Info

You are currently browsing the ISM Colorado Homeland Security News & Research weblog archives for June, 2008.

Calendar
June 2008
S M T W T F S
« May   Jul »
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
Categories
Latest Postings
Links
Archives
Meta

Archive for June 2008

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Strong Angel III: Integrated disaster response demonstration

Working together to save lives by improving information flow across boundaries

In 2006, more than 800 volunteers from a diverse group of organizations gathered in San Diego, California, to undertake Strong Angel III, a disaster response demonstration. The demonstration explored how military, humanitarian, local government, and private organizations work together during man-made or natural disasters. Strong Angel III focused on simulating those aspects of post-disaster conditions that specifically impact communication, information-sharing, and coordination.

Through this intense exercise, team members from different organizations were able to work together more effectively, improve individual impact from the field, and more easily fuse data from various sources, strengthening situational awareness and creating more useful information for decision-making.

Watch the video

• Strong Angel III: Disaster response demonstration
5:08 Min; Windows Media file
On This Page
The challenge The challenge

The challenge

Simulating a lethal pandemic and cyber-terrorist attack, Strong Angel III addressed common communication and collaboration challenges that cross-organizational teams experience when working together during the plan, respond, and recover cycles, including:

• Easily working together when systems are incompatible.
• Coordinating roles and responsibilities across discrete organizations.
• Providing one central place to access and share information for situational awareness.
• Supporting and maintaining continuity of operations.
• Remaining effective offline or in bandwidth-constrained environments.
• Easily and rapidly communicating field intelligence back to the command center.

Top of pageTop of page

The participants

Participants in and sponsors of Strong Angel III came from military, humanitarian, and private organizations that included the U.S. Navy, the American Red Cross, Microsoft, and ESRI.

• See a detailed list of participants and sponsors

Top of pageTop of page

The results

Using available technologies from Microsoft, the Strong Angel III team was able to:

• Easily communicate and collaborate across geographic, technical, and environmental boundaries before, during, and after an event.
• Improve bidirectional data flow by building bridges between applications, devices, and operating systems.
• Help mobile first responders to act immediately with instant alerts and notifications.
• Address issues more quickly and directly by sharing and working with dynamic information, geographically represented on detailed digital maps.
• Coordinate faster and more effectively, with the right tools, people, and information available in one place.
• Remain productive and effective throughout the simulation with the ability to continue working from the field when offline or in a bandwidth-constrained environment.

Top of pageTop of page

The technologies

Microsoft technologies highlighted in the Strong Angel III demonstration include:

• Microsoft Office Groove 2007
• Microsoft Virtual Earth
• Microsoft Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT)

Posted in HLS Book Reviews, State & Local, HLS Conferences | Print | No Comments »

QinetiQ introduces suicide bomber detection systems

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

QinetiQ North America Technology Solutions Group announced the release of two suicide bomber detection systems. The SPO-20 and SPO-7R are non-imaging passive remote detection systems that can reveal the presence of potential suicide bombers and other anomalies, at ranges out to 30 meters, with a probability of detection exceeding 90 percent. Both systems employ passive millimeter wave technology to look beneath clothing for concealed IEDs, without running afoul of privacy issues associated with conventional imaging systems. The screening process and real-time detection requires less than three seconds.
Immigration Tracker, Mobile Armor and more

Posted in State & Local, HLD | Print | No Comments »

Nigeria (Country threat level - 5)

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

According to reports on 30 June 2008, an unidentified group of militants attacked a houseboat owned by Shell in the Olama area of Rivers State. The attack, which occurred at approximately 1800 local time (1700 UTC), killed two of the houseboat’s security operatives. The boat houses Shell employees and naval personnel.
Following the initial attack, the militants proceeded to Bonny Island in Rivers State, where they engaged members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) — a security organization formed to combat the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and other militant groups — in a firefight for several hours. The firefight reportedly resulted in the deaths of three civilians and two militants; only one JTF soldier was injured. No group has claimed responsibility for this attack.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

Lebanon (Country threat level - 4)

