DHS Seeks Millions More Rounds of Ammunition
[PrisonPlanet.com]
Market survey asks companies if they can provide 2 million bullets within 30-60 day period
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
May 3, 2013
The Department of Homeland Security has released a market survey asking companies if they are able to provide 2 million rounds of ammunition within a short time period, increasing concerns that the federal agency is continuing its arms build up in preparation for domestic unrest.
With the DHS already having committed to purchasing over 1.6 billion bullets over the course of the last year, a “request for information” on “reduced hazard training ammunition” posted on the FedBizOpps website quizzes bullet manufacturers on how fast they can supply large quantities of ammo;
- Are you capable of producing large quantity orders of any training caliber specified with a short turnaround time of 30-60 days?
- What would your lead time be for an order of 2 million rounds of a single type listed above?
- If you were awarded a contract for some of the calibers listed above, submitted a production lot of one million rounds and that lot or portion of the lot was not accepted, would you be able to replace that order with an additional one million rounds within 60 days?
US plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic, email
[Reuters.com]
Joseph Menn and Deborah Charles
Posted: March 21, 2013
The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure.
As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks.
Under last month’s White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies — including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) — on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyber attacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country.
The Department of Homeland Security will gather the secret data and pass it to a small group of telecommunication companies and cyber security providers that have employees holding security clearances, government and industry officials said. Those companies will then offer to process email and other Internet transmissions for critical infrastructure customers that choose to participate in the program.
DHS as the middleman
By using DHS as the middleman, the Obama administration hopes to bring the formidable overseas intelligence-gathering of the NSA closer to ordinary U.S. residents without triggering an outcry from privacy advocates who have long been leery of the spy agency’s eavesdropping.
The telecom companies will not report back to the government on what they see, except in aggregate statistics, a senior DHS official said in an interview granted on condition he not be identified.
“That allows us to provide more sensitive information,” the official said. “We will provide the information to the security service providers that they need to perform this function.” Procedures are to be established within six months of the order.
The administration is separately seeking legislation that would give incentives to private companies, including communications carriers, to disclose more to the government. NSA Director General Keith Alexander said last week that NSA did not want personal data but Internet service providers could inform the government about malicious software they find and the Internet Protocol addresses they were sent to and from.
“There is a way to do this that ensures civil liberties and privacy and does ensure the protection of the country,” Alexander told a congressional hearing.
Fears grow of destructive attack
In the past, Internet traffic-scanning efforts were mainly limited to government networks and Defense Department contractors, which have long been targets of foreign espionage.
But as fears grow of a destructive cyber attack on core, non-military assets, and more sweeping security legislation remained stalled, the Obama administration opted to widen the program.
Last month’s presidential order calls for commercial providers of “enhanced cybersecurity services” to extend their offerings to critical infrastructure companies. What constitutes critical infrastructure is still being refined, but it would include utilities, banks and transportation such as trains and highways.
Under the program, critical infrastructure companies will pay the providers, which will use the classified information to block attacks before they reach the customers. The classified information involves suspect Web addresses, strings of characters, email sender names and the like.
Not all the cybersecurity providers will be telecom companies, though AT&T is one. Raytheon said this month it had agreed with DHS to become a provider, and a spokesman said that customers could route their traffic to Raytheon after receiving it from their communications company.
As the new set-up takes shape, DHS officials and industry executives said some security equipment makers were working on hardware that could take classified rules about blocking traffic and act on them without the operator being able to reverse-engineer the codes. That way, people wouldn’t need a security clearance to use the equipment.
Civil liberties implications
The issue of scanning everything headed to a utility or a bank still has civil liberties implications, even if each company is a voluntary participant.
Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the executive order did not weaken existing privacy laws, but any time a machine acting on classified information is processing private communications, it raises questions about the possibility of secret extra functions that are unlikely to be answered definitively.
“You have to wonder what else that box does,” Tien said.
One technique for examining email and other electronic packets en route, called deep packet inspection, has stirred controversy for years, and some cybersecurity providers said they would not be using that. In deep packet inspection, communication companies or others with network access can examine all the elements of a transmission, including the content of emails.
“The signatures provided by DHS do not require deep packet inspection,” said Steve Hawkins, vice president at Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems division, referring further questions to DHS.
