Daily Intel Report 5-01-09
1. Al-Qaeda remains greatest terrorist threat: report
Agence France Presse April 30, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3303
IPT NOTE: The report may be downloaded at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/index.htm [HTML] and http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122599.pdf [PDF]
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Al-Qaeda remained the "greatest terrorist threat" to the West as it uses Pakistan bases to rebuild some of the capabilities it had before September 11, 2001, the US government said Thursday. In an annual report on terrorism, the State Department said "Al-Qaeda remained the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners" even though its structures have weakened and public support has waned. And it warned that Al-Qaeda "has reconstituted some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities" by using the Pakistan border areas, replacing key leaders, and restoring some "central control" by its top leadership. The report said that since the September 11 attacks, Al-Qaeda (AQ) and its allies have moved from Afghanistan into Pakistan where they have built "a safe haven to hide, train terrorists, communicate with followers, plot attacks, and send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan."…
2. Iranian nuclear smugglers working in teams
April 30, 2009 - 6:52am J.J. Green, WTOP.com
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1664530
Two weeks ago, a 35-year-old Toronto man was arrested in Canada allegedly trying to smuggle nuclear components to Iran. Mahmoud Yadegari was arrested alone, but an international security source close to the case says he's part of a larger group that has succeeded in smuggling parts to Iran for use in building a weapon. The source is convinced that "there are teams of operatives working on behalf of the Iranian government that receive orders to procure parts and then scramble to get as much as they can. Some are successful and others are caught." Yadegari was charged by the Royal Canadian Police on April 17 with attempting to procure and export items known as pressure transducers. Pressure transducers have a dual purpose - they can be used in the production of enriched uranium as well as other military applications. The Royal Canadian Police investigation indicates Yadegari was trying to hide the specifications of the transducers in order to export them without the required permits. U.S. agents involved in the case indicate there was a U.S. connection. "The target here in Toronto attempted to source pressure transducers from the United States and ship them to Iran," said Timothy Gildea, special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Toronto. Gildea says ICE's Counter Proliferation Investigations Unit is aggressively combing the world for nuclear proliferation red flags and teaching U.S. companies how to recognize the signs. This time the outreach paid off…
3. Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz Washington Times Thursday, April 30, 2009
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/30/inside-the-ring-8862973/
IPT NOTE: The cited QDR fact sheet, dated 4/27 & released 4/29, is posted at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20090429qdr.pdf. Its accompanying press advisory is posted at http://www.defenselink.mil/advisories/advisory.aspx?advisoryid=3105. The commencement of the 2010 QDR & NPR review is announced at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12627.
Strategy review
The Pentagon on Wednesday identified the potential threat from China as one of the key terms of reference used to guide the Obama administration's major military strategy assessment, known as the Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR. A fact sheet released by the Defense Department - the actual terms are classified "secret" - identified one of the "key security challenges" as "rising powers with sophisticated weapons," a phrase defense officials said is a euphemism for China. Other challenges to be examined during the review, which was launched recently, include violent extremist movements - the current term for Islamist terrorism - the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and failed or failing states. One other national security threat to be examined in the QDR is identified as a blending of threats "across the global commons" of air, sea, space, cyberspace, something also dubbed "hybrid warfare," and that also will involve a major focus on China. The inclusion of China in the QDR is considered a victory for Pentagon policymakers and intelligence analysts who view China's growing military capabilities as a major long-term worry, the defense officials said…
Pentagon PR
President Obama is close to nominating the next assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, special correspondent Rowan Scarborough reports…
Afghan special ops
U.S. special-operations forces in Afghanistan are conducting aggressive direct-action operations, mainly in secret, that are designed to kill or capture "high-value" Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents in the country. The teams have scored some impressive successes, but the operations did not come cost-free. A military officer familiar with the raids said several recent attacks resulted in collateral deaths of some civilians. The problem is that the civilian deaths are being used effectively by the Taliban in propaganda campaigns against U.S. and allied forces, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because most special-operations activities are classified…
China SLBM
China recently unveiled the first photos of its newest submarine-launched ballistic missile, known as the JL-2. It is one of three long-range nuclear missiles in China's growing arsenal of strategic weapons. The state-run television network CCTV-7 ran three photos of the missile…
DoD Begins QDR, NPR Processes
