Planting bombs can be dangerous work

This week Chilean prosecutors dropped charges for lack of evidence against 13 suspects imprisoned eight months for a series of bombings outside bank buildings.

Their case had swelled to almost 800 witnesses and 7,000 pieces of evidence, including history books and a poster of Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose.

The government’s plans to prosecute for terrorist conspiracy, with a penalty of life in prison, collapsed when a judge tossed out 70 percent of the evidence as weak or irrelevant and ordered prosecutors to pay legal fees for suspects who maintained a 65-day hunger strike in maximum security prison.

When an appeals court upheld the judge’s ruling, prosecutors had no choice but to drop the charges filed under Chile’s Pinochet-era anti-terror law, which permits secret witnesses, lengthy pre-trial detention and other harsh measures.

Four suspects still face charges of setting off 29 bombs, while two others are charged with allegedly financing the crimes.  All six were freed until the Nov. 28 trial.

The investigation had languished for years before Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter put prosecutor Alejandro Pena in charge.

Two months after taking over the case, Pena announced charges involving 120 noise bombs detonated outside banks between 2006 and 2010.  The only person who died in these attacks was a young man whose bomb prematurely went off in his backpack.

Also a Saudi militant called Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri  was killed during the attack. Al-Asiri was believed the architect in the construction of  the bombs for the al-Qaida branch’s most notorious attempted attacks — including the underwear-borne explosives intended to a down a U.S. aircraft, and a bomb carried by his own brother intended to assassinate a Saudi prince.

The death of  al Asiri would make the Friday drone strikes on a convoy in the central deserts of Yemen one of the most effective single blows in the U.S. campaign to take out al-Qaida’s top figures.

The strike was the culmination of a desperate manhunt marked not only by near misses and dead ends, but also by…READ MORE HERE

The role of drones in the war on terror, since 2001. READ MORE HERE

Janet Napolitano, Head of Homeland Security. Following U.S. trend to cuts in defense and security..?

The coming wave of U.S. defense budget cuts will apparently be followed by less spending on Homeland Security. Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Government is spending near $75 Billion per year on U.S. Homeland Security. Whether the Spending Spree has been worthwhile is the subject of increasing debate, especially among U.S. liberals…READ MORE HERE ]]> http://www.theamericaspostes.com/3682/u-s-liberals-start-debating-on-budget-cuts-for-homeland-security/feed/ 0 http://www.theamericaspostes.com/3589/u-s-homeland-security-proposes-new-rules-to-avoid-misuse-of-ammonium-nitrate/ http://www.theamericaspostes.com/3589/u-s-homeland-security-proposes-new-rules-to-avoid-misuse-of-ammonium-nitrate/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:48:15 +0000 Carbonero http://www.theamericaspostes.com/?p=3589

Oklahoma City terror attack and The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building two days after the bombing

WASHINGTON—Department of  Homeland Security DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has proposed new rulemaking for the creation of the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program, as a measure to secure potentially dangerous chemicals.

“In today’s ever-evolving threat environment, we must continually reinforce the security of substances, such as ammonium nitrate, which can be used for legitimate purposes or exploited by terrorists,” said Secretary Napolitano in a DHS press release. “Creating the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program is a critical step forward in our continued efforts to ensure the security of potentially dangerous amounts of ammonium nitrate, while still facilitating legitimate everyday use.”

Ammonium nitrate is primarily used in fertilizers, buit it has also been used as a main component in powerful explosives for attacks including the Oklahoma City bombing, the London bombings, the recent bombing in Oslo and other acts of terrorism around the world.

DHS has proposed the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program to regulate the sale and transfer of ammonium nitrate while decreasing the burden on those who purchase or transfer ammonium nitrate for legitimate uses.

The proposed Ammonium Nitrate Security Program will increase security by working with domestic purchasers to validate legitimate use. It would also require those selling ammonium nitrate to retain records and report theft or loss of ammonium nitrate to federal authorities within 24 hours of discovery.

The proposed program builds on other DHS efforts already established to protect the U.S. from the potential misuse of ammonium nitrate. The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program regulates the security of high-risk chemical facilities while the Bomb Making Awareness Program and the Voluntary Chemical Assessment Tool (VCAT) help businesses identify suspicious purchases and support owners and operators to assess their facilities’ risk.

In cooperation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ATF, the DHS has also cosponsored the “America’s Security Begins with You” Program, which encourages ammonium nitrate suppliers to report suspicious activity. This complements the National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, which provides vendors with the means to report suspicious transactions to law enforcement.

The Pentagon and Department of Homeland security collaborate on Cybersecurity (Photo credit to Defencetalk.com)

The Department of Homeland Security DHS plans to increase its cybersecurity team by more than 50%, as legislators and the White House work to expand DHS`s authority in securing both government and private-sector websites.

By October next year, the Department of Homeland Security cyber workforce will grow from 260 to more than 400 workers, said Philip Reitinger, deputy undersecretary of the department’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, at a Senate committee hearing Monday.

A new bill  proposal released by the White House this month gives Homeland Security an expanded cyber authority and place DHS as the top protector of the dot-gov domains.

