Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Seven

The Washington Times ^ | 4-26-04 | Bill Gertz

[JustPiper]

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"

Two Chinese diplomats, away from their Los Angeles consulate improperly, recently sped their vehicle past a Los Alamos National Laboratory guard post near classified facilities in what U.S. officials think was an intelligence mission, The Washington Times has learned.

[all4one]

Since they live and die by the moon phases, they always seem to have this info. at hand to include in their rantings.

[jerseygirl]

I need to reign in my imagination!

[jerseygirl]

I mean "rein"....sorry- time for a caffeine break.

[WestCoastGal]

Don't forget in one of the jihadi posts thread 6(Daleel ?) the word that means magic or magical in arabic was used in one of their threat puzzles. We did discuss the Magic Kingdom or the Magic Cruise Line.

[Cindy]

Thanks grizzfan.

[Oorang]

If you drive over there for a look-see let us know what, if anything, you find.

[jerseygirl]

May 1st is a major communist holiday. At the same time, it seems that the Chinese have not taken much of a vacation, after all. Instead:




MAY 1, 2004

"Chinese conduct HK defence exercise"



China's first naval drill in the territory is prompted by political instability in Taiwan and terror threat in the region

By Ching Cheong

HONG KONG

Growing security concerns in the region and the tense cross-strait situation have prompted China to stage the first naval exercise with the defence of Hong Kong as the focus, according to sources.

Eight Chinese naval vessels sailed into Hong Kong yesterday after conducting exercises at an unspecified location nearby, the sources said.

The official reason for the port call by the flotilla - the largest since Hong Kong's handover back to China in 1997 - was to mark the 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

But an informed source told The Straits Times that the ships had just completed a drill and the crews were in Hong Kong to rest and to size up the place they were assigned to defend.

The vessels, comprising two destroyers, four frigates and two submarines, were picked from the North, East and South Sea Fleets.

The reason for using ships from different fleets was to help the Chinese navy develop the capability to coordinate different regional fleets to meet threats anywhere along the coast.

The ships included the 167 Shenzhen, the navy's most modern missile destroyer, and the 541 Huaibei, its most modern missile frigate with comprehensive capabilities, including anti-submarine, air defence and surface strikes.

Together, the vessels formed a self-contained battle group with strong air, surface and under-sea defence capability.

It could protect Hongkong against airborne, ship-borne and submarine-launched missile attacks.

According to the source, the presence of this flotilla could theoretically extend Hong Kong's defence perimeter by more than 300km.

Hong Kong has not come under any real military threat since the Japanese Occupation during World War II.

Beijing first became alarmed about the territory's vulnerability in 1999 when, after Taiwan's then president Lee Teng-hui promulgated his 'two states theory', his confidant Liu Tai-ying said publicly that should Beijing use force against Taiwan, the island would retaliate by striking Hong Kong and Shanghai.

While the Chinese military had long developed a defence strategy for Shanghai, it had not done so for Hongkong. Taiwan's so-called 'scorpion strategy' underscored the need to devise a similar strategy for Hong Kong. Hence the naval exercise.

According to the source, the drill was also related to the current cross-strait situation.

The political instability in Taiwan following President Chen Shui-bian's re-election prompted Beijing to take all precautionary measures against any contingency.

China does not trust the Taiwanese leader, who plans to draw up a new Constitution, which Beijing believes will take Taiwan a step closer towards independence.

The source said concern over terror attacks could have been another reason for the naval exercises.

FBI director Robert Mueller warned last week that financial centres such as Hong Kong were potential targets for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

In fact, Dr Rohan Gunaratna, a well-known terrorism expert, is currently in Hong Kong to help the local police force devise ways to deal with terrorist threats.

The author of Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network Of Terror, Dr Gunaratna warned that the terrorist group was moving into the Asia-Pacific region, targeting not just the poorer areas of the region but also its major financial centres.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po reported yesterday that China's powerful Central Military Commission would have three more members soon.


straitstimes.asia1.com.sg...9,00.html?

