Daily Intel Report
1. Report: N. Korea tests more short-range missiles
May 26, 2009 Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-05-26-north-korea-missiles_N.htm
SEOUL (AP) — North Korea launched tests Tuesday of two more short-range missiles a day after detonating a nuclear bomb underground, a news report said, pushing the regime's confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action. Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official. South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing. Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official. North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program…
Nuclear tests hint North Korea succession looms
Sara A. Carter and Andrew Salmon THE WASHINGTON TIMES Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3494
North Korea's second test of an atomic bomb Monday morning prompted speculation by analysts and U.S. military experts that an ailing Kim Jong-il is relying on hard-line generals to prepare for succession - reportedly to one of three sons… But Monday's actions may have moved the North's belligerence to a new level, said Michael Breen, a Seoul-based analyst and author of a biography of Kim Jong-il…
ANALYSIS: North Korea joins nuclear club
Eli Lake and Barbara Slavin Monday, May 25, 2009 Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/25/analysis-north-korea-joins-n...
North Korea's second nuclear test was more successful than its first and shows that the country is on its way toward full membership in a club of unofficial nuclear weapons states, U.S. nuclear specialists said Monday. Estimates of the size of the explosion -- which triggered a measurement of 4.7 on the Richter scale compared to 4.3 after North Korea's first test in 2006 -- varied from one or two kilotons to as high as 10 or 20 kilotons. The higher estimate would match the power and potency of the bombs America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. In 2006, North Korea's first nuclear test did not reach one kiloton. U.S. intelligence officials said they were still evaluating the test. In 2006, the Bush administration estimated that Kim Jong-il's regime wanted an explosion in the range of 3 to 4 kilotons, said Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asia on the Bush White House National Security Council…
Israeli report: Venezuela sends uranium to Iran
By Mark Lavie, Associated Press May 25, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-05-25-israel-report-iran_N.htm
JERUSALEM — Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel. "There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran." The report concludes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to undermine the United States by supporting Iran. Venezuela and Bolivia are close allies, and both regimes have a history of opposing U.S. foreign policy and Israeli actions. Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador during Israel's offensive in Gaza this year, and Israel retaliated by expelling the Venezuelan envoy. Bolivia cut ties with Israel over the offensive…
Iran: Tehran looking to strengthen ties with Paraguay
AKI May 26, 2009
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3359209940
Asuncion, 26 May (AKI) - Paraguay's foreign minister Hector Lacognata has told Iran that it is committed to building stronger economic ties with Tehran, according to Iran's state-run media. The move appears to be part of a strategy by Iran to expand its influence in Latin America. Paraguay's foreign minister Hector Lacognata made the remarks in a meeting with Iran's non-resident ambassador to Paraguay Morteza Tafreshi, Iranian state media, Irna and Fars, said on Tuesday. Lacognata referred to Iran as "the cradle of civilisation" and underscored the need for participation by Iranian companies in various economic and trade projects in Paraguay…
2. Brazil arrests high ranking Qaeda operative - report
Tue May 26, 2009 7:22pm IST Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39893620090526
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police have arrested a high-ranking al Qaeda operative in Sao Paulo and are keeping him under tight security, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday. The suspect is allegedly a chief of international communications for al Qaeda, according to the report in Folha de S.Paulo, Brazil's largest daily newspaper. The report did not give the suspect's name or say when he was taken into custody, nor did it provide a source for the information. The arrest was surrounded by secrecy with the federal police disguising it as part of an investigation into neo-Nazi groups in the country, Folha said. The report also said U.S. authorities were notified of the arrest. A federal police spokesman in Sao Paulo declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman at the Justice Ministry in Brasilia, the capital. Brazil is home to one of the largest Arab populations outside the Middle East, with most residing in Sao Paulo and Foz do Iguacu, a bustling commercial hub on the border with Argentina and Paraguay. The U.S. government has claimed on several occasions in recent years that Arabs in the so-called tri-border around Foz do Iguacu raise money for militant groups in the Middle East…
3. Pentagon Cites Evidence on Gitmo Detainees Who Returned to Battlefield
The Pentagon offers up fingerprints, DNA, photos and intelligence to link former Guantanamo Bay detainees to recent terror action.
