News

1. Romanian-American sentenced in Iran jet parts plot
Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:32pm EDT Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55A5RB20090611
IPT NOTE: The gov't's press release is posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/090611-01.html

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Romanian-born owner of a U.S. aviation company was sentenced Thursday to nearly three years in prison for conspiring to ship parts for fighter jets and other military aircraft to Iran, prosecutors said. Traian Bujduveanu pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to export goods in violation of the U.S. embargo against Iran. Bujduveanu and his company, Plantation, Florida-based Orion Aviation, were charged last year along with another aviation company owner, Hassan Keshari and his Kesh Air International, in a plot to help Iran build up its military. Prosecutors said Bujduveanu received e-mailed orders from Keshari requesting specific aircraft parts for buyers in Iran. The parts were shipped through a company in Dubai to the buyers using false shipping documents, they said. The conspirators sent parts designed exclusively for the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter and the CH-53 heavy-lift transport helicopter, prosecutors said…

DEFENDANT SENTENCED IN CONSPIRACY TO EXPORT MILITARY AIRCRAFT PARTS TO IRAN
June 11, 2009 Press Release

US Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/090611-01.html

2. Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz The Washington Times Thursday, June 11, 2009

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/11/inside-the-ring-21114217/

Pentagon-China talks

The Pentagon is quietly set to resume formal defense talks with the Chinese military that were cut off in October over Beijing's anger at U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. However, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has told China he won't go to Beijing until a senior Chinese defense official first visits Washington. Mr. Gates told Chinese Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian in Singapore earlier this month, when an agreement was reached on holding the next round of Defense Consultative Talks, that he would not accept the invitation to visit Beijing until after China sends its defense minister or an equivalent official to Washington...

Cartwright on rapid strike

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently disclosed the military's strategic thinking on developing weapons and systems that can strike any target in the world within minutes…

North Korean activities

New details of North Korean trafficking in counterfeit U.S. currency were outlined in a foreign government report on the illicit activities that identified a top North Korean general as the central figure in the counterfeiting as well as drug trafficking. The foreign government report, which was confirmed by U.S. intelligence officials, stated that Gen. O Kuk-ryol runs a North Korean government-sponsored program to produce and distribute high-quality counterfeit $100 bills and to engage in illicit narcotics trafficking with Asian organized crime gangs. A North Korean diplomat at the country's U.N. mission in New York has denied charges that North Korea's government is involved in counterfeiting and other illegal activities…

3. Defense Department Official Indicted on Espionage, False Statement Charges

US Department of Justice Thursday, June 11, 2009

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-nsd-576.html

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has indicted James Wilbur Fondren Jr., on one count of conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government and act as an illegal foreign agent; four counts of unlawfully communicating classified information to an agent of a foreign government; and three counts of making false statements to the FBI. If convicted on all charges, Fondren would face a maximum of 60 years in prison. Fondren, age 62, worked at the Pentagon and, from August 2001 through Feb. 11, 2008, was the Deputy Director, Washington Liaison Office, U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). He held a Top Secret security clearance, worked in a Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility (SCIF) and had a classified and unclassified computer at his cubicle. He has been on administrative leave with pay since mid-February 2008 and has not performed any duties in or for PACOM since that time. On May 13, 2009, Fondren turned himself in to federal agents after being charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government...

4. Iraq spy from Sterling Heights sentenced today
By BEN SCHMITT • DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF June 9, 2009 Updated at 4:04 p.m.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090609/NEWS01/90609030/1003/NEWS01

A Sterling Heights man who pleaded guilty to aiding Iraq without approval from the U.S. government was sentenced today to 46 months in prison. "I apologize to the court for what happened," said Najib Shemami, 62, who was born in Iraq but later because a U.S. citizen. "Trust me. I swear to God I didn't mean no harm to no one." Federal prosecutors had recommended nearly four years in prison for Shemami, who pleaded guilty to a violation of the international emergency economic powers act in January. U.S District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds agreed with the recommendation, saying today that Shemami's activity created the "terrible potential to undermine the security of the United States." Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said Shemami traveled to Iraq multiple times in 2002 and 2003 to report to the Iraqi Intelligence Service about U.S. and Turkish military activities and to supply information about Iraqi natives living in the United States…

5. U.S. Technology Being Used Against U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Because of Lax Export Controls
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 By Marie Magleby

