By Patience Wait
GCN Staff

The House of Representatives has voted to authorize $10.6 million to speed up corporate applications under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act.

Under provisions of the act, technology providers may apply to the Homeland Security Department for certification of their anti-terrorism products and receive protection from lawsuits seeking to recover damages following possible future terrorist attacks.

The funding was included in the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act, H.R. 1817, approved last week [see GCN story]. It provides $5 million more for the SAFETY Act than requested in President Bush�s budget. The legislation has been referred to the Senate for action.

�This increased funding for the SAFETY Act will speed up deployment of new technologies to protect Americans from terrorism,� said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. �When terrorists kill Americans, the people who have helped us to be prepared shouldn�t get hit with lawsuits. The SAFETY Act, and this money to help implement it, will ensure this doesn�t happen. As a result, we will all be safer.�

According to the committee, DHS has been slow in evaluating technologies looking for SAFETY Act protection. Of 201 pre-applications and 90 full applications submitted, the department has reached a final determination on only 24.

By ERIK ECKHOLM
WASHINGTON � If it is true that, as an old Chinese proverb says, crisis equals opportunity, then the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have yielded a bonanza. Billions of dollars have been poured into homeland security by the cabinet department of the same name, the Pentagon, law enforcement and corporations. With so much money available, more than 500 exhibitors at a security conference here last week were out to reap their share.

The most futuristic tools and weapons for tracking and catching potential terrorists were presumably not on display. But if the goods and services hawked at the conference are any measure, the urgent quest for greater security has stirred creative juices among inventors - and marketers.

The presentations included sophisticated equipment like an identity-verification device that reads a finger's unique pattern of capillaries and more mundane items like strong rubber gloves for working at the scene of a disaster.

Mainly a trade fair, the conference was attended by thousands of potential buyers, including representatives from federal agencies and small-town police officers who ogled devices beyond their budgets.

Review May Shift Terror Policies By Susan B. Glasser, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sun May 29, 1:00 AM ET



The Bush administration has launched a high-level internal review of its efforts to battle international terrorism, aimed at moving away from a policy that has stressed efforts to capture and kill al Qaeda leaders since Sept. 11, 2001, and toward what a senior official called a broader "strategy against violent extremism."


The shift is meant to recognize the transformation of al Qaeda over the past three years into a far more amorphous, diffuse and difficult-to-target organization than the group that struck the United States in 2001. But critics say the policy review comes only after months of delay and lost opportunities while the administration left key counterterrorism jobs unfilled and argued internally over how best to confront the rapid spread of the pro-al Qaeda global Islamic jihad.


President Bush's top adviser on terrorism, Frances Fragos Townsend, said in an interview that the review is needed to take into account the "ripple effect" from years of operations targeting al Qaeda leaders such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, arrested for planning the Sept. 11 attacks, and his recently detained deputy. "Naturally, the enemy has adapted," she said. "As you capture a Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an Abu Faraj al-Libbi raises up. Nature abhors a vacuum."


The review marks the first ambitious effort since the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks to take stock of what the administration has called the "global war on terrorism" -- or GWOT -- but is now considering changing to recognize the evolution of its fight. "What we really want now is a strategic approach to defeat violent extremism," said a senior administration official who described the review on the condition of anonymity because it is not finished. "GWOT is catchy, but there may be a better way to describe it, and those are things that ought to be incumbent on us to look at."


In many ways, this is the culmination of a heated debate that has been taking place inside and outside the government about how to target not only the remnants of al Qaeda but also broader support in the Muslim world for radical Islam. Administration officials refused to describe in detail what new policies are under consideration, and several sources familiar with the discussions said some issues remain sticking points, such as how central the ongoing war in Iraq is to the anti-terrorist effort, and how to accommodate State Department desires to normalize a foreign policy that has stressed terrorism to the exclusion of other priorities in recent years.


"There's been a perception, a sense of drift in overall terrorism policy. People have not figured out what we do next, so we just continue to pick 'em off one at a time," said Roger W. Cressey, who served as a counterterrorism official at the National Security Council under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. "We haven't gone to a new level to figure out how things have changed since 9/11."


"No question this is the next stage, the phase two," another senior counterterrorism official said. "We are coming to the point of decisions."


Much of the discussion has focused on how to deal with the rise of a new generation of terrorists, schooled in Iraq over the past couple years. Top government officials are increasingly turning their attention to anticipate what one called "the bleed out" of hundreds or thousands of Iraq-trained jihadists back to their home countries throughout the Middle East and Western Europe. "It's a new piece of a new equation," a former senior Bush administration official said. "If you don't know who they are in Iraq, how are you going to locate them in Istanbul or London?"


Another key aspect is likely to be the addition of public diplomacy efforts aimed at winning over Arab public sentiment, and State Department official Paul Simons said at a congressional hearing earlier this month that the "internal deliberative process" was broadly conceived to encompass everything from further crackdowns on terrorist financing networks to policies aimed at curbing the teaching of holy war against the West and other "tools with respect to the global war on terrorism."


The policy review was initiated this spring by the NSC and is being led by Townsend, several administration officials said. They confirmed that the review may lead to a new national security presidential directive, superseding the October 2001 document signed by Bush that pledged the "elimination of terrorism as a threat to our way of life."


The review may have been slowed somewhat by the fact that many of the key counterterrorism jobs in the administration have been empty for months, including the top post at the State Department for combating terrorism, vacant since November, and the directorship of the new National Counterterrorism Center. "We're five months into the next term, and still a number of spots have yet to be filled," Cressey said. "You end up losing valuable time."


The counterterrorism center was created nearly a year ago by Bush to serve as the main clearinghouse for terrorism-related intelligence but is not yet fully operational, and has been run by an acting director and caught up in the broader wave of bureaucratic reorganization that resulted in the creation of the new directorate of national intelligence, whose fiefdom the center will join.


