Everyday Citizens Can Defend the Homeland

[Adlerian Thinker]

In the AAW Forum, we have often spoken of our wonderful troops, and the job they are doing in defending us from terror.

Yet I have seen very little talk of what we can do. Yes, us home folk who aren't wearing cammo, or toting military issue weaponry. (If you are, please don't tell me about it! LOL)

What can regular citizens do?

I wanted to start a thread to discuss it.

Here are some ideas:
1) InfraGard - a private, not-for-profit group sponsored by the FBI that is tasked with protecting 17 sectors of critical infrastructure as indentified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)
2) LEPC Committees - Local Emergency Planning Committees are under the aegis of the state DHS. They have to do with hazardous materials safety.
3) School Safety Commissions/Committees - Some states mandate such committees to help schools develop school safety plans

Info will be given on each. What are some things you can do in your neck of the woods?

We all have a vested interest in protecting our homeland.

[Lee Kington]

I had some concerns about InfraGard until I learned that they do run background checks on those who apply for membership. The exception to the screening process applies to people who already hold a current security clearance. That makes me feel much better about the organization.

[Rhonda]

In the AAW Forum, we have often spoken of our wonderful troops, and the job they are doing in defending us from terror.

Yet I have seen very little talk of what we can do. Yes, us home folk who aren't wearing cammo, or toting military issue weaponry. (If you are, please don't tell me about it! LOL)

What can regular citizens do?

I wanted to start a thread to discuss it.

Here are some ideas:
1) InfraGard - a private, not-for-profit group sponsored by the FBI that is tasked with protecting 17 sectors of critical infrastructure as indentified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)
2) LEPC Committees - Local Emergency Planning Committees are under the aegis of the state DHS. They have to do with hazardous materials safety.
3) School Safety Commissions/Committees - Some states mandate such committees to help schools develop school safety plans

Info will be given on each. What are some things you can do in your neck of the woods?

We all have a vested interest in protecting our homeland.


Good thread +1

[Cav Scout]

Yep

[Rhonda]

In large liberal cities there is not much one can do but move:frown:

[Adlerian Thinker]

I had some concerns about InfraGard until I learned that they do run background checks on those who apply for membership. The exception to the screening process applies to people who already hold a current security clearance. That makes me feel much better about the organization.

Yes, and those checks are done by the FBI.

After being cleared you gain access to FBI and Homeland Security bulletins, as well as law enforcement sensitive (LES) material.

When you file a tip with the FBI, they know they have a vetted source.

[Cav Scout]

I would like to add to this if you dont mind. One of the things, or changes I have noticed in todays America, is the complete and almost total lack of the younger generations to get involved in their communities. It seems to me that the 18 to 35 year old group that should be involved in the various community functions and orginizations, are mysteriously absent. That sets a horrid example for the kids comming up. Sad.
PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITY, THEY NEED YOU!

[Adlerian Thinker]

I had some concerns about InfraGard until I learned that they do run background checks on those who apply for membership. The exception to the screening process applies to people who already hold a current security clearance. That makes me feel much better about the organization.

I wanted this thread to be educational, not only about InfraGard, but about other means of safeguarding our way of life.

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to do that.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Good thread +1

Thanks. Bring your ideas and thoughts.

Nothing is more important then defending the homeland.

It's kinda like the national Crime Watch...... ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

In large liberal cities there is not much one can do but move:frown:

Give your state DHS a call, or check out their websites. There are ways for those who are intrepid, and persevere in their efforts.

[Rhonda]

Thanks. Bring your ideas and thoughts.

Nothing is more important then defending the homeland.

It's kinda like the national Crime Watch...... ;)

First off we need to limit government more...term limits for congress...we as "THE PEOPLE" should assert our contitutuional powers there and make sure we DO NOT vote a socialist into office in 08...for if we do..I fear we the people will have next to no power to make any changes concerning government

[Adlerian Thinker]

I would like to add to this if you dont mind. One of the things, or changes I have noticed in todays America, is the complete and almost total lack of the younger generations to get involved in their communities. It seems to me that the 18 to 35 year old group that should be involved in the various community functions and orginizations, are mysteriously absent. That sets a horrid example for the kids comming up. Sad.
PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITY, THEY NEED YOU!

There it is!

What those young folk need are old folk like us to show them the way.

[Adlerian Thinker]

First off we need to limit government more...term limits for congress...we as "THE PEOPLE" should assert our contitutuional powers there and make sure we DO NOT vote a socialist into office in 08...for if we do..I fear we the people will have next to no power to make any changes concerning government

When we stop having that power, America will be dead.

Let not your heart be troubled.

[Rhonda]

When we stop having that power, America will be dead.

Let not your heart be troubled.

My heart is troubled...this will be what makes Americans fight against all that is trying to destroy us...our hearts need to be troubled...with action to make them feel better

[Adlerian Thinker]

My heart is troubled...this will be what makes Americans fight against all that is trying to destroy us...our hearts need to be troubled...with action to make them feel better

My heart is not troubled. My head often is, but my heart is not.

I try to keep my heart clear and pure.

Sometimes more successfully than others! ;)

[Calibabe]

I don't know that I would say the 18-35 yr old's are not involved. The problem is that they seem to be working against what needs to be done. Instead of protesting the war and screeching that "Bush Lied, People Died" garbage, they should be doing some serious soul searching about exactly what it means to be an American. Many could not answer you. Trust me, I know. When I have been in the check out line in our local supermarket and I have a young checker, I get talking to them and I purposely get a politically minded magazine and when they pick it up to scan it, most times if not they get a comment or two in. That is when I hit them with, "Well, Jenny, exactly what do you think it means to be an American? Do you know how many blank stares I have gotten back at me? More than I care to say. After the initial shock of my question wears off, I say to them, "How do you think this country got to be the country it is today? You know the one where you are free to drive (most Muslim countries don't allow women to drive, did you know that Jenny?), where you have the freedom to go to school (not college but regular school-again, a number of Muslim countries don't allow for young girls or women to be educated Jenny, did you know that?), the freedom to dress as you please (most countries as I have been describing tell women they must be covered from head to toe and be chaparoned by a male relative, did you know that Jenny?), the freedom to marry someone YOU choose, NOT your family (like the aforementioned countries), the freedom to say whatever you want so long as it is not deemed a public nusiance (like running into a theater and screaming "Fire") and the very freedom to choose your own religion not be forced into a state sponsored religion (again like the aforementioned countries and many others as well). Since I usually have a really large order when I shop, my conversations with these different young people have lasted about 10 minutes or longer sometimes. The thing that scares me, well maybe not scares me but certainly worries me, is that most of these nice young people have no clue how much different life is outside the USA. I have been asked "Are you really sure it is like that, that isn't what my teacher/professor told us about different countries"? "It can't be all that bad, nothing is worse than this administration and their lies and the lies we have been told for years by our government to get into this war". I then ask them "What would you have done on Sept 11"? Again the dumbfounded looked comes over their face and I get "What do you mean, what would I have done"? I go on to ask that if you were president and you had planes that slammed into two of our buildings and the Pentagon and a vacant field what would you have done at that point. Do you know to this day I have never gotten an answer. I go on to tell them that while no one wants war, until the day comes that we can fight a war where no one dies, that is what war does, it kills people. While no one wants a war, if someone were to hit you really hard and knock you down, would you just let them do that or would you get up and kick the snot out of them or do your best to make sure that you let them know that they would never, ever hit you again. You would be surprised when I put it into those terms that most of the young people said "Well if someone were to hit me, you're damn right I would hit'em back and hit'em back hard, I wouldn't want them to think I was afraid".

It is then that I look at them and say "Well neither should the USA be afraid when we get hit, to go hit those who hit us and to hit them with all that we have, so that they know we are not afraid and most of all in the hopes that they may just think twice before doing it again". Then I tell them to "Have a nice day, but study up on some of your America History from various sources (not told to you by your teacher/professor) so that you get a more balanced view of why we have fought the wars we have and why most countries look to us for help when they can get help from no where else. I have also asked "Well if the USA is so bad, why does everyone ask for our help when they have troubles of their own, like the tsnumai, several years ago and why does everyone want to come here to live if we are such a horrible country"? Most times they answer that it is because we are good people.

I think we have a generation of young people that have been taught by a very liberal education system and that in some instances they don't know the real history of this country and they really should. I tell them as an American you should know what it means to have pride and feel a sense of happiness when they hear our national anthem played or when they see our flag displayed. I hope that this generation can be reached. I think they are eager for knowledge but a number of them have been spoonfed this liberal version of events that just isn't true. Most of all they need to have a sense of pride in their country and if necessary be ready to defend it.

I know that my kids do and would defend it if it came to that. I would hope that most here would say the same thing. I think the biggest thing is engaging them in conversation. Sometimes you just have to plant the seed. I have had the perspective of seeing it from not only both coasts but also in the heartland of this country. While I was born and raised NJ and now am a transplant in CA, I have also visited NE on several occasions as my son goes to school there. Country means something different to the people there than it does to those who live on either the East/West coasts. That is not meant to be a slap, it is just how I see it. In talking with people in NE, they just seem to get it. I don't know why other's can't. Maybe it is the value system that is taught. Maybe it is the fact that things are more centered around the family in NE and other states in that area. It is just different, thats all I know. I so wish CA was like that. It used to be, but not anymore. I also don't think we will ever get back their either. I hope and pray we do.

[Cav Scout]

I would say they are not involved, I dont see them helping with 4H, Scouting, Little Leage, or the numerous other things that go on, Nor do I see them joining service orgs or fraternal orgs or groups, taking part in community service clubs, all of those things.

[Rhonda]

I would say they are not involved, I dont see them helping with 4H, Scouting, Little Leage, or the numerous other things that go on, Nor do I see them joining service orgs or fraternal orgs or groups, taking part in community service clubs, all of those things.

Unfortunately neither do I :frown:

[Adlerian Thinker]

I would say they are not involved, I dont see them helping with 4H, Scouting, Little Leage, or the numerous other things that go on, Nor do I see them joining service orgs or fraternal orgs or groups, taking part in community service clubs, all of those things.

Here in the heartland, they are still in FFA, Campus Life, 4-H, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, and various other organizations.

We even have Civil Air Patrols, and are starting a Young Firefighters course at our high school.

Opportunities are still there, and I would like to see how reality stacks up to perception.

[Cav Scout]

Here in the heartland, they are still in FFA, Campus Life, 4-H, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, and various other organizations.

We even have Civil Air Patrols, and are starting a Young Firefighters course at our high school.

Opportunities are still there, and I would like to see how reality stacks up to perception.

I see it far more here in Wyoming, then I did other places, I would say that is being "homegrown" so to speak, I have seen many places though where when you show up at a 4H meeting or Scout council, everyone there is over 50. I think there is definantly a demographic.

[lvjmusic]

Thanks. Bring your ideas and thoughts.

Nothing is more important then defending the homeland.

It's kinda like the national Crime Watch...... ;)

It would seem that a banner called "The National Crime Watch" could raise awareness of these 'mission critical' groups of concerned citizenry. A sort of alliance of the individual groups that share a common cause and vision (like the "United Way" groups and affiliates). This would be easier to present to the general public the common goals and objectives that such a banner could earn. Someone needs to trademark it before the left gets it and perverts it for the cause of the ones who intend to do us harm.

I'm not in contact with any of these groups, so I'll ask that a like minded soul here pass the idea along...

[jwil59]

I would like to add to this if you dont mind. One of the things, or changes I have noticed in todays America, is the complete and almost total lack of the younger generations to get involved in their communities. It seems to me that the 18 to 35 year old group that should be involved in the various community functions and orginizations, are mysteriously absent. That sets a horrid example for the kids comming up. Sad.
PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITY, THEY NEED YOU!

I agree and I think myself as a parent has the responsibility to stress that to my kids.

Certainly something to think about.

[jwil59]

There it is!

What those young folk need are old folk like us to show them the way.

I believe that too. There are many ways to do it but the best is simply to lead by example.

[AmericanSpirit]

I work in a school. Anyone who such much as makes a threatening step towards my students will be in a hospital. There I am doing my part! :)

[amenmesse]

I would like to add to this if you dont mind. One of the things, or changes I have noticed in todays America, is the complete and almost total lack of the younger generations to get involved in their communities. It seems to me that the 18 to 35 year old group that should be involved in the various community functions and orginizations, are mysteriously absent. That sets a horrid example for the kids comming up. Sad.
PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITY, THEY NEED YOU!

The man in the arena. http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trmaninthearena.html

[Hereintheusa]

Even if you dont want to get involved in an official capacity you can still help just by being vigilante. Growing up in England during the IRA bombing campaign we were all taught to reoport suspicious packages/activites.

But that doesnt mean calling the local FBI office just because your Muslim neighbors have friends over.

[Lord Dreadmore]

defending your homeland means you're a bigot

[SFC(R)L]

defending your homeland means you're a bigot

When you automatically lump all persons from a certain ethnic or racial group into one large pile based upon your erroneous stereotypical interpretation of your preconceived biases, that's exactly what you are.

When you are a Soldier upholding the Constitution, you are not.

[Loyal American]

Even if you dont want to get involved in an official capacity you can still help just by being vigilante. Growing up in England during the IRA bombing campaign we were all taught to reoport suspicious packages/activites.

But that doesnt mean calling the local FBI office just because your Muslim neighbors have friends over.
But it can mean calling if they are here attending college and never go to classes! I've done that and they got sent back to Saudi Arabia.

[Adlerian Thinker]

I see it far more here in Wyoming, then I did other places, I would say that is being "homegrown" so to speak, I have seen many places though where when you show up at a 4H meeting or Scout council, everyone there is over 50. I think there is definantly a demographic.

The Campus Life group in our school corporation is very young, under 30. They meet weekly with over 120 kids to engage in service programs, and character-building exercises.

I do think we definitely need more of that.

[Adlerian Thinker]

I work in a school. Anyone who such much as makes a threatening step towards my students will be in a hospital. There I am doing my part! :)

Yes you are!

[Adlerian Thinker]

It would seem that a banner called "The National Crime Watch" could raise awareness of these 'mission critical' groups of concerned citizenry. A sort of alliance of the individual groups that share a common cause and vision (like the "United Way" groups and affiliates). This would be easier to present to the general public the common goals and objectives that such a banner could earn. Someone needs to trademark it before the left gets it and perverts it for the cause of the ones who intend to do us harm.

I'm not in contact with any of these groups, so I'll ask that a like minded soul here pass the idea along...

Thanks!

[Adlerian Thinker]

Even if you dont want to get involved in an official capacity you can still help just by being vigilante. Growing up in England during the IRA bombing campaign we were all taught to reoport suspicious packages/activites.

But that doesnt mean calling the local FBI office just because your Muslim neighbors have friends over.

That would depend upon who the friends are, and what they are doing.......

Just sayin'. ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

Even if you dont want to get involved in an official capacity you can still help just by being vigilante. Growing up in England during the IRA bombing campaign we were all taught to reoport suspicious packages/activites.

But that doesnt mean calling the local FBI office just because your Muslim neighbors have friends over.

That would depend upon who the friends are, and what they are doing.......

Just sayin'. ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

Here are the 17 sectors of infrastructure under the NIPP:
Agriculture
Banking & Finance
Chemical & HAZMAT
Colleges & Universities
Defense
Emergency Services
Energy
Food
Government
Homeland Security
Information Technology
Postal and Shipping
Public Health
Transportation
Water Supply

If you have expertise, or even just working knowledge, in any of these sectors, InfrGard is for you.

Your knowledge can help secure the homeland!

[Adlerian Thinker]

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/19/homeland-security-warns-of-improvised-explosive-device-ied-threat-to-america/
Homeland Security Warns of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Threat To America

October 19, 2007

Dan Verton takes a look the history of IED’s in America. So just how real is the threat?

Michael Chertoff spoke today about it today. The complete text of his speech is here.

Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs as they are commonly called, have become the weapon of choice of today’s terrorists, whether on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, or on public transit systems in Britain, Spain and India.

And increasingly, they are a threat in America, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told members of a think tank Friday. “We have been working on this a couple of years, and I think we have made dramatic strides,” he said. “It is a very high priority.”

He said efforts to thwart such attacks must be preemptive.

“Before we have the actual explosion,” he said, “there are a series of intervention points when … we can stop that boom from taking place.

“That begins with deterring and incapacitating those who obtain the funds for IEDs … intercepting the gathering of materials for the IED, and then … the actual detection and disruption of the planning of attacks.”

Above all else, that intervention requires good intelligence, he said, asserting that such intelligence would ultimately benefit rather than restrict individual privacy.

“When we don’t have intelligence … we have to operate in a much more generalized and, dare I say, blunderbuss fashion,” he said.

” … That means we have to intercept and engage with more people, including more innocent people. … That’s why the better we hone our intelligence, the better we are in having a focused, less disruptive and less costly intervention to prevent an IED.”

Beyond intelligence gathering and sharing, he outlined several strategies still in the works to stop IEDs in this country, from closer regulation of small boats and planes to ensure terrorists cannot exploit them for bomb delivery, to exerting more control over commonly used radiological materials like Cesium-137, to prevent them from being used in so-called “dirty” or radioactive bombs.

“Sometimes I see that there’s a tendency to shy away from these kinds of issues because they’re hard,” Chertoff said, acknowledging that such proposals would be controversial. But “I’m going to try to make it my business to force us to look square … some of the most difficult issues.”

He emphasized the role of public vigilance, lauding the ambulance driver, for instance, who disrupted a plot to bomb London several months ago by alerting authorities to a smoking car.

“It’s not an accident or, frankly, a surprise that many of the plots … disrupted over the last few years have been disrupted because individual citizens noticed an anomaly … That is a force multiplier for protecting us against IEDs.”

Glad to know Chertoff has got my back on this topic! ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

The first sector is Agriculture. Below are some of the Indiana efforts to defend the homeland.

The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Food Emergency Response Plan is in a final draft and available for review and comment. The plan sets goals and objectives for effective response to a food emergency situation. Field foodborne illness disease investigation manuals, laboratory procedures and forms and a food emergency call list will be included as components of the plan. An emergency response flow chart using a logic decision tree will assist the user in the decision making process.

Another ISDH activity is the Retail Food Defense Project. This project will assess retail food facilities to find out what food security preventive measures have been implemented and what vulnerabilities still exist. The goal of the project is to assess 1,500 retail facilities. Over 800 assessments have been completed. Results will be used to develop an education and training program for the Indiana retail food industry to protect against intentional food contamination.

The ISDH Food Protection Program is providing information about the Food and Drug Administration’s CFSAN ALERT Initiative. This is a tool the food industry and state inspectors can use to integrate food defense into daily activities. The FSA/CFSAN ALERT is a web based training module available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/defterr.html

Earlier this year two food defense projects were approved by the Center for Disease Control. The first one provides funding for ISDH to host a Food Defense Program Coordinator Training and Certification course in Indianapolis July 30 through August 1. This will be a three day course developed and facilitated by the American Institute of Baking or AIB. The second project will fund a one day tabletop exercise to test the effectiveness of the ISDH Food emergency Response Plan. This exercise will include all the stakeholders that may be involved in a food emergency response and will be scheduled later this summer.