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

On 28 June 2008 a bomb exploded in an apartment complex in Tripoli, located approximately 43 mi/70 km north of Beirut. The explosion killed one person, seriously injured more than 28 others and caused heavy damage to the building and the surrounding area. The explosive device — equipped with a timer — was reportedly placed inside an elevator in the complex, which is located on Syria Street in the Bab Tabbaneh district; it exploded at approximately 0530 local time (0230 UTC). The neighborhood is predominantly Sunni (who typically support the ruling government coalition) and has been the site of recent unrest between supporters of rival political groups. Shortly after the explosion occurred, several people were injured by sniper fire, which reportedly came from a nearby neighborhood where opposition supporters reside. An investigation into the bombing continues, but no one has claimed responsibility for it as yet.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

Georgia (Country threat level - 4)

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

 On 30 June 2008 the separatist region of Abkhazia announced the closure of its border with Georgia effective on 1 July, following several explosions in the region. Earlier on 30 June, two bombs exploded at a minibus stop near a market in the region’s capital of Sukhumi, injuring six people. On 29 June, two explosions occurred in Gagra, a resort located approximately 45 mi/75 km northwest of Sukhumi, injuring another six people. On 27 June, a local U.N. mission was also hit by a bomb, although that incident did not result in any injuries or damage. Abkhazian officials have blamed Georgian special forces for the incidents, a claim that Georgia subsequently denied. The developments come amid increasing tensions between Georgia and its separatist regions, as well as neighboring Russia, which maintains peacekeeping forces in those locations.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

China (Country threat level - 3)

June 30, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Allegations of a police cover-up following a young girl’s death sparked rioting in the Weng’an County region of Guizhou province on 28 June 2008. Rioters reportedly damaged vehicles and set fire to a police building after allegations emerged that police officers ignored a family’s claim that their daughter had been raped and murdered. The girl’s body was later found, prompting angry residents to take to the streets and surround the local police headquarters. The extent of the violence is unclear as official state media in China have censored most reports coming out of Weng’an County. One account from a resident in Guizhou province claims that police officers ruled the girl’s death a suicide and did not conduct a proper autopsy. No other details on the incident have emerged. Reports indicate that the situation is now calm; however, local sources indicate that the atmosphere is still tense with police officers demanding that rioters turn themselves in.

In response to the unrest, the Chinese government unveiled a campaign to defuse protests ahead of the Olympics in August. Authorities have undertaken measures to prevent petitioners from entering Beijing, stating that the goal is to have no mass petitions and no mass incidents in the capital while the Olympic Games are in progress.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

Taiwan / Philippines (Country threat levels - 2 / 4):

June 23, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Typhoon Fengshen devastated the Philippines over the 21-22 June 2008 weekend, causing extensive flooding and triggering landslides. Authorities stated that at least 150 people have been killed by rising floodwaters as many rivers have risen over their banks in the southern Philippines. A ferry known as Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines, was left adrift in rough seas after being battered by wind gusts up to 120 mph/ 104 kt. The ferry later sank, and more than 800 people are still missing.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered rescue and cleanup crews to the hardest hit areas and navy boats have already helped to rescue stranded residents. Approximately 50 flights out of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (RPLL/MLN) have been canceled and power outages have also disrupted transportation services throughout the country. However, the situation is slowly returning to normal.

Meanwhile, Fengshen has been downgraded to a tropical storm as of 23 June, according to meteorologists at Wilkens Weather Technologies, as it makes its way across the South China Sea toward the southern coast of China, mostly likely affecting Taiwan and Japan. As of 0900 UTC Fengshen was located approximately 415 mi/670 km south-southwest of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, moving northwest at 10 mph/9 kt. Fengshen has maximum sustained winds of 102 mph/55 kt, with gusts reaching up to 130 mph70 kt.

Thailand (Country threat level - 3): Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej announced on 22 June 2008 that he will be willing to resign office if his administration receives a vote of no-confidence from legislators in Parliament. Parliament is debating the prospect of a vote of no-confidence, and pressure on Samak could increase if a six-party coalition in the lower house falls apart. Many lawmakers and demonstrators have accused Samak of being a proxy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and is currently facing corruption charges in Thailand’s highest court. Military leaders have stated they will remain neutral and will support a political resolution to the crisis.

