World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #9 Security Watch

DUBAI, June 19 (Bernama) -- The Saudi king has warned of an impending "explosion" in the Middle East, saying that it will not only affect the region but will spread all over the world, the English daily Gulf News reports.

"The Middle East region suffers from the longest conflict in our contemporary history which is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Israel's occupation of Arab lands," King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, said in an interview with the Spanish El Pas newspaper which was published simultaneously in Al Riyadh newspaper yesterday.

"At this point in time we are exerting efforts to solve this conflict, but we are witnessing an expansion of the crisis to include other countries like Iraq and Lebanon," he said.

"This makes the region replete with troubles that pose grave concerns for us. My fears are the fears of all reasonable men that the explosive situation will not be confined to the region but will extend to the whole world," he added.

The Saudi monarch yesterday began a five-nation trip that will take him to Spain, France, Poland, Egypt and Jordan.

King Abdullah also underlined the importance of solving the problem of Iran's nuclear programme peacefully in a way that guarantees all countries in the region to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1870618/posts

Pakistan - A Taliban leader commits suicide with hand grenade as troops storm hideout
AFP via translation | July 24, 2007

Posted on 07/23/2007 11:26:50 PM PDT by HAL9000

via translation -

ALARM - a leader Pakistani taliban commits suicide during an attack of the army

ISLAMABAD - One of the principal leaders of the talibans Pakistani committed suicide Monday evening while exploding a grenade when the army took by storm its hiding-place in the south-west of Pakistan, announced Tuesday the ministry for the Interior.

Pro-Taliban Pakistani tribesman cornered, killed

ISLAMABAD, July 24 (Reuters) - A leading pro-Taliban tribesman was killed after being surrounded by Pakistani forces near the Afghan border, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday.

Abudullah Mehsud was released from the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in 2004. Later that year he kidnapped two Chinese engineers working in South Waziristan, a region known as a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban.

“He was killed in a house in Zhob, where he was staying with three comrades,” the Interior Ministry spokesman said, referring to a district of southwest Baluchistan province neighbouring Waziristan.

According to officials in Baluchistan, Mehsud blew himself up to avoid arrest, and his three comrades were captured. He was second in command of a Pakistani Taliban group headed by Baitullah Mehsud. Their followers often sneaked across the border to attack U.S., NATO and Afghan forces.

3 posted on 07/23/2007 11:33:23 PM PDT by HAL9000

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1870621/posts

IDF appeals to Israeli expatriates
The Jerusalem Post ^ | July 24, 2007 | Yaakov Katz

Posted on 07/23/2007 11:46:03 PM PDT by IsraelBeach

IDF Appeals To Israeli Expatriates

By Yaakov Katz
The Jerusalem Post

In an effort to increase the number of former soldiers who perform reserve duty in the West Bank, the IDF has launched a campaign asking such soldiers living abroad to come to Israel to help out.

Thousands of Israelis who have served in the IDF live in the Diaspora. Those under the age of 65, a high-ranking officer told The Jerusalem Post this week, are eligible to join the Central Command’s Seam Line Volunteer Unit, also known as the Hatikva Unit, which assists regular IDF units stationed in the West Bank.

The unit, which is headed by Col. (res.) Yamini Kenan, a former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operative, was established several years ago by former IDF officers who, angered by the growing number of reservists who were refusing orders to serve in the territories, decided to set up a unit to assist young soldiers serving their compulsory service in the West Bank.

“The goal is to encourage the soldiers and let them know that they are not alone,” the high-ranking officer said. “When a 19-year-old soldier sees a 60-year-old volunteer standing at a checkpoint next to him late at night, the soldier realizes that he is not alone and that the citizens back home have not forgotten him.”

The unit is responsible for a number of checkpoints, mostly in the Kalkilya and Tulkarm areas. The volunteer soldiers also conduct routine patrols along the West Bank security barrier and through Palestinian villages. The service usually lasts 12 to 13 days.

Most of the current volunteers live in Israel and are too old to serve in the regular reserves. But they still want to contribute to the IDF.

Realizing the untapped potential in Israeli communities abroad, the Central Command is setting up a Web site where potential volunteers will be able to receive information and apply to serve.

“There are already a number of volunteers who come from the United States, Canada and France,” the officer said. “Just last week we had a Jew from New York who owns seven companies and took off two weeks to come to Israel and serve in the West Bank.”

According to the high-ranking officer, in recent years the number of Israel-based volunteers has declined. “When the economy is up and the security situation is relatively quiet, people don’t automatically think about volunteering with the IDF,” he said.

“When the soldiers see someone from France come and stand at a checkpoint with them in a uniform and helmet and with a gun, they are astounded,” the officer said. “This alone is worth coming to do the service.”

Machsom Watch, an NGO that monitors IDF checkpoints in the West Bank, said it was distressed by the IDF’s call for former servicemen to come from abroad to serve in the territories.

“A large number of the checkpoints that are called “seam-line” are actually found deep inside the territories and far from the Green Line, and these checkpoints harm the Palestinians’ quality of life,” the organization said in a statement. “Therefore Machsom Watch is distressed by the fact that volunteers from abroad with good intentions to defend the State of Israel are sent to do missions that do not promote security but actually harm it.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1870622/posts

The Galloway Papers (WOW)
Slate.com ^ | July 23, 2007 | Christopher Hitchens

Posted on 07/23/2007 11:46:41 PM PDT by Angel

...Galloway’s front organization, a “charity” known as the Mariam Appeal that campaigned against the sanctions on Iraq, had in fact received direct Iraqi subventions from the proceeds of the U.N.-sponsored “Oil for Food” program. Bank records established that Galloway’s former wife had been paid at least $150,000 in this way. A completely separate U.N. inquiry chaired by former Treasury Secretary Paul Volcker identified another “Oil for Food” payment to the same lady, this time in the sum of $120,000.

