Archive for August, 2007
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
FBI & ICE Bury Terrorism Cases Behind the Wall
A stunning report by the Inspector General reveals that the turf war between the FBI and ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) has resulted in major terrorism cases being dropped or ignored by ICE agents so as to avoid working with FBI agents. From USA Today:
Using a hypothetical example, the report said, if a case involved […]
No Comments » - Posted in Bureaucracy & The Wall by Annie Jacobsen
Monday, August 13th, 2007
Syrian Imam Nabbed at UK Airport is Jailed for Rocket Blueprints
Syrian cleric Yassin Nassari — caught at Luton Airport in England carrying blueprints for a Quassam artillery rocket — has been found guilty of possessing documents "likely to be useful to a terrorist" and sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison. Nassari, who lives in England, was returning from Syria and Holland with his wife and their […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
ACLU Sues TSA and JetBlue over Arabic T-Shirt
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the New York Civil Liberties Union are suing a TSA official and JetBlue Airlines after the two parties refused to let a passenger, Raed Jarrar, board and airplane at John F. Kennedy International Airport wearing an Arabic-scripted T-shirt.
Jarrar, who was born in Iraq and emigrated to the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
Dressed to Kill: Veiled Suicide Bombers
In Meet the New Face of Terror, for the Washington Post, Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank explore the growing role of female suicide bombers in global jihad. The authors note a significant tactical benefit that the jihadists gain in endorsing female suicide bombers — something that was previously considered taboo: "Women are less likely to […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Friday, August 10th, 2007
Security Breach at Charlotte Airport
CNN reports that a man "went around security on Concourse C" of the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. The TSA will not release details about how the man bypassed security, but says it is reviewing videotape. The man remains at large. TSA spokesman John Allen told The Associated Press, "it's too soon to say […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Coming to an Airport Near You: Project Hostile Intent
Never mind training humans to do their jobs, New Scientist Magazine reveals that the Department of Homeland Security is working to develop a system of devices that will detect would-be terrorists in a crowd. The program, called Project Hostile Intent, will involve video cameras, infra-red audio recordings, eye-tracking and laserlight technologies working to scan crowds […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
Airline Companies and Corporations Sue CIA, FBI
In a bid to determine if the aviation industry will bear billions of dollars in liability in the deaths of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, two lawsuits were filed in US District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday. From the Associated Press:
Airlines and aviation-related companies sued the CIA and the FBI on Tuesday to […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Chertoff Tells ABC About London Planes Plot
Calling it a "plot to rival 9/11," DHS Chief Michael Chertoff tells ABC details about the London planes plot, which he says "would have killed thousands." On liquid explosives, Chertoff tells ABC's Pierre Thomas:
"There's no question that they had given a lot of thought to how they might smuggle containers with liquid explosives onto airplanes," […]