Free Republic

Weeks after Maryland State Police and federal agents seized reporting files from a former Washington Times journalist’s home, a Homeland Security agent checked the materials out of the police evidence room for an hour, according to logs that shine new light on a case that has raised First Amendment concerns. The custody logs don’t state why the reporting materials were removed from evidence Sept. 3, about a month after they were seized from reporter Audrey Hudson’s home during a search in an unrelated investigation of her husband. But they do show that the Homeland Security agent checked out files and...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is under fire for what critics see as a string of gaffes, with a small but vocal group of conservatives calling for her to step down. The outrage continues to build over a report from her department that warned of the danger of right-wing "extremists," and singled out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment. Napolitano expressed regret for the reference to veterans -- but she raised eyebrows again this week when she suggested that the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States through Canada, even though the 9/11 Commission determined they came to the...

Athorities say two Saudi men who boarded a school bus full of children and gave conflicting reasons why they were there were arrested and held without bail. Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing and were jailed after a judge said Saturday she wanted more background information on them. A hearing was scheduled Tuesday. The two men arrived in the country six months ago on student visas and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida. Investigators said they boarded the school bus Friday, sat down and began...

Excerpts on fake documents from President Bush's May 15 national address on immigration reform: "Comprehensive immigration reform must include a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility. A key part of that system should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamperproof. A tamperproof card would help us enforce the law and leave employers with no excuse for violating it." --- Highlights of a bill the Senate passed in May: - Requires employers and subcontractors to use an electronic system within 18 months...

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department is focusing on possible terror threats from radical environmental and animal rights activists without also examining risks that might be posed by right-wing extremists, House Democrats said Tuesday. A recent internal Homeland Security document lists the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front with a few Islamic groups that could potentially support al-Qaida as domestic terror threats. The document does not address threats posed by white supremacists, violent militiamen, anti-abortion bombers and other extremists that Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss., called "right-wing hate groups." ALF and ELF "are the...

The House appropriations subcommittee that funds the Treasury Department, on a 9-7 party-line vote, blocked a Treasury rule that permits banks to accept the matricula consular as a valid ID document. The measure's sponsor, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said use of a foreign ID card viewed as insecure by the FBI and Homeland Security Department presents a national security threat.

Homeland defense mission may take decades By Gary Martin Express-News Washington Bureau Web Posted : 09/07/2003 12:00 AM WASHINGTON — Two years after the 9-11 attacks, the massive federal agency created to consolidate and improve domestic security efforts is struggling with a mission that some say could take decades to complete. President Bush and Secretary Tom Ridge have hailed the new Homeland Security Department as a powerful weapon against future terror attacks. "We reorganized the government and created the Department of Homeland Security to better safeguard our borders and ports and protect the American people," Bush said last month in...

Security tight in wake of blackout in U.S. and Canada (Washington-AP, Aug. 14, 2003 8:42 PM) _ The U.S. military sent up extra air patrols in the eastern United States, and border security held strong in the wake of a blackout Thursday. The air patrol was sent up as a precaution, even though there was no reason to believe there was a threat from the air, the National American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said in a statement. Most military bases have backup generators, and the outage did not cause any significant loss of military capability, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Travelers may encounter longer lines at airports as screeners focus extra attention on CD players, cameras, laptops and other electronic gadgets that terrorists might try to use to conceal weapons or bombs. The Homeland Security Department on Tuesday sent an advisory to law enforcement personnel nationwide alerting them to the possibility al-Qaida could use electronics to carry out attacks. "Al-Qaida operatives have shown a special interest in converting a camera flash attachment into a stun gun type of weapon or improvised explosive device," the advisory said. David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, said longer lines...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Homeland Security officials have told CNN that an advisory will be issued directing the aviation industry and all federal screeners and local authorities to pay particular attention to electronic items like remote key locks, and specific brands and models of cell phones, boom boxes and cameras.</p>

By Pete Williams NBC NEWS Aug. 4 — A new security advisory is about to go out to the nation’s airlines and airports. The Homeland Security Department will advise extra attention for some types of personal carry-on items, including cameras and electronics. This comes as airlines adjust to new rules limiting access to foreign travelers passing through the United States. THE CONCERN FOLLOWS the discovery of apparent prototype weapons in al-Qaida safe houses overseas and interrogation of a captured, high-ranking al-Qaida operative. Officials say al-Qaida terrorists considered trying to hide explosives in particular models of cell phones, cameras and simple...

WASHINGTON -- Government and industry experts consider brewing hacker activity a precursor to a broad Internet attack that would target enormous numbers of computers vulnerable from a flaw in Windows software from Microsoft Corp. Experts described an unusual confluence of conditions that heighten prospects for a serious disruption soon. They cite the high numbers of potential victims and increasingly sophisticated attack tools already tested successfully by hackers in recent days. The Homeland Security Department cautioned Wednesday that it had detected an "Internet-wide increase in scanning" for victim computers. In an unusually ominous alert, it warned the threat could cause a...

Airline Passenger Screening to Be Tested 16 minutes ago Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo! By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department will begin testing a program to classify all airline passengers according to their security risk. Privacy advocates have criticized the passenger screening effort, fearing it could lead to unconstitutional invasions of privacy and database mix-ups that could brand innocent people as potential terrorists. Nuala O'Connor Kelly, Homeland Security's chief privacy officer, said the program has been reworked so less personal information will be checked. And people will be...

Islamabad, July 29, IRNA -- Most of the people deported from the US since Sept 11, 2001 are from Pakistan, a close US ally in the war against terror, a news report said on Tuesday. In addition, a large number of the 13,000 men set aside in what will be the largest deportation in US history are also from Pakistan, according to the local Dawn newspaper. Statistics released this week by the Department of Homeland Security shows that nearly 35 percent of the people deported from the United States in the last two years were Pakistanis. Pakistan is also one...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - It's a task that would challenge even the sharpest of computer geeks: set up a hacker-proof computer network for 190,000 government workers across the country fighting terrorism. That's the challenge facing computer experts building a new system for the Homeland Security Department while keeping the existing network operational and secure. Technology will be a key to the success of the new system, which is expected to take years to complete, said Edward Kinney, director of information technology for Customs & Border Protection. Kinney spoke Wednesday at a conference that put government and private computer company...