades-long fight against traffickers, setting a deadly trap against federal police in a city across the border from Texas, the mayor of Ciudad Juarez said Friday. Mayor Jose Reyes said federal police have confirmed to him that a car bomb was used in the attack that killed three people Thursday. It was the first time a drug cartel has used a bomb to attack Mexican security forces, marking an escalation in the country's already raging drug war.

Federal police and paramedics were lured to the scene by a phone call reporting that shots were fired at a major intersection and a municipal police officer lay wounded at a major intersection. As the paramedics were working on the wounded man, a parked car exploded. Reyes said authorities later determined that the wounded man was not a policeman, although he was wearing a fake uniform. The man was among the three people who died in the attack. The others were a federal police officer and a medical technician. Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, told reporters that up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used, although investigators were still trying to determine what type.

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Threats, bribes as fraudsters target New Zealand eftpos devices

Three Canadians have been arrested in what police say is an international crime syndicate, which secretly modifies eftpos machines in shops to steal customers' credit card details. The skimmers are alleged to have stolen normal eftpos terminals and replaced them with "compromised" replicas, often with the help of shop staff who are bribed with money or threatened with violence. The tampered machines record the bank account details of swiped cards, which are then transferred to blank cards. Pinhole cameras hidden near the eftpos machines or false keypads are used to record the PIN numbers, before the cloned bank cards are used at ATMs to withdraw cash.

Like normal skimming attacks, where bank cards are skimmed by false fronts on ATM machines, victims are often unaware of the fraud until they check their bank balance. This week, three men appeared in Auckland District Court charged with participating in an organised crime group which allegedly stole a number of eftpos pin pads. The Canadian trio of Giovanni Patroni Hernandez, Guillermo Alexis Esquizel Lemus and Jonathon Burrel, aged between 21 and 30, are in custody and are the subject of an ongoing police and Customs investigation. Interpol and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also involved in the inquiry. The inquiry was triggered after one of the main providers of eftpos pin-pads alerted police that 11 units had been stolen since mid June.

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After Kampala attack, Somali militants promise more operations

Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly attacks in Uganda, is promising to "unleash a new tide of terror," but Uganda's leader has vowed to "deal with the authors of this crime and fight back. This is only the beginning," Al-Shabaab warned Thursday in a statement on the internet. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombings that killed 76 people in two locations in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. The attackers struck an Ethiopian restaurant in a neighborhood dotted with bars and popular among expatriates. Two other bombs exploded at a rugby center. Police in Uganda have reported arrests in connection with the bombings, which also wounded dozens of people. Al-Shabaab had said it is waging war "against 6,000 collaborators," a reference to the African Union peacekeeping force that includes Ugandan troops and warned Ugandans to refrain from involvement in Somalia. Burundi is a main troop contributor nation, and it has been threatened, too.

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US senator warns of terrorist threat to oil rigs

While the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has put accidental spills squarely in the national spotlight, one U.S. senator is warning of another possible threat: deliberate sabotage. Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia is calling on the Obama administration to develop plans to safeguard offshore platforms from attack by terrorists. The senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made his case in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"While Congress will continue to scrutinize BP and regulatory agencies, I write to urge you to also be vigilant against deliberate acts, such as an attack or sabotage, that could similarly devastate the region," Webb said in the letter, referring to the Gulf Coast. But he wants the security plans adopted for all U.S. coastal areas. While there are no oil derricks off Virginia's coast, Webb, the state's senior senator, favors oil and gas exploration in Virginia waters. He also backs a controversial moratorium in deepwater drilling ordered by the Interior Department, until risks and safeguards can be better assessed.

Webb notes in the letter that the BP oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in the country's history. He said that, "With dozens of wells operating in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, we must employ policies that mitigate all types of risk." The senator said that a lack of vigilance on security issues "could leave the marine ecosystem, as well as certain areas of our national security, at great risk."

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Uganda attacks signal terror group potential

If the Somali terror group al-Shabab is responsible for the deadly attacks in Uganda, it could mean the group is capable of carrying out successful attacks in Africa and beyond, according to an intelligence assessment by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the explosions that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda on Sunday. Intelligence officials have long warned that sporting events and large gatherings are attractive targets for terrorists.

President Barack Obama, in an interview with South Africa Broadcasting Corp., said the statements indicate that al-Shabab and other terrorist organizations see Africa "as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains." The attack would be al-Shabab's first successful strike outside of Somalia, according to the July 12 intelligence analysis obtained by The Associated Press. The document is marked for official use only and was distributed to law enforcement officials across the country.