(Note: the above information was from an open website, and is therefore not classified.)
http://www.infragard-in.com/index2.asp

[cyph3r7]

Here are some ideas:
1) InfraGard - a private, not-for-profit group sponsored by the FBI that is tasked with protecting 17 sectors of critical infrastructure as indentified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)

InfraGard (http://www.infragard.net/) is great, as things stand now, I will be a featured speaker in the DC/Baltimore for InfraGard in 2008.

Plus I already do my duty for homeland security every day and then some.

[Adlerian Thinker]

InfraGard (http://www.infragard.net/) is great, as things stand now, I will be a featured speaker in the DC/Baltimore for InfraGard in 2008.

Plus I already do my duty for homeland security every day and then some.

I may have to check that out. Last week I presented at the state Assistant Principal's Conference on school terrorism. In the spring I will do so at our state School Safety Officer's Advanced Academy.

I am trying to get the national InfraGard folks to establish a K-12 Education SIG. I still can't believe K-12 education wasn't declared critical infrastructure. I'm working on that too.

On what will you be speaking, if I may ask? If you don't want to post it, you can PM me.

[cyph3r7]

On what will you be speaking, if I may ask? If you don't want to post it, you can PM me.

lol no I can't

Adlerian Thinker has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her.

dork :razz::razz:

[cyph3r7]

I may have to check that out. Last week I presented at the state Assistant Principal's Conference on school terrorism. In the spring I will do so at our state School Safety Officer's Advanced Academy.

sounds like you could convert that to an InfraGard message. Have you talked to your chapter representative? Maybe the FBI liaison to InfraGard?

I am trying to get the national InfraGard folks to establish a K-12 Education SIG. I still can't believe K-12 education wasn't declared critical infrastructure. I'm working on that too.

yeah, the school systems are woefully behind. Ours just started programs on internet predators and online safety. They geared it solely for the kids. When I asked if they had a program parents could attend they looked at me like I had three heads.

IMHO parents need the education more than the kids.

[cyph3r7]

On what will you be speaking, if I may ask? If you don't want to post it, you can PM me.

Let's just say it is on homeland security and cyber security. I gave it this summer at a conference and InfraGard approached me about giving it for them.

We'll see, I am psyched about it. I actually enjoy presenting for some crazy reason

I have some great presentation faux pax stories I could share....weaker men would have crumbled ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

lol no I can't



dork :razz::razz:

I added you as a buddy, I think I clicked on the right thing to allow PM's, so you should be good to go.

Plus, I'm reporting you for incivility for calling me a dork, you boob! ;)

[Adlerian Thinker]

sounds like you could convert that to an InfraGard message. Have you talked to your chapter representative? Maybe the FBI liaison to InfraGard?

I forwarded my materials to my local chapter. We'll see if they post them. I'll send you a link.

yeah, the school systems are woefully behind. Ours just started programs on internet predators and online safety. They geared it solely for the kids. When I asked if they had a program parents could attend they looked at me like I had three heads.

IMHO parents need the education more than the kids.

I just typed up a Safety Bulletin for parents in our corporation. Two years ago, I had a parent session, and in response to a comment that, "How can we control what our kids do if they know so much more than I," I responded, "Unplug the damn thing."

I know the three-headed look thing.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Let's just say it is on homeland security and cyber security. I gave it this summer at a conference and InfraGard approached me about giving it for them.

We'll see, I am psyched about it. I actually enjoy presenting for some crazy reason

I have some great presentation faux pax stories I could share....weaker men would have crumbled ;)

I have been presenting the past six years. I love it. I love stories, especially if I am not the center of the story!

[Adlerian Thinker]

IEDs seen as rising threat in the U.S.
Homeland Security officials expressed concern over the lack of national coordination and prevention actions among federal agencies with regards to improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are, according to the Homeland Security secretary, terrorists’ “weapons of choice.” According to a report, explosives-sniffing dogs are trained differently by various agencies, federal agencies maintain separate databases on bomb incidents, and bomb squads undergo inadequate training. Despite these problems, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) invested $1.7 billion in grants related to IED threats, trained port workers at 16 major locations, and deployed thousands of trained explosive detectors at airports. To illustrate the reality of a possible IED threat, the DHS secretary pointed to a Jordanian who tried to enter the U.S. in 2003 at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and, later, in 2005 had been involved in a suicide car-bombing in Iraq. The secretary also stressed the importance of intelligence gathering “to disrupt the long chain of events needed to deliver a bomb.” Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101902703.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

The FBI Terrorist Screening Center:
"Since its inception on December 1, 2003, the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) has assumed a critical role in securing our borders and the safety of the American people by providing to the nation's entire screening and law enforcement communities the identities of known and suspected terrorists. As directed by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 (Integration and Use of Screening Information), the TSC has combined the 12 previously existing terrorist watch lists and created the United States government's single consolidated Terrorist Screening Data Base (TSDB). Every day, the TSC provides an updated list of known and suspected terrorists to screeners and law enforcement personnel. The TSC also provides:

1. A single coordination point for terrorist screening data;
2. A 24/7 call center to provide identification assistance to screening agencies;
3. Access to a coordinated law enforcement response for any encounter with a watchlisted person;
4. A formal process for tracking all positive encounters;
5. Feedback to the appropriate entities;
6. A redress process for any individuals who believe they have been improperly delayed or otherwise inconvenienced because of the watchlist; and
7. A process for removing names from the watchlist when it has been conclusively determined they do not have a nexus to terrorism."
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress07/boyle102407.htm

[Adlerian Thinker]

We cannot forget domestic terrorism:

Orlando - Man Arrested On Charges of Planting Pipe Bomb On S.R. 417

October 24, 2007

A destructive device found on State Road 417 outside Orlando Florida has led to one arrest and several questions that will hopefully be answered at a joint press conference with representatives of the F.B.I. and A.T.F.

The Orlando Sentinal reports:

A months-long investigation led authorities to a pipe bomb on busy State Road 417 Wednesday afternoon, halting rush-hour traffic for more than an hour, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office disclosed late Wednesday.

A 21-year-old St. Cloud man was in custody Wednesday night, charged with manufacturing an explosive device. An arrest report said the man’s father and girlfriend led investigators to the homemade device in the westbound lanes of the highway around 4:30 p.m., about one mile west of John Young Parkway. Traffic was shut down while it was removed.

Deputy sheriffs expect to make at least four more arrests in the case, which also involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Deputy Carlos Padilla, sheriff’s spokesman.

“This is not a terrorism plot,” Padilla said. “These are local guys who made [the bomb.]”

The sheriff’s spokesman did not name the suspect who was in custody. An arrest report at the Orange County Jail identified the man as Brandon Ryan Woll, a server at the Swan and Dolphin Hotel at Walt Disney World. He admitting to placing the bomb, the report said. He was being held on $1,000 bail.

Padilla said the man in custody and others to be arrested would face state and federal charges.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/24/orlando-man-arrested-on-charges-of-planting-pipe-bomb-on-sr-417/

[USAF Medic]

Here in the heartland, they are still in FFA, Campus Life, 4-H, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, and various other organizations.

We even have Civil Air Patrols, and are starting a Young Firefighters course at our high school.

Opportunities are still there, and I would like to see how reality stacks up to perception.

Yep big difference in the rural VS metro. We have a great explorer post on the Vol FD I serve with. Our PD has a successful explorer program also.
Not to mention I don't hear wailing sirens at 0100 just the rustle of wind in the leaves.

[RevolutionIsTheOnlyWay]

I will do what ever it takes to protect our homeland. I for one am a member of the NRA and will fight tooth and nail if it came down to that.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The second sector of critical infrastructure is banking and finance.

Imagine the chaos if a concerted were made on the banking or finance industry.

Hey IT guys! Think this could happen?

[Adlerian Thinker]

The third sector is Chemical and HAZMAT.

This is where the WMD Coordinator comes into play.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The fourth sector is college & universities. Oddly enough, K-12 education is not listed as a separate sector, nor is it directly mentioned in any other sector.

I am hoping to change that.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The fifth sector is defense.

There are many private industries that are related to defense. This does not mean actual defense installations, as InfraGard is a an organization for the private sector.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The sixth sector is emergency services. This is where I came in, as the emergency manager for my school corporation. It can also include members of CERTS, EMAs, firefighters, EMTs, etc.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The seventh sector is energy. Power lines, utilities, dams, nuclear reactors, etc.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The eighth sector is food. Retail, distribution, etc.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The ninth sector is government. This is local government, and private companies that relate to government.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The tenth sector is homeland security.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The eleventh sector, and the main reason InfraGard was started, is information technology.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The twelfth sector is postal and shipping.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The thirteenth sector is public health. Doctors, nurses, clinic directors, etc.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The fourteenth sector is transportation.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The fifteenth sector is water supply.

I'm thirsty after all that work!

[Adlerian Thinker]

Something to look out for:
New Alert Issued In U.S. To Watch For Shoe Bombers

October 25, 2007

A bulletin issued by the FBI and Homeland Security warns that terrorists are still trying to use shoes to conceal explosive devices. The joint FBI-Homeland Security bulletin warns that terrorists are still working to use “modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices”.

Following the seizure in Europe of hollowed-out shoes containing blasting caps, U.S. authorities have been told to be on the lookout for thick-soled shoes that could be used to conceal explosives, as infamously was the case with convicted “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.

According to a Department of Homeland Security-FBI bulletin issued Wednesday, Oct. 24, European authorities in September 2007 discovered a pair of shoes that were used to smuggle electric blasting caps across international borders for use in a terrorist attack.

“A recent terrorist incident involving the international smuggling of electric blasting caps highlights the continuing use of modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices,” stated the DHS-FBI Bulletin “Terrorist Use of Modified Footwear to Conceal Explosive Devices.”

“The FBI and DHS routinely send out these bulletins to our law enforcement and intelligence community partners to share information,” said Senior Special Agent Richard J. Kolko, chief of the National Press Office. “It is not related to a threat, but is provided in order to allow officers on the streets to be alert to items that appear routine but may not be, as they go about their daily duties.”

The bulletin itself noted there was no “specific, credible” current threat information indicating “that terrorists plan to use this concealment method in the homeland.” But it also noted the incident “highlights the continuing use of modified footwear as a concealment method for explosive devices.”

As such, the attempt to smuggle blasting caps is but the latest in a series of attempts by terrorists, whether autonomous or al Qaeda, to either smuggle explosive components in shoes, socks, gel bras and other items of clothing, or conceal complete improvised explosive devices in their clothing.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/25/new-alert-issued-in-us-to-watch-for-shoe-bombers/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Richard Reid is warm and cozy in SuperMax. He used a peroxide-based explosive compound in his shoes.

We were not lucky enough to have had him blow himself up walking through the airport.

[Hereintheusa]

But it can mean calling if they are here attending college and never go to classes! I've done that and they got sent back to Saudi Arabia.

But that is just not limited to Muslims. There are thousands of people from all different countries (including the UK) who do that , so make sure that you are blowing the whistle on everyone you meet doing this and not just picking and choosing.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Watch your firearms if you travel!

Missing Handguns At Airports Alarm National Security Experts

Handguns, stored in luggage, have been disappearing from some major airports, including here at Sea-Tac.

That means, firearms, and at times, ammunition are loose in secure areas with direct access to passenger jets.
http://www.kirotv.com/airports/13986486/detail.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

At least this one had a happy ending. An alert student saved some lives.

US student brings homemade bomb to school in backpack

WICHITA, Kansas: A 13-year-old Kansas student carried a homemade bomb in his backpack for two weeks around his middle school before anyone noticed, authorities said Thursday.

Police said the device, which measured about 5 inches (13 centimeters) long and was less than an inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter, was made out of metal casings filled with pieces of a fireworks sparkler that had been ground into powder. The bomb had a fuse taped to one end.

"Anyone standing in close proximity would have been injured," Nelson said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/25/america/NA-GEN-US-School-Bomb.php

[Adlerian Thinker]

This bears some watching......

Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida
Sheriff: Devices Powerful Enough To Kill

POSTED: 6:16 pm EDT October 25, 2007
UPDATED: 7:08 am EDT October 26, 2007
[NEWSVINE: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [DELICIOUS: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [DIGG: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [FACEBOOK: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [REDDIT: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [RSS] [PRINT: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida] [EMAIL: Explosives May Be Planted Somewhere In Central Florida]
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A group believed responsible for making and planting homemade bombs on Disney property and near a busy road may have placed other explosives around Central Florida, according to investigators.

An investigation was launched in July after sheriff's deputies responded to a pipe bomb explosion in a Downtown Disney trash bin.

Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said officers have determined that the device at Disney and another bomb found on the side of the Highway 417 and International Drive Wednesday were planted by the same people. And, there may be more unfound devices in the area.
http://www.local6.com/news/14425851/detail.html

[eric1]

Everyday citizens can defend the Homeland? That must be news to the President and the Administration. Why the last I heard we were just a bunch of "vigilantes."

[Adlerian Thinker]

Everyday citizens can defend the Homeland? That must be news to the President and the Administration. Why the last I heard we were just a bunch of "vigilantes."

I would be proud to be called a "vigilante."

[Adlerian Thinker]

All you computer guys and gals, here's your chance to defend the homeland!

Terror Of The Future May Be Online

October 28, 2007

Terrorists of the future will use the Internet to wage attacks and wreak havoc across the globe, according to a US terror expert.

Former US army intelligence chief Dan Verton (Homeland Security Television)believes the next generation of Al Qaeda will be clever, net-savvy youngsters.

And he fears it will take a crippling attack on the scale of 9/11 before world leaders act and realise what a sleeping beast the web is.

He said: “The next generation of terrorists won’t be mindless hordes of thugs living a hand-to-mouth existence in Afghanistan.

“They will look and act very differently to the current generation.

“The young kids that they are radicalizing today are studying mathematics, computer science and engineering.

“They will grow up and realize ‘I’m too valuable to stuff dynamite around my waste and walk into a crowded cafe.’

“And they will think very differently about how they can attack their perceived enemies.

“The internet will be another tool in their toolbox.”

Former Marine Corps chief Verton - who has written a number of books on the subject - has given speeches to the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, US Secret Service and the United Nations about cyber terrorism.

And he reckons it’s only a matter of time until the web fanatics strike.

“An attack of this nature is very likely because the technology base is already there to take advantage of,” he said.

“All you need is Microsoft Windows and a public internet connection.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/28/terror-of-the-future-may-be-online/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Critical infrastructure sectors can be combined. Here we see energy and IT combined into a threat.

New Plan To Defend U.S. Power Grid From Cyber Terror Attack

October 29, 2007

Terrific follow-up story to yesterdays post, “Terror of The Future May Be Online“.

For nearly five years, the US government has struggled to guard the nation’s electric grid, drinking water, and other critical infrastructure from cyber*attack. But as hackers continue to infiltrate such systems, and as reports surface of a surge in computer attacks on the electric grid, experts and lawmakers have an urgent message for the Bush administration: Cybersecurity defenses need an overhaul.

US lawmakers are pressing for a new approach that focuses more on systems that can rebound if infiltrated than on building ever-stronger “fire- walls” to keep hackers out.

On Tuesday, lawmakers on a House Homeland Security subcommittee are expected to unveil a blue-ribbon commission charged with developing a new national cybersecurity strategy in time to offer the next president.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, is close to unveiling a new cybersecurity approach of its own, an administration official told the Monitor. National Security Agency expertise may be deployed to help protect vital control systems of the electric grid and other key infrastructure, The Baltimore Sun reported last month.

“Times are changing very quickly here, and cybersecurity that was good enough even a couple of years ago – the strategy and approach – is obsolete,” says Scott Borg, director of the US Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit security think tank that advises government and industry.

“We do have a growing problem as our adversaries focus on critical infrastructure,” concurs Amit Yoran, CEO of Netwitness, a network security firm, and former director of DHS’s National Cyber Security Division. In the event of a cyberattack on any critical piece of infrastructure, “what we need is a layered defense in which the overall system is still available – and not a systemic failure.”

Both men have been tapped to serve on the new congressional commission.

Driving such concerns are reports that malicious attacks are rising on specialized computer-control systems that open and shut valves on natural-gas pipelines, throw circuit breakers on power lines, and make telecommunications and defense networks, nuclear-power plants and hydro dams do their jobs.

If hackers half a world away break into and commandeer these “supervisory control and data acquisition,” or SCADA, systems, then the US grid, pipelines, and other key infrastructure connected to the Internet are vulnerable to interruption or damage, experts say.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/29/new-plan-to-defend-us-power-grid-from-cyber-terror-attack/

[Adlerian Thinker]

How about not throwing your damed tear gas grenades into the ocean?

Eco-terrorism run amok.

Grenade emits unknown chemical

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say a grenade that washed ashore released an unknown chemical while a bomb technician rendered it safe today.

Several fire rescue and police personnel were transported to a hospital with respiratory symptoms, but no one was hospitalized and no civilians were exposed.
http://www1.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI66208/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Transportation infrastructure news:

I-580 Reopens Following Bomb Scare
KNTV-TV
Updated: 10:12 a.m. ET Oct 28, 2007

LIVERMORE, Calif. - A blue metal pipe wrapped in tape leaking a silver substance that was found in the median of westbound Interstate Highway 580 in Livermore this afternoon triggered a police, fire and bomb squad investigation, according to the California Highway Patrol. California Department of Transportation crews working on the highway located the pipe just west of Portola Avenue shortly after noon and alerted multiple agencies to the suspicious object, CHP Officer Mike Herman said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21493493/

[Adlerian Thinker]

More transportation infrastructure news:

City bus evacuated in downtown Dallas
© 2007 The Associated Press

DALLAS — Dallas police found nothing aboard a bus evacuated Friday afternoon following a report of a suspicious package.

A spokesman for Dallas Area Rapid Transit says the bus is now being taken from downtown Dallas to the DART garage.

A canine sniffed the bus, accompanied by his handler. And after a member of the bomb squad went into the vehicle. But nothing was removed from the bus.

Authorities say an unidentified man is in custody after he told the bus driver he had placed an explosive device inside. The driver rang a silent alarm and the passengers of the bus evacuated.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5249548.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

University infrastructure news:

Northwest Missouri State campus called calm after shots fired
The Associated Press

MARYVILLE, Mo. | A Northwest Missouri State University spokeswoman said the campus is calm again after a shots-fired scare in a parking lot just before midnight Saturday, which was the school’s homecoming.

No one was injured, but Mary Ann Lowary, university relations vice president, said a campus alert system was activated about the time the shots were reported as a precaution until officers could check each of the 13 residence halls and the other buildings on campus.

