• Six men arrested in U.K. on terrorism charges

    On Monday, British authorities arrested six men on charges of terrorism; the men, all between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, are believed to be part of a terror network; four of the men are accused of one count of “engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts,” while the other two are being charged for failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism; the four suspected terrorists allegedly planned a bombing campaign, stated their intention to become suicide bombers, and collected money for terrorism; two of the four are believed to have travelled to Pakistan to receive weapons and explosives training

  • Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founders placed on U.S. terror list

    On Wednesday the United States announced that it had placed two founding members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organization on its terror watch list; the United States refrained from sanctioning the Pakistani state or the ISI, its military intelligence agency, despite increasingly heated statements from top U.S. officials; David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence described Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi as two of LeT’s “most significant leaders”; over the past twenty years, the duo has been responsible for fundraising, recruitment, and indoctrination of operatives; “By targeting the core of LeT’s leadership, today’s action aims to degrade its ability to facilitate its terrorist activities,” Cohen said

  • Al Qaeda to Iranian president: enough with the 9/11 conspiracy theories

    Al Qaeda, in the latest edition of their online propaganda magazine Inspire, called on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks; the terrorist group called Ahmadinejad’s remarks about 9/11 “ridiculous”; last week in his address to the UN general assembly, Ahmadinejad said the “mysterious September 11 incident” had been used as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq; he added, “By using their imperialistic media network which is under the influence of colonialism, they threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and the September 11 event with sanctions and military actions”; in response, al Qaeda wrote, “The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al-Qaida was behind 9/11 but rather, the US government”; “So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?” the group asked

  • Sharp rise in number of holders of security clearances

    As of 1 October 2010, the number of Americans holding security clearances was 4,266,091; of those, 1,419,051 federal employees and contractors hold Top Secret clearances

  • Belief that others can change could bring peace

    Psychologists find that members of groups engaged in conflict are more willing to compromise if they believe people are capable of changing; when researchers presented Israelis and Palestinians with evidence that groups of people are capable of change, the information increased the subjects’ willingness to compromise on key political issues

  • Predicting race and ethnicity from irises now possible

    Conventional wisdom holds that irises, like fingerprints, are unique to each individual and have little similarities between ethnic groups or gender, but a groundbreaking new study indicates that biometric scanners can actually predict race and gender based on iris texture alone; the study’s findings are important in that it opens new avenues for research that previously were not thought possible

  • Connecticut town considers charging centers for power outages

    Following Hurricane Irene which left thousands without power up and down the East Coast, a town in Connecticut is considering building several charging stations for residents to power up their hand held electronics during a natural disaster or prolonged power outage

  • Living bacteria for perfect encryption system

    Researchers have developed fluorescent bacteria that encode secret messages, creating, in effect, a living invisible ink; this method could be harnessed for secret communications as well as for anti-counterfeiting; messages may be encoded by genetically engineering bacteria to produce fluorescent colored proteins, then printing them in a grid

  • Counter piracy security expert: "The system is broken"

    Piracy off the Horn of Africa has continued to flourish despite the concerted efforts of the world’s navies; a security expert said, “The system is broken here” and called the international counter piracy task force “one of the most expensive catch and release programs” ever; last year the task force spent more than $2 billion responding to sixty-four incidents, or roughly $30 million per incident

  • NYPD has means to take down a plane "in very extreme situation"

    The NYPD created a counterterrorism unit following the 9/11 attacks; New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the counterterrorism unit has the means to take down an aircraft “in a very extreme situation”

  • U.S. and Belgium to share biometric data

    Under a recently signed agreement, the United States and Belgium will begin sharing biometric data in an effort to combat international crime

  • Georgia shows app that prepares state residents, guides them to safety

    New Ready Georgia mobile app uses geo-location to deliver alerts, create emergency plans, and show shelter locations; from up-to-the-minute weather and hazard alerts based on a user’
    ‘s location, to customizable emergency preparedness checklists, the app combines a set of features not previously available in one mobile application

  • U.S. looks to keep Libyan WMD scientists away from terrorists

    With Libyan rebels consolidating their hold over the country, the United States is looking to restart a State Department program designed to keep top Libyan biological and nuclear scientists from working for terrorist organizations or hostile nations; Libya’s new leaders have expressed their interest in working with the United States to keep track of Libyan WMD scientists and on other counter-proliferation programs, but the interim government has yet formally to respond to U.S. requests

  • Why the Twin Towers collapsed: new theory

    Materials scientist says that a mixture of water from sprinkler systems and molten aluminum from melted aircraft hulls created explosions that led to the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11

  • Security analyst: Oslo-type attack in U.S. likely in next few years

    An expert on American-Muslims fears that with the rising anti-Islamic sentiments in the United States an “Oslo-type” attack could occur in the next few years at a U.S. mosque; speaking on a panel on security threats facing faith based organizations at the ASIS 2011 security conference, Nawar Shora, the CEO of Shams Training and Development, said, “I fear that in the next few years we’ll have something like Oslo repeated here in this country, whether someone will go to an Islamic center or whether someone will try a massacre during a worship on Friday”