U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release No. 269-09 April 23, 2009
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12627
Today the Department of Defense announced the commencement of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The processes will culminate in final reports to Congress due in early 2010…
4. Two Additional Defendants Sentenced for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 US Department of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-408.html
IPT NOTE: Court documents in this case are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/cases.php#223
WASHINGTON – The remaining two men convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to federal prison terms of life for one defendant and 33 years for the other for conspiring to kill members of the U.S. military… U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer to a term of life in prison plus an additional, consecutive 30 years. Judge Kugler sentenced Serdar Tatar to 33 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. Judge Kugler, who presided over a 12-week trial for the five defendants, also ordered Shnewer and Tatar to pay $125,000 in restitution to the Department of the Army for the costs of added security measures undertaken in response to the plot. Yesterday, Judge Kugler sentenced Dritan Duka and Shain Duka to prison terms of life plus 30 years. The third brother, Eljvir Duka, received a life prison term. The same $125,000 restitution order was imposed for them as well. The case was tried by Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Hammer, Jr., Chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office Counter-Terrorism Unit… The evidence proved that one member of the group conducted surveillance at Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia. The co-conspirators obtained a detailed map of Fort Dix, where they hoped to use assault rifles to kill as many soldiers as possible, according to trial testimony and evidence. During the trial, the jury viewed secretly recorded videotapes of the defendants performing small-arms training at a shooting range in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and watching training videos amongst themselves that included depictions of American soldiers being killed and of known foreign Islamic radicals urging jihad against the United States. The defendants and the charges on which each was convicted are as follows:…
5. Al Qaeda Sleeper Agent Pleads Guilty to Terror Charges
Thursday, April 30, 2009 Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518546,00.html
IPT NOTE: The government's press release is posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-415.html for an extensive description of the facts in this case.
PEORIA, Ill. — An alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent who was locked up without being charged for years pleaded guilty Thursday to supporting terrorism in the months before and immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Ali al-Marri, 43, a married father of five who was attending college in this central Illinois city when he was arrested, admitted to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization… Plea negotiations have been going on since before al-Marri's initial court appearance in March, Savage said… Al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident and native of Qatar, was arrested in late 2001 while studying at Bradley University after federal authorities alleged he was tied to organizers of the 2001 attacks. The Bush administration declared al-Marri an "enemy combatant" in late 2001 and held him without charges for more than five years at a Navy jail in South Carolina. The designation was dropped when he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Illinois. Al-Marri got a bachelor's degree in business management administration from Bradley in 1991, then went to work for a bank in Qatar. The government said he met with Usama bin Laden in the summer of 2001 and was sent to the U.S. to help Al Qaeda operatives carry out post-Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Al-Marri obtained a student visa and returned to the U.S. the day before terrorists crashed two hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda
April 30, 2009 United States Attorney's Office Central District of Illinois Contact: (217) 492-4450
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-415.html
… Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda's direction and control with the intent to further the terrorist activity or terrorism objectives of al-Qaeda… "The facts admitted by al-Marri today demonstrate that he attended terrorist training camps, learned al-Qaeda tradecraft and was dispatched by the highest levels of al-Qaeda to carry out its terrorist objectives in America," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. "The many agents, analysts and prosecutors who worked tirelessly on this investigation and prosecution deserve special thanks for their efforts." "Ali al-Marri was an al-Qaeda 'sleeper' operative working on U.S. soil and directed by the chief planner of the 9-11 attacks. Al-Marri researched the use of chemical weapons, potential targets and maximum casualties," said Arthur M. Cummings, II, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI's National Security Branch. "The investigation that disrupted his plot began with tips from local police partners. The investigation that followed took the FBI agents and task force officers around the globe to develop the intelligence to prevent any potential attack and the evidence to bring al-Marri to justice." "Ali al-Marri today admitted that he traveled to central Illinois as an al-Qaeda operative the day before the Sept.11, 2001, attacks to plan and prepare for future acts of terrorism within the United States," said Jeffrey B. Lang, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois...
