Follow these stories;
This is prima ficia proof USCIS have no OSINT CAPABILITY, and isn't connected to the counter-terrorism net.
#1)
Risk of terrorist being non-Arabic, in USA.(CBS) U.S. officials are increasingly worried that the next attack on America could be carried out by Americans trained in terror tactics inside al Qaeda's safe-haven in Pakistan, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Arrests last month in Barcelona underline the fear. More than a dozen trained suicide bombers - many of them European citizens just back from Pakistan - were taken down as they prepared to launch attacks against transit systems in Spain and four neighboring countries.
"They've realized that if they want to operate successfully, they need to have people who look like us, act like us, and are very difficult to find," said Philip Mudd, a top counter-terrorism official at the FBI.
SOURCE:
More:
the bulletin says. The bulletin provides a fresh glimpse of terrorist reports found in computers and disks seized in Pakistan in July. The reports described the casing by terrorists of several buildings in the United States and prompted U.S. authorities to raise the terror threat level earlier this year for high-profile financial facilities in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J. The heightened alert was eased shortly after the Nov. 2 election, and there is no evidence a potential attack ever moved beyond initial planning. "Current intelligence provides no indications that Al Qaeda has operatives to conduct an attack based upon the information in these reports," the eight-page bulletin said. Produced by the FBI and Homeland Security Department, the bulletin was circulated Tuesday to law enforcement, government and industry officials nationwide and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The excerpts, according to the bulletin, show that Al Qaeda operatives go well beyond basic description of a potential target to sophisticated analysis of vulnerabilities in building construction, an examination of potential police and emergency response and recommendations for possible methods of attack. In one report, an unidentified Al Qaeda operative notes that a building "is almost completely made to resemble a glass house %u2014 which could be devastating in an emergency scenario … that is to say, that when shattered, each piece of glass becomes a potential flying piece of cutthroat shrapnel!"
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#2)
Homeland Security Chief on Threats -
By James Gordon Meek
On the fifth anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security, its second leader, Michael Chertoff, talked to me about his deepest fears about terrorist threats and why he frets over Europe and Canada more than Mexico. In the interview published Sunday in the New York Daily News, the secretary of Homeland Security said "more than a dozen" people linked to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and other extremists have tried to enter the U.S. through ports of entry on the northern border, he said, while there have been almost no such attempts at U.S.-Mexico checkpoints.
Aboard his sleek Gulfstream V jet (callsign "Coast Guard One"), Chertoff also discussed America's growing complacency toward terror threats, why racial profiling at airports is "foolish" and explained how terror plots get hyped by some in the government.
The former prosecutor and judge often thrust into the political debate over illegal immigration denied that the Mexican border has been an easy way for Al Qaeda to penetrate the U.S.
"When we've had instances - and there have not been many - where we’ve caught terrorists trying to sneak in, it's been through ports of entry using false documents, and I think we’ve been more concerned about Canada as a platform than Mexico," he said.
Chertoff said "much more than a dozen" stopped at the Canadian border since the 9/11 attacks were connected to "a mix" of terror groups through "either a financial connection, maybe a family connection, maybe communications."
More: February 12, 2008 06:34 PM
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#3)
Beware the Morphing of Al Qaeda in Iraq
By Douglas Farah
One of the fundamental truths of dealing with networks, terrorist or otherwise, is that they will morph quickly to survive and adapt as the environment around them changes.
This seems to be the case in Iraq, where, as we know from captured documents that al Qaeda linked groups there have been badly hurt in recent months.
The strategy may now be to move outside Iraq and wage a different type of war from surrounding countries.
The indicators, as outlined by Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, are leaders leaving with cash and seeking refuge outside of areas of intense U.S. pressure.
If anyone remembers the drug wars in the Andes in the 1980s and 1990s (which I covered intensely for more than a decade), one will remember the great joy at the felling of the individual cartel leaders (Rodriguez Gacha, Pablo Escobar, the arrest of the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers etc.), and the inevitable statements that these actions would have a significant impact on the amount of cocaine entering the United States.
Of course, the flow of cocaine was never dented at all. The organizations simply regrouped, decentralized, became much more difficult to attack frontally, and business went on. My full blog is here.
February 12, 2008 09:37 AM
Link#4)
Immigration and National Security - Back To The Future
By Bill West
Two stories have just surfaced in the media that once again demonstrate the direct linkage of immigration issues and national security.
First, we learn the FBI and DHS are concerned about the possibility of Americans or Europeans trained by al-Qaeda in terror camps in the badlands of Pakistan making their way into the United States to conduct attacks against our homeland. US citizens would be able to enter the US on their US passports. European citizens would be able to enter under the Visa Waiver Program wherein citizens of some 27 countries, mostly western and northern European countries, are not required to obtain a US visa to enter the United States as a “temporary” visitor. Combined with this threat, there is a concern that such terrorists will include women suicide bombers more easily able to access their targets, especially women posing as being pregnant to hide their explosive devices.
Next, we have learned the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency will begin to adjudicate (read “approve”) a huge backlog of pending immigration benefit applications and petitions, mostly for permanent residency (“green card” status), before full FBI and other security checks are completed. The given rationale is the vast majority of such applicants pass such checks anyway and those who ultimately do not will have their status revoked and, in the words of a USCIS spokesperson, “will be deported.”
Six plus years from the 9/11 attacks we now have senior counter-terrorism officials of the US Government finally recognizing, albeit somewhat indirectly, the Visa Waiver Program that was originally devised many years ago as a process to expedite international tourism for the travel industry is a genuine national security concern. Some others have been making this warning for quite a while, to include right here in this Blog.
February 12, 2008 04:35 PM Link
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ANY BODY HOME, LIGHTS ARE ON BUT NOBODY HOME.
FBI and DHS both warning of possible impending terrorist attacks in the future in USA.
Both worried about borders and illegals sneaking in, both on high alert.
And
European citizens would be able to enter under the Visa Waiver Program wherein citizens of some 27 countries, mostly western and northern European countries, are not required to obtain a US visa to enter the United States as a “temporary” visitor.
Plus: the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency will begin to adjudicate (read “approve”) a huge backlog of pending immigration benefit applications and petitions, mostly for permanent residency (“green card” status), before full FBI and other security checks are completed.One hand locking the door and posting guards and doormen.
and the other hand unlocking the back door, letting EVERYBODY IN.
Makes one proud to be an American.
Bill
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Labels: CONFUSED, nuts, out of touch, psychotic, usa
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