Snip...This raises two quite serious questions. The first is the extent to which the Iraqi Baath Party was able to purchase direct influence among Western politicians: George Galloway has been a hysterically extremist political thug for a long time, but others more supposedly “respectable,” including some important Russian and French politicians and diplomats, may have been sweetened and suborned in the same way. The second has to do with a purely moral issue. The “Oil for Food” program was the means by which the most vulnerable people in Iraq—the children, the sick, and the aged—were supposed to be protected from the effect of sanctions aimed at the regime. To have profited from its abuse or its diversion is therefore somewhat worse than to have accepted a straight-out bribe or inducement from Saddam Hussein. It is to have stolen directly from the neediest and the weakest, in order to finance a propaganda campaign that in turn blamed the West for the avoidable sufferings of Iraqis between 1991 and 2003.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...

Pakistan ‘no’ to Bin Laden strike
Pakistan has again said it opposes any military strike by the United States against Osama Bin Laden, if he is confirmed to be in Pakistan.

Foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri told the BBC public opinion in his country would not tolerate such an attack.

He said he was concerned that any US operation against Bin Laden could lead to dozens of civilian deaths.

Washington has said nothing can be ruled out in the pursuit of the al-Qaeda leader.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the US recognised Pakistan’s sovereignty, but the Bush administration always maintained the option of striking actionable targets.

Earlier Mr Kasuri had said that Bin Laden was not in Pakistan.

‘Safe haven’

US director of national intelligence Mike McConnell said recently he believed the architect of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US was in northern Pakistan, near the Afghan border.

Meanwhile, a recent US intelligence report says al-Qaeda is intensifying efforts to put operatives into the US.

The report says the nation is at a heightened risk of attack.

Analysts warn that al-Qaeda’s leaders have found a “safe haven” in Pakistani tribal areas, which has allowed them to regroup.

The BBC’s Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says a raging debate is continuing in Pakistan over US national intelligence reports that point to the consolidation of the al-Qaeda in the country’s tribal areas.

President Pervez Musharraf last week vowed to root out extremists “from every corner of the country”.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6912947.stm

Published: 2007/07/24 04:24:02 GMT

Boy injected with street syringe
The mother of a Lincolnshire boy who injected himself on a discarded needle in the street has called for people to dispose of drugs responsibly.

Liam Thomas, aged nine, accidentally gave himself an emergency dose of a drug used for anaphalactic shock from a needle pen he found outside his home.

His mother Fiona, from Spalding, said she called an ambulance and her son was taken to hospital for treatment.

Mrs Thomas said people had to take more care when throwing medicines out.

‘Nasty stuff’

“He came running into the house and said there was a pen with a needle on it and it had stabbed him through the thumb,” said Mrs Thomas.

She ran out and found the EpiPen - used by people with bad allergies in an emergency - at the bottom of her driveway.

“He went very green and grey so I called an ambulance as I didn’t know what was in the pen.”

Liam was taken to hospital where he recovered and was released after being checked by doctors.

Medics said the incident needed to be reported and Mrs Thomas has taken the pen to a local pharmacist to try to trace the owner.

Mrs Thomas said: “Medicines with needles are really dangerous and for it to be lying in the street is a real problem.

“People need to be very careful because it could have happened to a younger child. Nasty stuff lying around in the street on a nice, quiet estate is not good.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/6913109.stm

Published: 2007/07/24 07:56:02 GMT

Yobs ‘making towns no-go areas’
Drunken yobs behaving “like occupying armies” are turning town centres into no-go areas after dark, the chairman of an influential committee of MPs says.

Conservative MP Edward Leigh said anti-social behaviour in England and Wales was costing £3.4bn a year.

The public accounts committee said the Home Office had not researched which anti-social behaviour measures brought in since 1997 were most effective.

But the government said tackling the problem remained “a top priority”.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said: “We have equipped local authorities, the police and other agencies with unprecedented tools and powers to deal with perpetrators.

The department should pull itself together
Edward Leigh
Public Accounts Committee

“The recent Local Government User Satisfaction Survey shows that in 94% of local authority areas the public’s perception of anti-social behaviour fell significantly between 2003/4 and 2005/6.

“But we are not complacent and will study the report closely.”

However, the Tories said Labour had ignored the problems behind anti-social behaviour.

Speaking as the committee’s report on tackling anti-social behaviour was published, Mr Leigh said anti-social behaviour after dark ranged from “drunken skylarking and intimidation to out-and-out criminal activity”.

He said the Home Office “has not done any work nationwide to find out which ones work best” among the “barrage” of measures available.

“We need to try to head off a new generation of persistent offenders by directing appropriate support at families whose youngsters are at risk of falling into anti-social behaviour,” Mr Leigh said.

The committee had questioned the Home Office and its Respect Taskforce about 893 cases of anti-social behaviour interventions reviewed by the National Audit Office.

Persistent offenders

The committee criticised the Home Office for not assessing what methods worked well on which groups of offenders.

For example, the National Audit Office found that “a simple and cheap warning letter” often deterred further bad behaviour “for many tearaways”.

But for “a hard-core of persistent offenders...Asbos [are] part and parcel of its way of life and to be shrugged off accordingly”.

“Enforcement action against these people must be absolutely rigorous and, where they persist in their breaches of orders, there should be no hesitation in bringing prosecutions, cases should also be considered for referral to the Crown Court which can impose custodial sentences,” the committee said.

Saying “the department should pull itself together”, it also criticised the Home Office for providing “duff information” to the National Audit Office about perceptions around the country of anti-social behaviour.

The committee said perceptions varied by gender, area and age, with people most likely to perceive high levels in areas of greatest social deprivation.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: “This failure comes about because Labour’s approach has been to get the headline and ignore the problem.

“They go on about the record number of Asbos given out whilst ignoring the fact that nearly two-thirds are breached.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6912216.stm

Published: 2007/07/24 07:04:52 GMT

Fake schools targeted by visa law
Bogus schools and colleges are to be targeted in a new drive to bring down the number of fake students being given visas to come to the UK.

An existing registration scheme is to be replaced from 2009 by a requirement that all private schools and colleges obtain formal accreditation.

They will also be expected to report students failing to attend classes.

It follows concerns that some language schools have acted as a front for people working illegally.

About 300,000 foreign students are registered in the UK each year.

A minority are thought to get their visas through bogus language schools taking money for largely non existent courses.

‘Quality learning’

The Association of Colleges has been pressing ministers to tighten up the rules amid concerns the existing registration scheme had been “wide open for abuse”.

All colleges will now be required to register with the Home Office as “sponsors” of their international students and prove they are genuine educational establishments.

