World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #10 Security Watch

Lowry: The CIA's record leading up to Sept. 11 was one of failure By Rich Lowry Article Last Updated: 08/25/2007 09:07:06 AM MDT

The new report from the CIA's inspector general about the spy agency's pre-9/11 failings could be titled, ''What We Did During Our Holiday From History.'' The stretch between the end of the Cold War and the Sept. 11 attacks was supposed to be a shiny new era of globalized peace and prosperity, to which an intelligence service was considered quaintly irrelevant.

The CIA conformed to the zeitgeist by remaining quaintly irrelevant. George Tenet presided over the agency, failing his way to the second-longest tenure of any director of central intelligence, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a $4 million book advance. He made the Peter Principle work for him not just by advancing to his level of incompetence, but by benefiting from it handsomely.

Congressional Democrats pushed for the release of the scathing IG report, completed back in June 2005, to embarrass the Bush administration. But most of the failures identified in the report took place during the Clinton administration, which set the CIA's skewed priorities and selected Tenet in the first place. President Bush should be embarrassed only because he didn't fire Tenet upon taking office or after 9/11, while Bush also has failed to undertake a serious retooling of the sclerotic bureaucracy that is the CIA.

Tenet took terrorism seriously, ''sounding the alarm about the threat to many different audiences,'' in the words of the report. Maybe he should have gone on a lecture tour. Where Tenet fell down was in managing his agency. The thought may be father to the deed, but without the actual deed, the thought is only political cover in after-the-fact memoirs.

Tenet insists that he had a ''robust plan'' against al-Qaida. In reality, he only thought he had. He directed that such a plan be formulated, but according to the IG report, it never happened. Worse, Tenet did not ''work with the National Security Council to elevate the relative standing of counterterrorism in the formal ranking of intelligence priorities.''

In Tenet's defense, he operated within the context of a Clinton administration that basically was uninterested in intelligence. Tenet notes that the intelligence community lost 25 percent of its personnel in the 1990s and ''tens of billions of dollars in investment compared with the 1990 baseline.'' He implored the administration for funding increases in 1998 and 1999, but had to go ''outside established channels to work with then-Speaker Gingrich to obtain a $1.2 billion budgetary supplemental.''

Even with more resources, his managers repeatedly moved funds from counterterrorism programs to other needs, without ever raiding other programs to fund counterterrorism, according to the IG report. What could be more important than counterterrorism? Analytic resources were poured into addressing more pressing matters like the Balkans and the environment.

After 9/11, Clinton officials and Tenet argued whether the CIA had been granted the authority to kill Osama bin Laden, with the Clintonites, in a bout of retrospective bloodlust, insisting that it had. The IG report finds that restrictions on the CIA killing bin Laden had been ''arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed'' for a brief period in late 1998 and early 1999 (how Clintonian). But CIA managers refused ''to take advantage of the ambiguities,'' and even if they had, the agency didn't have the covert-action capability to kill bin Laden. Such was life during history's holiday.

What's more scandalous is how the CIA has escaped serious reform even today. Two CIA directors in a row have resisted the IG report's recommendation for an accountability board to evaluate the pre-9/11 performance of CIA officials. That word - not ''board,'' but ''accountability'' - raises hackles at Langley, where everyone is above-average at fighting al-Qaida. Even though as many as 60 CIA employees knew that two of the hijackers were in the U.S. before 9/11 and no one managed to get the word to the FBI, CIA Director Michael Hayden thinks holding anyone accountable for that or other failures would be ''distracting.'' And so the band plays on.

Online video is latest threat to PC security

www.congoo.com/news/related?channel_id=8&story_id=24507944

Online video is latest threat to PC security

The Associated Press
Oct. 2, 2007 11:41 AM

Arizona Republic

ATLANTA - Online videos aren’t just for bloopers and rants - some might
also
be conduits for malicious code that can infect your computer.

As anti-spam technology improves, hackers are finding new vehicles to
deliver their malicious code. And some could be embedded in online
video
players, according to a report on Internet threats released Tuesday by
the
Georgia Tech Information Security Center as it holds its annual summit.

The summit is gathering more than 300 scholars and security experts to
discuss emerging threats for 2008 - and their countermeasures.

Among their biggest foes are the ever-changing vehicles that hackers
use to
deliver “malware,” which can silently install viruses, probe for
confidential info or even hijack a computer.