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Ethnic gangs across the Western Hemisphere

Criminal insurgencies are threatening the security and stability of nations throughout the Americas. In Columbia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Jamaica and most other states in the Caribbean and Central American regions, police and armed forces are engaged in an increasingly brutal war against national and transnational criminal organization for control of the countryside and the cities in their countries. The "root cause" of this insurgency is not the usual combination of poverty, failed governance, and political corruption that fuels insurgencies in other parts of the world, although these factors are in play in the Americas too. Rather, the root cause of this insurgency is the demand for illegal drugs in the United States, Canada and Europe that led to the violent competition between state authorities and gangs seeking to control the supply of drugs flowing from and through their countries to North America and Europe.

The story may seem distant from Canada, but there are worrying similarities at home to the evolution of the criminal insurgency in the Western Hemisphere. In 2009 the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada estimated that as many as 750 national and transnational criminal organizations were active in Canada. In every province except Newfoundland, home-grown, aboriginal, and 'ethnic' criminal gangs are expanding into smaller towns and recruiting more aggressively, creating successor generations of gang members. Earlier this year the RCMP warned that "aboriginal-based criminal organizations" were moving rapidly into northern Ontario from British Columbia and the Prairie provinces.

Expansion, competition for "trade" and new members, and a general sense that they are untouchable -- for instance, because of "the sensitive political optics of aboriginal issues" -- is increasing the number of incidents and the level of violent behaviour across Canada on reserves and in cities and spilling into peaceful aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities. Police forces, the courts, and jails are struggling to address the problem. The RCMP estimates that it has resources to handle a mere 20 per cent of criminal gang activities in Canada. In most provinces, but especially in the West, many prisons are dominated by native gangs and cults. They are very dangerous places which police officers refer to as "gangland community colleges."

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Police make arrest in 'Grim Sleeper' killings

A one-time police mechanic was arrested and charged in the serial killing of 10 people over 25 years after a DNA sample from his son was found to bear a close resemblance to DNA found on the victims. Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57, was charged with 10 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and special circumstance allegations of multiple murders that could make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, District Attorney Steve Cooley said. Detectives have spent years investigating slayings between 1985 and 2007 in which the killer targeted young black women and one man. The attacker was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because he apparently took a 14-year hiatus from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002.

The break in the case came after Franklin's son was arrested and swabbed for DNA, said Alexander, who was given a briefing on the case by robbery-homicide detectives. Using a technique known as a familial DNA search, the sample came back as similar to evidence in the serial killings, leading police to investigate relatives of the man who was arrested. Detectives later swabbed a cup used by Lonnie Franklin Jr. at a restaurant and confirmed his DNA matched that in the serial killings, Alexander said, citing his briefing by police. Two police officials confirmed Alexander's account.

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Italy arrests 300 in crackdown on crime organization

Italian police launched one of their biggest operations ever against the powerful 'ndrangheta crime syndicate on Tuesday, arresting 300 people including top bosses and seizing millions worth of property in pre-dawn raids. The man believed to be the 'ndrangheta's top boss, Domenico Oppedisano, was picked up in Rosarno, a small coastal town in Calabria, the southern region where the organization is based, police said. Also arrested was the man in charge of the gang's businesses in Milan, where the 'ndrangheta has been making major inroads.

The raids Tuesday involved some 3,000 police across the country. Those arrested faced charges including murder, extortion, arms and drug trafficking and criminal association. Investigators described the operation as one of the biggest blows ever to an organization that is now considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the sweep struck at the heart of the 'ndrangheta in both its organization and its finances. The sweep dismantled some of the most powerful families in the organization, Italian news agencies said. It also enabled investigators to shed light on the 'ndrangheta's structure and power hierarchy. The biggest operation was in the Milan region of Lombardy, where 160 people were reportedly arrested. They included businessmen and the director of state medical services in the city of Pavia.

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Terrorist recruiting in prison

You’ve heard their names: alQaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban and Islamic Jihad. What most haven’t heard is that these terrorist organizations are setting up shop in U.S. and Latin American prisons under the guise of ministry. Counterfeit chaplains are converting prisoners to an extreme form of Islam with an eye to cultivate terroristic saboteurs and martyrs willing to wrap themselves in explosives and detonate on Main Street U.S.A. The Jihadist endgame is even more diabolical, which is to cause death and disease of biblical proportions to usher in the end of the world and their Messiah, the Al-Imam al-Mahdi, better known as the anti-Christ. Does that sound any more far-fetched than Jihadist hijackers flying into the World Trade Center on their way to an eternal date with 72 virgins?

