• Bill to protect anti-terror tipsters from discrimination suits

    Three U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday joined a growing campaign to expand protections for Americans who tip off law enforcement to potential terrorist threats from discrimination lawsuits if they identify the wrong person; their legislation is just the latest effort to win protections for tipsters of suspicious terror activities; the current U.S. legal system deters some Americans from tipping off authorities; a group of US Airways passengers were sued in 2006 after reporting six Islamic clerics who requested seat changes and asked for seat belt extenders that she said could have been used as weapons; “We cannot afford to let those who help prevent terror attacks become the targets of senseless liability suits,” said one of the sponsors

  • New database critical to success of "See Something, Say Something"

    DHS is developing effective information sharing systems with local law enforcement agencies and federal counter-terrorism offices to ensure that its new “See Something, Say Something” campaign can function effectively; the new National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSARI) will create a national database and processes to sort through the increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) by combining three online databases and allowing local agencies to search across all systems for information without having to change existing business practices; officials hope to complete the system by September of this year; a recent planned terrorist attack in Texas was thwarted when two tips came in using the system

  • ME turmoil offers both problems and hope for U.S. counterterrorism efforts

    In a few short weeks, popular uprisings in the Islamic world have upended counterterrorism relationships that the United States spent much of the past decade trying to build; the turmoil is a source of concern for U.S. counterterrorism officials, scrambling partnerships that have been critical to operations against al Qaeda; U.S. officials say, though, that the long-term prospect of democratic reform in the region will likely be a setback to the terrorist group, because the uprisings — and the prospect that more democratic and representative governments could emerge — will do significant damage to al Qaeda’s appeal

  • U.S. rebuffs Huawei fearing company is proxy of China

    Last month the U.S. government rebuffed another attempt by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. to enter the U.S. market when it ordered the company to immediately stop its partnership with 3Leaf Systems; the government has blocked similar deals in the past; U.S. officials claim that Huawei is a dangerous extension of the Chinese government and is determined to steal state secrets; Huawei is one of China’s largest companies, providing products to forty-five of the world’s top fifty telecom operators in over 100 countries; observers believe that the U.S. government’s distrust of Huawei stems from its general frustration with cyber attacks emanating from China

  • House hearings on Islamic radicalization to open Thursday

    Representative Peter King (R-New York), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will on Thursday open hearings on Islamic radicalization in the United States; “I’m not going to give into political correctness. I’m going ahead,” King said; he plans to call several witnesses, including the uncle of a Minneapolis man who linked up with a terror group in Somalia and is believed to have been killed; he also plans to call the father of a man alleged to have killed a soldier at an Arkansas military recruiting center in 2009; the hearing has generated much debate and publicity, and the U.S. largest Muslim advocacy group and other organizations are stoking opposition to a hearing

  • U.S. and Israel were behind Stuxnet claims expert

    Stuxnet first came to light in July 2010. Nearly 60 percent of reported infections were inside Iran; the worm targets industrial control systems, known as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), made by Siemens; Ralph Langner told a conference in California that the malicious software was designed to cripple systems that could help build an Iranian bomb; in a recent report on Stuxnet, the security firm Symantec said that it would have taken a team of between five and ten developers, six months to create the worm; Langner said that the project would have required “inside information”, so detailed that “they probably knew the shoe size of the operator.”

  • Boston Dynamics developing humanoid and robot cheetah

    Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Boston Dynamics, an advanced robotics developer, a contract to build “Cheetah,” a fast and agile robot capable of chasing and evading; the eighteen year old engineering company is also working on a humanoid robot named “Atlas” based on the design of “PETMAN,” an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the U.S. army

  • "Somethings" may be clogging counterterrorism efforts

    Initiatives by DHS to encourage sports fans, shoppers, and public transportation users to “Say Something” if they notice suspicious activity may be overwhelming the system and hindering our defenses, according to a policy analyst; the recent partnership between DHS and the NBA shows DHS does not plan on holding back its call for vigilance

