Policing with Intelligence

Insurgents storm police station in western Iraq city of Ramadi; at least 21 dead

2012-01-15T21:17:00.001-07:00

Insurgents stormed the western Iraq city of Ramadi on Sunday and tried to blast their way into a police compound, setting off a fierce gun battle with local security forces. Eight police officers and seven insurgents were killed, according to government and security officials.

“It was a bold attack, surprising attack,” said Brig. Gen. Khamis Jasem, a commander at a provincial operations center. “They made the security forces busy with explosives here and there. Then they attacked.”

Suicide bomb attacks have killed thousands in Iraq since 2006. Use the interactive to view the human toll up to today.

An additional six civilians were killed in the bombings and attacks, said Maj. Mahmoud Khaleel of the Anbar provincial police. Security officials have increased their readiness, particularly in the nearby city of Fallujah. “We are expecting similar attacks in the coming days,” Jasem added.

Sunday’s assault, in a predominantly Sunni area, followed a huge blast Saturday outside the southern city of Basra, which killed at least 53 Shiite pilgrims on a march to a religious shrine. The country is increasingly on edge after previous bombings in the wake of the U.S. troop withdrawal last month.

Officials fear that insurgents are trying to provoke a sectarian war between Sunni and Shiite extremists, in part by taking advantage of a political crisis in Baghdad that has paralyzed the government.

Thailand hunting Hezbollah operatives planning terror attacks against Jews, Israelis

2012-01-15T19:23:00.002-07:00

Haaretz Israel is reporting that the Counter-Terrorism Bureau has issued a warning to Israelis to stay away from Bangkok, and advised those already in the capital to avoid areas commonly frequented by Israelis.

Thailand's intelligence services launched a manhunt Friday for a Hezbollah operative who is part of a terror cell planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Bangkok. The Counter-Terrorism Bureau has issued a warning to Israelis to stay away from the Thai capital, and advised those already in Bangkok to avoid areas commonly frequented by Israelis. The defense source said the Thai authorities were working hard to thwart the attack, which was expected sometime ahead of February 12 - the anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh. According to Thai sources, despite the arrest of the first suspect, the terror warning is still in force. The defense source said the incident was still underway.

"A manhunt is still underway after the additional suspects,which means the threat still exists and the travel advisory is still in force," the source said. The source also called on Israelis who are now in Thailand to comply with the directives and to stay away from Bangkok. Thai sources said that during his questioning, the detained Hezbollah operative confessed that a terror squad was intending to launch an attack on Israeli targets, including places where Israelis stay.

"The Thai authorities have stationed heavy security at all potential targets," a securing source added.
According to the Thai media, Israel first informed the Thai authorities on December 22 that three Hezbollah operatives had entered the country in order to perpetrate terror attacks. On January 8, Israel received additional information pinpointing this weekend as the time of the attack. The Americans had also informed the Thai authorities before Christmas that they had received information from Israel about a planned terror attack against Western and American targets in Bangkok.

Three members of the terror cell are Lebanese citizens who also hold Swedish passports, and who visited Thailand a few times in recent months. The information led the Thai authorities Friday to an apartment near Khao San Road, a popular destination for Israeli backpackers and other visitors to the Thai capital. Thai security officials raided the apartment but the Hezbollah men had already fled. They arrested Idris Hussein, 48, a dual Lebanese-Swiss citizen, at Bangkok Airport a few minutes before he was due to board a flight out of the country. Following Hussein's arrest, nine other countries besides Israel and the United States issued travel advisories against visiting Bangkok.

Paradise Lost: Increased Armament of Crime Gangs in Iceland

2012-01-10T16:49:00.003-07:00

According to the risk assessment of the analysis department of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, which was presented yesterday, crime gangs in Iceland have firearms smuggled to the country and carry them on the streets.

Icelandic Police Officers. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.

The analysis department concludes that this development can be linked to the increased presence of foreign criminals in Iceland; crime gangs have members with military training, Fréttablaðið reports.

Police have information that handguns are being smuggled to the country; known criminals have placed emphasis on armament in the past months.

The risk of armed conflicts between gangs is at hand which jeopardizes public safety, the analysis department concludes.

Well-organized break-ins and thefts by foreign crime gangs in Iceland, such as the so-called “Rolex raid” in Reykjavík in October, were also brought up.

“Such events indicate increased harshness in the Icelandic underworld and at the same time the presence of foreign crime gangs in the country,” the risk assessment states.

The analysis department pointed out that money laundering is an important factor in the operations of international crime organizations, as is drug trade, prostitution and human trafficking.

The production of narcotic substances and marijuana has increased significantly in Iceland in the past years.

The production of amphetamines results in particularly strong and dangerous chemicals which can result in people losing control and becoming violent, while the production is dangerous in itself as there is risk of explosion.

The amount of drugs produced in Iceland has become so significant that the suspicion has arisen that they may be intended for export, Morgunblaðið reports.

Police Operation "Nightstinger" to combat triad and organised crime

2012-01-09T19:32:00.003-07:00

Hong Kong Police arrested 222 people in an anti-crime operation codenamed "Nightstinger" conducted from December 28, 2011 to January 8, 2012 which resulted in seizure of dangerous drugs, obscene optical discs, duty-not-paid cigarettes and cash with a total worth of about $700,000.

Speaking at a pressconference today (January 9), Acting Chief Superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB), Mr Michael Cheuk Hau-yip, said this intelligence-led operation aimed at smashing a syndicate active in Kowloon and the New Territories, curbing its expansion and tackling triad-related crimes.

OCTB deployed undercover officers in the last two years with a view to infiltrating into the syndicate, collecting crime-related evidence, and obtaining information of its core members. Officers have arrested 78 men aged from 15 to 68 for trafficking in dangerous drugs, blackmail, unlawful gambling, serious wounding, managing a triad society, acting as a member of a triad society and affray. Among the arrestees, 22 of them have been charged with corresponding offences and have already appeared at Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts for trial on December 31, 2011.

The remaining ones were bailed pending further enquiries and are required to report back to Police from late January to early February, 2012.

Meanwhile, officers of OCTB, Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Bureau, Commercial Crime Bureau and all Regional Anti-triad Units conducted a territory-wide arrest operation from December 28, 2011 to January 8, 2012. A total of 78 men and 66 women aged from 27 to 62 were arrested in connection with triad, drug-trafficking, unlawful gambling and other violence offences. Among the arrested, 68 of them have been charged with triad-related offences while the remaining ones were bailed pending further investigation and should report back in mid-February, 2012.

Seizures include unlawful gambling money worth about $160,000, dangerous drugs with a market value of about $200,000, about 10,000 obscene optical discs, some 1,640 illicit cigarettes and offensive weapons.

The Police reiterated that they have full confidence and ability in combating against triads, organized crimes and crime syndicates. A proactive intelligence-led strategy will continually be adopted to tackle triad members and activities.

Aussies hoping to give the U.S. one of their bad boys back

2012-01-08T22:03:00.001-07:00

Super smuggler out of options in bid to beat extradition to US

Louise Hall

ONE of the world's most notorious drug smugglers may finally be extradited to the US after a seven-year battle to remain in Australia.

George Paul Brock is wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the importation of almost 300 tonnes of cannabis into the US in the 1980s.

Mr Brock was jailed for eight years in 2001 after pleading guilty in the Sydney District Court to importing about $100 million worth of cannabis into Australia.
The US citizen has remained in custody in Silverwater jail's maximum security remand centre since he was paroled in March 2005. He has launched numerous legal challenges to the Australian Government's decision to extradite him to his home country, arguing that the Minister for Home Affairs acted on incomplete or incorrect information and that he was denied procedural fairness.

But Mr Brock may have exhausted all avenues of appeal, the Full Federal Court last month dismissing his latest attempt to have quashed the warrants issued by the Australian Federal Police on behalf of the US Government.

The three appeal judges found the information put before the Minister did not misdirect him and there was no denial of procedural fairness.

A spokeswoman for the acting Minister for Home Affairs, Nicola Roxon, said Mr Brock had 28 days from the date of the decision to seek special leave of the High Court to appeal. However, the High Court refused Mr Brock's applications for special leave in August 2007 and July 2009.

Mr Brock is wanted in the US state of Illinois for importing and distributing 30,000 kilograms of marijuana between 1980 and 1987.

He was one of the FBI's most wanted men and had managed to avoid capture for a decade before he was bought down by the AFP trying to import 10 tonnes of cannabis resin in 1997. The shipment was carried on board a 650-tonne oil tanker MV Hiddensee owned by Mr Brock, which was seized off the coast of NSW after a tip-off.

Attorney-General's department figures show Mr Brock has spent more time in extradition custody than any other person being held in Australia.

The Ultimate Nuclear Terrorist Threat To The United States

2012-01-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

A thought-provoking article in Forbes magazine from Larry Bell.

Any notion that achievement of nuclear capabilities by Iran, North Korea and other countries hostile to U.S. interests poses little direct danger is terribly misguided. Imagine a very plausible scenario: A relatively small and primitive 500-kiloton single-stage atomic bomb – the same type of weapon that has been in existence since the 1950s – is launched from an ordinary-looking freighter ship and exploded in the atmosphere about 300 miles above Chicago.

The resulting electromagnetic pulse (EMP) will release a burst of charged particles powerful enough to overwhelm all systems or circuits that draw or transmit electricity over a large distance, literally blowing them out or frying them from the inside. This includes orbiting satellites used for missile tracking, ground-based GPS, and general communications. The launching ship is then sunk, leaving no firm evidence about who sponsored the attack, or against whom a counterstrike is warranted.

Many highly informed sources, including former speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich, believe the potential for an EMP attack is perhaps our most serious national security threat… one with catastrophic consequences for virtually all aspects of life. Try to picture the disastrous effects of U.S. power grid disruptions that shut down all water pumping and sanitation stations; lights and refrigerators; TV, radio and Internet communications; and manufacturing industries.

Consider that all equipment that relies upon complex electronic micro-circuitry would cease to function, including banking transactions, air traffic control operations, aircraft and ground transportation vehicles, gasoline pumps, and tiny implanted medical devices. Think about those who live in cold climates without heat, contemplate mob pandemonium without essentials to support law enforcement.

Recovery would be expected to require many years. Obtaining and replacing the vast network of power grid transformers destroyed en masse would be a huge, time-consuming task. And while some vital information contained on computer hard drives would be salvageable, the costs would be enormous.

Seven Steps to Better Brainstorming - Part 1

2011-03-16T17:29:00.002-06:00

Companies run on good ideas. From R&D groups seeking pipelines of innovative new products to ops teams probing for time-saving process improvements to CEOs searching for that next growth opportunity--all senior managers want to generate better and more creative ideas consistently in the teams they form, participate in, and manage. Yet all senior managers, at some point, experience the pain of pursuing new ideas by way of traditional brainstorming sessions--still the most common method of using groups to generate ideas at companies around the world. The scene is familiar: A group of people, often chosen largely for political reasons, begins by listening passively as a moderator (often an outsider who knows little about your business) urges you to "Get creative!" and "Think outside the box!" and cheerfully reminds you that "There are no bad ideas!"

The result? Some attendees remain stone-faced throughout the day, others contribute sporadically, and a few loudly dominate the session with their pet ideas. Ideas pop up randomly--some intriguing, many preposterous--but because the session has no structure, little momentum builds around any of them. At session's end, the group trundles off with a hazy idea of what, if anything, will happen next. "Now we can get back to real work," some whisper. It doesn't have to be like this. We've led or observed 200 projects over the past decade at more than 150 companies in industries ranging from retailing and education to banking and communications. That experience has helped us develop a practical approach that captures the energy typically wasted in a traditional brainstorming session and steers it in a more productive direction. The trick is to leverage the way people actually think and work in creative problem-solving situations.

We call our approach "brainsteering," and while it requires more preparation than traditional brainstorming, the results are worthwhile: better ideas in business situations as diverse as inventing new products and services, attracting new customers, designing more efficient business processes or reducing costs, among others. The next time you assign one of your people to lead an idea generation effort--or decide to lead one yourself--you can significantly improve the odds of success by following the seven steps below.

1. Know Your Organization's Decision-Making Criteria

One reason good ideas hatched in corporate brainstorming sessions often go nowhere is that they are beyond the scope of what the organization would ever be willing to consider. "Think outside the box!" is an unhelpful exhortation if external circumstances or company policies create boxes that the organization truly must live within.

Managers hoping to spark creative thinking in their teams should therefore start by understanding (and in some cases shaping) the real criteria the company will use to make decisions about the resulting ideas. Are there any absolute restrictions or limitations, for example? A bank we know wasted a full day's worth of brainstorming because the session's best ideas all required changing IT systems. Yet senior management--unbeknownst to the workshop planners--had recently "locked down" the IT agenda for the next 18 months.

Likewise, what constitutes an acceptable idea? At a different, smarter bank, workshop planners collaborated with senior managers on a highly specific (and therefore highly valuable) definition tailored to meet immediate needs. Good ideas would require no more than $5,000 per branch in investment and would generate incremental profits quickly. Further, while three categories of ideas--new products, new sales approaches and pricing changes--were welcome, senior management would balk at ideas that required new regulatory approvals. The result was a far more productive session delivering exactly what the company wanted: a fistful of ideas, in all three target categories, that were practical, affordable and profitable within one fiscal year.

Gathering Intelligence: The Systematic Gang Member Interview

2011-02-21T21:27:00.002-07:00

Very interesting article by Andrew Eways, Maryland State Police from corrections.com.

Since law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities first dedicated officers to gang-related duties, these personnel have sought out and interviewed gang members whenever the opportunity arose. Gang members have been interviewed during traffic stops, during field contacts, during criminal investigations, during intake and booking at city and county detention facilities, and in state prisons. The list goes on…

Due in large part to a lack of fundamental training, however, many officers are not making their gang member contacts as productive as they could be. For law enforcement purposes, most gang member interviews fall into one of three major categories; field interviews, custodial or intake interviews, and debriefings; each with its own rules and special considerations.

Field Interviews:

A properly documented field interview (FI) is a valuable investigative tool. It is also probably the most important initial step in developing accurate information about gangs. Contrary to popular belief, almost all useable police intelligence on gangs, gang members and their criminal activities is generated through contacts made by patrol and uniformed personnel. These officers interact with gang members during traffic stops, calls for service or simple consensual contacts. Although depending on the nature of the field contact a subject may have the right to refuse to be photographed, officers should not be afraid to ask for consent to take pictures of the gang member, tattoos or clothing. Proper documentation of field interviews, coupled with the photographs and other evidence the officers gather, may assist in solving more serious crimes.

While conducting field interviews with gang members, officers must also be aware of their surroundings and conscious of officer safety. Field interviews will most often take place in open, public areas frequented by other gang members. Be aware that gang members may be hesitant to talk or may cry harassment in the hopes of inciting others around them. This is also where an officer’s inter-personal skills and tact will come into play. If an officer identifies a potential informant or cooperator during a field contact, they should keep the field interview brief and make arrangements for a follow-up interview with the subject in a more secure location out of sight of others.

Custodial and Intake Interviews:

Unlike field interviews, custodial and intake interviews are usually conducted in a safe and controlled environment. In these instances, officers are speaking with subjects who have been arrested and are at a police station, booking facility or detention facility. The custodial and intake interviews are a chance for the officer to obtain specific information about gangs, gang members and their criminal activities while the interviewees are at a disadvantage.

In the experience of many gang officers, the most opportune time to conduct custodial and intake interviews is during the booking process at a police station or during the intake process at a detention facility. In these instances, the gang member is likely to be at an emotional low point and more likely to answer questions about their gang and criminal activities. Further, many gang members who have just been arrested will be cooperative out of fear or in hopes of lessening or avoiding prosecution for the charges they face. The stress of being arrested or the immediate desire to cooperate with law enforcement and garner favor often does not last more than a few hours, so gang officers should take full advantage of this situation and, whether day or night, make arrangements to conduct custodial and intake interviews as soon as gang members are identified. It is also important to remember, however, that some gang members may appear cooperative and forthcoming in an effort to manipulate officers into unwittingly revealing sensitive information to them. Officers must be aware of this and always maintain control of the interview.

Unlike field interviews, the subject of a custodial or intake interview does not necessarily have any right to refuse to have their face, profile, tattoos and distinguishing features photographed. It is important that these pictures be taken during the course of regular booking or intake process. If a gang member has already been processed and housed, however, removing them from their cell and photographing their tattoos and marks may require the officer to obtain a warrant or court order.

Debriefings:

A debriefing is a full and detailed interview with a cooperative subject, who has generally agreed to answer all questions that are asked. Unlike the majority of field interviews and custodial or intake interviews, a debriefing is usually scheduled in advance. This allows the interviewer time to outline questions and topics they wish to cover in advance. Officers who conduct debriefings should take full advantage of the cooperation they are receiving and, in addition to ongoing criminal activities, ask about the signs, written and verbal codes or other intelligence specific to the cooperators gang that can be useful to law enforcement.

The debriefing will almost always take place in a safe, controlled environment and, because it is scheduled in advance, there will rarely be time constraints to worry about. Remember, just because a subject is cooperative at the time of the interview, it doesn’t mean they will remain cooperative and forthcoming after the first debriefing. Therefore, it is very important for the interviewer to take their time and cover everything they want to know. If possible, debriefings should be recorded. If not, then the debriefing officer or another officer should take detailed notes so as to be able to pass along all pertinent information gleaned from the interview to officers, units, divisions or departments that can make use of it.

Conducting Productive Gang Member Interviews:

To be affective and productive, officers should not only be familiar with the three major types of gang member interviews, but they must also follow a few basic, common-sense rules that apply to any interview. Whether you are conducting a field interview, a custodial or intake interview, or a full gang member debriefing, you should ask open ended questions and let the subject speak without interruption.

The skill that most often separates the good interviewers from the bad is the ability to be quiet, take time to pause, and let them speak because, as human nature dictates, if you allow someone to speak long enough they will say something they shouldn’t. This basic principle was demonstrated when California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger told the public that “I think that gay marriage is something that should only be between a man and a woman.”, when former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry downplayed the crime problem by telling the press “Apart from all the killings, Washington D.C. is one of the safest places in the country.”, and never more clearly and comically than when singer Mariah Carey addressed world hunger with “I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.” Remember, as long as you are being paid to be at work, the person you are interviewing is never really wasting your time. Time is on your side!

