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QHSR – 2nd Homeland Security Review Extended

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 11:43 PM PDT

homeland_security_3

DHS has extended the second National Dialogue on the
Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) until Wednesday, September
9th. You can get involved by sharing your thoughts and ranking ideas on
what needs be done in order to achieve community preparedness and
resilience across our nation.

As a nation, we face a number of common threats and we
recognize that homeland security is a shared responsibility. The QHSR is a
critical part of DHS’s efforts to review and refine the nation’s
collaborative approach to homeland security. Your input is critical, visit
the QHSR
website today and help prioritize our homeland security mission goals
and objectives.

Your ideas need not be elaborate, or overly detailed.
Here’s an idea I submitted:

Submission – A Nationwide Educational
Campaign

A nationwide educational campaign with a simple message
could prove be an effective way of laying the foundation for engaging
and creating a culture of preparedness among our youth and
in our communities. “Duck & Cover”, “Call 911″ and “Just Say
No” were each built upon and supported by such campaigns.

The framework might be as simple as something like
this:

Think. Act.
Prepare.

THINK about what types
of emergencies you may have to respond to in your community

ACT if you see or hear of something suspicious

PREPARE, plan and
practice for emergencies at home, work, school

If you would like to comment or rate this idea, you can do
so here.

This is your opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas…
Ideas that may make your community more resilient, strengthen our nations
defenses against act’s of terrorism, or maybe even someday save a life.
One thing is certain, you’ll never know the impact you could have,
if you don’t share your ideas today.

QHSR website

Source

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QHSR – 2nd Homeland Security Review Extended

British Court Convicts Three in Plot to Blow Up Airliners

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:36 PM PDT

terror_threat_britain

After two trials and the largest counterterrorism investigation
in Britain’s history, three men were found guilty on Monday of plotting to
bomb at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners on a single day with liquid
explosives smuggled aboard in soft-drink bottles and detonated by devices
powered with AA batteries.

The convictions came three years after the global airline
industry was thrown into chaos by the plot. The bombers’ plan to drain
plastic soft-drink bottles with syringes and refill them with concentrated
hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent also used as a propellant for
rockets, led to new measures prohibiting passengers from carrying all but
small quantities of liquids and creams onto flights.

With those measures still in force and causing backups at
airport security checkpoints around the world, the police and intelligence
agencies in Britain and the United States had waited anxiously for
verdicts in the six-month trial at Woolwich Crown Court in London, where
eight men were accused of conspiracy to stage the airliner bombings.

Prosecutors said the plot could have killed at least 1,500
people aboard the targeted planes, which by that measure would have made
it second only to the Sept. 11 attacks as the most serious terrorist plot
in modern history.

“Apart from massive loss of life, these attacks would have had
enormous worldwide economic and political significance,” John McDowall,
Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism chief, said after the verdicts.

In Washington, the Obama administration praised the verdict on
Monday.

Source

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British Court Convicts Three in Plot to Blow Up Airliners

Homeland Security Taps Vegas Firm For Response Planning

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:23 PM PDT

Homeland Security Review QHSR

Eight years ago this week, the 9/11 terrorist attacks stunned
the nation and exposed gaps in America’s defenses and emergency response
procedures.

With those lessons in mind, a Las Vegas consulting firm has
been tapped by the Department of Homeland Security to better prepare first
responders for disasters of any kind by compiling detailed emergency
response plans for more than 3,000 sites statewide that have been deemed
critical to Nevada’s economy and infrastructure.

Sheila Conway, managing partner of consulting firm Urban
Environmental Research, said one of the painful lessons of 9/11 was that
emergency responders were sorely lacking in interagency communication
capability, something Conway says UER is hoping to change.

The vulnerability assessments that UER is doing evaluate floor
plans, utility lines, shutoff valves, evacuation routes, hazardous
material storage location and other factors, then combine all the
information into a Web-based format that is instantly available to police,
firefighters, paramedics or any other emergency responders, Conway
said.

The goal, Conway said, is to facilitate communication by
providing all responders with the same critical information up front.

“They all have the same information,” Conway said. “That means
they can respond faster and they can make more informed decisions.”

Though fire departments frequently compile similar plans,
Conway said, those plans are rarely seen by other agencies that could use
them and are not easily accessible in an emergency.

“That information was kept on paper and it was something that
was just kept within each fire station,” Conway said. “It was not shared
across the city; it was not shared between departments.”

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Homeland Security Taps Vegas Firm For Response Planning

Agro-terrorism Threat Is A Real One

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:16 PM PDT

agro_terrorism

An author and terrorism expert says as the anniversary of the
9/11 terror attacks approaches, Americans need to be aware of the threat
of agro-terrorism and the impact it could have on the nation’s food
supply. Tim Downs is the author of Ends of the Earth (Thomas Nelson,
September 2009), a novel which explores the scenario of a terrorist attack
on U.S. farms which contaminates the nation’s food supply. Downs, who has
done extensive research on agro-terrorism, says it is especially difficult
to defend against.

“The concern about an agricultural act of terrorism is we just
can’t defend a thousand-acre farm,” he explains. “You can put up a metal
detector in an airport — but how do you protect a thousand acres of corn
or wheat?”

Tim Downs (author)The 2007 Christy Award-winning author says
this method of terrorism is much cheaper than making a nuke.

