This didn't take long. The TSA has launched an investigation into former Federal Air Marshal and Iraq war veteran Jeffrey Denning in an attempt to discover who leaked information about a story CNN's Drew Griffin did a few months back — about how Air Marshals cover less than 1% of U.S. flights. I wrote about this in a post called Rare Marshals.

Ironically, Denning was serving in Iraq when CNN broke the news. Denning had nothing to do with the low-numbers story, I've interviewed him myself. Why TSA has chosen to target Denning might have something to do with his new past time: he's a blogger, along with current Air Marshal P. Jeffrey Black, for The Washington Times.

Denning and Black broke a separate story last week, on the federal government's interest in using stun bracelets on airline passengers. The story made it onto FOX news over the weekend. The TSA is in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Program; this is yet another embarrassment to the already unpopular and grossly ineffective Agency. 

For years, the Federal Air Marshal Service has worked overtime to keep its low numbers and its high-dollar figures out of the public eye. In 2005, the Federal Air Marshal Service even denied Congress access to those numbers, claiming national security concerns. As I wrote in my book, Terror in The Skies, Why 9/11 Could Happen Again, the paltry number of air marshals on flights isn't the only issue the Agency keeps busy covering up. Many of these stories can be read here.

My prediction: this investigation will backfire on TSA. Meanwhile TSA "spokesman" Christopher White — who is increasingly refusing to respond verbally to media requests, but sends emails instead — had this to say:

Spokesman Christopher White said a TSA investigator is looking into the "possible unauthorized release of sensitive and classified information to the news media by covered parties."

"As part of this ongoing investigation, several individuals, both current and former employees, have been contacted as is typical in any investigation," he said in an e-mail to CNN.

Share This Article

In response to yesterday and today's missile tests by Iran, Israel has announced that it will show off its advanced reconnaissance aircraft that can spy on Iran.

Unlike Iran, which tested its missiles at the Strait of Hormuz — in the Persian Gulf — for all to see, Israel's spy plane exhibit will take place inside the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries. 

Security for this event will be interesting.  

(Photo: From the website of Israel Aerospace Industries, LTD.)

Share This Article

On Wednesday, Iran test-fired nine missiles, including the Shahab-3, during war games in the Persian Gulf which it called The Great Prophet III.

General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard ground forces, oversaw the tests and had this to say:

"…our finger is always on the trigger and we have hundreds and even thousands of missiles ready to be fired against predetermined targets.” 

Soon to join that ready-to-be-fired list: the nuclear bomb.  

Iran said it was conducting the military exercises in response to threats from the U.S. and Israel. “We will chase the enemies on the ground and in the sky and we are able react strongly to enemy’s threats in shortest possible time,” Gen. Salami announced on state-run TV.

The Shahab-3 is a medium-range ballistic missile that can carry warhead to a target approximately 800 miles away. The Shahab-3 translates to Meteor-3, or Shooting Star-3 in Farsi.

According to the Federation of American  Scientists, the Shahab missile is a derivative of the North Korean No-dong missile, which was developed by Iranian money and Soviet Gorbachev era technology. 

CNN is also reporting that Iran is shelling Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq.  

Share This Article

In Sunday's Washington Post, staff writer Ellen Nakashima reveals some of the most interesting, post 9/11 information available regarding the FBI's efforts to collect biometrics on foreign fighters.

The article indicates that hundreds of "insurgents, detainees and ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa," have had previous run-ins with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Many of these foreign nationals once called America home and had been arrested here for everything from drunk driving to felony assault charges. 

"In December 2001, an FBI team was sent on an unusual mission to Afghanistan. The U.S. military had launched a wave of airstrikes aimed at killing or capturing al Qaeda fighters and their Taliban hosts. The FBI team was to fingerprint and interview foreign fighters as if they were being booked at a police station.

The team, led by Paul Shannon, a veteran FBI agent embedded with U.S. special forces, traveled to the combat zone toting briefcases outfitted with printer's ink, hand rollers and paper cards. The agents worked in Kandahar and Kabul. They traversed the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. They hand-carried the fingerprint records from Afghanistan to Clarksburg, W.Va., home to the FBI's criminal biometric database.

As they analyzed the results, they were surprised to learn that one out of every 100 detainees was already in the FBI's database for arrests. Many arrests were for drunken driving, passing bad checks and traffic violations, FBI officials said."

The FBI also fingerprints bystanders in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan; insurgents apparently often remain at the scene of a crime. According to analysts at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center, "fingerprints lifted off a bomb fragment have been linked to people trying to enter the United States." 

And there's more: 

"In a separate data-sharing program, 365 Iraqis who have applied to the Department of Homeland Security for refugee status have been denied because their fingerprints turned up in the Defense Department's database of known or suspected terrorists."

Read the entire article here.  

Share This Article

The Washington Times has a new Aviation Security Blog written exclusively by U.S. Federal Air Marshal P. Jeffrey Black and former U.S. Air Marshal Jeffrey Denning.

