Georgetown Security Law Brief

TSA rail, subway spot-checks raise privacy issues

01/29/12: CNN reports that at a time when TSA airport searches are unpopular among many air travelers, civil liberties groups say the joint participation of special TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams (VIPRS) with local police in "warrantless" searches have been "flying under the radar" in violation of constitutional protections. Transit police say it helps them better guard against attacks like those that have hit Madrid, London and Moscow since 2004. VIPRS are tasked with performing random, unpredictable baggage and security checks at passenger train, subway and bus stations as well as trucking weigh stations across the nation.

Papua New Guinea's mutiny leader arrested

01/29/12: Reuters reports that an army officer who led a military revolt aimed at reinstating Papua New Guinea's ousted prime minister appeared in court on Sunday on mutiny charges, police said. Retired Colonel Yaura Sasa, who led last week's attempt to restore Sir Michael Somare to power, appeared in a court charged under the criminal code with incitement to mutiny following his arrest overnight. Police spotted Sasa by chance at a lodge away from the Taurama barracks, where his supporters have been holed up with weapons since last week's failed mutiny, police media spokesman Superintendant Dominic Kakas said.

Opinion: Privacy, technology and law

01/29/12: The New York Times features an opinion piece by Barry Friedman. Everyday, Friedman contends, those of us who live in the digital world give little bits of ourselves away. On Facebook and LinkedIn. To servers that store our e-mail, Google searches, online banking and shopping records. Does the fact that so many of us live our lives online mean we have given the government wide-open access to all that information? Friedman argues that the Supreme Court’s decision last week in United States v. Jones presents the disturbing possibility that the answer is yes.

Israeli and Palestinian peace talks flounder

01/29/12: The Boston Globe reports that Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday blamed each other for the impasse in newly launched peace efforts, raising doubts about whether the dialogue would continue just weeks after it began. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of spoiling the low-level talks, saying it failed to present detailed proposals for borders and security requested by international mediators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinians "refused to even discuss" Israeli security needs.

Counter-terrorism chemical labs test for synthetic pot

01/29/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that Jeffery H. Moran, chief of the counter-terrorism laboratory at the Arkansas Department of Health — one of 62 such federally funded labs in the country — has been armed with $2 million worth of new equipment. Recently, Moran has given his staff a new task — helping police in half a dozen states identify "Spice," a chemical substance that produces a marijuana-like high and has sent hundreds of users to emergency rooms. Using a counter-terrorism lab to test for synthetic marijuana is the latest sign of how a multibillion-dollar national infrastructure built to detect or respond to chemical or biological attacks over the last decade has adapted to the lack of any actual attacks.

Private snoops find GPS legal trail to follow

01/29/12: The New York Times reports that tens of thousands of Americans are tracking cars with little oversight, for purposes as seemingly benign as tracking an elderly parent with dementia or a risky teenage driver, or as legally and ethically charged as spying on a spouse or an employee — or for outright criminal stalking. Last Monday’s Supreme Court decision held that law enforcement placement of a GPS tracker on a vehicle constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. But sales of GPS trackers to employers and individuals, for a multitude of largely unregulated uses, are growing fast, raising new questions about privacy and a legal system that has not kept pace with technology.

UN nuclear team arrives in Iran seeking answers over alleged weapons program

01/29/12: The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that UN nuclear inspectors began a critical mission to Iran on Sunday to probe allegations of a secret atomic weapons program amid escalating Western economic pressures and warnings about safeguarding Gulf oil shipments from possible Iranian blockades. The findings from the three-day visit could greatly influence the direction and urgency of US-led efforts to rein in Iran's ability to enrich uranium — which Washington and allies fear could eventually produce weapons-grade material.

Slow FOIA request responses cloud a window into Washington

01/29/12: The New York Times reports that the intent of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was to provide citizens, scholars and journalists a window into the workings of their government, but sometimes it seems as though the shades are drawn. According to the act, federal agencies are supposed to promptly release documents requested by the public. In the dialect of Washington, it can be a noun or a verb. But the FOIA process is seldom prompt. The courts have ruled that government agencies must respond to FOIA requests in 20 days. But some requests are approaching 20 years old.

