The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

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• Al Qaeda Eyes Biological Terror Attack From
  Mexico
  
  
• Was Arkansas Terror Suspect Part Of A Larger Plot
  ?
  
  
• Report:Confidential Nuclear Info Accidentally
  Released
  
  
• Fears Mount North Korea Preparing To Attack The
  South
  
  
• DHS Halts U.S. Based Delta Flights Into Kenya
  
  
  
• WHO Says Swine Flu Verging on Pandemic
  
  
• Zawahiri To Obama:You Are Not Welcome in
  Egypt
  
  
• Empire 09 - Capital Region Practices For Dirty
  Bomb Scenario

Al Qaeda Eyes Biological Terror Attack From Mexico Posted: 03 Jun 2009 12:41 AM PDT U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al Qaeda recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group’s determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland. The video aired earlier this year as a recruitment tool makes clear that al Qaeda is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by The Washington Times. The officials, who spoke only on the condition they not be named because of the sensitive nature of their work, stressed that there is no credible information that al Qaeda has acquired the capabilities to carry out a mass biological attack although its members have clearly sought the expertise. [...] Quote from the video - “Four pounds of anthrax — in a suitcase this big -= carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there,” the recruiter said. Exclusive - Read Full Article At Washington Times 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.

Was Arkansas Terror Suspect Part Of A Larger Plot ? Posted: 02 Jun 2009 08:48 PM PDT A senior U.S. official told FOX News tonight that more targets were found on computer of a man charged in the fatal shooting Monday at a military recruiting center in Arkansas suggesting that the shooter may have been part of a larger plot to attack military targets and may not have been acting alone. It wasn’t immediately clear, however, how extensive that plot was or what evidence authorities have that suggests that more suspects were involved. The U.S. official’s information contradicted a local police official’s denial earlier Tuesday that the shooting was part of a larger conspiracy. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, pleaded not guilty to capital murder Tuesday and was ordered held without bond. Source More Original Story 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.

Report:Confidential Nuclear Info Accidentally Released Posted: 02 Jun 2009 08:33 PM PDT A 266-page document that gives detailed information about civilian nuclear sites and programs — marked “highly confidential” — was accidentally made public by the federal government, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The document’s publication was revealed Monday by online newsletter about federal secrecy issues. The Times described the document as including maps that identify where nuclear weapons fuel is stockpiled, though it contained no information about military nuclear operations. It was removed from the Government Printing Office Web site on Tuesday after inquiries from the Times. [...] David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a group that tracks nuclear proliferation, told the Times that releasing information on nuclear fuels “can provide thieves or terrorists inside information that can help them seize the material.” 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.

Fears Mount North Korea Preparing To Attack The South Posted: 02 Jun 2009 07:04 PM PDT It was obvious that something was up when the Chinese scarpered. One day there were scores of their fishing boats hoovering up the valuable crabs from the richest of the fishing grounds in the Yellow Sea. Overnight all but a handful were gone. Anywhere else the locals would have been glad to have the crabs to themselves but this is no ordinary fishing ground. A few yards from here is the maritime boundary between South and North Korea. “The Chinese fish here because the North Koreans allow them,” a coastguard official said. “If they’ve gone it’s because they’ve had some kind of warning.” An imminent missile launch into the sea? An armed incursion of North Korean ships? A full-scale invasion of Yeonpyeong, the small South Korean island hard up against the maritime boundary? Too much blood has already been shed in these waters for anyone to risk taking any chances, and for the past week South Korea has been dispatching reinforcements. No one will discuss numbers for security reasons but sailors and marines, as well as members of the Sea Special Attack Team, the coastguard’s commando force, have been arriving to join the several hundred troops already on Yeonpyeong. These waters, around the Northern Limit Line, have become the most tense and dangerous patch of sea in Asia. The rest of the world is pondering what to do about North Korea’s underground test of a nuclear bomb eight days ago. Yesterday fresh reports emerged that the nation was transporting its most advanced missile, capable of reaching Alaska, to a launch site. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that Britain and other members of the UN Security Council were drafting new sanctions against Pyongyang. In South Korea the most pressing question is: what next? The nuclear test was just the most alarming in a series of growing North Korean provocations. In April the North launched a long-range rocket over the Pacific, and last week half-a-dozen short-range missiles were fired from launch sites across the country. 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.

