HomelandSecurityLeader.com

From The Independent, by Geoffrey Lean

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Full Story…

10:00 AM EDT  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Citizenship Chief Alfonso Aguilar will participate in a naturalization ceremony celebrating Transfer Day which marks the day the U.S. Virgin Islands was transferred to the U.S. in 1917. (St. Thomas, USVI).

Tuesday, April 1, 2008  @ 2pm

311 Cannon House Office Building

“The Future of Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security.” 

· Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology

Witness:  Hon. Jay Cohen, Under Secretary, Science and Technology, Department of Homeland Security

There will be a webcast of this hearing.

On Wednesday, April 2, the House Committee on Homeland Security will host a technology fair entitled, “Detecting and Responding to Bioterrorism” to promote a better understanding of technologies used in combating bioterrorism. 

This fair will highlight the latest tools used in the detection and response of a bioterrorist attack – which includes the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents, such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins in a naturally-occurring or a human-modified form through air, water, or food.  Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee, will be in attendance.

Bioterrorism Technology Fair

Wednesday, April 2

9am to 3pm

Rayburn Foyer

By Haaretz.com and AP , by Yoav Stern and Jack Khoury  

The chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee said yesterday that the Israeli Arab sector and its leadership would fight what he called the “rising fascism” of Israeli society.

Israeli Arabs and supporters gathered across the country to mark the 32nd Land Day, an annual event protesting government policy regarding Israel’s largest minority.

“We have reached an age of a race to see who can incite more against the Israeli Arab public and its leadership,” committee chairman Shuweiki Hatib said, speaking to protesters in Sakhnin.

Full Story…

From The Boston Globe, by Bryan Bender

For more than a year, a Burlington-based Internet company hosted a website that taught its members how to outfit a suicide bomber, aired Al Qaeda propaganda videos, and offered an “exclusive” Taliban video showing the beheadings of three “spies,” according to computer records.

The English-language website, Leemedia.net, was taken down earlier this month - but not in a counterterrorism crackdown, government officials said. Instead, the Web server, Endurance International Corp. Inc., shut it down after Internet watchdogs made repeated demands to remove the terrorist material.

The case of Leemedia.net, which was operated by a suspected terrorist sympathizer in Karachi, is the latest example of how US Internet companies are unknowingly hosting possibly hundreds of the most virulent Islamic extremist websites in the world, inciting young Muslims to kill Christians and Jews.

Full Story…

From FEDagent.com

A US Airways pilot, who is also a member of the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, accidentally discharged his weapon while airborne last Saturday. The flight, US Airways #1536, took off from Denver and landed safely in Charlotte. The gun went off shortly before noon while the plane was approximately 8,000 feet and 10 minutes from landing.

The pilot, who has not been identified, was authorized to carry the weapon under the FFDO program, which was created in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The FFDO program permits airline pilots and other eligible crewmembers to use firearms to defend against an act of criminal violence or air piracy attempting to gain control of an aircraft.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports that the US Airways pilot completed the required training, and last requalified on November 7, 2007. The pilot has been taken off duty while the incident is investigated.

According to a police report obtained by news outlets yesterday, the gun went off as the pilot was attempting to stow it in preparation for landing. The pistol was a .40-caliber semiautomatic H&K USP, which is widely viewed as a high quality, reliable weapon. The bullet pierced the cockpit, exiting the plane below the cockpit window.

US Airways officials have said the accidental discharge did not pose a danger to the 5 crew members and 124 passengers on board the Airbus A319. The Federal Air Marshal Service, however, has stated publicly that the matter remains under investigation.

This is the first time a pilot’s weapon has been fired on an airplane since the FFDO program launched.

No Official Events Announced.

From foxnews.com

From the White House, Ken Wainstein will coordinate efforts “to ensure that we continue to make progress on combating terrorism, securing our borders and strengthening our emergency preparedness,” Bush said in a statement.

In an e-mail to his staff, Wainstein said he expected to start at the White House in about 10 days.

“I am profoundly grateful and humbled that the president asked me to serve in this position, and it is a tremendous opportunity to contribute to our national security effort from a different perspective,” he wrote.

Full story…

From defenselink.mil, by Gerry J. Gilmore

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2008 – Winning the war on terrorism will be a long, slow process predicated on earning the loyalty of people insurgents want to control for their own ends, according to one of the U.S. Army’s premier counter-insurgency experts.

“We are not going to kill or capture our way out of this,” Army Lt. Col. John A. Nagl told reporters on Fort Riley, Kan., March 17. The war against terrorism, he said, is a generations-long, global endeavor that requires both economic and political assets to be brought into the fight, as well as military power.

Full Story…