The alert repeatedly sounded the warning “shooter on campus” over a speaker system that can be heard campuswide, Lowary said. Students, faculty and staff were told to go to their rooms and lock their doors and get somewhere safe, she said.
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/337215.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

They called it non-terrorism related, but this illustrates how emergency plans are necessary for other reasons, as well.

Wal-Mart evacuated; 17 go to hospital
Emergency teams respond after an unknown substance causes shoppers and workers inside Derby's Wal-Mart to begin coughing.
BY DANIEL MCCOY
Wichita Eagle correspondent

Seventeen people were taken to the hospital Sunday night after an unknown agent caused shoppers and employees inside the Derby Wal-Mart to become nauseated and have difficulty breathing.

Derby Fire Chief Brad Smith said the building at 2020 N. Southeast Blvd. was evacuated shortly before 7 p.m. and the Sedgwick County Hazardous Materials and Emergency Management teams were called in.
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/213056.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

This should concern everyone:

Homegrown Radicalism in the United States
By Matthew Levitt

More than six years after 9/11, it is clear the US still faces an serious terrorist threat. Recent reports portray a disturbing picture: The latest National Intelligence Estimate on the terrorist threat to the US homeland describes a resurgent al Qaeda based in NW Pakistan which is still determined to strike the US and its allies, and whose ideology continues to radicalize and inspire Muslim youth throughout the world. Similarly, a study by NYPD intelligence division on terrorist radicalization outlines the difficulties in developing profiles for potential future terrorists.

On October 20, 2007, Mitchell Silber and Pam Byron addressed these issues at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Weinberg Founders Conference. Pam Byron, deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats at the National Intelligence Council, spoke off the record. Mitchell Silber is a senior analyst in the Intelligence Division of the New York City Police Department and coauthor of its recent report, "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat."
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/10/homegrown_radicalism_in_the_un.php

[Adlerian Thinker]

Check your fire walls and other cyber defenses.......

Bin Ladens Followers Planning Electronic Jihad Cyber Terror Attack On 11/11?

October 31, 2007

Debka has posted this announcement on their site:

In a special Internet announcement in Arabic, picked up DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, Osama bin Laden’s followers announced Monday, Oct. 29, the launching of Electronic Jihad. On Sunday, Nov. 11, al Qaeda’s electronic experts will start attacking Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate and Shiite Web sites. On Day One, they will test their skills against 15 targeted sites expand the operation from day to day thereafter until hundreds of thousands of Islamist hackers are in action against untold numbers of anti-Muslim sites.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that, shortly after the first announcement, some of al Qaeda’s own Web sites went blank, apparently crashed by the American intelligence computer experts tracking them.

The next day, Oct. 30, they were up again, claiming their Islamic fire walls were proof against infidel assault.

They also boasted an impenetrable e-mail network for volunteers wishing to join up with the cyber jihad to contact and receive instructions undetected by the security agencies in their respective countries.

Our sources say the instructions come in simple language and are organized in sections according to target. They offer would-be martyrs, who for one reason or another are unable to fight in the field, to fulfill their jihad obligations on the Net. These virtual martyrs are assured of the same thrill and sense of elation as a jihadi on the “battlefield.”

In effect, say DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts, al Qaeda is retaliating against Western intelligence agencies’ tactics, which detect new terrorist sites and zap them as soon as they appear. Until now, the jihadists kept dodging the assault by throwing up dozens of new sites simultaneously. This kept the trackers busy and ensured that some of the sites survived, while empty pages were promptly replaced. But as al Qaeda’s cyber wizards got better at keeping its presence on the Net for longer periods, so too did Western counter-attackers at knocking them down. Now Bin Laden’s cyber legions are fighting back. The electronic war they have declared could cause considerable trouble on the world’s Internet.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/31/bin-ladens-followers-planning-electronic-jihad-cyber-terror-attack-on-1111/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Anybody got a small boat? Protect the maritime homeland!

Small boats seen as a terror threat
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The nation's 17 million small boats are facing increased scrutiny from the Homeland Security Department, which fears they could be used in a nuclear attack or a lethal explosion at a U.S. port.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this month that he had ordered agency leaders to "raise the protection level with respect to small boats." Attacks this decade by terrorists ramming bomb-filled speedboats into a U.S. battleship and a French tanker are worrisome, Chertoff said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-30-boatterror_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Postal/Shipping Sector:

Postal officials seek those behind explosive device in Northville. The U.S. Postal Inspections Service is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to those responsible for a package containing an explosive device. The package was placed in a collection box on October 30 in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. At the post office, the bomb squad disarmed the parcel with a water cannon. Officials are testing the package for fingerprints or DNA. Source: http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071031/NEWS01/3103

[Adlerian Thinker]

Anyone a health care professional?

Health system found unready for terror. The nation’s public health system is not prepared to handle the mass casualties that would result from an act of terrorism, according to a study released yesterday. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, a New York think tank that provides advice to doctors and hospitals, found that funds are insufficient to develop an effective response to a disaster. “We tend to think of such large-scale disasters as one-off events, yet a major disaster has occurred every week on average in the U.S. for the past 10 years,” said a rep from PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The American public is relying on a fragmented medical system to miraculously mount a swift, well-orchestrated response. Until further planning takes place, we should not be surprised if the system fails next time,” he said. In the six years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Congress spent $7.7 billion on disaster-preparedness initiatives by public health agencies. Those funds are not just shrinking, they are going in the wrong direction, according to the report. Specifically, hospital preparedness funding has declined steadily -- dropping to $766 million in 2006 from more than $850 million in 2005 -- while funding for the national stockpile of emergency medicines doubled to about $620 million in 2007. Current funding levels allow eligible hospitals to receive federal grants of up to $82,500 this year. Hospitals that receive the money are expected to arrange a communications system, a bed-tracking system and an evacuation plan, among other requirements. But hospital officials responding to the report said bringing their facilities into compliance with federal
standards linked to the grants is too difficult. Source: http://www.emsresponder.com/web/online/Top-EMS-News/Health-System-Found-Unready-for-Terror/1$6456

[Adlerian Thinker]

Emergency Services Sector:

Bomb scare on Durham St. At 12:50am officers responded to a report of two loud explosions or guns shots in Rochester, New York. Upon arrival, officers noticed smoke in the air but no obvious signs of fire. Two explosive devices were found in the immediate area. As a precaution, two homes were evacuated and the neighborhood quarantined. Bomb squad personnel responded to the scene and secured the devices. There were no injuries reported. Source: http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S241848.shtml?cat=566

[Adlerian Thinker]

What was this all about?

Monroe Pa.- Homemade Explosive Discovered On I-80 Clarion Exit Ramp

October 30, 2007

The Clarion exit of Interstate 80 was shut down for nearly four hours Monday after PennDOT workers discovered what appeared to be a homemade explosive device along the eastbound off-ramp to Route 68 around 11 a.m., state police said.
The device was a liquid filled plastic bottle with batteries attached using duct tape and wires leading between the batteries and the liquid, police said. A state police explosives unit from Harrisburg was flown in to the scene and the Erie Bomb Squad also responded to the scene, police said.

The explosives units worked to detonate the device, but the device failed to detonate and was collected as evidence, police said. Clarion Fire Department and Clarion Hospital Ambulance personnel assisted at the scene as well. The roadway was reopened to traffic at 2:45 p.m., police said.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/10/30/monroe-pa-homemade-explosive-discovered-on-i-80-clarion-exit-ramp/

[vinman33]

Here in the heartland, they are still in FFA, Campus Life, 4-H, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, and various other organizations.

We even have Civil Air Patrols, and are starting a Young Firefighters course at our high school.

Opportunities are still there, and I would like to see how reality stacks up to perception.

I was in Civil Air Patrol and AF ROTC in California when I was in High School back in the late 70's. I got HAZED like you wouldn't believe from the rest of the kids.

Here's the problem as I see it (and I see it up close): Too much X-Box, not enough youth involvement. Too much listening to agenda-filled, anti-conservative teachers than listening to the entire truth. Mostly, not enough of 'em have gotten a BLOODY FRICKIN' NOSE and then got mad about it, GOOD AND MAD, FOR A LONG TIME. During and post WWII, people were TICKED. EVERYBODY contributed, including the kids. They were told to by their parent(s), and quite literally, they didn't have much choice (back then, if you DIDN'T support the war effort, you were ostracized).

Nowadays kids might get mad, but then they get over it and want things to go back to the "easy living" they had before the event that got 'em mad. People are way, way, WAY too insulated from what's going on in the real world outside our borders, and they have no idea how good they have it and what our military volunteers do in the headlines and behind the scenes to keep them safe: they take it all for granted. In fact, they think they're ENTITLED to it. THAT'S the problem.

Off the soapbox now...

[Adlerian Thinker]

Some airport security issues:

Men With Concealed Knives and Razor Blades Arrested at Georgia Airport

November 1, 2007

TSA makes second “catch” in two days.

Authorities are investigating why two men, both Indian Nationals, tried to sneak knives and other weapons onto a flight from Atlanta to New York.

One of the men even made it through security and onto the Delta Air Lines flight. Both have been charged with state violations of carrying concealed weapons, according to an Atlanta police report.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said Thursday federal agents interviewed the two men through an interpreter and determined the incident was not terrorism related. He declined to explain why the men had the knives. Federal authorities did not press charges and the case is being handled by local officials, Emmett said.

Authorities surrounded Chhaganbhai Patel, 60, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Oct. 25 after he was found with a number of knives including a martial arts-style knife.

“The knife was a large Chinese-style fighting knife,” Atlanta police Lt. Jim Corlino told Atlanta television station WAGA. “It opened on both ends and it had blades that opened on both ends.”

Authorities also found 20 small knives wrapped in tin foil. And upon searching Patel’s bag three more times, they found razor blades hidden in the battery compartment of a toy car.

“It was an intentional concealment,” Corlino said.

Shakarabhai Patel, 64, who was traveling with Chhaganbhai Patel had already made it through security and onto the flight, which was bound for New York and then to India. Officials did not immediately indicate the relationship between the two men.

Authorities could not immediately provide the men’s citizenship.

The plane was brought back to the gate and police said they found a box cutter and $5,000 cash in the second man’s bag.

Jon Allen, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the arrests illustrate the agency’s practice of having multiple layers of security.

“One of those layers is professionally trained officers who through their questioning identified the travel companion,” Allen said. “The travel companion was removed from the flight and rescreened and that’s when that box cutter was identified.”
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/01/men-with-concealed-knives-and-razor-blades-arrested-at-georgia-airport/

[Adlerian Thinker]

A dry run, or an actual attempt?

Suspicious Package Triggers Lockdown At Palo Verde Nuclear Power Station

November 2, 2007

The Palo Verde Nuclear Power Station has been locked down for investigation, however officials say there’s no immediate threat to public safety. The incident this morning is being described as an “unusual event,” which is the lowest of four emergency categories the plant can declare.

A contract worker with the Nuclear Generating Station triggered the lockdown when he showed up with a suspicious package inside his vehicle, authorities said.

The incident reportedly involves a suspicious-looking pipe inside the worker’s truck.

“This is not a threat to the public,” said Jim McDonald, a spokesman for plant operator Arizona Public Service Co. “If it had the potential to be, the security guards stopped it.”

Security guards working for the utility armed with automatic weapons check identification and search under the hood of vehicles entering the plant.

“I don’t know what they saw or why they were uncomfortable with it,” McDonald said.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Doug Matteson said the worker was stopped because of a suspicious package in the vehicle.

Sheriff’s deputies were called, but McDonald could not say whether the worker was taken into custody.

The contract worker does not specifically work at Palo Verde but has been on site to do a job that the plant contracted with another company, 12 News reports. The inspection checkpoint is at least a half mile from the actual plant.

More than 3,000 people are working at the plant now, including several hundred contract workers brought in to help with upgrades on one of the three nuclear reactors.

UPDATE:

Preliminary test indicate an explosive device has been found in a vehicle trying to enter the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant west of Phoenix.

Officials from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office tell ABC15 a contract worker who has access to the plant drove through the entrance gate, but was stopped when security spotted a device that looked like a pipe bomb.

Investigators say the man usually drives a motorcycle to work, but today took a white truck to the plant.

Crews are now analyzing the device, and have detained the man.

Schools in the area were briefly locked down, but have since been released to regular schedules.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/02/suspicious-package-triggers-lockdown-at-palo-verde-nuclear-power-station/

[Adlerian Thinker]

The "I am a Muslim" defense:

The name of Islam has been invoked as a defense in many American court cases, but why? Is the goal to impose Shar-ia law, ultimately, on the rest of us? FSM Contributing Editor Jeff Breinholt reports fascinating strategic intelligence and insight, as revealed in our own law library.

Trying to Instill Islamic Law?
(Part One of Two)
By Jeffrey Breinholt

When you look into Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman’s eyes, you see nothing. It’s not because of the darkness in his soul, though some may claim that’s the case. Rather, it’s because he’s blind. This physical infirmity led American lawyers to claim that he was incapable of conspiring to wage war on the United States, by orchestrating an audacious plot to destroy simultaneously several New York City landmarks in the 1990s. His lawyers chose to ignore conspiracy law, which permits prosecutors to reach anyone who is party to the illegal agreement. Sheik Rahman was right in the middle of it. If he and his cohorts had succeeded, it is likely that the death count would have exceeded 9/11. They were caught before the killing started, through the help of an undercover informant. Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted.

His defense was not limited to his physical disability. It reached into a bag of tricks Americans sometimes fall for - involving religious freedom. During his trial and in his appeal, Sheik Rahman argued that the seditious conspiracy statute violated the First Amendment, in that it unconstitutionally infringed on his free speech and the free exercise of religion. Fortunately, the judge in the case, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, knew better.

Judge Mukasey realized that the evidence justifying Abdel Rahman's conviction for conspiracy and solicitation showed that he was doing more than just preaching, and his speeches were not simply the expression of ideas. For example Abdel Rahman told one of his adherents he "should make up with God ... by turning his rifle's barrel to Egyptian President Mubarak's chest, and kill[ing] him." On another occasion, speaking to an adherent about murdering President Mubarak during his visit to the United States, Abdel Rahman told him, "Depend on God. Carry out this operation. It does not require a fatwa ... You are ready in training, but do it. Go ahead."
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1385160

[Adlerian Thinker]

The "I am a Muslim" defense is often easy to spot, but the bigger challenge is identifying it when the signs are more subtle. Are these cases of courtroom jihad? FSM Contributing Editor Jeff Breinholt explores the questions and the cases.

The “I am a Muslim” Defense:

Trying to Instill Islamic Law?
(Part Two of Two)
By Jeffrey Breinholt

-- In Part One, I discussed how the name of Islam has been invoked as a defense by Muslim defendants in many American court cases, perhaps in an effort to establish Shari’-ah law in this country. In today’s piece, I will outline how witnesses have sought this defense as well.

Islam has sometimes been invoked by witnesses who sought to avoid testifying against their fellow Muslims, and these claims have been going on for years.

When Charles Johnson killed his wife in New York in the mid-1980s, the first thing he did was go to the mosque to seek the protection of his fellow Muslims. They took him to see a lawyer. Later, he claimed what he described to them constituted privileged communications in an attempt to bar them from testifying. People v. Johnson, 115 A.D.2d 973, 497 N.Y.S.2d 539, N.Y.A.D. 4 Dept., 1985

In the murder prosecution of John Henry Britt in Oklahoma City in the 1980s, a witness named John Wesley Phillips refused to testify at trial, claiming it would violate his principles as a Black Muslim. The trial court allowed the prosecution to use Phillips' statement at preliminary hearing, contained in an official court transcript, in lieu of his live testimony at trial. Britt claimed that the decision by the court to allow it was prejudicial error. Britt v. State, 721 P.2d 812, 1986 OK CR 99, Okla.Crim.App.1986.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1385173

[Adlerian Thinker]

A fellow Hoosier engaging in some domestic terror planning?

Authorities: Postal Worker had bomb-making materials. A postal worker was arrested on October 27 after conservation officers found bomb-making materials, guns, marijuana and other illegally possessed items on his rural Carroll County property in Indiana. According to a Department of Natural Resources conservation officer, the postal worker “stepped over the line of being an avid gun collector when he allegedly began manufacturing various bombs and explosive devices.” Investigators believe that several of the items, “including a thermal sight imager designed for a TOW missile and various pieces of body armor,” were taken unlawfully from the U.S. military; the man in question is a U.S. Army veteran. Officers also found in the home, “numerous pieces of anti-government propaganda representing his belief that the (Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist) attacks were organized by the United States government.” It is unknown what was intended with the weaponry and bomb-making materials. Source: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/14475721/detail.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Transportation Sector:

Bomb scare shuts down interstate. On Wednesday, a truck driver found a suspicious looking device, which had wires, red lights and a countdown timer, but no explosive material, in Hamilton County, Ohio. The device, which was located along Safety Way, forced the closure of Interstate 75 in both directions, as well as closing Lockland elementary, middle school and high schools, a factory and several homes. Officials are not certain if the bomb was intended as a joke or something more serious. Police have no suspects so far.
Source: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NEWS01/711010368

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the University Sector:

University of Washington Law School On High Alert After Threats

November 6, 2007

We received an email from an employee at UW today and apparently this threat is being taken quite seriously.

Threats against the University of Washington law school and its students have campus police on high alert and law students on the lookout.

The first sign of tightened security: signs on the door that say that nobody but students, staff or faculty are allowed in the William H. Gates building.

Campus police are checking the university ID’s of everyone who enters the law school after graffiti threats were scrawled on a wall last week. The threats were both against the school and law school students.

Police won’t describe exactly what the graffiti said or where it was left, but reportedly the threats indicated they’d be carried out in November.

“I’m trying not to get too scared but I’d like to see a little bit stronger security measures taken,” said law student Alena Cesterman.

Some 700 students attend the school, and police say the threats weren’t against any individual student but the school as a whole.

The dean plans to keep security tight until the threat blows over. A police officer will be in the building lobby for the foreseeable future.

So far, no suspects have been interviewed and police haven’t determined if the threat was a joke, or serious. So they’re asking everyone to watch for anything suspicious.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/06/university-of-washington-law-school-on-high-alert-after-threats/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Terrorists among us:

New York Suspect Causes Terror Concern

November 5, 2007

Akhtar Hussain Muawia was wanted in connection with the assassination of a Shiite leader in Pakistan, he is purported to have illegally entered the United States and was working as grocery store clerk. Investigators believe he has ties to a purported militant terror group and in 2004 he was caught with someone in his truck taking photos of the support structure of the Brooklyn Bridge.

What is he doing now? He’s fighting deportation and his attorney has denied he was involved in the killing or any acts of terrorism.

—————

A follower of an Islamic militant group caused a previously undisclosed scare in 2004 when someone in his truck took mobile phone photos of the support structures of the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges, a police official said.

