July 21, 2008 – 4:41 a.m.
While the nation is “immersed in the presidential election this fall, [t]here is potential for reduced focus on security, at least among the American people,” The Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times frets, warning against “divert[ing] attention from threats.” A terror think tank, meanwhile, warns of “an increased likelihood of large-scale terror attack based on credible intercepted communications,” National Terror Alert tells, citing a “level 2” threat running through Aug. 6.
Feds: “The commander of the U.S. Northern Command seems unnaturally upbeat and energetic for a man whose job is to figure out what disasters might befall the American homeland,” The Associated Press’ Dan Elliott profiles. With the FBI finally reconsidering profiling on “the basis of ethnic and religious backgrounds, those most likely to commit acts of Islamic terrorism will no longer be able to hide in plain sight,”FrontPage Magazine’s Stephen Brown applauds. “Congressional turf fights have to be brought under control so that DHS can more effectively confront security risks,” the department’s Stephen R. Heifetz comments in The New York Times. “What the Bush administration is now focused upon is not safeguarding the survival of Israel and the freedom of the world but on winning the presidency for the Republicans,” The Spectator’s Melanie Phillips suspicions in re: the past weekend’s discussions with Iran.
Road to Baghdad: On day two of his foreign policy hegira, Barack Obama yesterday “discussed terrorism, corruption and drugs” with Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, Reuters’ Jon Hemming reports. In a bit of serendipitous timing, Iraq’s P.M. has essentially endorsed Obama’s plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq in an interview with Germany’s Spiegel, the Times’ Sarah Wheaton blogs — and see FOX News eviscerate the candidate’s Iraq itinerary. “Obama is serious about a withdrawal plan for Iraq, but he’s committed himself to expanding the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dumb idea,” Tom Hayden harrumphs on AlterNet. “Electing Barack Obama is essential to ending the war in Iraq. But his exit plan doesn’t guarantee the occupation will end on terms that are swift, just and complete,” The Nation nags. Obama apparently is “willing to throw a billion Muslims under the bus along with so many of his former friends and associates — at least until after the election,” Robert Spencer harrumphs in Human Events.
Poly-ticks: “If we go by their pronouncements, both Barack Obama and John McCain will represent a sea change from the current administration when it comes to nuclear weapons,” The Progressive projects. As Americans near the polls, “the Middle East is roiling,” Richard Clarke and twoothers lead off in an International Herald Tribune op-ed wondering if McCain “would bring to the job a rigid conviction that America can win all wars, if it only has the will to fight on” — while The New York Times analyzes a McCain ad attacking Obama’s war stance. “The next president will have the opportunity to provide a good dose of reshaping and re-energizing DHS. I recommend a ‘Return to Basics’ approach,” ex-DHSer James M. Loy comments in The Washington Times. Adjures The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard, similarly: “The next president and Congress should . . . be uncompromising in facing the challenges of homeland security.”
State and local: “While some cities have seen their dreams of providing wireless Internet access for all fade, others have forged ahead with wireless networks for an altogether different purpose: surveillance,” NPR leads. Talk of a referendum to fund a 911 comm center and emergency ops center has been tabled in favor of applying for a DHS grant partially finance the project, The Council Bluffs (Iowa) Daily Nonpareil notes. New York State’s Office of Homeland Security was rocked last week by the sudden departure of its longtime acting director, The Albany Times Union tells. Rhode Island’s A.G. sussed the “widespread nature” of the immigration problem first hand when it emerged last week that a custodian who cleans his office is undocumented, The Providence Journal recounts. Sept. 11 families will be allowed to return to Ground Zero — from which they were barred last year — to mourn on the seventh anniversary of the attacks, AP relates.
Know nukes: “Nuclear war and nuclear terrorism remain genuinely existential threats to the United States. In fact, their likelihood is increasing, not diminishing,” a Washington Times op-ed alerts — and check the Los Angeles CityBeat cover: “Going Ballistic: Saving L.A. from nuclear terror.” Rumors that Iran is less than a year away from a nuclear bomb are false and misleading, a New American Media op-ed argues — while a CFR Backgrounder sees expert unanimity that Iran’s ability to produce enriched uranium is progressing, but divergence on the imminence of weapons, and check the Post for a military assessment of what an invasion of Iran would actually entail. “Anyone who wants to guess whether Israel and/or the United States are going to attack Iran should look at the map of the Strait of Hormuz,” The Progressive further instructs. D.C.’s homeland czar, meanwhile, tells CQ Politics he expects the panicked chaos prompted by even a minor terror nuke to stymie evacuation of the nation’s capitol.