“Just as we see an evolution in messaging, we also see an evolution in
threats,” said Chris Rouland, the chief technology officer for IBM
Corp.’s
Internet Security Systems unit and a member of the group that helped
draft
the report. “As companies have gotten better blocking e-mails, we see
people
move to more creative techniques.”

With computer users getting wiser to e-mail scams, malicious hackers
are
looking for sneakier ways to spread the codes. Over the past few years,
hackers have moved from sending their spam in text-based messages to
more
devious means, embedding them in images or disguised as Portable
Document
Format, or PDF, files.

“The next logical step seems to be the media players,” Rouland said.

There have only been a few cases of video-related hacking so far.

One worm discovered in November 2006 launches a corrupt Web site
without
prompting after a user opens a media file in a player. Another program
silently installs spyware when a video file is opened. Attackers have
also
tried to spread fake video links via postings on YouTube.

That reflects the lowered guard many computer users would have on such
popular forums.

“People are accustomed to not clicking on messages from banks, but they
all
want to see videos from YouTube,” Rouland said.

Another soft spot involves social networking sites, blogs and wikis.
These
community-focused sites, which are driving the next generation of Web
applications, are also becoming one of the juiciest targets for
malicious
hackers.

Computers surfing the sites silently communicate with a Web application
in
the background, but hackers sometimes secretly embed malicious code
when
they edit the open sites, and a Web browser will unknowingly execute
the
code. These chinks in the armor could let hackers steal private data,
hijack
Web transactions or spy on users.

Tuesday’s forum gathers experts from around the globe to “try to get
ahead
of emerging threats rather than having to chase them,” said Mustaque
Ahamad,
director of the Georgia Tech center.

They are expected to discuss new countermeasures, including tighter
validation standards and programs that analyze malicious code. Ahamad
also
hopes the summit will be a launching pad of sorts for an informal
network of
security-minded programmers.

Thanks to Milford421 for this report:

News

11 cases of E. coli confirmed, including 1 in Harrison

Lee Cable write the author

October 03, 2007 | 08:23 AM

After 10 cases of E. coli were confirmed recently at Galena
Elementary School, no new cases have been reported. However, another
six suspected cases are being monitored, some of which may be linked
to the school. Some students who were being treated for E. coli
symptoms have been released from area hospitals.

And one case of E. coli was confirmed last week in northern Harrison
County.

“Actually, this case, in the northern part of the county, hasn’t
been verified officially,” said Tony Combs of the Harrison County
Health Dept. “And it’s an isolated case and not real serious. The
person is already well again. Luckily, this case wasn’t as serious
as the Floyd County cases.”

Combs indicated that there was no connection between the Harrison
County case and the Floyd County cases. He was reluctant to confirm
if the infected person was an adult or a child.

Students at the Floyd County school began coming down with diarrhea
and other E. coli symptoms on Sept. 17, but there wasn’t any
confirmation of the illness until Sept. 21, when health department
test results came back positive. According to health department
officials, the additional cases likely received the infection from
the first group of infected students. One of the additional cases is
an adult, but officials wouldn’t comment if the adult was a teacher
or parent.

E. coli is short for Escherichia coli, a bacteria, or germ, that
causes severe cramps and diarrhea. The symptoms are usually worse in
children and older people. Most E. coli infections come from eating
undercooked ground beef (the inside is pink), drinking contaminated
water, drinking unpasteurized (raw) milk or working with cattle.

Healthy beef and dairy cattle may carry the E. coli germ in their
intestines. The meat can get contaminated with the germ during the
slaughtering process. When beef is ground up, the E. coli germs get
mixed throughout the meat. The most common way to get the infection
is by eating contaminated food, usually food that hasn’t been well-
cooked. When a person eats undercooked beef, the germs go into their
stomach and intestines.

E. coli can also be passed from person to person. If a person has
the infection and doesn’t wash their hands well with soap after
going to the bathroom, they can give the germ to other people by
touching things, especially food. Symptoms usually start about seven
days after infection. The first sign is severe abdominal cramps that
start suddenly. After a few hours, watery diarrhea starts. The
diarrhea causes a person’s body to lose fluids and electrolytes
(dehydration), which, in turn, causes a person to feel sick and
tired. The watery diarrhea lasts for about a day, then changes to
bright red, bloody stools. The infection causes sores in the
intestines, which causes the stools to become bloody. The bloody
diarrhea last for two to five days. A person could also experience a
mild fever and sometimes nausea and vomiting.