The DHS official said the government is still in conversations with the telecom operators on the issue.
The official said the government had no plans to roll out any such form of government-guided close examination of Internet traffic into the communications companies serving the general public.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.
Feds Expand Access to Immigration Database for States’ Voter Purges
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published: July 16, 2012
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The federal government is expanding access to an immigration database so that several states can use it to cleanse voter rolls, officials said Monday.
Homeland Security Department representatives first notified Florida officials last week that they could check to see if registered voters are actually noncitizens who should not be eligible to cast a ballot. State officials said Monday that the department is now offering similar access to other states who had been requesting the information.
“I’m pleased that DHS has agreed to work with states to verify the citizenship of people on the voter rolls and help reduce our vulnerability,” said Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who had renewed his request for the data last week, writing a letter with the support of several other states.
Elections leaders in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah had signed onto Gessler’s request. Five of the states — Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio — are expected to be competitive in the 2012 presidential race. Each of the election chiefs in those states are Republican.
Fawning NBC Hypes Obama’s Immigration Pander: ‘Young People’ ‘Cheered’
[Newsbusters.org]
By Scott Whitlock | June 18, 2012 | 13:15
NBC’s Nightly News on Friday offered a one-sided segment touting Barack Obama’s decision to lift the threat of deportation to young people who came to America illegally. The Pete Williams report featured six clips of individuals or groups thrilled by the reaction, only two against and one nuanced response by Mitt Romney. The other networks followed a similar pattern.
Williams began by touting, “Young people covered by the new policy cheered the announcement outside the White House.” An unidentified woman enthused, “I can’t describe it. It’s so amazing. I’m so happy.” A crowd in front of the White House chanted, “Yes, we did! Yes, we did! Yes, we did! Yes, we did!”
The NBC correspondent’s segment was heavily weighted with people who applauded the decision:
JANET NAPOLITANO (Homeland Security Secretary): They’ve grown up here, they speak the language here, they’ve stayed out of trouble here. They’re getting their education here. They have wonderful talents to contribute to our country.
‘Not Amnesty,’ Napolitano Says: ‘It Is An Exercise of Discretion’ [Oh, Really?]
[CNSNews.com]
The program, announced Friday, would grant as many as 800,000 younger illegal immigrants immunity from deportation and allow them to qualify for federal work permits.
US Intel Chief: Iran Ready to Strike America In Terror Attacks
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:56am by
Buck Sexton
The U.S. intelligence community believes that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Tuesday morning in an open hearing.
In prepared testimony given to the U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence, Clapper stated than an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States shows a shift in Tehran’s strategy towards a willingness to plot and conduct attacks within the U.S.
Director Clapper said, according to the Washington Post, that Iran’s disrupted alleged assassination plot:
“shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.”
Clapper added that “We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. or allied interests overseas.”
The spy chief’s concerns come amidst increased saber rattling from Iran with regard to the Strait of Hormuz, and tightening U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing the Iranian nuclear program.
Clapper’s testimony regarding the threat from Iran was delivered as part of the U.S. intelligence community’s annual overview of the primary national security challenges facing the United States. His testimony also singled out cyber-related threats, and the weakened but persistent threat Al Qaeda and its affiliates pose to the U.S. (TheBlaze.com)
Why aren’t we using Predators to kill the drug cartels in Mexico? [Reader Post]
In March Janet Napolitano assured us that the US-Mexican border was safer than ever. This in spite of Barack Obama and Eric Holder willingly sending 2000 automatic weapons into the hands of the drug cartels south of the border.
Well, it turns out that the border is not so safe. The Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico, is in anarchy. The US-Mexican border is less safe than Afghanistan.
Organized crime-related deaths in one Mexican border state during the first nine months of 2011 exceed the number of Afghan civilians killed in roughly the same period in all of war-torn Afghanistan.
According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.
A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report states that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”
Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan. (Chihuahua has 3,406,465 inhabitants, according to Mexico’s 2010 census; the CIA World Factbook reports that in July 2011 the estimated population of Afghanistan was 29,835,392.)
