Friday, August 28, 2009

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Mullen – 9/11 Plotters Still Alive And Planning More Attacks


Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:08 PM PDT




mike-mullen


Those who plotted the deadly attacks on World Trade Centre on
September 11, 2001, are still alive and planning to carry out more terror
strikes, a top US military general has said. “The people behind that
deadly day are still at it. They live and plan and train in safe havens
along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” Navy admiral Mike Mullen, chairman
of the joint chiefs of staff, said.


“They would like nothing better than to see either country or
both fall prey to the grip of an extremist ideology. To the degree we let
them succeed, we let ourselves become vulnerable,” Mullen said in his
address to the 91st annual American Legion Convention, Louisville,
Kentucky.


“My mission, the one currently given to me by the President, is
to prevent that from happening. And that’s what we’re going to do,” Mullen
said.


While Pakistanis are themselves waging their war against
extremists, Mullen said, in Afghanistan, the war being waged to defeat
al-Qaida and its extremist allies is led by an international security
force with Afghans.


via 9/11
plotters still alive and planning more attacks: Mullen – US – World – NEWS
– The Times of India
.


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Mullen – 9/11 Plotters Still Alive And Planning More Attacks






Intellipedia – For Intelligence Officers, A Wiki Way To Connect
Dots


Posted: 27 Aug 2009 07:54 PM PDT




intellipedia


Intellipedia, the intelligence community’s version of
Wikipedia, hummed in the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election in
June, with personnel at myriad government agencies updating a page
dedicated to tracking the disputed results. Similarly, a page established
in November immediately after the terrorist attack in Mumbai provided
intelligence analysts with a better understanding of the scope of the
incident, as well as a forum to speculate on possible perpetrators.


“There were a number of things posted that were ahead of what
was being reported in the press,” said Sean Dennehy, a CIA officer who
helped establish the site.


Intellipedia is a collaborative online intelligence repository,
and it runs counter to traditional reluctance in the intelligence
community to the sharing of classified information. Indeed, it still meets
with formidable resistance from many quarters of the 16 agencies that have
access to the system.


But the site, which is available only to users with proper
government clearance, has grown markedly since its formal launch in 2006
and now averages more than 15,000 edits per day. It’s home to 900,000
pages and 100,000 user accounts.


“About everything that happens of significance, there’s an
Intellipedia page on,” Dennehy said.


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Intellipedia
– For Intelligence Officers, A Wiki Way To Connect Dots






DHS – New Directives On Screening Electronic Media At Border


Posted: 27 Aug 2009 07:45 PM PDT




tsa_screening


US Department of Homeland Security takes critical step to
bolster the US efforts to combat international crime and terrorism while
still respecting the civil liberties and privacy of individuals. “Keeping
Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to
lawfully screen materials entering the United States,” said Secretary
Napolitano as she announced new directives to enhance and clarify
oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S.
ports of entry.


The new directives announced today strike the balance between
respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring
DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders.”


The new directives address the circumstances under which U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) can conduct border searches of electronic
media—consistent with the Department’s Constitutional authority to search
other sensitive non-electronic materials, such as briefcases, backpacks
and notebooks, at U.S. borders.


The directives, available at DHS.gov, will enhance
transparency, accountability and oversight of electronic media searches at
U.S. ports of entry and includes new administrative procedures designed to
reflect broad considerations of civil liberties and privacy
protections—measures designed to ensure that officers and agents
understand their responsibilities to protect individual private
information and that individuals understand their rights.


Searches of electronic media, permitted by law and carried out
at borders and ports of entry, are vital to detecting information that
poses serious harm to the United States, including terrorist plans, or
constitutes criminal activity—such as possession of child pornography and
trademark or copyright infringement.


The DHS Privacy Office also released today a Privacy Impact
Assessment, available at www.dhs.gov/privacy, in connection with the new
directives to enhance public understanding of the authorities, policies,
procedures and controls employed by DHS during border searches of
electronic data to protect individuals’ privacy. The DHS Office for Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) will also conduct a Civil Liberties
Impact Assessment within 120 days.


In conjunction with the Privacy Office and CRCL, CBP will
ensure training materials and procedures promote fair and consistent
enforcement of the law relating to electronic media searches. CBP will
also provide travelers subject to electronic device searches with clear
and concise material informing them of the reasons for the search, how
their data may be used and detailed information about their constitutional
and statutory rights.


DHS conducts border searches of computers and other electronic
media on a small percentage of international travelers seeking to enter
the United States—searches often as basic as asking a traveler to turn on
a device to ensure it is what it appears to be.


Between Oct. 1, 2008, and Aug. 11, 2009, CBP encountered more
than 221 million travelers at U.S. ports of entry. Approximately 1,000
laptop searches were performed in these instances—of those, just 46 were
in-depth.


The new directives will also allow DHS to develop automated,
comprehensive data collection and analytic tools to facilitate accurate,
thorough reporting on electronic media searched at the border, the
outcomes of those searches and the nature of the data searched—further
enhancing transparency and accountability.


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DHS – New Directives On Screening Electronic Media At Border






Students, Citizens Thwart School Bus Hijacking


Posted: 27 Aug 2009 07:29 PM PDT




atlanta_school_bus-2


Quick thinking by a dozen teenagers may have avoided an
apparent school bus hijacking from turning tragic, said witnesses. A man
boarded a bus as it stopped at Boulevard and Burroughs Road and tried to
take control of it, school district and Atlanta police officials said. The
suspect briefly fought with the bus driver, forcing her out of the seat
and taking control of the vehicle.


At about 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, an Atlanta Public Schools
bus ran off of Boulevard Road after Arris Pitmon, 23, forced his way onto
the bus transporting Forrest Hills Academy students and began attacking
the driver and a student.


Pitmon boarded the bus as it stopped at Boulevard and Burroughs
Road, school district and Atlanta police officials said.


He briefly fought with the driver, forcing her out of the seat
and taking control of the bus. He attempted to drive the bus, but then
went after the driver who had gone to the back of the bus with the
students.


As other students escaped through the back emergency exit,
one-by-one, along with the bus driver, a 16 year old male tried to take
control of the steering wheel and fought with Pitmon.


Eventually, the bus jumped a sidewalk, slid down a hill and
crashed into a fence.


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Students, Citizens Thwart School Bus Hijacking













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