subscribed to Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Learning Series for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
Monday, December 21, 4:15 – 5:15 PM (EST)
Critical Infrastructure Resiliency: The Next Frontier in Homeland Security
Presenter: Rand Beers, Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate
Under Secretary Beers will discuss the Infrastructure Protection mission and the important role of resiliency. He will address the complex interdependencies and important steps the Department of Homeland Security and its partners are taking to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.
To register for this event please go to: https://connect.hsin.gov/e33382319/event/registration.html
Coming Soon
- January 2010: Infrastructure Protection for the 21st Century: Making effective use of visualization technology
- February 2010: Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards: An Update
Dec. 15, 2009
Contact: DHS Press Office 202-282-8010
SECRETARY
NAPOLITANO HIGHLIGHTS
DHS’
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN
2009
WASHINGTON—Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today highlighted the
Department’s 2009 accomplishments in an address to employees—emphasizing the
major steps the Department has taken this year to enhance America’s capabilities
to guard against terrorism; secure the nation’s borders; engage in smart and
enforcement of our immigration laws; prepare for, respond to and recover from
disasters; and unify and mature the Department and its 230,000-employee global
workforce.
“We have build a spirit
of collaboration into everything we do—within DHS and with our state, local,
tribal, private sector and international partners,” said Secretary Napolitano.
“DHS and our 230,000 employees are connected by a common mission and
responsibility to protect the
The year-end
accomplishments outlined today reflect Secretary Napolitano’s commitment to
strengthening activities in each priority area through three cross-cutting
initiatives—increasing cooperation with federal, state, local tribal, private
sector and international partners, deploying the latest science and technology
to support DHS’ mission; and maximizing efficiency in operations across the
Department.
To guard against terrorism and threats to cyber networks and critical
infrastructure, Secretary Napolitano forged new global partnerships
in 2009 to share information, facilitate scientific research and coordinate law
enforcement efforts; opened a new DHS-led coordinated cybersecurity watch and
warning center; and created a new Fusion Center Program Management Office to
support information sharing between federal, state, local and tribal law
enforcement partners.
To secure our borders while facilitating lawful travel
and trade, Secretary Napolitano deployed additional personnel and
technology to the Southwest border while increasing coordination with federal,
state, local and Mexican law enforcement as part of the Obama administration’s
Southwest Border Initiative; implemented the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative for land and sea travel to the United States; expanded Global Entry,
a pilot program that streamlines the screening process at airports for trusted
travelers through biometric identification; and entered into new partnerships
across the federal government and with international counterparts to crack down
on drug and firearms trafficking.
To engage in smart and effective enforcement of our
immigration laws, Secretary Napolitano implemented a new,
comprehensive worksite enforcement strategy to reduce demand for illegal
employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation’s lawful
workforce; initiated major reforms to the nation’s immigration detention system
to enhance security and efficiency while prioritizing the health and safety of
detainees; and expanded the Secure Communities program, which uses biometric
information to target criminal aliens in U.S. correctional facilities, to over
100 jurisdictions across the country.
To prepare for, respond to and recover from
disasters, Secretary Napolitano awarded more than $2.1 billion to
Louisiana and Mississippi for recovery and rebuilding from Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita; established two joint public assistance teams and a new arbitration
process to resolve long-standing issues over public assistance funding; and
partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to
provide long-term
housing to more than 11,000 families displaced by Hurricanes Gustav and
Ike while providing
families remaining in temporary Katrina-Rita housing new options to buy their
mobile homes and park models.
To unify and mature the Department, Secretary
Napolitano has launched major reforms to foster a culture of responsibility and
fiscal discipline, including a Department-wide Efficiency Review to cut costs
and streamline operations through a series of initiatives ranging from
eliminating non-mission critical travel to acquiring enterprise licenses for
commonly used software—collectively expected to lead to hundreds of millions of
dollars in cost avoidances.
To view a comprehensive
list of DHS accomplishments in 2009, visit www.dhs.gov.
