• Domestic terrorism by members of extremist groups a serious threat: FBI

    The FBI and other government law-enforcement agencies have been convinced for a while that terrorism from extremist domestic organizations is just as dangerous as terrorism from foreign organizations, but efforts by authorities to detect and pre-empt violent extremists have faced serious legal and political hurdles, including free speech guarantees and pushback from political lobbies suspicious of the government’s motives

  • New detection device for forensic and security applications

    A new biological sampling and detection device could soon be used by first responders in the forensic and security sectors; the patented technology allows for rapid sampling of up to eight targets simultaneously, testing powder, liquids, or surfaces directly and has applications across the forensic and security areas

  • DHS develops active shooter national guidance

    DHS has selected a training program from the Center for Personal Protection and Safety (CPPS) as resource in developing national guidance for how to respond to an active shooter situation

  • Israel estimates an Iranian retaliation would kill 200-300 Israeli civilians

    The operation research experts at the Israeli Ministry of Defense estimate that an Iranian retaliation for an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a retaliation in which Hezbollah would participate, would cause about 200 dead among Israeli civilians; if Syria were to join the attack on Israel, the number of dead would rise to about 300; the estimates are based on past conflicts, the efficacy of Israeli missile defense system, the number of fortified shelters available, and the generally disciplined manner in which Israeli civilians reacted to being under missile and rocket attacks  

  • U.S. losing patience with Pakistan over Haqqani network’s growing boldness

    Last week the Pakistan government-supported Haqqani network released a video of a 1 June operation, showing members of the group driving an explosive-laden truck into Camp Salerno, an American military base in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border; the truck exploded, opening a breach in the camp’s fence, through which Haqqani militants entered the camp, shooting in all directions; only two GIs died in the attack — but it could have been far worse, as hundreds of American soldiers were in the mess hall only yards away; Congress has already voted to designate the Haqqanis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and administration officials say that the United States is “one major attack” away from unilateral action against Pakistan

  • Radiation detection equipment installed in four Mexican ports

    The Megaports Initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy program intended to enhance the ability of ports around the world to detect and interdict illicit shipments of special nuclear and other radioactive materials; Under the initiative, radiation detection gear and protocols were implemented in the Mexican ports of Manzanillo, Altamira, Lazaro Cardenas, and Veracruz, through which 92 percent of Mexico’s containerized cargo pass

  • AQIM leader killed in Mali

    If every cloud has a silver lining, this may be one: Algerian sources say that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the deadliest leaders of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was killed during the 25 June battle of Gao, in which the Islamist Ansar Dine group took over the city of Gao in Azawad, the break-away region in north Mali

  • Inmarsat responds: We do not sell telecommunications services to any Iranian entity

    Shurat Hadin, a Tel Aviv-based law firm specializing in litigation against terror sponsors, claims mobile satellite company Inmarsat PLC provides prohibited guidance services to Iranian oil tankers and Iranian military vessels; Inmarsat says these claims are wrong: the company says it seeks to comply with all applicable sanctions laws and regulations, and that Inmarsat does not sell telecommunications services to any Iranian entity, or to any entity on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control list of Specially Designated Nationals

  • Global air control system largely defenseless against hacking

    The ADS-b system, the multi-billion dollar communication system deployed at airports around the world over the last few years, has two major flaws: first, it has no means of verifying who is actually sending a message, which means that a hacker can impersonate an aircraft and send malicious and misleading information to control towers and to other aircraft; second, the position, velocity, and other information broadcast by aircraft is not encrypted and can be grabbed from the air; a presenter at the Black Hat cybersecurity event showed how it is possible to use the information to plot the route of Air Force Phone on an iPad; these two vulnerabilities can be easily exploited by anyone with modest technical skills and about $2,000 worth of electronics

  • By the numbers: Terrorism and the Olympics

    The 2012 Summer Olympic Games open today in London; history offers a warning, but no clear pattern on the true risk of terrorism at the Olympic Games, concludes a new report

  • DHS offers advice on how to survive shooting sprees

    For people who get caught in a shooting spree, such as the one in Aurora, Colorado,  DHS offers a survival plan

  • Critics charge satellite company Inmarsat violates Iran sanctions

    A legal organizations specializing in fighting legal battles against terror sponsors – they say their goal is to bankrupt the terror groups and grind their activities to a halt, one lawsuit at a time – warned mobile satellite company Inmarsat PLC against providing prohibited guidance services to Iranian oil tankers and Iranian military vessels; in 2008, a United States Supreme Court ruling made the determination that individuals or companies that materially support terrorist organizations are liable for the murder and injuries they cause, according to Boim v. Holy Land Foundation

  • Israel, U.K. worried about “anniversary” Olympic attack by Iranian agents

    Forty years ago, during the Munich Summer Olympic Games, terrorists belonging to the Palestinian Black September organization entered the Olympic Village, kidnapped members of the Israeli Olympic team, then killed eleven of them and injured twenty more during a botched German rescue operation; there is worry in Israel and London that Iran, using its own operatives or Hezbollah’s, would try a spectacular 40-year anniversary attack on the Israeli delegation to the games

  • U.S. to send hand-launched UAVs to Kenya to help fight Somali al Shabaab

    The United States will include hand-launched Raven UAV’s in the $41.4 million military aid package to Kenya; the package also includes trucks, communications gear, and rifles for Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda; the military aid aims to help east African countries cope with the growing menace of al Shabaab, a Somali al Qaeda affiliate

  • Bulgaria attack shows Iran’s terror strategy

    The Wednesday suicide-bombing attack by a Hezbollah operative on a bus carrying Israeli tourists on their way to a Bulgaria sea resort, an attack in which six Israeli were killed and thirty-five injured, is an indication that Iran has decided to increase the cost to Israel, and the United States and the West more generally, of a set of policies which have materially undermined Iran’s interests; Iran has built a large network of terror sleeping cells in Europe and the Americas, operated by the Iranian Quds Force, an elite international operations unit within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and by Hezbollah, a network it intends to activate where and when it serves its interests