The New York Police Department uncovered the suspected reconnaissance mission in Manhattan while investigators already were on alert that Pakistani immigrants loyal to the radical Sunni group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, were in the city “and possibly up to no good,” said Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman.

The spokesman detailed the bridge episode in response to a report on Friday in the Daily News that the NYPD was involved in the detention of a member of the group who is purportedly wanted in Pakistan for the assassination of a Shiite leader.

The NYPD has credited one of its intelligence analysts with piecing together evidence that the suspect, Akhtar Hussain Muawia, had used an alias to slip into the United States after the 1997 assassination and was working as a clerk at a grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York.

Muawia, 33, was detained in May and is fighting deportation. His attorney has denied he was involved in the killing or any acts of terrorism.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/05/new-york-suspect-causes-terror-concern/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Another from the Transportation Sector. Connect the dots. Something odd is going on here....

Bomb found, detonated; I-5 closed several hours. On Friday, bomb-arson investigators detonated a pipe bomb that was found in a backpack on the side of Interstate 5 near La Jolla Village Drive, in San Diego, California. The bomb was left on the side of the freeway Tuesday by a man, who later confessed and led investigators to the place where he placed it. A search for more explosives in his Oceanside home on Dunes Place came up empty. Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071103-9999-1m3pubsafe.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

This is just felony stupid. :rolleyes:

Unknown spray sickens Calif. students. Two students sprayed a noxious gas in the main hallway of a Lodi, California high school, sickening 43 students and sending six to the hospital. Police arrested the two students, ages 16 and 17, who told authorities they found the unmarked aerosol can while trick-or-treating on Halloween. Investigators are not sure what was in it.
Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5idXxY1NwMTVKuYa_1Z14KbergyXwD8SLQI5O1

[Losertarian]

In the AAW Forum, we have often spoken of our wonderful troops, and the job they are doing in defending us from terror.

Yet I have seen very little talk of what we can do. Yes, us home folk who aren't wearing cammo, or toting military issue weaponry. (If you are, please don't tell me about it! LOL)

What can regular citizens do?

I wanted to start a thread to discuss it.

Here are some ideas:
1) InfraGard - a private, not-for-profit group sponsored by the FBI that is tasked with protecting 17 sectors of critical infrastructure as indentified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)
2) LEPC Committees - Local Emergency Planning Committees are under the aegis of the state DHS. They have to do with hazardous materials safety.
3) School Safety Commissions/Committees - Some states mandate such committees to help schools develop school safety plans

Info will be given on each. What are some things you can do in your neck of the woods?

We all have a vested interest in protecting our homeland.



defending our own citizens from terror??

how about issueing teacher and school administrators firearms for defense of our students, since the police have no duty to protect them, why not our teachers and such. if not that, then allow ordinary law abiding citizens to CCW inside schools themselves.

[Adlerian Thinker]

defending our own citizens from terror??

how about issueing teacher and school administrators firearms for defense of our students, since the police have no duty to protect them, why not our teachers and such. if not that, then allow ordinary law abiding citizens to CCW inside schools themselves.

As a man who can, and is qualified to use a firearm, I shudder at the idea of many of my colleagues being given weapons. They will crap themselves and shoot through the ceiling before they shoot an intruder.

To issue a weapon to staff member, you would need to train said staff member, and provide refresher training and certification. Liability insurance will go out the wazzoo (No, I don't know what a wazzoo is! :naughty:) Not to mention tactical training for said staff member to be able to use their weapon under stress.

Many teachers and administrators have enough on their plates as it is. To get around the federal law that prohibits guns in school property, you would need to essentially deputize the staff members who want to pack.

By the way, it is the duty of the police to protect and serve teachers and students.

Civilians with weapons led to a goat screw at Beslan. Those armed civilians shot as many Spetsnaz and hostages as the terrorists did.

[Losertarian]

As a man who can, and is qualified to use a firearm, I shudder at the idea of many of my colleagues being given weapons. They will crap themselves and shoot through the ceiling before they shoot an intruder.

To issue a weapon to staff member, you would need to train said staff member, and provide refresher training and certification. Liability insurance will go out the wazzoo (No, I don't know what a wazzoo is! :naughty:) Not to mention tactical training for said staff member to be able to use their weapon under stress.

Many teachers and administrators have enough on their plates as it is. To get around the federal law that prohibits guns in school property, you would need to essentially deputize the staff members who want to pack.

By the way, it is the duty of the police to protect and serve teachers and students.

Civilians with weapons led to a goat screw at Beslan. Those armed civilians shot as many Spetsnaz and hostages as the terrorists did.


fine, train them and if they refuse to CCW then replace them with teachers that would do CCW, and remember to fire them and get rid of their retirements as well.

[Justice]

The American Trucking Association and DHS also have a Highway Watch program (http://www.highwaywatch.com/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=hwwhome&WebKey=7ec8fdc6-f52f-4403-8d10-1f81418a2446).

[Adlerian Thinker]

fine, train them and if they refuse to CCW then replace them with teachers that would do CCW, and remember to fire them and get rid of their retirements as well.

Let me know how that works out for you.

I do NOT want a person who doesn't want to carry to carry.

Know what I mean?

[Adlerian Thinker]

The American Trucking Association and DHS also have a Highway Watch program (http://www.highwaywatch.com/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=hwwhome&WebKey=7ec8fdc6-f52f-4403-8d10-1f81418a2446).

Good! Are you a member?

[Justice]

Good! Are you a member?

My husband is but I don't work in any of the industries it includes. I have learned a lot from him, which makes me more aware of my local area, and persons, things, or vehicles that are out of place. It's good to teach kids to always be aware of their surroundings, for their personal safety as well as that of the community/country.

Edit: I'm not big on huge agencies like DHS, but I think some of the awareness programs are good. I also agree with L-tarian that people should be able and willing to protect themsevles and not wait on gov't to do it.

[Losertarian]

Let me know how that works out for you.

I do NOT want a person who doesn't want to carry to carry.

Know what I mean?



I know this, if they do not want our childrens best interests in their hearts, then they should not be teaching them either.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Energy Sector. Terrorism doesn't just look like a Middle Eastern man.

Man Gets 30 Years In Terror Plot To Blow Up Pipelines

November 6, 2007

A former Wilkes-Barre resident who was found guilty of attempted terrorist activity was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday.

Michael Curtis Reynolds, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik. Reynolds was found guilty in July on four counts of attempted terrorist activity and of two counts of illegal hand grenade possession.

Reynolds attempted to assist al-Qaida in obtaining weapons and material support over a three-month span in 2005.

“Since Sept. 11, 2001, the first priority of all law enforcement agencies has been to prevent future acts of terror on our homeland,” acting U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson said in a prepared statement. “Today’s sentencing constitutes a triumph of the rule of law over those who would use terror against nations.”

Authorities believe Reynolds planned to blow up targets such as the Transcontinental Pipeline, a natural-gas pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast to New York and New Jersey, as well as the Alaskan pipeline.

Reynolds was arrested on Dec. 5, 2005, when FBI officials surrounded an Idaho rest stop where Reynolds tried to retrieve a bag filled with $40,000 that was promised by someone Reynolds thought was an al-Qaida contact. The contact was part of an FBI sting operation to catch Reynolds.

During the investigation the FBI tracked explosives to a storage locker in Wilkes-Barre.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/06/man-gets-30-years-in-terror-plot-to-blow-up-pipelines/

[Adlerian Thinker]

My husband is but I don't work in any of the industries it includes. I have learned a lot from him, which makes me more aware of my local area, and persons, things, or vehicles that are out of place. It's good to teach kids to always be aware of their surroundings, for their personal safety as well as that of the community/country.

Truer words were never spoken.

Edit: I'm not big on huge agencies like DHS, but I think some of the awareness programs are good. I also agree with L-tarian that people should be able and willing to protect themsevles and not wait on gov't to do it.

People should be willing and able to protect themselves. But when you get kids into schools, with hundreds of parents I can't trust with my life, why would I trust them with the life of my child by allowing them to carry, when they may not have demonstrated the skills to do so?

[Adlerian Thinker]

I know this, if they do not want our childrens best interests in their hearts, then they should not be teaching them either.

My priest has my child's best interests at heart. I don't want my priest packing a gun.

You can want a child's best interest at heart, and not be capable of shooting a gun in defense of another.

[Justice]

Truer words were never spoken.



People should be willing and able to protect themselves. But when you get kids into schools, with hundreds of parents I can't trust with my life, why would I trust them with the life of my child by allowing them to carry, when they may not have demonstrated the skills to do so?

Mine was more of a general statement, not so much an argument for arming school staff. I would like to see a lot more *knowledgeable and able* people armed though...

[Adlerian Thinker]

Mine was more of a general statement, not so much an argument for arming school staff. I would like to see a lot more *knowledgeable and able* people armed though...

As would I.

I would be all for a caveat in the current laws against guns in schools that would encourage staff members who are qualified to carry, or to provide LEO status to such staff members who volunteer to meet the requirements.

It's just not a good idea to mandate it.

[news_corp]

we dont need guns, its not the wild west or the ok coral..

we should turn our guns over to the state.

[RickRhetoric]

If you be a Democrat and want to defend the homeland, you can sign up to join the Commissar's Commission and People's Block Committee for the Defense of the Socialist Revolution (CCPBCDSR). Contact either yo Mama or Obama for additional details regarding this mesmerisingly exciting organization.

www.ccpbcdsr.org

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html

[Rhonda]

we dont need guns, its not the wild west or the ok coral..

we should turn our guns over to the state.

I hope you are being sarcastic

[Losertarian]

we dont need guns, its not the wild west or the ok coral..

we should turn our guns over to the state.



then why not become a quisling like you are. you can have my guns when you pry them out of my dead hands, and my neighbors hand, and most of the people who live within 30 miles of me too.

[Adlerian Thinker]

International terrorism? Meet domestic crime.

12 Arrested In Counter-terrorism and Drug-trafficking Investigation

November 8, 2007

What do hip-hop, Hezbollah and meth have in common? More than you might think…

A dozen people were arrested Tuesday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles downtown garment district.

The focus of the federal investigation was Ali Khalil Elreda, 32, who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last year, accused of trying to smuggle $120,000 in money orders and cashiers checks, hidden in a childs toy, to Lebanon, according to an indictment and an affidavit filed in the case.

Authorities also said they recovered 30 kilograms of cocaine and counterfeit clothing worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Elreda’s siblings are charged in one complaint with trafficking in counterfeit goods at a store called Hip Hop Connections.

A second complaint accuses Elreda and seven others of conspiring to distribute cocaine. A third complaint accuses Saleh of trafficking in counterfeit goods through his store, Star City A & H in the city’s garment district. A fourth complaint accuses two others of conspiring to traffic in cocaine.

In 2005, a Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department official showed a Senate committee a picture of a tattooed shop owner who had been arrested the year before on charges of selling counterfeit high-fashion merchandise. The tattoo was a symbol of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrillas operating in Lebanon.

In his testimony, Lt. John Stedman, a top supervisor in the departments emergency operations bureau, did not identify the shop owner. Stedman was not involved in the most recent investigation.

But two law enforcement sources said Tuesday that the merchant was Elreda.

Elreda and Hussein Saleh Saleh, 37, both of Bell, were charged in one of two indictments returned in the case with conspiring to smuggle cash out of the United States.

Five years ago, in an interview with The Times, Asa Hutchinson, then the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said authorities were examining dozens of domestic drug cases with potential links to Islamic terrorists, including a methamphetamine ring allegedly tied to Hezbollah.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/08/12-arrested-in-counter-terrorism-and-drug-trafficking-investigation/

[Adlerian Thinker]

This ought to make you feel all warm and cozy:

O’Hare Airport Security Breach - Over 100 Fake Security Badges, 23 Arrested

November 8, 2007

Federal and local law enforcement agents raided several warehouses Wednesday at O’Hare International Airport and arrested 24 workers who were allegedly in the country illegally and using phony security badges for jobs on the tarmac, cargo areas and other restricted zones.

Also arrested Wednesday in a probe federal authorities said “identified national security vulnerabilities” were two company managers at Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc., a temporary employment agency in Bensenville. The firm allegedly hired the workers and provided them with deactivated airport security badges that allowed them to work at O’Hare, immigration officials said. Ideal Staffing managers also knowingly allowed workers to lie about their identities on airport security applications, officials alleged. They said they’re still investigating whether there are more related security risks at the airport.

One report indicates more than 100 workers at have been found with fake security passes.

Authorities said 110 of the badges issued to a contracting company did not match their owners.

Of those arrested, 21 are from Mexico and two from Guatemala, the Associated Press new agency reported.

The case concerns workers employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions, which contracted work for carriers including United Airlines, KLM and Qantas.

Applications for the 110 fake badges used social security numbers that did not exist or belonged to other people, some of them dead.

One worker is said to have told investigators he was asked to rummage through a box of about 20 airport security passes and pick one with a picture that looked like him.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/08/ohare-airport-security-breach-over-100-fake-security-badges-23-arrested/

[noose4]

In large liberal cities there is not much one can do but move:frown:

and those are the places that are targeted, 9/11 did not happen in salt lake city.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the University Sector:
Columbus State student from Ala. arrested for bomb threats. A Columbus State University student from Alabama has been arrested for making bomb threats against the school in Columbus, Georgia and having guns in his pickup truck. One of the bomb threats prompted the evacuation of an office building at the school Friday, university police said. In the pickup truck belonging to the arrested student, officers found two rifles, a shotgun, a small handgun, a compound bow, three bottles of alcohol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. A bomb squad dog checked both the student and his truck, but found no indication of explosives. Source: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/11/06/bombthreat_1106.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the IT Sector:

Is your phone catching a virus? Just when you were getting the hang of protecting your computer from viruses, they must have sneezed and found your cell phone. One in every 10 phones is now capable of handling data and messaging. That means it’s become easy and lucrative for hackers to attack cell phones. And the dangers are just as real. From 2004 to 2006, the number of phone viruses doubled every month. According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They’ll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone’s system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that’s not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007. The viruses can cause crashes, unstable or slower-than-usual performance, quick battery consumption, incorrect or skyrocketing mobile phone bills, and dramatic increases in messaging charges. But the latest and most sophisticated crop is what’s called “pranking for profit.” This can involve things like redirecting your calls to a different carrier in a different country, or sending MMS messages to everyone in your contact directory, leaving you with enormous extra charges. Suspect a virus if a phone starts behaving badly, if contacts and calendar entries start to disappear, or if strange charges start to appear. Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/raskin/14640

[Adlerian Thinker]

And now for something completely different: The TOY Sector

"Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy sold by Australia-based Moose Enterprises, are beads that can be arranged into designs and fused when sprayed with water. The toy was pulled from shelves in North American and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a dangerous drug when eaten. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound — made from common and easily available ingredients — can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071108/ap_on_re_us/toys_date_rape_drug_33

[AvgGuyIA]

I plan to watch VERY CLOSELY anyone who wears a towel for suspicious activity unless they're just getting out of the shower at the YMCA.

[Adlerian Thinker]

I plan to watch VERY CLOSELY anyone who wears a towel for suspicious activity unless they're just getting out of the shower at the YMCA.

In which case the cops will be called..... :))

[Adlerian Thinker]

FBI: Al Qaeda may strike U.S. shopping malls in LA, Chicago. The F.B.I. is warning that al Qaeda may be preparing a series of holiday attacks on U.S. shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an intelligence report distributed to law enforcement authorities across the country Thursday morning. The alert said al Qaeda “hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and has been planning the attack for the past two years.” The bulletin acknowledges that U.S. intelligence officers are uncertain that information is real, and intelligence officers say there is a concern that it could be “disinformation.” Though law enforcement officials at three different agencies told ABC News the F.B.I. alert was based on a source who has proved reliable in the past, that source reportedly had only “indirect access” to al Qaeda and word of the actual threat came “through a lengthy chain” of contacts. A Department of Homeland Security official said: “We have no credible, specific information suggesting an imminent attack.”
Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/exclusive-fbi-a.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

A thread was started on this, but it also belongs here:

FBI: Terrorists moving toward greater use of WMDs, attacks on soft targets. Radical Islamists who have failed in efforts to hit traditional military and diplomatic targets are increasingly eyeing so-called “soft targets,” and could be moving toward greater use of chemical and biological weapons, reads “Terrorism 2002-2005,” a new terrorism threat report released by the F.B.I. on Wednesday. For instance, the report says Al Qaeda is looking increasingly at targeting market places, subways and other civilian sites. Those attacks are increasingly being carried out by trainees, who set out to pursue their own regional agendas. The latest evidence of this trend was demonstrated Tuesday in the arrest of 20 people across Europe accused of recruiting suicide bombers. Italian police who led the investigation said the recruits were being trained to go into Afghanistan and Iraq; investigators found explosives, detonation devices, various poisons and manuals on guerrilla warfare.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309221,00.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

Do you have a JTTF in your area?

Unnoticed By Tourists Las Vegas Joint Terrorism Task Force Shadows Suspicious Visitors
November 9, 2007
We’re in Las Vegas this week attending the Blog World Expo, so the timing of this story could not have been better.

Targeting and tracking terrorists or possible terrorists in any large metropolitan city is a formidable task. Doing it in Las Vegas and doing it well takes an extraordinary effort. John L. Smith, a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal provides a brief glimpse of the Las Vegas Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and their work in “the city that never sleeps”.

Investigating possible terrorist subjects without interrupting the celebration is one of the challenges faced by the people assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a cooperative effort combining agents and investigators from the FBI, Metro and several other law enforcement agencies. A recent surveillance of two suspicious men from London gives insight into the JTTFs efforts, which rarely surface publicly due to the nature of its business.

Heres some of what Ive been able to confirm: Two adult males of Middle Eastern heritage arrived in Las Vegas recently from London during the Islamic observance of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar during which daylight fasting and other religious devotions are observed. During their visit, the mens behavior attracted the attention of JTTF, and around-the-clock surveillance ensued. During that time, the visitors were watched as they visited the Bellagio and Hard Rock Hotel. The visitors also snapped photographs of several Strip properties.

They were followed throughout their stay and out to McCarran International Airport, where they were stopped and consented to be interviewed by investigators. Following the interview, they boarded their flight and returned to London.

Their actions “increased our level of concern,” Metro Assistant Sheriff Mike McClary says.

“It is challenging,” he adds. “Probably a large percentage of people who come to visit every weekend take pictures.”

But independent sources confirm it wasn’t just the photography that increased the law enforcement scrutiny. Whether they were simply quirky tourists or genuine persons of interest to anti-terrorist investigators is unclear, and McClary declined to elaborate. Whats certain is their actions generated a substantial surveillance effort to ensure their presence here wasn’t threatening.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/09/unnoticed-by-tourists-las-vegas-joint-terrorism-task-force-shadows-suspicious-visitors/

[abregar]

I would like to add to this if you dont mind. One of the things, or changes I have noticed in todays America, is the complete and almost total lack of the younger generations to get involved in their communities. It seems to me that the 18 to 35 year old group that should be involved in the various community functions and orginizations, are mysteriously absent. That sets a horrid example for the kids comming up. Sad.
PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITY, THEY NEED YOU!