###
First
of its Kind Federal-State Cybersecurity Partnership Announced
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:00:00
-0600
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm today announced a first-of-its-kind federal-state cybersecurity partnership—deploying the federally-developed cybersecurity technology EINSTEIN 1 to Michigan's cyber networks.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-131
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d10131high.pdf
December 15,
2009
Contact: DHS Press
Office,
202-282-8010
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO AND MICHIGAN
GOVERNOR GRANHOLM LAUNCH FIRST OF ITS KIND FEDERAL-STATE CYBERSECURITY
PARTNERSHIP
WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm today
announced a first-of-its-kind federal-state cybersecurity partnership—deploying
the federally-developed cybersecurity technology EINSTEIN 1 to Michigan’s cyber
networks.
“Effective cybersecurity is a shared
responsibility between the federal government and our state, local and tribal
partners to protect our cyber networks from terrorism and other intrusions,”
said Secretary Napolitano. “This first of its kind federal-state partnership
will not only enhance our capabilities to defend
“This proof of concept will benefit
EINSTEIN 1 technology automates the
collection and analysis of computer network security information from
participating agency and government networks to help analysts identify and
combat malicious cyber activity that may threaten government network systems,
data protection, and communications infrastructure.
As part of the partnership with Michigan,
DHS’ U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) will identify possible
abnormal activities on Michigan’s networks and address threats to critical cyber
infrastructure—strengthening defenses against cyber attacks and the overall
resiliency of Michigan’s networks and cyber resources.
Visit www.dhs.gov/privacy to view the EINSTEIN 1 Privacy Impact Assessment. For
more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
###
|
|
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Sara Kuban (DHS) 202-282-8010 |
|
Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 |
Laura Sweeney (DOJ) 202-514-2007 |
PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE
ON CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION RELEASES REPORT AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Secretary
Napolitano and Attorney General Holder announce dedicated offices to support
threat-based information sharing and reporting between all levels of
government
WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder today
announced two major steps in their efforts to implement reforms to enhance
information sharing among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement
agencies and safeguard sensitive information used by the government—designed to
expand joint capabilities to protect the United States from terrorist activity,
violent crime and other threats to the homeland.
The Presidential Interagency Task Force on
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), led by Secretary Napolitano and
Attorney General Holder, today released a report recommending a single,
standardized framework for marking, safeguarding and disseminating sensitive but
unclassified (SBU) information across the federal government. SBU information
refers collectively to the various designations for documents and information
that are sufficiently sensitive to warrant some level of protection but that do
not meet the standards for classification.
Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General
Holder also announced the creation of dual Program Management Offices (PMOs) to
coordinate support for state and local Fusion Centers and the Nationwide
Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI), housed within DHS and the
Department of Justice (DOJ), respectively, to work in partnership to enhance
information sharing between federal, state, local and tribal agencies and the
private sector. Coupled with the CUI framework, these new offices represent a
significant milestone toward fully implementing information sharing reforms
called for following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001.
“Our review of policies and procedures for
access to and sharing of sensitive but unclassified information across the U.S.
Government revealed a need for a more open, standardized approach,” said
Secretary Napolitano. “The task force recommendations, coupled with
newly-dedicated federal-wide resources to support Fusion Centers, will improve
information sharing, transparency and engagement with our partners in state and
local law enforcement as we work together to combat terrorism, violent crime and
other dangerous threats to the homeland.”
“Our recommendations will allow the federal government to be more open and transparent while still meeting our first priority of keeping the American people safe,” said Attorney General Holder. “By streamlining and modernizing the system for designating, marking and handling sensitive information, we can achieve the appropriate balance between the public’s right to access information and the government's imperative to maintain the security and privacy of all Americans.”
Both announcements reflect the Obama
administration’s commitment to improving the ability of federal state, local and
tribal governments as well as the private sector to gather, analyze, share and
utilize information in order to protect communities from violent crime including
terrorism, while protecting the privacy and civil rights of Americans.
The Task Force report proposes 40 actions
intended to mitigate current inconsistencies among SBU information policies in
federal agencies by simplifying and consolidating procedures—intended to enhance
standardization, information sharing, government transparency, and protection of
information only where there is a compelling requirement to do so. The
recommendations also seek to balance the imperatives of protecting legitimate
security, law enforcement, privacy and civil liberties interests.
The Task Force was directed to review the ongoing efforts of the CUI Council, which was established by a 2008 Presidential Memorandum, and its ongoing efforts to establish a CUI Framework for terrorism-related information. One significant recommendation in the report would expand the scope of the CUI Framework to the designation, marking, safeguarding and dissemination of all SBU information.