Anyone who has the symptoms of E. coli should contact their doctor.
However, there is no special treatment except drinking a lot of
water and watching for complications. Don’t take medicine to stop
diarrhea unless instructed by a doctor to do so, as the medicine
would keep the intestines from getting rid of the E. coli germ.

Topps Meat Co. of New Jersey has recently recalled thousands of
pounds of frozen meat paddies that were distributed across several
states, including Indiana and Kentucky, but Floyd County health
officials have not linked the outbreak at Galena Elementary to the
Topps recall.

Meanwhile, classes are continuing at Galena Elementary, and Floyd
County officials have no plans to close the school. The school and
its buses were thoroughly cleaned after the first case of E. coli
was confirmed.
http://www.corydondemocrat.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-10-02&-token.story=203723.112112&-token.subpub=

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/263104

Toronto woman disappears in Somalia
Boyfriend concerned she’s in jail for refusing arranged marriage

Oct 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Michelle Shephard
Staff Reporter

The mysterious disappearance of a 23-year-old Toronto woman in Somalia
has
Canadian officials looking for her, and her boyfriend worried she’s
being
punished for their relationship.

Najah Jama has not been heard from since August when she called her
boyfriend at the Toronto apartment they share, telling him she was
jailed
for refusing to marry a local Somali. Jama had left Toronto with her
mother
in March for a six-month vacation in northern Somalia. It was the first
time
she had ever visited her mother’s homeland.

The couple stayed in touch during her vacation, but in July a
distraught
Jama called her boyfriend, Seifu Getahun, to say she had been taken
into
custody. She said her mother had asked her to marry a Muslim man from
her
hometown and became upset and called police when Jama insisted she
wanted to
wed Getahun, a Canadian of Ethiopian Christian heritage. Ethiopia and
Somalia have a long history of war, most recently exacerbated by the
presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, the country’s anarchic
capital.

None of Jama’s relatives could be reached for comment.

Getahun said he last spoke with Jama on Aug. 1, after she said she
bribed a
guard to use his cellphone. A telephone bill of that conversation shows
a
27-minute call to a Somali cellphone. Calls to that number went
unanswered
this week.

But Getahun said he also received a call earlier this summer from
Jama’s
brother asking for money. Her brother told him that Jama was in jail
because
she had gotten in a fight with another woman and needed money to get
her
out. Getahun wired $50, after which the brother’s phone number no
longer
worked.

When asked what he believes has happened to his girlfriend, Getahun
replied,
“I trust her. When she was here we were together 24/7.”

Before Jama left, the couple had made plans to meet in Ethiopia in
September..

Getahun met Jama at a downtown coffee shop almost three years ago and
they
have been dating since. The 34-year-old works as a cleaner at an
upscale
condo near King and Sherbourne Sts. Jama did not work, so spent most
days
with Getahun at the building where residents grew to know her well.

“She’d give you the shirt off her back. She’s a very gentle, kind
person
with a childlike quality to her,” said resident Maureen Muscott-Smith.
A
government spokesperson confirmed that officials are trying to
determine
Jama’s whereabouts, but would say little of the case, citing privacy
laws.

The Canadian government’s only representatives in the area are
stationed at
Nairobi’s High Commission in neighbouring Kenya.

Further complicating the murky story is the fact that the normally calm
region in northern Somalia where Jama is allegedly detained has erupted
in
fighting

PC program predicts fallout from terrorist strike

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/pc-program-predicts-fallout-from-terrorist-strike/2007/10/02/1191091115304.html

PC program predicts fallout from terrorist strike

Jonathan Pearlman
October 3, 2007

THE Federal Government has developed a computer simulation that
predicts the
fallout from terrorist strikes and natural disasters, including the
potential number of deaths and the impact on water and electricity
supplies.

The $20 million program, to be unveiled today, will be accessible by
businesses and government and can provide immediate updates on
disruptions
to critical infrastructure and the central business district. It can
assess
the human losses and economic damage caused by a range of disasters
such as
bombings, earthquakes, the contamination of water supplies or attacks
on the
power grid or communications services.