Cav, I am a 30 year old man in Central Iowa. I have attempted to get involved in my area for years. A problem that I run into is that the older generations refuse to take us seriously. They seem to view us as kids still with nothing to contribute. I feel that this also plays a large role in my age group not participationg in the community.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Information Technology Sector:

Is the Chinese Government involved?

Update: Maxtor drives contain password-stealing Trojans. Seagate Technology LLC has shipped Maxtor disk drives that contain Trojan horses that upload data to a pair of Chinese Web sites, the Taiwanese government’s security service warned this weekend. The Investigation Bureau said it suspected mainland China’s authorities were responsible for planting the malware on the drives at the factory. “The bureau said that the method of attack was unusual, adding that it suspected Chinese authorities were involved,” a story posted by the English-language Taipei Times reported Sunday. Seagate confirmed Monday that some Maxtor Basics 3200 drives were infected out of the box, but the company said it had no proof that the Chinese government was involved. According to the newspaper, about 1,800 Seagate-made drives left a Thailand facility with a pair of Trojan horses preinstalled. The two Trojans, said the Investigation Bureau, “phone home” to a pair of Web sites hosted in Beijing and report all data recorded on the compromised drive. Seagate, however, countered that the only data captured by the on-disk Trojans and sent to the Chinese Web sites were game-related passwords. Internet records show that both sites -- www.nice8.org and www.we168.org -- were registered with XinNet.cn, one of China’s largest domain registrars. Much of the registration information, however, including the contact name and mailing address, appears to be bogus. The Investigation Bureau identified the infected drives as 500GB models and has demanded that the Taiwanese distributor pull all units from shelves. Of the 1,800 drives reportedly malware-equipped, 1,500 have been removed from the sales channel. The remainder had already been sold. For those customers Seagate will post a 60-day trial version of Kaspersky Labs’ antivirus software on its Web site. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9046424&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top

[Adlerian Thinker]

It may sound strange, but read it through!

Video-Games & Public Diplomacy: Aaron Mannes in the NY Sun

Today's New York Sun has an op-ed I co-authored with my boss, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies director, V.S. Subrahmanian on incorporating video games into the war of ideas against Islamist extremism.

Gaming: Tactical Advantage

BY AARON MANNES AND VENKATRAMANAN SUBRAHMANIAN
November 14, 2007

When Hezbollah released the second version of its video game "Special Force" in August, it demonstrated, yet again, how quickly terrorist groups have taken advantage of technology in order to propagate their worldview. While America dominates the fastgrowing multi-billion dollar video game industry, there has not yet been an effort to develop video games that counter Islamist extremism.

"Special Force 2" updates the 2002 video game with scenarios based on last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah: players kidnap Israeli soldiers, fire missiles at an Israeli gunboat, and launch Katyusha rockets into Israel. When the game was released a Hezbollah press official, Sheikh Ali Dahir, described it as a recruiting tool stating, "The Lebanese child has the right to know what happened in the south so as to imitate the jihadist action and the act of liberating the land."

Mr. Dahir also showed Hezbollah's sophisticated understanding of communications when he described "Special Force" as "an alternative to the Western patterns that are presented to us in names, language, and tones that are sometimes devoid of content and at other times for not so innocent aims."
http://terrorwonk.blogspot.com/2007/11/video-games-public-diplomacy-aaron.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

Pipe bombs are becoming the retaliation weapon of choice:

Pipe Bomb Incident In Orange Texas - Man Arrested
November 17, 2007
Near the end of the article several locations are listed that police “don’t” believe were the intended targets of the man with the bomb. Here’s a clue as to what may have been… The initial call to police was a report of a man with an explosive device at Home Depot (suspects former employer).
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/17/pipe-bomb-incident-in-orange-texas-man-arrested/

[Rhonda]

http://terrorwonk.blogspot.com/2007/11/video-games-public-diplomacy-aaron.html

I do wish someone would develope a vidoe game that I could enjoy:mrgreen:

When Hezbollah released the second version of its video game "Special Force" in August, it demonstrated, yet again, how quickly terrorist groups have taken advantage of technology in order to propagate their worldview. While America dominates the fastgrowing multi-billion dollar video game industry, there has not yet been an effort to develop video games that counter Islamist extremism

Although CoD4 may help in that area

[Adlerian Thinker]

I do wish someone would develope a vidoe game that I could enjoy:mrgreen:



Although CoD4 may help in that area

For the non-PC, there is "CRUSADER".

[Rhonda]

For the non-PC, there is "CRUSADER".

snicker :mrgreen:

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Chemical Industry Sector:

Chemical reaction bombs found. Chemical reaction bombs were found in Utica, New York over the weekend. Police say they found the bombs after several people called to complain about explosions in the area. Local railroad tracks and streets were closed until the bombs were defused. State police were called in to assist. Source: http://www.news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=126924

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Transportation Sector:
This looks like a dry-run scenario.....

Bomb scare shuts down Maryland Parkway. A suspicious package shut down Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas, Nevada, and forced dozens of area employees and students from the area early Thursday. The package, which was left inside of the Wells Fargo bank branch located across from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) on Maryland Parkway, closed the road and sent employees of the bank and other surrounding businesses to the Student Union while members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police ARMOR investigated. According to the Metro spokesperson, an unidentified Asian man walked into the bank, left a bag inside of the bank and left. A bank teller noticed the bag and called authorities, who evacuated the bank and the surrounding area. Metro’s ARMOR team dispatched an investigative robot into the building and determined that the package posed no threat to the public and Maryland Parkway reopened to traffic and businesses. Source: http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/article/2007/11/19/bomb-scare-shuts-down-maryland-parkway/

[Hereintheusa]

From the Chemical Industry Sector:

Chemical reaction bombs found. Chemical reaction bombs were found in Utica, New York over the weekend. Police say they found the bombs after several people called to complain about explosions in the area. Local railroad tracks and streets were closed until the bombs were defused. State police were called in to assist. Source: http://www.news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=126924

I looked at the link and I would really like to know a bit more before I stary running for the hills. A chemical reaction bomb sounds awfully dangerous but it could have been a bunch of kids with baking soda and vinegar.

[Adlerian Thinker]

I looked at the link and I would really like to know a bit more before I stary running for the hills. A chemical reaction bomb sounds awfully dangerous but it could have been a bunch of kids with baking soda and vinegar.

More likely toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil. Perhaps even Mentos and Diet Coke.

The problem isn't a child's experiment anymore. They're becoming more prevalent, and they're being placed in problematic areas, thus the concern.

I can cause a lot of problems with an M-80 in the right place.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Here's a real problem, and why it is open season on squirrels around my place.

Damn tree rats!

Squirrels briefly kill power in 2 cities. A spokesman for Xcel Energy said a squirrel came in contact with an overhead transformer and knocked out service to 177 customers Monday in Ashland, Wisconsin. Power was fully restored in just under an hour. Coincidentally, another squirrel got into a substation 40 miles away in Ironwood, Michigan, Monday morning and caused a temporary outage that affected about 1,400 customers. The spokesman said that the utility takes many preventive steps to keep the animals away from lines, but they are one of the leading causes of outages, trailing only severe weather. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071120/ap_on_re_us/odd_squirrel_outages;_ylt=AjCP_PCpZg2eaq1oihUtk.6s 0NUE

:))

[Chinaguy]

When I have been in the check out line in our local supermarket and I have a young checker, I get talking to them and I purposely get a politically minded magazine and when they pick it up to scan it, most times if not they get a comment or two in. That is when I hit them with, "Well, Jenny, exactly what do you think it means to be an American? Do you know how many blank stares I have gotten back at me?

Your politics aside, I'm not at all sure that I would be real responsive
myself in this situation... After all, I would be trying to do my job,
quickly and accurately. I probably would be surprised that someone
would want me to stop, on my boss's time, and have a deep political
philosophical discussion with them about what it means to be an
American.

Perhaps you might let them alone to do their job and take your action
poll with people not working or that have consented to spend some
of their time discussing YOUR topic of the day.

Yes, I think it would be rather rude of someone to interrupt me at
work to discuss something not at all related to my job.

[Adlerian Thinker]

FBI and Homeland Security Watch for Lone Wolf Terrorists Leading Up To Annapolis Peace Talks

November 23, 2007

An unclassified threat assessment written by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in advance of the Middle-East peace conference at the U.S. Naval Academy on Nov. 27. has been obtained by Fox News. The document apparently points out that there are no specific terror threats to next week’s Mideast peace conference scheduled in Annapolis, Md. however; authorities will be keeping an eye out for “lone-wolf” terrorists.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/23/fbi-and-homeland-security-watch-for-lone-wolf-terrorists-leading-up-to-annapolis-peace-talks/

So it's not just terror groups, but people acting on their own. Click the link. I found the comment on the internet fueling lone-wolfs to be interesting.

[Chinaguy]

FBI and Homeland Security Watch for Lone Wolf Terrorists Leading Up To Annapolis Peace Talks

November 23, 2007

An unclassified threat assessment written by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in advance of the Middle-East peace conference at the U.S. Naval Academy on Nov. 27. has been obtained by Fox News. The document apparently points out that there are no specific terror threats to next week’s Mideast peace conference scheduled in Annapolis, Md. however; authorities will be keeping an eye out for “lone-wolf” terrorists.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/23/fbi-and-homeland-security-watch-for-lone-wolf-terrorists-leading-up-to-annapolis-peace-talks/

So it's not just terror groups, but people acting on their own. Click the link. I found the comment on the internet fueling lone-wolfs to be interesting.

My reading of it is that the gub'mnt has no information about any terrorist
attack so we should be afraid of an attack by a terrorist.

Kinda too much like the book, 1984, to suit me.

[Adlerian Thinker]

My reading of it is that the gub'mnt has no information about any terrorist
attack so we should be afraid of an attack by a terrorist.

Kinda too much like the book, 1984, to suit me.

There's a big difference between a terrorist group, and a "lone-wolf" terrorist.

I see this as the government saying, "We are prepared."

[Chinaguy]

There's a big difference between a terrorist group, and a "lone-wolf" terrorist.

I see this as the government saying, "We are prepared."

Yep. especially be wary when our government admits is has
NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER!

[Adlerian Thinker]

Summit terror threat advisory issued. Federal authorities have advised local law enforcement agencies to be alert to possible terrorism threats because of the Middle East peace conference next week in Annapolis, Maryland, Homeland Security and FBI officials said Friday. Although intelligence reports indicate no credible threats by domestic extremist groups to the conference or Islamic or Jewish sites in the Annapolis area, “nonetheless, the Department of Homeland Security does not discount the threat of the lone wolf terrorist, including individuals radicalized by homegrown extremist groups or Internet content,” said a bulletin issued by the agency and the FBI. The threat assessment bulletin highlights about a dozen groups, including the radical Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups that is a bitter foe of Israel. Annapolis police have reported no unusual activity. Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVz-2qUNWkjVIKwculch2g0ddo6gD8T3L6700

[Dystopia]

In the AAW Forum, we have often spoken of our wonderful troops, and the job they are doing in defending us from terror.

Yet I have seen very little talk of what we can do. Yes, us home folk who aren't wearing cammo, or toting military issue weaponry. (If you are, please don't tell me about it! LOL)

What can regular citizens do?

I wanted to start a thread to discuss it.

Here are some ideas:
1) InfraGard - a private, not-for-profit group sponsored by the FBI that is tasked with protecting 17 sectors of critical infrastructure as indentified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)
2) LEPC Committees - Local Emergency Planning Committees are under the aegis of the state DHS. They have to do with hazardous materials safety.
3) School Safety Commissions/Committees - Some states mandate such committees to help schools develop school safety plans

Info will be given on each. What are some things you can do in your neck of the woods?

We all have a vested interest in protecting our homeland.

Cool! Can I join?!?!?

I always wanted to turn my neighbor in for thought-crime.

[apostolicconservative]

4) VOTE!
5) Balance purchases (inported, local, Made In US)
6) Don't let the system raise your children, raise them yourself.

Its not always about joining a club or group.

[ICRed]

Cool! Can I join?!?!?

I always wanted to turn my neighbor in for thought-crime.
Wow....you're hilarious...and SOOOO intelligent.:rolleyes:

[Adlerian Thinker]

Cool! Can I join?!?!?

I always wanted to turn my neighbor in for thought-crime.

Feel free.

While you are at it, please highlight which part of my post you had to alter to get to that errant conclusion.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Wow....you're hilarious...and SOOOO intelligent.:rolleyes:

He can feel free to travel to any number of spots around the world, and love his radical Muslim neighbors, and let us know how that works for him.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the commercial facilities sector:
Somali gets 10 years in Ohio bomb plot. A Somali immigrant was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for plotting to blow up an Ohio shopping mall with a man later convicted of being an al-Qaida terrorist. Prosecutors said the man made threatening comments about the unspecified shopping mall during a meeting with two other suspected terrorists on August 8, 2002, at a coffee shop in suburban Columbus. The second man at the meeting, a Pakistani immigrant, pleaded guilty in May 2003 to providing material support for terrorism and was convicted of plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The third man alleged to be at the meeting, a U.S. citizen who grew up in suburban Columbus, was charged in April with plotting to bomb European tourist resorts frequented by Americans, as well as overseas U.S. military bases. His trial is scheduled for January 2009. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/

Malls are soft targets.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Police Seize Suspected Enriched Uranium - 3 Arrested In Plot To Sell It In Slovakia

November 28, 2007

There is an old Chinese proverb, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step”. There is no telling what the final destination might have been for the 2.2 lbs of uranium seized by police in Slovakia today.

Police have arrested two people in Slovakia and one in Hungary in connection with the seizure, underlining fears in the West that terrorist groups are seeking to build a nuclear device.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/28/police-seize-suspected-enriched-uranium-3-arrested-in-plot-to-sell-it-in-slovakia/

[Adlerian Thinker]

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/30/ny-cops-talk-mall-terror-threat-seriously-operation-safeguard/

"Central Valley, N.Y. — An international tourist, having heard about Woodbury Common Premium Outlets' global status, stakes out the facility during a shopping trip.

Then, during subsequent trips, he plans out an attack that would cripple major thoroughfares to New York City, as well as cost some of America's top retail stores millions of dollars in earnings.

While such an attack remains a reality only among armchair theorists, law enforcement isn't taking any chances.

That's the rationale behind an annual show of force called "Operation Safeguard" that deployed 70 officers from 25 law enforcement agencies in Orange, Rockland and Sullivan counties to various shopping centers yesterday.

The deployment, which included state police, county sheriffs' offices and local police, is meant to thwart a potential terrorist attack through a public education campaign, as well as create an unannounced presence at local malls and the roads that feed them during the busiest shopping season of the year."

Good on ya, guys.

[Dystopia]

Feel free.

While you are at it, please highlight which part of my post you had to alter to get to that errant conclusion.

Wow. Talk about overreaction. Take some valium or start drinking decaf.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Wow. Talk about overreaction. Take some valium or start drinking decaf.

Since you were called on it, I can see why you would think it was an overreaction.

That being said, you haven't shown me how you arrived at your errant conclusion.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Government Facilities Sector:
‘Terrorist plot’ on Aussie U.S. base. An al-Qaeda leader who visited Australia on a lecture tour in the late 1990s was involved in a plot to attack a U.S. military base on Australian soil, according to secret documents made public for the first time this week. An Algerian terrorist and his associates allegedly revealed their plans to the former Guantanamo Bay detainee, when he was in Afghanistan just weeks before the September 11 attacks. The detainee revealed his knowledge of the alleged plot in a number of interviews with U.S. officials after his arrest in Pakistan in October 2001. Questioned by ASIO agents during his detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in 2002, he said the Algerian terrorist had recruited people to go to Australia to carry out the operation and that the Algerian terrorist had also asked the detainee to smuggle dangerous chemicals into Australia, but he had refused. The detainee claimed the Algerian terrorist’s associates had talked to him about their plans to launch a strike on a U.S. facility somewhere in Australia. He said he could not recall where the targeted base was, but he thought it was either in Perth, Darwin or Brisbane. There are no U.S. military bases in the three cities, although there could be smaller facilities with some U.S. military staff. He could not remember if the biggest U.S. base in Australia, Pine Gap near Alice Springs, had been targeted. Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22844897-2,00.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the same sector:
Ex-sailor accused of plotting to attack San Diego base. A former U.S. Navy sailor, already charged with divulging classified ship movements to British extremists linked to Al Qaeda, also discussed details of a previously undisclosed plan to attack a San Diego military base in late 2006 with at least two other men, authorities said Wednesday. The alleged plan was to shoot up a barracks or cafeteria where military personnel would likely be unarmed, and then pick off people with sniper fire as they fled, according to Wednesday’s testimony and the court filing. Prosecutors said the plans never got far, in part because the former sailor’s partner became more interested in attacking holiday shoppers in Illinois with grenades that he planned to drop in garbage bins in a shopping mall. Then the former sailor was arrested in March. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sailor29nov29,1,2982790.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Naval bases and shopping centers, all in one, fell swoop!

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the IT sector:
FBI: Millions of computers roped into criminal “robot networks.” More than 1 million computers in the last five months have become part of robot networks, or “botnets,” in which hackers take over computers without their owners’ knowledge and use them in criminal campaigns, the FBI said Thursday. The bureau in June announced Operation Bot Roast to stop this emerging type of cyber attack, which the FBI estimates has resulted in $20 million in losses and theft. More than 1 million computers were infected with botnets when the FBI launched Bot Roast, and another million have been identified since then. Industry numbers suggest there are millions more. According to an FBI news release, since New Zealand authorities in tandem with the FBI searched the home of an individual whose “elite international botnet coding group” is suspected of infecting more than 1 million computers, 13 additional search warrants have been served around the world, and eight individuals -- in Washington, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Kentucky -- have been indicted or found guilty of crimes related to botnets. Such crimes include fraud, identity theft and denial of service attacks in which computer Web sites and other resources are made unavailable. The schemes target more than individual computer users. The FBI in a news release said recent attacks have ensnared a major financial institution in the Midwest and the University of Pennsylvania. According to a September report from Symantec Corp., China had the most infected computers at 29 percent, followed by the United States at 13 percent. However, Symantec said, 43 percent of all command-and-control servers -- which botnet operators use to relay commands to infected computers in their network -- were located in the United States. Symantec reported that in the first half of 2007 it had detected more than 5 million computers that had been used to carry out at least one cyber attack a day. The number represented a 17 percent drop since the previous reporting period, Symantec said. Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/29/fbi.botnets/index.html

While this is a criminal, not a terrorist threat, do I need to spell out for anyone what the problem is, or could be?