DHS Halts U.S. Based Delta Flights Into Kenya Posted: 02 Jun 2009 04:54 PM PDT Increased fighting in Somalia and recent threat information indicating possible attacks against US interests in East Africa have prompted the Department of Homeland Security to deny Delta Airlines their first direct flights to and from Nairobi, Kenya which were to begin today from the United States. The flights were to embark from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport and arrive in Nairobi with a welcoming ceremony with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Late on Monday night, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano decided to cancel the flights following recommendations from the Transportation Security Administration. According to one official Napolitano called Delta’s CEO to inform Delta of the decision 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.

WHO Says Swine Flu Verging on Pandemic Posted: 02 Jun 2009 04:41 PM PDT The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is “getting closer” to declaring a global outbreak of the swine flu virus as the infection appears to be taking hold outside of North America. WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the disease has reached 64 countries and infected 18,965 people, causing 117 deaths. The overwhelming majority of cases and deaths have been reported in Mexico and the United States, but increasingly the virus is spreading from person to person in countries as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia. “We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it’s fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet,” Fukuda said. Phase 6 is the highest alert on WHO’s scale, signaling a pandemic _ a global epidemic. In terms of the geographic spread of swine flu, the world is “at phase 5 but getting closer to phase 6,” Fukuda said. WHO is now debating whether to add a second measure that indicates how dangerous the virus is _ rather than just how widespread _ after several countries raised concerns that declaring a global pandemic could cause mass confusion and panic even though it is still unclear how dangerous the virus will be. Some nations have already imposed costly trade and travel barriers, “drastic actions” that Fukuda said WHO would seek to prevent. 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.

Zawahiri To Obama:You Are Not Welcome in Egypt Posted: 02 Jun 2009 04:34 PM PDT Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri said in a new audiotape today that President Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Commenting on Obama’s upcoming visit to Cairo, Zawahiri said that President Obama’s message to the Muslim World has already been delivered. “Obama’s message to the Muslim World was delivered when he visited the Wailing wall, with the Jewish skullcap on his head…when he performed the Jewish prayers despite claiming that he is Christian,” Zawahiri said, reminding his audience of Obama’s pledge before the AIPAC conference to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel. The al Qaeda deputy chief accused Obama of approving the “Zionist aggression on Gaza,” of sending more troops to Afghanistan and continuing to bomb tribal areas of Pakistan, and of leading the “brutal campaign” against Muslims in the Swat valley. He said the Obama administration’s message to the Muslim world can be seen in the continued use of secret prisons and the breach of the Geneva conventions regarding terror detainees. 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.

Empire 09 - Capital Region Practices For Dirty Bomb Scenario Posted: 02 Jun 2009 04:24 PM PDT Imagine a “dirty bomb” exploding in downtown Albany. Now envision two going off only blocks apart. That very possibility was simulated Tuesday as hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement officials manned would-be command posts on Albany-Shaker Road to prepare for the potentially catastrophic event. The mock reaction, part of a three-day exercise called “Empire 09,” was staged around a hockey facility near Albany International Airport. It featured radiation screenings, officials in white “space suit”-type outfits and aircraft to surveil contaminated areas from the sky. The exercise, hosted by the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. It comes only weeks after the FBI arrested four alleged conspirators in a plot to blow up two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at Stewart Airforce Base in Newburgh. “Our enemies are patient and they are ruthless,” said Mary Kavaney, assistant secretary for public safety in Gov. David Paterson. “We can’t let our guard down and this exercise shows we will not let our guard down.” The “attack” showed the aftermath of two radiactive dirty bombs going off during the workday - one at Eagle and State streets, the other at Eagle and Madison Avenue. Projected maps show evacuations, from mandatory to voluntary, would stretch from a wide range of downtown Albany across the Hudson River to the city of Rensselaer. 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.

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