The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said the simulation had taken two
years to develop and was based on confidential information provided by
banks
and communications, energy and water companies.

“Ultimately [this] will help build a more resilient business sector,
which
can bounce back in the face of adversity, ensuring less disruption to
our
way of life,” Mr Ruddock said.

The program was used in the lead-up to the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation meetings to provide information to security organisers
about
the impact of various attacks on 10 conference venues. Security
authorities
have also used the program to consider the impact of simultaneous
bombings
in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and the effect on gas supplies and
ports
from a tsunami hitting the North-West Shelf.

Mr Ruddock will today invite businesses and government agencies to
apply to
have scenarios tested by the program.

“These ‘virtual insights’ will feed into the decision-making processes
of
business and government and will contribute to more targeted and
cost-effective policies,” he said.

The program, which is being developed by researchers at Geoscience
Australia
and the CSIRO, is yet to incorporate information on transport, health
services and food supplies.

In the United States, where a similar program is under development,
researchers have warned it could pose a security risk because it could
be
hacked by criminals or terrorists.

The Herald understands the program will be stored in a secure facility,
which has been approved by ASIO. “Electronic penetration is not
possible,” a
project source said.

This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/02/1191091115304.html

4,000 terrorists waiting to cross LoC!

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/02jk1.htm

4,000 terrorists waiting to cross LoC!

PTI | October 02, 2007 | 17:26 IST

Over 4,000 terrorists trained in Pakistan-based camps are waiting to
enter this side of Line of Control, defence sources said on Tuesday.

Terrorists operating in the state are said to have adopted a ‘wait and
watch strategy’ after several top terrorists were killed in clashes
with the security forces, the sourcesï¿½said.

“With the killing of several top terrorist cadres, scarcity of money
and shortage of arms and explosives have forced them to wait and watch
security forces’ strategy,” they added.

The security forces have killed 324 militants this year compared to 430
killed last year.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=1024709
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=1024709

Army officer killed in Kashmir, 4,000 guerrillas could enter India from

Pakistan NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (KUNA) — An Indian Army officer was killed
and another injured in an encounter between guerrillas and security
forces in Baramulla district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on
Tuesday.

The clashes took place at Rajwali forest in Baramulla during a search
operation, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Indian security forces had launched the operation following information
about presence of guerrillas in the forest. .

Meanwhile, sources in the Indian Army claimed today in Jammu that over
4, 000 guerrillas trained in Pakistan-based camps were waiting to cross
over to Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir through the Line of
Control (LoC), the PTI said.

Jammu is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The sources added
that the guerrillas operating in Kashmir had adopted a wait and watch
strategy after several top guerrillas were killed this year. The Indian
security forces have so far killed 324 separtist guerrillas this
year.(end) dr.

BBC NEWS

Senegal anger at French DNA tests

Senegal’s president has criticised a French plan to carry out voluntary
DNA
testing of would-be immigrants who want to join their families in
France.

“It is a serious mistake,” Abdoulaye Wade is quoted by the French news
agency as saying.

Trying to scientifically prove one’s kinship was “not respectful of
human
freedom”, he said.

The upper house of the French parliament is due to consider the DNA
measure
later on Tuesday.

The idea, part of a tough new immigration bill, was approved by the
lower
house last month.

DNA testing is intended to speed up the visa application process for
would-be immigrants.

But critics believe such tests would exclude many people unable to pay
for
the test.

The new bill has been criticised by some members of President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s centre-right government.

The legislation would require immigrant family members older than 16 to
take
a test in their country of origin, demonstrating a good knowledge of
French
language and values.

Applicants would also have to prove that their family in France could
support them and earn at least the minimum wage.

Mr Sarkozy has set up deportation quotas, promising to send home 25,000
illegal immigrants this year alone.

He says France, like a number of other Western countries, needs to
choose
the immigrants it needs.

Thousands of illegal migrants, many risking their lives on dangerous
journeys, try to reach Europe from Africa each year.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7023567.stm

Published: 2007/10/02 09:00:09 GMT

C BBC MMVII

http://the-gathering-storm.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Storm Track Infiltration: School System Teaches Islam Under Guise of History

Why are public school officials in this country so eager to gut our culture under the guise of multiculturalism? Even to the extent that they are blind to the very thing they seek to avoid. In this case – teaching religion in school.