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49354

IPT NOTE: The cited GAO report "Military and Dual-Use Technology: Covert Testing Shows Continuing Vulnerabilities of Domestic Sales for Illegal Export," GAO-09-725T, June 04, 2009, is posted: Summary http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-725T; Full Report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09725t.pdf

(CNSNews.com) - Technology that is legal to buy and sell within the U.S. but is illegal to export because of its potential military applications has been used to build weapons deployed against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan because of loose export controls, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued last week. One such piece of equipment, an inclinometer, measures an object's slope and inclination for medical, optical, range-finder, and robotics purposes, but also can be used in making IEDs. According to the GAO and the Department of Defense (DOD) this tool has been falling into the wrong hands at the cost of American lives…

6. Lawsuits Force Disclosures by C.I.A.
By SCOTT SHANE June 10, 2009 New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/us/politics/10intel.html

WASHINGTON — So far, President Obama has managed to curb Congressional calls for a national commission to investigate Bush administration detention policies. But Mr. Obama cannot control the courts, and lawsuits are turning out to be the force driving disclosures about brutal interrogations. Mr. Obama's decision in April to release legal opinions from the Bush administration on interrogation, which were sought in a lawsuit, has opened the door to the disclosure of other documents. That poses a problem for the Central Intelligence Agency as it tries to comply with Mr. Obama's proclaimed policy of openness while preserving the secrecy that agency officials view as the foundation of intelligence collection. In new responses to lawsuits, the C.I.A. has agreed to release information from two previously secret sources: statements by high-level members of Al Qaeda who say they have been mistreated, and a 2004 report by the agency's inspector general questioning both the legality and the effectiveness of coercive interrogations…

7. Surprise: Four Chinese detainees sent from Guantánamo to Bermuda
BY CAROL ROSENBERG Posted on Thu, Jun. 11, 2009 Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/1218/story/1092197.html

In a surprise switch, the U.S. government Thursday said it sent four Muslim Uighurs from a prison camp at Guantánamo to resettlement in Bermuda, not the remote Pacific island archipelago of Palau.
It marked the first time that the U.S. government had found a resettlement site for cleared Guantánamo terror suspects in the Western Hemisphere. Some 500 others have gone to Europe and the Muslim world. The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia broke the news first, identifying the four men granted asylum in Bermuda as Abdulla Abduqadir, 30; Helil Mamut, 31; Ablikim Turahun, 38; and Salahidin Ablehet, 32. A Boston office of the Bingham McCutchen law firm, which provided some of the Uighurs' legal defense services for years, free of charge, offered different identifications. They named them as Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet, Abdul Nasser and Jalal Jalaladin…

U.S. frees youngest Guantanamo detainee: lawyer
Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:28pm EDT Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSLB13601920090611
LONDON (Reuters) - The youngest detainee held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, seized when he was just 14 years old, has been released after seven years in captivity, his lawyers said on Thursday. Mohammed El Gharani, a Chadian citizen, was set free five months after a U.S. federal judge ordered him released after reviewing the evidence against him and ruling that it did not prove he was ever an "enemy combatant." Gharani has already returned to Chad, his lawyers said. There was no immediate confirmation from U.S. authorities of his release… The U.S. government had accused Gharani of staying in an al Qaeda-affiliated guest house in Afghanistan, of fighting in the battle of Tora Bora, serving as a courier for senior al Qaeda operatives, and being a member of a London-based al Qaeda cell…

8. Recruitment Shooting Suspect Doesn't Think Killing Was Murder
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525584,00.html

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Muslim convert charged with fatally shooting an American soldier at a military recruiting center said Tuesday that he doesn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified. "I do feel I'm not guilty," Abdulhakim Muhammad told The Associated Press in a collect call from the Pulaski County jail. "I don't think it was murder, because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason."… Muhammad told the AP he admitted to his actions to police and said he was retaliating against the U.S. military… "Yes, I did tell the police upon my arrest that this was an act of retaliation, and not a reaction on the soldiers personally," Muhammad said. He called it "a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military." In the interview, Muhammad also disputed his lawyer's claim that he had been "radicalized" in a Yemeni prison and said fellow prisoners that some call terrorists were actually "very good Muslim brothers."…

GI hurt in LR gunfire undeterred
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Posted on June 10, 2009

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/261627

… Police and attorneys in the case have been under a gag order since Monday morning, issued in Little Rock District Court. A week ago, police charged Muhammad with one count of capital murder and 16 counts of committing terroristic acts in the case. Pulaski County prosecutors have until July 28 to file formal charges. Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, who requested the gag order, said it was his opinion that Muhammad violated it by speaking to the AP...