Statement of Facts… Communications in Code…
6. Gates Grilled on Moving Detainees
Lawmakers Oppose Transferring Suspects at Guantanamo to U.S. Facilities
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN Wall Street Journal MAY 1, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113323997375033.html
IPT NOTE: Sec'y Gates' prepared statement is posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3292
Sec'y Clinton's prepared statement is posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3293
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates added fuel to the growing controversy over the future of the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, telling lawmakers on Thursday that dozens of detainees held there might be moved to the continental U.S. Mr. Gates, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the Pentagon wants $50 million in case it needs to construct a prison facility on American soil to house as many as 100 Guantanamo detainees who couldn't be brought to trial or released. The administration is struggling to figure out what to do with the 241 men still held at the U.S. military facility in Cuba. Mr. Obama has ordered the prison closed by the end of the year, which would fulfill a campaign pledge he made. But U.S. officials have yet to determine the fate of all the detainees -- whether they will freed, brought to trial or held indefinitely without charges. Mr. Gates said the Guantanamo Bay facility would almost certainly be "mothballed" after the current detainees were freed or transferred to the U.S. He said the administration is still weighing whether to incarcerate the prisoners in military facilities, civilian prisons or some combination of the two. The remarks drew criticism from several lawmakers, who made clear that they don't want any of the men transferred to their states… The discussion of Guantanamo Bay came as Mr. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced tough questions from lawmakers over the administration's handling of Pakistan, Iran and Iraq…
Appeals Court Rejects 'State Secrets' Claim, Revives Detainee Suit
By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 29, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3294
A federal appeals court yesterday reinstated a lawsuit by five former detainees who sued a Boeing subsidiary over its alleged role in transporting them to foreign countries, where they say they suffered brutal interrogation under the CIA's "black site" prison system. Three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit batted aside claims by the Obama administration that the suit would reveal "state secrets" at the heart of the agency's covert operations and so should be dismissed. The former detainees claim that logistics company Jeppesen Dataplan should pay monetary damages for its role in conspiring with officials in the United States and other countries to fly the men overseas, where they allegedly experienced electric shocks, beatings and sleep deprivation, among other things...
7. In conspiracy trial, dark tale emerges of jihad training
By Mike Carter Seattle Times Thursday, April 30, 2009 - Page updated at 07:33 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009141672_ujaama29m.htm...
NEW YORK — Speaking publicly for the first time, former Seattle resident James Ujaama testified Tuesday about his efforts in 1999 to create a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon for would-be jihad warriors wishing to take up the fight against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. Among the instructors would be Oussama Kassir, a Swedish jihadist who once bragged he had been a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. Ujaama, appearing thin and graying and dressed in oversized prison overalls, took the witness stand in the terrorism conspiracy trial of Kassir, who is accused of traveling from London to the barren ranch in Bly, Ore., to help set up the training camp. Ujaama is a key prosecution witness in Kassir's federal trial, having already pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. He told the U.S. District Court jury in Manhattan that he hopes to get a "significant reduction" in his sentence in exchange for his testimony against Kassir. He faces up to 30 years. Several other former and current Seattle witnesses also testified that they met Kassir and another man, Harroon Aswat, either at the Bly property or at the now-defunct Masjid Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle's Central Area where the men stayed for about two months in the fall of 1999. Their testimony paints a darker portrait of those events than previously acknowledged by authorities or those involved.… Ujaama took the stand late in the afternoon and was walked through his conversion to Islam in the late 1980s and how he gravitated to Muslim preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri through a series of other increasingly radical Islamic preachers. Abu Hamza is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for inciting his followers to kill nonbelievers and has been indicted in the U.S. on 11 charges related to the planned development of the Bly site and for sending cash and volunteers to support al-Qaida and the Taliban…
Ujaama's credibility is key in terror case
By Mike Carter Seattle Times Thursday, April 30, 2009 - Page updated at 11:45 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009148967_ujaama30m0.ht...