Other basic rules for conducting productive gang member interviews, just like other criminal interviews, are; (1) regardless of your personal feelings, be respectful and express an interest in what the subject has to say, (2) do not prompt or coach the subject to answer your questions. If they don’t know the answer to your question move on to the next one, and (3) don’t try to impress the subject with your knowledge of gangs. Remember, an interview is not about you – it’s about them. And as a final consideration that only a few short years ago I would never have believed I needed to address, do not show gang members and interview subjects police training material or other sensitive information. Just as much as we want their knowledge, the gang members and criminals want ours. Many would like to see how much we know (or don’t know), how accurate our information is, and what they need to change to continue operating their criminal organizations. There is no legitimate need to ever show a gang member material you have received from law enforcement training.

Future Implications, Officer and Public Safety Issues:

Once you have finished your interview, make sure that you document it properly according to your department’s policy. If there is no policy in place, transcribe your interviews into narrative form and keep an organized filing system so that you can retrieve them if needed. And, above all, make sure to pass on the information you learn to other departments, divisions or officers who will benefit from the knowledge. The goal of gang member interviews is to develop knowledge that will assist all law enforcement and correctional personnel in their duties. The results of your interviews could help to solve serious crimes and prevent other officers and civilians from being hurt. Documenting this information may not help you today, but it could help you or your brother or sister officer later. If you feel the need to horde information and keep it secret from other officers, as some gang officers unfortunately do, you may be allowing criminals to avoid future prosecution and you may be causing danger to other officers.

A systematic gang member interview process will allow correctional officers, detectives, patrol officers, school resource officers and any other law enforcement personnel to develop useable intelligence on gangs, gang members and their criminal activities. If properly documented and shared with other officers in a timely manner, these interviews will keep law enforcement and correctional officers on a more level playing field with the gang members who would like nothing more than to do us harm. It will keep you safer and make the communities and facilities we work in better places.

Broadcast Television Tools to Help Intelligence Analysts Wade Through Data

2011-02-18T21:33:00.003-07:00

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is preparing to deploy a suite of tools that will help war commanders sift through live and recorded video quickly to pinpoint key clips and highlight information with the ease of sports broadcasters. The system is part of a broader agency effort to establish an intelligence network that will allow analysts in operations centers and troops on the battlefield to find pertinent archival video and associated information no matter who collected the data or where it might be stored.

“The comparison we like to make is to ESPN, or CNN, or MSNBC,” said Charlie Morrison, director of business development at Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions. The company is the prime contractor for the system. Former intelligence officers say the video analysis tool would be a drastic improvement over the current process, which is an antiquated “hunt-and-correlate” method that takes too long and often leaves analysts drowning in data.

The Defense Department flies hundreds of sensors over war zones to collect surveillance video. NGA, which has responsibility for archiving the imagery coming off Air Force Predators and other aircraft, wants to improve how it provides that data to ground troops. Intelligence analysts characterize their daily task of wading through hours of footage as searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. It can take up to a week to find a specific event embedded in 20 million minutes of video. Once that data is located, they encounter additional hurdles to send it forward to troops on the ground.

The suite of commercial-based analysis tools, part of the NGA’s National System for Geospatial-Intelligence Video Services, will compress the time it takes to go through the process, officials said. “What this will do is take the video that you have and make it more accessible, more discoverable and more useable,” said Joseph A. Smith, a retired military intelligence officer who is now the technical executive for the sensor assimilation division in NGA’s acquisition directorate.

This could have applications for law enforcement as well as the military so will be well worth keeping an eye on. Sifting though hours of footage on riots, industrial burglaries and other video surveillance situations is a time-consuming and exacting task which could use some technological assistance.

Using the “So What?” factor in analysis

2011-02-17T10:42:00.008-07:00

This is a great article by Libby Stengel from the GroupIntel site...

I was working as an intelligence analyst for a fusion center early in my intelligence career. During my daily reading I came across a piece of information that not only had a reliable source with great access, but also seemed to provide key intelligence information. I quickly grabbed the report and rushed to my supervisor to show him my great find. He stared at me and said, “So what?”

The supervisor understood that the information was important but he didn’t know what to do with the raw information. As that newly minted intelligence analyst I quickly learned to take every piece of information or intelligence provided and figure out why it was important. A director or even a section lead at an analysis center does not have the intimate knowledge or time that an analyst would have to devote to understanding a specific situation. I learned that Raw, unanalyzed information is noise that clouds decisions. Carefully analyzed information can be a decision making tool.

Analysts must:

Connect the dots. Where does this information fit with the existing understanding of the topic? Is it a new threat stream, trend or person? How does it affect the mission and goals of my agency?
Explain - Why should I care about this information? What makes you believe that this information is important? Is it time sensitive? Does it complete the puzzle on a threat or person you had been following? Is it completely different than what you had seen previously? Will this change my agency’s view on a topic or person?
Summarize thoughts into succinct and convincing statements. Provide not only a summation of the information, but also your educated opinion on the situation. What will happen if we do nothing? What will happen if we do something? Worst case and best case scenarios? When encountering several information or intelligence items that you want to combine into a threat assessment, intelligence report or “product,” it is important to analyze each part separately.

Then, look at the information as a whole. When formatting a report, there are three tips that always help:

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF). This is a one-to-two line summary of what I am going to tell you with my educated opinion included in it.
Text of Information or Intelligence. If a piece of intelligence is highly relevant, provide the entire, original text for those who will have time to read it . In some instances, including a map is helpful for readers.
So What? Using the previously listed three musts, tell the reader why they should care about this new or different information.

The truth is that analysts are the people who make intelligence actionable. Remember, you have far more knowledge about the subject than anyone reading it. Be the expert and share your insight! Doing the interpretation and the concise reporting is a foundation for success, so that the most insightful decisions can be made.

A Change in Terrorist Threat Levels

2011-02-15T08:26:00.005-07:00

Every now and then something amusing can be said about our sorry state of affairs and a close colleague sent this to me, and I thought it should be 'out there' in print. It is priceless!

THE ENGLISH are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out.

TERRORISTS have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

THE SCOTS have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

THE FRENCH government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

ITALY has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

THE GERMANS have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."

BELGIANS, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

THE SPANISH are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

AUSTRALIA, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, Mate!" Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is canceled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

— John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person

Australian terrorist threat to airports

2011-02-09T13:45:00.001-07:00

A group of Australians who are believed to be at terrorist training camps in Yemen pose a threat to airport security, a security expert has warned. 22 Australians have gone missing in Yemen and are believed to be at al-Qaeda training camps. Heading up the al-Qaeda regime in Yemen is an American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki who the ABC reported has been dubbed the Osama bin Laden of the internet. Al-Awlaki has been allegedly involved in a number of terrorist attacks and in his internet sermons - delivered in perfect English - he preaches contempt for non-believers.

The 22 Australians are believed to be receiving training at these camps where their value is their Australian passports and the access they can gain with them. "The authorities know who these people are," Homeland Security Asia Pacific director Roger Hennings told AAP. "The government of Australia is aware of the identity of 22 Australians who went missing about four months ago, in other words they just got to Yemen and disappeared," he said. "This constitutes a national security risk because all of these people left through Australian airports and when they return they will return through Australian airports."

Mr Hennings said these Australians were believed to be in al-Qaeda training camps in Yemen and there was nothing to stop them communicating with sympathisers in Australia. According to Mr Hennings, 66 Australian citizens and residents have already been trained by al-Qaeda or in Pakistan by other terrorist organisations.Major airports are areas of mass gathering which Mr Hennings says are critical to the security of the country. Yet the majority of people working in airports don't understand how security threat levels work and Mr Hennings says there is a daily threat level to Australia's airports.

Obama Said to Fault Spy Agencies’ Mideast Forecasting

2011-02-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

President Obama has criticized American spy agencies over their performance in predicting and analyzing the spreading unrest in the Middle East, according to current and former American officials. The president was specifically critical of intelligence agencies for misjudging how quickly the unrest in Tunisia would lead to the downfall of the country’s authoritarian government, the officials said. The officials offered few details about the president’s concerns, but said that Mr. Obama had not ordered any major changes inside the intelligence community, which has a budget of more than $80 billion a year. On Friday, a White House spokesman said spy agencies had given Mr. Obama “relevant, timely and accurate analysis” throughout the crisis in the Middle East.

But questions about the recent performance of spy agencies expose a tension that has played out since the C.I.A.’s founding in 1947: how to balance the task of analyzing events overseas to warn officials in Washington about looming crises with the mission of carrying out covert operations around the globe. Some officials have focused their criticism on intelligence assessments last month that concluded, despite demonstrations in Tunisia, that the security forces of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali would defend his government. Instead, the military and the police did not, and Mr. Ben Ali and his family fled to Saudi Arabia. One American official familiar with classified intelligence assessments defended the spy agencies’ Tunisia analysis. “Everyone recognized the demonstrations in Tunisia as serious,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing classified intelligence reports. “What wasn’t clear even to President Ben Ali was that his security forces would quickly choose not to support him.”

Egypt beefs up security for Coptic Christmas Eve

2011-01-06T16:11:00.005-07:00

Egyptian authorities beefed up security Thursday as Coptic Christians warily ushered in Christmas Eve after a New Year's Day bombing in front of a church that killed nearly two dozen of their members. The Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar and therefore will observe it Friday. "Police plan a large-scale security operation for tonight to protect Egypt's Coptic Christians and their churches." Col. Alla Mahmoud of the interior ministry said. In addition, hundreds of supporters gathered outside the prestigious Al-Azhar University on Thursday in a show of solidarity for the Coptic community. On Wednesday, Egyptian authorities released a sketch of a man they think may be responsible for the attack. "The man in the picture is unknown and authorities are trying to confirm his identity," said Col. Alla Mahmoud of the interior ministry.

The interior ministry used forensic technology to recreate the face of the suspected suicide bomber responsible for killing 23 people when he detonated a car bomb outside The Church of the Two Saints in the city of Alexandria, the al-Ahram newspaper reported Wednesday. The newspaper, which is majority-owned by the government, said the forensic experts estimate the suspected bomber was in his early 20s. Citing officials, the newspaper also said that the bomber had packed about 20 to 25 kilograms (40-55 lbs) of explosives in a traveling bag, indicating that he may have been planning to enter the church or wait for congregants to come out when the explosives went off prematurely in the car. About 9 percent of Egypt's 80 million residents are Coptic Christians, according to the CIA's World Fact Book.

Australian agency preparing for rise in cyber crime

2011-01-04T16:10:00.002-07:00

The rise of cloud computing has added new responsibilities to the Australian Crime Commission (ACC)—the country’s national criminal intelligence agency. According to the agency, there appears to be virtually limitless opportunities for organised crime to “go virtual”. John Lawler, Chief Executive of ACC, told FutureGov Asia Pacific that while the cloud offers numerous benefits, there are “significant vulnerabilities” with the technology that could lead to exploitation by organised crime.

“If we know anything about organised crime networks it is that they see this [cloud computing] and any future technological change as being ripe with the potential for profit,” said Lawler. “We know this because history tells us that the growth of organised crime has mirrored the growth of a more globalised world.” Lawler’s cloud computing concerns stem from the technology’s mobility of data—the information that people provide when they make a purchase, sign up for memberships, answer surveys and join competitions is now raw material for economic activity. Lawler explained: “This information can be analysed, augmented, used, sold or rented—not just locally but globally and with tremendous speed.”

For ACC, the data held in cloud computing is “vulnerable to exploitations by both individual hackers and organised crime groups seeking to collect and sell these information”. To deal with this potential threat, Lawler said that among ACC’s many approach is a focus on the common motivator for all organised crime: profit. “We need to continuously question our methods and approaches and ask if they remain viable in a virtual world. We need to ask whether we have the appropriate skill sets to tackle a new paradigm of organised crime,” he said. “And if not, how do we go about gaining those skills.”

Australian police aim at lawyers, accountants

2011-01-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Detectives will target bent lawyers, accountants and underworld money launderers as part of the biggest intelligence reforms by Victoria Police in more than 30 years. Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones told The Age police were committed to identifying groups and individuals never before linked to high-level criminal activities. ''Our mission is to get these people,'' he said. As part of the reforms, the 150-strong State Intelligence Division will gather information on serious and organised crime groups. Dossiers on major players will be handed to senior officers in the crime department to assign to specially selected taskforces.
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Crime squad detectives have been told that organised crime will be given a higher priority in future investigations. More local crime will be handled at district level. Under the restructure, intelligence officers will also look at ''serious crime'', which includes violent street gangs, knife attacks, serial offenders and professional burglary groups. ''This will roll out across the state,'' Sir Ken said. The intelligence model has already found a spate of ethnic-related organised abductions where victims are held until relatives pay a ransom into secret bank accounts. The crimes are rarely reported to police. Organised crime targets will include syndicates linked to identity fraud, internet scams, blackmail and drug dealing.

Under the blueprint, finalised in recent months, investigations will be more nationally focused. Victorian intelligence officers will be assigned to work with other law enforcement agencies, including the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Federal Police. ''Organised crime works on national and international levels, and so will we be using 21st-century methods to deal with it,'' Sir Ken said. "They are sophisticated and well organised. But our gang is bigger and better resourced. We will co-ordinate our efforts with other law enforcement agencies.'' He said Victoria would host quarterly law enforcement meetings with partner agencies ''to see we are working together effectively''. Jeff Pope, Assistant Commissioner (Intelligence and Covert Support), said police would also work with prison authorities to monitor jailed gangsters who remain influential underworld figures. ''Prison intelligence is incredibly important. We know these people continue to be of influence behind the walls.''

The Golden Hour of Phishing Attacks

2010-12-27T13:02:00.004-07:00

Recent research has been into the attack potency and time-to-infection of email phishing attacks. One of our findings was eye-popping, namely, that 50 per cent of phishing victims’ credentials are harvested by cyber criminals within the first 60 minutes of phishing emails being received. Given that a typical phishing campaign takes at least one hour to be identified by IT security vendors, which doesn’t include the time required to take down the phishing Web site, we have dubbed the first 60 minutes of a phishing site’s existence is the critical ‘golden hour’.

The fact that so many Internet users visit a phishing website within such a short period of time means that blocking a phishing Web site - which is sometimes a cracked legitimate site - within this golden hour has become absolutely critical. During the golden hour, our research suggests that:

More than 50 per cent of stolen credentials are harvested
Within five hours, more than 80 per cent are collated and become usable by cybercriminals
The first 10 hours produce more than 90 per cent of the total credentials that will be stolen by any given phishing site

Therefore, blocking a phishing site after 5-10 hours is almost irrelevant. A more effective model would prevent users from being directed to a phishing site and/or prevent them from entering their credentials if they do end up on a criminal site As an industry, our goal should be to reduce the time it takes for institutions to detect they are being targeted by a phishing attack from hours to within minutes of the first customer attempting to access a rogue phishing page. We also need to establish really quick feeds into browsers and other security tools, so that phishing filters can be updated much more quickly than they are today. This is the only way to swiftly take down phishing websites, protect customers, and eliminate the golden hour.

MX Prison Breakout Means 200 More Serious Criminals on Street–Increase in Violence Expected

2010-12-27T11:45:00.003-07:00

Close to 200 drug dealers, murderers, and human traffickers broke out of a Nuevo Laredo prison—probably with the help of guards who were bribed or threatened; members of the Zetas were behind the prison break. Intelligence analysts say that the breakout means that we should expect more violence in cities within the Zetas-dominated areas An intelligence analyst says there is a greater chance right now you could become a victim of a carjacking in Mexico. A former drug enforcement agency supervisor said the prison break in Nuevo Laredo is the reason why the threat of carjackings will go up.

“The Zetas were the ones that orchestrated their breakout to increase their number,” says Gary Hale. Hale is a former drug enforcement agency intelligence supervisor in the Houston field office. He now runs his own intelligence firm. He says the prison breakout means more violence against people traveling to Mexico.

Hale and his team built a map to show the four cities in Mexico that are fifty miles from the border where Zetas have recently carjacked people. He says it could happen in every Mexican state that borders the United States. The Zetas operate in all of them. Hale analyzed the Zetas in a new report he released this past weekend. He says the Zetas are expanding in Mexico. They are now in Sonora, across the border from Arizona. He says the Mexican government is still arresting Zeta operatives. Last week, a Zeta recruiter trying to enlist teenagers was arrested in Monterrey.

Net closes on the smiling jihadi

2010-12-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

DENSUS 88, the Indonesian counter-terrorism police, used every day of the four months available to substantiate its charges against Abu Bakar Bashir before delivering him with its brief of evidence to the South Jakarta prosecutors on Monday. The prosecutors have 60 days to finalise an indictment against the 72-year-old cleric who, if convicted, could be sentenced to death, though that penalty is highly unlikely to be imposed. The Attorney-General's Office, however, wants Bashir in the dock as early as possible in the new year. The quicker the better, says South Jakarta chief prosecutor Mohammed Yusuf. Nor are the authorities waiting until the trial to argue their case that Bashir was not just a religious inspiration and fundraiser for the Aceh militant training camp that was dismantled by Densus 88 in February, but the actual leader of the so-called al-Qa'ida in Aceh.

"In November 2009, Abu Tholud, with Dulmatin, Abdullah Sonata, Ubaid and Warsito agreed to increase the training in Aceh to military level and [to form] al-Qa'ida Serambi Mekah," National Police spokesman Iskandar Hasan told reporters yesterday morning. "At this meeting they agreed that the amir [leader] was Abu Bakar Bashir. We have stated this all in his investigation report which we submitted to the prosecutors' office." Abu Tholut, the alleged camp training co-ordinator and a Bashir acolyte, was, until his arrest on Friday morning, the only one of the senior Aceh plotters still at large. Dulmatin was killed in a Densus 88 ambush in March. The rest are in prison, at least two of them already on trial. Immediately after yesterday's press conference, Indonesian television showed live coverage of 48-year-old Abu Tholut being brought to Jakarta under heavy security. The message from the authorities was clear: we have Abu Tholut and that proves Bashir's complicity.

Unlike Dulmatin, the preacher cannot deny knowing him. They met when both were in Cipinang prison in 2004, Abu Tholut taught at Bashir's religious boarding school near Solo, al-Mukmin, and later joined the cleric's above-ground and purportedly anti-violence organisation, Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid. As previously in the case of the executed Bali bomber Mukhlas, Bashir's former student, the softly-spoken cleric denies knowing anything about Abu Tholut's alleged terrorist activities. The younger man left JAT over "ideological differences", he said on Monday, adding approvingly: "Tholut is a holy warrior." On the day of Dulmatin's funeral, he said: "Dulmatin was a mujahed, even if I don't agree with his struggle and use of violence in the country in times of peace."