Not aware more attacks planned, LR shooting suspect says
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/261711/

The man accused of killing a soldier outside a Little Rock military recruiting center earlier this month said Wednesday that he wasn't aware of similar attacks planned against the U.S. military on American soil. In his second collect telephone call in two days to The Associated Press from the Pulaski County jail, Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock said FBI agents had visited him in the lockup and wanted to know whether other attacks were planned. He said he told the agents that he wasn't aware of any specific plans but warned of danger ahead…

Shooting of two soldiers in Little Rock puts focus on 'lone wolf' Islamic extremists
Did alleged attacker Abdulhakid Mujahid Mohammed act on his own, or was he a trained jihadist?
By Patrik Jonsson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor June 10, 2009 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0611/p02s01-usju.html

Atlanta - The American-born Muslim convert who allegedly shot and killed Army Pvt. William Long and wounded another soldier outside a Little Rock, Ark., mall on June 1 said Tuesday the act was retaliation for the US war on terror, "done for the sake of Allah, the lord of all the world." Authorities have pegged the Memphis, Tenn., native Abdulhakid Mujahid Mohammed, born Carlos "Corey" Bledsoe, as a "lone wolf" terrorist – going to war alone against his own country, without operational guidance or handlers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has thwarted half a dozen home-grown terror cells since 9/11. Authorities say this includes the "Bronx Bombers," who were arrested last month. But lone wolves like Mr. Mohammed have proved more difficult to stop…

Man, 88, charged with murder in museum shooting
Michael Drost and Joseph Weber Thursday, June 11, 2009 Washington Times UPDATED

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3629

IPT NOTE: Redacted affidavit is posted at http://video1.washingtontimes.com/video/affidavitredacted.pdf

The 88-year-old anti-Semitic gunman charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a security guard Wednesday at the U.S. National Holocaust Museum also said President Obama is controlled by Jews, according to an FBI affidavit released Thursday. "Obama was created by Jews," the suspected shooter James W. von Brunn wrote in a notebook recovered by police, according to the affidavit. "Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do." Mr. von Brunn, of Annapolis, is being charged with murder and killing with a firearm in a federal facility, said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. "You want my weapons — this is how you'll get them," Mr. von Brunn also wrote, according to the affidavit. "The Holocaust is a lie." …

9. Ex-Tech student found guilty on terrorism charge
Father: Ahmed 'not guilty of any crimes in the eyes of Allah'
By BILL RANKIN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 10, 2009 Updated: 4:45 p.m. June 10, 2009
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/06/10/terrorism_tria...

IPT NOTE: Surveillance video by defendants and additional court materials are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/cases.php#139

Moments after his son was convicted Wednesday of a terrorism conspiracy, Syed Riaz Ahmed said the young man never harmed anyone and committed nothing more than thought crimes. "You think something and you're guilty of something," said Ahmed, somber and weary as he stood outside a federal courtroom. "He's not guilty of any crimes in the eyes of Allah. He's guilty of U.S. laws." During a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey pronounced Syed Haris Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student, guilty of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists here and overseas. He will be sentenced later this year. U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Ahmed's case did not involve an imminent threat, "because in the post-9/11 world we will not wait to disrupt terrorism-related activity until a bomb is built and ready to explode."… Ahmed, 24, once a Centennial High student who earned a Georgia Tech scholarship to study mechanical engineering, embarked on a spiritual journey during his college years to learn more about Islam. Upset by how fellow Muslims were being treated across the world, Ahmed turned to the Internet and became besotted with jihadist Websites espousing violent, radical views. At his trial last week, prosecutors introduced into evidence e-mails and Internet chats in which Ahmed said he wanted to engage in violent jihad. The trial culminated in Ahmed's refusal to allow his defense lawyer deliver a closing argument. Instead, Ahmed waived a jury trial so he could use the allotted 45 minutes for closings to deliver what he said was the message of Islam…

Man with Toronto 18 ties convicted in the U.S.
Jun 10, 2009 11:46 AM The Associated Press