FOXNews.com Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3495
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Tuesday it has fingerprints, DNA, photos or reliable intelligence to link 27 detainees to the battlefields since their release from the prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That's about 5 percent of the 540 terror suspects released from the prison. Another 9 percent of freed Guantanamo detainees are suspected to have rejoined the terror activity. That's 74 detainees in all. "What this tells us is, at the end of the day, there are individuals, that if released, will again return to terrorist activities," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday. Some constitutional lawyers have disputed the data because it is not specific about the evidence used to track the detainees. The Pentagon said all the detainees captured, and in most cases held, for years at Guantanamo were tied to Al Qaeda, the Taliban or other foreign fighter groups…
4. US: Egyptian scientist should be denied clearance
The Associated Press Updated: 05/22/2009 10:44:53 AM EDT
http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_12428475
PITTSBURGH—Federal prosecutors are asking an appeals court to uphold a decision denying an Egyptian scientist from getting his top security clearance reissued. In a brief filed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday the U.S. Attorney General's office in Pittsburgh asked the judge to back a lower court ruling. In November, a district court backed the Department of Energy's right to keep its reasoning for the revocation secret. The American Civil Liberties Union appealed on behalf of the 57-year-old scientist. Moniem El-Ganayni had worked in Bettis Laboratories, which makes parts for nuclear warships. El-Ganayni is now living in Egypt. He had lived in the United States since 1988. In 2007, El-Ganayni was ruled a security risk. As a result, the scientist was fired.
5. Army's testing takeover raises body-armor costs
Sara A. Carter Washington Times Sunday, May 24, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3496
Manufacturers of body armor say the U.S. Army's decision to move testing from private companies to in-house has increased costs by more than 500 percent and undermined research and development of life-saving equipment. In February, Army Secretary Pete Geren decided to move all testing of new body-armor products and protective gear already slated for troops overseas to the Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland in response to a Pentagon inspector general report that criticized Army quality-control procedures. The Washington Times reported last week that the decision prompted an inquiry by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. An internal military e-mail recently obtained by The Times showed that the cost of testing armor at the Aberdeen facility is based on Defense Department rates, which are much higher than at private facilities…
6. 'Jihad' girlfriends: FBI snitch used gifts to trick our men
By LORENA MONGELLI IN NEWBURGH, NY and LUKAS I. ALPERT IN NYC May 23, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3497
A slick FBI informant roped four Muslim converts into a horrific terror plot to blow up synagogues and military jets by handing them piles of cash and gifts and even bags of weed, relatives of the suspects said today. "Brother whatever you need, I will get it for you," said the man who the four petty thieves knew as Maqsood, according to Kathleen Baynes, whose long-time boyfriend, James Cromitie is alleged to be the ringleader of the plot. She said Cromitie, 45, met Maqsood at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque about a year ago and promised to teach him the truth about Islam. The man soon was coming by their apartment with increasing frequency and was always flush with cash...
Informant offered liver transplant for Bronx terror suspect's brother, sez mom
BY Joe Kemp, Nicole Bode, Alison Gendar and John Lauinger NY Daily News Sunday, May 24th 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3498
The mother of Bronx terror suspect David Williams said the government snitch who cozied up to her son promised him a liver transplant for his dying brother - and even drove the pea-brained plotter to Queens to face charges of groping a woman on a city bus. Elizabeth McWilliams said the informant, Shahed (Malik) Hussain, befriended her son in March as the family worried how it would afford a transplant for the would-be bomber's brother, who has a terminal illness, the immunity disorder sarcoidosis…
7. Threats to Judges, Prosecutors Soaring
Worried Court Personnel Resort To Guards, Identity Shields, Weapons
By Jerry Markon Washington Post Monday, May 25, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR200905...
Threats against the nation's judges and prosecutors have sharply increased, prompting hundreds to get 24-hour protection from armed U.S. marshals. Many federal judges are altering their routes to work, installing security systems at home, shielding their addresses by paying bills at the courthouse or refraining from registering to vote. Some even pack weapons on the bench. The problem has become so pronounced that a high-tech "threat management" center recently opened in Crystal City, where a staff of about 25 marshals and analysts monitor a 24-hour number for reporting threats, use sophisticated mapping software to track those being threatened and tap into a classified database linked to the FBI and CIA...