Ministers are advising unaccredited institutions to seek accreditation by one of the UK’s approved academic bodies before the new rules come into effect.

Higher education minister Bill Rammell said: “These improvements will mean we are better equipped to protect the UK against those individuals and colleges who want to misuse the student route of entry to this country.

“We are also able to offer international students the assurance that they are applying to trustworthy and good quality learning institutions in the UK”.

The new rules form a part of the UK’s new points-based system for managing migration.
Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2007/07/24 10:47:43 GMT

Aziz back in prison after check
The health of Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, is said to be “normal” after an incident at the jail where he is being held near Baghdad.

He was moved to a hospital in Balad for a scan after falling on Tuesday and sent back to prison on Thursday, the US military said.

His son Ziad said the 71-year-old ex-minister should not be in custody at all, having never been charged.

Mr Aziz had been due to face questioning by a judge on Wednesday.

He was being investigated over the murder of Muslim clerics following the first Gulf War in 1991.

Ziad Aziz said his father had told him by telephone that he was in “intensive care” while his lawyer, Badie Arif Ezzat, said that he had fainted repeatedly on Tuesday.

In January last year, Mr Ezzat told the BBC that his client had suffered a stroke and had barely a month to live.

In a statement released to the BBC News website on Saturday, the coalition said he had fallen during a walk.

“All studies came back normal for a person Mr Aziz’s age... and [he] is currently in the same health and with the same functional status as he was prior to his fall,” it added.

Tariq Aziz, for many years the face of Iraq around the world, was taken into custody in April 2003 after he gave himself up to US forces.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6910331.stm

Published: 2007/07/21 19:17:42 GMT

Nerve gas antidote made by goats
Scientists have genetically modified goats to make a drug in their milk that protects against deadly nerve agents such as sarin and VX.

These poisons are known collectively as organophosphates - a group of chemicals that also includes some pesticides used in farming.

So far, the GM goats have made almost 15kg of a drug which binds to and neutralises organophosphate molecules.

Details appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The drug, called recombinant butyrylcholinesterase, could be used as a protective “prophylactic” drug and also to treat people after exposure to nerve gas.

None of them have been able to produce anything beyond milligram amounts. In the goat, we can make two or three grams per litre
Solomon Langermann, PharmAthene

The US Department of Defense is funding the development effort by biotech firm PharmAthene to the tune of $213m (£105m).

It regards the drug as a promising way to protect its troops against exposure to nerve agents on the battlefield.

Butyrylcholinesterase could also be stockpiled for use in the event of a terrorist attack on a city with chemical weapons.

It is an enzyme that is made in small quantities by the human body.

The compound can be purified from blood, but the yields are poor.

However, the team at PharmAthene has been able to produce butyrylcholinesterase in large, commercial quantities and, the company says, at a reasonable cost.

Tough task

“It is a very difficult molecule to produce. There is a long history of people trying to produce this in everything from insects to yeast to bacteria and mammalian cells,” said Dr Solomon Langermann of PharmAthene, a co-author on the PNAS paper.

“None of them has been able to produce anything beyond milligram amounts. In the goat, we can make two or three grams per litre.”

The researchers inserted DNA for making the human form of butyrylcholinesterase into a “vector” molecule. This vector is then introduced into a goat embryo.

This allows the human gene to be incorporated into the goat’s DNA sequence. The resulting female animals, all healthy, produced large quantities of butyrylcholinesterase in their milk.

The high yields are partly down to “control elements” - stretches of DNA added, along with the human gene, to the vector molecule.

These control elements regulate how much of the enzyme the goat produces and ensure that most of it is produced in the milk, rather than in other tissues.

Safety trial

Once the enzyme was purified from milk, the scientists injected it into guinea pigs, and saw that it remained active in the bloodstream.

The commercial name given to the butyrylcholinesterase enzyme is Protexia.

Dr Langermann said that Protexia was more effective than the combination of the drugs atropine and 2-PAM currently carried by soldiers for protection against nerve agents.

“Those (older) drugs get cleared from the blood very rapidly. Even if the soldier were to survive, they would have very severe neurological damage,” he told BBC News.

“With Protexia, you would survive and be able to go back on the battlefield.”

It is also effective against a variety of different organophosphate poisons.

The product is still several years from entering use; it needs to pass a safety trial and seek approvals from the US government.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6912807.stm

Published: 2007/07/24 02:07:49 GMT

Envoys in talks to free Koreans
Intensive efforts are under way to negotiate the release of 23 South Korean hostages being held by Taleban rebels in Afghanistan.

Afghan troops have surrounded the area in central Ghazni province where the hostages are being held.

South Korean envoys are in Kabul and an Afghan minister in Ghazni says he is optimistic the captives will be freed.

Meanwhile police have found the body of a German man kidnapped a day earlier, but it is still not clear how he died.

‘Guests’

The BBC’s Charles Haviland in Kabul says delicate diplomacy, not military muscle, is at the forefront of efforts to get the South Koreans out safely.

A Taleban spokesman on Sunday said the group had extended the deadline for negotiations for 24 hours, and would now allow until 1900 local time (1430 GMT) on Monday for their demands to be met.

The hostages are said to be in good health but the rebels have said they will kill them if there is any attempt to free them by force or if the government fails to release a number of Taleban prisoners soon.

The Taleban have also said they want South Korea’s 200 troops to leave - although Seoul already plans to take its troops out by the end of the year.

Deputy Interior Minister Gen Munir Mangal told the BBC he was at the site along with elders, MPs and provincial council members.

He said that the local Pashtuns were hospitable people and he hoped the Taleban would respect their Korean guests.

The South Koreans were abducted from a bus travelling from Kandahar to Kabul on Thursday.

They are reportedly Christians on an evangelical and aid mission. At least 15 are said to be women.

An eight-strong South Korean delegation, including a presidential envoy, is in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and negotiate for the hostages’ release.

The seizure is the largest-scale abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001.

German captives

Meanwhile, police in Wardak province said they had found the body of one of two German hostages kidnapped last Wednesday.

We must assume that one of the kidnapped Germans died in captivity
Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
German foreign minister

The Germans, whose identity has not been revealed, were seized with a number of Afghans in Wardak, where they had been working on a dam project.