In regard to the bill, the DHS secretary would require companies to disclose…READ MORE HERE

In line with this, according to an agreement between the department secretaries last fall and a recently released White House proposal, the Defense Department is sharing cybersecurity information, capabilities and expertise with the Homeland Security Department.

Robert J. Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, was among four senior officials who testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs…READ MORE HERE

The primary responsibilities of the DHS are :

a)      protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and

b)      responding to natural disasters.

In FY 2010 it was allocated a budget of $42.7 billion and spent, net, $56.4 billion.

The Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders.

Its stated mission is to:

a)      prepare for,

b)      prevent,

c)      and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism.

On March 1, 2003, DHS absorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Service and assumed its duties. In doing so, it divided the enforcement and services functions into two separate and new agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE and the Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Additionally, the border enforcement functions of the INS and  the U.S. Customs Service were consolidated into a new agency under DHS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

With more than 200,000 employees, DHS is the third largest Cabinet department within the federal government, after the Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

Homeland Security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council.

According to analysts, the creation of DHS constituted the most significant U.S. government reorganization since the Cold War, and the most substantial reorganization of U.S. federal agencies since the U.S. National Security Act of 1947.

DHS also constitutes the most diverse merger of federal functions and responsibilities, incorporating 22 government agencies into a single organization.

John S. Pistole is the 5th TSA Administrator.

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(FILES) An FBI file handout image received on May 26, 2004 shows Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, an Al-Qaeda suspect from Tanzania. The New York judge in the first civilian trial for a former prisoner from Guantanamo Bay on November 17, 2010 answered jurors' request for guidance on a key legal definition.The jury had requested help on Tuesday as they grappled with four weeks' worth of testimony in the terrorism trial of Ahmed Ghailani, a 36-year-old Tanzanian man accused of participating in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. AFP PHOTO/FILES/FBI/HO ++RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS++ (Photo credit should read HO/AFP/Getty Images)

What was a very bad day for Ahmed Ghailani, now a convicted felon likely to spend many years in a supermax prison, was also, because of the super-charged politics surrounding Guantanamo Bay, a pretty bad day for the Obama administration.

To be sure, the 36-year-old Tanzanian was convicted Wednesday of one count of conspiracy in federal court in New York. In addition, Ghailani could well serve life in prison for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa by al-Qaeda. And it’s at least debatable whether the outcome would have been different in a military commission in Guantanamo, Cuba.

But the political reality is that the prospect of a tough sentence for conspiracy to destroy U.S. property by fire or explosives was largely swallowed up by a stunning verdict in which Ghailani was acquitted of 284 counts, including all 224 murder counts.

Across the administration, from the White House to the Justice Department, and among some human rights advocates, there was private dismay that…READ MORE HERE

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From my seat in the second row early Wednesday evening, I glanced at some of the plainclothes U.S. Marshals guarding the scene. Would this al Qaeda operative be allowed to leave?

My illusion vanished after the judge’s clerk prompted the foreman to deliver the verdict for the fourth count: conspiracy to destroy American property.

“Guilty,” the foreman said. It was the last time we would hear that word.

Ghailani did not walk out of the courtroom, and the Obama Administration did not face the awkward prospect of continuing to detain Ghailani as a so-called “enemy combatant” in the war on terror.

There are two ways to look at the verdict, which has reignited a debate over civilian trials versus military commissions for terrorism suspects.

On the one hand, the conviction guarantees a READ MORE HERE

Former CSIS spook chief Reid Morden says he's 'sorry to hear' the government is rekindling two contentious anti-terrorism measures. (CBC)

Canada’s former top spy has slammed the government’s fourth attempt to revive two fiercely debated parts of the Anti-terrorism Act, saying he “never thought” they should have been enacted in the first place.

The provisions would give police extraordinary powers of preventive arrest and could force people to show up at secret hearings to testify about possibly pending criminal acts, under penalty of imprisonment. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson touted the measures on Friday as necessary tools to fight terrorism.

The provisions had a five-year sunset clause when Parliament passed them as part of Canada’s original 2001 anti-terrorism law following the Sept. 11 hijackings in the United States that year. They expired in March 2007 when the Commons voted down a Tory motion to renew them, but not before the Conservatives painted the Liberal opposition as soft on terrorism.

The government tried to reintroduce the clauses before the 2008 election and again last year, but both times they failed to become law before the parliamentary session ended.

Alleged spanish ETA member Arturo Cubillas Fontan lives in Venezuela, due to an agreement between Carlos Andres Perez and the spanish intelligence during the 90´s, according to Chavez government.

A spanish judge said  today that  there was evidence of Venezuela “cooperating” with an alliance betweeen the the militant Basque terrorist group ETA and the colombian narcoterrorist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Speaking in Hanover, Germany, the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos had requested an “explanation” from the Venezuelan government.  Spanish National Court judge Eloy Velasco charged seven suspected FARC members and six ETA suspects with planning to stage attacks against high-ranking Colombian politicians, including President Alvaro Uribe and his predecessor Andres Pastrana, while they were in Spain.

READ MORE HERE