HomelandSecurityLeader.com

From The Associated Press 

Audio and video messages from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden since Sept. 11, 2001:

_ Nov. 29, 2007: Urges Europeans to stop helping U.S. in Afghanistan conflict, saying on audiotape that war was unfair because he was the “only one responsible” for the Sept. 11 attack.

_ Oct. 22, 2007: Calls for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive “extremism” in audiotape apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to the terror group’s branch in Iraq.

_ Sept. 20, 2007: Urges Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf for his alliance with U.S. against Islamic militants. Images in 23-minute video have been released before, but audio refers to recent events.

_ Sept. 11, 2007: Commemorates a Sept. 11 suicide hijacker and calls on young Muslims to become martyrs in videotape that carries audio message with still image of the al-Qaida leader.

_ Sept. 7, 2007: Appears for first time in three years in 30-minute video marking sixth anniversary of Sept. 11 attack. Tells Americans they should convert to Islam if they want Iraq war to end. His beard, which previously was mostly gray, now entirely dark.

_ July 1, 2006: Endorses new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, and denounces Iraqi Shiite leaders as traitors in 19-minute audiotape.

_ June 30, 2006: Praises al-Muhajer’s predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by U.S. airstrike. Audio message, also 19 minutes, packaged with old photo of bin Laden and images of al-Zarqawi.

_ May 23, 2006: Says in audiotape that convicted terror plotter Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with Sept. 11 attack.

_ April 23, 2006: Accuses West of making war on Islam in audiotape and urges followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.

_ Jan. 19, 2006: Warns in audiotape that his fighters are preparing new attacks in U.S. but offers Americans a “long-term truce” without specifying conditions.

_ Dec. 28, 2004: Endorses al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and calls in hour-long audiotape for Iraqis to boycott elections.

_ Dec. 16, 2004: Praises militants who attacked U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia and calls in audiotape for militants to stop the flow of oil to the West.

_ Oct. 29, 2004: Says in audiotape that U.S. can avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening security of Muslims.

_ May 6, 2004: Promises in audio message to pay rewards of gold for the killing of U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq.

_ April 15, 2004: Offers truce to European countries that do not attack Muslims, speaking on audiotape.

_ Jan. 4, 2004: Says war in Iraq is the beginning of the “occupation” of Persian Gulf states for their oil. Audio message urges Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East.

_ Sept. 10, 2003: Appearing in first video in nearly two years, walks through rocky terrain with top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. Accompanying audio message praises the “great damage to the enemy” done by the Sept. 11 attack and mentions five hijackers by name.

_ April 7, 2003: Exhorts Muslims to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Arab governments it calls “agents of America.” Audiotape also urges suicide attacks on U.S. and British interests.

_ Feb. 13, 2003: Reads last will and testament on audiotape. Says he wants to die a martyr in a new attack on the U.S.

_ Feb. 11, 2003: Tells followers to help Saddam Hussein fight U.S. troops preparing for invasion.

_ Nov. 12, 2002: Threatens new terrorism against U.S. and its allies, and calls the Bush administration “the biggest serial killers in this age.”

_ Dec. 13, 2001: Says on videotape that the destruction of Sept. 11 attack exceeded even his “optimistic” calculations.

From Al Jazeera

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, has called on Europeans to stop their political leaders helping the US in the Afghan war.
 
“It would be better for you if you [restrained] your politicians who flock to the White House and worked actively to end the wrong done to the oppressed,” he said in an audio tape aired on Thursday.
 
“You [Europeans] become followers to America and that is why no US soldier has been put on trial before European courts,” he said.
 
He continued: “I remind you that the American tide is receding … and that US troops will go home beyond the Atlantic to leave neighbours to settle their problems.

Full Report… 

 From HometownAnnapolis.com

Bill the Goat was stolen from the former Naval Academy Dairy Farm in Gambrills.  Well, he was more like borrowed.

According to a YouTube.com clip and one of the farmers at the dairy, Bill XXXII, Bill XXXIII and Bill XXXIV - the three angora goats who serve as the Naval Academy’s mascot - were stolen early on the morning of Nov. 17 during “Operation Good Shepherd,” the code name for the thieves’ caper.

See YouTube videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgAcXTzf-8s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY705TNzEus

Full Story…

9:00 AM MST  Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Richard Barth will deliver remarks at the Fall Forum of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

From FEDagent.com

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has temporarily abandoned its attempt to enforce its proposed “no match” rule that would use Social Security records for immigration enforcement. In a late Friday afternoon court filing the day after Thanksgiving in federal court in San Francisco, DHS requested that a lawsuit challenging the rule be put on hold until March 2008. The government plans to publish a revised rule next month that it believes will pass legal muster.