The new PMOs will work jointly to provide
sustained funding and personnel support to 72 state and local Fusion Centers
nationwide and provide training and resources to frontline law enforcement
officials to better document activities possibly linked to terrorism through
NSI, a DHS-DOJ collaboration designed to detect, analyze and share intelligence
about suspicious behavior and other indicators while protecting privacy and
civil liberties.
The
State and major urban area Fusion Centers help fulfill key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission by providing critical links for information sharing between and across all levels of government. NSI operates in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major City Chiefs, Major County Sheriffs, and other state, local and tribal partners to gather, blend and analyze information gathered from local law enforcement about suspicious activity.
There are more than 100 different SBU markings and handling procedures currently in use across the federal government. The report recommends that all SBU markings be replaced with one, simplified set of markings—“CUI”—which will be standardized under the CUI Framework. Additional recommendations include simplifying the definition of CUI; clarifying that CUI markings have no bearing on releases either under the Freedom of Information Act or to Congress; and phasing in implementation of the expanded scope of the CUI Framework.
President Obama initiated the review on
May 27 with a Presidential Memorandum directing Secretary Napolitano and
Attorney General Holder to lead a 90-day review of current procedures for
categorizing and sharing SBU information. If implemented, the recommendations
would revise the 2008 Presidential Memorandum that established the CUI Framework
for handling and disseminating CUI information.
The Task Force, which involved senior
representatives from 12 federal agencies, met with representatives both within
and outside the information sharing environment; state, local and tribal
partners; privacy and open government organizations; and members of Congress.
The Task Force also analyzed previous studies of SBU and the efforts of the CUI
Council.
For more information and to view the Task
Force report, visit www.dhs.gov or www.justice.gov.
###
Press
Office
December 15, 2009
Contact: DHS Press Office, 202-282-8010
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO TO DELIVER
REMARKS AT THE WOMEN’S FOREIGN POLICY GROUP “WOMEN IN POWER” LUNCHEON
Wednesday, Dec. 16
12 PM EST Secretary Napolitano will deliver remarks at the “Women in Power” luncheon
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Salon I & II
OPEN PRESS*
* Luncheon begins at 12 PM EST;
Secretary Napolitano will deliver her remarks at approximately 1:15 PM EST.
Media must RSVP to Mariko Koyamatsu at programs@wfpg.org or (202) 884-8597, arrive
no later than 12:30 PM EST and present valid credentials. Cameras must preset no
later than 11:30 AM EST.
###
Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
- December 15, 2009 - DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report, (PDF, 21 pages - 160 KB)
Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
- December 16, 2009 - DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report, (PDF, 22 pages - 159 KB)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Washington,
DC 20528 · 800-439-1420
Preparedness, Response & Recovery Publications for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
Added: Ready Business Virtual Library
Economic Recovery Act of 2009 for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
Now available:
ARRA Weekly Updates - December 15, 2009 Report
Press
Office
December 16, 2009
Contact: DHS Press Office, (202) 282-8010
TRANSCRIPT OF SECRETARY
NAPOLITANO’S REMARKS HIGHLIGHTING DHS' MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN
2009
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Thanks all of you for joining us today. It’s great to talk with so many of you. I think we could almost say it's a virtual get together, because we have employees from across the country—and indeed internationally—listening as well.
I'm coming to you today from USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], where we have a number of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] employees from across the Department. We’re also joined on the videoconference by gatherings of employees across the country, and indeed we will be sharing this with all DHS employees very, very soon. So thanks to all of you for being a part of this, and most of all, thank you for the work that you do every day to keep our nation safe and to keep our nation secure.
Before we enter the holidays and make plans for the New Year, I’d like to talk a little bit about the remarkable year that has just passed. I am honored to serve in a department of roughly 230,000 men and women with a clear mission and a strong desire to make DHS ever stronger every day.
For that reason, we have built upon the spirit of collaboration in everything that we do. Within the Department, with our state, local, tribal, private sector and international partners and, I think, with your dedication and creativity, we can make DHS not just more effective at our mission but also one of the very best places to work in government.
Now over the past year, I have been speaking publicly
about the Department’s five major responsibilities. To audiences across the
country and abroad, I’ve detailed our approach to our number one priority, which
is to prevent terrorist attacks on
I’ve spoken about the aggressive measures we've taken to secure our nation’s borders. I’ve discussed the urgent need to reform our nation's immigration laws. I’ve addressed the responsibility we all share to make our country more ready and resilient in the face of a terrorist threat or a natural disaster.
