US readying new counterterror plan Tue Apr 4, 2006 10:37 PM ET By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four and a half years after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration is nearing completion of a government-wide strategic plan for the war on terror that would assign counterterrorism tasks to specific federal agencies and departments, officials said on Tuesday. The plan is part of the administration's effort to bring greater integration and coordination to the counterterrorism activities of different agencies and departments including the CIA, FBI, Treasury Department, Pentagon and State Department. Planning began late last summer under the direction of the National Counterterrorism Center, or NCTC, an entity created by the congressionally mandated intelligence reforms. "This process is not a unilateral drafting exercise by NCTC. Instead, it is an interagency effort, involving hundreds of departmental planners working under our leadership," NCTC Director John Redd told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. A counterterrorism official who asked not to be identified said the plan was expected to be completed by June 30. Redd told the House hearing the plan would involve setting "discrete tasks" for agencies and departments, which would then take on lead or support roles for different counterterrorism operations. Currently, the war on terror is being fought by different government agencies according to their own varied mandates for safeguarding the nation's security. The planning comes as the post-September 11 priorities of the FBI and Pentagon have led those agencies to expand into overseas intelligence roles once filled solely by the CIA. The Pentagon said last month it was placing special operations troops in U.S. embassies in about two dozen countries to gather information on potential terror threats. A new strategic operational plan for the war on terror could mean a change of traditional U.S. government practices in noncombat zones overseas, where resident ambassadors have been viewed as wielding primary authority over all U.S. activities. In combat zones such as Iraq, primary authority over counterterrorism operations rests with the Pentagon. "There are gray areas," said Thomas O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. "It would be quite a different issue if you were operating, let's say, in a Jordan -- how you might deal with that particular government -- as opposed to the problems that might be posed in a Somalia where there is no viable government," he told the House panel. But a senior State Department official said diplomats should continue to pull together counterterrorism operations in countries where U.S. troops are not deployed in combat. "When you look at all instruments of statecraft and how that's pulled together, I think the ambassadors are uniquely poised," Henry Crumpton, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, told the committee. He later told Reuters the planning discussion was "more about integration and coordination in the field than it is about basic authorities."

Flashback: 'Dirty Bombs' Crossed U.S. Borders in Test By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Mar 27 7:21 PM US/Eastern WASHINGTON - Undercover investigators slipped radioactive material - enough to make two small "dirty bombs" - across U.S. borders in Texas and Washington state in a test last year of security at American points of entry. Radiation alarms at the unidentified sites detected the small amounts of cesium-137, a nuclear material used in industrial gauges. But U.S. customs agents permitted the investigators to enter the United States because they were tricked with counterfeit documents. The Bush administration said Monday that within 45 days it will give U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents the tools they need to verify such documents in the future. The Government Accountability Office's report, the subject of a Senate hearing Tuesday, said detection equipment used by U.S. customs agents to screen people, vehicles and cargo for radioactive substances appeared to work as designed. But the investigation, carried out simultaneously at both border crossings in December 2005, also identified potential security holes terrorists might be able to exploit to sneak nuclear materials into the United States. "This operation demonstrated that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is stuck in a pre-9/11 mind-set in a post-9/11 world and must modernize its procedures," Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Monday in a statement. The NRC, in charge of overseeing nuclear reactor and nuclear substance safety, challenged that notion. "Security has been of prime importance for us on the materials front and the power plant front since 9/11," commission spokesman David McIntyre said in an interview. The head of the Homeland Security Department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, Vayl Oxford, said the substance could have been used in a radiological weapon with limited effects. A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee, which Coleman leads, released details of the investigation and two GAO reports on radiation detectors and port security before hearings on the issues this week. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, also found that installation of radiation detectors is taking too long and costing more money than the U.S. expected. It said the Homeland Security Department's goal of installing 3,034 detectors by September 2009 across the United States _ at border crossings, seaports, airports and mail facilities _ was "unlikely" to be met and said the government probably will spend $342 million more than it expects. Between October 2000 and October 2005, the GAO said, the government spent about $286 million installing radiation monitors inside the United States. To test security at U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, GAO investigators represented themselves as employees of a fake company. When stopped, they presented counterfeit shipping papers and NRC documents that allegedly permitted them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive substances. Investigators found that customs agents weren't able to check whether a person caught with radioactive materials was permitted to possess the materials under a government-issued license. "Unless nuclear smugglers in possession of faked license documents raised suspicions in some other way, CBP officers could follow agency guidelines yet unwittingly allow them to enter the country with their illegal nuclear cargo," a report said. It described this problem as "a significant gap" in the nation's safety procedures. Jayson Ahern, the assistant customs commissioner for field operations, said a system for customs agents to confirm the authenticity of government licenses will be in place within 45 days. Ahern noted the radiation detectors had sounded alarms. "We're pleased when a test like this is able to demonstrate the efficacy of our technology," Ahern said. False radiation alarms are common - sometimes occurring more than 100 times a day - although the GAO said inspectors generally do a good job distinguishing nuisance alarms from actual ones. False alarms can be caused by ceramics, fertilizers, bananas and even patients who have recently undergone some types of medical procedures. At one port - which investigators did not identify - a director frustrated over false alarms was worried that backed-up trains might block the entrance to a nearby military base until an alarm was checked out. The director's solution: simply turn off the radiation detector.