Of the Aceh training camp, his lawyer Luthfie Hakim said a fortnight ago the preacher denied any association with or knowledge of terrorist activities. But once again: "According to ustad [teacher] Abu Bakar Bashir, what happened in Aceh is in line with what Islam teaches and is not a crime, not a terrorist act." Bashir has already been tried for involvement in three of Indonesia's worst terrorist outrages of the past decade. He was found not guilty twice and convicted once, but acquitted on appeal. In previous trials he has been able to remain mostly silent while his lawyers have exploited serious flaws and weaknesses in the prosecution's cases. He is a sinuous quarry. The authorities' painstaking diligence before and since his August 9 arrest -- and now the prosecutorial urgency and public theatre -- underscores that for the Indonesian justice system's credibility, this will be the most important terrorism trial since at least December 2006.

Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain

2010-12-12T18:23:00.003-07:00

Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly tried to set off a car bomb packed with gas canisters in a busy shopping street in Stockholm. The car caught fire and the bomber fled the scene before blowing himself up 300yd away 15 minutes later, injuring two bystanders. It emerged last night that Abdulwahab, who was due to turn 29 yesterday, is a former physical therapy student at Bedfordshire University in Luton, and that his wife and three young children still live in the town. MI5 is now investigating possible links with extremists in Luton, whether the bomber was radicalised at the university and claims that he was helped by an extremist group in Yemen, the base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The suicide bombing follows an attempt by Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, a former student at University College London, to blow himself up last Christmas on a flight to Detroit. Abdulmutallab had trained in Yemen, but had become increasingly radical during his time in Britain. The security services and police are concerned that British university campuses have become breeding grounds for extremism. Neighbours told The Daily Telegraph last night that they had last seen Abdulwahab at the 1930s semi-detached house in Luton, Beds, two and a half weeks ago. The couple have two young girls and a baby son. His wife, Mona, a Swedish citizen, is said to run a home beauty company.

Reports from Sweden said Abdulwahab was shouting in Arabic and carrying six pipebombs, one of which exploded, along with a rucksack full of nails and explosives. A paramedic said the bomber had no injuries to the face or body in general but looked as if he had been carrying something that exploded in his stomach. One witness said the bomber had worked as a sandwich board advertiser in the Drottninggatan shopping area. Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said it was “a most worrying attempt at a terrorist attack”, adding that it “failed – but could have been truly catastrophic”. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said: “The Swedish government have indicated they believe this was a terrorist attack. We will be talking to them about the details of that attack.”

Drug barons arrested and narcotics rings smashed in NSW raids

2010-12-08T09:02:00.001-07:00

Drug raids have smashed major narcotics networks and led to the arrests of some of the nation's biggest drug barons, NSW police say. “Today we haven't taken a tentacle off the beast, we've removed a very, very big beast,” NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told reporters. “We further allege that among those that are in custody right now are a number of major players in the Australian drugs trade, names that you will instantly recognise.” Detectives launched what was claimed to be one of the state's biggest drugs busts at first light today, with 500 cops raiding 37 premises across Sydney, on the NSW Central Coast and in Mudgee. They arrested 28 men and one woman in NSW and two people in Western Australia.

Police said they had seized 16.7kg of drugs, believed to be cocaine, 5848 tabs of LSD, 30 cannabis plants, 29kg of precursor chemicals, four firearms and 600 rounds of ammunition. The drugs have an estimated street value of $9 million. Assets worth $14 million, including aircraft, luxury cars and mansions are being examined and may also be seized. But it is the taking down of alleged drugs barons that police say is the most significant outcome. “We'll be alleging ... this is the top of the tree,” Assistant Commissioner Dave Hudson told reporters. There were measures in place to try and ensure those arrested were not simply replaced by other drug dealers, he said.

Mr Scipione said alleged criminals he started hunting 30 years ago were among those arrested. “A number of the people who were arrested today were people I started working on 30 years ago when I started working in the police force,” he said. “These people have been around a long time. These people are before the courts today, they will be well known to many of you.” The operation which led to the arrests, Strike Force Domino, began a year ago. It was so extensive it required NSW Police Minister Michael Daley to authorise a one-off , $1.7 million grant to fund it.

Drug Tunnel Discovery Signals New Cartel In Town

2010-11-28T16:58:00.001-07:00

Federal authorities are questioning suspected drug smugglers to learn more about a tunnel trafficking operation uncovered on Thanksgiving Day. It's the second sophisticated smuggling tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego that agents have discovered this month, and it's more evidence that a new cartel has muscled into Tijuana. The tunnel found Thursday is nearly a half-mile long, extending from under the kitchen floor of a house in Tijuana to a pair of warehouses in the Otay Mesa industrial district of San Diego. It has ventilation, electricity, a cinder-block entryway and a rail system for a small cart to move drugs into the U.S.

Of the 76 cross-border drug tunnels discovered in the past four years, the Thanksgiving Day tunnel is one of the most elaborate officials have come across, according to Mike Unzueta, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in San Diego. He says losing the tunnel is bad for cartel business. "It can't but hurt," he says. "Potentially, we're looking at a year or longer to construct something with this level of sophistication, and upwards of a million dollars in terms of the cost." Unzueta said smugglers hand-dug the channel in hard clay soil with an electric jack-hammer.

Acting on a tip Thursday, federal agents followed a tractor-trailer from the warehouse to a border patrol checkpoint. Investigators found 20 tons of pot and arrested three men in the U.S.; the Mexican military arrested five more. The arrests led to the discovery of the tunnel. Federal agents discovered a similarly constructed tunnel on Nov. 2, connecting warehouses in Mexico and the U.S. They recovered more than 30 tons of cannabis in that bust.Federal investigators believe both underground passageways were under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, which is run by Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, the world's most wanted drug lord.

DEA bans K2, other 'fake pot' products

2010-11-27T18:47:00.001-07:00

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration used its emergency powers Wednesday to ban K2 and other "fake pot" products that mimic the effects of marijuana. The action by the Drug Enforcement Administration makes it illegal to possess or sell the five chemicals used to make the products for at least one year. The agency and the Department of Health and Human Services will determine whether the chemicals should be permanently added to the federal list of controlled substances considered unsafe, highly abused and without medical use.

The herbal blends coated with synthetic chemicals are marketed under brands such as Spice, Red X Dawn and K2. They are usually sold as packets of incense or potpourri at convenience stores, herbal and spiritual shops and online. The packets can sell for as much as $35 an ounce and have become popular as a legal alternative to marijuana among teenagers and college students. The chemicals are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human consumption, the DEA said in its federal notice.

African Crime Analysis with a Twist

2010-11-27T12:46:00.002-07:00

Villagers in Kilifi County are on a killing spree, targeting suspected witches and meting out the ultimate form of justice — death. The killings, first witnessed two years ago but somehow ebbed, are now on a resurgence in the area. Three elderly people — two of them a couple — have been killed in the past one week alone in their houses. The County covers Bahari, Malindi and Magarini constituencies. At least 10 people suspected to be witches were brutally killed in Kilifi County in the past three months, a police crime analysis report indicates.

The latest such incident occurred last Saturday when three men beheaded Mr Kazungu Mranja of Timboni village in Mjanaheri location after he was accused of engaging in witchcraft. Police in Malindi have launched a manhunt for the killers. Last week, a couple, Mzee Mzungu Charo, 70, and his wife Mrs Luvuno Kapombe, 60, were brutally murdered in their house at Pumwani village in Magarini on the same witchcraft suspicions. In the past two years alone, more than 27 elderly people, including an assistant chief, Mr Albert Mulanda Lughanje of Shomela location, have lost their lives in the hands of armed gangs.

Coast Provincial Police Officer Leo Nyongesa expressed confidence that his officers will bring to an end killings of innocent people in the county. According to the PPO, a crime analysis done in August and September this year indicates that the 10 deaths were recorded at Kilifi and two in Malindi. “Elderly persons are mostly targeted and police officers will not relent in their quest to bring to book those behind the killings,” Mr Nyongesa said. But police further suspect that the figure could be higher since some deaths are caused by the victims’ relatives.

International Jihadists Use Karachi as Hub

2010-11-27T00:21:00.000-07:00

Karachi is the pulsating heart of Pakistan, but the city of 18 million is descending into a maelstrom of violence. While NATO uses the port to support its war in Afghanistan, international jihadism has established strongholds in the metropolis's slums and suburbs. The circle had to be closed with blood, in order to wipe out the disgrace of the previous day. That's the way of life here -- the way of life in Karachi. The six men were heavily armed, and yet they still managed to get through all the checkpoints and reach Club Road in the red zone, a highly secured district in the heart of the city. The head of the provincial government has his official residence here, not far from the American consulate, two luxury hotels and the police headquarters, where the office of the young inspector Omar Shahid is located. As the head of the anti-extremism unit, Shahid was at the top of the attackers' hit list.

The terrorists started shooting at the entrance to the police station. For 10 minutes, they fired at the guards, who returned their fire, until a vehicle packed with 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs.) of explosives rammed the gate of the police station. The massive explosion destroyed the three-story building occupied by the counterterrorism division and set off a firestorm. At least 20 people, including the suicide attackers, died on the evening of Nov. 11. Some 120 police officers, residents and passersby lay bleeding under the wreckage, as well as an unknown number of members of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had already been in custody at the police station. It was a retaliatory attack committed by al-Qaida's foot soldiers. On the previous day, a counterterrorism unit had arrested half a dozen of their fellow terrorists.

Omar Shahid was supposed to be one of the victims, but he happened to be on duty elsewhere on that evening. He is usually in command of counterterrorism units when they conduct raids against militant Islamists in the backstreets of Karachi neighborhoods like Sohrab Goth or Shershah Market. "They are showing us that they are there, and that they can strike back," Shahid says, speaking very calmly. He does not show any visible emotion. Otherwise he would be unable to deal with the situation. His office was destroyed by fire, and many of the people with whom he had been waging this battle for years are now dead.

Interpol Chief has Facebook identity stolen

2010-11-25T18:17:00.001-07:00

He's one of the most powerful people in world policing, but on Facebook Interpol chief Ronald K. Noble is just as vulnerable to identity theft as anyone else. At last week's inagural Interpol Information Security Conference in Hong Kong, secretary general Noble revealed that criminals had set up two accounts impersonating him on the networking site during this summer's high-profile global dragnet, 'Operation Infra-Red'. The fraud was discovered only recently by Interpol's Security Incident Response Team.

"One of the impersonators was using this profile to obtain information on fugitives targeted during our recent Operation Infra Red," Noble told delegates. Operation Infra-Red, which took place between May and July of this year, was a global, Interpol-led operation to crack down on named criminal fugitives accused of murder, paedophilia, fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering, who had fled national jurisdictions. The operation led to 130 arrests. Noble is not believed to have had a professional profile on Facebook although his organisation does. "Cybercrime is emerging as a very concrete threat. Considering the anonymity of cyberspace, it may in fact be one of the most dangerous criminal threats we will ever face," Noble was quoted as saying.

Although Facebook itself wasn't compromised in any way, the example cited by the Interpol head hinges on the ease with which the criminals were able to forge his identity without challenge. This is a problem both Facebook, and that other giant of social media, Twitter, have been grappling with. Even for non-VIPs using real accounts, Facebook is a controversial place to put certain types of data. Last week, a study found that many US SMEs had suffered security problems they blamed on employee interest in the site.

Who are Canada's 'freemen'?

2010-11-24T10:40:00.001-07:00

When Mika Rasila got pulled over by Niagara police in January for driving his white Pontiac Montana without licence plates, he was ready with a defence: he doesn’t need plates because he’s a Freeman on the Land. A Freeman on the Land, he explained in a letter he tried to hand the patrol officer through the window, is someone who has revoked his consent to be governed. He has opted out of Canada so the laws don’t apply to him. It didn’t work. Police seized his van, arrested him and charged him with six traffic offences, but the incident signaled that the anti-government Freemen on the Land, of which Mr. Rasila is a prominent member, had taken root in Canada.

Across the country, police and officials have been having similar run-ins with “freemen,” also known as “sovereign citizens,” members of a radical movement that does not recognize government authority and consequently refuses to licence their cars, carry government ID or obey police. “We have thousands of members now,” said Mr. Rasila, who writes on the Freemen of Canada Facebook page, which has over 2,000 members. “We have meetings, we’re fairly organized. They’re very casual, usually just in someone’s living room or we’ll rent a hall.”

Canada’s freemen are a loose collection of true believers, ranging from tax protesters to 9/11 conspiracists to fathers whose children have been apprehended by child welfare agencies. What unites them is their dislike of government. Self-declared defenders of individual freedom, they are anti-government extremists in the sense that, rather than opposing specific policies, they deny government has any legitimacy at all and want to be left alone to live according to their own rules.

Children of the Greek Revolution

2010-11-23T12:35:00.002-07:00

The letter bombs sent to embassies in Athens and heads of state throughout Europe last week halted Greek mail and international delivery services and sparked opportunistic street demonstrations. Bomb squads cordoned off streets, choking Athens with apocalyptic traffic jams. Militants have staged about one attack per month over the past 14 months, but the embassy bombings marked a broader, more coordinated level of violence -- and the first time in the history of Greek terrorism that foreign leaders have been targeted, lending credence to the theory among terrorism experts that Greek militants are looking for collaborators outside the country, as well as to enhance their reputation internationally.

Athens police have questioned two Greeks suspected to be responsible for the latest bombings, both unemployed men in their early 20s and alleged to be members of a Greek terrorist group that also committed several nonlethal attacks last year. A suspicious package delivered to the Hungarian Embassy on Tuesday was found to have contained only documents, and Athens has by and large returned to normality. Meanwhile, jaded Athenians grappled for explanations: Why is it that disaffected French students go on strike while middle-class Greek students bomb embassies?

Although Greek terrorism has been occasionally erupting for decades, its inchoate ideological inspiration has made it difficult for many Greeks to understand what motivates the increasing violence of the country's militant youth. At times accompanied by anti-capitalist sloganeering and anarchist proclamations, Greek terrorism has also been perpetrated with no defined message at all. "We have problems with authority," said Paraskos Mantagos, a senior investment manager at a large Greek bank, from his home in Athens. He paused, and then let out a long breath. "I haven't grasped what is going on, to be honest. It's almost like a fashion."

Elaine Papoulias, director of the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, notes that it's a byproduct of Greece's unique political culture. "In France, political parties do not permeate every social and economic fabric in life as they do in Greece," said Papoulias in an interview. "The turn to violence in some ways can be seen as a rejection of this system where politics is ubiquitous and dictates what job you have, what cafes you frequent, what football teams you support, what newspapers you read. Violence has become a means of political expression and a way to clearly reject participation in traditional modes of political life, be it voting, joining a party or trade union."

Excellent article from Foreign Policy magazine.

Centre for Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit

2010-11-23T08:40:00.001-07:00

The Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit yesterday opened a National Anti-Money Laundering Learning Center which will provide electronic computer based training (CBT) to financial institutions and stakeholders. FIU director – Razim Buksh says the AML Learning Center and the CBT courses will be of tremendous value to Fiji’s law enforcement agencies as their officials will be trained without any cost. CBT courses will cover topics such as money laundering, human trafficking, precursor chemicals, search techniques, control deliveries and basic intelligence analysis. Buksh says the course will ensure that relevant authorities have a better understanding and skills to combat complex crimes in Fiji.

“The main reason for providing such a training forum to law enforcement agencies is basically the nature of crime is quite complex, this is a new era, and we have seen emergence of complex crime in Fiji. Therefore we need to equip our law enforcement agents – so that they are at par with the new methods and techniques. These include coming up with a matrix, linking information through flow charts and link charts and undertaking better management of information if this relates to financial record.” The Learning Center has been established through a partnership between the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the British High Commission in Suva, Reserve Bank of Fiji and the Fiji Intelligence Unit.

March of the Euro Police: Shocking New Powers

2010-11-21T17:12:00.004-07:00

The full extent of the police and criminal prosecution powers that the European Union has over British citizens can be revealed today. An investigation has uncovered an array of new EU controls over justice and home affairs for which no one has voted, and most are unknown to the public. These include:

Europol, the £60 million-a-year European criminal intelligence agency, whose officers have diplomatic immunity.
An 800-strong paramilitary police force called the European Gendarmerie Force.
The European Arrest Warrant, which now allows British citizens to be seized in the UK and sent without appeal to foreign jails for months or years without bail while awaiting trial.

Europol now has more than 650 officials at its headquarters in The Hague, from where it directs investigations across Europe. When its Euro police officers are operating in the UK they have diplomatic immunity and cannot be touched by the British judiciary. Europol’s director is Rob Wainwright, 43, a Welsh-speaking former British civil servant who joined Europol last year. He and his officials will move into a new £8.5 million building next year.

The paramilitary police force has been trained in Italy and armed to be deployed as ‘an expeditionary police mission’ under military command if necessary. The gendarmerie is not yet a full EU institution. However, its official purpose is ‘a consistent and co-ordinated deployment of EU police forces with a military status and full police powers. The EGF will be, first and foremost, at the disposal of the EU.’ Members are drawn from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, France and the Netherlands.

New method of obtaining "criminal" intelligence

2010-11-20T15:16:00.005-07:00

Scots gangsters are using "waterboarding" terror tactics to torture rivals. Hardened crooks have copied the CIA-style interrogation technique where water is poured on to a cloth covering the victim's mouth and nose to simulate drowning. We can reveal that a leading member of one of Scotland's most notorious crime clans was tortured by a rival gang using the shock tactics last week. Drug dealer John Fox was terrorised after being snatched off the street by four thugs during a row over stolen drugs.

Associates of Fox said he was taken to a flat in Glasgow's east end, strapped to a scaffolding board, his head covered and water poured over his nose and mouth. One source close to the family said: "It's taking torture among gangs to a new level, but they've all seen how effective it can be, so it's a new weapon for them. "Some guys will take any amount of pain but it looks as though they crack within seconds of the water being poured over."