A Taleban spokesman had said both men were killed on Saturday because Germany refused demands to withdraw its 3,000-strong force from the country.

But Berlin said it believed one hostage was still alive and the other died of a heart attack or stress.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “We must assume that one of the kidnapped Germans died in captivity.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday evening said Germany would not give in to Taleban “blackmail” to withdraw its troops.

One Afghan provincial official said the German who died was a diabetic who had no access to insulin.

The fate of the Afghans captured with the Germans is unknown.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6910855.stm

Published: 2007/07/22 17:53:15 GMT

HIV medics released to Bulgaria
Six Bulgarian medics who were serving life sentences in Libya have arrived in Bulgaria following their release, ending their eight-year incarceration.

They were immediately pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

The five nurses and a Palestinian-born doctor were convicted of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV - charges they have always denied.

An EU official told the BBC the release had been made possible by a deal struck in Tripoli on improving Libya-EU ties.

It comes after years of efforts by the European Commission, with the EU’s external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, making numerous trips to Libya, meeting the prisoners and working to improve the conditions for hundreds of children with HIV/Aids.

The dramatic case with the sentenced innocent Bulgarian citizens is at its end. We are still sympathetic with the other tragedy - the one of the infected Libyan children and their families
Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov

Ms Ferrero-Waldner and Cecilia Sarkozy, the wife of France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, accompanied the Bulgarians home.

On their arrival aboard a French government plane at Sofia airport the medics were greeted on the tarmac by tearful relatives and well-wishers.

Ms Ferrero-Waldner described their release as “a humanitarian decision”, adding that it marked “a new page in the history of relations between the EU and Libya”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would visit Libya on Wednesday to help the country “rejoin the international community”.

At a news conference in Paris, he said no money had exchanged hands to secure the release of the medics.

“Neither Europe nor France has made the smallest financial contribution to Libya,” he said.

Archaeological help

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the European Union could now begin to normalise trade and political ties with Libya.

According to EU officials the key to the agreement has been a memorandum signed in Tripoli by Ms Ferrero-Waldner, which would lead to the full normalisation of EU relations with Libya.

The BBC’s Oana Lungescu says it includes a pledge to open the European market to Libyan farm and fishery produce, technical assistance for the restoration of archaeological monuments and EU grants for Libyan students.

It also included measures to improve the medical care of the children infected with HIV/Aids in Libya, the French presidential palace said.

Libya said it had ordered the release of the medical workers after it was satisfied that the conditions for extradition had been met.

“The matter has been settled. We received guarantees for the normalisation of relations with European countries and for a partnership agreement with the EU,” a Libyan official told the AFP news agency.

Earlier, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Barroso welcomed the agreement, paying tribute to Ms Ferrero-Waldner and the mediation of the emir of Qatar.

Last week, the six had death sentences commuted to life in prison by Libya’s top legal body.

The High Judicial Council ruling came after the families of the 438 children agreed a compensation deal reportedly worth $1m (£500,000) per child.

Transfer deal

Bulgaria had officially asked Libya to repatriate the medics so they could serve out their sentences in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s President Parvanov said he was satisfied with their release.

“The dramatic case with the sentenced innocent Bulgarian citizens is at its end. We are still sympathetic with the other tragedy - the one of the infected Libyan children and their families,” he said.

The Palestinian doctor was granted Bulgarian citizenship last month to allow him to benefit from any transfer deal.

The medics were convicted of deliberately injecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood. Fifty-six children have since died.

The six, who have been in prison since 1999, say they were tortured to confess.

Foreign experts say the infections started before the medics arrived at the hospital, and are more likely to have been a result of poor hygiene.

Bulgaria, its allies in the European Union, and the United States say Libya has used the case to deflect criticism from its run-down health service.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6912965.stm

Published: 2007/07/24 08:56:36 GMT

Criticism of Russian Church role
By Steven Eke
BBC Russian affairs analyst

In an unusual move, a senior Russian official has joined academics in criticising what he described as “the creeping clericalisation” of Russia.

Vyacheslav Glazychev accused the Russian Orthodox Church of interfering in the affairs of state.

His criticism came after 10 academics, including three Nobel Prize winners, asked President Vladimir Putin to stop the Church “destroying science”.

Organised religion has grown hugely in popularity in post-Soviet Russia.

‘Imposing ideology’

Vyacheslav Glazychev, a senior official in the Public Chamber, an advisory body charged with scrutinising parliament, said he wanted to defend the values of a normal, tolerant and secular society.

He accused the Church of undermining secularism.

He said attempts by the Orthodox Church to have religious studies introduced in schools were an attack on the state itself.

Anyone challenging the Church, he alleged, faced being ostracised.

Russia’s leading human rights activist, Lev Ponomaryov, agreed.

He said the Church was trying to claim the right to impose a state ideology.

Earlier, leading academics published an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin, calling on him to ensure the state remained secular.

New tolerance

The reaction from Russia’s major religions was strong.

A spokesman for the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate said the criticism consisted of “unsubstantiated, Soviet-style accusations”.

The head of Russia’s Jewish Congress said it was the Church’s “holy duty” to speak out on key matters of state and nation.

However, the head of Russia’s Muslims disagreed.

Attempts to enforce religious education in schools, or introduce priests into the army, were a violation of the Russian constitution, he said.

Post-Soviet Russia has seen a phenomenal growth in religious belief after decades of official atheism and religious persecution.

Only religions considered traditional - Orthodoxy, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam - are allowed.

The Orthodox Church, in particular, has been outspoken in its support for Vladimir Putin and his overarching idea of reviving Russia’s greatness.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6912482.stm

Published: 2007/07/23 16:41:52 GMT

TERROR INCIDENTS

Suicide Bomb Attack Jolts China into Realising the Risks of Global Ambition (back)

July 20, 2007

Suicide bomb attack jolts China into realising the risks of global ambition
Zahid Hussain in Islamabad and Jane Macartney in Beijing

China was reminded of the harsh realities of its newly acquired status as a global power yesterday when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of its workers in Pakistan .

At least 30 people were killed when a vehicle laden with explosives was detonated as the convoy carrying 60 Chinese rumbled through a market town near Karachi . Seven policemen and many bystanders died in the blast, which ripped through a bazaar and shops. However, the buses carrying the workers escaped serious damage.