As part of the reorganization, a new office of strategic and operational planning is slated to become the focal point for operations aimed at terrorists, but that, too, has yet to start working fully, the senior counterterrorism official said.


Townsend just hired a deputy last week, Treasury official Juan Carlos Zarate, to take on the terrorism portfolio at the NSC; Townsend had been doing that as well as serving as the president's top homeland security aide for the past year. Several counterterrorism sources said the State job will soon be filled by CIA veteran Hank Crumpton and the counterterrorism center post is slated to go to Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald, current deputy commander of U.S. forces in Europe.


"They recognize there's been a vacuum of leadership," said a former top counterterrorism official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "There has been a dearth of senior leadership directing this day to day. No one knows who's running this on a day-to-day basis."


In general, current and former officials familiar with the discussions said, the challenge is to reorient U.S. efforts when the immediate threat from al Qaeda seems to have receded, though it is still far from disappearing. Osama bin Laden and other top lieutenants remain at large, but many U.S. experts appear to now agree with the assessment of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who told a reporter recently that "we have broken the back of al Qaeda."


"No doubt al Qaeda as an organization has been destroyed," Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Washington Post reporters and editors last week. "No doubt it is no longer capable to launch the kind of attacks that they did on all of us a few years ago. Their capability is limited only to sporadic individual acts, suiciders and things like that."


Until recently, the Bush administration resisted any broadening of its mission against al Qaeda, insisting on what Townsend once called a "decapitation" strategy. The policy review marks what many experts regard as a belated shift. "The administration has appropriately taken the broad view," said an intelligence official who had urged the review. "It's not going to be a matter of just trying to roll up more al Qaeda guys. What we still know as the al Qaeda organization -- they've taken a terrible beating."

But even that notion remains controversial when assessing the continuing threat from al Qaeda will shape the policy against it. "I just don't accept the idea that the whole organization is completely gone and morphed into an amorphous global jihad movement," said Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism analyst at the Congressional Research Service. "They could still try to reconstitute the centralized structure of before 9/11."

A new campaign targeting "violent extremism" could also prove controversial, given disputes in the Middle East about how to categorize groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the West Bank that act as political parties while also supporting what the United States calls terrorist activities. "You can't start drawing very precise lines -- security/counterterrorism versus the broader efforts to deal with the roots of terrorism," the intelligence official said.

Staff writers Peter Baker and Dana Priest contributed to this report.

Even state officials must show photo ID; Coast Guard requires change
By Michael Dresser
Sun Staff
Originally published May 27, 2005, 8:52 PM EDT
Under orders from the Coast Guard, the Maryland Port Administration is tightening its procedures for allowing access to its Baltimore marine terminals -- barring even high state officials from entering without an identity check.

The new rule, posted on the state agency's Web site this week, calls for security workers staffing port gates to check the photo ID of all people entering the terminal, even if they are in a vehicle with an MPA-issued decal.

The rule, which will take effect June 13, allows no exceptions, according to the memo by Melvin Jackson, the MPA's general manager for security.

The memo says the change is required under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, passed by Congress in the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Sources familiar with the port's security procedures say the practice at the gates has been to wave through high-ranking MPA officials and delivery truck drivers for Federal Express, UPS and other companies.

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA is conducting a cyber-war game this week geared to simulate a major Internet attack by enemy computer hackers, an intelligence official said Thursday.

Dubbed "Silent Horizon," the three-day unclassified exercise is based on a scenario set five years in the future and involves participants from government and the private sector.

"These are people who could likely be affected or enlisted in a real situation," the intelligence official said.

"Its goal is to help the United States recognize indicators of a large-scale cyber attack."

The exercise was being conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia, by members of the CIA's Information Operations Center, which evaluates foreign threats to U.S. computer systems, particularly those that support critical infrastructures. It was expected to conclude Thursday.

The federal government has conducted various attack simulations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, which killed about 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.

Top U.S. intelligence officials say it may be only a matter of time before the United States is attacked again by terrorist groups including Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

Cyber attacks, which have drawn less publicity than possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks, are viewed by U.S. officials as a potential al Qaeda weapon against the U.S. economy.

Online crime has exploded in recent years, a result of organized crime groups based in Eastern Europe. But investigators so far have uncovered few links to Islamic extremists.

"We have not uncovered any significant links to terrorism," said Brian Nagel, assistant director of investigations for the U.S. Secret Service, in an interview with Reuters last week.

But there are some signs that Islamic extremists are getting into the act.

An Indonesian man named Imam Samudra, who was found guilty of the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts, included a chapter entitled "Hacking: Why Not?" in his autobiography.

While hackers have uncovered holes in power plants and other infrastructure, experts say terrorists are likely to favor conventional attacks as long as they are possible.

"When it's really too hard to bring kinetic weapons in ... the bad guys will turn to cyber attacks," said Allan Paller, chief executive of the SANS Institute, a nonprofit security-training organization.

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Coast Guard is encouraging waterfront workers and recreational boaters to keep their eyes open along the thousands of miles of Maine's coast.

The Coast Guard Tuesday announced a new initiative called "America's Waterway Watch." It asks ordinary citizens to report suspicious activity in the cause of homeland security.

Waterway Watch builds upon the Coastal Beacons effort launched in 2002 that asked Maine fishermen to report unusual activity on the water.

Chief Petty Officer John Hart spoke at a Portland waterfront news conference Tuesday. Hart said members of the waterfront community are in a good position to recognize what's unusual in their areas.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary is spreading the word about the new program during safety checks.