Meanwhile, on 23 June, opposition supporters continue to camp outside the government office in Bangkok, demanding Samak’s resignation. Police officers remain deployed around the demonstration, and witnesses stated they are equipped with only with helmets and shields. Authorities have warned that tear gas can be used to prevent the crowd from threatening any government buildings. Protest leaders have stated they will not disperse until the current administration steps down. Although the situation is still tense, there have been no reports of violence or arrests.

Thailand (Country threat level - 3): On 21 June 2008 a group of rebel gunmen attacked a passenger train at a railway station in the Ra Ngae district. Authorities stated that four railway workers on the train were shot and killed in the attack at Marubo rail station. The train was reportedly traveling from Surat Thani to Sungai Kolok when the gunmen ambushed it while it was stopped at the station. Separatist militants have been waging a guerrilla campaign against government forces since 2004 in hopes of establishing an autonomous Muslim state.

As of 23 June, all 16 daily trains on the line that was attacked have been halted with passengers being diverted from the Sungai Kolok train station in Narathiwat to the Yala train station farther north. Travelers headed to Hat Yai were instructed to travel by bus or van.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

China (Country threat level - 3)

June 17, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Authorities in China increased security measures in Xinjiang as the Olympic torch arrived in the predominantly Muslim province on 17 June 2008. Police officers and security personnel were stationed in and around the provincial capital city of Urumqi as the torch left the People’s Square for a three-day relay. Tensions are high in the region because ethnic Muslim Uighur separatist groups have protested the communist Chinese government and called for more autonomy in Xinjiang province. The Chinese government claims to have foiled planned attacks in Xinjiang that would have targeted the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

On 17 June 2008 the Chinese government reported an avian influenza outbreak in ducks in the southern province of Guangdong, adjacent to Hong Kong. In previous weeks all poultry in commercial markets was culled in Hong Kong in order to prevent such an outbreak. Officials indicated that the virus that has afflicted the birds was a subtype of the H5N1 strain. More than 3,000 ducks have died so far from the disease and at least 17,000 have been culled in response to the outbreak. Hong Kong, as part of the contingency plan, has banned all poultry imports from mainland China for a minimum of 21 days. China also reported an outbreak in April in the western region of Tibet. Guangzhou was also affected in March.

On 16 June 2008 authorities in China announced that more than 1 million people have been displaced and many crops destroyed by rising floodwaters in the provinces of Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunnan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Yunnan and Zhejiang. Several rivers have overflowed after weeks of torrential rainstorms, and forecasters have warned residents in these areas to brace for more heavy rain. Government officials stated that the flooding has killed at least 171 people and thousands of homes and buildings have been inundated with water. Emergency crews have been deployed to reinforce embankments and provide aid in the hardest hit areas.

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism

June 14, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

By Trevor Stanley

The phenomenon of Islamic terrorism cannot be adequately explained as the export of Saudi Wahhabism, as many commentators claim. In fact, the ideological heritage of groups such as al-Qaeda is Salafism, a movement that began in Egypt and was imported into Saudi society during the reign of King Faisal.

The official ‘Wahhabi’ religion of Saudi Arabia has essentially merged with certain segments of Salafism. There is now intense competition between groups and individual scholars over the ‘true’ Salafism, with the scholars who support the Saudi regime attacking groups such as al-Qaeda as ‘Qutbists’ (following Sayyid Qutb) or takfiris (excommunicators).

The easy explanation for differences within the Salafi movement is that some aim to change society through da’wa (preaching/evangelizing) whereas others want to change it through violence. But as the Saudi example shows, all strains of Salafism, even the most revolutionary and violent, make a place for social services such as education in their strategies for the transformation of society.

Origins of Wahhabism

When Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab began preaching his revivalist brand of Islam amongst the Bedouins of the Najd [1] during the 18th century, his ideas were dismissed in the centers of Islamic learning such as al-Azhar as simplistic and erroneous to the point of heresy.

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab claimed that the decline of the Muslim world was caused by pernicious foreign innovations (bida’) - including European modernism, but also elements of traditional Islam that were simply unfamiliar to the isolated Najdi Bedouins. He counseled the purging of these influences in an Islamic Revival. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s creed placed an overriding emphasis on tawhid (monotheism), condemning many traditional Muslim practices as shirk (polytheism). He also gave jihad an unusual prominence in his teachings. The Wahhabis called themselves Muwahideen (monotheists) - to call themselves Wahhabis was considered shirk.