NEW YORK — James Ujaama admitted he lied about everything and to nearly everyone as he tried to sell the idea of setting up a camp to train jihad fighters in Oregon in 1999. And then, after his arrest, he lied to the government, the courts, the media and his lawyers…
Witness: Oregon training camp aimed for militancy
By LARRY NEUMEISTER – Associated Press April 30, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3295
NEW YORK (AP) — With a landscape that evoked Afghanistan, a rural town in Oregon seemed in James Ujaama's mind to be the perfect setting for a militant jihad training camp to teach Muslim fighters survival and combat skills. The terrorist camp Ujaama envisioned to produce fighters against the Taliban's enemies in Afghanistan never came to fruition, and he no longer supports terrorist causes, he told a jury during a terrorism trial Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. "I sympathized and I have supported terrorists in the past, which was foolish. I was not thinking at that time and I wish I had not done that," said Ujaama, a Muslim convert who lived in Seattle and was convicted of helping the Taliban… Ujaama, 43, was born in Denver as James Ernest Thompson before changing his name in the late 1980s when he gave up Christianity to become Muslim…
8. Man arrested in '90 slaying of controversial religious leader at local mosque
ERIC SAGARA Published: 04.29.2009 Tucson Citizen
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/115381.php
IPT NOTE: The Tucson Police Dep't media release is posted at http://tpdinternet.tucsonaz.gov/releases/default2.aspx
Nearly two decades of mystery and intrigue may be drawing to a close with the arrest of a man suspected of killing a local imam. Calgary Police Services in Canada arrested Glen Cusford Francis, a 52-year-old citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, on Tuesday on suspicion of killing 55-year-old Rashad Khalifa, according to a news release issued by the Tucson Police Department. On Jan. 31, 1990, Khalifa was found stabbed to death in the kitchen of the Masjid of Tucson, the mosque where he worked. The mosque is at East Sixth Street and North Euclid Avenue. Khalifa had gained international attention for his computer analysis of the Koran and his claims that two verses were written by Satan, not God. Police say Khalifa had been receiving death threats in the months leading up to his killing because of his controversial interpretation, and authorities in Colorado uncovered a plot to kill him. According to Tucson Citizen archives, seven people were indicted in Colorado on charges of conspiracy to kill Khalifa. All seven were believed to be members of FUQRA, a Muslim extremist group that had been tied to terrorist activities. The plot was uncovered by police in Colorado Springs when they found explosives in a locker in 1989 while investigating a burglary. Notes on how to kill Khalifa, diagrams and photos of the mosque, as well as planned escape routes, were found by detectives, archives show. Authorities told Khalifa of the plot but four months later he was found dead in Tucson...