What annoys me the most is the voluntary journey towards dhimmitude that our western institutions are taking. It seems no long necessary for Muslims to complain about an injustice. The educational dhimmis are now looking for ways to appease.

The “Five Pillars” of Islam – charity, fasting, prayer, belief and pilgrimage – are being taught to public school students in Nyssa, Ore., under the guise of world history, the school has confirmed to WND, even though a parent raised a complaint about the same teachings a year ago.

In a letter to parents following the concerns that were raised at that point, Supt. Don Grotting and other school officials told parents that the text called “Journey Across Time” features a chapter on “Islamic Civilizations.”

As part of that, “class activities have included guest speakers (including an American soldier serving in Iraq and a practicing Muslim woman who is an American citizen living in Mountain Home) who talked about geography, dress, climate, religion, economy and culture and student skits, in which students prepare and perform three- to five-minute skits about the tenets of Islam belief: charity, fasting, prayer, belief, and pilgrimage.”

The parent who raised the concerns a year ago, Kendalee Garner, was contacted and told WND that essentially Christianity and Judaism are not being taught. “They teach the history of Hinduism but not the tenets of its faith,” she said.

A lawyer who has argued over such teachings in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court said the procedures wouldn’t last 10 seconds in a public school if Christianity were being addressed.

“Would it have been ‘just cultural education’ if students were in simulated baptisms, wearing a crucifix, having taken the name of St. John and with praise banners saying ‘Praise be to Jesus Christ’ on classroom walls?”

Of course not. But the curriculum encourages proselytizing Islam.

As WND has reported the case White handled was almost a duplicate. Teachers were having students memorize Islamic prayers, wear Islamic dress and learn to behave as a Muslim under the guise of studying history.

Some parents objected and their resulting lawsuit was turned back by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where the opinion called it “cultural education.”

The presence of such Islamic teachings is because “organized Islamists have gained control of textbook content,” according to an organization that analyzes textbooks.

And who is overseeing these curriculums? Why the fox in the hen house, of course.

The American Textbook Council has concluded that the situation is the consequence of “the interplay of determined Islamic political activists, textbook editors, and multiculturally minded social studies curriculum planners.”

It has gone so far that correcting the situation now becomes a problem, because “educational publishers and educational organizations have bought into claims propounded by Islamists – and have themselves become agents of misinformation.”

We are handing over our culture lock stock and barrel to an alien belief system that has learned from its liberal brethren on the Left how to wage cultural warfare and impose their agenda not using the legislative process but the courts and private intuitions and organizations.

Institutional and cultural jihad is growing in prominence in the West and the dhimmis and useful idiots who support it are undermining the very civilization that we have created over the last 500 years.

When will it stop?

http://newsmax.com/us/atheists/2007/10/03/37670.html

Religion Must Be Destroyed, Atheists Say

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 8:44 AM

Article Font Size

Science must ultimately destroy organized religion, according to some of the leading atheist writers and intellectuals who spoke at a recent atheist conference in Northern Virginia. God is a myth, and children must not be schooled in any faith, they said, at the “Crystal Clear Atheism” event, sponsored by the Atheist Alliance International.

Some of the luminaries who spoke at the conference, held at the Crown Royal Hotel in Crystal City, Va., over the weekend, included Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, author Sam Harris and journalist Christopher Hitchens. The Atheist Alliance International describes itself as “the only democratic national atheist organization in the United States.”

While most attendees on Friday night were adamant that God was a myth, the convention, attended by hundreds of people, brought into focus a divide among atheists as to their identity as a movement and the nature of the enemy they faced.

In his speech, Dawkins portrayed a black-and-white intellectual battle between atheism and religion. He denounced the “preposterous nonsense of religious customs” and compared religion to racism. He also gave no quarter to moderate or liberal believers, asserting that “so-called moderate Christianity is simply an evasion.”

“If you’ve been taught to believe it by moderates, what’s to stop you from taking the next step and blowing yourself up?” he said.

By contrast, Harris’s speech was a more tempered critique of the atheist movement itself. While Harris said he believed science must ultimately destroy religion, he also discussed spirituality and mysticism and called for a greater understanding of allegedly spiritual phenomena. He also cautioned the audience against lumping all religions together.

“The refrain that all religions have their extremists is bull-t,” Harris said. “All religions do not have their extremists. Some religions have never had their extremists.”