The lawsuit was brought by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and labor groups to block the proposed “no match” rule, which would require employers to penalize or fire those whose Social Security numbers don’t match up with the Social Security Administration (SSA) database. The lawsuit charges that the SSA database is fundamentally flawed and error-prone, and that the rule would result in the firing of countless legal workers as well prompt employers to discriminate against those who look or sound “foreign.”

Recently, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer issued a preliminary order stopping the government from enforcing the proposed rule – which would affect more than eight million workers – finding that it would cause irreparable harm to both innocent workers and employers.

The labor groups challenging the DHS rule say that the SSA’s own Inspector General found that more than 70% of the discrepancies in the SSA database belong to native-born U.S. citizens. Discrepancies between workers’ Social Security numbers and SSA records can result from a number of innocent factors including clerical errors, name changes due to marriage or divorce, or the common use of multiple surnames.

We’ll let you know what happens.

Reproduced with permission of FEDagent.

Sources are reporting that a new Usama bin Laden audio tape will be released on the Al Jazeera Network this hour.  The Al-Qaeda leader’s new message is said to be directed at Europe.

From Homeland Security Affairs, by Michael Petrie 

The use of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel ¹ as intelligence sensors or information collectors to provide information to Terrorism Early Warning Groups (TEWGs) and other local and state government intelligence fusion centers is recommended by numerous academic papers, professional articles and presentations, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security best-practice documents. These documents identify EMS personnel as valuable intelligence sensors, in part because they have access to locations not routinely available to law enforcement or intelligence communities that may contain indicators of terrorism. ²

In spite of these recommendations, exceptionally few TEWGs have incorporated EMS personnel into their information collection systems. While many TEWGs are interested in integrating EMS collection assets, they have not developed this capability because they are confounded by the complex legal, operational, professional, cultural, and societal challenges of using EMS personnel in this capacity. Conversely, at least one intelligence fusion center developed an EMS-based information collection system, but overlooked federal and state medical confidentiality laws and other strategic issues. ³

There has been no significant debate among federal, state, and local intelligence, EMS, law enforcement, homeland security, and medical communities regarding the best practices and strategic consequences of using EMS personnel as intelligence sensors. ⁴ Absent an such an interdisciplinary debate leading to the development of model EMS information collection practice standards and the articulation of clearly defined public benefit, elected officials, the leadership of the EMS and medical communities, and other policymakers will not sanction the use of EMS personnel in this capacity, resulting in the inability to use EMS personnel as information collectors to prevent terrorism.

Full Report…

From CorpWatch, by Tim Shorrock

A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time. Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office (NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and domestic law enforcement and rescue agencies use imagery and communications intelligence picked up by U.S. spy satellites. If the plan goes forward, the NAO will create the legal mechanism for an unprecedented degree of domestic intelligence gathering that would make the U.S. one of the world’s most closely monitored nations. Until now, domestic use of electronic intelligence from spy satellites was limited to scientific agencies with no responsibility for national security or law enforcement.

The intelligence-sharing system to be managed by the NAO will rely heavily on private contractors including Boeing, BAE Systems, L-3 Communications and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). These companies already provide technology and personnel to U.S. agencies involved in foreign intelligence, and the NAO greatly expands their markets. Indeed, at an intelligence conference in San Antonio, Texas, last month, the titans of the industry were actively lobbying intelligence officials to buy products specifically designed for domestic surveillance.

The NAO was created under a plan tentatively approved in May 2007 by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. Specifically, the NAO will oversee how classified information collected by the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and other key agencies is used within the U.S. during natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other events affecting national security. The most critical intelligence will be supplied by the NSA and the NGA, which are often referred to by U.S. officials as the “eyes” and “ears” of the intelligence community.

Full Story…

From MSNBC.com, by Associated Press

PHOENIX - An illegal immigrant who gave up his long walk into the U.S. to help a boy whose mother was killed in a van crash in the desert said Wednesday that he never thought of leaving the child.

“I am a father of four children. For that, I stayed,” Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes said in Spanish from his home in the Mexican state of Sonora. “I never could have left him. Never.”

Authorities said Cordova may have saved the life of 9-year-old Christopher Buztheitner, whose mother was killed when their van ran off a cliff in a remote area north of the Mexican border on Thanksgiving Day.

Full Story…

America has lost a patriot.

And, patriot is a title that certainly befits Congressman Henry Hyde, a combat veteran, Congressman and a tireless defender of the right to life.  

In 2007, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  At the time an official relase told Congressman Hyde’s story, “A veteran, a lawyer, and a public servant, Henry Hyde has served his country with honor and dedication. During his 32-year career in the House of Representatives, he was a powerful defender of life, a leading advocate for a strong national defense, and an unwavering voice for liberty, democracy, and free enterprise around the world. A true gentleman of the House, he advanced his principles without rancor and earned the respect of friends and adversaries alike. The United States honors Henry Hyde for his distinguished record of service to America.”

Our country will miss you.