Prisoners Run Gangs, Plan Escapes, and Even Order Hits With Smuggled Cellphones
By Vince Beiser 05.22.09 WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.06
http://www.wired.com/print/politics/law/magazine/17-06/ff_prisonphones
In his 25-plus years as a Texas state senator, John Whitmire had never received a phone call like this one. "I know your daughters' names," said a nasal voice. "I know how old they are. I know where they live." Then the caller recited the young women's names, ages, and addresses… Whitmire is the bald-headed, blunt-talking chair of the state senate's Criminal Justice Committee, a law-and-order man who displays an engraved pistol in his office. But that call last October 7, he says, "scared the hell out of me." Richard Tabler, the man on the other end of the line, had murdered at least two people and possibly four. He was a prisoner on Texas' death row, supposedly locked safely away. But from the narrow bunk of his solitary cell an hour's drive north of Houston, Tabler had reached out and touched one of the Lone Star State's most powerful politicians with a smuggled Motorola cell phone… Inmates aren't allowed to have cell phones in any US prison, let alone on death row. But the 21st century's ubiquitous communications tools are nonetheless turning up by the thousands in lockups not just in Texas but across the US and around the world. Last year alone, officials confiscated 947 phones in Maryland, some 2,000 handsets and accessories in South Carolina, and 2,800 mobiles in California…
8. Man in terror trial sentenced to 2.5 years
Scarborough man to be released today based on credit for time served before trial
May 22, 2009 03:30 PM Isabel Teotonio Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/638866
A man sentenced to 2-1/2 years in a homegrown terror trial, will be released from custody today. The 21-year-old Scarborough man will walk out of court later today a free man because of credit given for time served in pre-trial custody. Superior Court Justice John Sproat said that in making his decision, he considered "the genuine remorse expressed by (the accused) and his stated commitment to leading a peaceful life." As part of his sentence the accused must submit a DNA sample and will be on probation for three years. He is also prohibited from handling firearms for 10 years… The young man, who was not a key member of the so-called Toronto 18, said he would like to counsel young people to stay away from bad influences. Prosecutors had been seeking a three-year sentence, but Sproat noted there were "extenuating circumstances" with regard to the accused. The judge referenced evidence by the Crown's star witness Mubin Shaikh, who described the accused as a naïve and impressionable convert to Islam who was estranged from his Hindu family…
9. A Fight to Protect Americans From British Libel Law
By ERIC PFANNER May 25, 2009 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/business/media/25libel.html
PARIS — The American Civil Liberties Union may not often see eye to eye with the American Center for Democracy, a research group with neoconservative credentials. But the two organizations are united on at least one thing: their distaste for British libel laws, which they say are being exploited to suppress free speech in Britain and beyond. British courts have always been friendlier to libel claimants than their American counterparts. Until recently that did not matter much to American authors or publishers. But now the Internet makes anything published in the United States almost immediately available in Britain, too. Some free-speech advocates in the United States say that so-called libel tourists — people with little connection to Britain — are using the global-distribution argument to justify suing for libel there. London has gained a reputation as the libel capital of the world. Saudi businessmen have sued there to complain about American reports that they engaged in terrorist financing; Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs have sued in Britain over accusations of unsavory business activities…
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. Small Explosion Shatters Shop Windows on Upper East Side
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and COLIN MOYNIHAN May 26, 2009 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/nyregion/26blast.html
An explosive device shattered the windows of a Starbucks on the Upper East Side early Monday but there were no reported injuries, the police said. The device, which had been placed on the wooden bench on 92nd Street, just west of Third Avenue, exploded shortly before 3:30 a.m., the police said. "We are going to analyze the type of explosive that has been used," the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, told reporters on the scene. "It is described by our bomb experts as a low explosive." Governor David A. Paterson, who went inside the damaged Starbucks, said that the explosion was caused by an "improvised explosive device tied with black tape around foil. It was not a high impact explosion, it blew out two of the windows, put a burn on the side of the building." No arrests had been reported, and the police said that they would look at surveillance video from businesses in the neighborhood...
Starbucks Memorial Day Bombing
NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau Information Cutoff: Date: 2:30 PM 5/25/2009
NYPD SHIELD intelligence briefs are current as of the information cutoff date. The information is therefore preliminary and subject to further analysis and revision.