COLD CASE HOMICIDE ARREST
Tucson Police Department Media Release Phone: 520-791-4852 Fax: 520-791-4153
Date: April 28, 2009 Contact: Sgt. Fabian Pacheco
http://tpdinternet.tucsonaz.gov/releases/default2.aspx
Tucson Police Department Cold Case Detectives are pleased to announce that an arrest has been made in connection with the 1990 stabbing death of 55 year-old Dr. Rashad Khalifa, of Tucson. 52 year-old Glen C. Francis, was arrested today by Calgary Police Services, Calgary Canada, on an international provisional arrest warrant, charging him with 1st Degree Murder…
DNA links suspect to Calgary
Community residents shocked to hear they lived near accused killer of Arizona scholar
By KEVIN MARTIN AND NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA Calgary Sun
Last Updated: 30th April 2009, 3:03am
http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/04/30/9299211-sun.html
Science finally caught up to a man -- now accused of a nearly two-decades-old Arizona murder -- hiding here in Calgary, say police. In an affidavit sworn to support Glen Cusford Francis's international arrest warrant, Calgary Det. Duane Lepchuk said fingerprint and DNA evidence link him to the stabbing of an Islamic scholar in Tucson. Francis, said to share a home with a woman in Sandstone, was arrested in Calgary on Tuesday -- much to the shock of neighbours living near the friendly couple in the quiet community... DNA testing done in connection with a 2004 sex-assault allegation in Calgary ultimately led police to believe Francis did the Arizona slaying, Lepchuk said in his affidavit. Francis was arrested for impaired driving under the name Joel Glen John on Feb. 1, 2004, the officer stated. At that time a woman passenger had been sexually assaulted and a swab of her thigh was taken. Last year, an Interpol hit matched DNA from the Tucson crime scene to the swab, the affidavit said... Yesterday, Lepchuk said what the apparent fugitive was doing in Calgary, allegedly since 1997, is a mystery…
9. Surveillance Effort Draws Civil Liberties Concern
By ERIC SCHMITT New York Times April 29, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/29surveil.html
LOS ANGELES — A growing number of big-city police departments and other law enforcement agencies across the country are embracing a new system to report suspicious activities that officials say could uncover terrorism plots but that civil liberties groups contend might violate individual rights. Here and in nearly a dozen other cities, including Boston, Chicago and Miami, officers are filling out terror tip sheets if they run across activities in their routines that seem out of place, like someone buying police or firefighter uniforms, taking pictures of a power plant or espousing extremist views. Ultimately, state and federal officials intend to have a nationwide reporting system in place by 2014, using a standardized system of codes for suspicious behaviors. It is the most ambitious effort since the Sept. 11 attacks to put in place a network of databases to comb for clues that might foretell acts of terrorism. But the American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups warn that the program pioneered by the Los Angeles Police Department raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns...
10. Torture tape central to lawsuit against UAE sheikh
Former business partner of Sheikh Issa of Abu Dhabi suing royal
Bassam Nabulsi's tape shows sheikh severely torturing grain merchant
Nabulsi, of Houston, says he himself was tortured in jail, sheikh owes him $80M
U.S. senior officials say case is holding up a U.S. nuclear deal with the UAE
April 30, 2009 CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/30/uae.torture
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- On the tape, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan appears to burn with rage. Believing he was cheated in a business deal, the member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family was trying to extract a confession from an Afghan grain dealer. With a private security officer assisting, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan is seen stuffing sand in the Afghan's mouth. As the grain dealer pleads and whimpers, he is beaten with a nailed board, burned in the genitals with a cigarette lighter, shocked with a cattle prod, and led to believe he would be shot. Salt is poured on his wounds. In the end, the victim can muster up only weak moans as an SUV is repeatedly driven over him. The 45 minutes of torture appears on a nearly three-hour-long videotape shot in late 2004 in the desert outside Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf region. It was made at the direction of the sheikh himself. The tape has been viewed by CNN. Now the tape has surfaced as a piece of evidence in a federal civil suit filed in Houston, Texas, against the sheikh by his former business partner, Bassam Nabulsi… U.S. senior officials familiar with the case say the administration is holding off sending a nuclear deal with the United Arab Emirates to Congress for ratification because they fear a fallout from the torture story. Congress has to ratify the civil nuclear agreement signed in January between the Bush administration and the UAE. Those senior U.S. officials said the agreement was supposed to be sent to the Senate, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held off doing so because of the story's sensitivity…
11. FBI meets with Arab American leaders to quell spy allegations
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News Thursday, April 30, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3296
Dearborn --Federal law enforcement officers met with a group of Arab American leaders today to combat rumors the FBI is forcing people of Middle Eastern ties to work as informants. Over the past six months, the rumors have intensified that FBI agents are coercing people across the country to spy for the agency at mosques and other meeting places where Arab Americans and Muslims gather. But Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, said the rumors are not true during the meeting, which was held at the Lebanese American Heritage Club...
