Mexico Security Memo: Degrading Security in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta Robbery 
Twenty-two tourists were robbed at gunpoint Feb. 23 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco state, while returning to their cruise ship from a nature preserve as part of planned activities for their Carnival cruise. Masked gunmen stopped their bus and forced the passengers to hand over cash, cameras, watches and other valuables. Though no one was injured in the incident, the robbery demonstrates the degradation of security as a result of the ongoing drug wars in Mexico.
Targeting a group this large is unusual for the area for a number of reasons. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), commonly referred to as cartels, typically do not target tourists in Mexico's popular resort areas in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Local organized criminal groups try to avoid attacking tourists, and the citizens of resort areas try to prevent attacks on tourists, since all residents benefit from the revenue tourists bring to the area through the purchase of goods and through tour packages.
Local organized crime and TCOs may avoid targeting tourists, but the insecurity resulting from the drug wars helps individual criminals and small cells of criminals thrive. This robbery is likely the act of an isolated group of criminals. Since several competing criminal groups, such as Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Federation, are engaged in drug trade-related violence throughout Jalisco state, fewer law enforcement resources are available to deal with individual criminal actors.
CJNG Leader Arrested
Mexican authorities announced Feb. 23 the arrest of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) plaza boss Adolfo Solis Bejarano in Veracruz, Veracruz state. Mexican marines reportedly found Solis while on patrol after receiving an anonymous tip. According to authorities, Solis is linked to 67 murders from two incidents in 2011 in Veracruz state, including a Sept. 20 incident in which 35 bodies were dumped on a street in Boca del Rio, Veracruz state. CJNG has been conducting an offensive campaign against Los Zetas in Veracruz state since CJNG's incursion into the Zetas stronghold in mid-2011. Solis is one of the highest-level CJNG leaders that authorities have captured in Veracruz state since CJNG's initial incursion. While the impact of Solis' arrest is not certain, CJNG is at a disadvantage in replenishing its ranks in Veracruz.
It is important to remember that CJNG did not originate in Veracruz. The organization entered the state in mid-2011 from its home state of Jalisco. CJNG is still young, having formed sometime after the death of Ignacio "El Nacho" Coronel Villarreal, one of the heads of the Sinaloa Federation, in July 2010, and Veracruz is still new territory. A plaza boss leading an organized criminal cell must be familiar with the area and have an established network of individuals with whom to work, such as informants and government officials. After the loss of Solis, either another operator in CJNG's cell in the city of Veracruz must step up, or CJNG will need to send another individual into Veracruz who will have to familiarize himself with the region and the people. However, CJNG still occupies many other areas in Veracruz state and has the backing of the powerful Sinaloa Federation, so one leader's capture will likely not alter its operations in the long term.



 http://www.stratfor.com/

U.K. Seeks Second Suspect in Litvinenko Poisoning

The United Kingdom has requested that Russia hand over a second suspect in the 2006 radiation poisoning of dissident Alexander Litvinenko, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday .
Word of the development came from the reputed target of a Feb. 12 extradition request from the British Crown Prosecution Service, one-time KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun.
“Representatives of the (Russian prosecutors’) Investigations Committee informed me this morning they had received a letter from U.K. prosecutors accusing me (of involvement in the murder) and demanding my arrest and extradition,” Kovtun told the newspaper.
The British agency said only that “we would neither confirm nor deny the story. We do not discuss whether or not we are seeking anyone’s extradition.”
Kovtun has been a business partner to poisoning suspect Andrei Lugovoi, another KGB veteran who is now a Russian lawmaker. Moscow has already rejected London’s request to send Lugovoi to the United Kingdom for prosecution, a stand that heightened tensions between the two nations.
Litvinenko joined Lugovoi and Kovtun at a bar in a London hotel on Nov. 1, 2006. While there, he is believed to have consumed tea tainted with the radioactive isotope polonium 210. The former KGB officer and critic of then-Russian President Vladimir Putin died 22 days later at age 43.
Both suspects received treatment for potential exposure to polonium. They have argued that any contact with the radioactive material was Litvinenko's fault as he attempted unsuccessfully to carry out a trafficking effort, or simply was an effort to make Russia look bad.
Kovtun appeared skeptical of the potential appearance of new proof linking him to the incident: “The fact they are presenting this now after five years is suspicious in itself. What new evidence can there be?”
Authorities in Germany in late 2006 identified minute amounts of polonium 210 in his former wife’s apartment in Hamburg, where Kovtun was known to stay. However, the investigation was closed after several years due to lack of evidence connecting the find to a crime, the newspaper reported .
“There is no basis to accuse me of any crime connected to this,” Kovtun said (Catherine Belton, Financial Times, Feb. 28).


 http://www.nti.org/gsn/

Kill Putin: Russia ‘foils plot’ on PM’s life

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Russia and Ukraine have foiled a plot to kill Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to state television.
The pro-Kremlin Channel One station reported that intelligence officers arrested two men over the alleged plot earlier this month.
It broadcast video of one suspect, naming him as Russian national Adam Osmaev.
He and the other suspect, Kazakh citizen Ilya Pyanzin, were said to have been arrested in a raid on an apartment in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
Osmaev confessed on camera to being part of the plot.
Channel One said both men were working for Chechen separatist warlord Doku Umarov.
It said they planned to bomb Putin’s motorcade after the March 4 presidential election that the Russian premier is favourite to win.
State media have previously carried reports of assassination plots on Putin close to election time.


 http://www.euronews.net/

NIST Establishes National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence

State of Maryland and Montgomery County Join Partnership
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced a new partnership to establish the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies. The State of Maryland and Montgomery County, Md., are co-sponsoring the center with NIST, which will work to strengthen U.S. economic growth by supporting automated and trustworthy e-government and e-commerce.
U.S. Senator for Maryland Barbara Mikulski, Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett were at NIST today to announce the partnership with Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher.
“We’re standing up for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to protect America’s ideas and innovations from cyber terrorists, spies and thieves,” Senator Mikulski said. “This center will unite the knowledge of the government with the know-how of the private sector to improve our nation’s cybersecurity and create jobs. I was so proud to put money in the federal checkbook so this new center will ensure Maryland continues to lead the way in cyber technology and cyber jobs.”
“Maryland has made great strides in preparing a workforce that’s ready for cyber and IT jobs,” said Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, who leads the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s economic development portfolio. “With our focus on K-12 STEM education, cyber-security specialties in higher education, and the presence of U.S. Cyber Command at Ft. Meade, Maryland is uniquely poised to contribute to the rapidly growing cybersecurity industry. The addition of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence will help build on our progress by enhancing coordination between the federal, state and local governments, as well as our partners in the private sector.”
NIST’s fiscal year 2012 appropriations provided $10 million to establish the public-private partnership to operate the center. It will provide a state-of-the-art computing facility near NIST’s Gaithersburg, Md., campus, where researchers from NIST will work collaboratively with both the users and vendors of cybersecurity products and services. The center will host multi-institutional, collaborative efforts that build on expertise from industry and government.
The center will undertake carefully developed use cases—comprehensive requirements and test plans to address specific cybersecurity challenges—that will lead to practical, interoperable cybersecurity approaches for real world needs of complex IT systems. Examples of potential use cases would be interoperable cybersecurity templates to address challenges in health IT, cloud and mobile computing, cryptography, or continuous monitoring of IT systems.
The development and refinement of use cases would be open to all interested parties, including IT vendors and the public. Results from center projects will be shared with the broad IT user and vendor communities.
By accelerating the adoption of state-of-the-art cybersecurity tools, the center will:

• enhance trust in U.S. IT communications, data and storage systems;
• lower risk for companies and individuals in the use of IT systems; and
• encourage development of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and services.

The improved trust resulting from the center’s efforts will support the development and adoption of innovative business methods to improve operational efficiency, reap significant financial benefits for public and private-sector institutions, promote entrepreneurship and create new employment and career opportunities.
“Cyber crime hurts individuals, businesses and government agencies. We want to bring together the best minds and provide them with the best tools to create and test solutions that will make online transactions of all kinds safer,” said Gallagher. “We’re pleased to have the support of our Maryland partners, and look forward to working with additional partners from industry, academia, nonprofit and government sectors.”
Organizations interested in working with NIST, the State of Maryland, and Montgomery County at the new center should send an email to nccoe@nist.gov. For more information on the center, see our fact sheet at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/upload/nccoe.pdf.
As a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

http://www.nist.gov/itl/

Japan to Upgrade Atomic Plant Protections

The managers of Japan's atomic facilities are expected starting next month to begin upgrading the sites' protective measures, incorporating features such as additional perimeter barriers and entryway sensors for spotting metal or potential radioactive contraband, Reuters quoted the government as saying on Friday.
The plants must install auxiliary power sources and additional systems to help atomic material control instruments remain in operation following any strike by extremists, according to Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano and a source at the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has provided guidelines for atomic site protections; Japan has acted on some of the advice, but its protections were still loose, according to Reuters.
Only two of Japan's 54 corporate-operated atomic reactors are now in use; other systems were still receiving repairs, and widespread fears have held up their activation after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, severely damaged the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant. The disasters left more than 20,000 people missing or dead in the island nation .
Japan was ranked 23rd on nuclear security among nations with a threshold amount of weapon-usable material in a recent assessment by the independent Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington.
Separately, the Japanese government has donated $730,000 to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization . The contribution would fund 50 percent of a new computation and storage mechanism for the Atmospheric Transport Modeling system. The system enables determination of the point of origin for air-carried radioactive particles produced by a nuclear blast and identified by separate technology.
“Japan benefited greatly from the objective data supplied by the CTBTO during the accident at [Tokyo Electric Power’s] Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station,” Toshiro Ozawa, Japan's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, Austria, said in a statement. “Our contribution is aimed at allowing the CTBTO to predict the dispersion of radioactivity with even greater precision. This will help to better inform and protect populations around the world in the event of future nuclear testing or accidents" (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Feb. 27).

 http://www.nti.org/gsn/

LAPD Pioneers High-Tech Crime-Fighting ‘War Room’

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world and KCAL9 got an exclusive tour inside from Chief Charlie Beck.
“We are targets on our own soil,” says Beck. “We have to be ready.”
What began as a grass roots idea following the 9/11 terrorist attacks is now a state-of-the-art real-time analysis critical response center. It’s called RACR, and it’s located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
“This is a system that cuts through the red tape, that gets information to the people that need it,” says Chief Beck. He calls it “the brains of the department, twenty-four/seven.”
Police in the activity center monitor live feeds of city and traffic cameras, counter-terrorism information, and real-time crime mapping, with cutting edge software.
“If we didn’t have that we would be operating blind,” says Capt. Sean Malinowski, the Commanding Officer at RACR. “Essentially we’re always activated here.”
RACR is a critical crime-fighting tool at the center of every high profile incident in the City of Los Angeles.
“We have some real-time tools that help us analyze crime as it’s happening,” says Malinowski. “And then we feed that information out to the geographic areas and to patrol divisions.”

RACR is relied upon during events like dignitary visits from the Royals and President Obama, as well as the recent Occupy LA showdown and arrests.
“We had eyes on that, both through video cameras that the city owns, and also through video streams that were provided by the actual Occupy LA protesters,” says Malinowski.
Most recently, RACR was invaluable in putting an end to the Hollywood arsons.
Malinowski says RACR plotted each arson fire incident as it happened, creating a three-square-mile geographic hot spot that resulted in the quick arrest of accused fire starter Harry Burkhart.
“At the time he was taken into custody, this area was flooded with sheriffs and with LAPD officers,” says Malinowski. “Based on the fact that we kind of could see his movements in real time.”
RACR was born in a functioning bomb shelter, four stories below the Los Angeles Civic Center.
LAPD Commander Blake Chow remembers a time when tracking crime at RACR was done by hand. “There was very little technology,” says Chow, and RACR had no budget.
Police operated with dry erase boards, personal computers, and simple monitors.
“When we built RACR, there was no template to look at,” says Chow. “There was no police department we could go look at and ask them, ‘how did you build it?’”
Today LAPD’s RACR is the standard operating model for law enforcement agencies worldwide. It’s used as a guidebook on how to protect communities and fight crime.