But today I want to talk about the fifth priority and
the steps that we are taking to create “One DHS.” Shaping this Department is, as
you might imagine, quite a large task.
This work of creating the Department began with my predecessors, for which I think they deserve our recognition and our gratitude. And no doubt—the work of creating this Department will continue even beyond my time here.
We’ve made progress, but much more lies ahead.
I see One DHS as a strong, efficient and focused Department—one where all the talents and skills that we possess as individuals and as components come together and come together in new and exciting ways to serve our missions. So, for example, let’s talk about some of the progress that we have made.
After I started—shortly after I started last winter, we
saw serious flooding and ice storms in the
Now, stories about this kind of cooperation and creativity often don’t make the headlines, but they don't go unnoticed, either. The diverse capacities of our components, far from being a weakness, are in fact one of our biggest strengths.
So those are just two examples of how DHS can be much more than the sum of our component parts—of how we can redefine the ideas of collaboration across agencies and departments to help keep the country safe.
Now in one sense, we will always be a department made up of agencies with their own unique histories. But what connects us all, what makes us look beyond the letters TSA [Transportation Security Administration], USCIS, or I&A [Office of Intelligence and Analysis] or S&T [Science and Technology Directorate], is our common mission and the responsibilities that go with it.
In fact, sometimes I don’t even see DHS as an organization of components. I see it as an organization of missions and responsibilities.
So that is the genesis of my vision for One DHS. So the question is—what are we doing to get us there, right? How are we going to get there?
Well, one way is through efficiency review or ER. Over the past year we have launched a number of efforts to build one DHS—efforts that involve literally tens of thousands of you in ways big and small.
In efficiency review, we have looked at how we make our operations more streamlined and focused, and make sure it's not just about saving money, but avoiding unnecessary costs. ER is about being effective and efficient with the dollars that we have.
Central to this is being good stewards of the public trust. It was critical then that we leverage our collective buying power, reduce waste, [and] identify economies of scale.
Our steps this year alone are leading to millions of dollars of savings and cost avoidance.
But ER is about much more than dollars and cents. We’re bringing employees together to build teams and to solve problems. We’re uncovering new ways to share information and to collaborate.
The consolidated headquarters at the St. Elizabeths campus in Southwest [Washington] D.C. will help unify our many components into one cohesive Department, and that unification is, itself, expected to save taxpayers literally hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 30 years.
The new DHS-wide intranet we’re launching over the coming year will greatly improve our ability to share and collaborate across the entire Department.
And the new programs and tools we’re implementing now and in the future will encourage greater employee input, share ideas across components, strengthen the health and welfare of our workforce, and increase the ranks of veterans and of minority employees across DHS.
So that being said, let me give you a few examples of our shared progress. And as we look forward to an even busier 2010, I think we should take a moment and have some pride in the accomplishments we’ve achieved over the past year.
For example, in our mission to guard against terrorism—this remains a primary mission for the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS was forged in the aftermath of 9/11 to secure the
country by working with our partners across the nation. It is the solemn duty of
this Department that unites every one of our employees in a common purpose. So,
indeed, in recent weeks we have seen arrests here in the
Home-based terrorism is part of the threat picture we must now confront, and our response must remain one of strength and resolve but also collaboration. So this year we expanded counterterrorism efforts in critical new ways. We launched a new joint fusion center program office to lead a unified, department-wide effort to ensure that threat information is appropriately collected and shared at all levels.
We opened the new National Cybersecurity and
And to foster greater collaboration with our international partners, we signed new agreements with key allies to share information that would [bolster] our counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts and facilitate scientific research and collaboration to combat transnational events.
Securing the borders—a secure nation must have secure borders.
This year we took decisive action to protect these
borders while strengthening our partnerships, particularly with
As part of that effort, we added unprecedented personnel to the border, increased our intelligence capacity and improved coordination with state, local and Mexican law enforcement authorities.
For the first time, we also implemented a southbound
inspection strategy, including 100 percent screening of all rail cargo leaving
the
And we’ve strengthened our borders against illegal entry. We’ve made them more efficient, as well, for travel and for commerce.
