4-22-09 Daily intel Brief

1. Canadian charged in attempt to ship banned nuclear technology to Iran
Attempted to conceal nature of devices and final shipping destination, police allege
Stewart Bell, National Post April 17, 2009
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1506739
IPT NOTE: The RCMP press release is posted at
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/on/news-nouvelles/2009/09-04-17-ce-da-eng.htm.

TORONTO -- A Toronto man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to export nuclear technology to Iran. Mahmoud Yadegari appeared in court this morning to face federal customs charges but he may face additional charges for violating a United Nations embargo. Mr. Yadegari attempted to "procure and export" pressure transducers used in the production of enriched uranium, the RCMP said in a statement. While enriched uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel, it is also a component of nuclear weapons. The U.N. Security Council banned exports of nuclear-related technology to Iran in 2006 because of its alleged efforts to build nuclear weapons. Mr. Yadegari was allegedly purchasing the materials in the United States and sending them through the United Arab Emirates to Iran, said RCMP Sgt. Marc Laporte… The charges followed an "extensive investigation" involving RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service (ICE). "ICE is involved because the product originated in the U.S. and was being brought into Canada," Sgt. Laporte said...

Police Intercept Illicit Export of Nuclear Technology
RCMP News Release April 17, 2009
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/on/news-nouvelles/2009/09-04-17-ce-da-eng.htm

2. Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites

Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem From The Times (London) April 18, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6115903.e...

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government. Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack. Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face... Officials believe that Israel could be required to hit more than a dozen targets, including moving convoys. The sites include Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges produce enriched uranium; Esfahan, where 250 tonnes of gas is stored in tunnels; and Arak, where a heavy water reactor produces plutonium…

3. New diplomatic crisis for US over Iran's jailing of Roxana Saberi
Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor, in Tehran From The Times (London) April 20, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6126581.e...

The fate of an American journalist sentenced to eight years in prison for spying against Iran has put fresh strain on Washington's relationship with Tehran, damaging hopes for Barack Obama's reconciliation bid with the Islamic regime. Roxana Saberi, 31, a dual American-Iranian national who had lived in Tehran for the past six years, was found guilty of espionage in a secret court hearing and told she would serve the lengthy sentence in the notorious Evin prison in the Iranian capital. Her father, Reza Saberi, described the court proceedings as a mock trial and said that the entire hearing lasted only a few minutes. Western diplomats in Tehran and Iranian reformers were sceptical about the case, suggesting that it was politically motivated. There are suspicions that hardliners in the regime want to use the prosecution to end the peace initiative announced by President Obama last month in a broadcast to Iranians who were celebrating their new year. Another interpretation is that Iran wants a bargaining chip to use with the Americans…

4. Torture memo has put US in danger, CIA tells Barack Obama
Michael Hayden, who led the CIA under President Bush, said that the release of the memos would make it harder to get information from terrorist suspects

Tim Reid in Washington From The Times (London) April 21, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article61359...
President Obama visited the CIA headquarters yesterday to placate officials dismayed by his decision to release top secret "torture" memos, a move that has provoked accusations that he is willing to compromise America's safety out of political correctness. Mr Obama's first visit to the CIA, to boost morale there and shore up his own reputation, came as his decision to release the memos detailing brutal interrogation sessions of terror suspects continued to attract criticism. There were claims from inside the agency's ranks that the move had undermined its ability to extract vital intelligence from America's enemies, and could even blow the cover of some secret operatives. Michael Hayden, who ran the CIA under President Bush, said before Mr Obama's visit that the release of the memos had compromised the CIA's intelligence gathering work and, in effect, aided America's enemies. Mr Obama sought to assure CIA staff that they still had his support and that he was prepared to draw a line under the agency's dubious recent practices…

5. Secretary Napolitano Announces ARRA Funding of Coast Guard Improvement Projects
Department of Homeland Security Release Date: April 20, 2009

Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1240253287014.shtm

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that a series of U.S. Coast Guard projects designed to provide critical improvements and create jobs will be funded by an infusion of $240 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)… The ARRA, signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 19, committed more than $3 billion for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and General Services Administration (GSA) in support of DHS programs. A total of $240 million was provided by ARRA to the Coast Guard. $142 million will be used to fund bridge alterations projects on the Mobile Bridge in Hurricane, Ala., the EJ&E Bridge in Devine, Ill., the Burlington Bridge in Burlington, Iowa, and the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge in Galveston, Texas. In addition, $88 million in ARRA funds will allow for the construction of buildings to house Coast Guard Sectors in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Jacksonville, Fla., as well as shore infrastructure projects—construction of personnel housing, boat moorings and other improvements—in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, Virginia and Delaware. Finally, $10 million will help upgrade or replace worn or obsolete components on the Coast Guard's fleet of 12 high-endurance cutters, including upgrades to boiler controls, refrigeration systems and automatic bus transfer switches, and replacements of fire pumps, fire and smoke detection systems and auxiliary saltwater pumps. The 40-plus-year-old cutters benefiting from the ARRA-funded projects are homeported in Seattle, Alameda, Calif., Kodiak, Alaska, Honolulu, San Diego and Charleston, S.C…

6. FBI's Most Wanted lists 1st domestic terror suspect
Ben Conery and Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES Tuesday, April 21, 2009

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3222
IPT NOTE: FBI release is posted at http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/speeches/heimbach042109.htm

The FBI on Tuesday will for the first time add the name of a domestic-terrorism suspect to its list of Most Wanted Terrorists, a post-Sept. 11 creation that until now has included only suspected Islamist terrorists, a law enforcement official told The Washington Times. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old animal rights activist, is wanted in connection with the 2003 bombings of two companies in the San Francisco Bay Area linked to an animal-testing laboratory. San Diego will take his place on a list that has included notorious international terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri and Adam Gadahn, the American-born al Qaeda spokesman, said the law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the official announcement…

Veterans a Focus of FBI Extremist Probe
By CAM SIMPSON and GARY FIELDS APRIL 17, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992665198727459.html
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this year launched a nationwide operation targeting white supremacists and "militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups," including a focus on veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to memos sent from bureau headquarters to field offices. The initiative, dubbed Operation Vigilant Eagle, was outlined in February, two months before a memo giving a similar warning was issued on April 7 by the Department of Homeland Security. Disclosure of the DHS memo this week has sparked controversy among some conservatives and veterans groups. Appearing on television talk shows Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the assessment, but apologized to veterans who saw it as an accusation… A Feb. 23 draft memo from FBI domestic counterterrorism leaders, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, cited an "increase in recruitment, threatening communications and weapons procurement by white supremacy extremist and militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups."…

7. Somali Muslims call FBI outreach 'coercion'
BY Phillip O'Connor ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Tuesday, Apr. 21 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3224

IPT NOTE: Background on CAIR is available at http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/172 [10-part report], and http://www.investigativeproject.org/695/cair-trains-fbi-agents-as-new-re...

ST. LOUIS — Concerns about racial profiling and other questionable tactics used to investigate the possible terrorist recruitment of Somalis living in the United States are prompting some Muslim leaders in St. Louis and elsewhere to limit their cooperation with the FBI. Across the country, federal agents are intensifying efforts to make connections within the Somali community amid growing concern that some are being radicalized by al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists. Over the past two years, about two dozen teenagers and young men have disappeared, most from the Minneapolis area, and returned to the Horn of Africa to possibly train with terrorist groups, according to the FBI. In October, one of the men became what is believed to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide attack when he blew himself up near Mogadishu killing 30 people… But some critics say that what the FBI calls community outreach at times involves the use of coercion, threats and intimidation. "The Somali Muslim community in particular feels they are under siege by law enforcement," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group…

Court asks FBI for Muslim surveillance files
Muslim organizations are angry over reports of spying in Southern California Mosques.
By SEAN EMERY THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Monday, April 20, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fbi-islamic-muslim-2370220-previously...