 http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/

Piracy attacks in East and West Africa dominate world report

Pirate attacks against vessels in East and West Africa accounted for the majority of world attacks in 2011, signalling a rising trend, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report revealed today. Of the 439 attacks reported to the IMB in 2011, 275 attacks took place off Somalia on the east coast and in the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa.
The report showed  a slight drop in the total number of recorded incidents of piracy and armed robbery  worldwide,  comparing the 439 recorded incidents of piracy and armed robbery in 2011 to 445 in 2010. The falling numbers come after four consecutive years of increased piracy and armed robbery worldwide.
The 802 crew members taken hostage in 2011 also marks a decrease from the four-year high of 1,181 in 2010. Overall in 2011, there were 45 vessels hijacked, 176 vessels boarded, 113 vessels fired upon and 105 reported attempted attacks. A total of eight crew members were killed throughout the year, the same number as 2010.
Somali pirates remain greatest threat
Somali pirates continue to account for the majority of attacks – approximately 54%. But while the overall number of Somali incidents increased from 219 in 2010 to 237 in 2011, the number of successful hijackings decreased from 49 to 28.
The overall figures for Somali piracy could have been much higher if it were not for the continued efforts of international naval forces, IMB reports. In the last quarter of 2011 alone, pre-emptive strikes by international navies disrupted at least 20 Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) before they could become a threat to commercial fleets. The last quarter of 2010 saw 90 incidents and 19 vessels hijacked; in 2011, those numbers fell to 31 and four, respectively.
“These pre-emptive naval strikes, the hardening of vessels in line with the Best Management Practices (BMP) and the deterrent effect of Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP), have all contributed to this decrease,” said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB PRC), which has been monitoring piracy worldwide since 1991. “The role of the navies is critical to the anti-piracy efforts in this area.”
Although the number of vessels employing and reporting the carriage of PCASP increased in 2011, the regulation and vetting of PCASP still needs to be adequately addressed,Pottengal Mukundan warned. Until such time as a comprehensive legal framework is in place, owners and Masters should follow the International Maritime Organization and industry guidelines on the carriage of PCASP.
The IMB report shows that Somali pirate attacks were predominantly concentrated within the cross roads of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.  However, 2011 marked the first hijacking by Somali pirates of an anchored vessel from within the territorial waters of a foreign State – namely, Oman – highlighting the need for ports and vessels at anchorages in the region to be vigilant.
Other African hotspots
Elsewhere, Nigeria and Benin continued to be piracy hotspots. While 10 attacks were reported in Nigeria, including two hijackings, IMB warns that this number is not representative of the real threat of Nigeria piracy. Underreporting of attacks in Nigeria continues to be a cause for concern, and IMB states that it is aware of at least another 34 unreported incidents in Nigerian waters.
Also in 2011 a probable extension of Nigerian piracy into neighbouring Benin included 20 incidents against tankers, eight of which were hijacked and had cargoes partly stolen. Although the average length of captivity for ships taken off the coasts of Nigeria and Benin tends to be roughly 10 days, compared to six months in Somali hijackings, IMB warns that these attacks can be more violent.
Improvements in South East Asia, Indian Subcontinent
In South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, vessels in Bangladesh reported 10 incidents of armed robbery in the approaches to Chittagong. This is a significant reduction from the 23 incidents reported in 2010 and reflects the initiatives taken by the Bangladesh Coast Guard to curb piracy in their waters. Nonetheless, anchorages in the approaches to Chittagong remain an area of concern.
Indonesia has seen a rise in armed robbery for the second straight year. The incidents continue to be local and opportunistic, according to IMB, and usually against anchored vessels. The 46 reported incidents – up from 40 in 2010 – include 41 vessels boarded, two attempted attacks, and three cases of tugs and barges being hijacked whilst underway.
Attacks in the South China Sea fell from 31 in 2010 to 13 in 2011. This included nine boarded vessels, three attempted attacks, and the hijacking of one tug and its barge.

JTIC Brief: Norway convicts Al-Qaeda linked terrorist cell

Two men were convicted on 30 January by Oslo District Court in Norway of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. The convictions were the first under Norwegian terrorism laws, and related to a plot to bomb the Oslo offices of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten using homemade hydrogen peroxide-based explosives. The attack was allegedly planned in revenge for the newspaper’s controversial decision in 2008 to reprint 12 caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad it had originally published in 2005.
Mikael Davud, 40, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while his co-conspirator Sawad Sadek Saeed Bujak, 38, was sentenced to three years and six months. A third man, David Jakobsen, 33, was acquitted of the more serious charges, but was sentenced to four months (already served on remand) for assisting the others in acquiring bomb-making materials. Both Davud and Bujak subsequently announced their intention to appeal.
The cell represented an unusual ethnic mix. Davud, formerly known as Muhammad Rashidin, is an ethnic Uighur from China who arrived in Norway in 1999 and was granted citizenship in 2007. Bujak is an Iraqi Kurd who was granted permanent residence after also arriving in 1999. Meanwhile, Jakobsen, formerly known as Abdulatif Alisje, came to Norway from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2002.

How safe is the cargo on passenger flights?

Editor's note: This report is based on a one-year investigation by CNN into air cargo security in light of a thwarted plot by al Qaeda in October 2010 to blow up cargo jets over the United States. CNN's Nic Robertson's report "Deadly Cargo" airs on CNN Presents, Saturday and Sunday February 18, 19 at 8 p.m. ET.

London (CNN) -- The call came into the London Metropolitan Police bomb squad in the early hours of the morning. Isolated at the East Midlands airport in central England was a UPS package dispatched from Yemen, containing a laser printer that Saudi intelligence believed had been converted into a bomb.
Before dawn a bomb squad arrived on the scene. The plane had been cleared and left at 4:20 am, without the package identified by its waybill number as the laser printer. Officers inspected the printer and lifted out the ink cartridge but found no explosive device. According to security sources, they also brought in specially trained dogs and passed the printer through an X-ray scanner, but those, too, failed to locate any explosives.
The security cordon around the area where the laser printer had been isolated was lifted. But Saudi counter-terrorism officials implored British authorities to re-examine the printer. When they did, they found 400 grams of the high-explosive PETN inside the ink cartridge.
The bomb had been timed to explode hours earlier. But the bomb squad had inadvertently defused the device earlier when they had lifted the printer cartridge out of the printer, disconnecting the explosives from the timer.
A similar drama had been playing out at an airport in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where another printer bomb had been located that same day. These were some of the most sophisticated explosive devices ever seen from al Qaeda.