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
12. Germ Sleuths Stalk Origin of Killer Flu
By DAVID LUHNOW, JOSE DE CORDOBA and GAUTAM NAIK MAY 1, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html
MEXICO CITY -- "I've got some bad news." The voice on the conference call last week was Frank Plummer, a Canadian scientist who had just spent 24 hours analyzing virus samples from 51 seriously ill people in Mexico. The news: Seventeen people carried a completely new type of flu virus, one which had its origin in pigs. Flu from swine, which can be fatal, has rarely made the jump to humans -- much less appeared in so many people at once. Within minutes, Mexico's health minister grabbed a red-telephone hotline to President Felipe Calderón. "Mr. President, I need to see you urgently. It's a matter of national security." A picture is now emerging of how U.S. and Mexican officials, with a key assist from a Canadian government lab, first realized they faced a new type of disease and began racing to isolate its earliest origins. Until recently, Mexico was widely assumed to be ground zero. Now, however, some California doctors are questioning that…
Many States Do Not Meet Readiness Standards
By Kimberly Kindy Washington Post Friday, May 1, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR200904...
More than two dozen states, including Maryland, as well as the District, have not stocked enough of the emergency supplies of antiviral medications considered necessary to treat victims of swine flu should the outbreak become a full-blown crisis, according to federal records. The medications are part of a national effort to be prepared for a pandemic, and the stockpiling program is being tested for the first time by the rapid spread of the H1N1 strain of the influenza virus. If a health crisis wiped out drug supplies in pharmacies and hospitals, or if families were unable to get to their doctors, local and state officials could quickly distribute stockpiled medications...
Questions Surface About Worker Protections at Border, Airports
Lawmakers Send Letter to Obama; TSA Employees Say Masks Are Not Available
By KATE BARRETT, RICK KLEIN and JACK DATE April 30, 2009— ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/SwineFlu/story?id=7469798&page=1
A group of 20 congressmen have sent a letter to the White House voicing concerns that U.S. inspectors at the Mexico border are being barred from wearing protective face masks as they monitor people for swine flu -- though other government officials insist there's no official ban on masks. "What I've learned is that there's a procedure that says primary inspectors at the border are allowed to wear gloves but not allowed to wear protective face masks unless they've observed something after the fact," Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., told ABC News today. However, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Sean Smith vehemently denied that there is any official restriction on federal employees wearing face masks at points of entry. And federal officials have encouraged employees to make use of any protective gear necessary...
TSA Workers Denied Masks
Posted: Thursday, 30 April 2009 6:45AM
http://www.kcbs.com/TSA-Workers-Denied-Masks/4303548
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Bag screeners at San Francisco International Airport brought masks to wear to work because of concern over the spread of swine flu, but they have been told not to wear them…
Border agents' union seeks directive to allow protective masks
By Leslie Berestein Union-Tribune April 30, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3304
The union that represents U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees is lobbying for an official directive allowing inspectors to wear face masks while working at their posts. According to the local chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents more than 800 uniformed and non-uniformed CBP employees in the San Diego region, two customs inspectors at the San Ysidro port of entry were told this week by their supervisors to remove their masks. NTEU Local 105 President Harold Washington said they were given no explanation, however, "our impression is that the main reason behind it is so as to not start a panic." …
13. TSA not required to release 'sensitive' information in imam case
by Elizabeth Stawicki, Minnesota Public Radio April 28, 2009
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/04/28/tsa_imam_case/
St. Paul, Minn. — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it doesn't have to release sensitive information for a federal case in Minnesota -- at least not yet. The case concerns six Islamic leaders who sued U.S. Airways for discrimination after being removed from a flight at the Twin Cities airport in 2006. The Imams' lawyers say they cannot respond to U.S. Airways pending motions for summary judgment without knowing what information the TSA redacted from certain U.S. Airways documents. The TSA calls the redactions "sensitive security information" that, if released publicly, could be "detrimental to the security of transportation." The TSA, which is not a party to the case, said if the Court is concerned that the lack of access to the documents would prejudice the Imams' case, the Court should allow U.S. Airways to file the information under seal. The Court could then view the documents privately in chambers and decide whether they are relevant to the case…
14. TSA to Replace NYPD on Subway Bag Checks
Last Edited: Tuesday, 28 Apr 2009, 11:58 PM EDT By LINDA SCHMIDT, Fox 5 News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3297
MYFOXNY.COM - EXCLUSIVE: The New York Police Department is shrinking, and the department can't hire the number of cops it would like to. Fox 5 News has learned that help is coming from security screeners at the area airports. They'll be replacing some police officers in the subway who do bag searches. But some critics say this is just another clear example that the economy has affected security.