[jerseygirl]

Most certainly!

[all4one]

Flights Grounded Due to Admin Error (UK EasyJet airline) 10:56am (UK)

By Alistair Keely, PA News Low cost airline easyJet apologised to its customers today after 40 aircraft were grounded due to an administrative error.

The no frills airline said the planes were grounded for around two hours early this morning because insurance documents were not placed on the relevant aircraft.

The company said passengers at Luton and Stansted airports were particularly hard hit, while at Newcastle one in six planes were grounded and in Liverpool two in seven planes were affected.

The blunder was discovered at around 6.30 this morning.

A company spokesman said the problem was due to an administrative error. He added: “There was basically an insurance documentation mess up this morning whereby insurance renewal documents were not physically placed on the aircraft.

“Unlike with car insurance the documents have to be physically on the plane for inspection.

“A large number of our aircraft didn’t have that. That led to disruption first thing this morning.”

The spokesman said 40 aircraft were grounded because of the problem but said all planes were now flying normally and the priority was getting delayed and disgruntled passengers to their destination for the Bank Holiday weekend.

He added: “Some people would have been delayed for a couple of hours and we are doing everything we can to minimise the problem. We apologise greatly to anyone affected.”

Link

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Airport Intrusion Shows Security Gap / Case Highlights Lack of Communication Between Police, Haneda Officials (Japan)

Link Here

The intrusion into restricted areas at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Wednesday by a man in a passenger car demonstrated a lack of communication between the airport and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Due to the late arrival of the police and a misunderstanding among airport officials, the man was able to get onto one of the runways.

The Construction and Transport Ministry and the MPD should review antiterrorism security measures in place at the airport.

According to Tokyo Airport Police Station, an emergency call was received at 7:11 p.m. from staff members of the airport's east cargo area, who reported a stolen vehicle. The police dispatched officers to the scene, and 13 minutes later, they found the car in front of a police box at the international terminal, driven by Toshiaki Terauchi. Terauchi, 32, ignored the officers' orders to stop and drove through a temporary entrance fence into a restricted area at about 7:25 p.m.

Members of the riot police squad then arrived and told security guards at a gate located about 100 meters from the fence that they needed to enter the restricted area. At about 7:38 p.m., the group was given permission to do so. However, none of the police or the security guards informed the Construction and Transport Ministry's office at the airport of the incident....

After he entered the restricted area, had a wheel came off the car Terauchi was driving. He then commandeered a limousine bus. After he crashed the bus, Terauchi took a safety patrol car.

When the first car had lost its wheel, a security guard stationed nearby called the airport office responsible for security and disaster prevention, but the office sent only one official to the scene, assuming it had been a minor crash.

The office learned that it was an intrusion only after Terauchi took the patrol car. Seven minutes elapsed, during which time seven planes had used the runways. According to the police, an autopsy revealed traces of stimulant drugs in Terauchi's system.

A senior ministry official said, "We never predicted that someone would break through the fences in a car." After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the airport adopted tighter security measures, mainly focusing on checking for suspicious substances and preventing them from being taken aboard planes and into terminals.

The airport holds annual drills on responding to hijackings. However, drills concerning how to respond to suspicious individuals have not been conducted. The fences surrounding the restricted area were built to resist pressure so that even a large truck would have to ram them repeatedly to break them, but the use of a car was unexpected.

The temporary entrance was a blind spot, and despite its relatively weak structure, no security guards were stationed near it at night.....

[all4one]

MI5 Chief Goes Online to Detail Terror Threat (UK)

Richard Norton-Taylor Saturday May 1, 2004

Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, made a personal appeal for help in combating terrorism yesterday as the Security Service spelled out publicly for the first time the threat posed by al-Qaida.

Detailed advice was placed on the relaunched MI5 website advising businesses how to protect themselves from attack, and warning that "supporters of al-Qaida are present in the UK".