This year we fully implemented the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative [WHTI] at our land and sea ports of entry. We expanded the Global Entry program, which reduces average wait times by 70 percent for trusted travelers arriving at our airports. And those are just a few of the things that we have done to facilitate lawful trade and commerce and travel.
Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws—coupled with stronger border security—we took unprecedented steps in the interior to enforce immigration laws and improve legal immigration services and benefits that we provide to millions of lawful immigrants every year.
At ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] we implemented a comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal employment by targeting employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. We expanded our efforts to identify, arrest and remove criminal aliens who pose a threat to our cities, to our communities.
We also took action to reform the immigration detention system, enhancing security and efficiency while prioritizing the health and safety of detainees.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also launched a redesigned website available in English and in Spanish which provides a one-stop location for immigration services and information, including real-time alerts on the status of immigration applications via text message and email. I have to mention that that website came in ahead of schedule and under budget—that’s a great thing to do.
At the same time, USCIS cleared the backlog for
background checks of over a year or more on people seeking to work and live in
the
Preparing for and responding to disasters—now, to be
sure, our nation did not face a major hurricane this year, but we did face other
disasters, including Midwest floods,
We’ve continued to help lead the response to the H1N1 flu—creating regional coordination teams with our interagency partners to oversee, coordinate and effectively respond to the virus.
And while we’re not yet out of the woods, our agencies have continued to work together to keep the American people informed about H1N1 and to help reduce its spread. You [DHS employees] all should have received an email yesterday from [Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alexander Garza] discussing the availability of vaccine for our own employees.
Building a ready and resilient nation remains our
priority, but we also know that we need to effectively rebuild and recover after
catastrophe strikes. And no where has our commitment to rebuilding remained more
firm than in the
When I first came to the Department, I promised to visit the Gulf and implement reforms that would help cut through red tape and streamline and expedite the decision making process for public assistance. I’m proud to say that this Department kept that promise.
This year, FEMA established two joint public assistance
teams and a new arbitration process to resolve long-standing issues over public
assistance funding in the
Over the past 10 months, these teams have resolved 156 projects—accelerating the pace of funding to the applicants.
In all, more than $100 million has supported the repair
and replacement of facilities, such as fire and police stations; schools like
the Southern University of New Orleans and the
We also continue to provide new resources to the people
of
There are many more things to recount, so I am going to be posting a fact sheet about all that the Department has achieved this year, and we’ll post it on dhs [dot] gov, which we also revamped this year, by the way.
So I want to close by coming back to the point I began with, which is that these successes belong to all of us. None of them would have happened without our dedicated employees believing first and foremost in the DHS mission. I know all of you know that the range of potential threats or crises our nation faces requires us all to do the best and to be the best at what we do.
That means setting aside narrow concerns to focus on big ones. And it means being resilient as a department—looking out for each other and learning from our mistakes, bouncing back from them even stronger then we were before.
At the very center of this is you—you are the Department.
It’s not the buildings, it’s not the equipment or the computers or the paper or the forms or the acronyms—we’ve got a lot of acronyms—[laughter]—but the Department is you.
And without you, the American people would be less safe. Without you, the American people wouldn’t have as great a capacity as we do have to respond and react to emergencies of whatever type.
Without you, the American people wouldn’t have confidence that our borders are secure, they wouldn’t have confidence that we’re using our [intelligence] and analysis and science and technology capabilities to their highest extent—they wouldn’t have confidence that our coasts are protected—they wouldn’t have confidence that dots are being connected now that weren’t connected prior to the creation of this Department.
So the Department is you, and while there are many of you, when we are united as a whole—when we are all working together—when we’re all sharing this vision and moving it forward every day, coming to work and leaving work always saying what did I do today to improve the safety and security of the American people—that is what makes a great department. And that is exactly what DHS is.
Thank you.