SANTA ANA – The widening rift between the FBI and the Islamic community has drawn the ACLU into the fray, with the organization's lawyers declaring victory in their efforts to force the release of government surveillance records on Southern California Muslims. A federal district court judge on Monday gave the FBI 30 days to make available for review 48 pages of surveillance memos pertaining to Southern California Muslim organizations that had previously been released only in heavily redacted form, 47 pages of previously withheld memos, and FBI files on the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR's Southern Californian Chapter, ACLU Staff Attorney Jennie Pasquarella said…

8. Terror convict to be sentenced as adult

By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA April 17, 2009
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/04/17/9152611.html

BRAMPTON - A youth who was convicted of participating in a terror group known as the Toronto 18 will

be sentenced as an adult, a superior court judge ruled this morning. The young man, who was 17 when he was arrested in June 2006, was found guilty in September of participating in a terrorist organization. The Crown today argued that the youth, who can't be named, should face three years in jail and three years probation…

9. Pirates Beware: Soon Rifles That Kill from a Mile Away
By Mark Thompson / Washington Time.com Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891348,00.html

The three Navy SEAL snipers who killed the pirates off the coast of Somalia last weekend were lucky the buccaneers were gullible enough to allow their lifeboat to be towed farther out to sea by the U.S.S. Bainbridge. The shortened towline turned what could have been a trio of difficult shots across hundreds of yards of ocean into relatively easy 30-yd. pops. It's a safe bet future pirates won't be so naive. But the Pentagon is drawing up a project to make it easier to hit targets at much longer distances: a super-sniper rifle called the EXACTO, short for EXtreme ACcuracy Tasked Ordnance. The highly-classified EXACTO program began a year ago, when the U.S. military's band of scientists and engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — which played a key role in the creation of both the Internet and GPS — let the military-industrial complex know it was seeking a supergun…

Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security

IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep't of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx; TSA Press Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm

10. Computer Spies Breach Fighter-Jet Project
By SIOBHAN GORMAN, AUGUST COLE and YOCHI DREAZEN

TECHNOLOGY APRIL 21, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027491029837401.html

WASHINGTON -- Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project -- the Defense Department's costliest weapons program ever -- according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks. Similar incidents have also breached the Air Force's air-traffic-control system in recent months, these people say. In the case of the fighter-jet program, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft. The latest intrusions provide new evidence that a battle is heating up between the U.S. and potential adversaries over the data networks that tie the world together. The revelations follow a recent Wall Street Journal report that computers used to control the U.S. electrical-distribution system, as well as other infrastructure, have also been infiltrated by spies abroad. Attacks like these -- or U.S. awareness of them -- appear to have escalated in the past six months, said one former official briefed on the matter. "There's never been anything like it," this person said, adding that other military and civilian agencies as well as private companies are affected. "It's everything that keeps this country going." Many details couldn't be learned, including the specific identity of the attackers, and the scope of the damage to the U.S. defense program, either in financial or security terms. In addition, while the spies were able to download sizable amounts of data related to the jet-fighter, they weren't able to access the most sensitive material, which is stored on computers not connected to the Internet. Former U.S. officials say the attacks appear to have originated in China. However it can be extremely difficult to determine the true origin because it is easy to mask identities online…

11. Flight at Newark Airport is delayed after woman boards with small knives
by Christopher Dela Cruz/The Star-Ledger Tuesday April 21, 2009, 12:08 PM
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/flight_at_newark_airport_delay....

A Continental Airlines flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Las Vegas was delayed today because a woman boarded the plane carrying two small knives, according to a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration. Continental flight 768, which was scheduled to depart at 7:30 a.m., was forced to return to the gate at about 9:40 a.m., and all the passengers had to leave the plane so that authorities could do a precautionary sweep of the plane, said Ann Davis, TSA spokeswoman. The female passenger was checking her carry-on luggage when she observed that she was carrying a Swiss army knife with a 1 1/2 inch blade and another knife with a 2 1/2 inch blade, Davis said. The crew was made aware of the knives and turned the plane around. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey interviewed the passenger and subsequently released her, Davis said. The plane is still at Newark airport. Davis said TSA will investigate how the knives, which are banned from planes, were able to go through security checkpoints. Davis said they will interview the officers who screened her baggage and order additional training to those officers if necessary. Davis could not say if there would be any punishment for the officers…

12. 4 more Sea-Tac flights targeted with laser
Story Published: Apr 17, 2009 at 10:39 PM PDT By KOMO Staff
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/43214892.html

