Terrorism

06 November 2007 -- Turkey's president says his country "has decided" on how to proceed against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and has informed the United States. The comments by President Abdullah Gul Tuesday came a day after U.S. President George Bush met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington. Deborah Block has more from the northern Iraq's Kurdish capital, Irbil.    » read more »

November 2, 2007 -- The Department of Homeland Security today released Appendix A of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), a critical element of its chemical security efforts.

The appendix contains a list of chemicals that, if possessed by a facility in a specified quantity, trigger a requirement to complete and submit an easy-to-use, online consequence assessment tool called a Top-Screen.    » read more »

30 October 2007 -- Officials in eastern Afghanistan say a roadside bomb struck the vehicle of a district intelligence chief Tuesday, killing him and three colleagues.

A provincial spokesman said the blast killed the head of the National Directorate of Security for the Qarghai district of Laghman province.

This year has been the deadliest in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government in 2001. Taliban militants have established strongholds in the south and east, attacking U.S. and NATO troops and Afghan soldiers in ambushes and suicide bombings.    » read more »

Lawsuit Calls for Change in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulations

NEW YORK, NY (October 24, 2007) -- New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced today that his office submitted legal papers in support of its lawsuit calling on the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to force nuclear power plants, like Indian Point, to safeguard their facilities against terrorist attacks from the air.    » read more »

14 October 2007 -- Iraq's National Police are supposed to play a key role in the country's counterinsurgency, but U.S. experts say they are so corrupt and riddled with sectarianism they should be "disbanded and reorganized." A major effort to overhaul the National Police has been underway for some time, and a respected police agency from Italy, the Carabiniere, joins the effort this month.

A study of Iraqi military and police forces by a team of U.S. experts recently called the Iraqi National Police ineffective, corrupt, sectarian, and unable to help in the struggle against terrorism.    » read more »

04 October 2007 -- Concerns with smuggling and terrorism have led to heightened security along U.S borders. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Seattle.

The U.S. border with Canada, 6,400 kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, has been described as the world's longest undefended international boundary.

The U.S. southern border with Mexico has hundreds of kilometers of high fencing, with more planned, but there is little to mark parts of the U.S. northern border.

A small fence is all that separates the U.S. town of Blaine, Washington, from a Canadian highway.    » read more »

Amendment included as Part of the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Act

September 18, 2007 -- Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced unanimous Senate approval of an amendment to the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Act she introduced to help prevent nuclear terrorism.    » read more »

Legislation requires plan to secure global stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material by 2012

September 18, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- The Senate recently passed a provision authored by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to help keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. The legislation was included as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.    » read more »

18 September 2007 -- The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has urged lawmakers not to weaken powers Congress approved in August expanding government capabilities conduct electronic eavesdropping to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Before leaving Washington in August for its summer break, Congress approved what is called the Protect America Act.

Passed with bipartisan margins in the House and Senate, it came after an intense Bush administration campaign to revise existing law from 1978 called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).    » read more »

September 12, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of a dangerous terror suspect to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Inayatullah, an Afghan national, was captured as a result of ongoing DoD operations in the struggle against violent extremists in Afghanistan. He has admitted that he was the Al Qaeda Emir of Zahedan, Iran, and planned and directed Al Qaeda terrorist operations. Inayatullah collaborated with numerous Al Qaeda senior leaders, to include Abu Ubaydah al-Masri and Azzam, executing their instructions and personally supporting global terrorist efforts.    » read more »

September 10, 2007 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced today that he has signed into law legislation that will enhance security procedures associated with pipelines and fueling networks that are currently vulnerable to attack. The legislation specifically addresses potential weaknesses in fueling networks servicing cities, airports, transmission systems and distribution points for petroleum, natural gas, and commercial aviation fuel.    » read more »

September 10, 2007 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced that he has signed the Freedom to Report Terrorism Act. The new law will provide protections against litigation for individuals who report potential terrorist activities.

The new law shields persons from civil and criminal liability in New York courts if they act in good faith and with the reasonable belief that an individual is acting in furtherance of a crime or an act of terrorism. Malicious reports of suspicious behavior to law enforcement would not be protected by this new law.    » read more »

Sept. 4, 2007, LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas organizations will mark the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., by co-sponsoring a panel discussion from 3:30 to 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 104 Green Hall.    » read more »

CHICAGO, August 31, 2007 --The United States is losing the legal war on terror, according to interviews the ABA Journal conducted with 50 defense attorneys who have litigated terror cases since 9/11.

The Journal also sought the opinions of 50 federal prosecutors who have handled terrorism cases since 9/11, but a Department of Justice official told them not to participate in the interviews.    » read more »

August 28, 2007 -- Washington, DC — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today, following President Bush’s speech at the American Legion’s National Convention in Reno, NV:    » read more »