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U.S. Plans Cyber Shield for Utilities, Companies

The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, according to people familiar with the program. The surveillance by the National Security Agency, the government's chief eavesdropping agency, would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, though it wouldn't persistently monitor the whole system, these people said.

Defense contractor Raytheon Corp. recently won a classified contract for the initial phase of the surveillance effort valued at up to $100 million, said a person familiar with the project. Some industry and government officials familiar with the program see Perfect Citizen as an intrusion by the NSA into domestic affairs, while others say it is an important program to combat an emerging security threat that only the NSA is equipped to provide. "The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government...feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security," said one internal Raytheon email, the text of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal. "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."

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3 Arrested In Norway Al-Qaida Bomb Plot

Three people have been arrested in connection with a plot to bomb targets in Norway, police in Oslo have said. Two of the plotters were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, said the head of the Norwegian security police, Janne Kristiansen. The men - a Uighur from China, an Iraqi and an Uzbek - are said to have ties to al-Qaeda and to be linked to bomb plots in the US and UK, Ms Kristiansen said. The three, all Norwegian residents, had been under surveillance for a year. US prosecutors say the Norwegian case is linked to foiled bomb plots in New York and the English city of Manchester. "We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al-Qaeda, and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain."

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Mexico thwarts Hezbollah bid to set up South American network

Mexico foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to establish a network in South America, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Tuesday. Hezbollah operatives employed Mexicans nationals with family ties to Lebanon to set up the network, designed to target Israel and the West, the Al-Seyassah daily said. According to the report, Mexican police mounted a surveillance operation on the group's leader, Jameel Nasr, who traveled frequently to Lebanon to receive information and instructions from Hezbollah commanders there. Police say Nasr also made frequent trips to other countries in Latin America, including a two-month stay in Venezuela in the summer of 2008. Nasr was living in Tijuana, Mexico at the time of his arrest, the report said. The report follows warnings from the United States that Hezbollah and its backer Iran are stepping up operations in the region.

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Terrorism in Britain 'mostly home grown'

The Centre for Social Cohesion has compiled profiles of 124 individuals convicted of Islamic terrorism offences since 1999. It found that 69 per cent of offences were perpetrated by individuals holding British nationality. Robin Simcox, co-author of the report, said their aim was to “focus the government’s counter-terrorism efforts.” “There are clear trends emerging with those involving themselves in terrorist activity in the UK,” he added. “It is crucial that this is recognised and then acted upon by the relevant authorities.” His comments follow private remarks by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, that the country faces “eye-watering cuts” in counter-terrorism funding that could hand an advantage to al-Qaeda.Douglas Murray, Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “The report proves how great a threat violent Islamism poses to the world – and the fact that Britain is at the centre of this global struggle.”

The Social Cohesion report outlines the links individuals had to terrorist groups, their nationality and ethnic origin, their age, hometown, occupation and education, which other radical Islamists they were connected to and what legislation the government used to jail them. The report also shows how Britain’s links to violent Islamism are almost two decades old by profiling almost 100 other offences committed abroad since 1993 that are connected to Britain, including terrorist convictions, terrorist training, suicide attacks, and extraditions. The survey found almost half (46 per cent) of offenders had their origins in south Asia including 28 per cent who had Pakistani heritage - of whom at least 80 per cent were British nationals. Six of the eight major plots in Britain, 75 per cent, contained individual members who had trained in Pakistan and four of the leaders of those plots were directly linked to one or more Pakistani based terrorist groups. The next most common origin for offenders was Somalia, accounting for 6 per cent, demonstrating a growing threat from East Africa.

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Ecuador authorities seize drug-smuggling submarine

A fully functional submarine built for the primary purpose of transporting massive amounts of cocaine has been seized by Ecuadorean authorities with the help of U.S. drug enforcement agents. A drug-trafficking organization built the sea-worthy vessel that is now being held near the border of Ecuador and Colombia, and one individual has been taken into custody, authorities said. The investigation into the group and the submarine, which was seized Friday, is ongoing.

"This is the first seizure of a clandestinely constructed fully operational submarine built to facilitate trans-oceanic drug trafficking," the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement. The vessel utilized twin screws and was diesel electric-powered, the agency said. It was about 30 meters (98 feet) long and nearly 3 meters (nine feet) high from the deck plates to the ceiling. It has a periscope and an air-conditioning system. The submarine was constructed in a "remote jungle environment in an effort to elude law enforcement or military interdiction," the agency said. Acting on intelligence, Ecuadorean authorities were able to seize the vessel for before its maiden voyage.