[rhet 2]

From the same sector:
Ex-sailor accused of plotting to attack San Diego base. A former U.S. Navy sailor, already charged with divulging classified ship movements to British extremists linked to Al Qaeda, also discussed details of a previously undisclosed plan to attack a San Diego military base in late 2006 with at least two other men, authorities said Wednesday. The alleged plan was to shoot up a barracks or cafeteria where military personnel would likely be unarmed, and then pick off people with sniper fire as they fled, according to Wednesday’s testimony and the court filing. Prosecutors said the plans never got far, in part because the former sailor’s partner became more interested in attacking holiday shoppers in Illinois with grenades that he planned to drop in garbage bins in a shopping mall. Then the former sailor was arrested in March. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sailor29nov29,1,2982790.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Naval bases and shopping centers, all in one, fell swoop!

If Washington cannot and will not defend us from such animals because of the Left, what choice do they leave us except citizen militias who can and will defend us from both sets of Power Pigs?

[Adlerian Thinker]

World faces “cyber cold war” threat. A “cyber cold war” waged over the world’s computers threatens to become one of the biggest threats to security in the next decade, according to a report published by McAfee on Thursday. About 120 countries are developing ways to use the Internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems and utilities, an Internet security company said, adding that intelligence agencies already routinely test other states’ networks looking for weaknesses and their techniques are growing more sophisticated every year. The report said China, which has been blamed for attacks in the United States, India and Germany, is at the forefront of the cyber war. It said China has been blamed for attacks in the United States, India and Germany. China has repeatedly denied such claims. The McAfee report predicted that future attacks would be even more sophisticated. The report is online at www.mcafee.com/us/research/criminology_report/default.html
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2932083320071129?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

[rhet 2]

World faces “cyber cold war” threat. A “cyber cold war” waged over the world’s computers threatens to become one of the biggest threats to security in the next decade, according to a report published by McAfee on Thursday. About 120 countries are developing ways to use the Internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems and utilities, an Internet security company said, adding that intelligence agencies already routinely test other states’ networks looking for weaknesses and their techniques are growing more sophisticated every year. The report said China, which has been blamed for attacks in the United States, India and Germany, is at the forefront of the cyber war. It said China has been blamed for attacks in the United States, India and Germany. China has repeatedly denied such claims. The McAfee report predicted that future attacks would be even more sophisticated. The report is online at www.mcafee.com/us/research/criminology_report/default.html
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2932083320071129?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Oh, gee, why would intolerant sons of bitches dedicated to denying citizens access to the information that proves them to be the total fools of the universe try to destroy what they cannot steal and use for their own psychotic purposes?

Won't surprise me a bit if the mullahs and the Chinese aristocracy from hell try to wipe out what is destroying their ability to deceive peasants into supporting them in the lap of luxury.

[Adlerian Thinker]

A follow up to the threats on shopping centers:

Omaha - Grenade Found At Westroads Mall Parking Lot

December 1, 2007

A grenade was found Friday night at an Omaha shopping mall.

Officers went to the northwest corner of the parking lot at Westroads Mall after someone reported finding an explosive device. The mall security directed officers to the area of the parking lot where the device was located. The Omaha Police Bomb Squad Unit was called and removed the intact grenade safely from the area.

A source stated the grenade was lying on the ground with no note or information, but that it did have a pin in it. The source said it looked like a pineapple grenade.

No further information was available.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/01/omaha-grenade-found-at-westroads-mall-parking-lot/

[Adlerian Thinker]

And on another Army post:

Fort Lewis MPs Find Stolen Handgun and Suspicious Device During Stop

November 30, 2007

Military police at Fort Lewis have arrested a man after finding a handgun and a “suspicious device” in his car after making a routine traffic stop in one of the post’s training areas.

The arrest was made about 1 a.m. Friday.

In the car, the MPs found a pistol that had been reported stolen, and in the trunk, a “tape-wrapped object about the size of a deck of playing cards wired to a garage door opener.”

The MPs called out soldiers from an explosive ordnance disposal unit, who rendered the device safe by about 7 a.m.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said he didn’t know whether the device proved to be a bomb.

A U.S. Army news release says the man, who was not immediately identified, was arrested for outstanding warrants and was being held at Fort Lewis.

The news release says MPs “have no indication that the suspect intended to target Fort Lewis personnel.”
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/30/fort-lewis-mps-find-stolen-handgun-and-suspicious-device-during-stop/

[rhet 2]

And on another Army post:

Fort Lewis MPs Find Stolen Handgun and Suspicious Device During Stop

November 30, 2007

Military police at Fort Lewis have arrested a man after finding a handgun and a “suspicious device” in his car after making a routine traffic stop in one of the post’s training areas.

The arrest was made about 1 a.m. Friday.

In the car, the MPs found a pistol that had been reported stolen, and in the trunk, a “tape-wrapped object about the size of a deck of playing cards wired to a garage door opener.”

The MPs called out soldiers from an explosive ordnance disposal unit, who rendered the device safe by about 7 a.m.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said he didn’t know whether the device proved to be a bomb.

A U.S. Army news release says the man, who was not immediately identified, was arrested for outstanding warrants and was being held at Fort Lewis.

The news release says MPs “have no indication that the suspect intended to target Fort Lewis personnel.”
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/11/30/fort-lewis-mps-find-stolen-handgun-and-suspicious-device-during-stop/

Again, insufficient information for valid judgment. Could be a dry run, might have been the real deal, might have been just an ordinary nutjob and not jihad at all.

BAD reporting: leaves out information critical for citizen evaluation of the situation.

An accumulation of such half-ass reports indicates that Tacoma is rank with jihad psychos -- the Beltway pair of jihad freaks started at Ft. Lewis, for example. But who the hell knows what is and is not going on, given the massive amounts of information being withheld.

[Dystopia]

Since you were called on it, I can see why you would think it was an overreaction.

That being said, you haven't shown me how you arrived at your errant conclusion.

Tell me how this isn't similar to the KGB programs of getting neighbors to spy on and turn in fellow neighbors for "un-American" sentiment, just with slightly less calories?

And here I thought the Soviets were masters of propaganda.

[rhet 2]

Tell me how this isn't similar to the KGB programs of getting neighbors to spy on and turn in fellow neighbors for "un-American" sentiment, just with slightly less calories?

And here I thought the Soviets were masters of propaganda.

We're at war, silly child, with over two million men who don't wear uniforms and have as one of their central tactics pretending to be just like you and everybody else until they get the orders from an imam to start killing.

FDR's homeland security measures during the last war with fascist racists and religious kooks would have had you spitting and drooling in sheer hatred for a REAL tyrant. And Hitler would have succeeded in blowing up the weapons plants that finally put the Allies on top in that one.

How the hell do we tell the difference between a jihadi disguised as a Regular Joe and a Regular Joe? Got any bright ideas for telling the difference?

[Dystopia]

We're at war, silly child, with over two million men who don't wear uniforms and have as one of their central tactics pretending to be just like you and everybody else until they get the orders from an imam to start killing.

FDR's homeland security measures during the last war with fascist racists and religious kooks would have had you spitting and drooling in sheer hatred for a REAL tyrant. And Hitler would have succeeded in blowing up the weapons plants that finally put the Allies on top in that one.

How the hell do we tell the difference between a jihadi disguised as a Regular Joe and a Regular Joe? Got any bright ideas for telling the difference?

Yep. FDR did have that grand idea of interning thousands into concentration camps. How long before we start having those too?

Oh wait...

Gitmo.

[rhet 2]

Yep. FDR did have that grand idea of interning thousands into concentration camps. How long before we start having those too?

Oh wait...

Gitmo.

Gitmo are NOT CITIZENS but enemies caught with weapons trying to kill Americans.

Dumbass comparison, dude.

Do I want imams preaching jihad -- like the AMERICAN secretly videotaped in London -- arrested, tried, and convicted of treason, and given a needle in the arm for their troubles? Damned straight.

Do I want Gadahn -- also a born and bred jihadi mass murdering psycho who demands that the US declare islam to be the official state religion and institute islamic religious courts, complete with imam goon squads, to arrest, convict and then murder American gays -- and threatens to blow hell out of Hollywood if we don't? NOTE: American traitor. Damned straight I want him found, tired, convicted, and executed for treason.

Do I want Ishan Bagby who has announced that by 2020 the US will replace the Bill of Rights with sharia brutalities and islamic religious courts arrested, tried, convicted, and executed for his own treason?

Damned straight, Skippy.

And the question is, why the hell don't you care enough about the lives of Rosie O'Donnell and other Americans, including kids, to work to protect the fools and keep them from being the next gays imams can brag about not existing inside the nations they rule?

[AvgGuyIA]

Yep. FDR did have that grand idea of interning thousands into concentration camps. How long before we start having those too?

Oh wait...

Gitmo.

Folks,

One thing we can do while we are surfing the internet reading bloggers and forum contributors is to identify those who have a penchant for tearing down our Country and our military, yet finding no fault with our enemies. I routinely transmit user names and blog addresses of those I find to be Un-American to Homeland Security and the FBI. We should all do our part in protecting the homeland, even from so-called Americans.

[rhet 2]

Folks,

One thing we can do while we are surfing the internet reading bloggers and forum contributors is to identify those who have a penchant for tearing down our Country and our military, yet finding no fault with our enemies. I routinely transmit user names and blog addresses of those I find to be Un-American to Homeland Security and the FBI. We should all do our part in protecting the homeland, even from so-called Americans.

:))

I do too.

And I participate in a neighborhood watch program, and try to keep an eye on neighbors with young kids or who are elderly. Neighbors easily victimized need better neighbors.

Just a watchful eye for something that seems out of whack can do much. Like a bunch of kids you don't recognize gathering on a street corner or somebody in the alley. Caught a dumpster diver wanted for identity theft that way once.

Amazing what happens when the cops cruise by and give somebody an eyeball -- not a 9/11 crisis emergency call. Just a call to the front desk. The innocent don't cut and run. The guilty do.

[Dystopia]

Folks,

One thing we can do while we are surfing the internet reading bloggers and forum contributors is to identify those who have a penchant for tearing down our Country and our military, yet finding no fault with our enemies. I routinely transmit user names and blog addresses of those I find to be Un-American to Homeland Security and the FBI. We should all do our part in protecting the homeland, even from so-called Americans.

Self-criticism not allowed?

Christ... sounds like we need Glasnost and Perestroika in our country. Oh the irony!!!

[rhet 2]

Self-criticism not allowed?

Christ... sounds like we need Glasnost and Perestroika in our country. Oh the irony!!!

Self-emolation on the pyres of lying freakazoids dedicated to the destruction of our entire culture is NOT constructive.

Throwing yourself onto funeral pyres doesn't achieve a damned thing.

We're not perfect -- but we're a hell of a lot better than anything else around.

And we're working on the perfect gig -- which scum like Putin and the Chinese and islamic fascists and most of Africa and Asia most assuredly are NOT.

Criticism for the sake of destroying is one thing.
Criticism for the sake of removing flaws is another.

You're not engaging in the last one -- because you're not suggesting improvements, just "using the master's tools to tear down the master's house" leaving nothing but worthless rubble in its place.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Some observant Californians helped out here:

Man held in string of blazes. Authorities have arrested a man with a history of arson, alleging that he set a series of small blazes in northern Los Angeles County last month as firefighters were battling several massive brush fires. According to authorities, someone driving north on Lake Hughes Road in the Angeles National Forest set three fires using “an open flame” in the brush near the roadway about a mile south of the town of Lake Hughes. The arsonist then got back in his vehicle and drove to Pine Canyon Road before starting three more fires, sheriff’s detectives said. Sheriff’s arson investigators, working with special agents from the U.S. Forest Service, were dispatched to the three fire scenes. After examining them, investigators saw a pattern and consulted with the county registry of convicted arsonists to determine if any lived near the scenes. The suspect was identified as a “person of interest” and questioned. He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is reviewing the case to determine whether to file charges. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-arson30nov30,1,5366261.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[Adlerian Thinker]

Miami Terror Trial Update:

Miami terrorism trial draws to close. A band of seven domestic terrorists tried to forge an alliance with al Qaeda to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower and overthrow the U.S. government, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday in closing arguments at a Miami terrorism trial. A defense attorney countered by telling jurors her client was not a terrorist but a victim of U.S. government “conmen,” who scripted the alleged plot. The men were arrested in 2006 on charges of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government and blow up the 110-story Sears Tower along with several FBI offices and the Miami federal court complex where they are being tried. Though federal agents said the men’s plans were “aspirational rather than operational” at the time of their arrest and posed no real threat because they had neither al Qaeda contacts nor the means of carrying out attacks, they face up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four conspiracy counts, nonetheless. Source:
- 15 -
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071129/us_nm/usa_plot_dc;_ylt=Ag.VpuZvtf6BI_cUXzW4k10WIr0F

[Adlerian Thinker]

The FBI is ON IT Security!

Second helping of FBI’s Bot Roast serves eight. The FBI on Thursday announced that eight individuals have been indicted, have pled guilty or have been sentenced to prison over the past few months for crimes related to botnet activity. In addition, it said that 13 search warrants were served in the U.S. and by overseas law enforcement authorities on individuals thought to be connected with botnet-related activities. Among those whose residences were searched was an individual in New Zealand, who uses the online username AKILL and is believed to be the leader of an international botnet coding group, according to the FBI’s statement. All of the individuals were targeted as part of the FBI’s ongoing Operation Bot Roast, first announced in June, under which the agency is conducting a coordinated domestic and international campaign to disrupt the activities of the so-called bot herders who operate the networks of hijacked computers. So far, the operation has uncovered more than $20 million in losses to consumers and businesses and more than 2 million infected PCs, according to the FBI. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9050178&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top

[Adlerian Thinker]

I believe it was Rhet who mentioned something about foreign countries attacking us through the internet, after a post I made about a "Cyber Cold War."

Government-sponsored cyberattacks on the rise, McAfee says. Governments and allied groups worldwide are using the Internet to spy and launch cyberattacks on their enemies, targeting critical systems including electricity, air traffic control, financial markets and government computer networks, according to McAfee’s annual report examining global cybersecurity. This year, China has been accused of launching attacks against the United States, India, Germany and Australia, but the Chinese are not alone: 120 countries including the United States are said to be launching Web espionage operations, according to McAfee’s Virtual Criminology Report, issued Friday and developed with input from NATO, the FBI, the United Kingdom’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, and various groups and universities. “Cyber assaults have become more sophisticated in their nature, designed to specifically slip under the radar of government cyber defenses,” McAfee states. “Attacks have progressed from initial curiosity probes to well-funded and well-organized operations for political, military, economic and technical espionage.” The Internet is simply a great tool for gathering intelligence, both for world powers like the United States and China and small countries with limited resources, says the security research and communications manager at McAfee Avert Labs. He doesn’t think cyberattacks will replace conventional warfare, but says they are becoming an important augmentation, with countries using technology to spread disinformation and disrupt communications. He also predicts it will be common for governments to license cybercriminals to attack enemies in a sort of privatized model. “We’re already starting to see that with state-sponsored malware,” he says. McAfee said its research also found an increasing threat to banking and other online services, and “the emergence of a complex and sophisticated market for malware.” See the McAfee report at: http://www.softmart.com/mcafee/docs/McAfee%20NA%20Virtual%20Criminology%20Report.pdf Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9050200&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Transportation Sector:

Confirmation about El Dorado pipe bomb scare. While conducting routine maintenance, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) came across a device which looked like a pipe bomb. One lane of traffic was closed on Highway 50 in order for the El Dorado County Bomb Squad to disarm and detonate the device. A Caltrans work crew found the device and called the California Highway Patrol. They believe that the device probably fell off of a vehicle. Source: http://cbs13.com/local/el.dorado.pipe.2.599040.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Public Health Sector:

New strain of Ebola kills 16, USDA says. A new strain of the deadly Ebola virus has infected 51 people and killed 16 in an area of Uganda near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo, U.S. and Ugandan health officials said on Thursday. Genetic analysis of samples taken from some of the victims shows it is a previously unknown type of Ebola, said a doctor with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ugandan health officials have said that the virus appears to be unusually mild, but the CDC official said it is not yet clear whether this is the case, as experts need to check to see how many diagnosed patients are still alive. The head of Uganda’s national hemorrhagic fever task force said: “From the beginning we’ve been isolating cases ... but we can’t say it’s contained. There may be other people in those villages unknown to us.” Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL2990582220071129?sp=true

[Adlerian Thinker]

A Saudi Arabian newspaper said Sunday that suspected al-Qaida terrorists were allegedly able to smuggle eight Chinese-made missiles into the kingdom before they were arrested as part of a terror sweep.

The daily Okaz, which is deemed close to the government, quoting unnamed officials as saying militants wanted to use the missiles to allegedly target hotels and other buildings in the kingdom.

The newspaper did not further describe the missiles.

The Saudi Interior Ministry last week announced that it made its largest terror sweep to date, arresting 208 al-Qaida-linked militants in six separate arrests in recent months. One of the alleged terror cells was led by a non-Saudi missile expert, the ministry said.

The ministry said members of that cell were planning to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations, but it did not say what kind of missiles or what the targets were. Okaz reported Sunday that the missiles were already inside Saudi Arabia.

The newspaper also quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki as saying the leadership of another one of the alleged terror cells was based in another country. Al-Turki did not name the country.

Last week, the Interior Ministry said authorities arrested 112 alleged members of that cell during the terror sweep. The ministry said the cell was trying to smuggle men to Iraq and Afghanistan for training, after which they would be brought back to Saudi Arabia to try to carry out attacks in the kingdom.

Source - International Herald Tribune
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/02/al-qaeda-terrorists-smuggle-8-chinese-missiles-into-saudi-arabia/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Let's hear it for the cops!

Salt Lake City - Bomb-making Materials Found After Routine Traffic Stop
December 3, 2007
A routine traffic stop in Salt Lake City resulted in the discovery of a man armed with an illegal gun and bomb-making materials.

About 8:30 p.m. an officer pulled over a vehicle on a muffler violation. The officer discovered Justin Hallman, 34, was driving on a suspended license. But the muffler and the license were the least of Hallman’s problems, said Salt Lake City police detective Jared Wihongi.

The officer next discovered a loaded pistol in Hallman’s waistband, he said. The serial number was filed off, Wihongi said.

After placing Hallman under arrest, a closer look at his car revealed what appeared to be homemade bombs and other bomb-making materials, Wihongi said. Salt Lake City’s bomb squad was called to the scene. They found an incendiary device made of a carbon dioxide cartridge. Also found, but not part of any constructed bomb, were nails, a 5-gallon propane tank and wire.

Homemade bombs using carbon dioxide cartridges traditionally have been powerful enough to seriously injure or even kill a person in close proximity, Wihongi said. Investigators were unsure Monday what Hallman planned to do with the bombs.

Hallman was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of two counts of explosives violations, drug possession, altering the serial number of a firearm, illegally carrying a concealed weapon and driving on a suspended license.

This how we will stop terrorism. Simple vigilance.

Know what to look for.

[rhet 2]

Let's hear it for the cops!