Flashback: Denver Airport Screener Roughs Up Woman, 83, in Wheelchair WorldNetDaily.com April 2, 2006 'I don't know if she thought my mom had a bomb in her Depends or what' An infuriated Denver woman has filed a complaint with the Transportation Security Administration after a security screener forced her 83-year-old mother to get out of her wheelchair and walk to a pre-flight screening area, despite doctor's orders not to stand and an orthopedic card saying she had a metal plate in her hip. The incident at Denver International Airport occurred eight days ago when Sally Moon, her sister and a Frontier Airlines employee were transporting Bernice "Bea" Bogart to a special security screening area. Moon's sister, who did not have concourse clearance and the Frontier employee were left behind as Moon pushed her mother to the screening site. Bogart, wheelchair bound since a 1999 fall that broke her hip and further disabled by breast cancer surgery in 1997 and a major stroke in 2004 that caused dementia, was under strict doctor's orders not to stand without assistance or her walker. She carried a special orthopedic card to alert airport security she had a metal plate in her hip. Moon had been told by Frontier and TSA staff that screeners would not require Bogart to leave her chair for the security check, so she turned to put her mother's carry-on luggage through the x-ray device. When she turned back, she discovered her mother had been picked out for further screening and was out of her chair, "hobbling" through a glass-walled corridor. "There were no grab bars," Moon told the Rocky Mountain News. "What I could see really was her fingers trying to hang onto a little ledge." Moon says she instinctively reached out to assist her mother, fearing another fall and another broken hip. "Don't touch her!" Moon says the screener warned. Moon attempted to tell the young screener, a woman in her mid-to-late 20s, that her mother was under doctor's orders not to stand without her four-wheeled walker, but the screener shot back, "You'd better change your attitude. Or do you want me to make it so you don't fly today?" Bogart, who is also hard of hearing, was allowed to sit briefly, but the screener soon instructed her to stand again and lift her arms, according to Moon. She then reportedly lifted Bogart's arms because the elderly woman couldn't, due to her earlier breast cancer surgery. Moon says she was told to sit across the room "or else" when she continued to protest. After the "prolonged search," the pair was cleared to continue to their gate and Moon put her "shocked" mother on the flight to Tennessee for a month's visit with Bogart's youngest daughter. An angry Moon attempted to complain to Denver's TSA management, but was told to make her complaint to the national office. Supervisors would not tell her the name of the screener who had made boarding her mother so difficult. "I don't know if she thought my mom had a bomb in her Depends or what," Moon said. While Moon is still angry and cynical that TSA will do anything about her complaint, a Denver TSA spokeswoman said the agency expects a high degree of professionalism from screeners and Moon's complaint would be investigated. TSA's Office of Civil Rights will soon issue a response, she said. "When we receive complaints, we take them very seriously, we investigate them and we address any personnel issues as appropriate," she said. Bogart, now in Nashville, says she doesn't want to see anyone get in trouble. "They were all kind except for that one girl. I thought she was a little harsh," she said. "She wouldn't let my daughter help me. And I have a hard time standing very long at a time at all."