SEA-TAC AIRPORT -- Four planes were targeted with a laser beam Friday night while heading into Sea-Tac Airport for a landing, according to airport officials. Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said the pilots of the planes reported seeing a flash of bright red beam while preparing to land. All four were hit within a 15-minute period, beginning at 8:30 p.m. The planes, all of which were headed for the third runway, landed without incident. Investigators believe the beams originated from a place two to three miles north of the airport. They've narrowed their search to an area north of Glen Acres Golf Course and east of State Route 509… Friday's incident follows a string of nearly two dozen similar occurrences that have taken place at Sea-Tac Airport this year. Six of them took place in March, five on the same night. About a dozen planes were targeted in February. Earlier this year, investigators arrested a Burien man in connection with several of the incidents. The man has since been released, and charges were never filed. Detectives said the investigation is ongoing. Cooper said the earlier incidents involved a green laser beam; however, the last two incidents have involved a red beam…

13. US Marine arrested at Logan
April 19, 2009 05:42 PM John C. Drake, Globe Staff

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/us_marine_arres.h...

A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said… TSA screeners in Terminal B called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after a screen discovered the following items in his checked baggage: a locked handgun box containing a semi-automatic handgun, a fully loaded gun magazine, several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture, military pull-type fuses, switches, electronics kit boxes with various components, and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator...

Financing, identity theft, money laundering

14. Treasury Targets Leader of Group Tied to Al Qaida

US Department of the Treasury Press Release TG-92 April 20, 2009

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/tg92.htm

Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today targeted al Qaida's support network by designating Abdul Haq, the overall leader and commander of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP), a terrorist organization designated under E.O. 13224 for its support to al Qaida. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism by freezing the assets of designated persons and prohibiting transactions with them. This Treasury action follows a decision by the United Nations Security Council's 1267 Committee to place Haq on its list of persons associated with Usama bin Laden, al Qaida, or the Taliban and subject to sanctions by UN member states. "Abdul Haq commands a terror group that sought to sow violence and fracture international unity at the 2008 Olympic Games in China," said Stuart Levey, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "Today, we stand together with the world in condemning this brutal terrorist and isolating him from the international financial system."…

15. Judge Rejects President Obama's 'State Secrets' Argument
April 18, 2009 11:51 AM ABC News Jake Tapper
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/judge-rejects-p.html

As a case against President Bush for withholding documents about allegedly illegal wiretapping became a case against President Obama for withholding documents about allegedly illegal wiretapping, President Obama has once again assumed the same "state secrets" arguments as his predecessor. And a judge that rejected the argument under Bush yesterday rejected the argument under Obama. In the case, Al-Haramain v. Obama, (formerly Al-Haramain v. Bush) the leaders of a now-defunct Islamic charity, allege that the National Security Agency under President Bush engaged in illegal warrantless wiretapping. In 2004, while preparing to defend the charity -- which had been placed on the government's terrorist watch list -- the charity's lawyers accidentally obtained a document indicating the wiretapping had taken place. The lawyers returned the document and have ever since been denied the ability to obtain it again to use it to show the charity had been allegedly illegally wiretapped. The Bush administration had argued that the document could not be "disclosed without causing serious harm to national security," even if the plaintiff's lawyers are given access to the document under secure conditions after extensive background checks. U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker denied the Bush administration's argument repeatedly. The Obama administration repeated the same "national security" argument in February, and yesterday Judge Walker said that the government "should now comply with the court's orders" to hand over the documents. Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller says the department is "reviewing the judge's order." …

16. 6 held as int'l. credit scam is detected in U. Darby
By STEPHANIE FARR Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Tue, Apr. 21, 2009

