Archive for October, 2007
Friday, October 26th, 2007
DHS and FBI Issue New Shoe Bomb Alert
CBS News broke a story last night on a leaked DHS/FBI memo involving the newest shoe bomb alert. The Office of Intelligence and Analysis released the memo Wednesday, after European authorities discovered blasting caps in a pair of modified shoes under a bus in Europe (in September).
To download the unclassified DHS/FBI memo:Terrorists Use of […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
Rohan Gunaratna on Al Qaeda Brushfire Threat
Reporting for Australia's Nine-MSN, Phil Han has a fascinating article today, "U.S. Brushfires Recall Al Qaeda Arson Threat." In addition to citing the FBI Memo from 2003, which I wrote about yesterday, Han writes:
In 2004, an Arabic-language jihad website posted a message purporting to be al-Qaeda's plan of economic attack on the US that […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
AL Qaeda Detainee Spoke of Fire Plot to FBI
A reader sent me this article from USA Today, dated July 11, 2003.
FBI: Al-Qaeda Detainee Spoke of Fire Plot
PHOENIX (AP) — The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Dressed to Kill in Dagestan
A female suicide bomber blew herself up today, in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, on approach to a police road block in the Kazbek district. The area neighbors Chechnya, home to Chechen female suicide bombers known as Black Widows. Dagestan might seem a million miles away from U.S. aviation interests — Dagestan transliterates to 'land […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Looking For Bombs in All The Wrong Places
On Friday, I wrote a piece for Pajamas Media, Bombs Away! TSA Misses Fake Bombs — Again. Screeners at LAX missed 75% of fake bombs hidden on undercover agents last year. Stunning news? More like business as usual at airports across the country, writes Annie Jacobsen.
The editors ran the piece with a photograph, taken […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Syrian Officals Caught Lying about ‘No Nukes’ Program
Syrian officials have been caught lying about what Israel's airstrikes inside Syria were all about (after all) last summer. The United Nations General Assembly has the documents, FOX News has the story:
DAMASCUS, Syria — A high-ranking Syrian official confirmed that Israel's airstrike last month in northern Syria hit a nuclear facility, according to a document […]
No Comments » - Posted in Behind the Scenes by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
DEA Takedown at JFK Airport
Eighteen defendants, including ten corrupt John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) employees, have been charged in an international drug smuggling and distribution scheme. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents intercepted more than 100 pounds of cocaine, 55 pounds of heroin and 6.6 pounds of ecstasy as part of the sting operation. From the DEA press release:
"In […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Monday, October 15th, 2007
Frontier Airlines Confirms Incident on Flight 623
Frontier Airlines spokesman Joe Hodas has confirmed the incident on Flight 623 which occurred Sunday, October 7, on a Denver-to-Detroit flight. The security incident involved an Arab man who locked himself in the first class lavatory (adjacent to the cockpit) and refused to come out despite orders to do so from flight crew. The FBI […]