Timeline: 2010 printer bomb scare

These discoveries on October 29, 2010, sent shock waves through Western capitals. Not only had these bombs gone through screenings at several airports without being detected, they also had traveled on passenger jets during the first legs of their journeys.
And most disturbing of all: For many hours, the explosives went undetected by bomb experts in two countries, despite being right in front of them.
A few weeks after the incident, U.S. Senator Susan Collins asked Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole whether the bombs would have been detected by the country's current security system.
"In my professional opinion, no," Pistole replied.
The group that claimed responsibility for the plot -- the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- appeared to have found the Achilles heel of international aviation.
While much airport security is concentrated on screening passengers and their checked bags, about half the hold on a typical passenger flight is filled with cargo. In fact, over a third of cargo by volume that entered the United States in 2010 was shipped on passenger jets, according to the Department of Transportation. That is 3.7 billion tons. Another 7.2 billion tons of air cargo came in on all-cargo aircraft, according to the DOT.
And the screening requirements for such cargo are not as strict as they are for passengers and their checked bags.
If it took authorities in Britain and Dubai hours to identify a bomb that was right in front of them, what are the chances of finding such devices amid the millions of tons of air cargo flying into the United States each day?
A difficult quandary
U.S. authorities were already aware of the potential for terrorists to take advantage of lax cargo security. A law that required screening for all cargo on domestic and inbound international passenger flights had taken effect two months before the printer bomb scare.
While the Transportation Security Administration was able to ensure the screening of all domestic cargo, it fell short when it came to screening all inbound international cargo, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Reconstructing al Qaeda's printer bomb

A Lethal Alliance: al Shabaab & al Qaeda

So the TSA announced that the 100% requirement would be brought into effect for inbound flights by January 2012. Now, the TSA has indefinitely deferred this goal in favor of a risk-based approach, according to Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey.
Following the 2010 bomb plot, the United States and its international partners took a number of steps to bolster air cargo security. They banned cargo shipments assessed as too high a risk that originated from or transited through Yemen and Somalia. U.S. authorities implemented enhanced screening for passenger jet cargo assessed as having an elevated risk and tightened procedures for incoming mail. Those requirements have not been made public. The Department of Homeland Security brought in enhanced screening for U.S.-bound shipments on all-cargo aircraft.
While industry insiders say progress has been made, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill express concern about any approach that doesn't involve the screening of all cargo.
"The low-risk cargo does not receive anywhere near the level of security as the high-risk cargo," said Markey, who co-authored legislation mandating screening on passenger jets by August 2010.
"There is no such thing as low-risk cargo because, in the hands of al Qaeda, that cargo becomes high risk."
But some of those on the frontlines of air cargo security point out that the risk-based approach stems from on-the-ground realities.
"Identifying high-risk cargo wherever it is in the supply chain and singling it out for physical screening is the better approach to securing cargo on an international scale," said David Brooks, the head of American Airlines air cargo.
And the industry says TSA mandates are not easy to enforce when they involve other countries that may face logistical challenges in conforming to U.S. inspection standards. Economic factors also played a role in the U.S government's delay in imposing 100% inbound screening.
It was a quandary that al Qaeda exploited. "(Our goal was to) force upon the West two choices: You either spend billions of dollars to inspect each and every package in the world or you do nothing and we keep trying again," al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced after the package bomb plot.
New technology
Even if 100% of all plane cargo is screened, it's no panacea for keeping bombs off airplanes.
Single-view X-ray machines -- the technology still used at a significant number of air cargo warehouses around the world -- lack the resolution to thoroughly vet the contents of shipments, according to industry insiders. The machines find it difficult to distinguish PETN from similar powdered substances, explosive detection experts told CNN.
It was a weakness that al Qaeda exploited in the printer bomb plot by filling the ink cartridges with PETN.
"The toner cartridge contains the toner which is carbon based and that is an organic material. The carbon's molecular structure is close to that of PETN," AQAP boasted after the attempted attack.
Under TSA guidelines, cargo screening can involve a variety of methods including physical inspection, dogs, a variety of single-view or multiview X-ray machines, and "explosive trace detection" -- which involves running a hand-held device over the surface or insides of a package, which "sniffs" the air for minute quantities of explosive.
Dogs also are used to sniff for bombs, but for years, TSA officials have had reservations about relying on canine teams to screen for explosives. According to explosive detection experts, PETN in particular is difficult for sniffer dogs to detect, because very little of it disperses into the air.
Physical inspection of every package is impractical given the volume of cargo and the ease with which PETN can be hidden.
In order to keep one step ahead of the terrorists, airlines and air cargo handlers are investing millions of dollars in the latest generation of advanced X-ray machines and explosive trace detection.
"PETN can be found quite easily in very small amounts using trace detection equipment and in bulk form by (advanced) X-ray machines," said Kevin Riordan, technical director at Smiths Detection, a British company that is one of the leading producers of explosive detection equipment.
If the British bomb squad at East Midlands airport had such equipment, they would have been able to see the PETN inside the printer cartridge, according to another UK detection expert.
But Riordan conceded that even if authorities had the latest equipment, al Qaeda could take steps to make detection more difficult.
"We'd have to say there is always a way through," he told CNN. "The risk is never removed totally."
Air cargo industry insiders say that combining several layers of screening is the best protection against future al Qaeda bomb plots. And all those interviewed by CNN stressed the critical role of intelligence.
"There is no 100%, foolproof system for all cargo," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN, "but what we can do and are doing is maximizing our ability to prevent such a plot from succeeding.
That included "good intel, good information sharing."
A unique challenge
The new generation of multiview X-ray machines and explosive detection equipment is now routinely used to scan all checked and hand luggage at airports in the United States and Europe, according to explosive detection experts, but not yet all air cargo.
Parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia are lagging behind in deploying this technology at air cargo departure points, according to air cargo industry insiders. U.S. officials say they've put a high priority on new global standards to plug the technology gap.
"The global supply chain presents some challenges because the weakest link in that global supply chain can adversely affect the security throughout that supply chain," said TSA administrator Pistole.
Scanning air cargo presents unique challenges because a high proportion of it has been consolidated into large pallets by the time it arrives at airports and is ready to be loaded onto planes. TSA has yet to license any technology that can reliably detect explosives within pallets.
In the United States this had led to more than half of cargo screening being conducted at off-airport sites, according to Brandon Fried, executive director of the Air Forwarders Association. The shift towards screening of smaller configurations of cargo at these sites before palletization helped U.S. authorities meet the 100% screening mandate for domestic cargo.
But other parts of the world are lagging behind in adopting such initiatives.