It also included a secure internet connection for members of the public to pass on information in confidence. A section called How You Can Help has been translated into Arabic in what MI5 said yesterday was a move designed "to build on the cooperation of the Muslim community". It will also be translated into French, Urdu and Hindi.

Terrorists were increasingly looking at "soft" targets such as social and retail venues, tourist sites and transport networks, said MI5. The agency has already offered advice to companies in the "critical national infrastructure" - energy, water supplies and communication, for example.

Yesterday's move is designed to alert a wider range of businesses to give as much priority to the terrorist threat as to issues such as health and safety or financial competence, sources said yesterday.

MI5 listed its top 10 guidelines for "good security practice", which ranged from appointing board members with responsibility for security to "good basic housekeeping" such as keeping "garden areas free from dense shrubbery".

The moves are a response to the high-level threat of a terrorist attack in Britain, described by Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, as "inevitable". The threat level was raised at the end of last year to "severe-general", the second highest. MI5 says it is government policy to issue warnings to the public "in response to a specific or credible terrorist threat". …….

Remainder of Long Article Here

[Domestic Church]

"Nice list. It is too short imho. The list I have seen is of 100 cities/metro areas."

What are the 100...generic WMD targets? Nuke targets? Is this just a population density list?

[Honestly]

I've been trying to figure out why Topeka, Kansas would be on the Red Cross list instead of Kansas City. My guess would be that it is close enough to KC to be a staging area without taking a direct strike. In looking for the answer, I found state target and prevailing wind/fallout maps and other nuclear survival information at:

http://www.webpal.org/webpal/ad_intro.htm#site%20map

The earthquake zone with nuclear reactor map is also interesting:

http://www.webpal.org/webpal/d_resources/list.htm

I've only scratched the surface in looking for the significance of Topeka, but I'll keep at it.

[cgk]

I've always thought it extremely bizarre that I received it as well, considering. I've been unable to figure out why, because it looks like it was sent to me, as a "fwd". And I'm pretty sure it isn't a hoax, because both the names in the letter are real people, Islamics. I was able to verify that much.

I haven't received anything else related or even as unusual, aside from the usual blank emails I've received from time to time on every email address I've ever owned.

[Domestic Church]

"Coronal Holes"

What are the ramifications of the radiation from these solar wind streams that will hit us on the 3rd? How does this differ from solar flares? Will this knock out some grids or could this be used to assist in knocking out power?

[SCR1]

If you are lucky you might see Comet Bradfield and also Comet Linear 2002 T7 at the same time in the east.

[Domestic Church]

"How many of you have been in an earthquake of 5+ on the Richter Scale? You are the ones that know how it would feel to be in one that lasted 5 1/2 minutes!!!

Sounds like the prelude to Pompeii!

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

I will do some snooping and see what I can come up with. Well the website has been changed. Nothing is on there like before hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm will keep loking

[jerseygirl]

I would not have found the memo under anything to do with Islam or terrorism. I was reading some posts on TB2000 about earthquakes and the like, and found it there. Then, I looked at the particular cities listed to try to figure out why these cities were selected. The initial clue for me was that Greenwich/Stamford Connecticut were on the list. I'm very familiar with Greenwich- travel through it on the way to my parents' home. Greenwich is NOT a large place at all. It is a very wealthy town- many who live there are leaders in industry and the like. The town is glutted with money- they would have no need to ask for volunteers---unless they were going to face something quite significant.

The other clue was Stamford. It IS a large city, and was developed during the Cold War as an alternative to NYC.

[all4one]

I have been doing a few searches on the solar wind streams. Finding NASA PHD study type info.....Doom and Gloom info. regarding magnetic polar Earth axis changes and everything in between. Once I find something that makes sense in regular terms I will post.

[jerseygirl]

Have to get off- using college library computer. Hope to be back tomorrow. Stay Safe, everyone! Happy Hunting, nightowls....