Homeland Deputy Arrested in Seduction Case By MICHELLE SPITZER Associated Press Wed Apr 5, 2:48 AM ET MIAMI - The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said. Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla. Doyle, of Silver Spring, Md., had a sexually explicit conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl whose profile he saw on the Internet on March 14, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The girl was really an undercover Polk County Sheriff's Computer Crimes detective, the sheriff's office said. Doyle sent pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations via the Internet, the statement said. During other online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, that he worked for the Homeland Security Department, and offered his office and government issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said. Doyle also sent photos of himself that were not sexually explicit, authorities said. One photo, which authorities released to the news media, shows Doyle in what appears to be homeland security headquarters. He is wearing a homeland security pin on his lapel and a lanyard that says "TSA." The Transportation Security Administration is part of the Homeland Security Department. On several occasions, Doyle instructed the girl to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said. Doyle later had a telephone conversation with an undercover deputy posing as the teenager and encouraged her to purchase a Web camera to send graphic images of herself to him, the sheriff's office said. He was booked into Maryland's Montgomery County jail where he was waiting to be extradited to Florida, the sheriff's office said. There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment. Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Knocke said. Washington television stations showed footage of police escorting Doyle from his home in handcuffs. One arresting officer carried a large box. Doyle was bent over in the front seat of the police vehicle in an apparent attempt to hide his face. Doyle, who is the fourth-ranking official in the department's public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday morning.

9/11 Commissioner Eyes More Anti-Terror By MATTHEW VERRINDER Associated Press Tue Apr 4, 8:59 PM ET NEWARK, N.J. - The country is less vulnerable to terrorists since the 2001 attacks, but billions more must be spent to be prepared for another assault, Sept. 11 commissioner Bob Kerrey said Tuesday. "I still don't believe that Congress and the Bush administration are giving enough to thwart a terror attack here or to train first responders in (the New York) region," said Kerrey, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska, during a lecture at Rutgers University's campus in Newark. More money must be spent to upgrade emergency communications systems, he said. "We're $5 billion or $6 billion short of getting people trained to a level that would make me comfortable," said Kerrey who led the independent commission that investigated the attacks on the World Trade Center. The commissioner also said the Bush administration reduced the terrorism risk by invading Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden enjoyed sanctuary from 1991 to 2001. During that time, the U.S. government mistakenly viewed al-Qaida's bomb attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 as "one-off incidents," he said. "One of the big mistakes was that we kept the secret of Osama bin Laden from the people of the United States. ... After Sept. 11 we realized we were in a war," Kerrey said. Kerrey said another terrorism attack would likely be carried out by a lone entrepreneur with strong financial backing, rather than an elaborate network. The New York region would be a likely target because it is the nation's financial and media hub, he said. Barry Zelman, 51, who lost a brother on Sept. 11, asked Kerrey why the federal government didn't act on warnings of a possible terrorist attack contained in a 2001 White House briefing. It was the federal government's failing in not taking bin Laden's threat seriously, Kerrey said. "We had every reason to believe there was going to be an attack in the U.S.," he said. "You could have hauled an AK-47 onto a plane on 9/11." Comment: "You could have hauled an AK-47 onto a plane on 9/11." So what? If we are to believe the official story, a ragtag bunch of "A-rab terrorists" used boxcutters to carry out one of the most heinous attacks of all time. Recently, undercover agents were able to smuggle dirty bomb materials through airport security, while little old incapacitated 83-year-old ladies are being roughed up when they try to board flights to visit family (see articles below). Somehow, we doubt that dumping another several billion dollars into the pot is going to improve matters any if the real goal is to "securitize" the US. On the other hand, the psychopaths in power would certainly profit nicely from such an investment while at the same time turning the US into an even better police state.

Moussaoui curses as jury backs death By Mark Coultan April 5, 2006 THE only man to stand trial over the September 11 attacks on America appears headed for execution after a jury found that he was eligible for the death penalty - based largely on his own testimony. Zacarias Moussaoui shouted "you will never get my blood" and "God curse you all" when the jury affirmed that he met the legal standards for capital punishment. The possible death sentence has set off a debate, even among relatives of those killed: will executing Moussaoui make him a martyr? Is life in jail a worse punishment? The result was a relief for the prosecution, which was having a disastrous trial until Moussaoui took the stand. Many prosecution witnesses were ruled out after they were deemed to have been coached. Even statements from captured senior al-Qaeda figures said Moussaoui had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks. The judge in the case had said he could not be sentenced to death without direct evidence of his involvement. But Moussaoui testified that he knew about the plot when he was arrested a month before the attacks and had lied to FBI agents. He also said he had planned to hijack a fifth plane and fly it into the White House. The jury must now decide if the crime justifies the death penalty. Given the toll - almost 3000 - most observers believe that is a given. The jury will hear from more than 40 relatives of victims. But the case is likely to be tied up in court for years. An appeal is certain.