There is no such thing as low-risk cargo because, in the hands of al Qaeda, that cargo becomes high risk.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts

Homeland security experts say the private sector must step up to the plate if air cargo is to be secured.
"The U.S. has policies on how much cargo needs to be screened inbound. We can control that to some degree, but we are very much reliant on our partners," said Robert Liskouski, a former director of infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. flag carriers say they have taken steps to bolster cargo security since the package bomb plot. In April 2011, TSA air cargo security chief Doug Brittin told the International Air Cargo Association that airlines were screening 80% of inbound air cargo and some U.S. flag carriers as much as 95%.
After missing the August 2010 deadline, the United States has yet to set a new timeline to implement the 100% screening mandate for inbound cargo flights, according to a letter from TSA's Pistole to U.S. legislators in December 2011. But he said he expects to meet that goal no later than 2013.
Industry insiders hope a voluntary pilot program called Air Cargo Advance Screening, in which airlines send manifest data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection several hours before departure, will further bolster inbound screening. But U.S. authorities say challenges lie ahead in bringing the program fully on stream.
Despite last year's elimination of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the threat from the terrorist group still remains a major concern. Recent months have seen AQAP, the group responsible for the 2010 printer bomb plot, take advantage of political turmoil in Yemen to expand its operations. Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism service believes this will bolster the group's ability to target the United States. And it believes Ibrahim al Asiri, the group's master bomb-maker, has trained several apprentices in how to make sophisticated PETN-based bombs.
Markey says that time is not on the United States' side.
"Every day that goes by is another day that al Qaeda might exploit that opening -- and once again successfully terrorize our country," he told CNN.

Funding Cuts Imperil Biothreat Response Capability, Officials Say

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Spending reductions threaten to seriously undermine the readiness of U.S. public health agencies to limit the potentially devastating impact of disease agents spread either intentionally or by natural means, federal health officials warned on Thursday (see GSN, Feb. 16).
The 2011 film “Contagion” offered a glimpse into the potential deadly consequences of recent and anticipated cuts to public health efforts at every level of government, senior Health and Human Services officials said during a panel discussion at the 2012 Public Health Preparedness Summit.
The fictional portrayal of steps to contain and vaccinate against a highly lethal and communicable virus portrays a “completely ludicrous” level of incompetence among state and local public health authorities, said Nicole Lurie, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
Those officials, she said, failed to understand even the basic properties of infectious diseases. In one segment of the film, state personnel in Minnesota deliberated over the budgetary impact of containment measures even after the naturally occurring agent’s threat to human life had become evident.
“If we keep cutting the budget to state and local public health, that is what the public health will look like in the future,” Lurie said.
Public health preparedness initiatives map out contingencies, organize practice drills and design treatment distribution schemes with the aim of providing authorities “clear roles and responsibilities” and understanding of “what capabilities exist and how to use them during a crisis,” according to a report issued in December by the independent Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Such efforts also focus on providing aid to disease specialists, research facilities and detection infrastructure, the document states.
Economic turmoil in recent years has led to revenue shortfalls at every level of government.  The constraints, coupled with a political push to contain federal deficit spending, have prompted policy-makers to place public health funding on the chopping block alongside numerous other programs.
Last year saw public health spending cuts in Washington, D.C. and 40 states. Meanwhile, state and local governments have eliminated 49,310 public health jobs over the last four years, the independent analysis notes.
Further cuts could be on the way. The Obama administration’s fiscal 2013 budget request for Health and Human Services would provide $641.9 million in state and local readiness funds -- $15.5 million less than in the current fiscal year -- for the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to disperse through grants, contracts and other methods.
In addition, the proposal would set aside $47 million less than the fiscal 2012 appropriation for the Strategic National Stockpile of countermeasures against biological and other potential WMD agents. The stockpile would receive a $486 million appropriation in the budget cycle that begins on Oct. 1.
The sequestration provision of the 2011 Budget Control Act could force additional medical preparedness spending reductions if lawmakers fail to negotiate an alternative.
Despite being “refreshingly realistic” for its genre, Contagion relied to a disheartening extent on the role of a single CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer played by actress Kate Winslet, said Ali Khan, who heads the CDC Public Health Preparedness and Response Office. The character organizes a triage center and struggles to negotiate with Minnesota state officials over response measures prior to her own death from infection by the fictional disease.
“There were apparently, like, three people who ran the whole agency,” but reality could increasingly reflect that scarcity of personnel amid tightening budgetary pressures, Khan said.
“We’ve lost 50,000 public health workers since 2008 in our communities,” he said. “We’ve also lost over 25 percent of money that the federal government provides for ensuring our nation’s health security. So maybe you aren’t too far off from what the response of the future would look like if we continue to allow this erosion in public health and ensuring our nation’s health security.”
A top White House national security staffer acknowledged that further financial constraints could be unavoidable, and said federal Homeland Security and public health grant programs would increasingly consider how neighboring localities might be able to pool resources.
“The fiscal challenges as they are, it is ever increasingly more likely that not every jurisdiction will be able to build the same capability across the nation, and so how do we assess where capability is most needed? How do we best assess where we can get it from? And how do we best assess how we put it together?” said Brian Kamoie, the White House National Security Staff’s senior preparedness policy director.
Preserving public health readiness gains achieved over the last decade requires “being more creative in mixing and matching our respective capabilities and working across disciplines and working across departments and agencies,” Kamoie said earlier.
Separately, one panel participant noted that a Homeland Security official portrayed in the film questions whether the virus might “have been the work of a terrorist.”
“It’s a very appropriate question and it’s one that [Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano] routinely asks when it comes to emerging infectious disease,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs Alexander Garza said.
The film draws attention to a significant split between U.S. preparations for a biological catastrophe with “national security” implications and federal plans for other public health emergencies, and the uncertain “tipping point” dividing the two categories, Garza said. Naming one example of the distinction’s potential impact, he suggested a national security event might preclude real-life use of the “lottery” vaccine distribution system portrayed in the film.
Under such a scenario, “is a vaccine now considered a strategic national asset instead of a public health asset?” the official asked, hinting that personnel deemed critical to a response effort could receive priority as a vaccination is distributed. “I have to question whether a plan of random immunizations is even practical or prudent.”