Pakistani security forces said they were certain that the Chinese were the targets of the attack, and Chinese in Pakistan were urged to be on their guard against more violence. The suicide bombing was the second attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan in less than a month. Suspected Islamic militants killed three Chinese engineers near the northwestern city of Peshawar earlier this month.

The attacks will come as a stark reminder to Beijing of the risks inherent in China ’s bolder approach to the extension of its interests and influence beyond its borders, particularly in Asia and Africa . More than four million Chinese now work overseas.

Pakistani security forces have stepped up protection for the 3,000 Chinese working on development projects across the country since the siege and assault on Islamabad ’s radical Red Mosque.

The violent end to the siege was triggered by the kidnapping of a group of Chinese women by women students from a seminary linked to the Red Mosque. Leaders of the mosque, who modelled themselves on the Taleban, accused the six Chinese of working as prostitutes in a massage parlour.

Pakistan traditionally has enjoyed close ties with China . However, relations were strained when members of the Muslim separatist movement in the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Uighur sought refuge in Pakistan ’s tribal region after fleeing from Afghanistan in 2001. They became closely linked to Pakistan ’s radical Islamists.

Islamic militants loyal to al-Qaeda swore revenge after Pakistan handed over to China a number of senior Muslim leaders captured in Kashmir in 2002. They included Ismail Kadir, the Uighur leader who has led a violent struggle to set up an independent East Turkestan state in predominantly Muslim Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan , Afghanistan and restive Central Asian states. In January 2004 China drew up a list of militants linked to al-Qaeda who operated within Pakistan ’s tribal areas. Many are believed to have been killed in Pakistani military operations in Waziristan .

China says that its role overseas is to promote neighbourliness and understanding, in countries as diverse as Angola and Antigua . However, the main beneficiaries of China ’s overseas investment are poorer nations, such as Sudan , that are rich in the natural resources China needs.

There is a growing sense of unease in countries that are beneficiaries of China ’s overseas investment about what many perceive as a new form of colonialism.

China wants its Third World friends to act in accordance with the spirit of the struggle against colonialism and hegemony, but has difficulty grasping the idea that increasing numbers of people believe that it lacks sincerity.

The antagonism ranges from rage felt by Islamic radicals in Pakistan over China ’s policies to suppress pro-independence Muslim movements, to resentment among small merchants and tribesmen in Kenya who see their jobs and businesses being taken over by Chinese contractors.

Ahmed Rashid, a political analyst in Pakistan , said that anger was simmering over perceptions that the Chinese were stealing their livelihoods. “The Baluch feel that all the contracts are going to Chinese and they use only their own labour,” he said. Chinese contractors bring in many of their own engineers and labour.

They live in tight-knit communities that operate in a virtual vacuum inside whichever country they have been assigned. That breeds resentment among locals who fear for their livelihoods and are suspicious of outsiders.

In April nine Chinese workers and 65 Ethiopians were killed when guerrillas attacked an oil installation near the Somali border. Rebels abducted a Chinese mining executive searching for uranium in the Sahara, adding Niger to the list of states where China ’s hunger for minerals has led its nationals into trouble.

In a recent report, Stratford , the security consultancy, said: “ China now faces the dilemma of any country that undertakes an active foreign policy, particularly one based on the acquisition of resources. It must now decide how much to get involved in other countries’ internal issues.”

The idea is anathema to Beijing , which regards non-interference in other countries’ affairs as a fundamental plank of its foreign policy.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2106397.ece

Animal Rights Activists Have ‘No Choice’ but Violence (back)

July 19, 2007

Radical animal rights activists will likely use ‘any means necessary’ to stop what they consider the torture of animals, according to one of the movement’s most prominent spokespeople.

‘Nothing else works, and these people are torturing animals to death, and they should be stopped,’ said Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a press officer with the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. ‘If they won’t stop after using every other [peaceful means], they should be stopped using any means necessary.’

In what would represent a major departure from the movement’s traditional ban on violence against individuals, Vlasak said Americans can expect to see more violence done against ‘animal abusers,’ including university scientists who participate in animal testing.

The North American Animal Liberation Press Office operates as a clearinghouse for the movement and says it has no links to groups the FBI identifies as ‘eco-terrorists.’

Until relatively recently, animal liberationists have focused their efforts on economic damage, taking steps to avoid harm to humans or animals. But some activists, like Daniel Andreas San Diego, wanted for two bombings in 2003, are beginning to target individuals.

‘Other organizations say the reluctance to use violence is a failed tactic,’ said Vlasak. ‘[African National Congress leader and former South African President] Nelson Mandela said the use of nonviolence is not a moral principle but it’s a strategy, and there’s no moral goodness in using an ineffective strategy.’

It’s rhetoric like that which has observers of the radical animal rights movement growing nervous and demanding action.

‘Violence stems from the ideology of the animal liberation or animal rights movement,’ said Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank. ‘If you come to believe an animal’s existence is of equal moral worth to a human existence ... then they consider a leather couch equivalent to a lampshade made of human skin.’

Smith said such groups in the U.S. are taking their cues from Britain , where threats and intimidation against those who work for companies involved in animal testing have been increasingly common. Smith believes it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed in a violent incident in the U.S.

‘It has not led to murder yet, but there has certainly been some discussion,’ he said.

Vlasak doesn’t deny that those discussions take place. Indeed, he views the animal liberation movement as an increasingly revolutionary struggle — one in which violence against humans may well play a role.

‘99.9999 percent of the use of violence is used by those who are abusing animals,’ said Vlasak, referring to animal testing in research laboratories and the treatment of livestock.

‘As soon as somebody starts talking about fighting back and using force or violence in self-defense on animals’ behalf ... then all of a sudden, they’re quick to apply this terrorism label.’

Camille Hankins, another press officer with the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, said it was no accident nobody had been hurt in the U.S. by an animal rights activist.

But, she said, there may come a time when activists are forced to take a more violent stance.

‘The movement is a movement of compassion and caring, but we’re also people who want to get a job done because we care deeply about what’s happening to animals,’ Hankins said. ‘If you take away all the peaceful methods of protesting and having an impact, then people are going to turn to other ways to get the message across.’

