Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

The Latest from National Terror
Alert Response Center

Fusion Centers Expand Criteria to Identify Militia Members MIAC

Posted: 23 Mar 2009 08:21 PM PDT

If you’re an anti-abortion activist, or if you display political paraphernalia

supporting a third-party candidate or a certain Republican member of

Congress, if you possess subversive literature, you very well might be
a member of a domestic paramilitary group.

That’s according to “The Modern Militia Movement,” a report by
the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), a government

collective that identifies the warning signs of potential domestic

terrorists for law enforcement communities.

“Due to the current economical and political situation, a lush
environment for militia activity has been created,” the
Feb. 20 report reads. “Unemployment rates are high, as well as costs of
living expenses. Additionally, President Elect Barrack [sic] Obama is seen

as tight on gun control and many extremists fear that he will enact firearms confiscations.”

MIAC is one of 58 so-called “fusion centers” nationwide that were created

by the Department of Homeland Security, in part, to collect local intelligence

that authorities can use to combat terrorism and related criminal activities.

More than $254 million from fiscal years 2004-2007 went to state and

local governments to support the fusion centers, according to the DHS

Web site.

During a press conference last week in Kansas City, Mo., DHS Secretary

Janet Napolitano called fusion centers the “centerpiece of state, local,

federal intelligence-sharing” in the future.

“Let us not forget the reason we are here, the reason we have the

Department of Homeland Security and the reason we now have fusion

centers, which is a relatively new concept, is because we did not

have the capacity as a country to connect the dots on isolated bits of

intelligence prior to 9/11,” Napolitano said, according to a DHS transcript.

“That’s why we started this…. Now we know that it’s not just
the 9/11-type incidents but many, many other types of
incidents that we can benefit from having fusion centers that share
information and product and analysis upwards and horizontally.”

But some say the fusion centers are going too far in whom they
identify as potential threats to American security.

Source

This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National
Terror Alert.

National Terror
Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and
information.

Share this post

Backpack With 7 Pipe Bombs Leads To Evacuations

Posted: 23 Mar 2009 08:19 PM PDT

Santee California - A man who found seven pipe bombs in a backpack

turned them in to the Sheriff’s Department substation Monday afternoon,

prompting authorities to evacuate nearby businesses as they neutralized

the explosive devices.

The man entered the station on Cuyamaca Street, near Buena
Vista Avenue, around 2:15 p.m. and left the backpack in the lobby, Lt.

Mike Munsey said. The man said he found the bag with the bombs

the night before and one of them was leaking.

The sheriff’s bomb-arson unit inspected the backpack and neutralized

each bomb individually, Munsey said.

Source

This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National
Terror Alert.

National Terror
Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and
information.

Share this post

Terrorism Recruiting Manual Discovered By West Point Researchers Worries
Authorities

Posted: 23 Mar 2009 05:38 PM PDT

For months now, counterterrorism officials have seen signs that al-Qaida

has been looking for new and innovative ways to recruit terrorists,

including a new manual that has surfaced on the Internet.

Researchers at West Point recently stumbled on the 51-page
manual while they were visiting a jihadi chat room, called
Ecles. It’s a Web site that allows members to have interactive
discussions, post videos and download manuals. Ecles is the second

most popular jihadi chat room on the Web, and al-Qaida often
posts things there. Because of that, it is a place counterterrorism
analysts track regularly.

So when the West Point analysts discovered a step-by-step
primer called “The Art of Recruiting Mujahedeen,” it got
their attention. On one level, the manual might be an early indication
that al-Qaida is trying to identify new sleeper terrorists. On the other

hand, the book is so basic it seems to suggest al-Qaida is getting desperate

for new members.

Brian Fishman, the head of research at West Point’s Combating
Terrorism Center, says he was struck by the remedial tone of the book.

At the end of a chapter, for example, there are questions to judge
both the recruiter’s progress and the recruit’s.

“The recruiter himself doesn’t have to use a lot of judgment — they are

simply the intermediary for the technique that is being taught in the

handbook,” Fishman says.

Here’s how the manual, as translated by the CIA, suggests a
recruiter build a rapport with a recruit:

“This stage lasts approximately three weeks,” it says. “You
must do something important at this stage. You must identify his

interests and relations with people and how he spends
the whole 24 hours, meaning you study him secretly to be reassured

about your choice.”

This section touches on such things as being nice to the recruit. It

suggests the recruiter pretend to be his friend, perhaps even buy

him small gifts. It ends with a questionnaire to assess progress.

“Is the recruit anxious to see you?” it asks. You get one point for “no” and

three points for “yes.” Does he accept your advice and respect your

opinion? It reads a little like one of those relationship quizzes in women’s
magazines. “If you have received less than 10 points, you are on the wrong
path, repeat the stages from the beginning. From 10 to 18, you are on

your way.”

Read Full Article At NPR