FBI Director Says Cyberthreat Will Surpass Threat From Terrorists

“Threats from cyber-espionage, computer crime, and attacks on critical infrastructure will surpass terrorism as the number one threat facing the United States, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified today.
Mueller and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, addressing the annual Worldwide Threat hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, cited their concerns about cyber-security and noted that China and Russia run robust intrusion operations against key U.S. industries and the government.”
(Source: FBI Director Says Cyberthreat Will Surpass Threat From Terrorists – ABC News.)

U.K. First Responders Take Part in Subway Terrorism Exercise

Emergency responders in the United Kingdom on Wednesday began a large-scale, two-day drill aimed at testing their readiness to handle a potential terrorist assault on the London Underground during this summer's Olympics, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 12).
The exercise began at the shuttered Aldwych subway stop and involved medical first responders, firefighters and law enforcement officials. The drill envisioned a terrorist strike on one of the most hectic days of the upcoming games, which are scheduled from July 27 through Aug. 12.
Officials would not provide specifics about the simulation on the grounds it was important to keep participants on their toes.
"(It's about ensuring) that we have the right people in the right places, that we understand how others operate and that we are talking to each other at the right levels and in the right way," said Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison.
The drill did remind some of the July 2005 terrorist attacks on the London public transportation system, British Transport Police spokesman Simon Lubin said.  First responders' reactions to those attacks, in which 52 people died when four suicide bombers detonated hidden explosives on a bus and three subway cars, have been criticized.
"If there are mistakes, this is the time to make them, not when there's a real incident, Lubin said (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 22).

To F-35 θύμα της κινεζικής κατασκοπείας

Η ραγδαία αύξηση του κόστους και οι σημανικές καθυστερήσεις στο χρονοδιάγραμμα ανάπτυξης του νέου μαχητικού αεροσκάφους F-35 οφείλεται ενδεχομένως στην διαρροή απόρρητων τεχνολογιών στη Κίνα. Σύμφωνα με δημοσίευμα του Aviation Week, το Πεκίνο απέκτησε πρόσβαση σε πληροφορίες για ευαίσθητα συστήματα του αεροσκάφους υποκλέπτοντας τις τηλεδιασκέψεις μεταξύ των εμπλεκομένων στο πρόγραμμα ανάπτυξης και συγκεκριμένα των υπεργολάβων της Lockheed Martin, οι οποίοι αποδείχθηκαν ιδιαίτεροι ευάλωτοι στην κινεζική κατασκοπεία. Το γεγονός έγινε αντιληπτό τον Απρίλιο του 2009 μετά τις συνεχείς κυβερνοεπιθέσεις στις τράπεζες δεδομένων των εταιρείων BAE Systems και Northrop Grumman και οδήγησε στην αναβάθμιση του επιπέδου ασφαλείας για την επικοινωνία μεταξύ των εταιρείων που συμμετέχουν στο πρόγραμμα ανάπτυξης. Το γεγονός αυτό σε συνδυασμό με τον επανασχεδιασμό του λογισμικού και κρίσιμων υποσυστημάτων του αεροσκάφους οδήγησε στην αύξηση του κόστους και τη μετάθεση του χρόνου έναρξης μαζικής παραγωγής του μαχητικού.
Το πρόγραμμα αντιμετωπίζει νέους κλυδωνισμούς μετά τις δραστικές περικοπές στον αμυντικό προϋπολογισμό της Ιταλίας, το μοναδικό υποψήφιο χρήστη της έκδοσης κάθετης απο/προσγείωσης F-35B STOVL μετά το Σώμα Πεζοναυτών (USMC) των ΗΠΑ. Η Ιταλία έχει εκπεφρασμένες ανάγκες για συνολικά 131 αεροσκάφη (69 F-35A και 62 F-35B) και σύμφωνα με ιταλικά δημοσιεύματα ο υπό προμήθεια αριθμός αεροσκαφών θα μειωθεί κατά 30 μονάδες.

Full-body scans rolled out at all Australian international airports after trial

PASSENGERS at airports across Australia will be forced to undergo full-body scans or be banned from flying under new laws to be introduced into Federal Parliament this week.
In a radical $28 million security overhaul, the scanners will be installed at all international airports from July and follows trials at Sydney and Melbourne in August and September last year.
The Government is touting the technology as the most advanced available, with the equipment able to detect metallic and non-metallic items beneath clothing.
It's also keen to allay concerns raised on travel online forums that passengers would appear nude on security screens as they had when similar scanners were introduced at US airports.
The technology will show passengers on a screen as stick figures of neither sex.
The system has approval from the Privacy Commission.
The images will also be discarded after each passenger has been cleared.

The proposed Aviation Security Amendment (Screening) Bill 2012 will make it mandatory for any passenger selected to participate in undergoing a body scan.
The "no scan, no fly" amendment closes a loophole in the legislation, which allows passengers to request a pat-down instead of having to pass through a metal detector.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said mandatory body scans were necessary to ensure the safety of airports.
"I think the public understands that we live in a world where there are threats to our security and experience shows they want the peace of mind that comes with knowing government is doing all it can," he said.
The Government has compared the strength of the radio waves emitted from the body scanners as the same as those from a regular mobile phone used several metres away.
Only passengers with serious medical conditions will be exempted from a scan.
More than 23,000 passengers took part in the body scanning trials from August 2-19 in Sydney and September 5-30 in Melbourne.
The scanners will be rolled out at eight international gateway airports in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
The Government has enlisted the same company, L-3 Communications, used in the US to supply the scanners.

