“Many security people are now billing themselves as counterterrorism specialists, whatever that means. But they have no idea how terrorists think or operate,” ex-CIA operative Charles Faddis tells U.S. News’ Alex Kingsbury. “It is currently very difficult to prevent a suicide bomber from attacking a public transport system,” BBC News’ Chris Yates surveys — as Reuters’ William Maclean reports that “pressure on national budgets and growing problems identifying would-be bombers will make a tough task even harder,” and Jena McNeill chides in The Foundry, “The United States already has an effective means of stopping terrorism without the need to child proof the transit system.”
Homies: A TSA without a confirmed leader hurts in two ways: it’s bad for front-line morale, and it means there will be no bold policy proposals coming from the agency, counterterrorist Brian Jenkins warns Time magazine’s Mark Thompson — while Government Executive’s Alex M. Parker finds federal employee unions claiming, indeed, that the TSA leadership void is a buzz harshener. In light of anti-IRS terrorist Joe Stack and recent militia arrests, “perhaps conservative critics of DHS will reconsider” the scorn they heaped on its right-wing extremism report last year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cynthia Tucker suggests — but see Monica Crowley’s op-ed in The Washington Times.
Feds: An undercover agent gathered evidence for the FBI’s probe of the Christian militia group rounded up last weekend for allegedly planning to spark an anti-government uprising by killing cops, The Detroit Free Press’ David Ashenfelter and Ben Schmitt relate — while a USA Today editorial says the charges “should come as a surprise to no one,” and The Associated Press’ Corey Williams and Jeff Karoub report eight suspects pleading innocent yesterday. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., “is not the only prominent Republican who has advocated closing Guantanamo,” argues a Charleston Post and Courier editorial defending him against The Wall Street Journal’s charge that he is soft on terrorism. “Anyone who says America’s federal courts can’t bring terrorists to justice is overlooking the facts,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., opines in, again, the Journal.
State and local: Arizona state senators have approved a bill forcing schools to ask parents whether their children are in this country legally, The Arizona Daily Star relates. Georgia is seeing a spike in swine flu hospitalizations, having registered the most in the country for three weeks running, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has federal health officials saying. Police radio communications were down across D.C. for several hours earlier this week, FOX 5 News notes — while The Jackson Clarion-Ledger hears Mississippi officials hoping a $100 million DHS grant will heal first-responder communication woes exposed by Hurricane Katrina.
Ivory (Watch) Towers: The 528 students enrolled in homeland security studies at U-Mass can select from 21 courses in areas such as domestic terrorism, WMDs and forensic psychology, The Boston Globe profiles — while The Huffington Post polls readers: “Would you major in counterterrorism?” A Purdue University innovation using Bluetooth signals from wireless devices to track checkpoint wait times could help make more accurate airport staffing decisions, Homeland Security Newswire updates. John Yoo, who gave legal cover to Bush-era enhanced interrogation methods, tells the Los Angeles Times he’s happy teaching at Berkeley, “despite calls for his ouster and protests by liberal groups.” A Muslim scholar previously denied a visa and barred from speaking engagements in the United States is scheduled to speak at Harvard Law School, The Boston Herald briefs (and see below).
Bugs ‘n bombs: A dangerous ammonia gas leak in Indiana prompted evacuation of hundreds from their homes and sent at least three people to hospitals Tuesday, The Indianapolis Star relays. “Bizarre incidents among drug abusers in Europe force us to question whether experiments with biological weapons might be under way already,” a Washington Times op-ed leads. A recent CIA report warns that Iran has maintained its pursuit of nuclear capabilities that could help the Middle Eastern state build a nuclear bomb, Global Security Newswire notes. Iran’s nuclear ambitions, meanwhile, took center stage Tuesday at a Group of Eight foreign ministers summit on global security and terrorism, Agence France-Presse reports. A naval assessment group “is the latest government agency to tackle the threat from an EMP, a devastating electromagnetic burst that fries computers, sensors, weapons and all other electronics in its path,” Navy Times notes.
Close air support: Among the masses patiently queued up at an Orlando checkpoint early Monday a.m. was ex-DHS chief Tom Ridge, who quipped, “Some say it’s justifiable punishment,” The Washington Post reports — while WALB 10 News has suspicious luggage being “detonated, causing tension and flight delays at the Southwest Georgia Regional airport.” Colorado Springs Airport, meanwhile, is moving checked luggage screening back into the lobby while its baggage area is refitted for new automated explosives detection equipment, the Gazette relates — as The Baltimore Sun sees AirTran unveiling a $39 million baggage security system at BWI. A U.K. parliamentary report recommends that “passengers, and terrorists, should not know what [security] regime they will face when they arrive at airports,” The Times of London tells.