Specifically, he noted that radical Islam was far more threatening than any radical Christian sect, adding that Christians had a right to be outraged when the media treated the two religions similarly.

Harris also criticized movement atheism and questioned the use of the word “atheist.”

“Atheism is not a philosophy, just as non-racism is not,” he said. “It is not a worldview, though it is frequently portrayed as one.

“Rather than declare ourselves atheists, I think we should emphasize reason,” Harris added.

While the audience gave Dawkins a standing ovation, Harris received only polite applause. One questioner later declared herself “very disappointed” in Harris’s talk.

But whatever differences the speakers had with each other, they were united in their contempt for religion and their belief that religious faith had to be challenged and ridiculed by secularism and reason.

“Religion is not the root of all evil, but it gets in the way of [determining] how we got here and where we find ourselves,” Dawkins said. “And that is an evil in itself.”

Dawkins was particularly critical of parents who raise their children as a “Catholic child” or “Protestant child.” Children must not be labeled as subscribing to a particular religion, he said, and should be allowed to examine the evidence and determine their beliefs for themselves.

“If I said that’s a post-modernist child, for example, you’d think I was mad,” he quipped.

Other speakers at the convention included philosopher Daniel Dennett, evolutionary scientist Eugenie Scott, and Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson Matthew Chapman. There was also a performance by atheist rapper Greydon Square, who wore a shirt that read “The Black Carl Sagan.”

Many of the attendees seemed to have developed an aversion to religion from conservative, Protestant Christians. Several of the atheists Cybercast News Service spoke to complained of living under fundamentalist parents who frowned upon any questioning of the Bible or any activity condemned in Scripture.

“It wasn’t easy [telling my parents I was an atheist],” one said. “I still haven’t entirely told them. I just say I’m a humanist, which they don’t seem to mind.”

Further emphasizing the attendees’ distaste for conservative religion was the convention gift shop which, in addition to atheist materials, sold politically liberal-themed bumper stickers and pins, including “Impeach Bush” and “Stewart/Colbert ‘08.”

A common decoration at the convention was the red letter “A,” which was emblazoned on t-shirts and pins worn by several of the attendees. The “A,” an allusion to Hester Prynne’s punishment in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, is a symbol of the Out Campaign, a movement started by Dawkins to encourage Americans to proudly display their atheism.

Although Crystal Clear Atheism was well-attended, it received little publicity and media attention. The convention also experienced frequent technical difficulties, particularly during Dawkins’ Powerpoint slideshow.

Atheists are still a small minority in America. A Newsweek poll earlier this year found that 91 percent of Americans believe in God. A more recent Pew Research Center poll found that atheists were among the most distrusted people in the nation, with 53 percent of Americans holding an unfavorable opinion of them.

But they are a proudly elitist and self-certain minority. When asked what the main difference between believers and atheists was, Dawkins had a quick answer: “Well, we’re bright.”

Thanks to Milford421 for this report:

3rd Shooting on Highway 101 - CA

Third shooting on Highway 101 wounds man in San Jose
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/3/7 | John Coté

Thanks to SmithL

SAN JOSE - Police are investigating a third shooting on Highway 101
in the past four days, but investigators said today they have no
evidence the incidents are related.

The latest shooting happened about 3:15 a.m. today in San Jose near
the Story Road exit, police said. The victim was driving south when
what he described to investigators as an older model, silver luxury
sedan with custom rims pulled alongside him.

The driver of the luxury sedan shot the man once in the leg as they
approached the Story Road exit in central San Jose, police said.

The man was taken to the hospital. His injury is not considered life-
threatening.

Authorities said the other two shootings on Highway 101 since Sunday
appeared to involve different vehicles.

The first happened late Sunday, when 25-year-old Londell Wilson of
San Mateo was shot to death while driving north in Burlingame.

Police are looking for three cars that were near Wilson’s Honda
Civic when it hurtled off the freeway and overturned in a drainage
ditch.

Those cars were a dark turquoise station wagon, a white four-door
sedan and a red or burgundy four-door sedan, all with chrome rims,
Burlingame police Sgt. Jim Ford said Tuesday.

Witnesses described the station wagon and the red sedan as “show
quality,” cars that have been modified to compete in auto shows,
Ford said.