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/648508

ATLANTA – An Atlanta man with ties to members of the so-called Toronto 18 terror cell has been convicted of plotting to aid a terrorist group by videotaping landmarks around Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey found Syed Haris Ahmed, 24, guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in the U.S. and abroad. Ahmed faces up to 15 years in prison. The judge delayed sentencing until co-defendant Ehsanul Islam Sadequee's trial begins in August. Prosecutors based the case against Ahmed on a series of videos he and Sadequee shot of U.S. landmarks, including the Pentagon and the Capitol. They said Ahmed sought to use the videos to earn respect from overseas terrorist leaders…

10. Four Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to the LTTE, a Foreign Terrorism Organization

Defendants include the leader of the LTTE in the US and one of the LTTE's senior arms procurement agents

Defendants' Wide-Ranging Support of the LTTE Included the Purchase of Arms and Explosives, Attempted Bribery of U.S. State Department Officials, Fundraising, and Covertly Financing a U.S. Congressman's Trip to Sri Lanka

US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York PRESS RELEASE June 09, 2009

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2009/2009jun09.html

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, defendants Karunakaran Kandasamy, Pratheepan Thavaraja, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, and Vijayshanthar Patpanathan pled guilty to, among other crimes, conspiring to provide material support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The guilty plea proceedings were held before Chief United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie. Kandasamy and Pratheepan face a 20-year maximum statutory sentence. Vinayagamoorthy and Patpanathan face a 15-year maximum statutory sentence...

11. Two passengers on doomed Air France jet had names linked to Islamic terror groups

By Peter Allen The Daily Mail (UK) Last updated at 1:53 PM on 10th June 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3616

IPT NOTE: The cited L'Express story is posted at http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/deux-passagers-suspects-sur-le-...
Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it emerged today. French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31…

Deux passagers suspects sur le vol AF447
Par Pascal Ceaux, publié le 09/06/2009 11:02 - mis à jour le 09/06/2009 11:08

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/deux-passagers-suspects-sur-le-...

No terrorism suspects on Air France flight: police
AFP June 10, 2009

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/11/2595239.htm?section=justin

French police say two of the passengers on the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last week were not suspected terrorists. A French news website had claimed that police found the names of two suspected Islamic militants on the flight's passenger list. But a senior French officer says that the shared names are simply a coincidence...

12. 'Shoe-bomber' Richard Reid on hunger strike in US prison

Times Online (London) June 10, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article64678...

Convicted British 'shoe-bomber' terrorist Richard Reid, who was found guilty in 2003 of trying to blow up a transatlantic commercial flight, has been refusing food for several weeks and is being force fed by authorities in a US prison. Reid is currently serving a life sentence in the notorious Supermax prison in Denver, America's highest-security federal lockup, after he was convicted of trying to ignite two bombs in his shoes while on board a Paris-to-Miami flight on American Airlines. He was subdued by passengers before he could detonate the explosives. Reid, 35, has refused 59 meals since March at the Supermax prison, a federal government lawyer said in court filings. The government attorney, in a previously undisclosed court filing dated April 14, wrote that prison officials determined on April 7 "that medical intervention was necessary" and Reid was being force fed and hydrated…

13. Motion to dismiss charges against Quebec terror suspect rejected
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 4:38 PM ET The Canadian Press
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/06/10/montreal-terror-trial...

A judge has rejected a motion attempting to have terrorism-related charges dismissed against a Quebec man who argued they infringed on his right to freedom of speech. Judge Claude Leblond issued the ruling Wednesday in the case of Said Namouh, who is charged with creating and distributing jihad propaganda. Namouh's lawyer, Rene Duval, said he will appeal the decision. The Moroccan native is facing four terrorism-related charges — conspiracy to detonate an explosive device, participating in a terrorist act, facilitating an act, and committing extortion for a terrorist group. Both the Crown and the defence gave their final arguments on Wednesday. The Crown contends Namouh is a member of the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), an organization involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment and which is described as a media tool for al-Qaeda. Namouh was initially arrested in September 2007 for his alleged role in plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria because of their military role in Afghanistan…

14. Couple accused of being Cuban spies to remain in jail
BY LESLEY CLARK Posted on Wed, Jun. 10, 2009 Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1090511.html