According to sources, Fox, 43, was at war with a rival gang from the city's Barrowfield area over £1000 of stolen drugs. An associate revealed last night: "John knew that one of his suppliers of blue valium pills kept them in the electricity box in the stairway outside his flat so he helped himself to the stash - about 1000 of them. "They are currently selling for around £1 a pill, so he walked off with a tidy sum. "He got greedy and paid the price. This other family were tipped off straight away about who had their drugs and John was lured to a meeting in a car near his home.

Thanks to my buddy Dean for putting me onto this story.

U.S. Falls Behind Other Nations in Reducing Traffic Fatalities and Injuries; Report Identifies Safety Strategies That Could Succeed in U.S.

2010-11-16T16:03:00.001-07:00

The United States is missing significant opportunities to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries, and could save lives by implementing a more rigorous, comprehensive program that adopts successful safety practices from other countries, says a new report by the National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report reviewed traffic safety practices and strategies in high-income countries around the world and compared them with those in the United States. From 1995 to 2009, fatalities dropped 52 percent in France, 38 percent in the United Kingdom, 25 percent in Australia, and 50 percent in 15 high-income countries for which long-term fatality and traffic data are available, but they dropped only 19 percent in the United States. "There is a notable gap between traffic safety progress in the U.S. and other nations that deserves our attention," said Clinton V. Oster Jr., committee chair and professor, Indiana University, Bloomington. "The U.S. could learn from the effective strategies in place elsewhere to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities." Countries most successful at reducing traffic deaths had comprehensive safety programs that include improvement in road design and traffic management; regulation of vehicle safety; and regulation of driver behaviors regarding speed, alcohol and drug use, and seat belt and motorcycle helmet use, the committee found. Furthermore, successful national programs excel at management and planning and benefit from political support and leadership. The committee noted that the most critical area for improvement in the United States today may be in management and planning, to ensure that available resources are used to greatest effect and to foster political and public support by demonstrating progress.

The report highlights essential elements of safety program management, including a plan that makes a credible commitment to the public to improve safety and regular monitoring and evaluation to determine the effects of actions taken. "These management practices have produced success in other countries," said Oster, "but are lacking in the traffic safety programs of most U.S. states." The committee urged the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), in cooperation with the states, to revise its Guidelines for State Highway Safety Programs and develop a new model for state strategic highway safety plans that would specify resource requirements and the expected outcomes of safety interventions. DOT and the states should undertake a series of large-scale projects to demonstrate the design and management of effective safety initiatives. These demonstration projects are necessary, the committee concluded, because communicating the needed safety management methods to U.S. state and local agencies will require a greater level of effort than has been previously devoted to the task.

The committee also advised state legislatures to require regular reporting from the responsible executive agencies on progress in fulfilling the state’s safety plan and success in meeting the plan’s goals. In addition, DOT should conduct an in-depth review of social marketing methods and outcomes in other countries, and national professional organizations should create forums that bring together public administrators, legislators, and researchers for exchange of information and views on traffic safety. Two enforcement tools widely credited with fatality reductions in other countries -- automatic enforcement of speed limits and frequent roadside sobriety checks -- are not common in the U.S because of legal restrictions, popular opposition, and cost considerations. The report estimates, on the basis of evaluations in the U.S. and other countries, that nationwide, sustained, and frequent use of sobriety checkpoints to detect drunk drivers could save 1,500 to 3,000 lives annually in the U.S.; systematic speed control programs applied nationwide could save 1,000 to 2,000 lives annually at feasible cost, even if automated enforcement is not used; enactment of universal helmet use laws by all states would avoid 450 motorcyclist deaths per year; and increasing the U.S. rate of seat belt use from the present 85 percent to 90 percent would save 1,200 lives annually. Total traffic fatalities in 2009 were 33,808 in the U.S.

Source Management Software for the British Transport Police

2010-11-16T15:25:00.003-07:00

The British Transport Police (BTP) has awarded a five year contract for abmpegasus Source Management – the covert human intelligence source (CHIS) management solution from criminal intelligence, investigation and criminal justice software solutions specialist, ABM. The railways present a unique policing environment with very distinctive needs. BTP’s 2,835 police officers and 1,455 support staff police the tracks and provide a service to rail operators, their staff and passengers across the country. Source Management will offer the next generation of covert policing technology to effectively manage confidential informants, delivering better value for the force and the public.

ABM’s professional services director, Sue Grewcock, explains: “By incorporating ABM's Source Management module into the force’s existing infrastructure, it will assist the BTP in maximising accountability whilst enhancing the productivity of each source. The module also offers enhanced profiling to match CHIS to problem areas and even help improve financial monitoring and control of payments and rewards to informants.”

Used by 80% of UK Police Services, abmpegasus Source Management is the most successful CHIS management solution available anywhere in the world today, providing a management platform in line with relevant legislative requirements and established best Following formal training in December, the Source Management implementation will follow in the new year. Once the initial system has been installed, it will be very easy for BTP to open up further functionality as Source Management is part of the cutting-edge abmpegasus covert management suite. The complete solution encompasses Source Management, Information in Confidence, Protected Persons, Communications, Surveillance and Debrief to provide an integrated approach to managing covert operations.

Two Out of Five Drivers Admit to Falling Asleep at the Wheel

2010-11-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

Two out of every five drivers (41 percent) admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel at some point, with one in ten saying they’ve done so in the past year, according to a new AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study. More than a quarter of those surveyed admitted they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open in the previous month. Eighty-five percent of drivers surveyed felt it was “completely unacceptable” for someone to drive if they are so tired they are having trouble keeping their eyes open. Unfortunately, drivers may not always be aware of the effects of fatigue resulting from a lack of sleep. In recognition of this week’s Drowsy Driving Prevention Week®, hosted by the National Sleep Foundation, AAA wants all drivers to recognize the seriousness of this dangerous, yet underestimated, driving practice.

“When you are behind the wheel of a car, being sleepy is very dangerous. Sleepiness decreases awareness, slows reaction time, and impairs judgment, just like drugs or alcohol, contributing to the possibility of a crash,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. “We need to change the culture so that not only will drivers recognize the dangers of driving while drowsy but will stop doing it.” A new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data estimates that about one in six (16.5 percent) deadly crashes, one in eight crashes resulting in occupant hospitalization and one in fourteen crashes in which a vehicle was towed involve a driver who is drowsy. These percentages are substantially higher than most previous estimates, suggesting that the contribution of drowsy driving to motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths has not been fully appreciated.

"Many of us tend to underestimate the negative effects associated with fatigue and sleep deprivation and, conversely, overestimate our abilities to overcome them while driving," said Kathleen Marvaso, vice president, AAA Public Affairs. "This data underscores the importance of educating drivers on the simple, yet effective steps they can take to prevent a possible tragedy. Unfortunately, too many drivers have adopted the 'I'm tired, but I can make it’ mentality, often to their own peril or to the peril of others." To remain alert and avoid drowsiness, AAA suggests:

Getting plenty of sleep (at least six hours) the night before a long trip;
Scheduling a break every two hours or every 100 miles;
Traveling at times when you are normally awake, and staying overnight rather than driving straight through; and
Stop driving if you become sleepy; someone who is tired could fall asleep at any time.

Fusion centers gather terrorism intelligence – and much more

2010-11-15T09:41:00.005-07:00

About a year ago, a police officer in Maryland noticed a truck loaded with plastic pallets driving down a main road in the early morning. He normally wouldn't have given it a second look, but the officer had seen a bulletin from the state's "coordination and analysis center" advising that such thefts were costing bakeries and grocers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sure enough, the pallets were stolen. Cracking down on pallet thieves wasn't quite the mission envisioned for "fusion centers," 72 facilities across the country that were started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks to improve information-sharing and threat analysis among local law enforcement.

The centers, which have received $426 million in federal funding since 2004, were designed as an early warning system against the next attack. Lately, amid the recent uptick in homegrown plots, the Homeland Security Department has been touting fusion centers as a means of thwarting domestic terrorism. But it turns out that homegrown terrorism pales in frequency and fatalities compared with typical street crime, so many of the centers have begun collecting and distributing criminal intelligence, even of the most mundane kind.

In the process, Homeland Security Department officials say, the centers are developing a system to receive, sort and share crucial information. And they say it's too soon to judge the program, which is likely to grow in importance as a tool in detecting terrorism before it erupts. "I'm a big supporter because of their potential," said Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based Muslim activist who advises the Homeland Security Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. "If you want the government to function effectively, you need proper information sharing and analysis."

Critics argue that the centers are another potential intrusion on citizens' rights, and that having 72 of them guarantees bureaucratic overkill. Many centers make extensive use of private contractors. And the methods used are inconsistent from one to the next, raising questions about whether some of them are performing vital work. "We thought if we just threw the name out there, built a bunch of them, we'd feel a lot better," former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said this month at George Washington University. "And I frankly think there's too many of them. We still don't have quite the protocol we need to make sure that they're effective."

James Bond's Russian Counterpart Dispatched to The United States

2010-11-15T09:10:00.002-07:00

A contract killer has been dispatched to assassinate the Russian double agent who betrayed Anna Chapman and nine other spies in the United States this spring, according to reports in Moscow. "We know who he is and where he is," a high-ranking Kremlin source told the reputable Kommersant newspaper. You can have no doubt – a Mercader has already been sent after him." Ramón Mercader was the KGB-hired Spanish communist who was sent to kill Leon Trotsky with an icepick in Mexico in 1940.

The traitor was reportedly identified as a Colonel Shcherbakov, an officer of the SVR (foreign intelligence service) who headed the S directorate of the service's US department, which controlled the ring of sleeper agents, including Chapman. Shcherbakov is thought to have fled Russia three days before the president, Dmitry Medvedev, visited Barack Obama on 24 June, when the two leaders ate hamburgers together at a diner in Virginia. "After that, the Americans, worried that we would suspect a betrayal and start pulling our agents from the US, began to arrest them," said the Kremlin source.

The agents, who had been living apparently innocent suburban lives in New York, Arlington and elsewhere, were detained by the FBI in late June and convicted of conducting long-term "deep-cover" surveillance on behalf of Russia. The 10 were later sent to Russia in exchange for the release of four men jailed there for alleged espionage on behalf of the CIA and MI6. Speaking shortly after the agents' return to Moscow, Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said the traitor who had betrayed them had been identified. "It was the result of treason," he said, predicting a grim future for those responsible. "It always ends badly for traitors: as a rule, their end comes from drink or drugs, lying in the gutter. And for what?"

New Mexico the Hub for Undocumented Immigrants

2010-11-13T21:05:00.002-07:00

Attracted by a 2003 law, people from all over the world are traveling to New Mexico to obtain driver's licenses because the state doesn't require proof of citizenship or legal residency. According to a copyright story Friday in the Albuquerque Journal, authorities have arrested a growing number of suspected undocumented immigrants who have traveled from as far away as China to fraudulently obtain New Mexico licenses. The Associated Press reported last summer that three states — Washington, New Mexico and Utah — were seeing surges in the number of immigrants seeking IDs, a trend experts attributed to crackdowns on illegal immigration in Arizona and elsewhere.

Shu Sheng Lui told a state police officer Wednesday she had flown to Albuquerque from Missouri and paid a man $500 to help her get a New Mexico driver's license. Lui, 33, along with Hiew Fongyee, 31, and Lam Fong Siu, 44, were arrested at a state Motor Vehicle Division office in Albuquerque's south valley after they tried to obtain licenses using forged residency documents. According to criminal complaints, the Chinese nationals had paid 22-year-old Gordon Leong for forged documents showing they live in New Mexico so they could obtain driver's licenses. Leong was arrested and charged with conspiracy. Lui faces the same charge. Fongyee and Siu, who both live in New York, were charged with one count of altered, forged or fictitious license.

"It shows that we have a good process in place that is meant to detect any fraud or anyone trying to get a license without proper documentation," MVD spokesman S.U. Mahesh said. New Mexico residents have generally opposed the state's driver's license law, according to a recent Albuquerque Journal poll that found that 67 percent of residents are against it. On the campaign trail, Gov.-elect Susana Martinez pledged that she would work to revoke licenses issued to foreign nationals under the law.

Fighting School Violence by Pinpointing Its Victims

2010-11-11T13:31:00.001-07:00

Ron Huberman is a fast-talking former beat cop with an M.B.A. and a passion for number crunching. For just under two years, he has run the Chicago public-school system, a job whose duties include trying not only to raise test scores and graduation rates but also to keep students from getting killed. During the past school year, 245 Chicago public-school students were shot, and 27 of them died. Huberman thinks the toll would have been even higher had it not been for a controversial school-safety program he announced last fall and is continuing this year. Instead of focusing solely on the perpetrators of violence, the district is also identifying potential victims — figuring out which students are the most likely to be gunned down and taking steps to keep them safe.

The initiative, one of the first of its kind in the U.S., is the natural extension of a burgeoning field of study called victimization research. Its premise: most crime victims are not chosen at random, and some people are much more likely than others to become targets, on the basis of factors such as where they live, how they spend their time and even which personality traits they possess.

Huberman, 38, approached Chicago's seemingly intractable youth-violence problem by gathering detailed information about the more than 500 public-school students who had been shot in the city over the previous two years. The typical student shooting victim was failing academically, absent 40% of the school year (compared with the average student's 16%) and five times more likely to be off track to graduate than other students. These victims—90% of whom were male—also had a history of school disciplinary problems, racking up eight times as many incidents of serious misconduct, like drug use or gang activity, as classmates who were not shot.

Huberman and his team used the data to create a predictive model that identified a tenth of Chicago's roughly 100,000 public high school students as at increased risk of victimization and about 250 individuals at the very highest risk. "If you're not in that group of about 10,000 kids, your likelihood of being shot is incredibly low," Huberman says. If you're in the ultra-high-risk group of 250, he says, "your chances of being shot in the next two years are 1 in 5." After identifying the ultra-high-risk students, Huberman set about trying to change how they spend their time. "How many alcoholic drinks someone consumes each day, how many nights a week someone spends outside the home—these things are highly predictive of victimization," says Robert Sampson, chair of the sociology department at Harvard University.

Masked refugee creates new headaches

2010-11-10T19:21:00.003-07:00

Meet the man behind the mask, behind the man who wore the mask that made a laughing stock of security procedures at a major international airport. Rusty Slusser is the founder of SPFX Masks, the company that makes the hyper-realistic silicone mask used by a Chinese national to fool airport security in Hong Kong and board an Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver using someone else's boarding pass. The disguise he used was a full head-and-torso mask which made him look like a wrinkly, old Caucasian male. The unnamed 22-year-old male shed his second skin midflight and was arrested when the plane landed. He has since applied for asylum.

The bizarre nature of the escapade has created headlines around the world since the story broke at the weekend. But Slusser, 39, dismisses it as unwelcome attention. "We are very proud of what we have accomplished," he said in a telephone interview. "But we are not proud about how our masks have been misused." Authorities investigating the security breach believe that the Chinese male swapped boarding passes with a US passport holder in a scheme that was probably hatched by people smugglers.

This marks the second time this year that Slusser's masks have been used in illegal circumstances. In April, a white man is accused of having committed six bank robberies in Ohio disguised as a black man. Conrad Zdzierak, 30, used another one of Slusser's creations to carry out the robberies, evading capture initially because police were looking for a suspect with a different skin colour. Slusser said he was co-operating with authorities in the case of the robberies but had yet to be contacted over the asylum seeker case.

Sweden launches criminal investigation of U.S. intelligence activities

2010-11-09T17:06:00.001-07:00

Swedish prosecutors launched a formal criminal investigation into "unlawful intelligence activity" conducted by the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, according to a statement posted Monday on the Swedish Prosecution Authority's website. The statement comes two days after Swedish security police announced they were looking into the activities. The investigation began when U.S. Embassy officials told authorities its employees had been conducting surveillance similar to what was recently discovered in Norway. Head prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said the criminal investigation concerns actions taken to protect American staff and the United States' post in Stockholm. The criminal investigation will establish whether crimes have been committed, he said.

The scale of surveillance is not known, but according to a security police statement Saturday, operations have been ongoing since 2000. They were conducted without the knowledge of the Foreign Affairs office, the Justice Department, the security or the local police in Sweden, the statement said. "I think it's regrettable they have conducted these activities without informing Swedish authorities." Sweden's Justice Minister Beatrice Ask told reporters Saturday, "I think it is very serious if these activities have been carried out in breach of Swedish law." The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm released a statement Saturday that recognized the existence of a program to detect suspicious activities around U.S. facilities, and pointed to past terrorist attacks as evidence for why such a program is necessary.

Iconic obelisk presents a monumental security issue

2010-11-08T13:51:00.001-07:00

The Washington Monument is unlike any other in the capital, so austere and abstract that creating security arrangements for it has dogged the National Park Service for a decade. Fortunately, plans to build a large, underground visitors center, floated in 1993 and renewed in the security panic after Sept. 11, 2001, never came to fruition. So far, the only permanent security installed at the site - a vehicle barrier made from an artful arrangement of low granite walls, careful landscaping and attractive benches designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin - is one of the extraordinarily rare examples of aesthetically pleasing anti-terrorism designs in the United States.

But Olin's work hasn't solved the problem of how to screen individual visitors seeking access to the monument's interior. Currently, this is done in an unsightly, temporary security hut at the monument's base, a provisional structure that disfigures the striking geometry of the obelisk. Monday night, the Park Service will present the public with five ideas for replacing that temporary facility with something permanent. These proposals, designed to hold the magnetometers that have become ritualistic intrusions at so many federal sites, have made the rounds of the main design oversight bodies in the District for preliminary comment. Now it's the public's turn to weigh in on radical changes to one of the most iconic monuments in the world.

Unfortunately, the bureaucratic gears are already grinding, and what will be presented to the public Monday doesn't include important options, including what became known as the "tunnel" in previous discussions of the issue. Nor does it include the choice of more minimal visitor screening - simple wanding or visual bag inspection - that might not require costly and intrusive changes to the structure. The choice to accept risk isn't on the table, either. Finally, and although it might seem paradoxical given how important resisting security authoritarianism is to preserving the symbolism of freedom, it doesn't take seriously the idea that perhaps the monument's interior should be closed altogether - a small concession that might have collateral benefits.