Origins of Salafism

Salafism originated in the mid to late 19th Century, as an intellectual movement at al-Azhar University, led by Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839-1897) and Rashid Rida (1865-1935). The movement was built on a broad foundation. Al-Afghani was a political activist, whereas Abduh, an educator, sought gradual social reform (as a part of da’wa), particularly through education. Debate over the place of these respective methods of political change continues to this day in Salafi groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

The early Salafis admired the technological and social advancement of Europe’s Enlightenment, and tried to reconcile it with the belief that their own society was the heir to a divinely guided Golden Age of Islam that had followed the Prophet Muhammad’s Revelations.

The name Salafi comes from as-salaf as-saliheen, the ‘pious predecessors’ of the early Muslim community, although some Salafis extend the Salaf to include selected later scholars. The Salafis held that the early Muslims had understood and practiced Islam correctly, but true understanding of Islam had gradually drifted, just as the people of previous Prophets (including Moses and Jesus) had strayed and gone into decline. The Salafis set out to rationally reinterpret early Islam with the expectation of rediscovering a more ‘modern’ religion.

In terms of their respective formation, Wahhabism and Salafism were quite distinct. Wahhabism was a pared-down Islam that rejected modern influences, while Salafism sought to reconcile Islam with modernism. What they had in common is that both rejected traditional teachings on Islam in favor of direct, ‘fundamentalist’ reinterpretation.

Saudi Arabia Embraces Salafi Pan-Islamism

Although Saudi Arabia is commonly characterized as aggressively exporting Wahhabism, it has in fact imported pan-Islamic Salafism. Saudi Arabia founded and funded transnational organizations and headquartered them in the kingdom, but many of the guiding figures in these bodies were foreign Salafis. The most well known of these organizations was the World Muslim League, founded in Mecca in 1962, which distributed books and cassettes by al-Banna, Qutb and other foreign Salafi luminaries. Saudi Arabia successfully courted academics at al-Azhar University, and invited radical Salafis to teach at its own Universities.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to host Egyptian radicals hinges on three factors: the need for qualified educators, Faisal’s struggle against Egyptian-led pan-Arab radicalism, and Saudi openness under King Khaled. Between the 1920s and 1960s, Saudi Arabia was emerging as a modern state. Increased oil production required technical infrastructure and a bureaucracy, resulting in a demand for educators that outstripped the administration’s capacity. [2] The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood represented a source of qualified educators, bureaucrats and engineers, many of them anxious to leave Egypt.

During the late 1950s and the 1960s, the Middle East was gripped by a struggle between the traditional monarchies and the secular pan-Arab radicals, led by Nasser’s Egypt, with the pan-Islamist Salafis an important third force. [3] By embracing pan-Islamism, Faisal countered the idea of pan-Arab loyalty centered on Egypt with a larger transnational loyalty centered on Saudi Arabia. During the 1960s, members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, many of them teachers, were given sanctuary in Saudi Arabia, in a move that undermined Nasser while also relieving the Saudi education crisis. [4]

Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy concerns eased in 1970 with Nasser’s death. But in the 1970s, the Saudi education system was awash with Egyptian Muslim Brothers and other Salafis, much as Berkeley was awash with Marxists. Under King Khaled (r.1975-1982), some of the most important proponents of Qutbist terrorism, including Abdullah Azzam, Omar Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad Qutb, served as academics in the Kingdom. Qutb, an important proponent of his late brother Sayyid’s theory, wrote several texts on tawhid for the Saudi school curriculum. [5]

A generation of prominent Saudi citizens was exposed to various strains of Salafi thought during the 1970s, and although most Saudi Salafis are not Qutbist revolutionaries, the Qutbists did not miss the opportunity to awaken a revolutionary vanguard.