“We’re interested in talking to the drivers,” Ford said Tuesday. “I
would say they are vehicles of interest.”

One witness said the three cars were traveling at the same speed
and “were all together” as they approached Wilson’s Honda, Ford
said.

Exactly what happened next is unclear, but Wilson was shot once in
the upper torso before his car crashed.

Investigators are exploring whether one of more of the vehicles may
have boxed Wilson in...

Hacking the Wiegand Card Reader (back)

September 29, 2007

Sections of our airports are being secured by two screws and a plastic cover.

You can press your eyeballs into retina scanners, you can walk up to iris scanners, you can press your hand (or somebody with a meat cleaver can press your hand) into a vein hand scan, or you can just swipe a proximity card across a reader and have it beep and flash green at you to let you in to ... well, to a secure section of an airport, say, or to a bank, or to any number of secure locations that employ biometrics or proximity cards.

Unfortunately, besides a meat cleaver or, in the case of your eyeballs, a soup spoon, these systems are all laughably easy to bypass, thanks to a primitive protocol called Wiegand that just about all ACSes (access control systems) have inherited.

At the Defcon hackers conference here on August 4, Zac Franken laid out on a table the components typical of a physical proximity card system, the essential elements of which, at least when you’re talking about the way the ACS decides whether or not to let you in, are the same as a biometrics system. (Franken manages an IT company in London . Like many Defcon presenters, he asked for restricted identification.)

And then Franken proceeded to demonstrate how $10 worth of hardware will enable you to stick a quick connect microprocessor on a spliced wire, and flip the switch on whether the ACS thinks you’ve got access rights. The quick connect device contains a small, programmable microcontroller called a PIC chip. In a nutshell, pop the plastic cover, pull the wire, snip, snip, snap on your quick connect, seal it up, pass your proximity card, green blink, and—bzzzzt—you’re in.

click for full article

http://www.securityinfowatch.com/online/Access-Control/Hacking-the-Wiegand-Card-Reader/12333SIW402

Former DHS Official Touts Emergency-response Network (back)

September 28, 2007

Former Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson is putting his political weight behind an information-sharing network that is being tested for emergency-response coordination.

During a National Press Club briefing held Friday by the Corporate Crisis Response Officers Association to tout the network, current association Chairman Hutchinson said his experience in government has helped him understand both the critical role of government and its limitations. Hutchinson, who served in Congress before joining the Bush administration, added that the network can fill a gap in disaster response and that the government can tap into the resource.

The goal of the network is to support immediate information-sharing and coordination at the local level and in the private sector. The network aims to provide interactive maps and breaking news alerts on wireless text devices, as well as a national database of community stakeholders.

Hutchinson’s group is ‘recruiting private-, public- and community-sector leaders through media, pilot projects and organizational agreements’ to be crisis-response officers in the network, according to a fact sheet released at the briefing. Test projects for the network are under way in three communities.

click for full article

http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=38163&printerfriendlyvers=1

Bomb Plotter Found Guilty (back)

September 28, 2007

Eric McDavid, a 29-year-old self-styled anarchist with an aimless lifestyle, was found guilty Thursday in federal court of plotting acts of eco-terrorism in the Sacramento region.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated 11 hours over two days and reached a verdict near the end of the trial’s eighth day.

Following the verdict, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott linked the Earth Liberation Front to the bombing campaign that was discussed by McDavid and three others.

‘ELF is a loosely knit organization of environmental extremists who believe in committing domestic acts of terrorism to advance their radical ideology,’ Scott said.

The evidence at trial was that McDavid and his cohorts discussed the pros and cons of crediting the ELF in the wake of their actions, but had not firmly decided on that course.

Scott said prosecutors will ask that the maximum 20-year prison sentence be imposed on McDavid.

Sentencing is set for December 6. McDavid will remain in custody. He has been locked up since he and two co-conspirators were arrested Jan. 13, 2006.

click for full article

http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/403623.html

Algerian Denies Rail Bomb Charge (back)

October 2, 2007

An Algerian man went on trial yesterday for allegedly helping to fund a string of deadly terror attacks 12 years ago in Paris that killed eight, injured 150 and rattled the nation.

Prosecutors say Rachid Ramda - the subject of a 10-year extradition battle with authorities in London - was the financier of 1995 Paris subway bombings by the now-defunct GIA terrorist group based in Algeria .