Building on Clues: Examining Successes and Failures in Detecting U.S. Terrorist Plots, 1999-2009

2010-11-08T08:53:00.001-07:00

Since 2001, the intelligence community has sought methods to improve the process for uncovering and thwarting domestic terrorist plots before they occur. Vital to these efforts are the more than 17,000 state and local U.S. law enforcement agencies whose role in the counterterrorism process has become increasingly recognized. As part of an on-going study for the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions (IHSS), this report examines open-source material on 86 foiled and executed terrorist plots against U.S. targets from 1999 to 2009 to determine the types of information and activities that led to (or could have led to) their discovery. Our findings provide law enforcement, homeland security officials, and policy makers with an improved understanding of the types of clues and methods that should be emphasized to more reliably prevent terrorist attacks, including the need to:

Recognize the importance of law enforcement and public vigilance in thwarting terror attacks. More than 80% of foiled terrorist plots were discovered via observations from law enforcement or the general public. Tips included reports of plots as well as reports of suspicious activity, such as pre-operational surveillance, para-military training, smuggling activities, and the discovery of suspicious documents.
Continue to investigate Al Qaeda and Allied Movements (AQAM), but do not overlook other groups, and pay particular attention to plots by “lone wolves.” Less
than half of U.S. terror plots examined had links to AQAM, and many non-AQAM plots, primarily those with white supremacist or anti-government/militia ties, rivaled AQAM plots in important ways. Additionally, plots by single actors (“lone wolves”) have proven particularly successful, reaching execution nearly twice as often as plots by groups.
Ensure processes and training are in place that enable law enforcement personnel to identify terrorist activity during routine criminal investigations. Almost one in five plots were foiled “accidentally” during investigations into seemingly unrelated crimes.Training is needed to recognize when ordinary crimes may be connected to terrorism.
Work to establish good relations with local communities and avoid tactics that might alienate them. Approximately 40% of plots were thwarted as a result of tips from the public and informants. Establishing trust with persons in or near radical movements is jeopardized by tactics such as racial, ethnic, religious, or ideological profiling.
Support “quality assurance” processes to ensure initial clues are properly pursued and findings shared. Investigating leads and sharing information across agencies led to foiling the vast majority of terrorist plots in our sample. Similarly, breakdowns in these basic processes led to lost opportunities to thwart some of the worst attacks, including 9/11.
Expand the federal standards for categorizing suspicious activity reports (SARs). A large majority of the initial clue types we identified, including public and informant tips, as well as law enforcement observations made during routine criminal investigations, are only indirectly referenced in the current national SAR standards. Expanding them would enable more comprehensive reporting and greater information sharing of potential terrorist activity.

The Institute for Homeland Security Solutions (IHSS) is a research consortium established to conduct applied research in the social and behavioral sciences to address a wide range of homeland security challenges.

Nuclear bomb material found for sale on Georgia black market

2010-11-07T21:30:00.001-07:00

Highly enriched uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb is on sale on the black market along the fringes of the former Soviet Union, according to evidence emerging from a secret trial in Georgia. Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, informed other heads of state of the sting operation at a nuclear summit in Washington in April, but no details about the case have been made public until now. The trial has been conducted behind closed doors to protect the operational secrecy of Georgia's counter-proliferation unit, officials said. But investigators have given the Guardian an exclusive first-hand account of the case. It reveals that the critical ingredient for making a nuclear warhead is available on the black market and is reasonably easy to smuggle past a ring of expensive US-funded radiation sensors along the borders of the former Soviet Union. What is not clear is how much nuclear material is in circulation and whether any has already been bought by extremist groups.

The US has made the prevention of nuclear terrorism its national security priority. Barack Obama persuaded 50 world leaders at the April summit to pledge to secure all vulnerable nuclear material within four years. Billions of dollars have been spent upgrading security at nuclear sites around the globe, particularly in Russia, which has an estimated 700 tonnes of HEU in hundreds of facilities. But it is unclear how much has already been stolen. "The question is: of what iceberg are we seeing the tip?" said Matthew Bunn, a Harvard expert and former White House science adviser, who compiles an annual assessment of the nuclear terrorism threat titled Securing the Bomb. It is the third time in seven years HEU has been intercepted in Georgia. There have been 21 seizures or attempted thefts of weapons-grade material, uranium or plutonium, in the region since the Soviet Union collapsed. In every case the material seized had not been missed and mostly the theft was by an insider.

Cargo security analysis: bringing intelligence to bear

2010-11-07T20:36:00.005-07:00

Intelligence must be at the root of any effective cargo security regime, but there is a need for certificated systems capable of screening whole cargo pallets and large items. That is the view of the International Air Transport Association, which on 2 November opened its security-focused AVSEC World conference in Frankfurt - just days after intelligence-led security checks on a UPS aircraft in the UK and a FedEx Express facility in Dubai uncovered PETN explosives in packages originating in Yemen. The message from providers of screening systems, meanwhile, is that the technologies required to ensure cargo security are available, and what is lacking is a global standard to govern their use. Yet IATA's view on the primacy of intelligence appears to be a point of consensus.

In his address to AVSEC World, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani argued that cargo security required co-operation between governments and industry in investment, processes, technology and risk assessment. For example, the association sees potential for its e-freight programme - a paperless documentation system launched as a cargo analogue of its e-ticketing initiative - to generate data that could be used to manage security "intelligently and efficiently without compromising speed". Industry's role is not confined to airlines, stresses Bisignani. "The entire supply chain from the manufacturer to the airport has a responsibility to secure shipments," he says. He sees the UK and USA as "well advanced on supply-chain solutions", with the former nation operating a regulated agent system and the latter a certificated cargo-screening programme, in which responsibilities are split between shippers, forwarders and manufacturers. IATA aims to "help all governments develop a similar approach".

This article was written for Flightglobal.com by Niall O'Keeffe. Flightglobal.com is a specialized online news and information website related to the aviation and aerospace industries.

The Threat of Politicized Intelligence

2010-11-05T16:01:00.007-06:00

If new US National Security Adviser Thomas E. Donilon needs a reminder of how stark the enemy threat is, he need look no further than today's discovery of printer cartridges rigged like explosive devices aboard UPS airliner cargo holds that left Yemen bound for Jewish Synagogues in the United States. A dry run? You bet. And not just to test the holes in air cargo security systems, but to test the reaction time and responsiveness of our national security apparatus.

The backroom maneuvering that led to Donilon's ascent and the departure of his predecessor, Gen. James L. Jones (USMC Ret), is a dangerous reminder of what happens when politics enters the world of intelligence gathering, analysis and policy-making. Donilon, whose reputation as a backroom Democratic Party wheeler dealer precedes him, would do well now to shed that skin and get down to the serious business at hand in containing and controlling threats that are approaching four-dimensional complexity against American--and global--security interests.

History is replete with bad decisions made by men and women charged with securing America who lamely, selfishly and often purposefully politicized intelligence for narrow political objectives. Those failures should serve as a reminder to Donilon and the team he assembles that America's enemies are lurking and waiting for any sign of weakness to attack us. And attack us they will.

During both the Clinton and Bush presidencies, political machinations repeatedly overtook good judgment in assessing the vast amounts of intelligence gathered by the most formidable surveillance apparatus the world has ever known. Bill Clinton repeatedly ignored warnings and advice from people in and out of government about the storm brewing inside Islam's radical fringe. On September 11, 2001, the hypothetical threat--ignored and politicized for so many years--became a harsh reality. We are living with the consequences of that misjudgment today.

Much of the failure to deal with militant Islam inside the Clinton presidency came from his national security team, which (with the exception of former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke) had little practical experience with military campaigns, counterterrorism strategies, guerrilla warfare tactics or other facets so critical to ensuring modern-day security. They repeatedly, and with increasing stridency, politicized intelligence gathering, analysis and policy responses. Sudan, on which I write from personal knowledge and experience, was a prime example of what America can never afford to allow again.

This article is taken from The Washington Post "On Leadership" Guest Insights and its particularly relevant in today's intelligence environment.

The Bleeding Edge of Forensics

2010-11-04T17:20:00.000-06:00

Scientists who have spent their careers studying the behaviors of liquids are putting forensic techniques to the test. They're working to test the rigor of modern forensic science by improving our understanding of the secrets hidden in blood. "There's been a huge amount of basic research done on droplets and sprays," said Sanjeev Chandra, an engineer at the University of Toronto who helps General Motors develop better ways to spray paint its cars. "A lot of the physics is exactly the same for blood." In soon to be published research, Chandra and his team have revisited the techniques and software packages that forensic experts have developed over the years to reconstruct the origin of blood splatters. By testing this software scientifically on splatters of pig blood in the lab, they've shown that there is significant room for improvement in the models, which typically use straight lines to trace the path of blood droplets a surface back to their point of origin.

"They aren't very accurate," said Chandra. "They don't consider the effects of gravity on blood droplets. They ignore air drag, which can be very significant." Calculating the speed at which drops of blood leave the body during an attack is an important measurement for blood pattern analysis. The physics behind the velocity and size of a blood drop gives investigators an idea of what kind of wound was inflicted. A drop of blood falling from a cut finger, for instance, is a battle primarily between the force of surface tension, which keeps it stuck to the body, and gravity, which pulls it downwards. Solve the equations, and you'll find that a typical drop released this way has a volume of less than one percent of a teaspoon. Blood released from a wound by a violent impact -- such as a bullet -- tends fly in even smaller drops. That's because the force of a bullet is much stronger than gravity and easily overcomes the surface tension, flinging tiny drops away at high speeds.

Burma hit by massive net attack ahead of election

2010-11-04T11:36:00.000-06:00

An ongoing computer attack has knocked Burma off the internet, just days ahead of its first election in 20 years. The attack started in late October but has grown in the last few days to overwhelm the nation's link to the net, said security firm Arbor Networks. Reports from Burma say the disruption is ongoing. The attack, which is believed to have started on 25 October, comes ahead of closely-watched national elections on 7 November. International observers and foreign journalists are not being allowed into the country to cover the polls - which many Western leaders have said will not be free or fair.

It will raise suspicions that Burma's military authorities could be trying to restrict the flow of information over the election period. Dr Craig Labovitz from Arbor Networks said that he did not know the motivation for the attack but said that analysis of similar events in the past had found motives that ran the gamut "from politically motivated DDoS, government censorship, extortion and stock manipulation." He also noted that the current wave of traffic was "significantly larger" than high profile attacks against Georgia and Estonia in 2007.

San Diego-to-Tijuana drug tunnel uncovered; 25 tons of pot seized

2010-11-04T10:17:00.000-06:00

Federal authorities discovered a tunnel linking drug warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana that led to the seizure of more than 25 tons of marijuana, one of the largest-ever drug seizures in San Diego, officials said. The 1,800-foot transnational passageway — roughly equivalent to six football fields in length — isn't the longest or the most sophisticated ever built, but it is one of the few instances in which authorities were able to seize drugs on both sides of the border. The scale of the operation pointed to the work of a major Mexican drug cartel, authorities said, and comes two weeks after Mexican authorities discovered a record 134 tons of marijuana in an industrial area near Tijuana. Officials don't know if there is a connection between the two events, but called this week's discovery another significant blow against organized crime groups.

Authorities estimated the drugs' worth at more than $20 million. "I can promise you there are some very unhappy people in the cartel," said John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which leads the multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force. The investigation was triggered Tuesday afternoon when task force agents patrolling the light industrial area near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry followed a tractor trailer that was acting suspiciously, Morton said. The truck was stopped at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Temecula, where agents found about 10 tons of marijuana stuffed in the 53-foot trailer. Two people in the truck, a husband and wife whose identities were not disclosed, were arrested. Agents later raided the warehouse from which the vehicle had departed and discovered another 10 to 15 tons of dope, the bales wrapped in cellophane and on pallets, as if ready for shipping.

Kurdish splinter group issues claim for Istanbul bombing

2010-11-04T08:51:00.000-06:00

A splinter nationalist group from the Kurdistan Workers' Party has claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombing in Istanbul, Turkey, according to the group's statement on its website. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, said the attack, which injured at least 32 people, was "an act of revenge" and carried out by Vedat Acar, who died in the strike.

"We as TAK claim responsibility for the action carried out against the police force of Turkish fascism at Istanbul's Taksim Square on Oct 31, 2010," the statement said. Acar is described a member of the group's command from Van, an eastern border province populated by ethnic Kurds who have signed up with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The PKK has been battling the Turkish government since the early 1980s initially for a separate Kurdish homeland. Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, was labeled a terrorist group by the United States in 2008. It claimed responsibility for the bombing of a bus that carried Turkish military personnel and their families in Istanbul. The attack, which occurred in June, killed five people.

Another Bomb In Greece. Blamed On "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei"

2010-11-04T07:39:00.001-06:00

Greek authorities have destroyed another mail bomb. This one was returned to a delivery service by the French embassy according to the Associated Press. Police said the latest package contained a small amount of explosives and was destroyed by controlled explosion. They said an erroneous return address on the package was for the Greek Orthodox Church. A 48 hour ban on all international mail leaving Greece is still in effect. Two men have been arrested. Greek police say they are members of an anarchist group the "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei."

Police released pictures of five men they are seeking in connection with the attacks, who they say are also members of the shadowy group. From the WSJ: Little is known about the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, which first emerged in early 2008, six years after Greek police dismantled the country's notorious left-wing November 17 terror group. The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei has been known for nonlethal bomb attacks around Athens despite the arrests of several of its members—most of them in their 20s—in the past two years. The group is seen as anti-authoritarian and the most recent targets may reflect their opposition to Greece's fiscal austerity program after a European Union sponsored €110 billion ($154 billion) bailout package this year.

Possibly harmful parcel at German leader's office

2010-11-02T15:19:00.001-06:00

German police disarmed a potentially harmful package from Greece at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office Tuesday, hours after similar small mail bombs exploded outside the Russian and Swiss embassies in Athens in attacks blamed on Greek far-left extremists. Greek police destroyed at least three more suspected bombs in Athens, and two local men have been charged with mailing bombs. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the suspicious package intercepted in the mailroom of her office was personally addressed to the German chancellor and "would have been able to harm people."

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the package, which arrived midday at the mailroom of the Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, was sent from Greece two days ago and resembled a series of small mail bombs in Athens. De Maiziere said that not only did the package have a Greek return address, but also authorities had been able to trace that it had been sent from Greece two days ago. "It contained an explosive device," de Maiziere told reporters. "Based on everything that we know, it was built in the same way and visually resembled the package that exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens," he said.

Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbath

2010-10-31T19:45:00.004-06:00

At least 37 people have been killed after Iraqi security forces stormed a Catholic church in central Baghdad to free dozens of hostages being held by gunmen there, security sources say. Twenty-five hostages were among the dead, along with seven members of the Iraqi security forces and at least five of the attackers, they told the BBC. About 100 people had been inside Our Lady of Salvation for an evening Mass. The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants.

The local TV station, al-Baghdadiya, said it had received a phone call from someone claiming to be one of the attackers, who said they were from the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs. Reports said the attackers were not Iraqis, but foreign Arabs. The raid came two days after a suicide attack on a cafe in Diyala province left 21 people dead. Security forces later surrounded the church and sealed off the area, with helicopters hovering overhead. Then they stormed the building.

Witnesses nearby said they then heard two explosions from inside the church and more shooting. One eyewitness, who was inside the church, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that the gunmen "came into the prayer hall and immediately killed the priest". The witness, who declined to give his name, said the people in the church had huddled into the main prayer hall when the gunbattles began with the security forces. The gunmen reportedly threw grenades and blew their suicide vests. There were no negotiations with the gunmen before the security forces stormed the church.

Over $3 Billion in Fraud Recoveries Under the False Claims Act in FY 2010

2010-10-27T16:25:00.001-06:00

Taxpayers Against Fraud calculates the U.S. Department of Justice recovered over $3.1 billion of America's stolen money in Fiscal Year 2010 thanks to whistleblowers and the federal False Claims Act. More than 80 percent of all successful False Claims Act recoveries are brought to the government by whistleblowers and their lawyers, making the law the most important tool the U.S. Government has in the war against fraud. The False Claims Act provides for triple damages plus statutory fines of up to $11,000 per false claim. Whistleblowers that bring evidence of fraud to the U.S. Government are eligible for awards of 15 to 30 percent of the total amount recovered under the Act.

Fighting fraud the Canadian Way

2010-10-25T15:11:00.000-06:00

Surfing the web is like swimming with sharks. There are scam artists lurking in every shadow, flooding inboxes with bogus requests, phishing for bank account numbers and other personal data. While the fraudsters operate from keyboards in locations around the globe, the Canadian crime fighters trying to shut them down are tucked away in a small office in North Bay. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre, in the Ministry of Correctional Services building on First Avenue, is the country's hub for collecting information and criminal intelligence on everything from telemarketing and Internet fraud to identity theft. Jointly managed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Competition Bureau of Canada, the anti-fraud centre deals with reports involving Canadian content from victims across North America.

But fighting the onslaught is a momentous task that can only be won through public education. That is the No. 1 way to combat this type of fraud," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Paul Proulx, who oversees the operation. The more people who know about fraud, the more they can recognize it." A staff of 24 includes operators who receive complaints and specialists who analyze the information. The centre's role, however, is not to send officers out into the field to make arrests, but rather to identify possible fraud operations and notify the appropriate law enforcement agency. RCMP Cpl. Louis Robertson, who heads up the criminal intelligence unit, has cultivated relationships with agencies around the world, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, which is under no obligation to co-operate.

Although fraud operations do get shut down as a result of the centre's work, they are often only temporary disruptions." That's why public awareness is such an important weapon. In fact, the centre is planning to launch a public education campaign early next month, complete with a new website at antifraudcentre.ca. The centre receives about 500 e-mails per day from people reporting possible fraud and some 10,000 phone calls each month. And the numbers are growing. Formerly called Project PhoneBusters, the centre was created in 1993 by OPP officer Barry Elliott. At that time, the focus was mainly on telemarketing fraud. But, as Internet technology advanced, the centre evolved along with the scope of the crimes.

Central hub for Texas police info opens up

2010-10-23T23:28:00.000-06:00

Think of it as a central hub allowing law enforcement from across the Lone Star State to fight terror. That's what the new Texas Department of Public Safety Fusion Center will be, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning for the new facility got officials of various agencies a step closer to a useful tool in the fight against crime. The idea is to pool intelligence to help prevent terrorist attacks and track organized crime, the like Mexican cartel drug activity. "Every agency has expertise and intelligence analysis. They also have information," said DPS Director Steve McCraw. "By combining that information is the only way you can get an accurate understanding of that threat environment."