By ERIC LIPTON

Published: May 25, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 24 - The Department of Homeland Security's effort to extend its antiterrorism campaign overseas by enlisting help from importers and foreign ports has been so flawed that the program may have made it easier at times to smuggle unconventional weapons into the United States, Congressional officials say.

By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer
27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON � The CIA is conducting a war game this week to simulate an unprecedented, Sept. 11-like electronic assault against the United States. The three-day exercise, known as "Silent Horizon," is meant to test the ability of government and industry to respond to escalating Internet disruptions over many months, according to participants.

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They spoke on condition of anonymity because the CIA asked them not to disclose details of the sensitive exercise taking place in Charlottesville, Va., about two hours southwest of Washington.

The simulated attacks were carried out five years in the future by a fictional new alliance of anti-American organizations that included anti-globalization hackers. The most serious damage was expected to be inflicted in the closing hours of the war game Thursday.

The national security simulation was significant because its premise � a devastating cyberattack that affects government and parts of the economy on the scale of the 2001 suicide hijackings � contradicts assurances by U.S. counterterrorism experts that such effects from a cyberattack are highly unlikely.

"You hear less and less about the digital Pearl Harbor," said Dennis McGrath, who has helped run three similar exercises for the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College. "What people call cyberterrorism, it's just not at the top of the list."

The CIA's little-known Information Operations Center, which evaluates threats to U.S. computer systems from foreign governments, criminal organizations and hackers, was running the war game. About 75 people, mostly from the CIA, along with other current and former U.S. officials, gathered in conference rooms and pretended to react to signs of mock computer attacks.

The government remains most concerned about terrorists using explosions, radiation and biological threats. FBI Director Robert Mueller warned earlier this year that terrorists increasingly are recruiting computer scientists but said most hackers "do not have the resources or motivation to attack the U.S. critical information infrastructures."

The government's most recent intelligence assessment of future threats through the year 2020 said cyberattacks are expected but terrorists "will continue to primarily employ conventional weapons." Authorities have expressed concerns about terrorists combining physical attacks such as bombings with hacker attacks to disrupt rescue efforts, known as hybrid or "swarming" attacks.

"One of the things the intelligence community was accused of was a lack of imagination," said Dorothy Denning of the Naval Postgraduate School, an expert on Internet threats who was invited by the CIA to participate but declined. "You want to think about not just what you think may affect you but about scenarios that might seem unlikely."

An earlier cyberterrorism exercise called "Livewire" for the Homeland Security Department and other federal agencies concluded there were serious questions over government's role during a cyberattack depending on who was identified as the culprit � terrorists, a foreign government or bored teenagers.

It also questioned whether the U.S. government would be able to detect the early stages of such an attack without significant help from private technology companies.

By Eric Lipton The New York Times
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2005


WASHINGTON The Department of Homeland Security's effort to extend its antiterrorism campaign overseas by enlisting help from importers and foreign ports has been so flawed that the program may have made it easier at times to smuggle unconventional weapons into the United States, congressional officials say.


Homeland Security has reduced inspections in the United States of cargo coming from 36 foreign ports and 5,000 importers that were certified under its antiterrorism initiatives. But the department has failed to confirm whether most of those importers tightened security or whether thousands of high-risk containers headed to the United States have been inspected at ports overseas, agency records show.

"We have folks here who have the right intentions," said Senator Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican who is chairman of an investigative panel scheduled to hold an oversight hearing on the programs on Thursday. "But rather than making it harder for folks with evil intentions to do harm to this country, we have in place a system that creates the potential for greater vulnerability."

The port and importer programs, which offer incentives to those who sign on to Homeland Security initiatives, are intended to help block threats overseas so they cannot reach American shores, government officials say. But Kristi Clemens, assistant commissioner at Customs and Border Protection - the division of Homeland Security that set up the efforts - said the agency realized that the two programs had some problems.

"We have had to make adjustments to further strengthen the program," she said in an interview Tuesday. "The criticisms are fine; some of them have been helpful."


Clemens rejected the suggestion that the programs' weaknesses had compromised national security.

"We are still in a better position with the programs than we were without it," she said.

"We are on the right track. Are we perfect? No."

Customs officials have long recognized that the nine million ship containers arriving in the United States each year pose a security risk. In a speech in January, Robert Bonner, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, called the containers "the potential Trojan horse of the 21st century."


"A 40-foot container loaded with ammonium nitrate would create a huge blast, 10 to 20 times that of the Oklahoma City bombing," Bonner said. "But the sum of all fears is a 'nuke-in-a-box."'

Until last month, importers enrolled in the Customs incentives program - known as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism - were automatically designated as a lower risk. Containers shipped by them are inspected once every 306 times, instead of once every 47 times, Customs officials said, permitting faster movement of goods to warehouses owned by Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, and other companies.

Clemens and Todd Owen, director of the importers' program, acknowledged that so many businesses had enrolled that the agency had granted thousands of the preferential security clearances without determining whether the companies had improved security measures.

"Trust, don't verify," is the slogan some critics have given to the program.

About 9,000 applications from importers have been submitted so far. But of the 5,000 that have been accepted, Customs officials have verified only that 597 companies were taking measures required of participants.

Those include such steps as putting up fencing around manufacturing plants and watching over loaded containers as they move from the factory to the ship, Owen said.

By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer

MADRID, Spain - A powerful car bomb exploded in Madrid Wednesday after a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA, police said, in the latest of a string of attacks since Spain's prime minister offered talks with the group if it renounces violence.

Eighteen people were slightly injured, said Beatriz Martin, the city's emergency medical department spokeswoman. The explosion occurred around 9:30 a.m. in a working-class district north of the Spanish capital.

Police cordoned off the area where the bomb went off after an anonymous caller to the Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA, said a bomb would explode inside a Renault van.

Madrid Train Bombing

The Terrorism Knowledge Base is sponsored by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing terrorism or mitigating its effects.

The Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than $57 million for information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring to justice those involved in prior acts.

If you are a tow boat operator, a recreational boater, a fisherman, a marina operator, or otherwise live, work or engage in recreational activities around America's waterways, the United States Coast Guard wants your help in keeping these areas safe and secure. You can do this by participating in its America's Waterway Watch (AWW) program, a nationwide initiative similar to the well known and successful Neighborhood Watch program that asks community members to report suspicious activities to local law enforcement agencies.

As a person who spends much of your time on or near the water, you already know what is normal and what is not, and you are well suited to notice suspicious activities ? activities possibly indicating threats to our nation's homeland security. And as a participant in America's Waterway Watch we urge you to adopt a heightened sense of sensitivity toward unusual events or individuals you may encounter in or around ports, docks, marinas, riversides, beaches, or waterfront communities.

You should always remember that people are not suspicious, behavior is. And if you observe suspicious behavior or activity, you should simply note the details and contact local law enforcement. You are not expected to approach or challenge anyone acting in a suspicious manner.

America's Waterway Watch is a public outreach program, encouraging participants to simply report suspicious activity to the Coast Guard and/or other law enforcement agencies. Unlike some Neighborhood Watch programs, for example, you are not formally joining an organization -- there are no meetings, membership cards or membership requirements -- and you do not become an agent of the Coast Guard or any other law enforcement agency.

By Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff

There are obviously domestic characteristics to terrorism, but in terms of what the public is concerned about and certainly what the department was formed in order to address first and foremost, it is global, radical terrorism. And as Thomas Friedman said recently in his latest book, The World is Flat, it is really -- terrorism in the 21st century is really the globalization of the kind of terror acts that we saw in the 20th century. And much as globalization has transformed the world of business, it has transformed the world of terror. And so we need to think about how we confront terrorism by looking at 21st century structures and characteristics that terrorists exploit in order to carry out their missions.

As David pointed out, 9/11 itself is a great example of this. We're talking about a plot that was hatched in Central Asia with recruits who came from Saudi Arabia, who were trained in Afghanistan, who set up and began to develop their infrastructure and their platform in Europe, and then who carried out and executed their mission here in the United States. That is globalization. That is networking. That is outsourcing. That is all the characteristics of 21st century organization that we're accustomed to thinking about in the context of international business but that unfortunately is also available to those who want to commit acts of international terror.

So we are fighting a different kind of a war. It's not a war that we are going to win in the same way that we won World War II by massing superior forces in the field, or even the kind of war that at least the first part of the campaign in Iraq was, where we bring in superior air power, mobile forces, and then we crush the enemy. This is fighting a network, and so as we talk about a strategy to deal with global terror, we have to start to think about what is a strategy for dealing with a network. And clearly one way to look at it is we have to create our own network to compete with that network and to combat that network.

We also have to look at what vulnerabilities networking has, and those vulnerabilities tend to be things like communication, transportation, movement of people, movement of cargo. Those are the kinds of activities that bind a network together. If you think about, for example, a benign network, a global business -- you have to communicate with the various parts of the business; you have to move people and goods and services. And that's how a network works in a positive way.

In a negative way, as well, of course the terrorists exploit that strategy to carry out their missions. And so we need to look at the peculiar vulnerabilities that networks have, and that is this connective tissue that allows bad people and bad stuff to move back and forth internationally. What that tells us right away is that if we're going to challenge the kind of interdependence that a terrorist network thrives upon, we have to be able to confront the network everywhere it operates. And that means we have to be able to function internationally and do it in partnership with our overseas allies.

Many Qaeda bigwigs have been caught, so how does bin Laden manage to survive?

By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 2:49 a.m. ET May 22, 2005

May 30 issue - He was a legendary jihadi leader who preached holy war, took on the greatest power of his day and caused thousands of deaths in terror strikes. But as British imperial forces hunted for him year after year in the 1930s and '40s, Mirza Ali Khan simply disappeared into the folds of what are now the Pakistani tribal regions. The search for Khan, who was better known to his British pursuers as the Fakir of Ipi, petered out as the decades passed and people lost interest. "The fakir was never captured," says Pakistani scholar Husain Haqqani. "People say he died of natural causes in 1960."

Is this to be Osama bin Laden's fate as well�an enduring case of justice denied? As the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks draws closer, some critics fear that bin Laden too could slip into the mists of history unless U.S. policy�and luck�changes. "Our teams are getting nowhere," says Gary Schroen, a highly decorated former CIA officer who oversaw CIA operations in the region until August 2001 and still works on contract for the agency (he was in Pakistan in March). As the British found out, the steep, cave-pocked mountains of Waziristan, where many believe bin Laden to be, make up the most difficult military terrain imaginable. "That is an area where, if the people don't want you to be caught, you can stay for a very long time," says Haqqani, a former diplomat now at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. "Even with modern surveillance technology, bin Laden could end up being like the Fakir of Ipi."

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri told reporters last week that he believed bin Laden has been on the run since the capture earlier this month of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the latest culprit to be identified as Al Qaeda's "No. 3." But Schroen says that both the Pakistanis and the Bush administration have expressed too much confidence that al-Libbi's arrest could lead the hundreds of Special Forces, CIA, FBI and other counterterror officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Qaeda chieftain.

An Australian Government defence think tank says there is a credible risk of a terrorist attack on an Australian port or ship.

A study of maritime security by the Australian Security Policy Institute calls on state governments to create special police units to protect major ports.

It also calls for the Australian Government to spent $100 million over three years to modernise maritime security.

The institute says the main terrorist threat to Australian ships and ports is posed by Al Qaeda and its South-East Asia associate, Jemaah Islamiah.

The study says Australia should adopt United States standards for the security of shipping containers.