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3225

Six people allegedly involved in an international credit-card-scam ring are now behind bars on $500,000 bail each and under investigation by the Secret Service after police found their booty strewn across beds in an Upper Darby motel Friday. A woman in Pasadena, Calif., was stumped when she checked her credit-card account Friday and realized it had just been used to rent two rooms at the Summit Motor Inn on Township Line Road, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. Responding officers discovered that even though the woman still had her card, someone had used her account to rent two rooms at the motel. When officers entered those rooms, they discovered about 72 gift cards and credit cards all over the beds; a credit-card skimmer, which records information from a card's magnetic strip; three computers, and $1,700 in cash, Chitwood said. The ring somehow gains access to the magnetic strip on the back of a credit card without ever stealing the card, police said. The information is then uploaded onto altered credit cards, and even onto gift cards for stores including Kmart and Macy's, Chitwood said. "I don't have an explanation for the intricate nature of what they do," he said. "The sophistication boggles my mind." Police said the California victim's stolen information was routed to Canada before it was sent to a group in Ohio. Three of those arrested Friday - Marian Abrokwa, 18; Diamond Dabo, 33; and Emmanuel Wiafe, 24 - are from Ohio and are believed to have direct ties to the Ohio-based ring, Chitwood said. Three others - Noah Dobson, 33, of Sharon Hill; Issiajh Bah, 34, of Upper Darby; and Varflay Sekou Kanneh, 30, of Philadelphia - are believed to be "low-level thieves" who are hired out in various locations across the country to use the cards at local stores, Chitwood said…

Border security, immigration, customs

IPT NOTE: For more details, see US Customs and Border Protection releases at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/2754 , and Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html

17. Local ACLU decries Megahed's immigration arrest

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune Published: April 20, 2009 Updated: 06:04 pm

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3226

TAMPA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today joined the chorus of activists protesting the immigration arrest of Youssef Megahed three days after a federal jury acquitted him of explosives charges. The arrest April 6 in a Wal-Mart parking lot "appears vindictive," said Becky Steele, director of the West Central Florida chapter of the ACLU, who convened a news conference in her office… Megahed, 23, who is from Egypt, is a legal, permanent resident who came to the United States when he was 11. He applied for citizenship less than three weeks before his Aug. 4, 2007, arrest in South Carolina. Megahed's criminal trial centered on items found in the trunk of the car in which he was riding with his friend Ahmed Mohamed. The prosecution said the "low explosives" could easily be modified to be something dangerous; the defense maintained they were merely toy rocket motors homemade by Mohamed…

18. Auto Thefts Plague Border Region
Mexican Drug Cartels Drive Much of Illicit Vehicle Trade; Laredo, Texas, Is Hit Hard
By CAM SIMPSON Wall Street Journal APRIL 13, 2009, 2:14 P.M. ET

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958239081212259.html

LAREDO, Texas -- This city along the Rio Grande is on the verge of becoming the stolen-car capital of the U.S., according to data set for release Monday that underscore how drug cartels are helping make the U.S.-Mexico border region a hot spot for vehicle thieves. The National Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit body that collects law-enforcement reports, said 1,960 vehicles were reported stolen in the Laredo metropolitan area last year, an increase of more than 47% since 2005, when Laredo ranked 32nd nationally. That comes to 827 thefts per 100,000 people, putting Laredo just behind No. 1 Modesto, Calif. Of the 20 U.S. metropolitan regions with the highest vehicle-theft rates, seven are near the Mexico border, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. President Barack Obama will visit Mexico this week. Of the 20 U.S. metropolitan regions with the highest theft rates, according to the crime bureau, seven are near the Mexico border: Laredo; San Diego; Albuquerque, N.M.; Tucson, Ariz.; El Centro, Calif.; El Paso, Texas; and Phoenix. El Paso in particular has jumped up the charts; it ranked 17th in 2008, compared with No. 81 in 2005. While Mexican drug cartels aren't behind every stolen car along the border, police say their money drives the professional side of the trade…

Cartels Recruiting American Teens to Smuggle Drugs

April 20, 2009 KRGV.com (Rio Grande Valley, TX) Last Update: 8:39 am

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3227

EL PASO - Customs and Border Protection officials say they're seeing more teenagers trying to smuggle drugs across the border. Officials say mostly American kids, girls and boys from middle and upper-class families, are being caught with drugs strapped to their bodies. Authorities say the cartels are re-focusing on recruiting more children from American schools. Bil Molaski is the El Paso Port Director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and says, "Wherever they believe they can be successful or find a weak spot in our defense of the homeland, here, they're going to attempt to exploit that." …

Mexican cartels unloading drugs to Italian mafia

11:11 PM CDT on Monday, April 20, 2009 By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3228