The Four Faces of Business Espionage:

1. Delphi and Other Pretext Attacks.
Sophisticated pretext interviews and/or “surveys” are often the first steps in a spy operation. Pretext interviews may take place on the phone, at seminars and trade shows, in bars, in bed, or anyplace else the target is available. The questions used are worked out in advance, often by someone other than the surveyor. The people hired to ask the questions (college students, private investigators, retirees, etc.) may or may not know the real objectives of the survey.
Pretext attacks through Internet newsgroups, chat lines and direct e-mail help hide the true identity of the attacker.
2. Computer Abuse.
Computer abuse takes many forms. It may take only a few seconds for a spy to break into your computer system if your computer access codes are known around the office. Other attacks may be much more complex and take place both on and off site.
3. Technical Surveillance.
Basic electronic “bugging” is quick and easy. A spy can buy a legal wireless microphone or other listening device, and then plant it illegally by simply walking through your home or place of business and tucking it out of sight. It took less than 30 seconds to plant a bug in one of the demonstrations we witnessed.
4. Undercover Attacks These attacks are performed by spies inside the targeted organization, including people on the target’s payroll. Undercover spy operations may go on for months - or even years - depending on the spy’s objectives. Note: To learn more about The Four Faces of Business Espionage (including controls and countermeasures) see the textbook “101 Questions & Answers About Business Espionage” by William M. Johnson. The book is available from BECCA, Amazon.com, Booksurge.com or through your local bookstore.

 www.BECCA-online.org

The Dynamics of Negotiations Within Conflict

The United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security on Thursday, while semi-official state media reported that a political official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had again threatened that Iran will attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, however, the IRGC official also emphasized the need for a “calm atmosphere.” Similarly, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe expressed confidence that Iran is beginning to open up.
Iran and the United States have for years been locked in a cycle of crises separated by periods of comparative calm and conciliation; this series of contradictory developments in a single day is thus hardly unprecedented. The same is true of contradictory developments between the United States and Afghanistan, or between Washington and Moscow. While the differences between each of these cases are profound, Stratfor has analyzed the talks between these relevant parties for a common reason: Despite the potential for intensifying conflict or active hostilities, not one of these cases can be resolved using military force at an acceptable cost.
Put another way, the risk, expense and commitment of attempting to impose one’s will on the other, whether by physical destruction of their means to resist or by psychological destruction of their will to resist, is daunting and perhaps futile. The players in each case would already be partners or allies if they shared significant common ground with one another. In Washington's dealings vis-a-vis Tehran, the Afghan Taliban and Moscow, the players involved all have an incentive to reach an intermediate solution.
This creates an incentive for political accommodation and a negotiated settlement that allows each side to focus its resources and efforts elsewhere. In analyzing this process, Stratfor makes a key distinction between negotiations and talks. To say parties are negotiating indicates an active debate is ongoing over specific provisions as a means to move toward a serious settlement; talks are the process by which parties agree to sit down to those negotiations. These are dynamic processes in which each side attempts to turn up the pressure on its adversary while maximizing the leverage (and, very significantly, the perception) of its own position. This invariably leads to posturing and threats to walk away from the negotiating table. It may even take place amid active hostilities. For instance, an aggressive clandestine war is raging between Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other. Meanwhile, the United States and its allies are overtly waging war on the Afghan Taliban. And as Stratfor has long argued, the United States and Russia are engaged in a serious Cold War.

The Intersection of Talks and Conflict

Once negotiations have been initiated in earnest, lightening the pressure on one’s opponent can have dire consequences on one’s negotiating position, much like a poker or chess player revealing distress. For example, one cannot properly understand the Linebacker I and Linebacker II bombing campaigns of Vietnam in late 1972 without acknowledging the pressing American desire for a negotiated settlement.
Sitting down at the negotiating table does not guarantee a successful settlement in international affairs any more than it would in business. The shooting does not stop the moment two sides enter into negotiations, nor do backchannel discussions and the building of common understandings necessarily move into the public sphere with any immediacy. For example, the ongoing clandestine sabotage and assassination campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear efforts neither indicates the nonexistence or immediate end of informal talks toward negotiations nor portends the imminent outbreak of outright and overt hostilities. Conflicts continue -- in Iran, Afghanistan and, at least in rhetoric, between the United States and Russia -- but the incentives for compromise remain.
By the time then-U.S. President Richard Nixon arrived in China in 1972 (months before the Linebacker operations), the proverbial deal was already done. This is not to say that any deal of that magnitude between the United States and Iran or the United States and Russia -- much less in the enormously complex question of Afghanistan between the United States and the Afghan Taliban, the Afghan government, Pakistan, Iran and others -- is either imminent or certain. It is anything but. However, in each case there are profound incentives on each side for some sort of settlement. And while contradictory developments can certainly indicate chaos, they hardly preclude serious talks.

The Structure of Current Talks

There is a balanced framework for talks in each case. Tehran’s ability to hold global oil prices hostage amid a global economic crisis is balanced by fairly basic American requirements: the free, steady flow of energy from the Persian Gulf and some semblance of a balance of power in the region. In Afghanistan, the United States is extracting its forces, and does not want to ever return in large numbers. Washington's basic requirement is that the Taliban, the Karzai regime and Pakistan reject any serious or sustained support for transnational jihad. Moscow is in a moment of disproportionate power, given the American logistical reliance on Russia to sustain the war in Afghanistan and Washington's reticence to spark another overt confrontation with Russia in the near term. But Russia also has profound and intensifying internal challenges – it is in its interest to come to an understanding with the United States soon, before American power can coalesce and rationalize in a post-Iraq and Afghan war world.

Tensions and even outright hostilities have historically been a poor indicator of the status or timeline of political accommodation. And 2012 has opened with too many reciprocal signals between the United States and Iran and with regards to the Afghan Taliban (U.S.-Russian relations are on a longer timeline) to completely ignore.

Somali Piracy Update: The End of Monsoon Season

Summary

Monsoon season in the Indian Ocean is set to end sometime in late February. Somali pirates will take advantage of the calmer waters to enlarge their presence in the area. But several factors -- including armed contractors on commercial vessels, land-based security clampdowns and a more sophisticated international military response -- may limit the pirates' success.

