The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

Spy Agencies Believe North Korea Has Nuke Warheads Posted: 31 Mar 2009 12:32 AM PDT Intelligence agencies have information that North Korea has assembled several nuclear warheads for its medium-range Rodong missiles capable of targeting Japan, an analyst said Tuesday. Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the agencies believe that probably five to eight warheads have been assembled. “Intelligence agencies believe the North Koreans have assembled nuclear warheads for Rodong missiles, which are stored at underground facilities near the Rodong missile bases,” Pinkston told AFP. “It might be right, it might be wrong — but if others believe it is true, it has implications for the psychological aspects of deterrence,” he said, describing the assessment as “quite significant.” Pinkston declined to identify his sources and said they had not shared their own sources with him. 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

EMP Threat - A Single Nuke Could Destroy America Posted: 30 Mar 2009 10:34 PM PDT A sword of Damocles hangs over our heads. It is a real threat that has been all but ignored. On Feb. 3, Iran launched a “communications satellite” into orbit. At this very moment, North Korea is threatening to do the same. The ability to launch an alleged communications satellite belies a far more frightening truth. A rocket that can carry a satellite into orbit also can drop a nuclear warhead over any location on the planet in less than 45 minutes. Far too many timid or uninformed sources maintain that a single launch of a missile poses no true threat to the United States, given our retaliatory power. A reality check is in order and must be discussed in response to such an absurd claim: In fact, one small nuclear weapon, delivered by an ICBM can destroy the United States by maximizing the effect of the resultant electromagnetic pulse upon detonation. An electromagnetic pulse EMP is a byproduct of detonating an atomic bomb above the Earth’s atmosphere. When a nuclear weapon is detonated in space, the gamma rays emitted trigger a massive electrical disturbance in the upper atmosphere. Moving at the speed of light, this overload will short out all electrical equipment, power grids and delicate electronics on the Earth’s surface. In fact, it would take only one to three weapons exploding above the continental United States to wipe out our entire grid and transportation network. It might take years to recover from, if ever. This is not science fiction. If you doubt this, spend a short amount of time skimming the Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack from April 2008. You will come away sobered. Even as the new administration plans to spend trillions on economic bailouts, it has announced plans to reduce funding and downgrade efforts for missile defense. Furthermore, the United States’ reluctance to invest in a modern and credible traditional nuclear deterrent is a serious concern. What good will a bailout be if there is no longer a nation to bail out? Fifty years ago, it was not Sputnik itself that sent a dire chill of warning around the world; it was the capability of the rocket that launched Sputnik. The rocket that lofted Sputnik into orbit also could have served as an ICBM. Yet for all its rhetoric, the Soviet Union was essentially a rational power that recognized the threat of mutual destruction and thus never stepped to the edge. The world is different today. Intercontinental range missiles tipped with nuclear weapons in the hands of leaders driven by fanaticism, leaders that support global terrorism, leaders that have made repeated threats that they will seek our annihilation . . . can now at last achieve that dream in a matter of minutes. Read Full Article 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

TSA Warns Truckers Of Violence In Mexico Posted: 30 Mar 2009 11:03 AM PDT Drivers in cross-border operations to Mexico and along the U.S. Southwest border are being advised to take precautions to avoid being caught in the drug violence in the region, a Transportation Security Administration contractor said. According to Total Security Services, Inc., which operates TSA’s Highway Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the violence among Mexican drug cartels has killed more than 200 Americans since 2004, and truckers may be victims of crimes ranging from hijacking and kidnapping to murder. The Highway ISAC is recommending that drivers with deliveries in Mexico keep in scheduled contact with dispatchers and report in at every scheduled and non-scheduled stop. Drivers also should avoid unsafe highways, and establish a verbal “duress code” to use on the phone when they in the presence of people who may have criminal intent. Interested parties may receive a copy of the report “Border Violence” by calling the ISAC at 1-703-563-3275 via 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