Still, critics have called the center a threat to privacy, much like civil liberties groups have protested loudly about the Austin Regional Intelligence Center. The Austin City Council approved using a $150,000 federal grant in August 2009 to run the fusion center, which will allow 10 local law enforcement agencies to share crime information. Critics have said they are worried the information-sharing by law enforcement could lead to personal profiling and undue surveillance. Yet, law enforcement agencies in Travis, Hays and Williamson counties said the goal of the center is to fight organized crime and to track crime trends.

Top Ten Most Dangerous Places to Leave Your Social Security Number

2010-10-21T16:25:00.003-06:00

Cases of identity theft are skyrocketing, and 32% of all ID theft victims had their social security number compromised according to Javelin's 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report. In honor of National Identity Protection week, McAfee set out to reveal the most dangerous places to leave your social security number. When your Social Security number is used to commit fraud, it feels very personal. It can take hundreds of hours and sometimes thousands of dollars to rectify this violation.

Criminals find these crucial nine digits on discarded files in dumpsters, inside an organizations' file cabinets, in any of the hundreds of databases maintained by government, corporate, and educational institutions, or even in public records, which are freely accessible on the Internet. Robert Siciliano, on behalf of McAfee, analyzed data breaches published by the Identity Theft Resource Center, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the Open Security Foundation that involved Social Security number breaches from January 2009 - October 2010 to reveal the riskiest places to lose your ID.

Firm scammed US by using dementia patients

2010-10-21T12:54:00.002-06:00

Federal authorities charged the nation's largest chain of community mental health centers Thursday with Medicare fraud, alleging the Miami-based company preyed on patients with severe dementia to bill $200 million for services it never delivered. Prosecutors allege that American Therapeutic Corp. and its sister companies faked medication and care charts and paid the owners of assisted living facilities and halfway houses to bring patients to their seven mental health centers in south and central Florida for therapy sessions that were never held.

Some patients also cashed in on the scheme by providing their Medicare numbers, while others were "not coherent enough" to demand kickbacks, according to the investigation by the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. The alleged scam is "unlike anything we've seen before in terms of the nature and size of the scheme," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.

Federal authorities arrested four of the company's owners and top managers Thursday and served search warrants at several of the centers. The grand jury indictment alleges that ATC routinely billed Medicare for therapy and other services for patients suffering from Alzheimer's and severe dementia even though they weren't eligible because their mental capacity was so impaired they couldn't benefit from therapy.

ICE arrests 20 criminals in international INTERPOL operation

2010-10-20T14:35:00.000-06:00

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton and INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy A. Williams announced that the first-ever joint operation, called "Operation FAR AWAY," has been very successful, resulting in a total of 20 arrests of international fugitives in the United States.

"Operation FAR AWAY" is an intelligence-driven operation designed to target, locate and arrest criminal aliens believed to be in hiding in the United States and in other Western Hemisphere countries. It began Sept. 1 and will extend until Oct. 31, 2010, due to the high number of arrests. The INTERPOL member countries participating in the operation include: Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Netherland Antilles, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador and the United States. Of the 20 arrests made in the United States, eight of them were for homicide crimes; two were for crimes against children; three were for robbery; and seven were for other crimes, including human smuggling. Arrests in the United States were made by the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

"This operation has been so successful, with the help of our INTERPOL partners, that we have decided to extend it," said Jim Chaparro, ICE Executive Associate Director of ERO. "Operation FAR AWAY enhances public safety in the United States and with our partner nations."

"I am very pleased with the outcome of the operation to date. It is another fine example of what can be accomplished when agencies partner and share resources to further combat transnational crimes," stated Timothy A. Williams, INTERPOL Washington Director. "I look forward to continuing the high level of cooperation and collaboration with ICE ERO, and I extend my gratitude to the leadership at ICE ERO for providing appropriate resources to ensure this operation is a success."

Price adds to growing popularity of heroin

2010-10-20T12:31:00.002-06:00

Staggering figures about heroin show it is quickly becoming the drug of choice among some high school students. From Seattle to Salt Lake County, it appears the availability of stronger and cheaper heroin is a driving factor. Police in the Seattle area say a bag of heroin can cost as little as $5.00. In Utah, that would make heroin cheaper than marijuana and spice. Unified police tell KSL marijuana and spice each sell for $10 to $50 for an eighth of an ounce, depending on the quality.

It's being called an epidemic in the Seattle area. KING 5 News reports 42 students between the ages of 15 and 17 in Stanwood, Wash., are reportedly receiving treatment or are being admitted for the treatment of heroin addiction. One addict points out the painkiller OxyContin costs $60 for a pill while heroin costs only $5.00. Another problem with heroin is the potency. Police in Utah have said in recent months they occasionally see heroin that is 80 to 90 percent pure, rather than 30 to 40 percent pure.

Chechen warlord may be behind parliament attack

2010-10-20T11:31:00.002-06:00

A suicide attack on Chechnya's parliament may have been staged by a shadowy warlord who wants to establish himself as a leader of the Russian region's factionalized Islamist insurgency, officials and analysts said Wednesday. Some observers said they believe there could be an escalation of violence as 40-year-old Khusein Gakayev moves to assert his supremacy over the divided rebels. In the attack, "the goal here is to demonstrate Gakayev's authority," said Yulia Latynina, a Moscow-based columnist and Caucasus expert.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack by three suicide attackers, who got inside the tightly guarded parliament complex in the capital, Grozny, as legislators gathered for a session. The attackers opened fire and blew themselves up, killing two police officers and a parliamentary aide and wounded 17 other people. Chechnya's Interior Ministry branch told the ITAR-Tass news agency that it believed the attack was planned by Gakayev to boost his credentials among other rebels and their supporters abroad. It did not offer evidence.

Islamic insurgents have taken root across Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region and are trying to turn it into an independent emirate that adheres to Shariah, or Islamic law. Since 2007, the movement has been led by the guerrilla leader Doku Umarov, who spread confusion through the rebel ranks in August by first announcing and then annulling his resignation in two videos released three days apart. Analysts say that apparent indecision exacerbated a schism in the rebel leadership between those striving for a new Shariah state in the Caucasus and those focusing on Chechnya's independence. Gakayev, who has never been known to promote pan-Caucasian Islamism, was a little-known lieutenant to more senior rebels who has recently emerged as a leading figure in the insurgency.

Attack on Chechen parliament in Grozny leaves six dead

2010-10-19T08:04:00.001-06:00

Six people were killed and 10 others injured when at least three militants stormed parliament in the restive Russian republic of Chechnya. Shouting Islamist slogans, they launched a bomb and gun attack as deputies arrived for work, and two guards and an official were killed. All of the attackers were killed, according to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader. Deputies inside the building managed to escape by moving to an upper floor.

The attack was condemned by the EU foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, who was quoted by AFP news agency as saying: "No circumstances can justify the use of terrorist violence and suicide attacks." The EU was, she added, ready to "strengthen co-operation with the Russian Federation in the fight against international terrorism". Correspondents say the incident in the capital Grozny is a reminder that the region is far from stable.

Last year Moscow declared victory against Chechen separatists and there has been a relative lull in the violence under Mr Kadyrov. But the whole North Caucasus is seeing an insurgency led by Islamist rebels, correspondents say. At least one attacker appears to have set off a suicide bomb just outside the building before the others rushed inside, exchanging fire with security guards.

The Uses and Misuses of Intelligence in Four US Wars

2010-10-18T10:56:00.001-06:00

President Harry S. Truman created the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947 to ensure that the policy community would have access to independent intelligence analysis that was free of the policy advocacy of the Department of State and the Department of Defense. The CIA's most important analytic mission was the production of national intelligence estimates (NIEs) and assessments that tracked significant political and military developments and provided premonitory intelligence on looming threats and confrontations.

One gauge for measuring the success of the CIA's intelligence analysis is to measure the Agency's performance before and during four controversial wars: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Three presidents (Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson) did not interfere with the production of intelligence analysis in these crises; two presidents (Nixon and George W. Bush) tried to slant intelligence analysis; and now President Obama is fighting a war without benefit of the estimative capabilities of the intelligence community.

President Truman wanted sensitive intelligence with the bark on, and that is what he and President Dwight Eisenhower got from the CIA during the Korean War. Unfortunately, the CIA made a series of fundamental errors in its judgments, including failures to understand the policies and actions of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, ascertain the nature of Kim's dialogue with the Soviets and the Chinese, provide strategic warning of Kim's decision to go to war, and anticipate China's entry into the war.

As a result of these failures, President Truman named the first civilian director of the CIA - Allen Dulles - and supported the creation of an elite Office of National Estimates (ONE) under Harvard Professor William Langer, a senior Office of Strategic Services (OSS) analyst during World War II. ONE consisted of two offices, an upper tier known as the Board of National Estimates (BNE), composed of senior government and academic officials, and an estimates staff composed of intelligence professionals who drafted NIE's. ONE quickly became the focal point of the CIA's intelligence analysis until it was abolished in 1973 by CIA director James Schlesinger, who shared the Nixon administration's desire to end ONE's independence and its dominance within the intelligence community.

Europe's biker gangs set on a collision course with the police

2010-10-18T09:34:00.003-06:00

In the middle of May this year, thousands of leather-clad bikers from across the Balkans gathered in the Croatian town of Slavonski Brod for a bash celebrating the unbridled joy that comes from tearing up the open road on a powerful two-wheeled hog. The annual Moto Klub Brod motorijada (motor picnic) has become one of the largest gatherings for outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Balkans, taking place on the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a Croatian town that was significantly damaged during the war.

Despite the ongoing tensions in the Balkans – and the fact that many bikers are hardened veterans of the successive wars that tore this region apart in the 1990s – the Moto Klub Brod normally passes off without incident. But this year, on the last night of the seven-day festival, a large brawl broke out between a group of Hells Angels and a rival gang from Bosnia known as the "Grevinis".

The fight, which began when a group of bat-wielding Hells Angels attacked a car carrying Grevinis members – and ended in police having to stop an angry crowd from beating up the Hells Angels – had little reason to be reported outside of the local Croatian media. But in the offices of a number of police forces across Europe, the fight caused a buzz of activity and concern.

Those charged with investigating drug trafficking and cross-border gang crime in Europe have watched with trepidation as outlaw motorcycle gangs, dubbed OMCGs, have spread with renewed vigour across Europe, particularly in the Balkans and eastern Europe. Investigators say this increase is no coincidence. Both areas are vital drug-smuggling routes from Central Asia and South-east Asia, where almost all of Europe's heroin and much of its cannabis originate.

According to Europol, the EU-wide agency that collates criminal intelligence on cross-border gangs, Europe is now the continent with the highest increase in new OMCG chapters, many of whom are involved in extortion, racketeering, sex-trafficking and drug smuggling. During the past five years the Bandidos, Hells Angels and the Outlaws have opened more than 120 new chapters, bringing the total number of European chapters to at least 425. By comparison the number of chapters of the same trio of outlaw gangs in the United States and Canada is hovering around the 300 mark.

The threat posed by the expansion of "one percenters" – the term outlaws use to distinguish themselves from the old adage that 99 per cent of bikers are law-abiding – has concerned Europol to such an extent that this week they organised a conference in Dubrovnik gathering officers from across Europe to discuss how to investigate, target and disrupt criminal biker gangs.

Saudis say al Qaeda targeting France

2010-10-17T17:31:00.002-06:00

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said on Sunday that French had been warned by Saudi Ara that al Qaeda was targeting Europe and especially France. "Several hours or days ago, there was a new message from the Saudis that said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was without doubt active or planning to be active in Europe, especially France," he told French radio RTL. "This is not about overestimating the threat or underestimating it," he said. "I am indicating, based on all these elements, that the threat is real." Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an arm of al Qaeda thought to include Yemenis and Saudis, has stepped up attacks on Yemeni and Western targets since it claimed a failed U.S. airliner bombing in December.

Impoverished Yemen, which is struggling to end a civil war in the north and a separatist rebellion in the south, is trying with U.S. help to crush AQAP, which has been based in Yemen since 2006, when Saudi Arabia mounted a counter-terrorism drive against its Saudi arm. Hortefeux's remarks indicated that the new warning was not connected with the heightened alert in France in late September based on a tip-off that a female suicide bomber was planning to attack its transport system. A police source told Reuters at that time that the information about the threatened attack had come from Algeria.

Gardai warn of upsurge in gang extortion crime

2010-10-17T16:37:00.003-06:00

Gardai have received reports that eight extortion attempts were made on Dublin businesses in the past three months by splinter republican groups. Those targeted included car dealers and publicans, as well as dubious businesses suspected of laundering money for criminals. Garda sources say the figures represent the tip of the iceberg in a recent "upsurge" in criminal racketeering by dissident republican groups, the Real IRA and the INLA. "There has been an upsurge in complaints in the last two to three months," said a senior garda source. "These groups are 'taxing' crime and legitimate businesses."

Four businesses in the south Dublin suburbs of Tallaght and Crumlin were approached for money by dissident republicans in the past three months. The other four extortion attempts occurred in the north and south inner city. In one case, a businessman reported that his children were being watched at school after he refused to pay a cut of his profits to two men claiming to represent the Real IRA. The modus operandi is similar in most cases. In the south Dublin cases, the businesspeople involved were approached directly at their business premises by two brothers, who claimed to represent the Real IRA. They were accompanied by two or three burly minders, but of the reports made to detectives so far, the threats were not explicit. In one case, the dissident republicans asked for 25 per cent of the profits of a business in return for protection.

Mexican Assassins Headed to Arizona, U.S. Warned

2010-10-16T23:17:00.002-06:00

Drug smuggling gangs in Mexico have sent well-armed assassins, or "sicarios," into Arizona to locate and kill bandits who are ambushing and stealing loads of cocaine, marijuana and heroin headed to buyers in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security has warned Arizona law enforcement authorities.

In a memo sent in May and widely circulated since, the department said: "We just received information from a proven credible confidential source who reported that a meeting was held in Puerto Penasco in which every smuggling organization who utilizes the Vekol Valley was told to attend. This included rival groups within the Guzman cartel."

Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera heads what formally is known as the Sinaloa Cartel, which smuggles multi-ton loads of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States. One of the most powerful and dangerous drug gangs in Mexico, it also is known as the Guzman cartel, which has been tied to the production, smuggling and distribution of Mexican marijuana and heroin and has established transshipment outlets in the United States.

Two suspected Irish dissidents arrested in Ireland

2010-10-16T23:13:00.003-06:00

Two suspected dissident republicans were arrested after authorities found a bomb in their car, Irish police said Saturday. Police stopped the men and searched the car in Waterford late Friday. A "viable improvised explosive device" was spotted and handled by a bomb squad. The suspects are being held under Ireland's anti-terrorism legislation. Irish law allows terror suspects to be held for up to three days without charge.

The Irish Republican Army fought a bloody campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland for decades before starting a process of decommissioning nine years ago. Those who refused to accept the Good Friday Agreement that led to the decommissioning are known as dissident republicans. Irish authorities this month have conducted an anti-terror sweep that has led to the arrests of several individuals in recent days. Last week, the country's top police officer said authorities are continuing to conduct operations meant to disrupt dissident IRA activity.

Policeman possibly linked to Falcon Lake case beheaded

2010-10-12T18:04:00.003-06:00

The head of a Mexican police commander presumed to be investigating the reported pirate attack against David Michael Hartley on Falcon Lake was delivered to Mexican military, sources said Tuesday. State Rep. Aaron Pena, said he was told that Rolando Flores’ head was delivered Tuesday in a suitcase. Ruben Rios, spokesman for the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office, told the Associated Press that Flores is the head of state investigators in the border city of Ciudad Miguel Alemán, a small city directly across the border from Roma, Texas. Lesley Lopez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the head was delivered in the vicinity of Miguel Alemán.

The area is known to be under control of the Zeta drug cartel, which fiercely protects the remotely populated ranchland lining the Texas-Mexico border, as well as the Mexican side of the vast Falcon Lake reservoir. Rios also told the Associated Press that the killing was unrelated to Hartley’s investigation. Hartley has been missing since Sept. 30, when he and his wife took their personal watercraft into Mexican waters to photograph a partially submerged town. Investigators have been hampered on this side byby an inability to cross the border. Mexican investigators have meanwhile expressed fears of searching in Zeta turf.

Cheap, deadly 'cheese' mix of heroin, crushed Tylenol PM aimed at kids

2010-10-12T07:45:00.001-06:00

Federal officials are warning New York cops to be on the lookout for a cheap - and potentially deadly - heroin cocktail aimed at teens. Cops across Manhattan were recently told to watch out for "cheese," a mix of heroin and crushed Tylenol PM. Cheese sells for as little as $2 a hit and delivers a euphoric high followed by drowsiness. To keep the high, users need to snort it up to 15 times a day - along with a potentially lethal dosage of acetaminophen.

Cheese, which came on the radar in Dallas in 2005, has not been seen much in New York, but heroin use among teens is on the rise in the city - and the Drug Enforcement Agency fears cheese could be the next step. "It's the makings of a recipe for disaster," said John Gilbride, who heads the Drug Enforcement Agency's New York office. Heroin, associated with hardcore junkies and needles, has lost some of its stigma among teens who snort, rather than inject, the drug, Gilbride said. Dealers are stamping packets with kid-friendly brands such as Mickey Mouse, Lady Gaga, Looney Tunes and Lion King, the office of New York Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Bridget Brennan said.

The percentage of public high school students who have tried heroin increased from 1.3% in 2007 to 2.6% in 2009, the city Health Department said. Despite the small numbers, the DEA says it's recently seen more dealers marketing heroin to a younger audience and more teens busted for using it. Cheese has been blamed for the deaths of more than 20 young users in the Dallas area. "It can ruin lives," said an NYPD commander who recently taught patrol officers how to spot cheese. "You have to jump on the problem right away. This drug is so highly addictive."

Interpol issues international warning against drug lord 'Sebastian'

2010-10-11T15:28:00.001-06:00

The Colombia office of international police organization Interpol on Monday issued an international warning about Medellin paramilitary drug lord, Erick Vargas, alias "Sebastian." The decision to issue the Green Notice was taken because authorities suspect that Sebastian has left Colombia, W Radio reported. Green Notices are published against international criminals who are likely to commit crimes in foreign countries.

The drug lord allegedly took over the "Office of Envigado," a Medellin-based gang previously run by paramilitary "Don Berna," who was extradited to the United States in 2008. Sebastian is also believed to command 25 illegal armed groups comprised of some 2,000 men, mostly active in Medellin and the north of Colombia. In September the Colombian national police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Sebastian, despite the fact that there was no warrants out for his arrest.