“Experts have estimated that for a terrorist group to develop a
nuclear weapon could cost them a billion dollars,” Downs notes. “But to
develop a very good biological arsenal you would need about ten million
dollars and a very small lab and a master’s degree in chemical
engineering.”

Downs says more than likely the terrorists would use
genetically altered insects to spread pathogens to infest the crops.
According to the author, experiments of this kind were conducted by both
the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

via Source.

HS Today – Study outlines alternative approaches
to Agricultual Quarantine Inspections.

When one thinks of border protection thoughts naturally
focus on illegal immigration, drugs, and weapons smuggling. A less often
acknowledged but equally critically component of border control involves
securing the border from invasive micro-organisms.

At United States ports of entry, the contents of air,
maritime, truck, and rail cargo, as well as air passenger baggage,
vehicles, and mail are subject to Agricultural Quarantine Inspection
(AQI) by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
Customs and Border Protection officials. The purpose of AQI is to help
ensure that United States agriculture is protected from accidentally or
intentionally introduced pests and diseases, including the possibility
of agroterrorism.

Traditionally inspecting cargo shipments of fruits and
vegetables at United States ports has been based on inspecting 2% of the
items in a container for the presence of pests, with some allowances for
the size, contents, and origin of the container.

A new study, Securing the Border from Invasives: Robust
Inspections Under Severe Uncertainty, written by two professors at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass., L. Joe Moffitt and John K.
Stranlund, and Craig D. Osteen, an agricultural economist at the United
States Department of Agriculture , argues that current systems are
outmoded and badly in need of rethinking.∗

“Although simple to apply,” the study says, current
inspection rules “appear not to have any economic content; that is, they
does not consider the costs of inspections or the losses of failing to
prevent an invasive species from entering the country. Nor do they
account for the severe uncertainty associated with infestations in
shipping containers and the potential losses from introductions of
poorly understood or surreptitiously introduced invasive species.”

The authors propose an alternative set of decision
criteria for determining inspection probabilities that incorporate
economic considerations with particular emphasis on the severe
uncertainties of pest introductions and damage.

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Agro-terrorism Threat Is A Real One

Swine Flu Preparedness – Meet the Flu Fighters

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:06 PM PDT

h1n1-vaccine

Once the H1N1 influenza outbreaks begin – and Maryland health
officials have no doubt that they will – this series of nondescript
scientific laboratories, located past security guards instructed not to
let anyone in without an official escort, will certainly be humming.

Here, inside the state office complex on Preston Street in
Baltimore, dozens if not hundreds of polyester swabs will arrive each
week, containing what doctors believe is evidence of swine flu’s
resurgence. Lab workers will then determine whether it is the flu – H1N1
or seasonal, or something else entirely – and whether the virus seems to
be gaining strength. One of the most important roles these labs may play
in the H1N1 pandemic will be determining whether this new flu has
developed resistance to the antiviral medications stockpiled to make the
sick well again.

Maryland is one of a dozen states that will be testing samples
of the swine flu virus for hints that it has mutated. As summer turns into
fall, what most worries flu experts is that the only tool to fight the
H1N1 virus will no longer be available to at least slow the march of the
disease that could affect as many as half of Americans.

“That information is very valuable,” said Dr. Robert A Myers,
deputy director of the state public health laboratory. “We’re trying to
get this information in quickly.”

Last week, in its first week of drug resistance testing, none
of the 20 samples examined at the Maryland lab had become resistant to
Tamiflu or the other antiviral medications. A handful of tests around the
world have revealed a virus that is resistant to these drugs, but so far
they have been isolated cases and do not appear to have spread.

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Swine Flu Preparedness – Meet the Flu Fighters

Airline Preparedness – Always Mindful of the Nearest Exit

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:00 PM PDT

airline_cabin

When I travel, I am always planning for disaster. I’m not some
guy who hates to fly. I actually love to fly. But I can’t turn off the
“what ifs” in my brain. I’m a former Secret Service agent and the training
is ingrained. And now I own a security company.

Part of being an effective Secret Service agent was having what
we liked to call “situational awareness.” It’s basically nothing more than
looking around your location, sizing up the people around you, and then
thinking of the many things that could go wrong, and what you would do if
one of those things happened.

Now I do that on airplanes. I just can’t help myself. I’m
actually the guy who always pays attention to the preflight safety
briefing. And I actually review the safety card, if only to look at the
diagram of exits.

The single most important thing in this process is planning how
I am going to get out if things go south during my flight. This is
particularly true if I am traveling with my family. I actually visualize
how we’re going to get out of an emergency.

There are a few other things I do for safety. I never take off
my shoes until we’ve reached cruising altitude, and I make sure they’re on
before descent. I encourage my wife to wear flats because it’s hard to
move quickly in heels, and being barefoot is worse.

And I always carry a few tools. One of my favorite items is a
lithium cell flashlight. When I was a Secret Service agent, I found that a
good flashlight is the single most useful tool on the planet. Aircraft
evacuations happen so quickly that I don’t know if I ever will need to use
it — at least I hope I won’t. But I always bring one with me.

Also in the category of things that I may not have time to use,
but still carry anyway, is a smoke mask. The one I have is filled with
aloe, which filters toxic chemicals out of smoke.

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Airline Preparedness – Always Mindful of the Nearest Exit