The Discovery Institute’s Smith believes that day will come sooner, rather than later. He noted that even more mainstream organizations, such as the controversial animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, takes an ambiguous stance on violent actions.

‘PETA, for two years, even though they are not a violent group themselves, they do refuse to condemn [violence],’ said Smith. ‘They don’t do it themselves, but it seems to me they praise it with no condemnation.’

Repeated calls and emails to PETA for comment on this story went unreturned. However, the group’s 24-page ‘Animal Liberation Guide,’ available on its website, lays out a moral argument asserting the need to avoid causing pain or suffering to all living creatures, animal and human. The guide specifically refers to non-violence as leading to the highest ethics.

Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200707/CUL20070719b.html

HOMELAND SECURITY

CRS Report Says Fusion Centers are Off Track (back)

July 9, 2007

Anti-terrorism information-sharing and analysis is taking a back seat to criminal intelligence at the more than 40 state intelligence fusion centers, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

State governors created the centers, and the Homeland Security Department provides part of the funding. Their purpose is to fuse federal, state and local intelligence against terrorism, but CRS found the fusion centers have gravitated more toward collecting and analyzing criminal intelligence and all-hazards intelligence.

The service found few indications that the centers have been making efforts to become aware of terrorist plans and foil attacks.

“While many of the centers have prevention of attacks as a high priority, little ‘true fusion,’ or analysis of disparate data sources, identification of intelligence gaps and pro-active collection of intelligence against those gaps, which could contribute to prevention, is occurring,” wrote CRS researchers in the report, “Fusion Centers: Issues and Options for Congress.”

It was authored by specialists Todd Masse and John Rollins and analyst Siobhan O’Neil.

The fusion centers have received $380 million in start-up funding from DHS but many do not have future funding secured, CRS said.

Furthermore, the fusion centers may present risks of civil liberties and privacy incursions and may not be able to demonstrate enough effectiveness without further guidance, the report suggested.

The centers also suffer from a lack of interoperability with other networks and systems, the CRS report states.

Although the federal government has recommended the use of Extensible Markup Language to improve information sharing, it is not required, and many centers continue to purchase proprietary information technology equipment and services that hamper their ability to interact with other systems, the report states.

Alice Lipowicz writes for Washington Technology, an 1105 Government Information Group publication.

Source: http://www.washingtontechnology.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=washingtontechnology_daily&story.id=31005

TERRORISM PREVENTION

10 Critical Physical Security Measures (back)

July 18, 2007

In this guide, we take a look at 10 of the most essential security measures you should implement now, if you haven’t already done so.

Every general computer networking class teaches the OSI and/or DoD networking models, and we all learn that everything begins at the bottom, with the physical level. Likewise, when it comes to IT security, physical security is the foundation for our overall strategy. But some organisations, distracted by the more sophisticated features of software-based security products, may overlook the importance of ensuring that the network and its components have been protected at the physical level.

1. Lock up the server room
Even before you lock down the servers, in fact, before you even turn them on for the first time, you should ensure that there are good locks on the server room door. Of course, the best lock in the world does no good if it isn’t used, so you also need policies requiring that those doors be locked any time the room is unoccupied, and the policies should set out who has the key or keycode to get in.

The server room is the heart of your physical network, and someone with physical access to the servers, switches, routers, cables and other devices in that room can do enormous damage.

2. Set up surveillance
Locking the door to the server room is a good first step, but someone could break in, or someone who has authorised access could misuse that authority. You need a way to know who goes in and out and when. A log book for signing in and out is the most elemental way to accomplish this, but it has a lot of drawbacks. A person with malicious intent is likely to just bypass it.

A better solution than the log book is an authentication system incorporated into the locking devices, so that a smart card, token, or biometric scan is required to unlock the doors, and a record is made of the identity of each person who enters.

A video surveillance camera, placed in a location that makes it difficult to tamper with or disable (or even to find) but gives a good view of persons entering and leaving should supplement the log book or electronic access system. Surveillance cams can monitor continuously, or they can use motion detection technology to record only when someone is moving about. They can even be set up to send e-mail or mobile phone notification if motion is detected when it shouldn’t be (such as after hours).

3. Make sure the most vulnerable devices are in that locked room
Remember, it’s not just the servers you have to worry about. A hacker can plug a laptop into a hub and use sniffer software to capture data travelling across the network. Make sure that as many of your network devices as possible are in that locked room, or if they need to be in a different area, in a locked closet elsewhere in the building.

4. Use rack mount servers
Rack mount servers not only take up less server room real estate; they are also easier to secure. Although smaller and arguably lighter than (some) tower systems, they can easily be locked into closed racks that, once loaded with several servers, can then be bolted to the floor, making the entire package almost impossible to move, much less to steal.

5. Don’t forget the workstations
Hackers can use any unsecured computer that’s connected to the network to access or delete information that’s important to your business. Workstations at unoccupied desks or in empty offices (such as those used by employees who are on vacation or have left the company and not yet been replaced) or at locations easily accessible to outsiders, such as the front receptionist’s desk, are particularly vulnerable.

Disconnect and/or remove computers that aren’t being used and/or lock the doors of empty offices, including those that are temporarily empty while an employee is at lunch or out sick. Equip computers that must remain in open areas, sometimes out of view of employees, with smartcard or biometric readers so that it’s more difficult for unauthorised persons to log on.

6. Keep intruders from opening the case
Both servers and workstations should be protected from thieves who can open the case and grab the hard drive. It’s much easier to make off with a hard disk in your pocket than to carry a full tower off the premises. Many computers come with case locks to prevent opening the case without a key.

You can get locking kits from a variety of sources for very low cost, such as the one at Innovative Security Products.

7. Protect the portables
Laptops and handheld computers pose special physical security risks. A thief can easily steal the entire computer, including any data stored on its disk as well as network login passwords that may be saved. If employees use laptops at their desks, they should take them with them when they leave or secure them to a permanent fixture with a cable lock, such as a Kensington lock.

Handhelds can be locked in a drawer or safe or just slipped into a pocket and carried on your person when you leave the area. Motion sensing alarms such as the one at SecurityKit.com are also available to alert you if your portable is moved.

For portables that contain sensitive information, full disk encryption, biometric readers, and software that ‘phones home’ if the stolen laptop connects to the Internet can supplement physical precautions.