###
Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
- December 17, 2009 - DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report, (PDF, 22 pages - 158 KB)
Secret
Document Says Iran Worked on Nuclear Trigger
(London Times; Reuters) “Confidential
intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on
testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb. The notes, from Iran’s most
sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test a neutron
initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion. Foreign
intelligence agencies date them to early 2007, four years after Iran was thought
to have suspended its weapons programme.” But the memo “has not been
authenticated,” reports Reuters. “Even if genuine, it may prove no more than a
bid to develop competency for a possible nuclear ‘breakout’ in the future, not
an outright, illicit program to build bombs.” [View Times article] [View
Iraqis
Intercept U.S. Drone Videos
(Wall Street Journal)
“Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video
feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information
they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations,” reports the
Journal. “… Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by
taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely
flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as
SkyGrabber—available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet—to regularly
capture drone video feeds.” [View
article]
Spain
Convicts 11 of Being in Terror Group
(Yahoo! News) “A Spanish court has
found 11 men guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization that was plotting
to stage what would have been the country’s first suicide attacks,” reports the
Associated Press. “… Nine were of Pakistani nationality or origin, and two were
from India.… Police foiled the plan with a series of raids in January 2008 after
a member of the terrorist cell designated to blow himself up got cold feet and
alerted authorities.” [View
article]
Afghanistan
Violates Detainee-Transfer Agreements
(Toronto Globe and Mail) “An
unknown number of Taliban insurgents captured by Canadians and turned over to
Afghanistan’s secret police are unaccounted for,” reports the Globe and
Mail. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had asserted “that ‘two, three,
four years ago’ his government fixed the problems that put Canada at risk of
violating the Geneva Conventions by transferring detainees into torture.” But
earlier this month, “Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon had quietly acknowledged
that an unspecified number of transferred detainees can’t be accounted for.”
[View
article]
Thousand
of Afghans Have Fled to Tajikistan
(Financial Times) A “growing
number of refugees” are “fleeing escalating violence and lawlessness in
Afghanistan for safety in Tajikistan”—“central Asia’s poorest country”—“as
Taliban fighters have advanced north this year into the previously peaceful
Afghan province of Kunduz,” reports the Times. “… The UN High
Commissioner for Refugees says more than 3,600 Afghans have fled to Tajikistan
since January 2008, with the flow of refugees swelling month by month.”
[View
article]
Refugees
or Economic Migrants in Southern Africa?
(AllAfrica) “The ‘humanitarian
nature’ of the mass movement of Zimbabweans to neighbouring Southern African
countries has blurred the distinction between what is a ‘refugee’ and an
‘economic migrant’, because such people fit neither category perfectly and fall
between the cracks,” according to the Integrated Regional Information Networks,
citing a new report by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University
of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. “Neighbouring countries have been an
essential lifeline for thousands of poor Zimbabweans, said Monica Kiwanuka, the
main researcher for the report. Those crossing the border were not refugees—most
did not even apply for refugee status—and, given the extent of economic collapse
at home, could hardly be considered ‘voluntary’ economic migrants.” [View article]
British
Police Memo Warns of Radicalization in Nursery School
(London Evening Standard)
“Children as young as four should be monitored for signs of radicalisation by
Islamic extremists, a leaked police memo” from “the West Midlands
counter-terrorism unit” states, according to the Evening Standard.
“However Sir Norman Bettison, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police
Officers on Prevent, the anti-terror strategy, said … ‘There is absolutely no
example, nationally, of the police engaging with nursery-age kids specifically
on this issue.’” [View
article]
Security Council Sharpens Terror Sanctions (Columbia, SC, State) “The Security Council unanimously approved new measures Thursday aimed at ensuring that U.N. sanctions target the right people, companies and organizations for links to al-Qaida and the Taliban,” reports the Associated Press. “Since the council imposed sanctions against the Taliban a decade ago, questions have been raised about the fairness of the list and the rights of those subject to punitive measures to argue their case for being removed. There is also a problem of insufficient information about some on the list, which prevents police, border authorities and financial institutions from implementing sanctions. The U.S.-sponsored resolution, hammered out after lengthy negotiations, should strengthen the current sanctions regime, making it more transparent and employing an ombudsperson to address these shortcomings.” [View article]
Earlier
Warning of Droughts
(AllAfrica) “Aid agencies will soon
be able to learn about the onset of a drought two to three weeks after it
starts, giving them a heads-up to plan relief,” report the Integrated Regional
Information Networks, citing an announcement at the UN climate change talks in
Copenhagen, Denmark, by the World Meteorological Organization. (See the Website of the Week.) “At present,
the limitations of the indices used to measure dry periods mean” that agencies
“become aware of a drought” only “when they are in the midst of it.” The
Standardized Precipitation Index “has been around for some time, but last week
meteorological experts from [around] the globe decided that all national
meteorological and hydrological services should use it.” [View article]
Two
Georgia Men Sentenced for Supporting Terror
(New York Times) “Two Georgia
men”—Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed—“received more than a decade
each in prison for conspiring to support terrorist groups by videotaping
American landmarks and sending the videos overseas,” reports the Times.
