Archive for January, 2008
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
Internet Failure Cripples Two Continents, Egypt Blames Boat’s Anchor
With huge portions of the Middle East, Asia, India and North Africa crippled by Internet failure, one wonders how a single, undersea cable — running between Egypt and Italy — could be relied on to carry this kind of critical infrastructure load? And how might a "boat's anchor" have caused this problem — as Egypt's […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Monday, January 28th, 2008
CNN Watches Undercover Agent Beat Airport Security
CNN's Jeanne Meserve and producer Mike M. Ahlers went along with an undercover TSA official on a covert test of airport screeners in Tampa. The story is fascinating and shows in detail how screeners continue fail to find mock bombs in secondary screening scenarios.
In defense of the troubling findings, The TSA says techniques like […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Lawyer: ISI Kidnapped London Planes Plot Mastermind
The Guardian has a lenghty piece about alleged London Planes Plot mastermind Rashid Rauf.
The lawyer for the accused now says the former Birmingham, England resident didn't escape his Rawalpindi jail cell in the traditional prison break sense or that his guards were bribed, but rather that he was kidnapped by a clandestine arm of […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Teen Hijack Plot Raises Questions for TSA
This morning's newswire story of the 16-year old boy arrested in an alleged hijacking plot raises a number of questions for the TSA. Never mind the reports (later dismissed by the FBI) about the teen wanting to crash the plane into a Hanna Montana concert. Or the more serious allegation that he had a mock […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Defies Gag Order
Last November, in When Terrorists Talk in Turkey, I reported on a 34-year-old Syrian named Louai Al-Sakka who, from his Turkish prison, claimed to haven been a top Al Qaeda operative. According to his lawyer, “He was the number one networker for Al-Qaeda in Europe, Iran, Turkey and Syria.” Before the Sunday Times of London […]
No Comments » - Posted in Government Secrecy, U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
FBI Spearheads Biometric Program with Other Nations
The FBI is spearheading the creation of a biometrics program, called 'Server in the Sky,' with international partners using biometric information — such as irises and palm prints — to create a worldwide database of criminals and terrorists. From The Guardian.
Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Nine Pakistani Police Fired in Rauf Escape
The BBC reports that nine Pakistani policemen have been fired for their involvement in Rashid Rauf's esacpe from jail last month.
The official Associated Press of Pakistan quotes police sources as saying that the inquiry showed that Mr Rauf managed to escape because of gross negligence and flouting of security procedures by police officials.
He escaped […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Jaswant Singh:Hijacked India 814 Was Dry Run for 9/11
In an interview published today, India's former Foreign Affairs Chief, Jaswant Singh, calls the hijacking of Indian Air 814 on December 24, 1999 a "dry run" for the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Singh led the negotiations with the Taliban and Pakistani terrorists that resulted in a prisoner-for-hostage exchange. One-hundred and sixty-six airplane passengers were swapped […]