January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Rashid Rauf, a British citizen and alleged mastermind of the 2006 plot “to bring down 10 airliners in mid-Atlantic,” reportedly has “escaped from Pakistani custody,” reports the Guardian. But “Rauf may still be in custody” at a secret detention center, and “the Pakistanis are simply not interested in handing him over to the British,” said his lawyer.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2247978,00.html

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January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

“A devastating explosion in northern Iraq was spearheaded by foreign fighters under the sponsorship of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader,” reports the Associated Press. “… the Anbar Awakening Council had alerted the U.S. military to the possible arrival in the northern city of Mosul of [Gadhafi’s] Seifaddin Regiment, made up of about 150 foreign and Iraqi fighters, as long as three months ago.… At least 34 people were killed and 224 wounded when the blast tore through surrounding houses in the Zanjili neighborhood, a poverty-ridden district on the west bank of the Tigris River.”

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8UDK1J00

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January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

“A counter-terrorist operation has been launched in parts of [Russia’s] Republic of Ingushetia due to the threat of an imminent large-scale terrorist attack, Russia’s Federal Security Service” said on January 25, reports the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti. The Security Service “said it had received information indicating that ‘terrorists had been preparing a series of attacks on administrative buildings, police and citizens in public places on the territory of Ingushetia.’

 http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080125/97719780.html

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January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

A “manhunt that began in Spain for suspected terror cell members has now extended to France and other European Union countries,” reports ABC News. Spain says “that there are three cell members they are urgently searching for and that the missing members could be suicidal terrorists with a mission to attack somewhere outside of Spain.”

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4191953&page=1

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January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

) “President Bush signed a directive [last] month that expands the intelligence community’s role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies’ computer systems,” reports the Washington Post. The classified directive “authorizes the intelligence agencies, in particular the National Security Agency, to monitor the computer networks of all federal agencies—including ones they have not previously monitored. Until now, the government’s efforts to protect itself from cyber-attacks—which run the gamut from hackers to organized crime to foreign governments trying to steal sensitive data—have been piecemeal.” Now a task force headed by the Director of National Intelligence “will coordinate efforts to identify the source of cyber-attacks against government computer systems.… the Department of Homeland Security will work to protect the systems and the Pentagon will devise strategies for counterattacks against the intruders.”

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January 31, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

“Dozens of detailed, mock disasters [confronted] officials rapid-fire in the U.S. government’s biggest-ever ‘Cyber Storm’ war game, according to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise [last year] to test the nation’s hacker defenses, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others.… The $3 million, invitation-only war game simulated what the U.S. described as plausible attacks over five days in February 2006 against the technology industry, transportation lines and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers.… Companies and governments worked successfully in some cases. But key players didn’t understand the role of the premier U.S. organization responsible for fending off major cyber attacks, called the National Cyber Response Coordination Group, and it didn’t have enough technical experts.” Cyber Storm 2 is scheduled for March.

 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gd_SXvPiXXwcW63vRuZtrAn2IX5AD8UGOAB00

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January 24, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological “dirty bombs” and nuclear weapons. Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking system.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080122FischbachNuclear.html

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January 24, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

The Homeland Security Department, after months of review and public comment, on Tuesday released the National Response Framework, successor to the National Response Plan. The framework focuses on response and short-term recovery and articulates the doctrine, principles, and architecture by which the nation prepares for and responds to all disasters across all levels of government and all sectors of communities.

http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/

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January 24, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

U.S. Joint Forces Command and Northern Command are planning a series of computer-based disaster drills with” Indiana, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia “this year as part of their Noble Resolve 2008 preparedness exercises,” reports Government Computer News. “The drills are intended to enhance military support during and after natural disasters, accidents and terrorist attacks.”

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January 24, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

“Tom Donahue, a CIA official, revealed [on Jan. 18] at the SANS security trade conference in New Orleans that hackers have penetrated power systems in several regions outside the U.S., and ‘in at least one case, caused a power outage affecting multiple cities,’” reports Forbes. “… In the past two years, hackers have in fact successfully penetrated and extorted multiple utility companies that use [supervisory control and data acquisition] systems, says Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute, an organization that hosts a crisis center for hacked companies.”

http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/18/cyber-attack-utilities-tech-intel-cx_ag_0118attack.html

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