May 21, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

 (August 6-9; Kansas City, MO) This year’s conference will feature four tracks designed for decision makers and first responders in the emergency industry:

1. Health and Medical
2. Homeland Security/Emergency Management
3. Technology
4. Enhanced Local Emergency Planning Committees

 http://www.marc.org/gti/lepc-terc/

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May 21, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

(June 15-17; Washington, DC) The conference will discuss current countermeasure research, development, and procurement programs and give participants the chance to interact face to face with high-level government representatives tasked to build the country’s biodefense and pandemic influenza capacity.

http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/biodef09

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May 21, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Four men were “arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.,” reports the New York Times . They “were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone, not in concert with any terrorist organization.” They were arrested after “after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside” two synagogues. However, an antiaircraft missile system and “the bombs, obtained with the help of an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were fake.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/nyregion/22terror.html?ref=global-home

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May 21, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Christian Science Monitor  “The former theater of war in northeastern Sri Lanka has been out of bounds for aid workers for months, with the Sri Lankan government only granting sporadic access to the International Committee of the Red Cross [which has] permission to supply food aid and to evacuate the injured,” reports the Christian Science Monitor . “… In recent months, as the military aggressively went after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam … determined to crush the three-decade-old insurgency, this has largely been a war without witness. Journalists, independent observers, and aid groups have been persistently denied access to the region. Even now, with the government having announced victory against the rebels this week, the region still remains inaccessible … According to United Nations estimates, more than 7,000 people have been killed since January alone, and aid groups are pressing for unfettered access to provide aid to 265,000 people, including 80,000 children.”

 http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0520/p06s10-wogn.html

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May 21, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

On 20 May 2009 authorities arrested four men who were allegedly involved in a plot to bomb two synagogues in New York City and shoot down U.S. military aircraft. The men acquired two fake bombs from an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant and planted the devices outside the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx. As part of the sting operation, the FBI provided the men with an inactive missile, which the men planned to use to shoot down military cargo aircraft at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport (KSWF/SWF) in Newburgh, which is located 60 mi/88 km north of New York City. The men carried out surveillance near the airport to determine an appropriate spot from which to launch the attack. The suspects will be arraigned at a Federal District Court in White Plains, New York, on 21 May. FBI officials have stated that the men began to plan the attack as early as July 2008 and accelerated their plans in April 2009.

ASI Comment: Authorities have stated that the men did not appear to have acted in coordination with any domestic or international terrorist organization, though they were under the impression that the FBI informant had ties to Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistan-based militant group that has links to al-Qaeda. Reports indicate the men were upset about the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and had expressed a desire to “commit jihad.” There are no indications that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to raise the national terrorist threat level, which is currently Yellow, or elevated.

There is likely to be a greater emphasis on boosting security at Jewish facilities in the United States in the coming months. In the years since the 9/11 attacks, there have been at least two incidents in the United States targeting Jewish and Israeli interests: the July 2006 shooting incident at a Jewish center in Seattle and the July 2002 shooting at an El Al Airlines check-in counter at Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX/LAX). The FBI classified the LAX shooting as a terrorist attack, but only categorized the Seattle incident as a hate crime. So-called “lone wolves” — who did not act in concert with any terrorist groups — perpetrated both of the attacks.

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