Within the next two months, Transportation Security Administration bag screeners from Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports will be replacing most NYPD cops in the subway that screen bags for explosives. Because of the police officer shortage, the NYPD needs to take these police officers and put them on the street to fight crime. The TSA would not confirm this program is taking place, but did tell Fox 5 News that a program like this would not affect safety at area airports...
15. FBI data: Suspects on terrorist list buying guns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 1:29 PM EDT, April 29, 2009
http://www.newsday.com/ny-nyterror0430,0,4668555.story
FBI data shows that suspects on the watch list for terrorists and violent gang members make hundreds of gun purchases every year that are totally legal. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun group on Wednesday highlighted the little-noticed figure that was included in an FBI report released last weekend. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System Operations report said there were 230 legal purchases in 2006 by people on the watch list. There were 220 such purchases in 2005. Under existing federal gun law, those buys are legal. Being on the watch list is not among the nine factors that disqualify someone from purchasing a gun -- like a felony conviction…
16. Florida seaport security headed for centralization
BY BREANNE GILPATRICK Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau Posted on Thu, Apr. 30, 2009
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1024808.html
If a seaport worker at the Port of Miami who already has a security clearance travels 30 miles north for a job at Port Everglades, the worker must pay for a separate security screening. Cost: $250. If the employee heads another 50 miles up the coast to the Port of Palm Beach for work, yet another security screening is required -- for $300. Elected officials around the state say the duplicative layers of port security and bureaucracy have gotten bad enough to drive business from Florida ports and into other states. In an effort to improve the flow of business at Florida's roughly one dozen seaports, the Senate on Wednesday approved a proposal to streamline security requirements that force port workers to undergo separate security screenings -- and pay separate fees -- at every port…
17. Cybersecurity Review Sets Turf Battle
By SIOBHAN GORMAN Wall Street Journal May 1, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113159891774733.html
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's cybersecurity review has ignited turf battles inside the White House, with economic adviser Lawrence Summers weighing in to prevent what he sees as a potential threat to economic growth, according to people familiar with the deliberations. During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama said he would appoint a cybersecurity adviser who would report directly to him on efforts to secure U.S. computer networks against spies, criminals and terrorists. However, a White House review of cybersecurity policy has produced spirited debate on how high the adviser should rank and who should have veto power over his or her moves. A senior administration official called the debate an example of "creative tension," adding: "Far from being concerned about creative tension, I think this president and this team welcomes it...because, quite frankly, we've got to get this right."…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
18. Top Taliban Associate and Former Mujahideen Warlord Sentenced to Life in Prison on Heroin Trafficking Charges
April 30, 2009 United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April09/noorzaibashirsentenc...