Russia backs Assad, last friend in Arab world

01/29/12: The Albany Democrat Herald reports that Russia's defiance of international efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests is rooted in a calculation that it can keep a Mideast presence by propping up its last remaining ally in the region and has nothing to lose if it fails. The Kremlin has put itself in conflict with the West as it shields Assad's regime from United Nations sanctions and continues to provide it with weapons even as others impose arms embargoes.

Israel proposes West Bank barrier as border

01/28/12: The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that Israel is proposing to essentially turn its West Bank separation barrier into the border with a future state of Palestine, two Palestinian officials said Friday, based on their interpretation of principles Israel presented in talks this week. The officials said Israel wants to keep east Jerusalem and consolidate Jewish settlements behind the separation barrier, which slices close to 10 percent off the West Bank.

France, Karzai want faster NATO Afghanistan exit

01/28/12: The Boston Globe reports that France and Afghanistan agree NATO should speed up by a year its timetable for handing all combat operations to Afghan forces in 2013, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday, raising new questions about the unity of the Western military alliance. Sarkozy also announced a faster-track exit for France, the fourth-largest contributor of troops in Afghanistan -- marking a distinct break from previous plans to adhere to the US goal of withdrawing combat forces by the end of 2014.

Libya torture causing prisoner deaths

01/28/12: Jurist reports that Amnesty International has released information concerning the recent deaths of several Libyan detainees who were apparently tortured while in custody. The deaths come amid allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees accused of being pro-Gaddafi loyalists and fighters during the Libyan conflict last year. The organization reports that both official military and security entities as well as the multitude of unrecognized armed militias are responsible for the torture and subsequent deaths.

Vatican rewrites anti-money laundering, terror finance law

01/28/12: The Washington Post reports that the Vatican has rewritten its 2010 anti-money laundering law after European inspectors found that it didn’t fully meet their tough standards to combat the financing of terrorism. The new law requires the Vatican to create a list of terror organizations based on those issued by the United Nations and requires the Vatican enter into agreements with other countries to share financial information.

Justice Department turns over documents to Congress concerning Operation Fast and Furious

01/28/12: The Columbus Telegram reports that newly released Justice Department emails sent to Capitol Hill for a congressional inquiry into a gun-smuggling operation indicate that the head of the department's criminal division suggested letting some illicit "straw" weapons buyers in the US transport their guns across the border into Mexico where they could be arrested. According to the emails turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday night, the Justice official, Lanny Breuer, made the suggestion to Mexican officials because it "may send a strong message to arms traffickers."

Legal limbo for captured pirates

01/28/12: The New York Times reports that the many navies involved in counterpiracy patrols off Africa’s northeastern shore have learned the pirates’ habits and sharpened interdiction efforts. Hijackings have declined sharply in the past year. But where interdiction ends, an enduring problem begins: what to do with the pirates that foreign ships detain?  Vessels from several navies collaborating on counterpiracy are holding a total of 71 captured pirates, but no system has been developed for prosecuting their cases.

US transfers security control to Afghans in Jalalabad

01/28/12: The New York Times reports on the latest transfer of power from NATO forces to Afghan authority in the city of Jalalabad and four districts in eastern Afghanistan. As in other areas that have transferred authority, American forces will remain in the region to provide support but, from now on, the Afghan Army is to be in charge. So far, about 20 such ceremonies have taken place across the country, part of the unfolding plan for all NATO combat troops to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Commentary: North Korea succession offers US opportunity

01/28/12: The San Francisco Chronicle features an opinion piece by Joel Brinkley concerning the succession of Kim Jong Un. Brinkley contends that North Korea’s elite has its own goals in mind when it presents him as a militant god-like leader. Brinkley argues that even in his first few days in office, Kim has offered indications that he may not preside over business as usual. North Korea did not go through with a predicted unprovoked attack on South Korea, and announced it would release prisoners, the first general amnesty in seven years. And then, for the first time, it agreed to allow a Western news agency, the Associated Press, to open an office in Pyongyang.

US cybersecurity efforts trigger privacy concerns

01/27/12: The Washington Times reports that the federal government’s plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans’ civil liberties. In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.