(See the June 12 and Aug. 14
newsletters.) [View
article]
Illinois
Prison to Host Guantánamo Prisoners and Trials
(Chicago Tribune) “The White
House is planning to hold military commission trials at the Thomson Correctional
Center, the site of a planned detention center for terror suspects,” reports the
Tribune. “… the federal Bureau of Prisons plans to buy the under-used
state prison in northwest Illinois and convert it into a super-maximum security
facility … where the president proposes to house as many as 100 detainees from
the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” [View
article]
Hundreds
of Foreigners With Criminal Records Arrested in California
(Los Angeles Times)
“Immigration agents arrested more than 286 foreigners with criminal records
during a three-day sweep in California” last week, reports the Times. “…
the operation was the largest of its kind and resulted in the arrests of illegal
immigrants convicted of robbery, assault and rape.” [View
article]
Swine
Flu Vaccine Plentiful in Half the States
(Detroit News) “After weeks of
shortages, swine flu vaccine is plentiful enough that nearly half the states now
say everyone can get it, not just people in high-risk groups,” reports the
Associated Press. “… Health officials in 24 states have lifted their recommended
restrictions … But demand appears to be down in many areas where infections are
dropping—and more and more states are falling into that category.” [View
article]
48
State Legislatures Pass Immigration Laws in 2009
All but two state legislatures passed laws relating to immigrants this year,
reports the National Conference of State Legislatures. The laws addressed such
issues as offering in-state tuition, extending health care coverage, and
sanctioning employers for hiring unauthorized workers. The legislatures passed
355 laws and resolutions; 20 were vetoed by governors and the rest were enacted.
[View press
release]
Michigan
Uses DHS Einstein to Protect Computers
(Federal Computer Week)
“Michigan is deploying” the Homeland Security Department’s “Einstein 1 network
flow monitoring system across the state’s cyber networks in a first-of-a-kind
DHS partnership with a state government,” reports Federal Computer Week.
“Under the agreement, DHS’ U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team will identify
possible abnormal activities on Michigan’s networks and deal with threats to
critical computer infrastructure.” [View
article]
DHS
Tests Gas Dispersion on Boston Subways
(Medical News Today) From
December 5 to 11, the Homeland Security Department and the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority studied “how airborne contaminants would spread if
released into Boston’s subway system,” reports Medical News Today. The
“study involved the release of common, harmless tracer gases … Particle and gas
concentrations [were] sampled in more than 20 stations and in subway cars … a
similar study [was] conducted in 2007 and 2008 by DHS” on the Washington, DC,
Metro system. [View article]
Attack
on Berkeley Chancellor’s Home Is Terrorism, Says Schwarzenegger
(Fremont [CA] Argus)
“Protesters angry about budget cuts and fee hikes vandalized Chancellor Robert
Birgeneau’s home on” the University of California at Berkeley campus on about
December 11, reports the Bay City News Service. “Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
described” the attack “as a ‘type of terrorism’ … 40 to 70 protesters stormed
Birgeneau’s home … and smashed planters, windows and lights … They also
reportedly threw flammable objects into the home. Eight people were arrested for
rioting, threatening an education official, attempted burglary, attempted arson
of an occupied building, felony vandalism, and assault with a deadly weapon on a
police officer.” [View
article]
Washington
State Homes Sought to House Quake Monitors
(Seattle Times) “Researchers at
the University of Washington and the U.S. Geological Survey are seeking
strategically located homes and other buildings in the Seattle area where they
can install instruments that measure ground-shaking,” reports the Times.
“The NetQuakes program will start with 20 ‘citizen scientists’ and expand soon
to 40 … Within a few years, scientists hope the network will include 500
instruments. The additional data will help identify areas that are most
vulnerable to earthquake damage, and aid in the design of quake-resistant
structures.” [View
Inspector General Management Reports for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
- DHS Conference Spending Practices and Oversight, Attachment 1: Fiscal Year 2007 Conferences as Reported by DHS Components (PDF, 113 pages - 2.33 MB)
Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
- December 18, 2009 - DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report, (PDF, 21 pages - 153 KB)
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