William V. O'Regan, Intelligence Research Specialist
requires free registration at http://www.nypdshield.org
11. TSA cracks down on mismatched tickets, IDs
Orlando Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks May 25, 2009
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/05/25/daily2.html
Air travelers whose tickets do not match their drivers licenses or passports could run into delays at security checkpoints. An effort launched by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration earlier this month aims to improve security watch lists for air travel, which have been criticized for having duplicate names and causing hassles for some passengers. The TSA said information on airline tickets must match their drivers licenses, passports or other identification papers.
12. Defense Dept., Industry Join to Protect Data
By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Monday, May 25, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR200905...
LINTHICUM, Md. -- At 2:42 p.m. one recent Wednesday, on the fourth floor of a squat brick office building under the flight path of jets landing at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, a Pentagon analyst skilled in parsing malicious computer code e-mailed a threat alert to 28 of the nation's largest defense contractors. That morning, a defense company had told the Defense Department Cyber Crime Center about a significant probe of its computer network. The Pentagon analysts determined the code was present in several companies' networks and raised the alarm. This information exchange took place, government and industry officials said, because the companies and the Pentagon have begun to trust one another. They are joining forces to stem the loss of important defense industry data -- by some estimates at least $100 billion worth in the past two years, reflecting the cost to produce the data and its value to adversaries. For two years, the Defense Department has been collaborating with industry to try to better protect the firms' computer networks. Now, as the Obama administration ponders how to strengthen the nation's defenses against cyberattacks, it is considering ways to share the Pentagon's threat data with other critical industries, such as those that handle vastly larger amounts of data, including phone calls and private e-mails. The threat scenarios, experts say, are chilling: a months-long blackout of much of the United States, wide-scale corruption of electronic banking data, a disabling of the air traffic control system…
Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate
Shielding Public, Private Networks Is Goal
By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR200905...?
President Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will create a "cyber czar," a senior White House official who will have broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation's government-run and private computer networks, according to people who have been briefed on the plan. The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final. The announcement will coincide with the long-anticipated release of a 40-page report that evaluates the government's cybersecurity initiatives and policies. The report is intended to outline a "strategic vision" and the range of issues the new adviser must handle, but it will not delve into details, administration officials told reporters last month...
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
13. Supporters Rally Behind Holy Land 5
As Sentencing Nears, Many Still Call Trial An "Injustice" To Men Involved In Richardson-Based Muslim Charity
Bud Gillett reporting, May 25, 2009 8:29 am US/Central
http://cbs11tv.com/local/holy.land.5.2.1018416.html
RICHARDSON (CBS 11 News) ― On Wednesday, former leaders of a Richardson-based Muslim charity, will be sentenced for funding terrorism, but their supporters are continuing their fight against what they call "a great injustice." Family and friends of what they now call "the Holy Land 5" gathered at The Dallas Central Mosque, which is part of the Islamic Association of North Texas, this weekend to again offer their support for the men who were convicted of more than 100 charges in a terrorism financing case. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development -- once the nation's largest Muslim charity – was a government target of alleged terrorism fundraising on American soil. In November, jurors convicted the Muslim charity and five of its former leaders on all 108 charges, including - conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Supporters say the message heard at the trial was wrong, that these five were not secretly funding the terrorist group Hamas, but instead helping refugees…
14. Suspects Charged in $400,000 Electronic Crime Scheme
Updated 5:30 PM PDT, Thu, May 21, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3492
Four San Fernando Valley men were charged today in an alleged electronic crime scheme in which more than two dozen victims -- including two banks -- lost more than $400,000 via phony ATM withdrawals. Oganes Tangabakyan, 31, and Edgar Yerkanyan, 25, both of Sherman Oaks, Aznaour Poghosyan, 26, of Tujunga; and Vahe Hovsepyan, 33, of Reseda, are scheduled to be arraigned May 28 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on the 57-count complaint. All four men are charged with identity theft, while Tangabakyan, Yerkanyan and Poghosyan are also charged with grand theft. Tangabakyan, Yerkanyan and Hovsepyan are additionally charged with unlawful access card activity, cultivating marijuana, possession of a machine gun, possession of an assault weapon and possession of a silencer…
15. SF Judge May Declare Gov't Liable In Wire-Tap Case
May 23, 2009 8:34 am US/Pacific
http://cbs5.com/local/vaughn.walker.justice.2.1017570.html
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ― A federal judge said in an order filed in San Francisco Friday that he is considering declaring the government liable in a warrantless wiretapping lawsuit as a penalty for failing to make a top-secret document available to lawyers for an Islamic charity. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ordered Justice Department attorneys to appear before him on June 3 for a hearing on possible sanctions in the lawsuit filed against the government by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. Walker said he is considering finding the government liable for alleged wiretapping and ordering it to pay financial compensation to the foundation as a penalty "for failing to obey the court's orders" to make the secret document available to foundation attorneys. The now-defunct foundation, formerly based in Ashland, Ore., claims U.S. agents illegally wiretapped phone calls to a foundation officer in Saudi Arabia in 2004 without a warrant. The case is one of more than three dozen domestic surveillance lawsuits pending before Walker…
Showdown Looming On 'State Secrets'
Judge Threatens To Penalize U.S. In Wiretap Case
By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR200905...