Ports in a storm: A new public-private security agreement covering the Port of Houston can serve as a model for other ports around the country, The Houston Chronicle hears the House homeland honcho praising. By requiring those doing business at Florida’s ports to pay for two background checks, the state has put Florida’s maritime industry at an economic disadvantage to the other 49 states, a Tampa Tribune op-ed objects. One of the biggest concerns for U.S. port authorities is that a mandate for 100 percent screening of incoming maritime cargo “would result in reciprocity — requiring U.S. ports to screen all outgoing cargo as well,” Security Director News notes. “Don’t make deals with pirates,” ABC News hears Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama advising in a just-published book about last year’s hostage ordeal in Somali waters.
Courts and rights: A federal judge ruled yesterday that warrantless eavesdropping on a now-defunct Islamic charity was illegal, Bloomberg reports. The Army officer accused in the Fort Hood shooting rampage is apparently being moved from a hospital to jail, AP relates. U.S. prison units specially designed to muzzle communications by inmates considered extremist are unconstitutional and discriminate against Muslims, Reuters has a lawsuit filed Tuesday charging. Digital Due Process, whose members also include Intel, eBay, AOL, AT&T and the ACLU, wants to require law enforcers to get a court order or search warrant before accessing any personal e-mail or other Internet data, The San Jose Mercury News notes.
Over there: A Pakistani court yesterday formally opened the trial of five Americans charged with terrorism and plotting attacks, which could see them jailed for life, AFP reports. The Russian-backed leader of Chechnya vows that terrorists who target innocent civilians must be “poisoned like rats,” CNN notes — while NPR has a Chechen rebel chief yesterday claiming the Moscow metro bombings. Russia’s decade-long fight against an Islamic insurgency has not worked, USA Today, relatedly, has analysts asserting. “In Iraq, we’ve seen the number of female suicide bombers swell due in part to a resistance to having men search women at checkpoints,” Salon suggests.
Mapping the thin ice: San Francisco’s police chief has had to apologize for quipping that the Hall of Justice “is susceptible not just to an earthquake, but also to members of the city’s Middle Eastern community parking a van in front of it and blowing it up,” The SFist relates. When six young Southern California Muslim men paused for prayer during a trip through Nevada earlier this month, police were suspicious enough to check their names against a national terrorism watch list, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reveals. “Because they live together, guard their privacy and practice an unfamiliar faith, residents of Islamville have been viewed with suspicion,” The Tennessean profiles. A parliamentary committee has concluded that the U.K. government’s anti-terrorism scheme, Prevent, has backfired by stigmatizing and alienating Muslims, The Daily Telegraph discusses. FOX News “baselessly suggested that Muslim scholars Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib . . . are ‘terrorists,’” Media Matters chides.
Holy Wars: Terrorism experts say recent conservative political unrest has fueled a resurgence of radical militias, even though their popularity had declined after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, The Detroit News surveys. “There is a good reason to worry about right-wing anti-government extremism,” a Post columnist, relatedly, contends — as New York Magazine wrestles with whether a just-busted Michigan Christian militia cell is a terrorist organization. “Pakistani terror camps are teaching children the three R’s: reading, ’riting and rage . . . Graduates don’t go to college — they blow themselves to bits in Afghanistan to find paradise,” The New York Daily News spotlights. “The metro bombings in Moscow make clear that terrorism is far from exorcized from Russia. So where has it been hiding these last few, quiet years? The Web,” Foreign Policy leads. Two women dressed in Muslim clothing were attacked and beaten in Moscow after Monday’s deadly subway suicide bombing, Pravda reports.
My people will call your people: “It was one of the biggest winners at the Sundance Film Festival, and [it] wasn’t even supposed to be shown at Sundance,” CAP News leads. “Instead of an overlong moralistic art piece about a mute cripple and his magical beagle, the audience was subjected to the latest video from al Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. As al-Zawahiri railed against the [Obama administration’s Afghan] surge, many of the gathered Hollywood elite cheered, a few left, and one, Warner Independent Pictures head of development Michelle Olivant, saw greatness. ‘I was just spellbound,’ Olivant recalled. "I mean, here’s this old Muslim guy, hummus in his beard, soiled towel on his head, going off in a way that would rival, say, a Jack Nicholson or a George C. Scott. So powerful ... it still gives me goose bumps,’ she said. Warner immediately got in touch with al-Zawahiri’s people, and a three-picture deal rumored to be in the high seven-digit per picture range was hammered out.”
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