These two have unique insight into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its bizarre bureaucratic policies and its even more suspect ideas for the future.

Like their most recent post. In "Want Some Torture With Your Peanuts?" Black and Denning reveal DHS interest in a government-funded, GPS tracking bracelet for each airline passengers to wear from door to destination, one which can stun the wearer on command. 

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

This bracelet would:

• take the place of an airline boarding pass

• contain personal information about the traveler

• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

So what exactly does it mean when these guys say DHS "has expressed interest" in the "so-called safety bracelet?" Unfortunate for any embarrassed DHS official who might wants to deny the veracity of the claim, Black and Denning have posted a copy of part of the letter on their Washington Times blog. 

According to a letter from DHS official, Paul S. Ruwaldt of the Science and Technology Directorate, office of Research and Development, to the inventor whom he had previously met with, he wrote, “To make it clear, we [the federal government] are interested in…the immobilizing security bracelet, and look forward to receiving a written proposal.” The letterhead, in case you were wondering, came from the DHS office at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport, or the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters. 

Share This Article

The Office of The Inspector General (IG) issued a report Tuesday regarding ongoing employee problems at the TSA. The results are not surprising. Low morale among screeners is compromising national security.

"Given their frustration, employees may be distracted and less focused on their security and screening responsibilities," the IG report says.

Also not surprising, TSA Chief Kip Hawley says it's all untrue.

Thomas Frank writes about the report for USA Today, but a more interesting take comes from Michael Grabell at ProPublica who explains how the Office of The Ombudsman, meant to be a confidential safe haven for screeners to discuss problems, works more like the barnyard in Animal Farm.

At one airport, a TSA employee was reportedly reprimanded by his boss for complaining to the ombudsman about work conditions. When the employee complained to the ombudsman about the reprimand, he was reportedly reprimanded again.

At another airport, screeners said a manager wrote down the names of employees attending a group meeting with the ombudsman.  A manager reportedly told one employee being considered for a promotion that attending the meeting "was a career move."

And when ombudsman staff tried to reach out to employees and identify workplace concerns, some TSA officials blocked them from visiting the checkpoints.

Share This Article

In a major blow to Israel's airport security, an Israeli policeman apparently shot and killed himself while guarding a farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the Ben Gurion Airport.

Also in attendance were Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres.

The Ben Guiron International Airport is often referred to as one of the safest airports in the world. It is guarded by both police forces and the military — uniformed and undercover. That one of Israel's own policemen killed himself with his duty weapon in the presence of three world leaders is an unprecedented security breach for the airport. 

From The Jerusalem Post:

After hearing about the shot on their radio earpieces, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents immediately went into action, surrounding the prime minister and rushing him into a bullet-proof vehicles. Peres was also escorted to a separate secure vehicle.

Sarkozy's security guards whisked him onboard the plane. In a panic, Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, rushed up the stairs ahead of her husband.

A spokesman for Peres's security detail said bodyguards had followed an emergency procedure.

The Associated Press reports that the suicidal policeman was on a roof top 100 yards from Sarkozy's plane and that he fell to the ground after shooting himself. A spokesman for the police has not confirmed the suicide.

(photo credit: Reuters/Avi Ohayon/GPO/Handout) 

Share This Article

Steve Emerson spoke with FOX News' Shepherd Smith to discuss Israel's recent military exercises which some perceive as "a dry run for an attack on Iran."  

SHOW: FOX NEWS - STUDIO B (6/20/2008)        

HEADLINE: ISRAELI MILITARY HELD LARGE-SCALE EXERCISE IN MAY    

SHEPARD SMITH: Well a hundred fighter jets, a team of rescue helicopters and to paraphrase one Pentagon official, a message that Israel wanted Iran and the rest of the world to hear loud and clear. It's our top story.

Sources in the Israeli military confirming a massive military exercise last month, while Israel is not saying its mission was a dry run for an attack on Iran, one detail seems especially telling. An Israeli pilot says he was part of the drill, flying about 900 miles west from Tel Aviv across the Mediterranean Sea, and that is roughly the same distance from Tel Aviv to a uranium enrichment plant in Iran. The Natanz enrichment plant. Israel says Iran is trying to use that facility to build nuclear weapons.        

Steve Emerson's here now, Middle East and counterterrorism expert, good to see you.So is this a dry run in earnest or this an effort, a show of military force and capability to try to intimidate or pressure Iran.        

STEVE EMERSON: I think it's both. And there's a third factor also. It's to let the world know and especially the United States that if the West doesn't act, the Israelis will act, so maybe it's a combination of all three. 

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told an Arab television station that an Israeli military strike on Iran would create a "ball of fire" in the Middle East. 

You can read the FOX News transcript at The Investigative Project for Terrorism. 

(photo: AFP/Getty) 

Share This Article