President Obama vowed last week to rein in the use of a legal privilege that allows the administration to discard lawsuits that involve "state secrets," promising that a new policy is in the works that will quell criticism by civil libertarians. But hours after Obama's speech laid out a "delicate balance" on national security, his Justice Department was criticized by a federal judge in California overseeing a case that has delved deeper than any other into one of the government's most highly classified data-gathering programs... A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the judge's order, which requires the government to respond in court by Friday…
16. Two sentenced in theft of baby formula in Upper Macungie
Rene Chavez-Garciia and Angelo Rodriguez had roles in theft of about $200,000 worth of baby food and other products from warehouse
By Kevin Amerman OF THE MORNING CALL (Allentown, PA) May 26, 2009
www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5babyfood.6910406may26,0,5623441.story
One truck driver has been sentenced to jail and another to a lengthy probation for their roles in the theft of $200,000 worth of baby formula and other products from an Upper Macungie Township warehouse that were sold on the black market… Two warehouse supervisors who police say facilitated the thefts await resolution of their cases. Daniel C. Vertilus, 24, of South Whitehall Township pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft by unlawful taking and is scheduled to be sentenced June 30. Another supervisor, 28-year-old Wandy Ramo Bueno-Ovalle of Allentown, faces trial on 20 theft charges. According to police:…
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. 'Liquid Meth' Seized By CBP Officers at Naco Port of Entry
(Thursday, May 21, 2009) US Customs and Border Protection News Release
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/05212009_6.xml
Naco, Ariz. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Naco port of entry stopped a unique attempt at smuggling narcotics into the country yesterday when they found "liquid" methamphetamines in the washer fluid reservoir of a 2000 GMC pickup… During routine questioning, the officer asking questions became suspicious of the driver and decided the vehicle needed a more intensive inspection… The methamphetamine from this seizure has an estimated street value of over $982,400.00…
18. U.S., Canada gear up for new border ID requirements
U.S. and Canadian travelers to be required to present documents at border
Travelers must show passport or documents denoting "identity and citizenship"
Homeland Security says the change will "quickly and reliably identify a traveler"
CNN May 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/26/canada.passport.requirement/
(CNN) -- Americans and Canadians heading to the United States from Canada on vehicles or cruise ships will face new entry requirements beginning next week, the Homeland Security Department said. On Monday, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will begin requiring U.S. and Canadian land and sea travelers to present a passport or other documents denoting "identity and citizenship when entering the United States," according to DHS…
19. United States and Canada Act Jointly to Combat Cross-Border Crime
Release Date: May 26, 2009 Office of the Dep't of Homeland Security Press Secretary
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1243354565323.shtm
Framework Agreement on Integrated Cross-Border Maritime Law Enforcement Operations between the U.S. and Canadian Governments (Shiprider Agreement) (PDF, 17 pages - 56 KB) http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/shiprider_agreement.pdf
Detroit—The Honorable Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Honorable Peter Van Loan, Canadian Minister of Public Safety, toured port operations today on both sides of the shared United States/Canada border and signed an agreement to make Shiprider—joint law enforcement teams stationed along the international maritime border—permanent…
U.S., Canada to continue beefed up waterway patrols
Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090526/METRO/905260401/1409/METRO
Detroit -- The United States and Canada today signed an agreement that allows both countries to patrol each other's waters and to pursue cross-border criminals into each country's territory. The "Shiprider Agreement" allows the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police to cross-train, share resources and personnel, and use each other's vessels in waters that include the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. According to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Canadian Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan, the agreement will help ensure that criminal organizations no longer exploit the shared border because of the inherent jurisdictional complications that come with cross-border policing…
20. SPECIAL REPORT: Cross-border trucking program appears on fast track
Friday, May 22, 2009 – – By Reed Black, staff writer
http://www.landlinemag.com/Special_Reports/2009/May09/052209_crossborder...
