The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

---

• Napolitano Predicts Severe Flu for Fall
  
  
  
• Terror Drill In New York Tests Against Seaborne
  Attack
  
  
• Gunman Shoots Kills Several At Pittsburgh PA
  Gym
  
  
• Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of
  U.S.
  
  
• American Journalists Pardoned By North Korea
  
  
  
• NYPD, FBI Complete Queens Terror Drill
  Exercise

Napolitano Predicts Severe Flu for Fall Posted: 04 Aug 2009 09:04 PM PDT Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that pandemic flu probably will flare up soon after schools open in the fall, before vaccine is available. Napolitano also acknowledged that there would not be enough pandemic flu vaccine for everyone, at least in the early stages of the flu season. “There will be prioritization of vaccinations,” she told members of the USA TODAY editorial board. The flu strain causing the pandemic, a new H1N1 virus also known as swine flu, is especially dangerous because it differs from every other known flu virus. As a result, most people are defenseless against it. That makes a vaccine the keystone of any effort to prevent illness and save lives. The first batches of the vaccine are due in mid-October. Napolitano said this year’s flu season probably will be severe but not as severe as the 1918 pandemic, the world’s worst. In 1918, flu killed at least 675,000 people in the USA and up to 50 million worldwide. She said it’s more likely that the pandemic would mirror 1957, when flu killed about 70,000 people in the USA and 1 million to 2 million people worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 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. Napolitano Predicts Severe Flu for Fall

Terror Drill In New York Tests Against Seaborne Attack Posted: 04 Aug 2009 09:00 PM PDT Federal, state and municipal agencies staged an elaborate drill in the waters off New York City on Tuesday to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear or dirty-bomb attack from the water. Agencies involved in Tuesday’s test emphasized they did not undertake it because of a specific threat against the city. However, Kelly said the city was taking no chances after a proclamation years ago by Osama bin Laden. “We do know that Osama bin Laden several years ago obtained a fatwah to use nuclear weapons, and our goal is to make certain that that fatwah does not come to fruition,” he said. In addition to increasing various agencies’ preparedness for a seaborne radiological attack, Kelly said Tuesday’s well-publicized drill was meant to deter those who would perpetrate such an attack. “It pays to advertise to a certain extent. We want anyone who would do us harm to know that we’re out there, that we have the capability to detect,” Kelly said. Eight government agencies participated in the drill, ranging from the NYPD to the U.S. Coast Guard. The exercise took place at the entrance of New York Harbor, just south of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge linking Staten Island to Brooklyn. via Terror drill off New York tests agencies against seaborne attack – CNN.com. 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. Terror Drill In New York Tests Against Seaborne Attack

Gunman Shoots Kills Several At Pittsburgh PA Gym Posted: 04 Aug 2009 06:53 PM PDT Live Video Link and Updates On Intellispace At least two people were killed and several others wounded tonight when a gunman walked into a fitness center in the Great Southern Shopping Center in Collier and opened fire. An Allegheny County policeman said he believes one of the dead was the gunman. Witnesses said they saw two to four wounded women lying outside the back door and two others lying in a parking lot at the side of the LA Fitness center along Washington Pike. Witnesses said a gunman wearing a black hat walked into an aerobics room filled with women shortly after 8 p.m., turned out the lights and opened fire. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of gunshots before the shooting stopped. Police and paramedics from a number of South Hills communities rushed to the scene. Developing… 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. Gunman Shoots Kills Several At Pittsburgh PA Gym

Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S. Posted: 04 Aug 2009 06:10 PM PDT A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military. The episode has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets and be poised for war. But the collapse of the Soviet Union all but eliminated the ability of the Russian Navy to operate far from home ports, making the current submarine patrols thousands of miles from Russia more surprising for military officials and defense policy experts. [...] According to Defense Department officials, one of the Russian submarines remained in international waters on Tuesday about 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The location of the second remained unclear. One senior official said the second submarine traveled south in recent days toward Cuba, while another senior official with access to reports on the surveillance mission said it had sailed away in a northerly direction. 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. Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S.

American Journalists Pardoned By North Korea Posted: 04 Aug 2009 12:24 PM PDT Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been pardoned by North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has granted a “special pardon” to two jailed U.S. journalists which releases them from detention, the official KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday. “Kim Jong-il issued an order of the chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission on granting a special pardon to the two American journalists who had been sentenced to hard labor in accordance with Article 103 of the Socialist Constitution and releasing them,” KCNA said in a statement which carried a Pyongyang dateline. More 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. American Journalists Pardoned By North Korea

NYPD, FBI Complete Queens Terror Drill Exercise Posted: 04 Aug 2009 10:37 AM PDT The multi-agency—including the NYPD and FBI—terror drill that was conducted in Queens over the past few nights was deemed a success by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. He told the AP, “We plan for the worst with the best exercises possible. This one was realistic — at night, in the rain, with traffic. We put our personnel to the test and they performed well.” The exercise involved hundreds of police officers and federal agents, who were on the hunt for a radiological device. As part of the drill, the NYPD set up a “radiological dragnet,” using various radiation detectors to find the materials before the device was to be detonated. The device was traveling in Queens, which meant the NYPD had to close lanes and inspect cars, ultimately finding a red SUV that had a mock device designed by the Department of Energy to emit safe levels of neutrons (there were technicians protecting it in the SUV, too). Full Article and Photos 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. NYPD, FBI Complete Queens Terror Drill Exercise

	Email delivery powered by Google