California's driver's licenses getting a new look

2010-10-08T20:50:00.004-06:00

Long a favorite target for fraud by underage drinkers and illegal immigrants, the California driver's license is getting a high-tech face-lift. The card unveiled Wednesday gains a range of advanced security features, from laser-engraved signatures printed in raised lettering to photos that can be seen only under ultraviolet light - all part of an effort to thwart increasingly sophisticated counterfeiters.

"The new security features, coupled with advanced technology, make California driver licenses and identification cards one of the most secure identification documents in the country," Department of Motor Vehicles director George Valverde said in a statement. Still, some experts remain unconvinced that the new license will stymie every counterfeiter.

Given the lucrative nature of the black market and the high demand for California licenses, someone will eventually figure out a way to duplicate even the most sophisticated features, according to one security expert. "Anything that's designed by man can be duplicated by man - it'll just cost more and take more time to do," said San Fernando Valley-based private detective John Grogan. "I guarantee there will be good-looking copies within weeks.These measures, though, will make it impossible for people who want to do it themselves." Possibly the most dramatic feature of the new license is that cards for drivers under 21 will be designed with a vertical layout making it easier for bars, nightclubs and police to see that the person is underage.

Does Pakistan Urge On the Taliban

2010-10-07T13:22:00.001-06:00

Members of Pakistan's spy agency are pressing Taliban field commanders to fight the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, some U.S. officials and Afghan militants say, a development that undercuts a key element of the Pentagon's strategy for ending the war. The explosive accusation is the strongest yet in a series of U.S. criticisms of Pakistan, and shows a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally in the Afghan campaign. The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and development aid to Pakistan for its support. The U.S. and Afghanistan have sought to persuade midlevel Taliban commanders to lay down their weapons in exchange for jobs or cash. The most recent Afghan effort at starting a peace process took place this week in Kabul. But few Taliban have given up the fight, officials say. Some Taliban commanders and U.S. officials say militant leaders are being pressured by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency not to surrender.

"The ISI wants to arrest commanders who are not obeying [ISI] orders," said a Taliban commander in Kunar province. U.S. officials say they have heard similar reports from captured militants and those negotiating to lay down their arms. A senior Pakistani official dismissed the allegation, insisting Islamabad is fighting militants, not aiding them. "Whenever anything goes wrong in Afghanistan, ISI is to be blamed," said the senior Pakistani official. "Honestly, they see ISI agents behind every bush in Afghanistan." The explosive accusations of ISI efforts to keep Taliban commanders on the battlefield are the strongest yet in a series of U.S. criticisms of Pakistan, and show a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally. The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and development aid to Pakistan in return for its support for the Afghan war and its own fight against extremists; the reports suggest some Pakistani officials are undermining that strategy.

State police investigative structure and the adoption of intelligence-led policing

2010-10-07T09:31:00.006-06:00

I received this press draft of a paper written by Jerry Ratlcliffe and Ray Guidetti. It has been accepted by Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management. Be on the lookout for the final article but please be aware that the final version may be different due to changes made by the editor or publisher.

Abstract: Prior research conducted in the UK suggests police forces that embraced organizational change were better able to adjust to an intelligence-led policing model of operation. However, significant organizational adaptation to a relatively untried business model raises risks for managers and takes leaders into unfamiliar territory regarding a number of factors. These factors include the increasing influence of analysts, the resistance of detectives required to work in a more collaborative environment, and the selection of new priorities reflecting strategic assessments.

Using a combination of in-depth semi-structured interviews, less formal discussions, and document analysis this paper describes some noteworthy changes undertaken by the New Jersey State Police Investigations Branch to move from an institutional architecture that created significant information silos to one more suited to information sharing and intelligence-led policing. Using extensive quotes from detectives, managers and analysts, the paper uses a large drug-gang investigation as a case study to identify broader organizational issues associated with these structural changes.

Why Mexican 'pirates' are targeting US tourists on Falcon Lake

2010-10-07T08:43:00.002-06:00

The attack that allegedly killed the missing American tourist David Hartley on Sept. 30 while he was jet-skiing with his wife was not the first such incident on the 60-mile-long body of water straddling the United States and Mexico. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, gunmen armed with AK-47s and AR-15 rifles have attacked US tourists on Lake Falcon in a string of robberies in recent months. Using Argos-type fishing boats, some attackers are dressed as Mexican police, while others have used crude duct-taped signs to disguise their boats as Texas Parks and Wildlife vessels, according to victims' reports.

Since April 30, five incidents of armed robberies or attempted theft have been reported on Falcon Lake: one in April, two in May, and one in August. The fifth ambush allegedly ended in gunfire last week with the possible death of Mr. Hartley. “This is a new situation where [drug-trafficking] groups feel they own public spaces,” says Humberto Palomares, a security expert at the Tamaulipas campus of the Colegio de Frontera Norte (COLEF). Targeting US tourists on an international reservoir is just another sign that the cartels feel more in control of swaths of Mexican territory and don’t have to hide in wait for moments to strike, Mr. Palomares says. Lurking in the night. So dangerous is Lake Falcon, in fact, that Mexican law enforcement refuses to patrol it at night.

Mexican authorities have been searching Falcon Lake since Thursday for the body of Mr. Hartley. Their search is hampered in part by the danger of the lake, says Juan Antonio Jara, a Tamaulipas state prosecutor in the Miguel Aleman municipality office. Once it starts getting dark, he says, police and investigators must return to shore because "it's a high risk area due to [lack of] security." Some report that the bandits attacking tourists and fishermen on Lake Falcon have been brandishing “Z” tattoos, for the ruthless Zetas drug-trafficking group. But questions have emerged over why a well-funded crime syndicate would bother harassing US fishermen for a few hundred dollars, and whether there is only one gang involved. While the Zetas are the most powerful drug cartel in Tamaulipas, the state bordering Falcon Lake, small organizations associated with the Zetas may also be engaging in acts of piracy.

Sad day for Puerto Rico

2010-10-06T16:53:00.002-06:00

US federal agents have arrested more than 70 Puerto Rican police officers on drugs-related charges.In all more than 120 people have been charged, including prison guards and soldiers. The US justice department said the arrests followed "the biggest police corruption investigation in the history of the FBI". About 750 FBI agents were flown into the US Caribbean territory to help round up the suspects. The justice department said that in all, 89 law enforcement officials had been detained: 60 members of the Puerto Rico police department, 16 municipal police officers and 12 prison officers.

Also arrested were three Puerto Rico national guard soldiers, two US army officers, and 30 civilians. The charges were the result of 125 undercover drugs transactions conducted by the FBI in Puerto Rico. Many of the detained police officers are accused of providing armed security for cocaine dealers in return for cash. "The justice department's commitment to rooting out and eradicating alleged corruption in our law enforcement ranks has never been stronger," said US Attorney General Eric Holder.

"This department has one message for anyone willing to abuse the public trust for personal gain: you will be caught, you will be stopped and you will be punished." The island of Puerto Rico is a major hub for smuggling drugs into the US. The reputation of its police department has already been tarnished by allegations of brutality and corruption.

Who would you believe? Not Chavez, that's for sure!

2010-10-06T09:22:00.002-06:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denied an allegation that his government helped train Basque separatists trying to create an independent state. The allegations surfaced Monday, when Spanish media reported that two captured members of the outlawed Basque separatist organization known as ETA told authorities they had received arms training in Venezuela in 2008. Juan Carlos Besance and Xabier Atristain, members of an ETA cell known as Imanol, were arrested September 29.

And a Spanish judge said in March that the Venezuelan government facilitated a long-time cooperation between leftist rebels in Colombia and ETA. Chavez called the accusations a "broken record." "There's a permanent conspiracy against the true democratic processes," Chavez said Monday night on the state-run VTV network. Yes, Mr Chavez, the conspiracy is dircted by you!

El Pais and El Mundo newspapers and other Spanish news outlets reported Monday that Besance and Atristain said they met in Venezuela with Arturo Cubillas Fontan. A Spanish High Court indictment this year alleges that Cubillas has been ETA's leader in Venezuela since 1999 -- in charge of the separatist group's relations with the Colombian rebels known as the FARC. Cubillas became an official in Venezuela's Ministry of Agriculture in 2005, the indictment says.

Bullying at School

2010-10-04T15:02:00.006-06:00

Eleven-year-old Shawn Walsh paid a poignant tribute to the brother, just two years older, that he had lost. Gripping a microphone as he stood at the altar of the First Baptist Church in Tehachapi, California, Shawn joshed that his brother could be "a pain in the butt" at times but that Seth was "the best big brother in the world, no, the galaxy." Wearing a yellow plaid shirt, Seth's favorite color, Shawn then, without mentioning the word, made a heartbreaking reference to bullying, the specter at the heart of his family's mourning for his openly gay brother. "I always wanted to protect him," said Shawn, as sobs broke out in the church. "I just wish people could have been nice to him like my Mom taught me."

People were not always nice to 13-year-old Seth Walsh. Neither his valiant younger brother Shawn, nor his family could protect him from what they insist was chronic teasing. Even before Seth came out as a gay, family and friends claim that he was perpetually picked on for his mannerisms and his style of dressing. The bullying turned Seth Walsh to suicide, one of the spate of such deaths across the country in the last two weeks.

On Sept. 19, his single mother Wendy found him unconscious after he tried to hang himself from a tree in his backyard, after another apparent bullying incident. He lingered on life support for more than a week; his death has since shattered emotions in this rural community 120 miles north of Los Angeles. Close to 600 townspeople crammed into First Baptist on Friday to remember the teen who loved Pokemon, adored French fries above all other food and had an obsession with disco music. The church was so crowded that Pastor Ron Barker had to insist that mourners sit on the floor along the entire length of the middle aisle so that everyone could find room in the church.

Eurasian syndicates target car dealers, credit cards in Las Vegas

2010-10-03T13:13:00.002-06:00

FBI agents knew from the moment they began investigating Dimitar Dimitrov that he was not a typical criminal. In secretly recorded conversations, they overheard the Bulgarian-born Dimitrov threaten to cut off the ears of a former associate and use them as cigarette holders. He also suggested tying a witness to a tree, pouring gasoline over him and then standing nearby with cigarettes and a lighter.

Agents believe Dimitrov, a 58-year-old felon, is one of the leaders of a Bulgarian crime ring that defrauded local car dealers out of $1.6 million through an elaborate credit scheme and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars more from ATMs with the help of stolen PINs. This is the new organized crime in Las Vegas, where running numbers and hustling high-interest loans on the street take a back seat to the art of the high-tech scam.

The new organized crime is close-knit and mobile with international connections, especially to mobsters in Eastern Europe and countries that made up the former Soviet Union. Like the traditional Mafia that once ruled the streets of Las Vegas, these groups are capable of violence. But they would rather spend their time reaping the rewards of swiping stolen credit cards on the Strip or using their knowledge of technology to stay ahead of authorities on the computer-assisted crime circuit.

Here is a recipe for War!

2010-10-03T01:48:00.003-06:00

The Nile River and Egypt have nearly always belonged in the same breath. The classic phrase, "He who has drunk from the Nile must return," is Egyptian — not Ugandan, or Ethiopian, or from any other people touched by the river. Egyptians say that two colonial-era agreements forever guarantee them most of the Nile's flow. But other countries in the Nile River basin want more access to the water.

But there are just as many non-Egyptians in the river basin who say they, too, understand the Nile just fine. They chafe at what they perceive as arrogance on the part of Egypt. Patrick Mmayi is a Nile river expert from Kenya who works at the United Nations Environmental Program in Nairobi.

"Egypt should see (the upriver countries) as equal partners. Eventually, you'll find tensions rising up if the status quo remains. No amount of threats will actually stop the upper catchment areas from using these waters, if they want to." Egyptians actively guard their stake in Nile, monitoring the river as closely as they watch over their peach groves, date palms, vineyards and banana trees. Engineers fan over thousands of miles in the basin and make daily readings of the river's many tributaries.

Locked and Loaded: The Secret World of Extreme Militias

2010-09-30T08:23:00.005-06:00

Camouflaged and silent, the assault team inched toward a walled stone compound for more than five hours, belly-crawling the last 200 yards. The target was an old state prison in eastern Ohio, and every handpicked member of Red Team 2 knew what was at stake: The year is 2014, and a new breed of neo-Islamic terrorism is rampant in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio ... The current White House Administration is pro-Muslim and has ordered a stand-down against Islamic groups. The mission: Destroy the terrorist command post — or die trying. The fighters must go in "sterile" — without name tags or other identifying insignia — as a deniable covert force. "Anyone who is caught or captured cannot expect extraction," the briefing officer said.

At nightfall the raiders launched their attack. Short, sharp bursts from their M-16s cut down the perimeter guards. Once past the rear gate, the raiders fanned out and emptied clip after clip in a barrage of diversionary fire. As defenders rushed to repel the small team, the main assault force struck from the opposite flank. Red Team 1 burst through a chain-link fence, enveloping the defense in lethal cross fire. The shooting was over in minutes. Thick grenade smoke bloomed over the command post. The defenders were routed, headquarters ablaze.

This August weekend of grueling mock combat, which left some of the men prostrate and bloody-booted, capped a yearlong training regimen of the Ohio Defense Force, a private militia that claims 300 active members statewide. The fighters shot blanks, the better to learn to maneuver in squads, but they buy live ammunition in bulk. Their training — no game, they stress — expends thousands of rounds a year from a bring-your-own armory of deer rifles, assault weapons and, when the owner turns up, a belt-fed M-60 machine gun. The militia trains for ambushes, sniper missions, close-quarters battle and other infantry staples.

Europe warned of Mumbai-style terror attacks

2010-09-29T16:43:00.006-06:00

A man captured in Afghanistan has tipped off investigators to a potential "Mumbai-style" terror plot in Europe, a German counterterror source said Wednesday. Investigators believe al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden signed off on a European attack plan, a separate law enforcement source said. But U.S. and international officials say they have seen no sign of an imminent attack.

U.S. officials said the alleged plot has no U.S. component -- at least none that has been found. One official stressed that the plot is serious and credible but that the intelligence available lacked specificity -- no who, where or how. Some names of "known operational planners" are possibly connected with the plot, but there is "no precise insight" into who may be planning an attack, the official said. Soft targets such as hotels and economic targets are of particular concern, but there is "no precise" intelligence on the mode of attack, said the official.

Another official said there are different threads coming from different places, and it's not clear how or even if they will come together. The European countries involved -- primarily Germany, France, Britain -- are tackling the perceived threats as they see fit.

Femtocells: Portable personal base stations, will they lead to greater opportunity to hack data?

2010-09-29T13:53:00.002-06:00

Portable, personal base stations represent a major push by the telecom industry to create a mini infrastructure that it hopes can help satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand for viewing large multimedia files (in particular, Web-based video) using handheld devices, a recurring theme at EmTech on Wednesday. "Wireless has been the fastest adopted technology in history," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said during his keynote later in the day. "There are more cell phones in use today than TVs, PCs and cars combined."

Femtocells are designed to fill in "coverage holes" that often occur in homes and small businesses, Jonathan Segel, executive director of Alcatel-Lucent's CTO Group, noted during his EmTech presentation Wednesday about mobile apps. In addition, he pointed out that cities have begun to turn to "metro cells" (which provide a range of several kilometers) to offload data traffic in densely populated areas.

Research firm IDATE last week published a report about femtocells indicating that in 2014 about 23 million femtocell devices would be sold worldwide for a total market of nearly $1.25 billion. Each of the major carriers (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon) sells femtocells, with Sprint announcing last week that it has started giving away the devices for free to some subscribers with weak 3G coverage. Femtocells generally cost between $150 and $250.

The trend over time is for mobile phone cells to continue to shrink while providing better service to wireless users. "Because your phone isn't having to shout [to reach a cell tower], your battery life is better," according to Rupert Baines, vice president of marketing for picoChip, a maker of chips used in femtocells. "If the signal doesn't have to go too far you'll get better quality, you're covering less people with each base station and each person is getting more capacity." PicoChip recently introduced a new processor designed to boost even small portable base station signals so they can be used in a variety of public spaces, including shopping malls and airports.

Not that its anything new, but it seems like a military coup is brewing in Pakistan

2010-09-28T17:21:00.002-06:00

The Pakistani military, angered by the inept handling of the country’s devastating floods and alarmed by a collapse of the economy, is pushing for a shake-up of the elected government, and in the longer term, even the removal of President Asif Ali Zardari and his top lieutenants. The military, preoccupied by a war against militants and reluctant to assume direct responsibility for the economic crisis, has made clear it is not eager to take over the government, as it has many times before in Pakistan, military officials and politicians said.

But the government’s performance since the floods, which have left 20 million people homeless and the nation dependent on handouts from skeptical foreign donors, has laid bare the deep underlying tensions between the military and the civilian leadership. American officials acknowledge that it has also left them increasingly disillusioned with Mr. Zardari, a now deeply unpopular president who was elected two-and-half years ago on a wave of sympathy after the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto. In a series of meetings with the civilian leaders, the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, scolded the president and his prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, for incompetence and corruption in the government, according to officials familiar with the conversations.

Computer Worm Affects Computers at Iran's First Nuclear Power Station

2010-09-27T17:27:00.002-06:00

A complex computer worm capable of seizing control of industrial plants has affected the personal computers of staff working at Iran's first nuclear power station weeks before the facility is to go online, the official news agency reported Sunday. The project manager at the Bushehr nuclear plant, Mahmoud Jafari, said a team is trying to remove the malware from several affected computers, though it "has not caused any damage to major systems of the plant," the IRNA news agency reported.

It was the first sign that the malicious computer code, dubbed Stuxnet, which has spread to many industries in Iran, has also affected equipment linked to the country's nuclear program, which is at the core of the dispute between Tehran and Western powers like the United States. Experts in Germany discovered the worm in July, and it has since shown up in a number of attacks -- primarily in Iran, Indonesia, India and the U.S. The malware is capable of taking over systems that control the inner workings of industrial plants.