Former State Department employee Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Myers, accused last week of being Cuban spies, will be held in custody until their trial because prosecutors consider the couple "a serious flight risk," a U.S. magistrate in Washington decided Wednesday. The magistrate sided with federal prosecutors who argued during the detention hearing that the Myerses are accomplished sailors who own a "seaworthy" vessel. Prosecutors said that if the couple fled to Cuba, the court -- and the U.S. government -- would have no authority to get them back. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Michael Harvey also noted that the Myerses could seek refuge in the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., which he said was less than three miles from their apartment…

Cuba Spies: Riggs Bank Had More Secrets Than State Department
By Jeff Stein June 9, 2009 6:35 PM Spytalk - CQ Politics
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/06/cuba-spies-riggs-bank-had-mo...
The arrest of a northwest Washington couple on charges of spying for Cuba has put a spotlight on the career of Kendall Myers, a senior State Department intelligence analyst. But if the charges are true, it's Myer's wife, Gwendolyn, a computer specialist at now-defunct Riggs National Bank, who could well have been in far better position to supply Cuba with sensitive information than her husband. Riggs, after all, was the CIA's bank -- at least as far back as 1961, when it served as secret paymaster for the agency's failed Bay of Pigs operation. And in decades since it handled the discreet cash needs of such CIA friends as Saudi Prince Bandar (who helped funnel money to the agency's Nicaraguan contra rebels and Afghan mujahedeen) and the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, among other shadowy figures…

Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security

IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep't of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx; TSA Press Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm

15. Air France pilots told not to fly Airbus jets after Brazil crash
Charles Bremner in Paris From The Times (London) June 10, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6461994.ece

Air France scrambled to replace pressure sensors on its A330 Airbuses yesterday after a pilots' union urged crew to boycott the long-range jets because faulty airspeed readings are suspected over last week's crash off Brazil. "To prevent a repeat of this disaster we call on flight deck and cabin crew to refuse flights aboard the A330 and A340 series which have not been modified," said Alter, a union to which 10 per cent of the airline's crew belong. As salvage teams in the Atlantic recovered more of the 228 bodies from Flight 447, Air France and European aviation authorities sought to calm a scare over unreliable pitot tubes — the pressure probes that assist in measuring airspeed. Several airlines flying similar aircraft rushed to reassure passengers that they used a different sensor. The first data from the doomed airliner reported a pitot failure and Air France has acknowledged that its jets had suffered several similar incidents. The Airbus went out of control as the electronic flight system failed after receiving conflicting airspeed readings via its three pitot tubes…

16. Roseville Man Pleads Guilty to "Lasering" Police Helicopter
US Department of Justice, Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown, E. District of Calif.
Monday, June 8, 2009 Press Release CONTACT: Lauren Horwood PHONE: 916-554-2706

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3628

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that BALTAZAR VALLADARES, 30, of Roseville, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge William B. Shubb to interference with the safe operation of an aircraft. This case is the product of a joint investigation by the Federal Air Marshals, the FBI, the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, the Roseville Police Department, and the Sacramento Police Department. According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew D. Segal, who is prosecuting the case, VALLADARES pleaded guilty to shining a laser at STAR 5, a Sacramento Sheriff's Department helicopter. STAR 5 was in the area of VALLADARES's residence investigating an earlier incident involving the lasering of a passenger airliner that had been on approach to Sacramento International Airport. VALLADARES, who had been drinking, shined a laser at the helicopter and then ran inside his residence. Investigating officers on the ground arrested him and found his laser…

17. COLUMN ONE
High school mixes algebra, homeland security
In Maryland, a special curriculum focuses on terrorism, cyber-crime, nuclear arms -- topics to prepare students for jobs in defense and the like.
By Bob Drogin From the Los Angeles Times 5:35 PM PDT, June 9, 2009

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3614

Reporting from Ft. Meade, Md. — Flanked by hand-drawn posters about terrorist groups, from Al Qaeda to the Ku Klux Klan, Tina Edler solemnly addressed her ninth-grade students. "One new vocabulary word today is 'agro-terrorism'," she said… Meade High School, where Edler teaches, made its own history this year. The long-troubled public high school become one of the first in the nation to offer a four-year course in domestic security. The goal: to help graduates build careers in one of America's few growth industries. "This course will help me get a top-secret security clearance," said Darryl Bagley, an eager 15-year-old. "That way I can always get a job." Meade offers its 2,150 students a standard high school curriculum, including electives like advanced calculus and carpentry. But the 90 ninth-graders who chose the new homeland security program this past school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like. New themes even were added to their science, social studies and English classes…