Mexican drug traffickers are funneling cocaine to Italian organized crime, and some shipments are moving through Dallas. "We've got some of the major cartel members established here dealing their wares in Europe," said James Capra, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Dallas office. Experts say warring cartels battered by unprecedented U.S. and Mexican government crackdowns are increasingly looking to Europe as an expansion market. Across the Atlantic, demand for cocaine is high and prices are up. A kilo sold for $20,000 in Dallas is worth up to three times as much overseas, experts say. Mexican cartel operatives in North Texas "are dealing with Italy, Spain, you name it," he said. "They can operate their logistical center from here and coordinate between Mexico, Central America and Europe." Italian capos are venturing to North Texas to get in on the action, says one mob expert. "Places like Houston and Dallas are where these criminal organizations are most likely to invest their money," said Antonio Nicaso, an internationally recognized author and lecturer on Italian organized crime. "This is the right time, with the recession going on." Dallas has long been a recognized distribution hub for drugs smuggled up the Interstate 35 corridor from Laredo. From here, narcotics head out across the country to Atlanta, Chicago, New England and elsewhere. The revelation that the cartels are forming alliances with Italian syndicates came last year when the DEA revealed that the Mexican Gulf cartel, which supplies Dallas with cocaine, was working with New York associates of the powerful Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia…

19. Senate panel meets in Valley on growing border violence
by Jahna Berry - Apr. 21, 2009 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/04/21/20090...

IPT NOTE: The witness list, with links to prepared statements, is posted at

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3229

Three U.S. senators promised to funnel more federal money to Arizona after they heard local officials complain about how Mexican cartels have taken a toll on the state. "The cartels are the cause of an enormous amount of human suffering and crime, kidnapping and human smuggling," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate panel that held a 3½ hour hearing in Phoenix on Monday. "Arizona and the other border states are paying disproportionately for that problem." The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs came to Phoenix to listen to local officials who deal with the effects of criminal organizations that smuggle humans and drugs into the United States. Arizona Republican senators John McCain, a member of the committee, and Jon Kyl were part of Monday's panel...

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Title: *Field Hearing* Southern Border Violence: State and Local Perspectives
Date: 4/20/09 Time (EST): 9:00 AM
Place: Phoenix City Council Chambers; 200 West Jefferson Street; Phoenix, Arizona.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3229

Panel 1
The Honorable Janice K. Brewer, Governor, State of Arizona
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Brewer.pdf
The Honorable Terry Goddard, Attorney General , State of Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Goddard.pdf

Panel 2
The Honorable Phil Gordon, Mayor, City of Phoenix, Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Gordon.pdf
The Honorable Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel, Mayor , City of Nogales, Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009GVB.pdf
The Honorable Ned Norris, Jr. , Chairman , Tohono O'odham Nation

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Norris.pdf

Panel 3
Jack F. Harris, Public Safety Manager , City of Phoenix, Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Harris.pdf
Clarence W. Dupnik, Sheriff , County of Pima, Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Dupnik.pdf
Larry Dever, Sheriff , County of Cochise, Arizona

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/042009Dever.pdf

20. Miami group charged in conspiracy to defraud aliens

U.S. Department of Justice US Attorney Southern District of Florida April 17, 2009 NEWS RELEASE:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/090417-02.html
IPT NOTE: The indictment is posted at
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/Attachments/090417-02.Indict...

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Steve Mocsary, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Professional Responsibility, and Donald Balberchak, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Inspector General, announced that defendants Nestor Romero, 56, Ada Calveiro, 59, and Rafael Diaz De La Rocha, 52, all of Miami, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements in immigration papers, and wire fraud. Nestor Romero was also indicted on substantive charges of making false statements in immigration papers, aggravated identity theft, and impersonating an officer and employee of the United States. All three defendants made their initial appearances in federal court today… According to the Indictment, the defendants were part of a scheme to defraud aliens by soliciting payments from them and falsely promising to assist them with immigration matters. After receiving payments, defendant Romero prepared false immigration documents using personal information belonging to numerous identity theft victims, including alien registration numbers belonging to individuals who had not requested such applications. In selling immigration services to aliens, defendant Nestor Romero represented himself to be employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Through this scheme, the defendants collected more than $426,700 from aliens in connection with their immigration business…

21. 200 kilograms of cocaine seized at Windsor–Detroit border
Canada Border Services Agency April 20, 2009
Prosecutions and Seizures Windsor–St. Clair Region
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/prosecutions-poursuites/wsc/2009-04-22-...