It points to the special vulnerability of 56 oil and gas rigs in the Timor Sea, the North-West Shelf and Bass Strait.

2005 Port Security Grants Application Opens
U. S. Coast Guard
May 18, 2005

COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced the availability of $140,857,128 in port security funds. The 2005 Port Security Grant Program (PSGP) uses a risk-based formula to allocate funds to protect our ports from acts of terrorism. The program fortifies security at our nation's ports by providing funding to increase protection against potential threats from small craft, underwater attacks and vehicle borne improvised explosives, and to enhance explosive detection capabilities aboard vehicle ferries and associated facilities.

The new risk-based formula considers three elements: threat, vulnerability, and consequence. As part of this risk management approach, the port security grant program will ensure federally regulated ports, terminals, and U.S. inspected passenger vessels receiving the funds represent assets of the highest national strategic importance. Sixty-six port areas have been identified as eligible applicants for inclusion in the 2005 program. Successful applicants will be awarded for consideration through a competitive process. Captain of the Port San Francisco Bay port areas eligible for consideration of funding are Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco.

"Our nation's ports are centers for commerce, trade, and travel--areas our enemies could seek to attack in their attempts to defy freedom and liberty. These grants will help prepare and protect our nation to minimize risk and to win the war on terrorism," said Matt A. Mayer, Acting Executive Director for the Department of Homeland Security's Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness (SLGCP).

DHS designed this program in coordination with the Department of Transportation and the American Association of Port Authorities. DHS has collectively awarded $489.4 million in previous rounds.

Editorial | Don't gamble with America's safety

Terrorism analysts rate a two-mile zone containing the Newark airport, the New Jersey Turnpike, ramps to the Manhattan tunnels, dozens of industrial sites, rail lines, and the Ports of Newark and Elizabeth as among the most vulnerable areas in the United States.

Yet sparsely populated Wyoming received four times as much homeland security money per capita than New Jersey in 2003-04. "First-responder" grants to New Jersey's largest cities were slashed drastically last year. That's risky.

Nearly 12 million people reside within a 14-mile radius of the area described above. Repercussions of an attack there would go far beyond the region in terms of finance, trade and transportation. Congested North Jersey clearly needs more protection than the wilds of Wyoming.

That's not to say rural areas don't need security. Food supply, military installations and infrastructure could become targets anywhere.

But antiterrorism funding shouldn't be a small state/large state debate. Nor should homeland security become another pork-barrel pot for politicians to divvy up. The 9/11 commission recommended that Congress allocate security funding solely on threat assessment. That's the right approach.

The House took a key step in that direction last week by passing a bill sponsored by Rep. Christopher Cox (R., Calif.). It would reduce the percentage of money that each state now receives in the wrongheaded "something for everyone" approach.

New Barrier Application Meets Marine Port Security Requirements, When Threat Level is Heightened

SYLVAN LAKE, MI -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/19/2005 -- Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc. (WDT), a private maritime technology company, announces the recent purchase and imminent installation of its new marine port security application, the Rapidly Deployable Small Craft Intrusion Barrier� (RD-SCIB�) by the City of Key West, Florida. Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc. developed the Rapidly Deployed Small Craft Intrusion Barrier� to facilitate security needs on an "on demand" basis when the Maritime Security (MARSEC) threat level is heightened. The new floating barrier system can be rapidly deployed in four hours, if required.

The eleven hundred foot barrier for the City of Key West, Florida was funded by a Department of Homeland Security Grant. The system is designed to demarcate the marine port security zone and to impede wayward, errant or hostile small crafts from penetrating it, while being completely moveable and stowable when not in use. It is expected that the system will be deployed when MARSEC exceeds a specified level or when the Captain of the Port so decides its deployment is required.

About Rapidly Deployable Small Craft Intrusion Barrier� (RD-SCIB�): http://www.whisprwave.com/rapidly-deployable-barrier.htm

More Info on Maritime Security Threat Levels: http://www.uscg.mil/d7/units/mso-tampa/marsec.html

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

SAIC Conducts Intrusion Detection Tests at USS Midway

(SAN DIEGO) – Science Applications International Corporation’s (SAIC) Naval and Maritime Solutions Business Unit announced today that it will conduct engineering field tests for the Harbor Fence and Underwater Sentry System, deployed around the perimeter of the Carrier Museum, USS Midway, located at the Broadway Pier in San Diego. The Harbor Fence and Underwater Sentry are systems developed to detect the intrusion of divers, swimmers and small craft in the vicinity of high value ships or shore facilities. Both projects are sponsored by the Department of Defense and have been under development since 2003.

The Harbor Fence is designed to provide a visible line of demarcation around a ship-moored pierside. The fence consists of a string of lightweight “smart” buoys incorporating multiple embedded sensors. If the barrier is breached, information is transmitted to a security watchstander control console so forces can take appropriate action.

“The response from the general public touring the USS Midway has been very favorable,” said Dave Weeks, SAIC program manager. “Citizens are well-aware of the necessity for solid port security and homeland defense measures. Many of the volunteers conducting tours are former SAIC employees who have expertise in these areas and they are doing an excellent job explaining the security systems.”

The Harbor Fence was designed for intrusion sensing under zero visibility conditions and does not require constant monitoring. In addition, the security fence restricts access and provides force protection for naval, commercial and cruise ships. The spar buoys extend two feet above the waterline and are spaced approximately 10 feet apart. The design incorporates a counterweight to maintain the posts in vertical positions during high wind conditions and rough seas. Flashing lights on the post tops provide excellent nighttime visibility and enhance visibility during rain, snow, or fog.