Amnesty report claims CIA used private flights to hide terror rendition RAW STORY Published: Tuesday April 4, 2006 Amnesty International has released a report claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used private aircraft operators and front companies to hide CIA rendition flights and "black site" detention facilities in foreign countries. The report includes a lengthy account drawn upon the only public testimony of detainees held at "black sites," that of three Yemeni nationals who "disappeared" in U.S. custody for more than eighteen months but were never charged with any terrorism-related offences. "During their "disappearance", the three men were kept in at least four different secret facilities, likely to have been in at least three different countries, judging by the length of their transfer flights and other information they have been able to provide," the report states. "Although not conclusive, the evidence suggests that they were held at various times in Djibouti, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe." While imprisoned in Afghanistan, the men were kept in "complete isolation, in cells measuring about 2m x 3m," and "permanently shackled to a ring fixed in the floor." Some time in April of 2004, the men were transferred to a facility that is believed to be somewhere in Europe, specifically Eastern Europe. According to one of the men, at this "new or refurbished" facility "all of the guards and officials were Americans." At this last destination, "the men were never allowed outside, or even to look through a window," and the "temperatures were colder than any they had ever known." Finally, they were returned to Yemen where "after more than nine months in arbitrary detention" the men pleaded guilty to forging travel documents, even though no evidence was presented in court, then sentenced to two year prison sentences. Since the men had spent up to 18 months in secret U.S. custody and 9 months in Yemen, they were ordered released by the judge. "Under suspicion by any potential employers, and harassed by the security and intelligence service, they fear they will never be able to lead normal lives or take care of their families," the report states. "All three men have suffered emotional and physical trauma - Salah Qaru and Muhammad Bashmilah have described severe torture during their detention in Jordan and are in urgent need of medical attention for problems caused or exacerbated by the long months in isolation and secret detention." The report also details dozens of destinations around the world where planes associated with rendition flights landed and took off. In addition, the report lists the private airlines with permission to land at U.S. military bases worldwide. Below the Radar: Secret flights to Torture and 'Disappearance', reveals how the CIA exploited aviation practices to hide behind the identity of private plane operators and circumvent authorities. Countries that allow CIA planes to cross their airspace and use their airports often cite the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention. These states claim that they do not have the authority to question the reasons for the flight because there is a clause in the Convention that allows private, non-commercial flights to fly over a country, or make technical stops there, without prior authorization or notification. According to the Chicago Convention, states do not have the authority to question the reasons for the private, non-commercial flights flying over a country, or making technical stops there. Amnesty claims that the United States may have transferred hundreds of individuals for the purposes of interrogation by nations with "dubious human rights records." They further claim that "rendition is part of an elaborate clandestine detention regime that includes the use of 'black sites' and 'disappearances,' as well as torture and inhuman treatment." They report fingers companies suspected of or able to have taken part in the program. The full report (which is a very large file) has been made available here.

Raytheon Offers New Multi-Purpose Loitering Missile System Concept SPX Apr 05, 2006 Tucson AZ - Raytheon Company is funding and developing a Multi-Purpose Loitering Missile (MPLM) System that will fill the joint fires capability gaps and meet the long war requirements engendered by the global war on terrorism. The system's airframe was successfully vertically launched in December 2005 at the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division Land Range, China Lake, Calif. "We are extremely pleased with this development effort and the highly successful first vertical launch demonstration of our MPLM missile concept that is being developed to address joint fires capability gaps," said Harry Schulte, vice president, Raytheon Missile Systems Strike product line. "This success is a credit to the dedication and outstanding cooperation of the joint Raytheon, China Lake, Aerojet and PacSci team pursuing and developing this capability." The MPLM system concept includes the use of the field operational Army Field Artillery Tactical Data System command and control system, which bridges the joint force and uses a state of the art composite airframe. The Raytheon-funded concept will incorporate the use of a two way satellite data link to allow designation to targets of greater priority while in flight and the use of a seeker to reduce target location error. The system will be capable of being launched from both vertical launch systems (VLS) and self-contained canister launch systems. Raytheon brings ship platform integration to the forefront with a design that will be insensitive munition compliant, with plug and play options, including more capable seekers and multiple payloads. The Raytheon approach also places complete emphasis on all aspects of cost in order to minimize financial impacts to the government if a multi-purpose loitering missile program goes forward. The Dec. 5, 2005, launch featured an MPLM airframe fired from a MK-14 ground launch canister. The Raytheon MPLM airframe was successfully launched in a VLS configuration, demonstrating its ability to survive launch shock and be boosted to a cruise altitude. This non-powered event also displayed successful booster separation and aerodynamic descent with wings deployed. The MPLM system is being developed at Raytheon's Missile Systems business in Tucson, Ariz.