|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted on 09/11/2004 12:09:10 AM PDT by nwctwx
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DHS Follows Industry Lead on Cyber-Terror
September 17, 2004
By Wayne Rash
WASHINGTON—Lawrence Hale, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security's cyber security division, said Friday that the DHS depends on the private sector to take the lead in fighting cyber-terrorist threats. "The normal things you do to protect your network will help protect you against cyber-terrorism," he said.
Speaking at a conference on cyber-security organized by NBC News and the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Hale said the department is already aware of some cyber-terror threats, as well as the activities of terrorist organizations on the Internet. "They're using cyberspace for recruiting, fund-raising and communication," he said.
Private-sector businesses in the United States are already taking the lead in making sure that they are protected against attacks and intrusion, according to Hale—and the government is following their lead. While he wouldn't divulge details, Hale said the government is working to lessen the severity of any attack on it.
Hale added that, so far, the agency has not seen any threats of immediate cyber-terror attacks, but he added that they could come without warning. And just because the government isn't aware of any threats doesn't mean they couldn't happen, or that they couldn't be extremely serious.
"Suppose there was a cyber attack at the same time as a physical attack," he suggested. Hale outlined one scenario where a physical attack of the level experienced by the United States three years ago could be accompanied by a cyber attack on the financial services industry and on emergency services, severely restricting the ability of the nation to respond.
Click here to read about wireless tools touted for anti-terrorism.
Hale said the fact that most federal departments and agencies design and build their own networks and computer systems makes it less likely that any one type of attack would succeed across the government. He also said that only certain operating systems, which he declined to name, could be used to handle classified information, ensuring diversity in computer types.
Hale, who is also part of U.S. CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team), said he initially expected the private-sector representatives at the conference to question why a representative of DHS was there, but he explained that the department wanted to expand its role with private businesses in its fight against cyber terrorism.
Check out eWEEK.com's Government Center for the latest news and analysis of technology's impact on government practices and regulations, as well as coverage of the government IT sector.
Copyright (c) 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1647410,00.asp
Snicker. To my fellow "brainwashed" colleagues on TM:
***
How TV spreads wrong messages
By Mohammed A.R. Galadari
khaleej times online
18 September 2004
I WAS watching a Fox TV talk show and I liked the way it showed how most Americans have no hatred towards Muslims and Arabs. The show had Oliver North and a former US ambassador engaged in a discussion that touched upon the US elections, among other things.
The anchorman asked the former ambassador why he didn’t want Bush re-elected. The Ambassador said this was because, under his rule,
“We antagonized the whole Muslims around the world, and we made them feel we have a war with the Muslim world”.
Oliver North responded, saying, “You say we antagonized the Muslim world. Don’t you recall September 11, when 19 Muslims and Jihadis came and killed over 3000 people? They took our four aircraft and indulged in the worst kind of attacks on us. The reputation of America was affected.”
The ambassador replied that the fact remained no Muslim country was involved in the attack in any way. They were terrorists and they didn’t do it at the behest of the Muslim world. Bush rightly turned to Afghanistan, because Bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the attacks, was holed up there. But, Bush didn’t finish the job there when he diverted his attention to Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden or the Sept 11 attack, he said.
Dear readers, we all say, and I too say it, that these 19 men were not human beings. They were devils. They did not belong to a country or represent a country. And no one supports anyone for what happened on Sept 11. The whole world has condemned it in strong terms.
It is clear to all that Muslim countries had nothing to do with the attacks.
Even all American leaders have admitted that they have nothing to show there was involvement of Iraq or any other country in the attack.
The fact is that every community, every religion, has terrorists in their ranks. Look at the Oklahoma bombing that killed many. It was a Christian American who did it. But that does not mean all Americans are devils. And no one takes a cue from Oklahoma and says Americans are terrorists.
I am not surprised that Oliver North talked like this on talk shows. What I could make out is that he is fully anti-Muslim. He is brainwashing Americans and bad-mouthing Muslims. The problem, as I said earlier in this column, is that certain anchormen in Fox News are bent on projecting a wrong image about Muslims. I have never seen this in any other American channel. They are showing anger openly against those they don’t like. They don’t mind that some 30 million Americans are watching what they say.
As far as Oliver North is concerned, it proves he is an extreme rightist conservative, with no respect to anybody other than the neo-conservatives.
Readers’ response may be forwarded to marg@khaleejtimes.com
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/comment/2004/September/comment_September19.xml§ion=comment
Lately I do not have time for in depth replies and conversation ,so, I refrain from posting so as not to be impolite by not returning replies.
Since Adam and Eve, the devil has run rampant, and becomes bolder and more hideous with each millennium. The danger is that many compartmentalize the deaths of so many innocents in the name of terror and genocide and have become insensitive to the danger it represents to the entire human race. Constant prayer is essential, now more than ever.
Putin: Complicit West harbours terrorists
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-18 08:55
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Friday accused the West of harbouring Chechen terrorists, speaking hours after rebel leader Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the Beslan school massacre.