He is facing charges of complicity to murder and attempted murder, and could be sentenced to up to life in prison if convicted.

Ramda, 38, entered the courtroom of the special Paris tribunal - composed only of magistrates - with his hair and beard closely cropped and wearing a plum-colored jacket and white shirt.

Court officials spent all day reading out the charges and list of witnesses. Hearings resume Tuesday, and Ramda is expected to start testifying on October 9.

Ramda was based in Britain during the attacks, and was arrested soon afterward at the request of French authorities. He spent years in British custody before he was extradited to France in December 2005, and he has remained behind bars since.

A Paris court already convicted Ramda in December of a role in planning the attacks, giving him a 10-year prison sentence on charges of criminal association with a terrorist group.

click for full article

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article3018371.ece

Man Arrested at Logan After Claiming to be in al-Qaeda (back)

October 1, 2007

A 27-year-old man from Ethiopia was arraigned today at East Boston District Court on a charge that he made a false threat to ‘blow things up’ at Logan International Airport .

Ermiyas A. Asfaw, a taxi driver who lives in Washington , D.C. , walked up to an AirTran check-in counter Saturday night and was asked by an agent why he had stickers on his luggage from Dubai . Asfaw responded that he had been there.

The agent asked, ‘Were you there on business or pleasure?’

According to prosecutors, Asfaw responded: ‘No. I’m al-Qaeda. I’m with them, and I’m here to blow things up.’

The agent responded that his statement was not funny and was against the law. Asfaw laughed, prosecutors said, and walked away from the counter. The ticket agent alerted a supervisor, who notified State Police.

Troopers sent a K-9 unit to check the bags but found no explosives. Police searched Terminal C but could not find Asfaw.

About 30 minutes later, a trooper called the cellphone listed on Asfaw’s airline reservation. He was flying back to Washington , D.C. The trooper arranged to meet Asfaw and arrested him on charges of making a bomb threat.

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http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/10/%20police_man_arre.html

Muslim Alliance Derails UN’s Gay Rights Resolution (back)

April 25, 2003

A UN vote on homosexual human rights was yesterday derailed at the last minute by an alliance of disapproving Muslim countries.

The UN had been due to vote on the matter for the first time in its almost 60-year history, but five Muslim countries delayed the vote until today and introduced amendments designed to kill it off.

The amendments remove all references to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and render the resolution meaningless.

UN sources said Pakistan , Egypt , Libya , Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were doing everything they could to stop the resolution. ‘I suspect they want to stall as much as possible and lobby other countries to win support for their amendments,’ said a source.

The historic resolution on ‘human rights and sexual orientation’ was originally tabled by Brazil at the UN commission on human rights, in Geneva , with the support of 19 other countries including Britain . It calls on all UN member states to promote and protect the human rights ‘of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation’.

But the sentiments are anathema to many UN states; almost half outlaw gay sexual relations and more than 70 countries keep a total ban on homosexuality - in some cases it is punished by death.

The British gay rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, said: ‘The vote has been derailed and delayed by Islamic fundamentalist states where gay people are either jailed, flogged or beheaded.’

He said those countries’ records of gay human rights abuses showed why the resolution was urgently needed.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,943116,00.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-malvo1002,0,6730479.story?track=rss

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-malvo1002,0,6730479.story
baltimoresun.com
Malvo calls daughter of sniper victim
Teen apparently apologizes for role in her father’s 2002 killing in Tucson

By Matthew Barakat

The Associated Press

4:03 PM EDT, October 2, 2007

McLEAN, Va.
Click here to find out more!

Cheryll Witz was in the Costco in Tucson, Ariz., shopping for a birthday cake when her cell phone rang. Waiting to speak to her was one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers — the man who five years ago had killed her father.

“I need to apologize for what I’ve done to you and your family,” Lee Boyd Malvo told her on Sept. 20.

Witz stood, stunned, in the shopping aisles.

“I was standing in the Costco bawling my eyes out,” she said.

In March 2002, Malvo shot and killed Witz’s father, Jerry Taylor, as he practiced chip shots on a golf-course practice green. Taylor’s murder was a precursor to a killing spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area, in which the teenage Malvo and partner John Allen Muhammad killed 10 people and wounded three others over a three-week span that began Oct. 2, 2002.

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