Al-Qaida Takes Lessons Learned To Yemen

2010-09-27T17:23:00.002-06:00

Yemeni soldiers streamed into the streets of the capital this weekend after a deadly attack on intelligence services by alleged al-Qaida gunmen, underscoring the impact of what U.S. government officials and experts on terrorism say has become the world’s most active and dangerous offshoot of al-Qaida. With dozens of attacks this year on spy and security forces, including deadly raids into the very headquarters of Yemen’s mukhabarat, or intelligence branch, Yemen's newly invigorated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is reshaping the mission, strategy and tactics of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida brand, experts say. And the Yemeni government is now stepping up its effort to confront this insurgency and doing so with pledges of more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States.

At this point, there is a "raging war taking place between al-Qaida in Yemen and the Yemeni government," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle East politics at the London School of Economics, and a longtime scholar of al-Qaida. Diversifying from al-Qaida's core vision of mass-casualty attacks upon people of the distant, hated West, al-Qaida fighters in Yemen have redirected their aim squarely upon the weak, fumbling and corrupt government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh this summer sided more than ever with the United States against the al-Qaida forces who have made their home in his country, proclaiming al-Qaida the greatest danger to his country.

International Pedophile Ring in Thailand

2010-09-27T14:37:00.001-06:00

Sentencing has been postponed in the case of a Canadian man facing up to 50 years in prison for his admitted role in an international pedophile ring he ran out of Thailand. No new date has been set in the case of John Wrenshall, who pleaded guilty to three counts including conspiring to engage in sex tourism and to producing and distributing child pornography. The 63-year-old, originally from Calgary, detailed graphic abuse of boys as young as four years old. Authorities discovered Wrenshall was running a brothel for pedophiles in Thailand after confiscating computers from Union City resident Wayne Corliss.

Mr. Corliss is serving a 20-year sentence after admitting he travelled to Thailand to have sex with at least two boys. Mr. Wrenshall pleaded guilty in May. News reports at the time said he was a former Boy Scout leader and church choir member in Calgary, and was previously convicted of sex-related charges involving young boys. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan said Mr. Wrenshall spent time in a Canadian prison and then left Canada and moved to the Thai capital Bangkok. Mr. Vartan said he was there from as early as January 2000 and lived there continuously until he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in December 2008.

Reposted from Sources and Methods: Intelligence Analysts Are Insanely Happy

2010-09-24T21:43:00.002-06:00

According to a recent Wall Street Journal sponsored study (using info from Payscale.com), Intelligence Analysts are happy -- really happy. Out of the 82 professions examined, intel analyst came in at number 7, scoring a whopping 73.1 out of 100 points. Only one job, Aerospace Engineer, scored 100 of 100 and the other 5 happiest jobs were fairly closely grouped. This study follows on the heels of the CNN report from last year that indicated that Intel analyst was the 9th best job in the country. CNN did not look at happiness per se so it is hard to compare the two lists but it is interesting to note that, on both lists, intelligence analyst ranks so highly.

I find this particularly interesting given that intelligence analyst does not even have a Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification System code, which means that the US Government is not tracking the profession in any meaningful way. It suggests to me that intel analyst has become a popular and common enough job to earn the attention of both CNN and the Wall Street Journal but that there are few reliable resources for adequately managing the profession.

Twitter Provides New Way to Fight Pharmacy Crime

2010-09-24T17:28:00.000-06:00

Purdue Pharma L.P. announces the launch of its new pharmacy crime prevention tool: Twitter.com/rxpatrol. Pharmacy staff, law enforcement officials and loss prevention personnel can follow updates about pharmacy robberies, burglaries and potential threats in their area and nationwide. The tweets provide safety and security tips for pharmacy staff that may help them better protect customers and their businesses. Followers also receive notices for reward offers that are funded through Purdue's partnership with CrimeStoppers and other local anti-crime organizations.

The RxPatrol Program tracks and analyzes reports of pharmacy crime across the United States and posts important crime related information on its web site: www.rxpatrol.org. The program also issues alerts and updates via email to registered users in the pharmacy and law enforcement communities. However, since many pharmacists do not have Internet access during work hours, but do have access to cell phones, RxPATROL® is now using Twitter to instantly deliver pharmacy crime updates and tips to followers via their cell phones. RxPATROL's Twitter followers receive timely pharmacy crime information that is often not
reported by the media.

FARC commander 'Mono Jojoy' killed

2010-09-23T08:59:00.002-06:00

Top FARC commander "Mono Jojoy" was killed by Colombian state forces. President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed the death of the rebel leader from New York City, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly. The head of the FARC's Eastern Bloc and member of its Secretariat was killed in a massive air strike in a region called La Macarena in the central Colombian Meta department, 200 miles south of Bogota. Some 20 other guerrillas were reportedly also killed in the attack.

Mono Jojoy, also known as "Jorge Briceño Suárez," but born under the name Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, was thought to be group's second-in-command, and military leader of virtually all guerrillas in the rebels' war with the state. Mono Jojoy was considered a hardliner within the command structure of the country's largest guerrilla group. He was responsible for holding hostages including politicians, policemen, and soldiers.

The veteran guerrilla had a $1.3 million reward on his head, and 62 arrest warrants against him. The United States had requested his extradition to face drug trafficking charges. The FARC has faced serious setbacks in recent years, with high-level commander "Raul Reyes" killed by a Colombian air strike on Ecuadorean territory in March 2008. The group's founder and supreme leader "Manuel Marulanda" died of natural causes in 2008. An airstrike by the Colombian armed forces on Sunday killed FARC commander "Domingo Biojo," political leader of the organization's 48th Front, along with at least 26 other rebels. Current supreme commander "Alfonso Cano" remains at large.

Risk of small-scale attacks by al-Qaeda and its allies is rising

2010-09-23T08:48:00.002-06:00

Al-Qaeda and its allies are likely to attempt small-scale, less sophisticated terrorist attacks in the United States, senior Obama administration officials said Wednesday, noting that it's extremely difficult to detect such threats in advance. "Unlike large-scale, coordinated, catastrophic attacks, executing smaller-scale attacks requires less planning and fewer pre-operational steps," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "Accordingly, there are fewer opportunities to detect such an attack before it occurs."

Terrorism experts have puzzled over al-Qaeda's apparent unwillingness after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to use car bombs, improvised explosives and small arms to conduct assaults in the United States. The group appeared fixated on orchestrating another dramatic mass-casualty event, such as the simultaneous downing of several commercial airliners. Indeed, attacks inspired by al-Qaeda in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005 involved multiple, coordinated bombings targeting mass-transit systems. But the risk of a single-target bombing or an attack by a lone gunman has increased, officials say, with the rise of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in the tribal areas of Pakistan, in Yemen and in Somalia, and with the emergence of radicalized Americans inspired by the ideology of violent jihad.

"The impact of the attempted attacks during the past year suggests al-Qaeda, and its affiliates and allies, will attempt to conduct smaller-scale attacks targeting the homeland but with greater frequency," said Michael Leiter (shown above), director of the National Counterterrorism Center, pointing to plots against the subway system in New York, the attempt to down a commercial airliner approaching Detroit and the failed car bombing in Times Square. Leiter said in his testimony that "al-Qaeda in Pakistan is at one of its weakest points organizationally," but he noted that "regional affiliates and allies can compensate for the potentially decreased willingness of al-Qaeda in Pakistan - the deadliest supplier of such training and guidance - to accept and train new recruits."

Italy seizes huge explosives cache

2010-09-22T16:14:00.002-06:00

Italian police have seized seven tonnes of the powerful RDX explosives from a container ship believed to be on its way to Syria, according to authorities. Anti-mafia police found the explosives hidden in a shipment of powdered milk at the port of Gioia Tauro in southern Calabria, Italian news agencies reported. Carmelo Casabona, the region's police chief, said investigators are not yet sure of who was in control of the shipment, but it appeared that it originally travelled from Iran.

Also known as T4, RDX is a powerful military grade explosive that has been used in several devastating attacks believed to have been carried out by the Italian mafia in past years. It was most notably used in the assassinations of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the former being blown up with his wife and three bodyguards after a bomb was detonated under a motorway. Casabona said the cargo had "the involvement of international criminal organisations," but ruled out the involvement of local mafia, know as the Ndrangheta, saying the shipment was too large.The cargo was reportedly found on a Liberian-registered ship called the Finland, which is owned by an Italian-Swiss company, MSC.

Police chief: Threat of attack on France hits peak

2010-09-22T15:49:00.000-06:00

France is facing a "peak" terror threat, and authorities suspect al-Qaeda's North African affiliate of plotting a conventional bomb attack on a crowded target, the national police chief said Wednesday. The warning from National Police Chief Frederic Pechenard came on the eve of national protests that unions hope will send millions into city streets, and was the latest warning in a recent drumbeat from French officials that the public needs to be more alert about terrorism. "France is today under threat. For that matter, French people need to get used to it," he told Europe-1 radio. "We're now facing a peak threat that can't be doubted. There is a specific threat against French interests. We have serious indications, coming from reliable intelligence, saying that there's an important risk of an attack," he said, adding that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, "is targeting us in particular."

Last week, there was a false bomb alert at the Eiffel Tower, and investigators are looking into an anonymous phone call that prompted police to evacuate the most-visited monument in the tourism-oriented country. AQIM claimed responsibility for last week's abduction of five French nationals and two Africans in northern Niger. Pechenard said the group isn't thought to have the means to launch a nuclear or biological attack in France, but could carry out assassinations or attacks using conventional explosives. "In order to do the maximum possible damage (such an attack) would be likely to happen in a place where there are lots of people, which could be the public transit system, a department store or a gathering," Pechenard said. Last week, the French Senate voted to ban burqa-style Islamic veils in France, a subject that has prompted warnings by AQIM.

Bending Intelligence to Political Purposes

2010-09-21T14:33:00.002-06:00

Intelligence, it is commonly said, is inherently fallible. And the conventional wisdom is that people tend to see the world as they expect to see it and so are slow to change their minds.

If that is true, policymakers' decisions based on such intelligence analysis and mind-set should be executed carefully. There is nowhere that is more crucial than on the Korean peninsula. Their overall judgments also must be speedy, accurate and taken with great care, especially in assessing an undercurrent of the soon-to-be-declared power shift in North Korea. Far too often, the deepest and most authoritative country analysis is colored by the administration in power in the South.

Ten years or so ago, for instance, some North Korea analysts at government-financed institutes in the South proudly enjoyed likening the North to "a ship on fire in mid-ocean with a hold full of ammunition." A handful of then-senior colleagues at Korea's Blue House joined their top decision-maker who allegedly claimed in a telephone conversation with his counterpart at the Clinton White House that the North would collapse within six to 24 months.

Of course, it's not sure whether their assenting opinions were deliberately made to support official policy under the conservative Kim Young-sam government. But other pessimistic Korea watchers imagined that if the power succession should fail to proceed, millions of people would likely abandon their homes and move in hordes across the countryside, hastening to the northwest side of the Chinese frontier to search for a better life. The roads would be crammed with hungry refugees, people clinging onto the steps of the trains or crowded upon their roofs.

Crime bankrolls terrorism: official

2010-09-21T10:35:00.003-06:00

Narcotics trafficking and compromised charities are key domestic bankrollers of suspected international terrorist activities, says the head of the federal financial intelligence agency. Speaking at a British economic crime symposium Wednesday, Jeanne Flemming, director of the secretive Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, or FINTRAC, said one-third of suspected terrorist-financing cases in Canada involve money from drug trafficking, fraud and other criminal enterprises.

Another one-quarter involve charities and non-profit organizations, she told the Cambridge University conference. Terror networks often use compromised or complicit charities and businesses as a veil of legitimacy to support their objectives. "These cases involve transactions that course through the mainstream financial system as part of the routine traffic of domestic and international transactions," she said.

FINTRAC was created a decade ago to help police investigate organized crime, but after 9/11, its mandate expanded to include terrorist financing. FINTRAC, along with Australia's financial intelligence unit are the only major western agencies that have the power to collect and analyse international electronic funds transfer reports involving transactions of $10,000 or more.

Seventy-seven per cent of the suspected terrorist-financing cases forwarded to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service by FINTRAC have resulted from the agency's ability to monitor wire transfers. "Not only were wire transfers a prominent feature in a large portion of our cases, in many instances without the wire transfer data we would not have reached a threshold of suspicion of terrorist-financing activity," said Flemming, who urged other nations to adopt the practice as well. "Money can leave a very useful trail when looking at a criminal enterprise or a terrorist network that is engaged in financing acts of violence in another country."

Basque separatist warns of IRA-type split within ETA

2010-09-20T15:41:00.000-06:00

ETA hardliners could form a new more violent offshoot, similar to the Real IRA, a separatist leader warned Monday, as Madrid snubbed a call by the outlawed Basque group for international mediation. ETA, blamed for 829 deaths in a flagging campaign of bombings and shootings to secure an independent Basque homeland, on Sunday called on international mediators to help resolve the decades-old conflict. That followed a September 5 video declaration in which it said it had decided several months ago to halt armed offensive actions. But the ceasefire was rejected outright by Madrid for failing to promise a permanent end to the violence. The government also Monday dismissed the latest proposal, with Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega saying it contained "nothing new." "ETA knows that the only thing that has any value is the definitive and complete end to violence and arms," she said.

Patxi Zabaleta, the head of non-violent Basque separatist group Aralar, said ETA must agree to "unilaterally end (violence), verifiably and without any political benefits. "That is what we are hoping for. But there remains the risk of a split (within ETA), similar to the Real IRA," he told the newspaper El Pais. The Real IRA (Irish Republican Army) split from the Provisional IRA -- once the main Catholic militant organisation opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland -- in 1997 over the latter's support for a peace drive. Some ETA fighters who favour a continuation of the campaign of violence could form splinter group like "that of the Real IRA, marginalised and ineffective," Zabaleta said. ETA's political wing Batasuna, with which he had met three times recently, was determined to work for "the end of violence," as it has indicated since early this year, he added. Batasuna wanted to "move forward on this path," and if that was not possible "there would be a break-up" between Batasuna and ETA.

NYPDs Counterterrorism Analytic Unit

2010-09-20T10:15:00.001-06:00

Inspire magazine, an English-language journal published by Al Qaeda, included in its summer edition what amounted to a “Friends and Foes” list. There, on Page 4, following the letter from the editor (“We survive through jihad and perish without it”), were pictures of, and quotations from, kindred spirits like Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty in a plot to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, and, perhaps surprisingly, David Letterman, who was praised for recent criticism of former President George W. Bush. Among the magazine’s “foes” were Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France; and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Then there was Mitchell D. Silber, a studious and mild-mannered former financier who grew up in Atlantic Beach, N.Y.

Mr. Silber (“I guess I was flattered in a strange way”) may seem an unlikely choice to occupy that space with a terrorist, a television star, a cabinet secretary, a European head of state and an Arab potentate. He is not, after all, a boldface name. Rather, he is a 40-year-old father with a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University who says his main hobby is reading deeply on the Middle East. What landed Mr. Silber on that list was his leadership of a little-known counterterrorism team deep within the crime-fighting structure of the New York Police Department.

Formally known as the Analytic Unit of the department’s Intelligence Division, the team was created in 2002 as part of the city’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It stands as a unique experiment in breaking traditional law-enforcement boundaries, comprising two dozen civilian experts — lawyers, academics, corporate consultants, investment bankers, alumni of the World Bank and the Council on Foreign Relations and even a former employee of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan. The team serves as the Police Department’s terrorism reference arm: available on demand to explain Islamic law or Pakistani politics to detectives in the field.

Bomb deactivated at Mexican mall

2010-09-19T22:14:00.002-06:00

Mexican soldiers deactivated a bomb at a mall in central Mexico Saturday, but it was not clear if the incident was tied to the country's drug war, Mexican newspaper Milenio reported. A message from a criminal group was left with the bomb in Leon, Milenio said. There was no information on the nature of the group. Authorities in Leon, a city of about a million people, were not immediately available for comment.

The newspaper said workers found an "explosive device" in the mall's parking lot and alerted authorities. Army troops deactivated it. Nobody was reported injured. Mexican drug gangs started using car bombs this year to target police, but have so far not used bombs against the general population. Four people were killed in July in Ciudad Juarez by a bomb planted in a car, the first such attack since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.

US couple 'tried to pass nuclear secrets to Venezuela'

2010-09-17T23:56:00.000-06:00

The US has charged a pair of former nuclear contractors with attempting to leak nuclear secrets to Venezuela. The husband and wife team were arrested on Friday in New Mexico and accused of passing nuclear information to an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan spy. US citizens Pedro and Marjorie Mascheroni were contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a centre of US nuclear research. The US justice department did not accuse Venezuela of wrongdoing. "The conduct alleged in this indictment is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's nuclear secrets for profit," Assistant Attorney General David Kris said in a statement.

Mr Mascheroni, a 75-year-old native of Argentina, worked as a scientist at Los Alamos from 1979 until 1988, when he was fired after criticising US nuclear research funding priorities, according to court documents. Mrs Mascheroni was a technical writer and editor from 1981 to 2010, the justice department said. The pair had access to nuclear secrets, including material on the design and manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Free-speech ruling gives U.S. parks, Justice pause

2010-09-16T21:12:00.003-06:00

If you want to stage a protest or distribute leaflets at one of the 392 national parks, a panel of U.S. Court of Appeals judges says you can do it without obtaining a permit. The Department of Justice and the National Park Service are not sure they agree and are considering an appeal. They have until Sept. 27 to ask for a temporary stay of the ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which last month struck down regulations requiring permission before handing out leaflets or carrying signs.

The Department of Justice "is still considering whether to seek further review in this case," says Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Nate Kellum, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization of Christian attorneys who defend the rights of people to express their faith, says the ruling "means the court has recognized that the First Amendment was all the permit you need to share your views on public property."

Roma, on Move, Test Europe’s ‘Open Borders’

2010-09-16T21:08:00.000-06:00

Bucharest, Romania — This city is full of stark, Soviet-era housing blocks, and the grimmest among them — gray towers of one-room apartments with communal bathrooms and no hot water — are given over to the Roma population. Children reflected in a puddle of water in Ferentari, a suburb of Bucharest inhabited mostly by Roma. Roma like Maria Murariu, 62, who tends to her dying husband in a foul-smelling room no bigger than a jail cell. She has not found work in five years.“There is not much for us in Romania,” she said recently, watching her husband sleep. “And now that we are in the European Union, we have the right to go to other countries. It is better there.” Thousands of Romania’s Roma, also known as Gypsies, have come to a similar conclusion in recent years, heading for the relative wealth of Western Europe, and setting off a clash within the European Union over just how open its “open borders” are.