The Underwater Sentry is a diver/swimmer detection and barrier system for use in harbors and shallow coastal areas to protect ships and waterside facilities. It consists of a series of small, very low power, active sonar transducers attached to the Harbor Fence or another existing boom. The system provides automated detection, alerting and localization of a subsurface intruder to the security watchstander’s control console. The Underwater Sentry system complements the Harbor Fence, providing protection below the waterline.

The two systems will remain deployed around the USS Midway for the next two months. The next field test will be held June 9, 2005, 10 a.m. at the Broadway Pier, San Diego. Interested parties are invited to attend.

Additional Resources:

• Sea Technology, March 2004 - Integrated Harbor Security System Enhances Port Protection
• Special Operation Technology, September 2005 - Swimmer Detection
• Sea Discovery, November 2005 - Diver Detection System Keeps Ships Safe

Blog Tags: Antiterrorism, Counterterrorism, Force Protection, Homeland Security, Maritime Security, Port Security, Harbor Fence, Under Water Sentry System, SAIC

Source for Maritime Security Level (MARSEC) Signs

U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security (MARSEC) Levels

The Coast Guard has a three-tiered system of Maritime Security (MARSEC) levels consistent with the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). MARSEC Levels are designed to provide a means to easily communicate pre-planned scalable responses to increased threat levels. The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard sets MARSEC levels commensurate with the HSAS. Because of the unique nature of the maritime industry, the HSAS threat conditions and MARSEC levels will align closely, though they will not directly correlate.

MARSEC levels are set to reflect the prevailing threat environment to the marine elements of the national transportation system, including ports, vessels, facilities, and critical assets and infrastructure located on or adjacent to waters subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.

MARSEC Level 1 means the level for which minimum appropriate security measures shall be maintained at all times. MARSEC 1 generally applies when HSAS Threat Condition Green, Blue, or Yellow are set.

MARSEC Level 2 means the level for which appropriate additional protective security measures shall be maintained for a period of time as a result of heightened risk of a transportation security incident. MARSEC 2 generally corresponds to HSAS Threat Condition Orange.

MARSEC Level 3 means the level for which further specific protective security measures shall be maintained for a limited period of time when a transportation security incident is probable, imminent, or has occurred, although it may not be possible to identfy the specific target. MARSEC 3 generally corresponds to HSAS Threat Condition Red.

Source:
http://www.uscg.mil/safetylevels/whatismarsec.html

PARIS - The Boeing Company has been awarded a $4.2 million contract to develop a pilot cargo security system for containerized cargo entering the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The contract was announced at the recent Paris Air Show and falls under the auspices of Operation Safe Commerce, a Department of Homeland Security initiative aimed at improving security of cargo entering and departing ports in the US.

The pilot program's objective is to accelerate development and deployment of emerging technology to monitor the movement and ensure the integrity of containers through the entire supply chain, according to a Boeing spokesman.

Boeing will form a team of vendors to complete the contract, the spokesman said.

The team will include ADT Security Services Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., a developer of security technology, systems and services for industry and governments; New York-based Global Marine Security Systems Co.; a provider of global maritime security, transportation and logistics services; Arlington, Virginia-headquartered Iridium Satellite LLC, a provider of global satellite wireless communications services; and Parsons Commercial Technology Group, Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina, an international large-scale project planning, engineering and construction company.

By KRISTEN REED
Staff Writer

Last update: May 11, 2005

DELAND -- A Jamaican cocaine ring funneling drugs through cruise ships and cargo liners and into the DeLand area was dismantled Tuesday with 10 arrests and the seizure of drugs, firearms and cash, authorities said.

During a three-year investigation, agents seized more than 40 pounds of cocaine from the operation, and said it was headed by DeLand residents Devon Kenroy Somers, 40, and Harvey Oliver Layne, 38.

Authorities estimate the "close-knit" group distributed well over 110 pounds of cocaine in Volusia County since 2002. The drugs, both seized and distributed, are worth between $1.5 million and $2.3 million.

Agents are searching for three more DeLand residents involved in the operation and listed in the arrest warrant.

"If you cut the head of the snake off it's going to die and that's truly what we did with this organization," said Stephen Collins, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Orlando.

Collins said the ringleaders got rid of the cocaine as soon as they received it and federal, state and local agents who searched six DeLand homes Tuesday morning found only a small amount of cocaine and marijuana, and a handful of firearms.

According to confidential sources, the group was established about 1996 and began selling multi-ounce quantities. In 2002, the ring increased distribution to multikilogram quantities.

During the past four months, investigators tapped three cell phones, intercepted calls and used undercover agents to make purchases. But getting near the sophisticated group was difficult.

"They were very aware of surveillance," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Jancha said. The dealers would use code on the phone, referring to the drugs as "pesos" or "platas." At least two homes were equipped with surveillance cameras. "They knew who to deal with and who not to deal with."

Jancha said some members were brothers, cousins or related in other ways to each other.

Members of the drug ring and its couriers would travel to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa to acquire drugs coming from the Caribbean and Central America through cruise ships and cargo liners. According to the arrest affidavit, the cocaine would be hidden in refrigeration compartments, luggage, sandals.

Story Number: NNS050509-07
Release Date: 5/9/2005 11:27:00 AM
Top News Story - Editors should consider using these stories first in local publications.

By Journalist Seaman Joseph Ebalo, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

ABOARD RFA DILIGENCE, North Persian Gulf (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines from the United States, Great Britain, Poland and Australia worked with civilian mariners to convert Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship (RFA) Diligence into a forward-deployed base for Iraqi patrol craft April 20.

This process allowed multinational naval forces to train approximately 25 Iraqi navy sailors aboard Diligence in the North Persian Gulf, under Commander, Task Force (CTF) 58.