Analysis

An article from Somalia Report, a news agency specializing in Somali affairs, has suggested that Somali pirates are readying their boats for the end of monsoon season around Feb. 20, nearly coinciding with an international conference to be held Feb. 23 in the United Kingdom on Somalia and counterpiracy efforts. Indeed, calmer seas present greater opportunity for hijackings and other piratic activities. Of course, Feb. 20 is merely an approximation, and meteorological phenomena like monsoons may continue for weeks after this date. But soon the weather will clear, and Somali pirates will embark on a new season of activity.
Every year from 2008 to 2011 Somali pirates expanded the areas in which they operated. But in 2011, their areas of operation contracted, due in part to the increased use of armed guards on commercial vessels and monitoring by anti-piracy naval forces. It is unclear whether this trend will continue. So far in 2012, only one vessel and three fishing boats have been hijacked by pirates, whereas eight commercial vessels had been hijacked by this point last year. In any case, the end of monsoon season invariably will give rise to an increased pirate presence in the greater Indian Ocean basin. Whether this presence leads to additional hijackings depends on a variety of factors.
In 2012, Somali pirates so far have favored the same ports as in the past, particularly those between Harardhere in southern Somalia and Bandar Bayla in northern Somalia. However, a new port known as Harfan, located on a northern Somali peninsula that juts out into the Indian Ocean toward Socotra Island, is gaining recognition as a port from which pirates conduct their operations. According to reports, heightened security in Haradhere, El-Dhanane and Garacad has led more than 100 pirates to relocate to Harfan in the past five months alone. Further security clampdowns could lead to other alternative ports.
Already there is evidence that pirates are venturing outside their traditional areas of operations. On Jan. 20, there was an attempted hijacking of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman. While Somali pirates have occasionally operated in the area before, they have never successfully hijacked a commercial vessel. Doing so would indicate their expansion into a new area.
In our 2012 Piracy Annual, we noted the relatively new trend that Somali pirates could begin hijacking vessels within or just outside commercial ports, evidenced by the August 2011 hijacking of the MV Fairchem Bogey within the Salalah, Oman port limits. Already in 2012 we have seen another instance of this trend. On Jan. 23, pirates attempted to hijack a commercial vessel just outside the port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
There is also evidence in 2012 of a tactical development in Somali piracy not seen in recent years. In January, pirates who had boarded the FV Shiuh Fu No. 1 cut off the captain's arm to convince the ship's owners to pay a ransom. Typically, pirates eschew physical violence against hostages; pirates are happy as long as they get paid. If such violence becomes habitual, anti-piracy operations increasingly may be carried out by various special operations forces -- though such operations would be conducted only by the country of the abducted individuals and if it has the intelligence to do so.
Such was the case in January, when U.S. Special Forces rescued American Jessica Buchanan and her Danish co-captive. This demonstrated how the U.S. military will respond to such incidents. (Notably, the military had the requisite intelligence to act, and Buchanan's health condition provided an added impetus for action.) Accordingly, pirates may begin to house hostages on commercial vessels, given that vessels are more difficult to raid than smaller skiffs or land-based facilities.
While the end of monsoon season will result in a larger presence of pirate vessels, several factors may limit their successes. Armed contractors continue to be used on commercial ships in 2012, and this year no vessel carrying these contractors has been successfully hijacked. Thus, we expect they will continue to be deployed in 2012. In addition, the U.S. Navy reportedly is retrofitting the USS Ponce to be used by special operations forces in the Central Command area of operations, and anti-piracy operations fall into their purview.
Moreover, domestic Somali forces, including those of Galmudug and Puntland, as well as the pro-Somali government Sufi militia Ahlu Sunnah Waljamaah, have been arresting pirates in the regions they control. This is an indication that land-based forces are also pressuring pirate activity. Such measures may be more effective at reducing piracy over the long term than arming merchant ships, but it remains to be seen if this pressure on land can be sustained.
In the past Somali pirates have been adept at developing countermeasures, so armed anti-piracy tactics alone may not bring about an end to piracy off Somalia's waters. The end of the monsoon season may embolden pirates to increase their presence, but it does not ensure their success rate.

 

Barak blames Iran for bomb blasts in Bangkok

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday said that a series of bomb blasts that struck Thailand on Tuesday was part of an attempted terrorist attack perpetrated by Iran.
An Iranian man was seriously wounded in Bangkok on Tuesday when a bomb he was carrying exploded and blew one of his legs off, Thai police and government officials said, but they declined to speculate on whether he was involved with any militant group. Shortly before, there had been an explosion in a house the man was renting in the Ekamai area of central Bangkok, and shortly afterward, another blast on a nearby road. Five people were injured in the explosions.

Related:

• Thai police discover bomb materials after threat
• Analysis: Was this an act of war?

"The attempted terror attack in Thailand proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to operate in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," Barak said while on a state visit to Singapore. The incident came one day after near simultaneous attacks on Israeli embassies in India and Georgia.
Despite Barak's accusations leveled against Tehran, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Israel was in contact with the authorities in Bangkok and was still awaiting confirmation that the man involved in the blasts was indeed Iranian.
The ministry added that it was not yet clear if Israel was the intended target of the attacks.

Thai police said they were working to make safe an unspecified amount of explosives found in the house, which did not appear to have been badly damaged.
Police said they were looking for two other men who had been living there and they later said they had apprehended one suspect at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi airport.
"We discovered the injured man's passport. It's an Iranian passport and he entered the country through Phuket and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport on the 8th of this month," Police General Bansiri Prapapat told Reuters.
Police declined to make any link between Tuesday's incident and the arrest last month of a Lebanese man in Bangkok who, according to the Thai authorities, had links to Hezbollah.
Police discovered a large amount of explosive material in an area southwest of Bangkok at around the time of that arrest. The United States, Israel and other countries issued warnings, subsequently lifted, of possible terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.
The Lebanese man has been charged with possession of explosive material and prosecutors said further charges could follow next week.
Tuesday's blasts in the sprawling Thai capital were not near the main area for embassies.
A taxi driver told Thai television the suspect had thrown a bomb in front of his car when he refused to pick him up near the site of the first blast. He was wounded slightly.
Government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng said police had then tried to move in and arrest the man but he attempted to throw another bomb at them. It went off before he was able to do so, blowing one of his legs off. A doctor at Chulalongkorn Hospital told reporters the other leg had had to be amputated.
Another doctor was quoted on television as saying three Thai people had suffered minor injuries in the incident, in addition to the taxi driver.
There have been no major attacks blamed on Islamist militants in Bangkok even though Muslim rebels are battling government security forces in Muslim-dominated southern provinces of the Buddhist kingdom.
In 1994, suspected Islamist militants tried to set off a large truck bomb outside the Israeli embassy in Bangkok but they abandoned the bid and fled after the truck was involved in a minor traffic accident as it approached the mission.