HomelandSecurityLeader.com

10:00 AM EDT Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistant Administrator for Mitigation David I. Maurstad will testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management on the Pre-disaster Mitigation Program (Washington, DC).

12:00 PM EDT Secretary Michael Chertoff will deliver remarks to the Heritage Foundation’s “Civil Rights and the War on Terror-Dilemmas and Challenges” Event (Washington, DC).

1:30 PM CEST Deputy Chief Privacy Officer John W. Kropf will speak at the Europe/US/Canada Airport Security Policy and Technology Conference on achieving balance between security and personal privacy (Vienna, Austria).

2:30 PM EDT U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Acting Deputy Director Mike Aytes and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Domestic Operations Acting Associates Director Don Neufeld will testify before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law (Washington, DC).

· Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response

MARKUP

· H.R. 1333, the “Civil Air Patrol Homeland Security Support Act of 2007″

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Air Force to use Civil Air Patrol personnel and resources to support homeland security missions.

· H.R. 4183, the “National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act of 2007″

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System.

· H.R. 5890, the “Citizen and Community Preparedness Act of 2008″

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Community Preparedness Division of the Department of Homeland Security and the Citizen Corps Program, and for other purposes.

From DHS Release 

Baltimore - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today improvements aimed at strengthening aviation security while decreasing the hassle factor for travelers. Among the key improvements, DHS is providing airlines more flexibility to allow passengers to check in remotely who have been unable to do so because they have a name similar to someone on a watch list. The department also unveiled the Checkpoint Evolution prototype, which begins full operation at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) today.

Each airline will now be able to create a system to verify and securely store a passenger’s date of birth to clear up watch list misidentifications. By voluntarily providing this limited biographical data to an airline and verifying that information once at the ticket counter, travelers that were previously inconvenienced on every trip will now be able to check-in online or at remote kiosks.

“Hassles due to misidentification and the resulting necessity to stand in line to check in at the ticket counter is consistently among the deepest - and most valid - complaints of the traveling public,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Thousands of passengers are inconvenienced each day, and this change should provide a way to eliminate the vast majority of these situations. This is good for travelers and for security, because as we make the checkpoint environment calmer, it becomes easier to spot individuals with hostile intent.”

Additionally, DHS is providing greater clarity on the types of identification that will be accepted at checkpoints in the U.S. Beginning May 26, 2008, federal or state-issued photo ID will be accepted if it contains: name, date of birth, gender, expiration date and a tamper-resistant feature. Standardizing the list of accepted documents better aligns TSA with other DHS components and REAL ID benchmarks. More information on acceptable documents is available at www.tsa.gov.

These innovations, along with the new Checkpoint Evolution prototype, are part of a broader effort to calm the checkpoint. The BWI prototype includes Millimeter Wave technology used in random continuous use, multi-view X-ray and liquid bottle scanners. These technologies, in conjunction with changes to the checkpoint environment and processes, will be evaluated for operational efficiency over the coming months.

Transportation Security Officers and managers at BWI are the first in the country to complete a 16-hour training module designed to incorporate the latest intelligence analysis, more advanced explosives detection skills, and ways to engage with passengers to promote a calmer environment for better security. The training was developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Office of Intelligence, Bomb Appraisal Officers, and TSA Checkpoint Evolution team.

Checkpoint Evolution is located at B Checkpoint, Southwest Terminal at BWI. The layered security elements are both modular and flexible and designed to work individually, as well as part of an integrated package.

9:30 AM EDT  Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia on the REAL ID Act and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (Washington, DC).

10:00 AM EDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on customs reauthorization, balancing trade facilitation, enforcement and security (Washington, DC).

11:15 AM EDT  Privacy Office Director of Privacy Technology Peter Sand will speak at the 9th Annual Knowledge Management Conference and Exhibition on the Privacy Office?s best practices for identifying and protecting personally identifiable information  (Washington, DC).

1:00 PM EDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers will deliver remarks on the Student Exchange Visitor Program (College Park, MD).

No Official Events Announced.

From HSLEADER.com, by John Taylor 

Washington - Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko, gave a long overdue talk to the attendees of GovSec on Thursday on behalf of her late husband. Mr. Litvinenko was scheduled to address GovSec in 2007, when he was assassinated in November 2006 with tea poisoned with polonium-210.

Mrs. Litvinenko gave an emotional account of her husband’s legacy as an FSB whistle-blower, who exposed conspiracies and corruption at the highest levels of the Kremlin, and the terrible circumstances surrounding his murder. She also said she is frustrated with the Russian government’s stonewalling of England’s extradition request for the suspected assassin.

The assassination, which took place during a meeting in London, left a radioactive trail that British investigators said traced back to Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian businessman and former KGB officer. In July 2007, Russia formally denied a British extradition request for Lugovoi and in December 2007 he was elected to the Russian Parliament.