�We teach, train and patrol with the Iraqis 24 hours a day,� said Lt. Cmdr. Phil Rogers, Royal Marines, training officer of Assistance Support Team Detachment Umm Qasr, Iraq. �The Iraqis rotate from boat handling and basic seamanship to military training, like general purpose machine gun operation and cleaning, and visit, board, search and seizure tactics."

Royal Navy sailors taught their Iraqi counterparts day-to-day maintenance and operation of the Iraqi navy�s small patrol craft, and gave lessons on how to refuel and clean the vessels. They also prepared the Iraqis to conduct maritime security operations (MSO), such as embarking with large commercial ships or monitoring the movements of tiny fishing dhows.

MSO sets the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment and complements the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations. MSO denies international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material.

Royal Marines gave instruction on boat security, firearms safety and hand-to-hand combat. They also conducted daily fire and man overboard drills to train Iraqi Sailors how to handle emergency situations.

Diligence is attached to CTF 58 and supports MSO under Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet.

RFA Diligence has been stationed in the Persian Gulf since 2002 and is not scheduled to return to Great Britain until 2008.

For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc.

Washington, DC, May. 13 (UPI) -- The Department of Homeland Security announced more than $140 million in port security grants Friday.

The grants were issued as part of the Fiscal Year 2005 Port Security Grant Program to protect U.S. ports from acts of terrorism, the department said.

The program fortifies security ports by providing increased protection against potential threats from small craft, underwater attacks and vehicle-borne improvised explosives. It also funds improvements to explosive detection capabilities aboard vehicle ferries and associated facilities.

The grants are issued following assessments of threat, vulnerability, and consequence, the department said. Some 66 port areas have been identified as eligible applicants for inclusion in the FY 2005 program and successful applicants will be awarded through a competitive process, the department said.

"Our nation's ports are centers for commerce, trade, and travel -- areas our enemies could seek to attack," said Matt A. Mayer, acting executive director of DHS's Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness.

Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc.

Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc., a private maritime technology company, has been awarded the Technology Best Small Business 2004 Award from the Michigan Small Business Technology Development Center. The company�s WhisprWave floating articulated breakwater technology affords erosion control protection to shoreline beaches, coastal marinas, anchorages and other areas subject to destructive or irritating erosionary wave/wake forces.

Current customers and contracts include the US Navy, US Army, US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Department of the Interior and the states of Washington and Louisiana. The WhisprWave system is being used for many different applications, including homeland security/force protection, beach erosion protection and marina wave and wake protection.

The WhisprWave Technology line of Maritime Intrusion and Exclusion Barriers and Warning Buoys for homeland security and force protection offer mobility, marine grade design and commercial off-the-shelf availability for homeland security, maritime zone demarcation and port security, and force protection applications.

Wave Dispersion Technologies, Inc. is located in Sylvan Lake and currently holds seven domestic and international patents for their WhisprWave technology, with an additional 20 patents pending.

For more information, visit www.whisprwave.com

By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 12, 2005

Three companies have been hired to help the San Diego Unified Port District protect the tidelands and San Diego Bay.

Though some port commissioners questioned the need for more than one company for security work, they eventually approved hiring Science Applications International Corp., Moffatt & Nichol, and HPA Engineers on Tuesday.

Each company will be paid on an as-needed basis, with each job being bid on separately by the companies and the cost being negotiated.

The companies will recommend security systems, install them and make sure they work, train Port District employees to operate the systems and recommend upgrades, district spokeswoman Irene McCormack said.

The public details of what the companies will do remain sketchy in order to protect the district's security interests.

The Port District administers nonmilitary state tidelands on San Diego Bay and the Imperial Beach oceanfront. It operates a cruise ship terminal and two cargo marine terminals and is landlord to more than 600 businesses.

"A lot of facilities around the port could be considered targets," McCormack said, including the San Diego Convention Center, waterfront hotel towers, the marine terminals and Lindbergh Field.

"Because of security concerns, we really can't go into a lot of details because it involves the marine terminals and the cruise ship terminal," McCormack said. The port also works closely with the Navy on security, she said.

Ocean trade is growing so fast across the Americas that seaports, railways, roads and other transport systems need to be expanded fast to handle the soaring cargo traffic.

That was among the conclusions Wednesday from SeaCargo Americas, a two-day trade show and conference in Miami expected to attract more than 1,500 people from more than a dozen nations before it winds up today.

Shipping executives pointed to growing congestion at seaports, shortages of truck drivers, and backups at railways among a host of strains facing the United States, Brazil and other countries in the Americas because of double-digit growth in the volume of ocean cargo handled yearly.

Business with Brazil is so robust, for example, that global shipping line CP Ships has been adding extra sailings and also started serving smaller seaports to relieve the pressure on bigger, more congested ports, said Tony DeCiccio, CP Ships' vice president for Latin America.

The Port of Miami, meanwhile, is investing $250 million in expansion projects, including a new wharf area. Plus, it is seeking approval for a $1 billion-plus tunnel project that would let trucks circumvent roads in downtown Miami and connect directly with interstate highways, said Port Director Charles A. Towsley.

more ...

By Leslie Wayne The New York Times
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2005


U.S. military contractors are awash in cash, which is making their shareholders happy and pushing their stocks to new highs. Less happy, however, is the Pentagon, which is the source of much of that cash and may now want something in return.

At the moment, about $25 billion to $30 billion is sitting in the coffers of the top military contractors, an analyst said, a result of record Pentagon budgets and robust government spending on homeland security.

"This is a politically sensitive issue," said Byron Callan, an industry analyst at Merrill Lynch. "The companies have got to keep shareholders happy. But there is a political reality. If companies take this cash and give shareholders a big dividend, the Pentagon might say, 'Help us with that new fighter program."'

Companies in many other industries are also enjoying a cash surplus. But what sets military companies apart is that they are either partly, or nearly fully, indebted to the government for their revenue.