8. Pack up the backups
Backing up important data is an essential element in disaster recovery, but don’t forget that the information on those backup tapes, disks, or discs can be stolen and used by someone outside the company. Many IT administrators keep the backups next to the server in the server room. They should be locked in a drawer or safe at the very least. Ideally, a set of backups should be kept off site, and you must take care to ensure that they are secured in that offsite location.

Don’t overlook the fact that some workers may back up their work on floppy disks, USB keys, or external hard disks. If this practice is allowed or encouraged, be sure to have policies requiring that the backups be locked up at all times.

9. Disable the drives
If you don’t want employees copying company information to removable media, you can disable or remove floppy drives, USB ports, and other means of connecting external drives. Simply disconnecting the cables may not deter technically savvy workers. Some organisations go so far as to fill ports with glue or other substances to permanently prevent their use, although there are software mechanisms that disallow it. Disk locks, such as the one at SecurityKit.com, can be inserted into floppy drives on those computers that still have them to lock out other diskettes.

10. Protect your printers
You might not think about printers posing a security risk, but many of today’s printers store document contents in their own on-board memories. If a hacker steals the printer and accesses that memory, he or she may be able to make copies of recently printed documents. Printers, like servers and workstations that store important information, should be located in secure locations and bolted down so nobody can walk off with them.

Also think about the physical security of documents that workers print out, especially extra copies or copies that don’t print perfectly and may be just abandoned at the printer or thrown intact into the trash can where they can be retrieved. It’s best to implement a policy of immediately shredding any unwanted printed documents, even those that don’t contain confidential information. This establishes a habit and frees the end user of the responsibility for determining whether a document should be shredded.

Summary
Remember that network security starts at the physical level. All the firewalls in the world won’t stop an intruder who is able to gain physical access to your network and computers, so lock up as well as lock down.

TechRepublic is the online community and information resource for all IT professionals, from support staff to executives. We offer in-depth technical articles written for IT professionals by IT professionals. In addition to articles on everything from Windows to e-mail to firewalls, we offer IT industry analysis, downloads, management tips, discussion forums, and e-newsletters.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/hardware/soa/10-critical-physical-security-measures/0,139023759,339280172,00.htm

Massachusetts First State to Implement Iris Biometric Technology (back)

July 10, 2007

Two years ago, a sheriff in a small county in Massachusetts had a vision to use emerging biometric technology to help identify missing children and adults. It is only fitting then that Massachusetts recently became the first state in the nation to fund Iris Recognition Biometric Technology for each Sheriff’s Office in the Commonwealth.

In May 2005, Hampshire County Massachusetts Sheriff Robert Garvey helped launch the Children’s Identification and Location Database (The CHILD Project™). His office was the first to become part of a secure nationwide network and registry that enables law enforcement and social service agencies to positively identify missing children and adults through biometric technology. Based on his success, the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association was able to secure state funding, which allowed them to obtain the systems for each of the Commonwealth’s fourteen sheriffs.

Developed by Plymouth , Massachusetts based BI2 Technologies, the easy-to-use systems were implemented across the Commonwealth in less than one month. In less than two years, Sheriff Garvey’s initial idea has already expanded into 25 states and has grown into a national system that can also track inmates and sex offenders through the use of iris biometric recognition technology .

BI2 Technologies uses a specialized video camera to capture a detailed close-up of a person’s iris and then system’s biometric software makes a template or ‘map’ of each iris pattern, for storage in the registry. To verify identity later, an individual simply looks back into an iris camera, and the system compares the patterns in the individual’s iris against the templates stored in the system. If there’s a match, the identity is verified within seconds.

‘A single click of the camera could help make the difference between a missing child or senior citizen winding up in harms way or making it home safely,’ said Sheriff Garvey. ‘We have been working with our community partners in the schools and at the Councils on Aging to enroll as many people as possible into The CHILD Project™ and its companion system, Senior Safety Net™.’

Since The CHILD Project™ was first launched in 2005, over 70% of the nation’s sheriffs have asked to participate. Galveston County Texas Sheriff Gean Leonard purchased his system in late 2006. ‘As Sheriff, the safety and well being of our children and seniors in the communities of Galveston County is of my utmost concern and responsibility. By implementing The CHILD Project™ and Senior Safety Net™ Iris Recognition System, I firmly believe that we have added a necessary and important tool to help protect our kids and seniors in the event they become missing. As such, I would strongly recommend this innovative technology to all pubic safety and law enforcement agencies across the nation.’

Other sheriffs across the nation were quick to recognize the benefits of Iris Recognition Technology and expanded its use beyond identifying missing children and adults. Sheriff Jim Pendergraph of Mecklenburg County , Charlotte , North Carolina led the charge. Working with the Sheriff’s Office, BI2 Technologies expanded their technology to develop a system that tracks inmates from intake through release and another that can positively identify convicted sex offenders anywhere in the nation in a matter of seconds.

The Inmate Recognition & Identification System (I.R.I.S.™) eliminates the possibility of human error from the release process by requiring iris recognition, giving sheriffs the confidence that only those inmates scheduled for release will be released.

The Sex Offender Registry and Identification System (SORIS™) is a secure, web-based national system that registers and positively identifies Convicted Sex Offenders using the most mathematically unique biometric – the iris. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), there are almost three convicted sex offenders living in our communities on probation or parole for every convicted sex offender in jail or prison. The DOJ also reports that, on average, released child molesters were four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime than non-sex offenders.

‘I believe today, agencies across the country need to avail themselves of the newest, most effective technologies in our efforts to serve the community,’ said Sheriff Pendergraph. ‘To this end, the Mecklenburg county Sheriff’s Office recently implemented the use of I.R.I.S.™ and SORIS™ in our operations. Our intent is to use this highly advanced technology across multiple areas of the agency – from inmate intake and release to verification of sex offender identity.’

Like his fellow sheriffs across the nation, Sheriff Pendergraph has embraced the use of new technology as envisioned by Sheriff Garvey two years ago. ‘With the added benefit of using the same technology to perform community functions such as registering senior citizens and children for identification in the event they become missing, I believe we have added another layer of service to the agency and the community at large,’ said Sheriff Pendergraph.