Mrs. Litvinenko was joined by a panel of outspoken critics of President Putin’s Kremlin that included: Oleg Kalugin (a former KGB Major General who now lives in the US), Paul Joyal (an expert on Russia who was shot in Maryland four days after claiming the Kremlin was involved in the Litvinenko assassination) and Alex Goldfarb (the Chairman of the Litvinenko Justice Foundation).

Comparing the WMD-like lethality of polonium-210 to that of anthrax, the panel said the hubris of what they called a “nuclear attack in a Western country” being executed in such a brazen manner was meant to send a clear signal that corrupt elements within Russia’s leadership will do anything to protect their power. 

Mrs. Litvinenko said, “If they went to such lengths to get rid of my husband, imagine what they would do if their larger interests are at stake.”

During her presentation, Mrs. Litvinenko said that despite warnings to temper his criticisms, her husband continued to publish hard hitting investigative reports based on information he developed from his personal intelligence network.

Mrs. Litvinenko said she will continue her husband’s work and seek justice in his murder through the Litvinenko Justice Foundation (http://www.litvinenko.org.uk/). She said that as he was dying, Mr. Litvinenko had predicted that she would travel the world to carry on his work.

Finally, the panel expressed disappointment that as the trail of the investigation was leading right to the doorsteps of the Kremlin that President Bush continued to meet with Putin and praise his presidency. They also praised the U.S. House of Representatives for recently passing a resolution calling for justice in the Litvinenko case. A similar resolution is making its way through the Senate.

In closing, Mrs. Litvinenko said that despite her personal loss and the politics involved, she wishes only the best for the people of Russia and hopes recently elected President Medvedev will distance himself from Putin’s legacy of repression.

2:00 PM EDT  Secretary Michael Chertoff will sign a memorandum of understanding on the Visa Waiver Program with Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan followed by a press availability (Washington, DC).

2:00 PM EDT  Assistant Secretary for the Private Sector Office Al Martinez-Fonts will participate in a panel discussion with U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas A. Shannon and U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere Walter Bastian on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and the North American Leaders’ Summit (Washington, DC).

Tip Leads to Identity of “Beloved Doe”: Mother Arrested and Charged in the Case

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Andrew R. Bland, III and Houston Police Department Chief Harold Hurtt announce the arrest of Maria Dana Martinez, 30, charged in the death of “Beloved Doe.” Martinez was taken into custody last evening by officers of the Houston Police Department and agents of the FBI assigned to the Violent Crimes/Gang Task Force. This morning, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Special Crimes Bureau, filed charges of Felony Murder-Injury to a Child by Omission against Martinez. Tips from the public led to the arrest and the discovery of the identity of “Beloved Doe” as Jose Bernardo Martinez. Jose Bernardo Martinez was born on October 14, 1997. He was 5 years old at the time of his death.

On February 4, 2008, the FBI placed “Beloved Doe” on its “Wanted-Seeking Information” list, along with a promise of a reward for information leading to the identification of “Beloved Doe,” his parents, or caretaker. “Beloved Doe” was the nickname given to an unidentified male child, whose remains were discovered in a dumpster inside the Willow Creek Apartment Complex, 7575 Office City Drive, Houston, Texas, on the morning of Thursday, March 13, 2003.

The Houston office of the FBI joined the Houston Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety’s ongoing investigation into the death of this child in the hopes of generating the information needed to solve this case. The media coverage and public’s interest in the “Beloved Doe” investigation was critically important in solving this cold case. The tips following Tuesday night’s Spanish language network broadcast of Aqui y Ahora on Univision, specifically led to the identification and arrest. The tips came in to Crime-Stoppers and the Houston office of the FBI.

The investigation is still ongoing. Now that “Beloved Doe’s” identity is known, we are asking for the continued assistance of the public. Anyone who has knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the life and death of Jose Bernardo Martinez is encouraged to come forward. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Houston office of the FBI at 713-693-5000 or toll free at 1-888-FBI-IDEN (1-888-324-4336).

1:00 PM EDT  Transportation Security Administration Operational Process and Technology Chief of Staff Adam Tsao and Science and Technology Security Lab Director Susan Hallowell will testify before the House Science and Technology Committee Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation on aviation security research and development (Washington, DC).

1:15 PM EDT  Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Kathleen Kraninger will deliver remarks to the National Conference of State Legislature’s Spring Forum on secure identification and REAL ID (Washington, DC).

9:15 AM EDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers will deliver remarks at the GovSec 2008 Conference (Washngton, DC).

10:00 AM EDT  Acting Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on improving the functionality, governance and accountability of the Department of Homeland Security (Washngton, DC).

1:30 PM EDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers will participate in a forum on combating the growing threat of international organized crime hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies  (Washngton, DC).

3:00 PM EDT  Deputy Under Secretary for Management Elaine Duke will deliver keynote remarks to the Small Business Administration on the importance of small business to homeland security during National Small Business Week events (Washngton, DC).