CIA officer to leave NYPD in April

01/27/12: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says the CIA officer working as an assistant to the department's top intelligence officer will leave in April after nine months. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the officer's assignment was being cut short. On Friday, Kelly said the department was notified in November of when the officer would leave. The CIA's inspector general earlier cleared the agency of any wrongdoing in its relationship with the NYPD but criticized how the collaboration was established.

Irish may try IRA veteran over North Korean scam

01/27/12: The Omaha World Herald reports that an Irish Republican Army veteran long accused of laundering counterfeit US $100 bills on behalf of North Korea could face trial in Ireland. High Court Justice John Edwards said he has forwarded an evidence file to state prosecutors against Sean Garland, 76, who denies smuggling more than $250,000 worth of fake American banknotes from the North Korean embassy in Moscow in 1998. Edwards issued his follow-up statement one month after he rejected a 6-year-old US extradition warrant for Garland.

Justice Department takes on itself in probe of 2001 anthrax attacks

01/27/12: The Washington Post reports that since it began a decade ago, the federal government’s massive investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks has been plagued by missteps and complications. Investigators initially focused on the wrong man, then had to pay him a nearly $6 million settlement. In 2008, they accused another man, Bruce E. Ivins, who killed himself before he could go to trial. Now, in the latest twist, the government has argued Ivins was likely not the anthrax killer.

Egypt bans travel for US official’s son, 9 others, amid crackdown on human rights groups

01/27/12: The Washington Times reports that Egypt is preventing at least 10 Americans and Europeans from leaving the country, including the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, raising tensions with Washington over a campaign by Egypt's military against groups promoting democracy and human rights. The United States warned Thursday that the campaign raised concerns about Egypt’s transition to democracy and could jeopardize American aid that Egypt’s battered economy needs badly after a year of unrest.

Defense budget plan would cut spending by half a trillion

01/27/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Pentagon has released a budget blueprint that cuts projected military spending by nearly half a trillion dollars, yet still calls for increasing the base defense budget in all but one of the next five years. The proposal meets both goals because spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is dropping sharply, allowing the base budget — the annual cost of paying troops and buying planes, ships and tanks — to increase modestly, even while complying with last year's bipartisan deal in Congress to reduce the deficit.

Israel says Iran 'drifting' toward nuke goal line

01/27/12: The Charlotte Observer reports that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a "surgical" military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran's nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran's oil and banks so that "we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program."

Maryland man pleads guilty to plotting attack on military recruiting center

01/27/12: The Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that a Maryland man pleaded guilty Thursday to attempting to blow up an Army recruiting center near Baltimore. Antonio Martinez, a Muslim convert who also goes by Muhammad Hussain, was arrested on December 8, 2010, in an FBI sting after he tried to detonate a car bomb at the Armed Forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland. The bomb, supplied by federal agents, was inert.

Search for nuclear waste dump could last up to 20 years

01/27/12: CNN reports that three years after the Obama administration killed controversial plans to store the nation's nuclear waste permanently at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a presidential commission has declared that the nation needs to adopt a "consent-based approach" to position disposal facilities, gaining the approval of any community before moving forward with future sites. Such an approach -- which may include "substantial incentives" for a community, if necessary -- would be frustratingly slow, the commission conceded, suggesting it could take five to 10 years to find a temporary nuclear storage site and 15 to 20 years to identify a permanent one.

Shot-up image of president draws a Secret Service inquiry

01/27/12: The New York Times reports that the Secret Service says it is looking into a photograph posted on the Internet that showed a group of young Arizona men posing in the desert with guns while holding up what appeared to be a bullet-riddled image of President Obama’s face. The photograph showed seven casually dressed young men, four of whom clutched weapons and one of whom held up a T-shirt covered with small holes and gashes and bearing a likeness of Mr. Obama above the word “HOPE.” The weapons held aloft appeared to be a revolver, a bolt-action rifle and two assault rifles.

Mexico increases swine flu screening as cases increase

01/27/12: ABC News reports that three years after swine flu closed Mexico City and caused an international scare, the Mexican government and local media are at odds over the severity of this season's flu virus. Newspapers are warning of an alarming increase in cases while the government insists there is no cause for alarm. Federal and state health officials agree there is an increase, but they say the number of cases is within the range of a normal flu season. The Mexican health ministry, however, has listed confusing numbers on its website and refuses to respond to inquiries as to the specific rise in cases.

