Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

The Latest from National Terror
Alert Response Center

Police Continue Look Into Pistol-packing Flight Attendant

Posted: 04 May 2009 11:54 PM PDT

A Denver police investigation of a flight attendant who tried to pass through

an airport checkpoint this weekend with two guns continues, and the Denver

district attorney’s office will probably review the case.

Theresa L. Penwell is being investigated for a “weapons violation” at Denver International Airport that was reported at about 9:35 a.m. Saturday, according

to a Denver police report.

Penwell was taken into police custody when two guns were found in her

possession at a DIA checkpoint, said Denver police spokesman Sonny

Jackson. Penwell was interviewed and released pending further

investigation.

Police investigators’ findings will be passed on to the Denver DA’s office,

which will review the case to determine whether any criminal charges will

be filed, Jackson said.

The Transportation Security Administration, part of the the U.S. Department

of Homeland Security, also is conducting an investigation into the incident,

said Carrie Harmon, a TSA spokeswoman in Denver.

Source.

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Growing Concern Over Taliban Advances In Pakistan

Posted: 04 May 2009 11:43 PM PDT

Advances by the Taliban Sharpen U.S. Concerns

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Monday

that he was “gravely concerned” about Taliban advances in Pakistan and

Afghanistan, as President Obama prepared for meetings here this week

with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan in an atmosphere of crisis.

Recent militant gains in Pakistan have so alarmed the White House that

the national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, described the situation

as “one of the very most serious problems we face.” Pakistan, he said

Monday, “has to survive as a democratic nation.”

There were new signs of uneasiness on Capitol Hill about United States

involvement in the region. The Democratic chairman of the House

Appropriations Committee pronounced himself as “very doubtful”

that Mr. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan could succeed.

The chairman, Representative David Obey, of Wisconsin, said he

would allow only one year for the White House to show concrete

results, and repeatedly likened Mr. Obama’s approach to President

Richard Nixon’s plans for Vietnam in 1969.

Source

US fears grow over theft of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons

As the insurgency of the Taleban and al-Qaeda spreads in Pakistan, senior
American officials have said they are increasingly concerned about Pakistan’s
nuclear arsenal, including the potential for militants to snatch a weapon in

transit or to insert sympathisers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities.

The United States officials have emphasised there was no reason to believe

that the arsenal, most of which is south of the capital, Islamabad, faced an
imminent threat. But the US still does not know where all of Pakistan’s nuclear

sites are, and the concerns have intensified since the Taleban recently flooded

into Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital.

Pakistani officials have continued to rebuff requests from Washington for

more specifics about the location and security of the country’s nuclear sites.

Some of the Pakistani reluctance, the US officials said, stemmed from concern

that the US might be tempted to seize or destroy Pakistan’s arsenal if the
insurgency appeared about to engulf areas near the sites.

But US officials said they had not yet engaged the most senior officials of the

Pakistani government on the issue, a process that may begin this week with

President Asif Ali Zardari scheduled to visit Barack Obama in Washington

tomorrow.

Source

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