In a statement likely to further chill Russia's cooling relations with Europe and the United States, Putin said the West's "patronising and indulgent attitude to the murderers amounts to complicity in terror".
His remarks came the day after Moscow summoned Britain's charge d'affairs, Stephen Wordsworth, to the Russian foreign ministry to hear complaints about London's decision to grant asylum to a Chechen politician and an exiled Russian tycoon.
Wordsworth was told that the men, Chechen rebel spokesman Akhmed Zakayev and tycoon Boris Berezovsky, should be stopped from making "slanderous statements".
Meanwhile, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has criticised Moscow for failing to provide accurate coverage of the Beslan siege and accused the government of opening a "credibility gap" between the state, media and the people.
A day of dramatic announcements began with the statement, via a rebel website, that Chechen guerrilla leader Basayev was finally accepting responsibility for the Beslan attack, saying a unit named Riyadus-Salikhin carried out the operation.
But Basayev insisted it was government forces, not his rebels, that were responsible for the massacre two weeks ago that has left 326 dead and another 100 people missing.
"A terrible tragedy occurred in the city of Beslan. The Kremlin vampire destroyed and wounded 1,000 children and adults," said the Basayev statement.
He repeated an earlier offer of peace if the Kremlin would grant Chechnya independence, something Moscow has ruled out. "We can guarantee that all of Russia's Muslims would refrain from armed methods of struggle against the Russian Federation, at least for ten to 15 years," said the statement.
The United States Friday denounced Basayev's admission. The US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, said: "He has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is inhuman."
Basayev's comments have also ended speculation that the Beslan slaughter might trigger a pause in fighting, with the rebel leader, Russia's most wanted man, saying more attacks would follow.
"We are not bound by any circumstances, or to anybody, and we will continue to fight as is convenient and advantageous to us, and by our rules," he said.
What sort of attacks those rules allow is unclear, but Russia has been battered by a violent summer of attacks that its security forces have been powerless to prevent.
Putin, meanwhile, accused the West of hypocrisy by fighting against Osama bin Laden while at the same time giving sanctuary to Chechen rebels. "We faced double standards in the attitude towards terrorism," he said.
Putin warned that attempts to negotiate with Chechen separatists were as dangerous as the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the years before World War Two.
"I urge you to remember the lessons of history, the amicable deal [with Adolf Hitler] in Munich in 1938," he said. "Any surrender leads to them widening their demands and makes losses worse."
Putin's comments are likely to put further distance between Russia and the West, which has repeatedly criticised Russia for human rights violations in Chechnya.
Britain is in the firing line because of its decision to give Berezovsky and Zakayev asylum.
Russia regards Zakayev as a terrorist, and wants Berezovsky, a former television mogul and power-broker, to return to Russia to face fraud investigators.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/18/content_375631.htm
FBI's Anti-Terror 'October Plan'
Plan Calls For "Aggressive - Even Obvious - Surveillance" Techniques
Sep 17, 2004 8:49 pm US/Mountain
WASHINGTON (CBS) Convinced that al Qaeda is still determined to disrupt the U.S. fall elections by an attack on the homeland, FBI officials here are preparing a massive counter-offensive of interrogations, surveillance and possible detentions they hope will disrupt the terrorist plans, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.
FBI field offices and Homeland Security agencies will be advised of "extraordinary measures" that will go into place "beginning the first week of October through the elections."
An internal e-mail advisory to supervisory agents this week from the FBI's "'04 Threat Task Force" said the purpose of the counter-offensive is "to foster the impression that law enforcement is focused on individuals who may be a threat."
Specifically, the plan calls for "aggressive - even obvious - surveillance" techniques to be used on a short list of people suspected of being terrorist sympathizers, but who have not committed a crime. Other "persons of interest," including their family members, may also be brought in for questioning, one source said.
All recent truck thefts, chemical thefts and suspicious cargo truck rentals will also be reviewed as part of the plan. Mosques will be revisited and members asked whether they've observed any suspicious behavior.
Throwing hundreds of agents on the street and conducting invasive surveillance has become a standard post-9/11 tactic for the bureau, which hopes at a minimum to force terrorists go back into hiding and re-think their plan.
Some officials believe it was just such tactics that foiled the remainder of al Qaeda's New Year's bomb plot in January 2000 after agents arrested one operative, Ahmed Ressam, in Port Angeles, Wash., with a car trunk full of explosive material.
The bureau also knows it can expect to be criticized for the strategy if it goes too far. One element of the plan calls for addressing what some officials fears could be a wave of protests from Arab-Americans and civil libertarians once the so-called "October Plan" kicks off.
http://news4colorado.com/topstories/topstories_story_261212240.html
Afghan court jails US Bin Laden hunter
By Nick Meo in Kabul
16 September 2004
The extraordinary case of the bounty hunters, their private torture chamber and the journalist making a film about his one-man hunt for Osama bin Laden came to an end in a Kabul courtroom yesterday with long sentences in Afghanistan's dreadful prisons.