Fitch Downgrades Outlook to ‘Negative’ on 3 Major Airports
[FOXBusiness.com]
Written By Jennifer Booton
Published December 02, 2011
Closing out a turbulent week in the aviation industry, Fitch Ratings revised to negative on Friday its outlook on three popular U.S. airports, saying their revenue streams will inevitably be hit once AMR’s (AMR) American Airlines starts shedding assets.
Some of the bankrupt airline’s major hubs, including Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport, Miami International and Chicago’s O’Hare, could lose traffic if American were to cut back on flights, Fitch says.
9/11 Message: New Al Qaeda Leader Calls on “Muslim brothers everywhere” for US Attacks
AtlasShrugs.com
Monday, August 15, 2011
Another influential misunderstander of Islam. Does anyone else find it curious that the most devout and pious Muslims are all misunderstanding Islam in exactly the same way, reading the exact same words for over 1,400 years?
9/11 Message? New Al Qaeda Leader Calls for US Attacks ABC News, August 15, 2011In a video released three weeks before the 9/11 anniversary, new al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urges followers to continue to target the United States.
Dressed in white, with his automatic weapon leaning against his left side, Zawahiri urges “Muslim brothers everywhere” to pursue America in the 12-minute video.
“America today is staggering,” said Zawahiri. “Hunt her down wherever you may encounter her. Hunt her down to cut what is left of her corruption’s tail.”
Zawahiri took over leadership of al Qaeda following the May 2 U.S. raid which killed bin Laden in Pakistan.
“Pursue America, which killed the ‘Imam of the Mujahedeen’ and threw his body into the sea, and then captured his women and sons,” said Zawahiri. “Hunt her down until history says that a murderous country spread corruption in the earth so God sent his faithful to her to make an example out of her.”
Posted by Pamela Geller on Monday, August 15, 2011 at 08:00 PM
Texas Holds ‘Don’t Touch My Junk’ Rally
FoxNews.com
Published June 05, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas – Dozens gathered at the Capitol in Austin on Saturday demanding a stop to TSA officers “touching their junk” at the airport.
Rally attendees are hoping to call attention to a recently proposed Texas bill that would limit TSA searches and enforce criminal charges for TSA officers if they touch someone inappropriately. The bill passed unanimously in the House, but died in the Senate.
Democratic Senators Ditch 2012 Runs
Politico.com
By JONATHAN ALLEN & MANU RAJU | 3/3/11 8:36 PM EST
Updated: 3/4/11 5:37 PM EST
Five senators from the Democratic side of the aisle have already decided to hang ’em up after this term. Each has his own reasons, but it mostly boils down to this: For some senators, a job in the “most exclusive club” is not worth the hassle anymore.
“It’s about campaigns,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a retiring member of the Democratic Caucus, told POLITICO. “It’s about both the unremitting — that’s a bad word to use — about the constant pressure to raise money and travel all over the country doing that and the nastiness of the campaign. … I have no second thoughts about it.”
ListenLieberman, who lost a 2006 Democratic primary only to win in the general election as an independent, faced a tough path to win reelection. And he’s 69. Democrats could well lose the Senate in 2012 anyway, meaning he would lose his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Intel Chief Warns of Threat From Iran, Cybercrime at House Hearing
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published February 10, 2011
AP – Feb. 1: Directory of National Intelligence James Clapper, left, talks with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at the State Department in Washington before a meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force on human trafficking.
The top U.S. intelligence official painted a dire picture Thursday about the threats posed by Iran, cybercrime and other forces, as he testified on Capitol Hill about international security.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a House committee that fighting terrorism, namely Al Qaeda, remains the intelligence community’s top priority. He said Al Qaeda remains determined to attack the West, target Americans for recruitment and spawn affiliate groups around the world. But he outlined a string of other threats that he described as mounting and menacing.
Lawmakers Call on Administration to Prosecute WikiLeaks, Designate as Terror Group
FoxNews.com
Published November 29, 2010
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is shown on Capitol Hill in Washington Nov. 17. (AP Photo)
A top Republican congressman is calling on the State Department to designate WikiLeaks a “foreign terrorist organization,” as he and several other lawmakers demand the Obama administration find a way to prosecute founder Julian Assange in the wake of the group’s latest document dump.
WikiLeaks’ weekend release of more than 250,000 classified State Department documents has outraged Washington officials. The spilling of secrets this time deals with a trove of candid diplomatic cables and other missives spanning everything from Pakistan to Iran to North Korea and could jeopardize the United States’ sensitive foreign policy dealings.