The air up there: A transcontinental flight was diverted to Oklahoma City when a passenger stripped nude and tried to open an emergency hatch before being subdued by a Boston soccer team, WCVB-TV 5 tells — while The Sydney Morning Herald sees a bomb threat sending federal agents swarming over a packed Qantas jet in L.A. on Saturday. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., says a mixup on a terrorist watch list still plagues his air travel five years after the problem arose, AP relates. (Also see The South Florida Sun-Sentinel on an ex-U.S. Attorney’s watch list woes, and a Riverside (Calif.) Press Enterprise advice columnist’s no-fly nostrums.) The easiest way to get arrested anywhere in or around an airport is to utter words like “al Qaeda” or “bomb,” U.S. News notes in a guide to “4 Dumb Ways to Get in Trouble at the Airport.” “Most of the security that TSA provides for us is an optical illusion, designed to make us feel safer in the wake of 9/11,” a security maven posts for ZDNet.
Courts and rights: A Croatian has been granted parole after serving 30 years for hijacking a jet and planting a bomb that killed an NYPD officer, The International Herald Tribune relays — while The Coos Bay (Ore.) World has a woman being handed five years Friday for a 2001 act of “ecoterror arson.” Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s ex-chauffeur, “is a small player with a big role,” AP curtain-raises on the first Gitmo tribunal opening today — while The Wall Street Journal predicts that “the trials should prove therapeutic and educational, [reminding] America about the nature of the threat.” In a filing Friday, Justice argued the United States has the authority to detain a Canadian captured in Afghanistan when he was 15, AP reports, while Yemen’s foreign minister on Saturday called on the United States to hand over roughly 100 Yemeni detainees, Agence France-Presse says.
Qaeda Qorner: Israeli police have detained six Arabs charged with planning an al Qaeda franchise in Israel and perhaps plotting to kill President Bush, the Times tells. Afghanistan’s allure to a fresh influx of jihadis from around the Muslim world signals al Qaeda’s regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active terror front, AP reports — while another AP item suggests al Qaeda may be diverting fighters from Iraq to Afghanistan. “Coalition forces expect it. Al Qaeda and the Pakistan Taliban expect it: The war in Afghanistan will soon spill over into Pakistani territory,” Asia Times forecasts. “Al Qaeda has made terrorism truly global, to deadly effect. But it may yet prove to be its own worst enemy,” The Economist essays. “Al Qaeda is not robust enough to sustain a series of attacks over time to achieve strategic effects,” a City Journal review of Michael A. Sheehan’s “Crush the Cell” (Crown) judges. “The car: Please turn over the car to brother Othman at the al Qaeda guesthouse,” Harper’s Magazinehas the late Mohammed Atef’s recently translated memo on terrorist housekeeping matters imploring.
Over there: DHS’s Chertoff rubbishes a report that Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel has been sending gunmen to Iran via Venezuela for explosives and weapons training since 2005, The Seattle Times relays. Two Tunisian officials have been imprisoned in an alleged terror plot to overthrow the government, AP reports — while Agence France-Presse sees French counterterrorists investigating the theft of 62 pounds of explosives from a bomb disposal depot. Hong Kong, host to Olympic equestrian events, is promising a more relaxed approach to security than Beijing has taken, The New York Times tells — while In Homeland Securityhopes China’s focus on internal strife doesn’t “cause a blindspot” to foreigners’ transit points, and see New Scientist on Beijing’s bid to enlist the city’s 15 million residents as a counterterror auxiliary.
Ask not for whom the cell tolls: “According to a report released by the Pentagon, evidence suggests that the small Central African nation of Burundi may be developing a telephone, and experts warn the country could be just 10 years away from achieving a dial tone,” The Onion reports. “‘If Burundi’s telephone has long-distance capabilities, it will be possible for them to reach the continental United States and parts of Canada with just the push of several buttons,’ CIA spokesman Richard Caburn said. ‘Thankfully, we possess advanced caller ID technology, so if they ever decide to call, we will be prepared.’ The Pentagon has mailed Burundi a letter asking them to end their communications program immediately, and has not ruled out the option of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the nation.” Check out, as well, Onion Radio News for: “Stripper From Future Jumps Out Of Birthday Cake To Warn Humanity”