  • Rebels reject talks unless Gaddafi goes

    Rebels in eastern Libya have said they will not negotiate unless Col. Muammar Gaddafi quits and goes into exile; the National Libyan Council in the city of Benghazi also called again for foreign intervention to stop government air raids against the rebels; the International Criminal Court meanwhile said it would investigate Col. Gaddafi and some of his sons for crimes against humanity; President Barack Obama repeated his demand that the embattled ruler resign

  • Gratuitous insults: The staying power of bad ideas

    The state of Tennessee will consider a bill which will make supporting Sharia law a felony; Oklahoma already has a similar measure of the books, but it is currently under judicial review; burning the Koran and declaring Sharia law to be a felony are not going to help in our war against terrorism; they will have the opposite effect; they are provocative measures which will inflame Muslims around the world; without the active support of Muslims around the world, the war against the terrorists cannot be won; one way to make sure we do not receive such support is by burning the Koran or by declaring support for Sharia law to be a felony; legislating that support for Sharia law is a felony is unnecessary; we outlaw polygamy without declaring support for Mormonism to be a felony; Hassidic Jewish men believe that they can divorced their wives simply by repeating “I divorce you” three times; we do not allow that – without declaring support for Orthodox Judaism to be a felony

  • In Tennessee, supporting Shariah law may soon be a felony

    A Tennessee lawmaker is sponsoring a bill which would make it a felony in the state to knowingly support Shariah law; the bill, if passed, would allow the state’s attorney general to designate an entity as a Shariah organization if the organization knowingly adheres to Shariah; if the organization “engages in, or retains the capability and intent to engage in” an act of terrorism; or if the act of terrorism of the organization “threatens the security of public safety” of Tennessee residents; violations of the proposed law would be a Class B felony, punishable by fine and a prison term of up to fifteen years; a similar measure passed in November by Oklahoma voters that banned the use of Shariah law in state courtrooms was later blocked by a federal judge pending the resolution of a lawsuit calling it unconstitutional

  • King blasts GOP for transportation security cuts

    Representative Peter King (R - New York), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted the GOP’s plan to reduce the budget by $61 billion, citing cuts to critical anti-terror programs; the House plans to reduce spending on port security and transit facilities by $400 million, bringing total spending down to $200 million; local transit authorities say that losing federal funding would be detrimental as states and cities are struggling with their own budgets; the grants are designated for things like cameras, tunnel fortification, training, patrols, and canine teams at transport hubs and ports; proponents of the cuts believe that these programs are redundant, unnecessary, and lack sufficient oversight

  • Maryland wants Florida's high speed rail funds

    As Republican governors in Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio reject federal funding for high speed rail projects, states like Maryland are clamoring to receive those funds; Maryland Senators Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood requesting that $2.4 billion dollars in high speed rail funding originally designated for Florida be redirected to projects in the Northeast Corridor; each year 250 million rail passengers use the corridor and passenger use is projected to increase by 60 percent by 2030; the White House plans to spend $53 billion on high speed rail projects over the next six years and $8 billion in the coming fiscal year alone

  • Alabama fire departments receive more than $1.5 million in DHS grants

    The Lanier Volunteer Fire Department in Talladega County, Alabama just announced that it received a little over $100,000 from DHS through its assistance to firefighters grant program; the department’s chief Jerry Alfred said he plans to use the funds to purchase a rescue truck; several other local fire departments also received grants from DHS including the Sycamore Volunteer Fire Department which received $231,750 and the Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department which got $185,250; DHS plans to award $1,564,732 to eighteen fire departments throughout Alabama

  • U.S. learning from Canada to combat domestic radicalization

    The United States is partnering with Canada to learn how to better address the increasing threat from the domestic radicalization of Muslim Americans; the United States is looking to learn how Canadian law enforcement agencies have developed relationships with Muslim communities; for the past several years the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been actively focusing on reaching out to Muslim communities and other groups that are the target of terrorist investigations; Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies placed domestic radicalization at the top of its priorities several years ago; domestic radicalization only recently became a national priority in the United States after a slew of failed attacks were perpetrated by American Muslims