BI2 Technologies (www.bi2technologies.com) is a privately held Massachusetts corporation that develops, sells, designs, implements, integrates and supports biometric technologies. The Company is located in Plymouth , Massachusetts .

Sean G. Mullin, President and CEO of BI2 Technologies said, ‘We were honored to be selected for the first statewide implementation of iris biometric technology in the nation. I am very pleased and proud that we were able to install and implement our statewide solutions on-time and on-budget. I believe with the leadership and vision of Sheriffs across the nation, such as Sheriffs Pendergraph, Garvey and Leonard, more states will follow over the next several years.’

BI2 Technologies’ offers iris recognition biometric technologies and services that are commercially viable, available, installed, and successfully used by numerous Sheriffs’ Offices and other law enforcement and educational agencies across the nation.

BI2 Technologies’ wholly owned subsidiary, The Child Project, LLC (www.thechildproject.org) develops, sells, designs, implements, integrates and supports a specific iris recognition-based biometric technology to locate and identify missing children and adults.

Source: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070710006485&newsLang=en

Worker ID Checks (back)

July 20, 2007

For nearly a year, Arizona government has been running its own mini version of the employment check that soon will be required of private employers and finding few problems with the system.

The results - more than 99 percent of the names and Social Security numbers checked against a federal database matched - helped convince Gov. Janet Napolitano that businesses will not be thrown into a bureaucratic nightmare by the requirements of the employer-sanctions bill. That measure, which the governor signed earlier this month, requires businesses to check the Social Security numbers as well as work status of all new hires as of Jan. 1.

‘It tells us that the system can work,’ said Tim Nelson, general counsel to the governor.

The state’s experience gave her a ‘comfort level’ that the provisions of the hiring law will not be overly onerous to business, Nelson said.

Objections raised

Businesses have objected loudly to the new law, pointing to what they see as many flaws. Among them is the unreliability of the system to check Social Security numbers.

Julie Pace, an employment-law attorney who is representing a coalition of business groups in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the law, said the state’s experience doesn’t necessarily translate smoothly to private enterprise, where, she argues, turnover rates are higher and the likelihood for mismatches is higher.

And, she notes, the new law will not only require Social Security checks but also a review by federal immigration officials on whether an individual is authorized to work in the country.

Some lawmakers say the state’s data may simply show that government is an unlikely place for an illegal worker to seek employment.

‘I would assume that people that are here illegally wouldn’t apply with state government because they’d figure there’s a higher standard (for background checks),’ said Sen. Thayer Verschoor, Senate majority leader.

Testing the system

Data obtained by The Arizona Republic show that the number-check policy mandated by Napolitano in 2005 has turned up less than 1 percent of mismatches.

State officials say they can’t tell how many of those mismatches are due to people using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

But in at least one case, the system found an illegal worker in the state House of Representatives, the very place where Rep. Russell Pearce wrote the employer-sanctions bill that has generated so much debate. That employee promptly left.

There also is no evidence that legitimate employees have been forced out of work, although those who have been pinpointed as mismatches have had to straighten things out with the Social Security Administration.

Lawmaker affected

State Rep. Steve Yarbrough was one of those employees. A check earlier this year found a discrepancy in his records, which generated a letter from the legislative accounting office telling Yarbrough to correct any discrepancies within 10 days.

Birth certificate in hand, the Chandler Republican made several forays to the local Social Security office, trying to squeeze the chore in between his legislative duties.

‘Somewhere, sometime in the past, somebody had entered the wrong last digit for the year of my birth,’ Yarbrough said.

Instead of 1947, a clerk had typed 1943 into Social Security records, he said. The birth date on the card Yarbrough carries with him has the correct date.

‘It was bit of nuisance going there,’ he said of his trips to the local Social Security office

Yarbrough wasn’t held to the 10-day deadline and remains employed. He sees no problem in checking Social Security numbers because it allowed him to untangle a record that, up to that point, he didn’t think was a problem.

Yarbrough said a similar provision in the new employer-sanctions law is a sound move.

‘I voted for the infamous bill,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a pretty good idea.’

Few mismatches

The governor enacted the hiring practice in fall 2005, writing in her executive order that the state is ‘committed to deterring unlawful employment practices.’

To do that, the state subscribed to the Social Security Number Verification System and started sending its list of state employees to the federal government to cross-check Social Security numbers.

The results so far have shown a mismatch rate of less than 1 percent.

For example, in May, the latest month for which data was available, the report listed 284 mismatches out of a pool of 46,665 employees. That’s a 0.61 percent error rate.

‘The universe of mismatches is smaller than the number of people we hire every month,’ said Alan Ecker, a spokesman for the state Department of Administration, which oversees state hiring. The state hires more than 500 people a month.

Ecker said there is ‘myriad’ reasons for the mismatches, from transposed figures to a hire who doesn’t report her name change after marriage.

However, the Administration Department doesn’t follow through on what becomes of those mismatches because it’s up to the individual employee, not the state agency, to fix any discrepancies in Social Security records.

Ecker said it would take more time and manpower to check up on whether an employee identified as a mismatch left state service, and even then, it could be hard to determine why unless the employee gave a specific reason.

State makes catch

This spring, the House of Representatives publicized the results of one such check when it caught a janitor who admitted he was in the country illegally.

When his supervisor asked him about the discrepancy between his name and the Social Security records, the janitor said he was illegal, said Jodi Jerich, chief of staff to House Speaker Jim Weiers.

‘At that time, he said he can’t fix the fact that you’re here illegally,’ Jerich recalled of her conversation with the supervisor. The janitor left.

House officials also notified the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The janitor’s whereabouts is unknown.

Federal law prevents the state, or any of the 27,000 employers who subscribe to the cross-checking service, to use the verification system as a basis for firing someone.

But the mismatch information does open the door for an employer to talk to a worker about correcting the information.

Pace said that the system is fraught with problems and noted that the verification system is simply a way to ensure that Social Security earnings are credited to the proper account.

It’s not a check on legal status, something that the Basic Pilot Program that will be required in the employer-sanctions law does check.

Pace represents a coalition of business groups that is suing in federal court to stop the state law.

She said she is not surprised that state government has a low mismatch rate because, she believes, the state workforce is fairly stable.

Source: No Source

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