NEW YORK—Lev L. Dassin, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Bashir Noorzai, a former Mujahideen warlord and strong ally of the Taliban, was sentenced today to life in prison on heroin importation and distribution conspiracy charges. Noorzai was found guilty of the charges following a jury trial before Federal Judge Denny Chin in September 2008. According to the evidence at trial: Noorzai, the leader of his namesake tribe, one of Afghanistan's largest and most influential tribes, owned opium fields in the southern province of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and had subordinates convert the opium into heroin at laboratories in Afghanistan's border regions. Heroin from these labs was later imported into the United States, hidden in suitcases and on ships. As early as 1990, Noorzai had a network of distributors in New York City who sold his heroin. During the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, Noorzai raised his own army of Mujahideen fighters, financed and armed with drug proceeds. After the Russian army had quit Afghanistan, Noorzai ruled western Kandahar, establishing and controlling his own police, border guards and courts. Noorzai met Mullah Mohammed Omar in the 1980s while the two fought in the same Mujahideen faction. In the mid-1990s, when the Taliban was ascending to power in Afghanistan, Noorzai used his influence in Kandahar to assist Omar in securing the position of supreme leader of the Taliban. Noorzai then provided the Taliban with arms, including AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, and anti-tank weapons, as well as vehicles and a portion of the proceeds of his narcotics trafficking activities. In 2001, after the United States began military operations in Afghanistan, Noorzai at Omar's request, provided the Taliban with 400 of his own fighters to wage a battle against Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in Mazar-e-Sharif. In return for his financial and other support, the Taliban permitted Noorzai to continue his drug trafficking activities with impunity.…
19. Ypsilanti Store Operators Indicted for Fraud
US Department of Justice Press Release April 29, 2009
United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan, Contact: (313) 226-9100
http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/de042909a.htm
Four men who owned and operated the Abbas Phone Card and Grocery store at 2279 Ellsworth Road in Ypsilanti were arraigned today in federal court on charges they conspired to commit federal crimes and to defraud the United States, and aided and abetted each other in committing food stamp and WIC fraud, United States Attorney Terrence Berg announced today. All four men live in Ann Arbor. They are: AIDARUS ABBAS MOHAMED, 54, the owner of the store, the authorized signatory on the store's bank account, and the applicant for federal food stamp and WIC benefits; and his brother, MOHAMED MOHAMED-ABAS SHEIKH, 46, the manager of the store; and Sheikh's sons, AHMED MOHAMED ABAS, 23, and ABDURAHMAN MOHAMED ABAS, 20, who worked in the store regularly.
Berg was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, FBI Special Agent in Charge, and Special Agent in Charge Joe N. Smith, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General. According to the indictment, between January 2005 and April 8, 2009, the four men fraudulently obtained over $432,800 by redeeming food stamp and WIC benefits for cash, phone cards, carpets, knives, and other non-food and ineligible items. The men took a substantial commission for themselves in cash. The men also sent some of the money to unknown recipients located in the Horn of Africa, Europe, the Persian Gulf, and West Africa, through their operation of an unlicensed money remitting business…
20. 17 arrested on Curacao for involvement in Hezbollah-linked drug ring
• Four suspects from Lebanon detained on Caribbean island
• Others from Curacao, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia
Associated Press Wednesday 29 April 2009 21.53 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/29/curacao-caribbean-drug-ring-...
Seventeen people were arrested in Curacao for alleged involvement in a drug trafficking ring with connections to Hezbollah, police in the Dutch Caribbean island said today. The suspects detained yesterday include four people from Lebanon and others from Curacao, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, police chief Carlos Casseres said at a news conference. Some of the proceeds, funneled through informal Middle Eastern banks, went toward supporting groups linked to the militant Hezbollah organization in Lebanon, according to Casseres. The smuggling ring also allegedly forwarded requests from Lebanon for arms to be shipped from South America. "We have been able to establish that this group has relations with international criminal organizations that have connections with the Hezbollah," prosecutor Ludmila Vicento said. Island officials said the US and the Netherlands are helping them to investigate the alleged Hezbollah connection…
21. Federal Court To Hear Arguments In KindHearts Case Tomorrow
ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Government Ability To Freeze Charity's Assets And Designate It As Terrorist Without Due Process
ACLU Press Release April 30, 2009 11:25 AM
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/04/30-1
TOLEDO, OH - April 30 - An Ohio federal court will hear arguments tomorrow, May 1 in Toledo in a case challenging the government's authority to freeze an Ohio-based charity's assets and designate it as a terrorist without due process. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio and several civil rights lawyers brought the lawsuit on behalf of KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc., whose property was frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) more than three years ago based simply on the assertion that KindHearts was "under investigation." OFAC then threatened to designate KindHearts as a "specially designated global terrorist" based on classified evidence, again without providing due process…