DOJ defends keeping Bin Laden death photos secret

01/27/12: The Blog of Legal Times reports that the US Justice Department has asked a federal judge to keep secret photos showing the death of Osama bin Laden, saying the images are classified because of their potential to incite violence against the United States. The department filed court papers this week in a FOIA suit in Washington asking US District Judge James Boasberg to keep the photos out of the public domain. The DOJ asserts the photos reveal specific military and intelligence activities, methods and techniques.

Accused Pentagon shooter Melaku pleads guilty

01/27/12: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that an ex-Marine from Virginia pleaded guilty Thursday and has agreed to serve a 25-year prison sentence on charges that he fired a series of overnight pot shots in 2010 at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps museum in Quantico and other military targets as part of what prosecutors called a campaign to strike fear throughout the region. Prosecutors revealed that Yonathan Melaku’s intended next target was Arlington National Cemetery, where he was arrested before he was able to carry out a plan to deface gravestones there.

Commentary: The innate tension between efficiency and resilience in supply chains

01/27/12: Homeland Security Watch features commentary by Philip J. Palin concerning the administration’s new National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security. Palin contends this is an easy issue to underestimate. Like the plumbing in your house, it tends not to be at the forefront until something goes wrong: leaking, freezing, breaking, bursting, or when the well goes dry. He shares his brief quick take on context and potential implications of the new strategy.

Big Brother will be watching US intelligence world

01/26/12: The Denver Post reports that the top US intelligence official declared Thursday that it will take roughly five years to put in place new measures to stop another WikiLeaks-style exposure of classified information.  Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper said officials are working to "tag" information to be able to track back to which intelligence staffers shared it—something prosecutors could have used to help prove allegations that Bradley Manning copied thousands of war-related records that were leaked to the website Wikileaks.

Iraq will take legal action over US raid

01/26/12: The Ithaca Journal reports that Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a US raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone US Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time. Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sergeant Frank Wultrich to avoid prison.

Security contractors see opportunities, and limits, in Mexico

01/26/12: The Washington Post reports that with the Iraq war over and the American presence waning in Afghanistan, US security contractors are looking for new prospects in Mexico, where spreading criminal violence has created a growing demand for battle-ready professionals. However, Mexico’s restrictive gun laws mean that foreign contractors must enter the bloody drug war unarmed as they take jobs ranging from consulting and technical training for the Mexican military to guarding business executives from kidnapping gangs and extortionists.

The Philippines negotiates broader military ties with the US

01/26/12: The New York Times reports that Philippine foreign affairs and defense officials are visiting Washington to negotiate an expansion of the American military presence in the country, a senior defense official in Manila said Thursday. “They are thrashing out the details,” the official, Peter Galvez, acting chief of staff to the secretary of national defense, said by telephone. The discussions will be followed by higher-level discussions in March, Mr. Galvez said.

Mubarak’s lawyer contends US and Israel plotted shooting of protesters

01/26/12: The Centre Daily Times reports that the United States and Israel plotted the killing of Egyptian protesters during last year's 18-day uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, a lawyer for his former interior minister claimed Thursday. Lawyer Mohammed el-Gendi also accused security guards at the American University in Cairo of opening fire on protesters. The university's historical main building borders Tahrir Square, which was the focus of the anti-Mubarak revolt.

New drone has no pilot anywhere, so who's accountable?

01/26/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers. What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all. Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many.

Khmer Rouge tribunal halts salaries for Cambodians

01/26/12: The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that about 300 Cambodians working at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal will not be paid this month — and some have worked without pay since October — because funds from donor countries have dried up. International staff are paid by the United Nations and will continue to receive salaries. The salaries of local staff, however, are funded by contributions from donor countries, said Huy Vannak, a tribunal spokesman.

Prosecution argues Reagan’s would-be assassin should not get more freedom

01/26/12: The Washington Post reports that prosecutors contend presidential assailant John W. Hinckley should not get more freedom from his psychiatric hospital, because of his pattern of deception, isolation and problematic relationships with women. Hinckley’s family and St. Elizabeths Hospital staff members say his mental health has improved and are asking a federal judge to expand his privileges.