Windsor, Ontario, April 20, 2009 — The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced today that its officers at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, seized a total of 200 kilograms of suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of $25 million, in two separate cases over a four-day period…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

22. DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 263-09 April 21, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12622
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Ray A. Spencer II, 20, of Ridgecrest, Calif., died April 16 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The incident is currently under investigation…

23. Iraqi children trained by al-Qaeda to be suicide bombers

James Hider in Baghdad From The Times (London) April 21, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6135887.ece

Iraqi security forces have arrested four children who were allegedly part of a group of youngsters being groomed by al-Qaeda to become suicide bombers, an Iraqi army general said. The children, who were detained in a village near the northern city of Kirkuk, were part of a cell known as the "Birds of Paradise" and were being specially trained to avoid detection as they carried out attacks, security officials said… Al-Qaeda groups have previously used Iraqi children to carry out attacks on US and Iraqi security forces, even using them in one instance as a cover to sneak a car bomb past a Baghdad checkpoint before detonating the device with the youngsters still inside. Militants have also been accused of using mentally disabled women as suicide bombers. Other insurgent groups have used children to fire rocket-propelled grenades and set roadside bombs, knowing that they were less likely to be shot at by soldiers. The newly discovered children's cell appeared to derive its name from the Islamic belief that when children die they become birds of paradise…

Army welders use skills to counter IEDs in Iraq
Apr 20, 2009 US Army

By 1st Lt. Stephen Clements , 46th ECB (H), 225th Eng. Bde., MND-B
1st Lt. Janeene Yarber, 46th ECB (H), 225th Eng. Bde., MND-B

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3230

BAGHDAD - On a dark night, two terrorists discovered tunnels underneath a heavily traveled road in western Baghdad and used an improvised explosive device to blow a huge hole in the street to disrupt traffic. To prevent this act of terrorism from happening again, the engineers from Headquarters and Support Company, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, were called in to repair the gaping hole in the road and seal access to the tunnels beneath the road. "The crater was pretty dangerous and we ended up repairing two holes in that road," said Staff Sgt. Xavier Bowie, mission noncommissioned officer-in-charge, from West Palm Beach, Fla. "There's an Iraqi Army checkpoint nearby and the [Iraqi Army troops] said it caused a lot of traffic when people would stop to avoid the holes. It was even worse when the drivers didn't see the holes and would just drive into them and damage their cars."…

24. Sea Piracy Almost Doubles as Somalia Attacks Surge (Update3)

Bloomberg April 21, 2009 By Alaric Nightingale and Caroline Alexander

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3231

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Piracy attacks worldwide almost doubled in the first quarter, led by a surge in incidents around Somalia, a group that monitors sea hijackings said. There were 102 attacks in the first three months, compared with 53 a year ago, the International Maritime Bureau said in a statement on its Web site today. The Gulf of Aden and eastern coast of Somalia accounted for 61 of the seizures or attempted hijackings worldwide, from six last year, the group said...

Piracy attacks almost doubled in 2009 first quarter
21 April 2009 International Chamber of Commerce

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3232

A dramatic increase in activity by Somali pirates led to a near doubling in the number of ships attacked during the year's first quarter compared with the same period in 2008, according to a report issued today by the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau (IMB)... To request a PDF version of the report…

ASIA / PACIFIC

25. DoD Identifies Army Casualty

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 258-09 April 19, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12620
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. PFC Richard A. Dewater, 21, of Topeka, Kan., died April 15, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device, while on a dismounted patrol near Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas…

U.S. helps snare top Afghan drug lords
Sara A. Carter Washington Times EXCLUSIVE: Monday, April 20, 2009
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/20/raids-crack-afghan-opium-tra...

U.S.-Afghan operations have led to the arrests of seven of Afghanistan's most wanted drug lords and revealed the growing involvement of the Taliban in turning opium into heroin and morphine, Pentagon and Drug Enforcement Administration officials said.