18. New Security Screening For NJ Commuters Begins Today
Port Authority and TSA have created a program to determine if passengers are carrying explosive devices
By SHELLEY NG | wpix.com June 10, 2009

http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-path-trains-new-security-061009-stor...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (WPIX) - Before New Jersey commuters can board their train, they will have to go through security first. PATH officials and the Transportation Security Administration have begun a new security screening pilot program on Wednesday which will determine, among other threats, if passengers have explosive devices hidden underneath their clothing. The test period will last one month and end on July 10. The screening system uses passive millimeter wave technology. According to train officials, this precaution does not inconvenience passengers or hamper their commute. The process is non-evasive and requires commuters to walk past a camera that displays an image and indicator. TSA officers will be operating the equipment and if they find an anomaly, where someone has reached a certain threshold, local law enforcement officers will be on hand to investigate the situation further…

19. WHO Raises Swine Flu Threat Level to Highest Level

By David Brown Washington Post Thursday, June 11, 2009 2:02 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR200906...

The World Health Organization today declared the global outbreak of the novel H1N1 influenza virus to be in Phase 6 -- a full-scale pandemic. The announcement essentially warns WHO's 194 member nations to expect the arrival of the new flu strain, which is likely to infect up to one-third of the population in the first wave and return in later waves over the next several years. "The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic of the 21st century," Margaret Chan, WHO's director general, said this morning. "We anticipate that this action will raise many questions and that often these questions do not have simple answers." Simultaneously, Chan said WHO is advising the world's makers of influenza vaccine "quickly to prepare commercial-scale pandemic vaccine of this H1N1 virus," which was called swine flu at first because it is believed to have emerged in pigs…

Financing, money laundering, fraud, identity theft

20. North Korea's fundraising target of new sanctions
By KELLY OLSEN – Associated Press June 10, 2009

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3627

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Room 39 is one of the most secret organizations in arguably the world's most secretive state. Its mission: Obtain foreign currency for the regime of North Korea's authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il. As the United States weighs independent sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and missile launches, the activities fostered by Room 39 are likely to face closer scrutiny. The powerful entity, which has existed for decades, is believed to raise funds through business ventures — some legitimate and some not — that include counterfeiting and drug-smuggling. The money, according to experts who follow North Korea's inner workings, is used by Kim mainly to buy the loyalty of high-ranking officials in North Korea and maintain control of the country. A newspaper report in Seoul on Wednesday said South Korea has given U.S. authorities information on 10 to 20 North Korean bank accounts in China and Switzerland that may be involved in counterfeiting, money laundering and other illegal transactions. South Korea's National Intelligence Service spy agency, the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry said they could not confirm the report in the Chosun Ilbo. Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said he hadn't heard allegations about North Korean accounts in Switzerland…

21. Organized Retail Crime: Scope, Solutions
The NRF takes an active role in defining the ORC (organized retail crime) problem and lobbying for legislation.
Integrated Solutions For Retailers, April/May
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3626

$30 billion is a staggering number. It's close to what consumers spent on electronics during the holiday season and about what the U.S. government lent, the second time, to AIG. This is also the estimated amount retailers lose to organized retail crime every year. When NRF surveyed loss prevention executives about the impact organized theft has on their companies, a large majority agreed the problem has been growing, both in the number of incidents as well as in the severity. Organized retail crime leads to increased prices, threatens the safety of retail employees and the health of customers, and, of course, cuts into the sales of businesses whose margins are already razor-thin. As a definition, organized retail crime refers to groups of people engaged in illegally obtaining merchandise in substantial quantities through both theft and fraud for the purpose of reselling. These crime rings generally consist of "boosters," who methodically steal merchandise from retail stores, and fence operators, who convert the product to cash or drugs. In addition to being sold in flea markets or unauthorized local shops, some products stolen by these groups end up for sale on online auction sites, which is called e-fencing. The problem is so widespread that nearly 70% of retailers say they have identified stolen merchandise or gift cards at both physical fence locations and online auction sites. Organized crime rings operate as well-oiled machines that travel all over the country, sometimes hitting as many as four states in one day. What they steal and resell, how they sell it, and how much they stand to profit from the sale of these stolen items are all methodically determined before the operation begins. While technology, law enforcement, and store security all play an intricate role in uncovering crime rings, these criminals are smart and sophisticated…

Border security, immigration, customs

IPT NOTE: For more details, see US Customs and Border Protection releases at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/ ; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/2754 , and Canada Border Services Agency http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html

22. ACLU Wants Laptop Search Details

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/aclu-wants-dhs-laptop-s...