Fight escalates over legal mail at Guantánamo

01/26/12: The Miami Herald reports that the chief defense counsel for the Guantánamo Bay war crimes tribunals said Wednesday that he has instructed attorneys not to follow a new rule subjecting legal mail to a security review, escalating a dispute with the prison’s commander. Marine Colonel Jeffrey Colwell said he issued the instructions to the more than 100 military and civilian lawyers involved with the tribunal in response to the order issued last month by the prison commander, Rear Admiral David Woods.

New UN envoy urges Afghan participation in peace process

01/26/12: The New York Times reports that the new United Nations representative to Afghanistan urged Afghans on Wednesday to embrace an inclusive peace process in which all the elements of society would have a voice. Speaking to reporters for the first time since his arrival on January 17, the new envoy, Jan Kubis, said that “it should be an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process, because it is about the country and the people of the country.”

Prosecutors ordered to identify NYC terror witness

01/26/12: The Albany Times Union reports that judge gave federal prosecutors until a week from Wednesday to give up the name of a witness they say was recruited for a chilling, al-Qaida-sanctioned plot for suicide bombers to attack the New York City subways with explosives made from beauty supplies. Lawyers for alleged plotter Adis Madunjanin had demanded to know the identity of the man, referred to only as John Doe in court papers, before Madunjanin goes to trial later this year.

New leak case relies on 1982 law on intelligence identities

01/25/12: Secrecy News reports that former CIA officer John Kiriakou this week became the latest person to be charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized disclosures of classified information.  But unlike the previous defendants, Mr. Kiriakou was also charged with violating the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer to a journalist. The legislation made it a felony to reveal the names of “covert agents,” i.e. intelligence officers who are under cover and whose identities are classified information.

War crimes witness alleges intimidation

01/25/12: The Muscatine Journal reports that a witness in a key war crimes trial against Serbian paramilitaries charged with atrocities in Kosovo said Wednesday that he and his family are facing threats and intimidation. Zoran Raskovic told Serbia's war crimes court that he does not have the necessary protection. Raskovic alleged that the threats are coming from unidentified "powerful centers" within the security system.

Domestic use of drones is well underway

01/25/12: Secrecy News reports that the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the United States is certain to increase in the years to come, as a new Army policy has recently made clear.  But in fact the use of unmanned aircraft or drones within US airspace has already advanced to a degree that is not widely recognized. As of 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration had already issued hundreds of “certificates of authorization” (COAs) for the domestic use of drones.

Administration looking into repatriating non-Afghan detainees at US-run prison

01/25/12: The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is considering the repatriation of most, if not all, of the non-Afghan detainees held at the main American-run prison in Afghanistan, an effort to oversee their transfer before US officials relinquish control of the facility, according to administration officials. The foreign prisoners, who number close to 50, were in some cases picked up on the battlefield in Afghanistan and in others detained in third countries and taken to the prison by the CIA, according to US and foreign officials.

UN rights chief says Iraq should stop all executions

01/25/12: Jurist reports that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday condemned Iraq's execution of 34 individuals, including two women, last week. All 34 executions occurred on a single day for crimes described as terrorism-related offenses. Iraq maintains the death penalty for even non-fatal crimes, but there has been no report of a single case in which the death penalty was pardoned, according to Pillay.

US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane

01/25/12: CBS reports that US Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed. President Barack Obama himself authorized the mission two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

Serbian war criminal arrested after more than 4 years on the run

01/25/12: JURIST reports that  Convicted Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic was arrested Saturday in Bosnia and Herzegovina after being on the run since May 2007 when he escaped from a Bosnia prison. Stankovic was convicted of multiple war crimes in 2006, including rape, enslavement and torture. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutor Serge Brammertz welcomed the arrest, saying it "is significant for the victims of the grave crimes he has been convicted for."

UN Secretary General urges disarmament body to get to work

01/24/12: ABC News reports that the United Nations' secretary-general is appealing to the world's main nuclear disarmament forum to get down to work after years of deadlock, warning it that it is "in danger of sinking." Ban Ki-moon's message to the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament came as it held its first meeting of 2012. The body hasn't produced anything substantial since the 1996 nuclear test-ban treaty.