Salt Lake City - Bomb-making Materials Found After Routine Traffic Stop
December 3, 2007
A routine traffic stop in Salt Lake City resulted in the discovery of a man armed with an illegal gun and bomb-making materials.

About 8:30 p.m. an officer pulled over a vehicle on a muffler violation. The officer discovered Justin Hallman, 34, was driving on a suspended license. But the muffler and the license were the least of Hallman’s problems, said Salt Lake City police detective Jared Wihongi.

The officer next discovered a loaded pistol in Hallman’s waistband, he said. The serial number was filed off, Wihongi said.

After placing Hallman under arrest, a closer look at his car revealed what appeared to be homemade bombs and other bomb-making materials, Wihongi said. Salt Lake City’s bomb squad was called to the scene. They found an incendiary device made of a carbon dioxide cartridge. Also found, but not part of any constructed bomb, were nails, a 5-gallon propane tank and wire.

Homemade bombs using carbon dioxide cartridges traditionally have been powerful enough to seriously injure or even kill a person in close proximity, Wihongi said. Investigators were unsure Monday what Hallman planned to do with the bombs.

Hallman was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of two counts of explosives violations, drug possession, altering the serial number of a firearm, illegally carrying a concealed weapon and driving on a suspended license.

This how we will stop terrorism. Simple vigilance.

Know what to look for.

Good cops are worth a hell of a lot more than they're paid.

So are vigilant citizens.

It takes TEAMWORK to secure peace.

[amenmesse]

Good cops are worth a hell of a lot more than they're paid.

So are vigilant citizens.

It takes TEAMWORK to secure peace.

And then there are those who seek to tear down our protections and protectors.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071203/D8TA8GOG0.html
Not being a lawyerly type it would seem to me airports are a "regulated" environment like our military is a regulated envronment and for a person to volunteer themselves into a regulated environment and then raise complaints because of the regulations could be construed as spoiled, immature, unworthy of respect and grounds for disbarment.

[Mrblue]

A Saudi Arabian newspaper said Sunday that suspected al-Qaida terrorists were allegedly able to smuggle eight Chinese-made missiles into the kingdom before they were arrested as part of a terror sweep.

The daily Okaz, which is deemed close to the government, quoting unnamed officials as saying militants wanted to use the missiles to allegedly target hotels and other buildings in the kingdom.

The newspaper did not further describe the missiles.

The Saudi Interior Ministry last week announced that it made its largest terror sweep to date, arresting 208 al-Qaida-linked militants in six separate arrests in recent months. One of the alleged terror cells was led by a non-Saudi missile expert, the ministry said.

The ministry said members of that cell were planning to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations, but it did not say what kind of missiles or what the targets were. Okaz reported Sunday that the missiles were already inside Saudi Arabia.

The newspaper also quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki as saying the leadership of another one of the alleged terror cells was based in another country. Al-Turki did not name the country.

Last week, the Interior Ministry said authorities arrested 112 alleged members of that cell during the terror sweep. The ministry said the cell was trying to smuggle men to Iraq and Afghanistan for training, after which they would be brought back to Saudi Arabia to try to carry out attacks in the kingdom.

Source - International Herald Tribune
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/02/al-qaeda-terrorists-smuggle-8-chinese-missiles-into-saudi-arabia/

It's good that the Saudii regime are cracking down on terrorism in their little dictatorship.

(I wonder if there's a parallel universe where the Nazis won the Second World War and are, right now, cracking down on terrorists in the sectors of America they control (The Nazis control most of the North, while the Soviets are running most of the Southern states. A situation both are perfectly happy with but has left many Americans very unhappy.

Obviously, from an early age, Americans will be taught to look out for subversives and dissidents amongst us. Any anti-Nazi sentiment expressed on an internet forum, for example, can easily be reported thanks to a free hotline...)

[Dystopia]

Self-emolation on the pyres of lying freakazoids dedicated to the destruction of our entire culture is NOT constructive.

Throwing yourself onto funeral pyres doesn't achieve a damned thing.

We're not perfect -- but we're a hell of a lot better than anything else around.

And we're working on the perfect gig -- which scum like Putin and the Chinese and islamic fascists and most of Africa and Asia most assuredly are NOT.

Criticism for the sake of destroying is one thing.
Criticism for the sake of removing flaws is another.

You're not engaging in the last one -- because you're not suggesting improvements, just "using the master's tools to tear down the master's house" leaving nothing but worthless rubble in its place.

What I am suggesting is that history not repeat itself over and over.

[meggers49]

Here in the heartland, they are still in FFA, Campus Life, 4-H, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, and various other organizations.

We even have Civil Air Patrols, and are starting a Young Firefighters course at our high school.

Opportunities are still there, and I would like to see how reality stacks up to perception.

a friend of mine's son is joining the CAP in michigan. He went and picked up his son's BDU's and apparently they have changed it from US CAP to just CAP and taken the US off of it......no one can tell them why.......


Back in WW2, they had people who sat and watched the skies and shores, they were the eyes watching for the enemy trying to infiltrate our borders. In a manner of speaking, the Minutemen are doing something like that now. We have need of that on the northern border which makes Mexico look like it has the Berlin Wall along it.
There are plenty of ways to involve your kids.....a good one is also Police Explorers. If you don't have a post in your area, see if you can start one. They teach kids a lot about how to be aware and so on.

There is something similar to the Civil Defense Corp (CERT) now, which is a means to get involved as volunteers in your community to know what is available.

If there isn't something.......start a group. Post something in the local paper. there are tons of people who are interested in doing SOMETHING, but have no idea how to start.

Meet and know your neighbors. In our neighborhood, we have a good idea of who we can work with if something comes up.

know your resources. what's available in your community and just in your neighborhood. be a little creative.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Good cops are worth a hell of a lot more than they're paid.

So are vigilant citizens.

It takes TEAMWORK to secure peace.

+10

[Adlerian Thinker]

a friend of mine's son is joining the CAP in michigan. He went and picked up his son's BDU's and apparently they have changed it from US CAP to just CAP and taken the US off of it......no one can tell them why.......


Back in WW2, they had people who sat and watched the skies and shores, they were the eyes watching for the enemy trying to infiltrate our borders. In a manner of speaking, the Minutemen are doing something like that now. We have need of that on the northern border which makes Mexico look like it has the Berlin Wall along it.
There are plenty of ways to involve your kids.....a good one is also Police Explorers. If you don't have a post in your area, see if you can start one. They teach kids a lot about how to be aware and so on.

There is something similar to the Civil Defense Corp (CERT) now, which is a means to get involved as volunteers in your community to know what is available.

If there isn't something.......start a group. Post something in the local paper. there are tons of people who are interested in doing SOMETHING, but have no idea how to start.

Meet and know your neighbors. In our neighborhood, we have a good idea of who we can work with if something comes up.

know your resources. what's available in your community and just in your neighborhood. be a little creative.


+10 :clap:

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Government Facilities Sector:

Suspicious package found at Keesler. In Mississippi, officials at Keesler Air Force Base said they found a suspicious package on base Saturday morning, but refused to release any more details about the case. First responders were called to the scene; the case is still under investigation, base public affairs officers said. Source: http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/220527.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Bomb threat comes during busy shopping night. In Ohio, about 40 employees and 100 shoppers were evacuated from the J.C. Penney in the Lima Mall on Friday night and the store entrances were blocked off after a bomb threat was made. Bomb-sniffing dogs were taken through the store, nothing was found. Sheriff’s deputies were stationed at all the entrances to the store. This was the third bomb threat in Lima in the past few months. Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/874248/

[rhet 2]

a friend of mine's son is joining the CAP in michigan. He went and picked up his son's BDU's and apparently they have changed it from US CAP to just CAP and taken the US off of it......no one can tell them why.......


Back in WW2, they had people who sat and watched the skies and shores, they were the eyes watching for the enemy trying to infiltrate our borders. In a manner of speaking, the Minutemen are doing something like that now. We have need of that on the northern border which makes Mexico look like it has the Berlin Wall along it.
There are plenty of ways to involve your kids.....a good one is also Police Explorers. If you don't have a post in your area, see if you can start one. They teach kids a lot about how to be aware and so on.

There is something similar to the Civil Defense Corp (CERT) now, which is a means to get involved as volunteers in your community to know what is available.

If there isn't something.......start a group. Post something in the local paper. there are tons of people who are interested in doing SOMETHING, but have no idea how to start.

Meet and know your neighbors. In our neighborhood, we have a good idea of who we can work with if something comes up.

know your resources. what's available in your community and just in your neighborhood. be a little creative.

Great suggestions!

I'm checking out that Police Explorers idea first thing tomorrow!

[Adlerian Thinker]

Bogus attack? Or dry run?

4 quarantined after powder found. Four people are under observation in Lincoln, Nebraska, after powder was sent Tuesday to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office, located in a federal building in the downtown area of the city. Authorities called a level 3 hazmat event, which is the highest response level, and evacuated and quarantined the section of the building closest to where the envelope was found. The worker who opened the envelope and three others were taken in for observation, though none have displayed any symptoms. There are 350 people who work in the building and their movements have been restricted to their work areas. Federal officials have been called. Source: http://www.ketv.com/news/14769554/detail.html?

[thr3]

Crime should be a bigger concern than terrorism.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Crime should be a bigger concern than terrorism.

Crime is a societal ill, and can be dealt with utilizing curent techniques.

teroorism has the capability to shape the course of societies.

Do we let them attempt it?

[thr3]

Crime is a societal ill, and can be dealt with utilizing curent techniques.

teroorism has the capability to shape the course of societies.

Do we let them attempt it?

Obviously crime can not be dealt with using the current techniques or it would not be running wild. Terrorism is just another criminal act anyhow.

[GothicGOP]

There it is!

What those young folk need are old folk like us to show them the way.

That's exactly right. If mom and dad aren't modeling it... we should.

[thr3]

The old folks got the yound folks into this mess to begin with.

[rhet 2]

Crime should be a bigger concern than terrorism.

You'll have to define "terrorism" before I'll agree or disagree with this one.

"Crime" on the other hand is any behavior forbidden by laws -- which means that whatever is "criminal" today may not be "criminal" tomorrow, should the law that makes that behavior illegal change.

What, precisely, distinguishes "terrorism" from any other act of violence?

When is a behavior "just killing," when does that same behavior become "murder," and when does that same behavior become "terrorism"?

And, then, what is the difference between "ordinary terrorism" and jihad?

Until you can answer those questions, your statement is just more over-simplification of a complex issue.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Obviously crime can not be dealt with using the current techniques or it would not be running wild. Terrorism is just another criminal act anyhow.

Crime is running wild?

By what measure?

Terrorism is more than a criminal act. Treating it as a criminal act is what has brought us here.

[Adlerian Thinker]

That's exactly right. If mom and dad aren't modeling it... we should.

+1

[Adlerian Thinker]

The old folks got the yound folks into this mess to begin with.

And how did this thing happen?

[rhet 2]

Crime is running wild?

By what measure?

Terrorism is more than a criminal act. Treating it as a criminal act is what has brought us here.

He over-simplifies because he's never really defined "terrorism" in his own mind -- just settled for vague perceptions more "sensed" than logically thought through.

Like the vast majority of Americans.

[Adlerian Thinker]

He over-simplifies because he's never really defined "terrorism" in his own mind -- just settled for vague perceptions more "sensed" than logically thought through.

Like the vast majority of Americans.

Sigh.

I know.

[rhet 2]

Sigh.

I know.

Which is why I asked those questions, in sequence of more generalized to more exact and narrowly defined behaviors, all related to the same category of human behavior.

We'll see if he has the moxie required to answer them.

Too many Americans, including our so-called judges and political leaders have never asked those questions and lack the moral guts to ask and then to answer.

Had Bush asked and then answered them, his own leadership in the war he's stupidly named "War on Terror" would change dramatically.

[thr3]

Crime is running wild?

By what measure?

Terrorism is more than a criminal act. Treating it as a criminal act is what has brought us here.

I see the IRA as terrorists but we have to have those criminals in our parliament.

Jihadists are a different kettle of fish however.

[Adlerian Thinker]

I see the IRA as terrorists but we have to have those criminals in our parliament.

Jihadists are a different kettle of fish however.

The IRA chose terroristic acts to attempt to alter the course of Brotish policy with regards to Ireland.

If the IRA were bound and determined to wipe Britain off of the map, then that would be a different kettle of fish.

[rhet 2]

I see the IRA as terrorists but we have to have those criminals in our parliament.

Jihadists are a different kettle of fish however.

Jihad is NOT a "crime" -- it is an ACT OF WAR.

9/11 was NOT a "crime" -- it was AN ACT OF WAR.

Terrorism is a crime against humanity.

Jihad IS HOLY WAR.

Tactics is NOT the difference in any of those forms of destruction. MOTIVE IS.

The IRA is not out to conquer Britain and force the Brits to submit to the rule of Irish priests and the supremacy of Irish religious laws.

Islamic fascists ARE.

Both groups use murder as one of their tactics. But their motives are radically different, just as the motive of a man who kills weeds is different than the motive of a Cho or a Columbine killer and different than a KKK killer and different than the motive of a man who kills another man who invades his home with the intention of killing first (self-defense).

Killing is the tactic used. And the means of killing vary greatly from case to case. The ONLY difference is MOTIVE for the killing.

Jihad is a war of invasion and imperial conquest for the glory, enrichment, and empowerment of islamic priests.

Murder is only ONE OF MANY tactics used by jihadis.

Some of the jihad tactics are crimes -- they break our laws -- and some of them are legal, not crimes at all. But ALL the tactics are an act of war, an assault designed to destroy our way of life, designed to conquer our nation and enslave our people.

Rape jihad is a crime -- and an act of war.
Immigration jihad and bedroom jihad are not crimes -- but they sure as hell ARE acts of war.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Fresh from the headlines, in the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Gunman Kills Eight, Then Kills Himself, at Omaha Shopping Mall
OMAHA, Neb. — BREAKING NEWS: A man with a rifle opened fire at a busy Omaha shopping mall Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life, police said. Five others were wounded, two critically.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315342,00.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

And not for the first time:

FOX Facts: Past Holiday Mall Shootings
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315422,00.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

Anyone hear of this one?

Fake Passports ID’s and Cash Seized from Illinois Man Now Held On $3 Million Bail

December 4, 2007

Mohammed Afzal Sodagar is facing charges that include identity theft, possession of phony ID and domestic battery. He was arrested after Morton Grove police responded to a call for help from his son and searched the family home.

In court documents, prosecutor Sharon Kanter says police found $59,000 and a dozen different passports from Pakistan, Jamaica and the United States, each with a different name. Kanter says officials also found eleven Illinois ID cards with Sodagar’s photo but different names and dozens of credit cards and Social Security cards.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/04/fake-passports-ids-and-cash-seized-from-illinois-man-held-on-3-million-bail/

[rhet 2]

And not for the first time:

FOX Facts: Past Holiday Mall Shootings
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315422,00.html

Apparently, another Cho -- a guy on the edge, turned loose without the psychiatric help needed to keep him from falling on his own sword in a murder spree.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Apparently, another Cho -- a guy on the edge, turned loose without the psychiatric help needed to keep him from falling on his own sword in a murder spree.

That same mall had a live grenade found in the parking lot, fortunately with the pin still in it.

This has been the year of the bomb, and I fear it will only get worse.

[rhet 2]

That same mall had a live grenade found in the parking lot, fortunately with the pin still in it.

This has been the year of the bomb, and I fear it will only get worse.

Yes.

And the two incidents may NOT be connected. There may be another insane mass murderer out there in Omaha still.

Too damned much of this, that's for sure.

Makes shopping via the Net really really really attractive.

[Adlerian Thinker]

Another one from the Government Facilities Sector:

Bomb scare shuts down county facilities in Santa Cruz. A duct tape-wrapped box shoved into a crevice in a retaining wall at the county offices in Santa Cruz, California, created a panic Tuesday morning. An employee walking through the parking lot spotted the shiny gray box, thought it “looked suspicious” and called 911, according to a police official. Officers ordered evacuations of that building and other areas nearby, closed parking lots, and brought in the bomb squad, firefighters, and paramedics. The area was shut down for almost three hours while the bomb squad’s robot scooted over to the box and checked it out with a camera that transmits to the bomb squad truck. After a three-hour evacuation and a response from the sheriff’s office bomb squad, they learned that the box had only some papers in it and there is nothing illegal about that, according to police. Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/story.php?storySection=Local&sid=51291

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Government Facilities Sector:

Fake bomb in UCSD lab leads to FBI investigation. An anonymous caller to the University of California, San Diego campus threatened to detonate a bomb inside a biomedical lab building, an FBI spokesman said Wednesday. After the call was made, a campus employee found a suspicious device made to look like a bomb, on the first floor of the Leichtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Building. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force responded because the target of the threat is a research facility, the spokesman said. Animal research is conducted at the medical school, but the official declined to say whether the bomb threat was related to that type of research. Authorities evacuated the building and seven others affiliated with the medical school, a campus spokeswoman said. No other devices were found. Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071206-9999-1m6pubsafe.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the same sector:

Justice Center reopens after bomb threat. Brevard County sheriff’s deputies responded to a bomb threat Thursday morning at the Harry T. Moore Justice Center in Viera, Florida. A man called 911 from a pay phone in Palm Bay saying there was a bomb on each floor of the courthouse, dispatchers said. The caller said he was targeting the circuit judge because she gave either his friend or brother 30 years, sheriff’s deputies reported. The courthouse was evacuated, but no device was found. Source: http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/BREAKINGNEWS/71206006/1086

[Adlerian Thinker]

More friggin' bombs!

Willey Hall evacuated for bomb threat. The University of Minnesota received a bomb threat for Willey Hall Wednesday morning, according to a University alert text message received at 11:30 a.m. Classes were temporarily canceled and police conducted a search of the building. The search found no suspicious items, according to a University emergency text message, and afternoon classes resumed at 12:45 p.m. This is the third bomb threat on campus this semester. Source: http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/12/05/72164881

[Adlerian Thinker]

Still more friggin' bombs!

Woodland police blow up suspicious package. Police officers in Woodland, California, blew up a suspicious package left in front of City Hall Wednesday afternoon. City Hall was evacuated for nearly two hours and Court Street between First and College streets was blocked off before a bomb squad robot destroyed the package, police said. No one appeared to be injured. Source: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/546118.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

And now a school bomb: Yup. The Year of the Bomb.