Jonathan "Jack" Idema, a former Green Beret and a convicted fraudster, insisted that he had been working all along for Donald Rumsfeld, and had been in contact with the Pentagon and high-ranking Afghan officials throughout his vigilante career, exposed during the trial as part of the murky underside of the war on terror.
Idema, who smoked cigarettes in the dock and lectured the judge about the meaning of democracy, was led away to serve his sentence in his self- designed uniform muttering obscenities, denouncing the judges as Taliban, and complaining about America.
"I knew that the American government wasn't going to help me," he said.
Earlier he had melodramatically attempted to become a Muslim before the court, recounting the Koranic verses of those seeking to convert to the faith, and trying to swear an oath on the holy book.
The judge did not disguise his irritation with Idema and seemed bemused by the aggressive style of the US trial lawyers flown in by the alleged bounty hunter.
Idema had shown video footage of himself with senior Afghan officials and claimed the FBI had confiscated all his evidence, including faxes.
It remains unclear whether he was a fantasist or whether he really did have connections at the highest levels.
Idema was sentenced to 10 years prison after being found guilty of torture, kidnapping and entering the country illegally. His right-hand man, Brent Bennett, was also jailed for 10 years and the award-winning New York film maker Edward Caraballo received eight years.
Four Afghans were sentenced to jail terms ranging from one to five years.
Caraballo appeared shell-shocked and was silent throughout the proceedings.
It was unclear where the three will be imprisoned. So far they have been held in secret police detention.
Afghanistan's prisons include the notorious Soviet-built Pul-e-Chorki, full of Taliban detainees, and one of the world's biggest. The prison, on a dusty plain outside the capital, is guarded by anti-aircraft guns.
Conditions are described as appalling, with widespread cases of dysentery and other diseases. It is said to be seriously overcrowded and sexual abuse of young prisoners is rife.
Inmates are crammed into fetid rooms which are stiflingly hot in summer and freezing in winter. Prisoners sleep on metal bunk beds; they share stinking, overflowing lavatories; and cooking facilities consist of little more than stoves in prison corridors.
Life is considerably better for those with money to buy their own food and medicines.
Colin Berry, a former British soldier who was released from jail in Afghanistan last year after he was found in Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel with two Afghans who had been shot dead, said he had been lucky to survive his ordeal.
Jonathan Idema had been caught with "terrorist suspects" hanging by their feet from the ceiling of a house in Kabul, including the senior cleric of one of the city's biggest mosques.
Idema insisted the cleric had been implicated in plots foiled by his team, who called themselves Task Force Sabre Seven.
With Kabul awash with armed men in and out of uniform, both Nato and the US military were duped by Idema. Nato sent personnel on his raids and the US military accepted a "terrorist suspect" from him.
Idema claimed to have personally stopped terrorist plots to assassinate President Hamid Karzai and blow up the massive US military base at Bagram near Kabul with fuel tankers.
From prison, he said he had tracked down Osama bin Laden to a village just over the border in Pakistan. His credibility was not helped, however, when it emerged that he had tried to sue the Hollywood actor George Clooney over his role in a film, The Peacemaker, as a special forces soldier who averts a nuclear attack on Manhattan.
Idema claimed to have stopped nuclear terrorists himself before joining the Northern Alliance as a freelance fighter soon after 11 September 2001.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=562272
No vaccine
Well, on one hand, this is simple poetic justice, their own sins are coming back to visit them after decades of supporting marxist terrorists all over the world. But on the other hand, this is truly chilling. The Ivans don't play games when their blood is up. Ask the nazis.
Thank you - glad they are of use to you! So much going on that is not reported by our media. I know I depend on my fellow FReepers here to keep me informed as well.
LoL! Okay, you beat me. I only have 7 open :-)
Interesting Donna, thanks. Sounds like Mohammed A.R. Galadari is the one hanging around the kool-aid, not Ollie North, or FoxNews.
Wow, I've never heard of that one. Thanks for the info.
How have you and yours (and your daughter and her hubby) faired with the last go-round of 'canes?
Methinks this is not going to work....this time. It may have proved to be a valuable tactic in the past, but the obvious threats are only going to be visible in order to distract the feds from the real threats. If the stats from the border patrol are to be believed, if the Williams book is to be believed, then the players this time around are new faces. Multiple attacks, widespread; multiple cells, none knowing another's mission. I could see minor OPS being disrupted due to feeling the heat from security. But the payoffs are too big this time. Further they have to pull this one off, or they risk being marginalized into insignificance and they may never regain that initial momentum afforded them by 911. One or two cells may well be picked off. Perhaps more either by good intel gathering or plain dumb luck, but something of the plan is going to go well. That's just my .02.
I think in the short term, Russia and USA are likely to help each other on terror.
Interesting that they've teamed with Israel.
The kids are fine. STUPID but fine. They have so far refused to board their windows and so far this has worked out of dumb luck. I just hope their luck holds, because they might find insurance hard to come by in paying off if they find out the kids were negligent in not boarding their windows.
I agree, ExSoldier. Good to see you here on TM.
Your welcome, Oorang. It is amusing to see the different takes on these issues sometimes. That writer is drinking the pc flavor Kool-aid it seems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