American truckers would be sharing the highways with Mexican drivers much sooner than anyone expected if U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has his way. LaHood announced on Thursday that he wants to open the border to Mexican trucks as early as next month. The Congressional Quarterly reported it would not be simply a continuation of the original cross-border demonstration program. Instead, according to CQ, it would be a permanent program with new safety guidelines. How many trucks would be involved and what the safety guidelines would be won't be known until LaHood unveils the plan to lawmakers during the first week in June…
21. County OKs mega-prison for immigrant detainees
By Leslie Berestein San Diego Union-Tribune 2:00 a.m. May 26, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3499
OTAY MESA — A private company's plans to build a mega-prison that could house immigrant detainees has received the go-ahead from the county. Last month, after a temporary holdup over access to sewer lines, the county planning commission approved plans for Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corp. of America to build a "secure detention facility" on a 40-acre parcel in east Otay Mesa. The parcel is close to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and also to the private prison company's San Diego Correctional Facility, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement houses immigrant detainees who are awaiting deportation or a decision in an immigration case. While the company has not contracted with ICE for the new facility, its intent is to retain the agency's business if the company, known as CCA, loses its existing ICE contract facility…
Other items
22. Accused's fit of rage interrupted by passing car, Crown tells Sadiqi 'honour killing' trial
By Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen May 25, 2009 6:02 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3500
OTTAWA — An assistant Crown attorney suggested Monday that Hasibullah Sadiqi was in "full control" while shooting his sister and her fiancé in 2006. Mark Moors showed a court surveillance video that captured far-off images of a series of flashes — gunshots — during the shooting in the Elmvale Acres shopping plaza parking lot shortly before 1 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2006…. But Sadiqi, in his second day of testimony, continued to say he had lost total control and had no memories of the shooting. His sister, Khatera, 20, died at the scene. Her fiancé, Feroz Mangal, 23, was taken off life support and died 10 days later… Sadiqi faces two charges of first-degree murder in what the Crown alleges was an "honour killing" sparked by anger over the couple's engagement. Sadiqi's lawyers indicated at the start of the trial that they intend to argue he was provoked…
23. Muslims criticize producers of Seattle police training program
By Janet I. Tu Seattle Times Monday, May 25, 2009
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009259004_training25m.h...
Saying it's not going to take sides in someone else's feud, the Seattle Police Department is going ahead with a racial-awareness training program that has raised concerns among some local Muslims. They are troubled not by the content of the training program but by the organization that produced it: the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a 32-year-old Los Angeles-based Jewish human-rights organization perhaps best known for its Holocaust education work. They accuse the Wiesenthal Center of spreading fear toward Islam by producing or promoting films about extremism within Islam.…
MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
24. DoD Identifies Army Casualties
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 358-09 May 24, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12695
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died May 21 near Baghdad, Iraq of wound sustained when their unit was attacked by enemy forces using improvise explosive devices while on dismounted patrol. Killed were: Major Jason E. George, 38, of Tehachapi, Calif. He was an Army Reservist assigned to the 252nd Combined Arms Battalion, Fayetteville, North Carolina; First Lieutenant Leevi K. Barnard, 28, of Mount Airy, N.C. He was a National Guardsman assigned to the 252nd Combined Arms Battalion, Fayetteville, North Carolina; Sgt. Paul F. Brooks, 34, of Joplin, Mo. He was a National Guardsman assigned to the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Springfield, Missouri The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation…
