• Governing post-Mubarak Egypt

    The end of Mubarak’s reign and the likely reforms of Egypt’s political system make for an unpredictable, nervous period; in 2005 the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in parliament, or about 20 percent; the leadership of the MB at the time was more pragmatic and actively sought to be involved in the country’s politics; in January 2010 the leadership of the MB was changed, and a more religiously conservative, but also a more politically aloof, leaders are now at the helm; moreover, the MB historically has been the only movement to take on the regime, and as a result it has enjoyed what analysts regard as an inflated support; the demonstrations of the last two weeks show that there are many movements and groups now willing to participate in the political process; this means that Egypt’s silent majority will have alternatives to the MB at the polls; the trouble: there may be too many alternatives, risking splitting the secular vote, thus allowing the MB to emerge as one of the largest, if not the largest, party in the post-September elections parliament

  • 275,000 visas issued to people from terror-prone countries

    Nearly 275,000 entry visas to the United States have been given through 2009 to individuals from countries like Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Iran, and Syria — defined by the State Department as states which sponsor terrorism or in which terrorists enjoy relative free movement; it is estimated that of the 12 to 15 million undocumented aliens in the United states, between 4 and 5 million are visa overstays; DHS has only 272 agents to look for these 4 or 5 millions who disappeared after entering the United States

  • Arizona to vote on bill denying birthright citizenship

    An Arizona bill that would put a stop to automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants could come to a vote next week; the state’s legislation would define a U.S. citizen as someone who has been naturalized, or someone born in this country who has at least one parent who has no allegiance to a foreign country; a group of state legislators known as the State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) is proposing legislation which would allow a state to issue two kinds of birth certificates — one to babies of people legally in the United States, and a different one to babies of illegal immigrants; SLLI says that lawmakers in as many as fourteen states plan to introduce bills on the matter this year

  • Bus bombing signals tough road ahead for Philippines

    Al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf is continuing its attacks in the Philippines; the latest attack, in Makati City, has killed five; last year, the same terrorist organization claimed responsibility for killing 116 people in a burning ferry in Manila Bay, the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history; lawmakers propose installing CCTVs on city buses

  • Lt. Col. Cabangbang flushes out Abu Sayyaf leader

    Government forces killed an Abu Sayyaf leader in an encounter at a remote village in Basilan Island, southern Philippines on Tuesday; Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist separatist group founded in the 1990s with links to external terrorist organizations, has about 400 members at present

  • Air Force to deploy supercomputer aboard a superblimp

    The U.S. Air Force is developing a massive blimp to gather and process all intelligence feeds from Afghanistan; the air ship will be longer than a football field and seven times the size of the Goodyear Blimp and will be able to stay afloat for nearly a week at nearly four miles up; the key feature of the ship will be its sophisticated supercomputer which can process 300 terabytes of data an hour; this computer will help limit data overload as surveillance sensors become increasingly complex; it currently takes fourteen analysts to monitor a single feed from a predator and the next generation drones will have ninety-six cameras; the blimp’s first test flight is scheduled for 15 October

  • Japan and U.S. agree on nuclear counterterrorism road map

    Japan and the United States are preparing a “road map” for cooperative efforts to prevent atomic site workers from stealing potential ingredients for an act of nuclear terrorism; the plan would also address the development of “security-by-design concepts” for facilities such as nuclear energy stations and atomic fuel processing sites

  • Oregon’s new budget may kill interoperability system

    The goal of the $600 million Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network (OWIN) project is to design and construct a reliable public safety radio system for emergency responders, comply with the FCC’s 2013 deadline to transition state radios, consolidate four existing independent state radio systems, and create a network that all public safety radio users in Oregon can access; the governor proposes to halt the project for lack of money

  • N.J. county to purchase mobile morgue with DHS grant

    Burlington County, New Jersey officials plan to use this year’s DHS grant of $775,000 to purchase surveillance for the county’s radio communications towers, license plate readers, and a mobile morgue unit capable of transporting eight bodies; the mobile morgue is used to provide morgue support in a mass fatality event

  • Egypt's Christians fear change will not be for the better

    Egypt has the largest Christian community in the Mideast; Egypt’s Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, increasingly live in fear of discrimination and persecution, and political change — which many outside and inside Egypt welcome — may not be a change for the better; whatever the changes bring, Egypt’s Christians are not likely to end up with someone in power as tolerant of them as even President Hosni Mubarak has been; “The Muslim Brotherhood has a long-term commitment to establishing an Islamic state under Shariah rule in Egypt,” says one expert; “The Copts and other Christians should be worried. They would be reduced to ‘dhimmi’ status — denied the right to celebrate Christmas and weddings or otherwise publicly display their faith”

  • Russian extremists remotely detonate suicide bombs

    Investigators believe that the suicide bomb in Russia’s airport was remotely triggered by a cell phone; officials found melted circuit boards that suggest a cell phone was embedded with the bomb; CCTV footage corroborates this theory; Russian extremists from the northern Caucasus often include remote triggers in their suicide bombs to allow handlers remotely to detonate the explosive device in the event that the attacker changes their mind or becomes incapacitated; in a recent failed attack, a spam text message prematurely triggered a female suicide bomber’s explosive device on New Year’s eve foiling a plot to kill hundreds in central Moscow

  • Russia fears increasing domestic radicalization

    In an increasing trend, the suspected mastermind behind the recent Russian airport bombing is an ethnic Russian who converted to radical Islam; terrorists are increasingly recruiting more ethnic Russian Muslim converts to their cause; several recent prominent figures in Islamic terrorist groups have been ethnic Russian converts; the latest suspect, Vitaly Razdobudko, is believed to also be behind a failed attack planned for New Year’s Eve; authorities have been searching for Razdobudko since he went missing last October

  • Russia's counter terrorism woes

    A recent editorial in the Washington Post illustrates Russia’s difficulties in successfully deterring terrorist attacks; the Post blasts Russian leaders citing corruption as a significant reason for their inability to successfully develop counter-terrorism policing abilities, intelligence agencies, and to secure public areas; the editorial also blames Putin’s hard line stance on the northern Caucasus region as fueling extremist movements; in 2010 terrorist attacks in the Caucasus doubled; as a stark warning, the Post reminds readers that the 2014 Winter Olympic Games is scheduled to be held on the border of the Caucuses

  • DHS border security searches of electronics questioned

    Debate continues over DHS’s search and confiscation of materials at international U.S. borders; the latest case to make the headlines is that of David House, 23, an MIT researcher whose laptop, flash drives, and cameras were confiscated at the U.S.-Mexico border by DHS on his way back into the United States after a vacation in Mexico; House writes in a blog post that he is one of few individuals who are able to visit Manning in his detention facility in Quantico, Virginia

  • Top Gun footage used in Chinese news broadcast

    A Chinese news agency appears to have aired a segment using footage from the popular Hollywood action film “Top Gun”; the news segment was on Chinese air force training exercises and showed a jet destroying a J-10 fighter; Chinese bloggers immediately noticed the similarities between the news footage and a scene from “Top Gun”; side by side comparison of the footage show that the two appear identical; the news agency promptly removed the video from its website and provided no comment on the similarity