Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 5

CNN ^ | March 12, 2004

[thecabal]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.

"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

[liberallyconservative]

Exactly. Several posts in the last 2 days have been about increased security on our rail systems. That will probably be the LAST place they'll attempt now.

Did anyone catch an analyst on Fox last night who again mentioned our airline vulnerability? I didn't catch his name (I dropped in between ball games).

[knak]

I thought so too. I put one of the words from the page into google and lots of pages popped up so I looked for a country code in the addresses and .tr comes up. Now I can't find a turkish translator. It's probably something dumb anyway.

[freeperfromnj]

Just in on Fox:

Greek police just located and destroyed a bomb. Looking for Reuters article

[Letitring]

Yep. Outside citibank.

[freeperfromnj]

Maybe ETA left it there. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a very tense day.

[liberallyconservative]

Actually, when you look at the footnotes, this may be rather benign. It seems to be a scientific paper on the secrets of flight - how man has incorporated principles from the animal world into our technology. (The old principle that the bumblebee is actually too heavy to fly, etc. etc.)
The dolphins may demonstrate sonar. Not sure about the other animals pictured.

Where did you find this? A google search?

[freeperfromnj]

So why the mention of Allah and Kittyhawk. Actually, Knak found it

[liberallyconservative]

Sorry. I realize knak is the one who found this.

[all4one]

Please also notice his ties to Russia in the last sentence of this excerpt..

Suspect in Madrid Bombing Is Tied to Sept. 11 Suspect

By Andrew Selsky Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 14, 2004

MADRID, Spain (AP) - One of the three Moroccans arrested in the Madrid train bombings is linked to a man jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11 attack in the United States, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

It was the latest suggestion that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group may have been involved in the bombings.

A Sept. 17, 2003 indictment named Jamal Zougam, 30, as a "follower" of Imad Yarkas, who was jailed for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Yarkas, who has used the alias Abu Dahdah, remains in Spanish custody.

The indictment, led by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, showed police had searched Zougam's home twice. One search turned up a video of mujaheddin fighters in Dagestan, Russia…….

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGABLNJMTRD.html

[knak]

someone earlier in the thread mentioned how often al qaeda threatens the kittyhawk so I put "kittyhawk" and "allah" into google and that came up. It had so many strange pics on it, it made me curious.

[liberallyconservative]

KittyHawk I understand - the birthplace of flight. The mention of Allah is a whole 'nother bag of worms.

[all4one]

Airports Focus on Limiting Workers' Access

By Ina Paiva Cordle, The Miami Herald Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Posted on Sun, Mar. 14, 2004

Mar. 14 - The next generation of airport security will begin guarding New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at the end of this month, using sci-fi technologies to put employees under an intense new level of scrutiny.
At JFK's Terminal 4, workers' irises will be scanned to verify their identities, the workers will be weighed to determine if they are carrying bags and their bodies will be analyzed to detect if they are hiding any weapons -- each time they enter or exit the ramp.

The security system could mark a watershed in U.S. airport security that may spread to Miami and other major cities.
Believing that employee access to the airport ramp poses the biggest risk to security, the creators of the one-year pilot program have aimed it squarely at workers. It remains a closely held secret and comes amid a wave of arrests of airport employees from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on drug smuggling charges. The system has been in place since late last year at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

Schiphol USA, which developed and owns 40 percent of JFK's Terminal 4, is investing $1.2 million in the test. The international terminal is used by 58 carriers, including Egypt Air, El Al, Northwest Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

"Employee access is the weakest link right now; it is a huge risk," said Pieter Boone, vice president of Schiphol USA. It's on the Transportation Security Administration's agenda, but "we don't know what their direction is. They are going to test biometrics, but it will take to 2005 just to do the test…..

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8186105.htm

---

Maybe there is hope for the airlines; but it took from 2001 until now to consider the employees access as their biggest risk.

[Letitring]

As well as alot of tomorrows, thereafter. This is not good. Sends a powerful message to our enemies, which is exactly what they'd hoped for.

[Revel]

I caught that one too. But I can't say much. I make mistakes all the time...LOL

[Cindy]

Thank you all4one.

[Teri0811]

That just sent a very strong message to terrorist groups everywhere, including ETA..."Build a big enough bomb and you, too, can have anything you want." At this point, they should invite them over for tea and cookies while they're at it.

[liberallyconservative]

Bravo. It's just a shame it has taken this long.

I had posted several months ago about first-hand knowledge of airport insecurity from the employee access angle. As a USPS employee at our airport mail facility, we each had to have a separate security pass in addition to our USPS badge. Anyone with ramp/tarmac access had to be screened even further, with a special badge. Sounds good, on the surface.

But when one of the very people I know personally passed this screening, I knew the system was a joke. This person attempted (poorly) an anthrax hoax at another facility, and has long been known to have mental instability.

Talks at length with another of our ramp access employees showed just how nonexistent security is. He said once you have your badge, NO ONE watches what you are doing or questions where you are going. His job entails hand-to-hand transfer of high dollar insured items. I asked could he slip something into the cargo hold of a plane while no one was looking, and he answered "Absolutely."

All freight companies have employee access to airplane cargo holds: FedEx, USPS, UPS, DHL, etc. Not to mention the food services and other service providers.

I am glad to see airport security being stepped up finally, but these other accesses need to be addressed post haste.

[Letitring]

True that! I feel dreadful about all this. I'm not sure who I think will be next, but we can't be far behind. imho.

[mfccinsd]

I'm pretty sure that it's Turkish...

(and I know you were looking for a Dutch translation site? or someone was? foreignword.com has a ton of languages...not all translate well, but if you try a few words it'll help identify them sometimes)

[TWhiteBear]

The language is Turkish. The webpage title should be "The Koran(Quran, etc) and Knowledge. (Gasp) It has been 40 years and I will have to dig out my dictionaries. The article is more about the principles of flying and Kittyhawk was mentioned in association with the Wright brothers.