Privacy watchdogs have long questioned whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection policies permit agents to search laptops and other electronic devices of travelers without suspicion of wrongdoing and now the American Civil Liberties Union is trying to find solid answers. On Wednesday, the group filed a Freedom of Information Act with CBP, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, to learn how the agency's search policy, first made public in July 2008, is impacting international travelers' constitutional rights. According to the ACLU's request, giving the government unchecked authority to search travelers' personal documents and devices is a violation of Fourth Amendment privacy rights and the First Amendment freedoms of speech, inquiry and association…

23. Sheriff warns federal funds for incarcerating illegal immigrants at risk
2:14 PM | June 11, 2009 LA Times

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3625

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca today expressed serious concern about a White House proposal to cut hundreds of millions in federal funds that offset the local costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants. As part of the federal budget released last month, President Obama eliminated the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which last year paid local governments $400 million. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is reviewing the decision. Baca, who runs the largest county jail system in the nation, said the loss of the funds — typically about $14 million annually — would be particularly difficult given the state budget crisis and cutbacks by the county. It cost the county $97 million to incarcerate illegal immigrants last year, and that's projected to increase to $100 million this year, a sheriff's spokesman said. The sheriff cannot turn illegal immigrants over to federal immigration officials because, by law, before they can be deported they must be prosecuted, sentenced and serve their time. "The dark side of the illegal immigrant story is those that they commit crimes and are put in state and local prisons and jails," Baca said…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

24. British mother accused of having links to al Qaeda is set free after three months in Syrian jail

By Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 4:49 PM on 09th June 2009 The Daily Mail (UK)

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3613

A British mother accused of having links to al Qaeda has been released after three months in a Syrian jail. Maryam Kallis, 36, was staying with her sister in the Middle Eastern country in March while studying Arabic. The mum-of-three, from Nottingham, was walking along a street in the Syrian capital Damascus with her eight-year-old son on March 15 when she was stopped by 10 police officers dressed in civilian clothes. They took Maryam and her son back to her sister's apartment where she was questioned - then confiscated her British passport and took her away in handcuffs. The Foreign Office and Amnesty International had been fighting for her release and became increasingly concerned for her welfare after she was refused legal advice. They also suspected she may have been subject to torture in the country, which has a poor human rights record… The Syrian authorities said Mrs Kallis had been involved in receiving funds from her husband and conveying it to the terrorist network…

25. Somali pirates 'expanding reach'

Story from BBC NEWS: Published: 2009/06/10 12:23:43 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8093213.stm

Somali pirates are expanding their range of operations far beyond the East African coast, the US Navy has warned. One attack has been confirmed on a ship as far north as the Red Sea. The gangs have also extended their raids down beyond the Seychelles. The pirates were able to strike further away from the coast with the help of bigger mother ships, said the US Navy. It also warned that an increasing number of attacks were being carried out at night. Somalia has been without a stable government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish. The navy said the pirates were going further to avoid foreign navies, which have been patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. A statement from the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said one raid took place at the southern end of the Red Sea at the end of May and ships should be cautious in that area...

26. IDF developing battlefield robot snake

Jun. 9, 2009 DOV LIEBER, THE JERUSALEM POST

http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3612

A robot snake, capable of recording video and sound on the battlefield, is on the way to join the the IDF's hi-tech arsenal. According to a Channel 2 report, click here http://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-4ff0a6c8e01c121004.... the spying robot, which is about two meters long and covered in military camouflage, mimics the movements and appearance of real snakes, slithering around through caves, tunnels, cracks and buildings, while at the same time sending images and sound back to a soldier who controls the device through a laptop computer. Able to bend its joints so well that it can squeeze through very tight spaces, the new device will be used to find people buried under collapsed buildings. The snake is also able to arch its body, allowing it to see over obstacles through its head camera. Researchers studied the movements of live snakes in order to create the most natural and realistic robotic version. The snake's cost has yet to be determined, as it is still being developed; however, according to Channel 2, the IDF plans to provide combat units with these devices. Besides recording multimedia, the snake may also be used to carry explosives…