Arrest made in connection with school bomb threats. Another arrest was made on Tuesday after a threat at Central Middle School in west Melbourne, Florida. A note was scrawled on a torn-out sheet of notebook paper, police said. Police were called and they evacuated the school for two hours. This was the ninth bomb threat this year at CMS and the seventh arrest. Even though students have watched classmates go to jail, police said it has not stopped the threats. Police are now demanding stronger action from courts to punish the offenders. Police said the 15-year-old boy confessed when interviewed, and then confessed to another bomb threat in October. Source: http://www.wesh.com/news/14779005/detail.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Mall insecurity: Target for threats? Police have long worried that malls are the perfect target for deranged criminals or terrorists. Recent mall shootings, including the deadly shooting in Omaha Wednesday, substantiate this concern. Last February, an 18-year-old fatally shot five people and injured four others during a mall shooting near Salt Lake City. In April, a mall shooting spree in Kansas City left three dead. And in 2002, the D.C. snipers murdered at least two people outside of strip malls. Last month, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent out a bulletin warning of a plot to target malls in major cities. The intelligence was determined to be of weak credibility, but underscores how seriously law enforcement deems the threat. Now the concern with the holiday season is that the latest tragedy in Omaha will spur copycats. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/LegalCenter/story?id=3960056

[Adlerian Thinker]

More friggin' bombs!

Jersey City Bomb Squad Blows Up Suspicious Package

December 6, 2007

Members of the Jersey City Police bomb squad blew up a suspicious package on Sip Ave. this morning after shutting down part of Sip Ave. at Bergen Ave. in Journal Square for more than an hour.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/06/jersey-city-bomb-squad-blows-up-suspicious-package/

[rhet 2]

More friggin' bombs!

Jersey City Bomb Squad Blows Up Suspicious Package

December 6, 2007

Members of the Jersey City Police bomb squad blew up a suspicious package on Sip Ave. this morning after shutting down part of Sip Ave. at Bergen Ave. in Journal Square for more than an hour.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/06/jersey-city-bomb-squad-blows-up-suspicious-package/

Aw, gee, welcome to Baghdad, USA.

[rhet 2]

And now a school bomb: Yup. The Year of the Bomb.

Arrest made in connection with school bomb threats. Another arrest was made on Tuesday after a threat at Central Middle School in west Melbourne, Florida. A note was scrawled on a torn-out sheet of notebook paper, police said. Police were called and they evacuated the school for two hours. This was the ninth bomb threat this year at CMS and the seventh arrest. Even though students have watched classmates go to jail, police said it has not stopped the threats. Police are now demanding stronger action from courts to punish the offenders. Police said the 15-year-old boy confessed when interviewed, and then confessed to another bomb threat in October. Source: http://www.wesh.com/news/14779005/detail.html

Where the hell have that boy's parents been that this kid grew up thinking this sort of anti-social **** flies? Maggots breeding maggots because they're too damned busy watching tv to know what the hell their kid's learning?

Do you know what bombs your kid has built today?

[Adlerian Thinker]

Aw, gee, welcome to Baghdad, USA.

When the FBI put out information that they are concerned about IEDs, they weren't kidding!

[Adlerian Thinker]

Where the hell have that boy's parents been that this kid grew up thinking this sort of anti-social **** flies? Maggots breeding maggots because they're too damned busy watching tv to know what the hell their kid's learning?

Do you know what bombs your kid has built today?

My daughter's only foray into explosives involved Mentos and Diet Coke.

I did get to demonstrate to my safety team what toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil can do.

I loved the look on their faces when the two-liter bottle went <POOF>

[rhet 2]

My daughter's only foray into explosives involved Mentos and Diet Coke.

I did get to demonstrate to my safety team what toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil can do.

I loved the look on their faces when the two-liter bottle went <POOF>

More fun than I had after I'd read about the failed Hungarian revolt against the Soviets and thought I'd try out the molotov ****tail gig to see what they were like. Took weeks to get eyebrows and eyelashes again.

[Adlerian Thinker]

More fun than I had after I'd read about the failed Hungarian revolt against the Soviets and thought I'd try out the molotov ****tail gig to see what they were like. Took weeks to get eyebrows and eyelashes again.

Vaseline smeared on before can save a lot of hair.

I am glad it wasn't worse.

[Adlerian Thinker]

College & Universities Sector:

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police arrested a 21-year-old Loyola Marymount University student in connection with an online threat to shoot people on campus, officials said Saturday.

Police arrested Carlos Huerta, a senior at Loyola, for investigation of making criminal threats. Huerta was taken into custody on Saturday night near his apartment on campus.

Huerta is suspected of posting a message that he would shoot and kill as many people as possible on campus before being killed himself by police, authorities said. The anonymous threat appeared on a blog called Juicycampus.com, used primarily by college students.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316241,00.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

This is just sad:

Denver - Four Youths Shot When Gunman Opens Fire At Christian Missionary Center

December 9, 2007

Colorado police were searching Sunday for a gunman who opened fire at a live-in training center for Christian missionaries, wounding four youths, a police spokeswoman said.

The gunmen apparently fled on foot after the shooting at the Youth With a Mission Center in the suburban Denver town of Arvada, said spokeswoman Susan Medina.

The suspect is a white male, about 20 years old, said Medina. He may have be wearing glasses and a dark skull cap or beanie. He also may be sporting a beard or mustache, she said.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/09/denver-four-youths-shot-when-gunman-opens-fire-at-christian-missionary-center/

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Australian Arrested - Posted Hoax Terror Threat To Shoot Shoppers At Los Angeles’ Grove

December 9, 2007

Victorian police have arrested a 20-year-old Melbourne man for posting a hoax threat to shoot people at an American shopping centre on the internet, following a tip-off from police in the United States.
The man, from Frankston, was arrested by Victorian Computer Crime Squad detectives about 5.30pm (AEDT) yesterday after they were alerted to the hoax by the Los Angeles Police Department.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/09/australian-arrested-posted-hoax-terror-threat-to-shoot-shoppers-at-los-angeles-grove/

[Adlerian Thinker]

Update- New Details Emerge In Former FBI CIA Agent’s Security Breach

December 7, 2007

New details have emerged and it appears the breach was much greater than what was previously reported.

An illegal immigrant from Lebanon who became an agent for the FBI and CIA allegedly used her access to sensitive U.S. government secrets to help her brother-in-law, a suspected major fundraiser for the terrorist group Hezbollah, according to new details concerning a national security breach that emerged Wednesday.

In court documents and interviews, federal authorities said that as part of a criminal conspiracy, Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, illegally accessed top-secret FBI investigative files on five occasions and most likely shared the information with the suspected Hezbollah operative. When she pleaded guilty to unauthorized computer access and naturalization fraud charges three weeks ago, authorities revealed only that Prouty had accessed the FBI’s Hezbollah files once, and said nothing about her sharing information about ongoing investigations with anyone else.

On Wednesday, prosecutors said Prouty illegally accessed the FBI’s Hezbollah investigative files in 2002 and 2003, at a time when she was a Washington, D.C.-based FBI field agent who was not working Hezbollah cases. Prouty accessed them electronically, “without authorization and in excess of her authorized access,” the prosecutors said in a court filing.

At the time, her sister’s husband, Talal Khalil Chahine, 51, was under investigation by the FBI in Detroit for his suspected ties to Hezbollah. The Lebanon-based group was designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization in 1997.

The Detroit suburb of Dearborn is home to the largest Lebanese community outside of Lebanon, and for years the FBI’s Detroit field office has had numerous investigations underway into Hezbollah’s fundraising network here. Authorities say the group is supported by donations from wealthy local supporters and a wide array of criminal activities.

Authorities now believe Prouty was illegally accessing the FBI files to determine for Chahine and perhaps others what the FBI knew about the group’s presence here, and that she accessed an investigative file on Chahine, according to the court filing and interviews. At the time, Chahine was suspected of raising large sums of money for Hezbollah within the local community and of meeting with top Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/07/update-new-details-emerge-in-former-fbi-cia-agents-security-breach/

The LA Times link:
http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept (Need to register)

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the IT Sector:

Hackers Launch Major Attack on US Military Labs

December 8, 2007

Pretty scary story and I’m amazed it’s not getting more attention. Two of this country’s major military and nuclear weapons labs have been breached by hackers. Authorities say that the attackers may be located in China but there is no direct evidence.

Although only 2 locations have been named, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, others including Lawrence Livermore Labs, say the have blocked recent attempts.

The possibility that the latest attacks were the work of fraudsters will be seen by some as optimistic less positive would be the possibility of a rival government having been involved. Given the apparently coordinated nature of events, speculation will inevitably point to this scenario, with the data theft a cover motivation for more serious incursions.

Hackers have succeeded in breaking into the computer systems of two of the U.S.’ most important science labs, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

In what a spokesperson for the Oak Ridge facility described as a “sophisticated cyber attack,” it appears that intruders accessed a database of visitors to the Tennessee lab between 1990 and 2004, which included their social security numbers and dates of birth. Three thousand researchers reportedly visit the lab each year, a who’s who of the science establishment in the U.S.

The attack was described as being conducted through several waves of phishing emails with malicious attachments, starting on Oct. 29. Although not stated, these would presumably have launched Trojans if opened, designed to bypass security systems from within, which raises the likelihood that the attacks were targeted specifically at the lab.

ORNL director, Thom Mason, described the attacks in an email to staff earlier this week as being a “coordinated attempt to gain access to computer networks at numerous laboratories and other institutions across the country.”

“Because of the sensitive nature of this event, the laboratory will be unable for some period to discuss further details until we better understand the full nature of this attack,” he added.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/12/08/hackers-launch-major-attack-on-us-military-labs/

[rhet 2]

Ain't we got FUN FUN FUN!

When the hell are lib-ruls going to take national security seriously?

Answer: "THERE IS NO WAR. THERE ARE NO TERRORISTS."

[Dystopia]

Ain't we got FUN FUN FUN!

When the hell are lib-ruls going to take national security seriously?

Answer: "THERE IS NO WAR. THERE ARE NO TERRORISTS."

I do take national security seriously. The suburbs are wide open, but then again we have more private folks armed to the teeth where I am. God bless the local militia :D

On that note, we've always been at war with Eurasia.

http://1984comic.com/files/images/ingsoc_0.png

[rhet 2]

I do take national security seriously. The suburbs are wide open, but then again we have more private folks armed to the teeth where I am. God bless the local militia :D

On that note, we've always been at war with Eurasia.

http://1984comic.com/files/images/ingsoc_0.png

Concur.

Thank God for the Second!

But reverse that last sentence, would you?

Eurasia and Dar al Islam have always been at war with us. We didn't go to war with Dar al Islam until Sept. 12, 2001. And we're still in denial over Eurasia and Amerasia both.

Though, please -- "Eurasia" and "Amerasia" are misnomers as flawed as "War on Terror" -- thats "Eurislam" and "Amerislam" and "War on Islamic Fascism" please!

[Dystopia]

Concur.

Thank God for the Second!

But reverse that last sentence, would you?

Eurasia and Dar al Islam have always been at war with us. We didn't go to war with Dar al Islam until Sept. 12, 2001. And we're still in denial over Eurasia and Amerasia both.

Though, please -- "Eurasia" and "Amerasia" are misnomers as flawed as "War on Terror" -- thats "Eurislam" and "Amerislam" and "War on Islamic Fascism" please!

I just trust the local militia more than the average neighbor stool-pigeon. Although I do confess, I would like to turn in some my neighbors. :twisted:

Since the emphasis has been on cities... what about rural and 'burbs??? What to stop some terrorist nut from suicide-bombing a crowded mall? Not like the mall security is...uh...top notch or anything.

[rhet 2]

I just trust the local militia more than the average neighbor stool-pigeon. Although I do confess, I would like to turn in some my neighbors. :twisted:

Since the emphasis has been on cities... what about rural and 'burbs??? What to stop some terrorist nut from suicide-bombing a crowded mall? Not like the mall security is...uh...top notch or anything.

If you see something -- rural or burb or downtown mega-monster -- that causes your eyebrows to go up and your spine to sort of straighten up and pay attention -- drop a dime to the desk jockeys at the nearest LEA -- not 9/11 -- the DESK guys -- and give them a headsup to check it out.

You're not qualified to decide whether or not its innocent tom-foolery. They are. And you're the one with the eyeballs and ears present at the scene. Use your eyes and ears to connect with the BRAINS at LEA just because cops can't be everywhere all at the same time.

Common sense, man, plus common concern for the well-being of others in your immediate vicinity.

[Dystopia]

If you see something -- rural or burb or downtown mega-monster -- that causes your eyebrows to go up and your spine to sort of straighten up and pay attention -- drop a dime to the desk jockeys at the nearest LEA -- not 9/11 -- the DESK guys -- and give them a headsup to check it out.

You're not qualified to decide whether or not its innocent tom-foolery. They are. And you're the one with the eyeballs and ears present at the scene. Use your eyes and ears to connect with the BRAINS at LEA just because cops can't be everywhere all at the same time.

Common sense, man, plus common concern for the well-being of others in your immediate vicinity.

The problem is, by then it might be too late.

The suburbs are FULL of security holes. The cops are lazy and the most work they have to do is catch the occasional speeder or stop the occasional domestic dispute. The Neighborhood Watch can be useful, but they mainly operate at night. The militia boys are usually off in the mountains training... :neutral:

[rhet 2]

The problem is, by then it might be too late.

The suburbs are FULL of security holes. The cops are lazy and the most work they have to do is catch the occasional speeder or stop the occasional domestic dispute. The Neighborhood Watch can be useful, but they mainly operate at night. The militia boys are usually off in the mountains training... :neutral:

The burbs are also full of eyeballs.

You may not be able to stop THIS one act of destruction -- but you CAN stop the next one, by simply using your eyes and your cell phone to take pics and drop a dime.

[Adlerian Thinker]

The burbs are also full of eyeballs.

You may not be able to stop THIS one act of destruction -- but you CAN stop the next one, by simply using your eyes and your cell phone to take pics and drop a dime.

Cops, by and large, are NOT lazy.

[one_party_under_god]

This is probably unnecessary here given generally informed audioenec here. But this movie "Civic Duty" I had watched while back relates to this subject, there are dangers if the needed vigilence to defend the homeland turns into paranoia with contant fear.

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/68/87/53/10m.jpg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446298/

[rhet 2]

Cops, by and large, are NOT lazy.

NOPE.

Nor tyrannical.

Nor abusive.

TRUSTWORTHY and hard-working and HONEST citizens we can and do rely on.

But NOT superman able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, faster than a speeding bullet, with x-ray vision, either.

Next time you get a speeding ticket, apologize for being a knucklehead and tell the cop thank you for keeping you and everybody else safe. AND MEAN IT.

[Adlerian Thinker]

NOPE.

Nor tyrannical.

Nor abusive.

TRUSTWORTHY and hard-working and HONEST citizens we can and do rely on.

But NOT superman able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, faster than a speeding bullet, with x-ray vision, either.

Next time you get a speeding ticket, apologize for being a knucklehead and tell the cop thank you for keeping you and everybody else safe. AND MEAN IT.

The few times I have been pulled over, I do what I do when the missus is angry.

I keep my hands at ten and two, limit myself to simple 'yes' and 'no' answers, and avert my eyes.

Oh, and hope for leniency.

I also make sure I make no sudden movements.

[rhet 2]

The few times I have been pulled over, I do what I do when the missus is angry.

I keep my hands at ten and two, limit myself to simple 'yes' and 'no' answers, and avert my eyes.

Oh, and hope for leniency.

I also make sure I make no sudden movements.

Wise. :))

Me, I lower the window no further than required to pass the DL through and respectfully request the presence of a police WOMAN before exiting the vehicle. AND ask for the cop's photo id and badge, too, using my cell to confirm the cop's legit with his front desk. :))

It startled him, but when I pointed out cases where the BGs have disguised themselves as cops, it worked the ONLY time I had to do so.

Mostly, I'm just damned careful to observe the laws and give cops no cause to look at me more than once.

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Transportation Sector:

Man arrested in Metro bomb scare at Pentagon. Metrorail was shutdown at the Pentagon station Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C., due to a bomb scare. According to Metro, a Chinese national living in Fairfax County, Virginia, allegedly claimed that another man was carrying a briefcase with a bomb in it. The station was closed at 2:42 p.m. as law enforcement officials investigated the suspicious package in question, which was located near the station faregates. In the end, nothing was identified as dangerous and the station was reopened at 4 p.m. Residual delays lasted into the early evening rush. The man, who made the initial report, was charged with making a false bomb threat and disorderly conduct, which are felonies that carry a possible 10-year prison sentence. Source: http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2007/12/man_arrested_in_metro_bomb_scare_at_pent.php

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Bank robbers leave behind fake bomb, causing evacuations. Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, authorities say two bank robbers caused a scare by leaving behind a bag that they said contained a bomb, but actually only contained cardboard and bricks. The bank and nearby businesses were evacuated for several hours. A bomb squad removed the bag from the bank, then blasted the bag and found it never had any explosives in it Source: http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-57/11969735836740.xml&storylist=penn

[rhet 2]

From the Commercial Facilities Sector:

Bank robbers leave behind fake bomb, causing evacuations. Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, authorities say two bank robbers caused a scare by leaving behind a bag that they said contained a bomb, but actually only contained cardboard and bricks. The bank and nearby businesses were evacuated for several hours. A bomb squad removed the bag from the bank, then blasted the bag and found it never had any explosives in it Source: http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-57/11969735836740.xml&storylist=penn

How nice.

Still more insane hatred of others to match Nebraska and Colorado. What a lovely world we've created since the 1950s. Gotta love "modernity."

[Adlerian Thinker]

How nice.

Still more insane hatred of others to match Nebraska and Colorado. What a lovely world we've created since the 1950s. Gotta love "modernity."

At least it wasn't a real bomb.

[rhet 2]

At least it wasn't a real bomb.

It achieved it's purpose: causing agony to others because the slime didn't give a **** what damage they did to anyone else.

[Adlerian Thinker]

It achieved it's purpose: causing agony to others because the slime didn't give a **** what damage they did to anyone else.

For which they need a detonator enema when they get to the police station.

[rhet 2]

For which they need a detonator enema when they get to the police station.

They have lost their claim to mercy, yes.

[Adlerian Thinker]

A scary one from the Commercial Facilities Sector:
Interpol chief warns of virus attack at sports event. Police across the world say there is no doubt that terrorists are planning to release a plague virus at a major sports event. Experts are convinced that the bacteria will be distributed using something as simple as a child’s plastic horn. With the Beijing Olympics just months away and the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010, there are plenty of opportunities for an attack. Security sources say the idea of terrorists using toy horns to distribute a deadly virus is a significant possibility. One insider told Scotland on Sunday, “This has come from information received from the authorities in Indonesia, where references to such a form of attack were discovered.” Source: http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2007/12/interpol-chief-warns-of-virus-attack-at.html

[Adlerian Thinker]

From the Government Facilities Sector:

Student facing charges after gun scare on bus. Four Winton Woods students were arrested in Ohio after one of them allegedly brought a gun onto a school bus and threatened to use it during an argument. The incident began December 4 on the way to school when one student allegedly said he had a gun during an argument. The bus stopped and several of the students in the argument got off. Forest Park police officers found an unloaded semi-automatic pistol in one of the students’ home. The juvenile has been charged with inducing panic. Source: http://