Half-million TSA protest letters on their way
A Free Press For A Free People
Join the party! End airport abuse, humiliation by Thanksgiving
WASHINGTON – More than a half-million individual letters of protest of the new system of institutionalized airport abuse and humiliation are on their way to members of Congress, Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, thanks to WND’s C.E.A.S.E. program – Cease Enhanced Airport Security Excesses.
The program allows the public to send 537 protest letters to each member of the House and Senate, Obama and Napolitano, with guaranteed Fed Ex delivery, for only $29.95. It is modeled after the historic “pink slips” campaign of last year that sent 9 million letters that drained the nation’s supplies of pink paper and put members of Congress on notice of what to expect in the Nov. 2 election this year.
Do you want to put a stop to airport humiliation through invasive “pat-downs” and “virtual strip searches”?
Here’s how to participate in the program, devised by Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, who has set a goal of ending the abuse by Thanksgiving.
Because of the volume of these messages, WND is able to send them less expensively than American citizens could send them individually. Through this program, you can send the 537 messages for only $29.95. To replicate that feat individually, postage alone would cost more than $236. But the impact of participating in the “STOP AIRPORT HUMILIATION CAMPAIGN” makes your protest much more impressive – being a part of a mass movement, rather than an individual grievance, explained Farah.
As the letter being sent to officials in Washington states, under the new screening protocols, passengers are subjected to a virtual “strip search” by being required to undergo a humiliating full-body scan, resulting in the display of a graphic image of their naked body to be scrutinized by a TSA agent.
TSA Chief Shifts Position; Says Screenings Will Be Minimally Invasive
FoxNews.com | Associated Press
Published November 21, 2010
AP – A woman undergoes a pat-down during TSA security screening, Friday, Nov. 19, 2010, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle.
WASHINGTON — The head of the agency responsible for airport security, facing protests from travelers and pressure from the White House, appeared to give ground Sunday on his position that there would be no change in policies regarding invasive passenger screening procedures.
Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole said in a statement that the agency would work to make screening methods “as minimally invasive as possible,” although he gave no indication that screening changes were imminent.
The statement came just hours after Pistole, in a TV interview, said that while the full-body scans and pat-downs could be intrusive and uncomfortable, the high threat level required their use. “No, we’re not changing the policies,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Pistole said that, as in all nationwide security programs, “there is a continual process of refinement and adjustment to ensure that best practices are applied.”
Still, he pointed to the alleged attempt by a Nigerian with explosives in his underwear to try to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight last Christmas. “We all wish we lived in a world where security procedures at airports weren’t necessary,” Pistole said, “but that just isn’t the case.”
In his earlier TV appearance, Pistole appeared to shrug off statements by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the agency would look for ways to alter screening techniques that some passengers say are invasions of privacy.
Big Sis Napolitano Sued for ‘degrading’ Searches
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINES
‘Given the profane, intrusive, indecent nature, they are patently unreasonable’
Posted: November 16, 2010
8:48 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A lawsuit was filed today against Janet Napolitano and the Transportation Security Administration alleging that the invasive airport “security” procedures instituted at President Obama’s instructions are “profane, degrading, intrusive and indecent” and are both “unreasonable and violative of the Fourth Amendment.”The case was filed in federal court for the District of Columbia by John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute and others on behalf of two veteran pilots, Michael S. Roberts and Ann Poe.
The issue of the invasion of privacy demanded by the TSA at airport security checkpoints – passengers are given the option of an X-ray that reveals a virtually nude image for government agents to see or a hands-on-all-body-parts pat-down – has exploded in recent days.
Threat of Border Violence in Arizona Appears Overstated, Analysts Say
FoxNews.com
Published August 07, 2010
AP
FILE: Agents raid a drop house for illegal immigrants in Phoenix in April.
One of the arguments fueling the passage of Arizona’s immigration law — the growing threat of border violence – has come under scrutiny as statistics show that the state may not be as dangerous as supporters of the law say.
While it’s tough to determine just how dangerous the state is, what is certain is the notion that Phoenix has become the world’s No. 2 kidnapping capital has been based on stats taken out of context, if not totally blown out of proportion, criminal data experts say.
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