Terrorists Attack Police Academy in Lahore Pakistan Posted: 30 Mar 2009 10:45 AM PDT Unidentified gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades made a violent attack on a police training school in eastern Pakistan city of Lahore on Monday, leaving the city overshadowed with terrorism threats. The intense fighting between Pakistan military and police and the gunmen started from 7:30 a.m. local time in the second largest city in Pakistan and lasted about eight hours. Advisor on Prime Minister’s Interior Rehman Malik confirmed that four terrorists have been killed and the others have been arrested, but he did not give exact figure of the gunmen as well as the figure of casualties in the attack. There is still conflicting reports on the casualties. Earlier reports said at least 25 people were killed and 90 others injured when the masked gunmen attacked the police. A group of armed men huddled next to a minaret on a mosque rooftop leapt to their feet and shouted "Allahu Akbar”. For once it was Pakistani security forces celebrating rather than militants. Across a main road in the water-buffalo market town of Manawan, outside Lahore, police commandos fired triumphal “aerial” rounds. They had recaptured a police-training centre which militants had stormed eight hours earlier on Monday March 30th. Lax security at the ramshackle academy allowed a dozen militants to rampage among 800 or more mostly unarmed police recruits. “The operation is over,” said the interior minister, Rehman Malik. He said that if security forces had not been on high alert, the toll would have been higher. “The attack was to dishearten, to demoralise the civilian security services,” said a local administrator. Terrorist attacks in Pakistan have become such frequent occurrences that people have grown used to asking when and where the next assault would come. Cadets said that the militants burst onto the parade ground at 7.30am through the main gate and from the rear, spraying rounds from Kalashnikovs and hurling grenades. The terrorists’ faces were obscured by black cloth. Several were reported to have donned police uniforms. Policemen jumped from second-floor windows and stampeded over walls to escape. An armoured personnel carrier advanced then beat a retreat. A lull in the firefight ensued. Just before 4pm commandos fought back, launching an assault amid intense gunfire. Spectators watching from the bazaar scuttled for cover during several minutes of crackle and blasts. It was a rare success and a joint operation by the army, paramilitary rangers and Punjab’s “elite” police squad. Even the smart, cravat-wearing highway police played a role. Read Full Article Gunmen Made Stand in Pakistan Barracks’ Top Floor Blood-soaked bedding was strewn with blackened body parts in a police barracks in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday after the last of the gunmen who stormed the building blew themselves up. The attackers, armed with grenades and rifles, launched an assault on the police training center during a morning drill session, shooting down recruits on their dusty parade ground. They held off police and soldiers for about eight hours before the last three gunmen made a stand on the top floor of the three-storey building. They blew themselves up as security forces launched a final assault, police said. At least eight recruits were killed and 89 wounded. Four gunmen were killed and three were captured, the government said. Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry head, said the Pakistani Taliban were suspected of carrying out the attack. “I can’t tell you what I saw and what kind of terror I went through,” 19-year-old recruit Zahid Usman told his mother by mobile phone shortly after the violence ended. “They were not human beings. They were not Muslims, they were evil,” a sobbing Usman said. Read Full Article Fighters Loyal to Pakistani Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud Suspected Fighters loyal to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud were suspected of carrying out an attack on a police academy in Lahore on Monday, Interior Ministry head Rehman Malik said. The militants killed eight cadets before being overwhelmed by a commando assault. Four militants died during the assault, while three suspects have been captured, officials said. Malik told a news conference that one of the suspects was an Afghan. 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

Five Held Under Terror Laws Ahead of G20 Summit Posted: 30 Mar 2009 10:20 AM PDT Police arrested five people under anti-terror legislation in Devon, but they insisted on Monday there was no immediate link to the Group of 20 summit this week in London. The five were detained and held over the last three days after police raids in Plymouth, while officers uncovered a number of weapons, suspicious devices and extremist materials, said Devon and Cornwall Police. The Guardian newspaper said on its website that the five were arrested in connection with a suspected plot to use explosives to disrupt the G20 summit on Thursday. “I think it was more designed to disrupt than injure or kill,” a source told the paper, adding that the quantity and type of material found at the addresses indicates a small-scale stunt. Local police were coordinating with the Metropolitan Police in London, which takes the lead in terror-related crime fighting. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We would stress that the investigation is at a very early stage and that speculation regarding the capability, intention or motivation of those arrested is unhelpful. “At the current time we have no information to suggest a change to the threat picture facing either the demonstrations or G20,” he said, referring to protests planned in London for Wednesday and the day of the summit. 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

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