The large cash reserves, first reported in the industry publication Aviation Week and Space Technology, pits two powerful interests against each other: Wall Street, which sees the money as a just reward for shareholder support and corporate risk-taking, and the Pentagon, whose spending has fueled the cash boom.

Shareholders in military companies, quite naturally, would like to see the money spent on bigger dividends and stock repurchases, which would make them richer and help push the stocks even higher. The Pentagon would rather see the companies spend more on basic military research and acquisitions that would streamline the industry even more.

05.11.2005, 12:04 AM

WASHINGTON (AFX) - An apparent hand grenade was thrown close to US President George W. Bush on Tuesday as he gave a speech in front of tens of thousands of Georgians in Tbilisi, the US Secret Service said.

A Secret Service spokesman said the agency, which is charged with protecting US presidents, was only informed of the incident by Georgian officials after Bush had left the country.

The officials told the Secret Service the device was removed from the scene by a Georgian security officer. US news reports here said the pin had been removed from the apparent grenade, which did not detonate.

Richard Clarke Says Attacks Would Be Devastating To Economy

POSTED: 5:19 pm EDT May 9, 2005
UPDATED: 6:21 pm EDT May 9, 2005

PROVIDENCE -- Determined and skilled terrorists would likely be able to get around security measures meant to prevent an attack on tankers carrying liquefied natural gas up Narragansett Bay, according to a report released Monday.

The report, prepared by counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke at the request of Attorney General Patrick Lynch, an opponent of expanding LNG on the bay, paints a picture of potentially harrowing consequences from an attack -- from mass casualties to devastating the local economy. It said weapons could be mounted from boats or from land along a tanker's 29 mile route up the bay to Providence, where KeySpan LNG wants to expand its Fields Point facility to take large shipments by tanker. It also said hijacked or stolen aircraft could blast tankers from the sky, despite proposed security measures.

The report repeats much of what was concluded in a government study on LNG safety that said a terrorist attack could tear a huge hole into a tanker, unleashing a spill and intense fire that would cause major injuries and burn buildings as far as one-third of a mile away.

But the earlier study by Sandia National Laboratory also said the chance of an intentional spill could be reduced greatly with a halo of security for arriving tankers, such as a U.S. Coast Guard escort for ships. Clarke's report, however, suggests that enhanced security measures would not significantly reduce risks.

"You could put up a show of security by having a couple of Coast Guard cutters and a helicopter and people think ... that there's a secure bubble," Clarke said. "It's only a show, because you can go through the bubble." He spoke to The Associated Press Monday before attending a public forum at Brown University about the report.

"The damage could be extraordinary," said Clarke. "At the high end, we could have 3,000 immediate deaths. We could have up to 10,000 burn injuries."

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently considering the Providence proposal, as well as a plan to build a new terminal in Fall River, Mass. Lynch plans to file the report with FERC and the Coast Guard. A spokeswoman for KeySpan did not immediately comment, saying she had not yet seen the report.

"There are only four sites such as these operating in the United States right now," said Lynch. "The fifth one, they want to put in the heart of the second most densely populated state in the nation."

LNG is natural gas supercooled until it turns to liquid so it can be shipped. As a liquid, LNG cannot explode and is not flammable. If released, it becomes a colorless, odorless vapor that can catch fire. It will explode only if in a confined area.

Gas industry groups have argued that LNG is critical to meeting U.S. natural gas demand in the coming decades. And they've argued it's safe, citing a 40-year history of more than 35,000 shipments of LNG worldwide without a significant release of the fuel or a fire.

Clarke's report said creating restricted flight areas around the LNG facility and tanker would not prevent hijacked or stolen aircraft from successfully penetrating the restricted airspace and crashing into the facility or ship. It also said a determined terrorist group could attack tankers using pleasure boats laden with explosives even if the Coast Guard were escorting the ships up the bay.

"The (Coast Guard) and other law enforcement agencies would be reluctant to use lethal force against an apparently misguided pleasure craft," the report said.

The report suggested risk could be reduced if gas storage containers on the ships were plated with armor and if LNG facilities in urban areas were enclosed in structures similar to those used around commercial nuclear reactors. It also said if facilities were located away from urban areas, the threat could be reduced.

"We're talking about changing the equation, and introducing into downtown Providence something that doesn't exist anywhere in a downtown area, which is something that if attacked would cause a horrific fire," Clarke said. "You're creating a vulnerability." But, the report added, that these security measures would greatly increase the cost of building or operating an LNG facility or tanker.

Clarke said he and a 12-member team of counterterrorism experts did the report for free for Lynch. The team relied on its own expertise and analyzed data from government reports on safety, terrorism and security.

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

Published: May 9, 2005

KEARNY, N.J., May 7 - It is the deadliest target in a swath of industrial northern New Jersey that terrorism experts call the most dangerous two miles in America: a chemical plant that processes chlorine gas, so close to Manhattan that the Empire State Building seems to rise up behind its storage tanks.

According to federal Environmental Protection Agency records, the plant poses a potentially lethal threat to 12 million people who live within a 14-mile radius.

Port Newark and Port Elizabeth, across the Hudson from Manhattan, are laced with fences and barriers.
Yet on a recent Friday afternoon, it remained loosely guarded and accessible. Dozens of trucks and cars drove by within 100 feet of the tanks. A reporter and photographer drove back and forth for five minutes, snapping photos with a camera the size of a large sidearm, then left without being approached.

That chemical plant is just one of dozens of vulnerable sites between Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Elizabeth, which extends two miles to the east. A Congressional study in 2000 by a former Coast Guard commander deemed it the nation's most enticing environment for terrorists, providing a convenient way to cripple the economy by disrupting major portions of the country's rail lines, oil storage tanks and re