The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

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• Mullen – 9/11 Plotters Still Alive And Planning
  More Attacks
  
  
• Intellipedia – For Intelligence Officers, A Wiki
  Way To Connect Dots
  
  
• DHS – New Directives On Screening Electronic
  Media At Border
  
  
• Students, Citizens Thwart School Bus
  Hijacking

Mullen – 9/11 Plotters Still Alive And Planning More Attacks Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:08 PM PDT 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. 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. 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, 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. 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. 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 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. 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 – New Directives On Screening Electronic Media At Border

Students, Citizens Thwart School Bus Hijacking Posted: 27 Aug 2009 07:29 PM PDT 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. 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. Students, Citizens Thwart School Bus Hijacking

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