Wahhabi-Salafism

Although Salafism and Wahhabism began as two distinct movements, Faisal’s embrace of Salafi pan-Islamism resulted in cross-pollination between ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings on tawhid, shirk and bid’a and Salafi interpretations of ahadith (the sayings of Muhammad). Some Salafis nominated ibn Abd al-Wahhab as one of the Salaf (retrospectively bringing Wahhabism into the fold of Salafism), and the Muwahideen began calling themselves Salafis.

Today, a profusion of self-proclaimed Salafi groups exist, each accusing the others of deviating from ‘true’ Salafism. Since the 1970s, the Saudis have wisely stopped funding those Salafis that excommunicate nominally Muslim governments (or at least the Saudi government), condemning al-Qaeda as ‘the deviant sect’. The pro-Saudis correctly trace al-Qaeda’s ideological roots to Qutb and al-Banna. Less accurately, they accuse these groups of insidiously ‘entering’ Salafism. In fact, Salafism was imported into Saudi Arabia in its Ikhwani and Qutbist forms. This does not mean that the pro-Saudi Salafis are necessarily benign - for example, Abu Mu’aadh as-Salafee’s main criticism of Qutb and Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna is that they claim Islam teaches tolerance of Jews.[6]

Meanwhile, non-Muslims and mainstream Muslims alike use the ‘Wahhabi-Salafi’ label to denigrate Salafis and even completely unrelated groups such as the Taliban.

Conclusions

Faisal’s embrace of pan-Islamism achieved its main objective in that it helped Saudi Arabia to overcome pan-Arabism. However, it created a radicalized Salafi constituency, elements of which the regime continues to fund. It should be kept in mind, though, that this funding is now confined to more compliant Salafis.

Saudi Arabia still has some way to go. Some will say that a leopard can’t change its spots, but in fact the Saudi Government is capable of serious doctrinal change under pressure. Faisal’s broad introduction of Salafi policies involved such a shift, as did the subsequent rejection of Qutbist interpretations of Salafism by pro-Saudi Salafis.

The Middle East today is clearly in need of alternative models of political change to counter takfiri Salafism. In the West, education has been a major factor in social integration. But as the Saudi case study indicates, we need to be aware of not only the quantity, but also the nature of education. Saudi students in the 1970s learned engineering and administration alongside an ideology of xenophobic alienation. In the long run, the battle against violent Salafism will be fought not only on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in the universities of the Middle East.

Posted in Blogroll | Print | No Comments »

Pakistan (Country threat level - 5)

June 12, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

 On 11 June 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad released the following Warden Message: “This warden notice is to alert American citizens that the Consular Section will limit services to the public on Thursday, June 12, and Friday, June 13.

“Closure of Constitution Avenue and expected traffic congestion as a result of this weeks scheduled demonstrations may make travel to and throughout the city difficult for applicants and employees of the Consular Section and American Information Resource Center (AIRC). For this reason, the AIRC will be closed and the Consular Section will provide very limited services on June 12 and June 13. Please see our notice about the planned demonstration for further details and security advice.

“American Information Resource Center (AIRC): The AIRC will be closed on Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13.

“American Citizen Services: The American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit will provide limited services from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm on June 12 and June 13. Americans interested in routine services such as passport applications are requested to delay their applications until Monday, June 16. The Embassy will continue to provide emergency services to Americans requiring such assistance. The ACS Unit may be contacted in an emergency by calling the Embassy switchboard at (92-51) 208-0000.

“Immigrant Visa Unit: The Immigrant Visa Unit will conduct interviews on the morning of June 12, but all interviews on June 13 will be rescheduled. The Embassy will contact applicants scheduled for June 13 to advise them of their new appointment dates. There will be no information hours on Thursday or Friday afternoons.

“Nonimmigrant Visa Unit: The Non-immigrant Visa Unit will conduct interviews on Thursday, June 12. Applicants for non-immigrant visas who were scheduled for interviews on Friday, June 13 should contact their local American Express or Speedex Office and reschedule their appointment if they have not already been contacted.

“The Embassy reiterates its advice to all Americans to take appropriate individual precautions to ensure their safety and security. These measures include maintaining good situational awareness, avoiding crowds and demonstrations and keeping a low profile. Americans should avoid setting patterns by varying times and routes for all required travel. Americans should ensure that their travel documents and visas are valid at all times.”

Posted in HLD | Print | No Comments »

| Next Entries »