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Terrorist De-Radicalization Shows Promise

Prison-based programs to de-radicalize terrorists show promise, if well-run, says a new joint report from U.S. and British researchers. Their initial findings - the most comprehensive to date, based on programs in 15 nations - were presented at a conference this week. Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalization and De-radicalization in 15 Countries is a joint report of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), based at the University of Maryland, and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR), based at Kings College in London.

The report concludes that individual de-radicalization and disengagement programs, such as those in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia and other nations, "can make a difference." The researchers say their work could have policy implications for prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq. "This is a much bigger issue than most people appreciate," said University of Maryland professor Gary LaFree, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). "It's a classic problem really. Prisons change behavior for both good and for bad. It's difficult to detain prisoners forever, but when is it safe to let them go?"

"Initial results indicate that the programs can work, though probably not 100 percent of the time," LaFree adds. "Just as with regular criminals, individual and community supports help combat recidivism. But with terrorism and ideology there's an added dimension. In general, it's easier to de-radicalize when a movement is on the decline, when the battle seems lost." The report identifies principles and best practices to help governments and policymakers avoid costly and counterproductive mistakes. These include:

• Prison services should be more ambitious in promoting positive influences inside prison, and develop more innovative approaches to facilitate extremists' transition back into mainstream society. The current emphasis on security and containment of terrorists leads to missed opportunities to promote reform.
• Over-crowding and under-staffing amplify the conditions that lend themselves to radicalization of inmates. Badly run prisons make the detection of radicalization difficult, and they also create the physical and ideological space in which extremist recruiters can operate freely.
• Religious conversion is not the same as radicalization. Good counter-radicalization policies - whether in or outside prison - never fail to distinguish between legitimate expression of faith and extremist ideologies. Prison services should invest more in staff training, and consider sharing specialized resources.
• Individual de-radicalization and disengagement programs - such as those in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, and other countries - can make a difference. Their positive and outward-looking approach should serve as an inspiration for governments and policymakers everywhere.
• Even in the best circumstances, de-radicalization and disengagement programs complement rather than replace other instruments in the fight against terrorism. They work best when the political momentum is no longer with the terrorists or insurgents.

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Al-Qaida Magazine Aims to 'Inspire' Western Jihadis

Scans of a new glossy magazine started popping up online this week. Inspire features slick graphics, high-quality production and stories like "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom." The first page also promises an editorial from Osama bin Laden himself, although due to technical issues, only three pages of the magazine are currently available.

Inspire is being published by a Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida, and it's aimed at radicalizing an English-speaking audience. Al-Qaida has a well-established propaganda arm, but, as analyst Juan Zarate tells host Guy Raz, Inspire marks its first major effort to reach out to English speakers.

Zarate is a former deputy national security adviser in the Bush administration and is currently a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He says that despite concerns about the authenticity of Inspire, he believes it genuinely does come from al-Qaida.

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Vengeful new terrorist group emerges in Pakistan

Authorities now believe a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad three years ago, has carried out several major bombings in the capital previously blamed on the Taliban. The emergence of the Ghazi Force was part of the outrage among many Pakistani Muslims over the July 2007 attack. The fierce attack inspired a new generation of militants who have turned against a government they felt has betrayed them and, to their dismay, backed the US role in Afghanistan.

The brief but bloody history of the Ghazi Force illustrates the unintended results of Pakistan’s policy of promoting extremists to fight India in Indian-held Kashmir. The new group is made up of relatives of students who died in the Lal Masjid assault. It is named after their leader, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was also killed. The mosque’s adjacent madrassa had been a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the war in Afghanistan.

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Solving crime using the bleeding obvious

Forensic experts are helping to solve crime with equipment that they always carry with them and that doesn't rely on expensive gadgetry - their eyes. Professor Adrian Linacre, South Australia Chair in Forensic Science at Flinders University will explain at a seminar on Thursday, 1 July how blood pattern analysis is a relatively simple yet underused means of gathering valuable information about a crime.

“Blood pattern analysis requires no more than looking at the pattern of blood on items and at crime scenes,” Professor Linacre said. “We know there is a direct relationship between the size of blood spots and force, namely, the greater the force, the smaller the spot,” he said. “The highest impact, usually involving a gunshot or another mechanical device, creates a fine mist of blood. Equally, we know spots of blood can only travel certain distances. A fine mist of blood will normally travel a maximum of one metre. Using simple laws of physics and trigonometry, it is possible to determine the possible forces involved in blood loss and from where it most likely originated.”

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