Homeland Security Leader

From Police.com, by David Griffith

As this issue of POLICE arrives in your mailbox, Barack Obama is preparing to become the 44th President of the United States. And if you assembled the other 43 men who have held the office and asked them to give him advice, they would tell him that regardless of what your goal was when you ran for president or the positions of your platform, events shape the presidency more than the presidency shapes events.

Case in point: George W. Bush. The much despised departing President Bush came into office with the goal of healing the divide between Democrats and Republicans and uniting the country. He leaves office with the country more divided than ever.

Such are the perils of the office.

No one knows how Obama’s presidency will play out. The only thing we do know is what he has said that he plans to do in the next four years. The following is an examination of what he’s said about issues near and dear to American law enforcement and commentary from leading law enforcement experts on how it will affect you.

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From HSDailyWire.com

The large UAV — it has a 62-ft. wingspan and weighs around 45,000 pounds at takeoff — is the U.S. military’s principle vanguard for a potential new age of stealthy, autonomous combat aircraft.

From CNN

An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days.
art.dubai.gi.jpg

Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable.

Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt.

FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired.

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Despite the global economic downturn, the growth potential for government programs aimed at verifying the identity of people in the United States and abroad remains strong, industry officials said at a conference in Washington today.

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Tuesday, Sec. Michael Chertoff stressed cyber-security issues during a talk at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saying, “Cyber-security will be a major priority for the next Administration.”

Sec. Chertoff detailed a recent case where over 40 million credit card numbers were compromised to steal millions of dollars from Americans. The ring used a technique called “war driving” to access retailer’s networks remotely from mobile vehicles and plant sniffers on their networks to collect customer’s credit card and account information.

The Secretary went on to detail the department’s ongoing cyber-security initiatives to the packed room of business leaders.

From Forbes.com

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Millions of Americans will be returning to school and many now use computers in the classroom and home. Computers are one of the largest and potentially risky sources of personal information. (234 million records have been exposed due to breaches since 2005.) If stolen, your personally identifiable information can easily lead to identity theft.

Statistics show close to a million — if not more — laptops are stolen each year. Once a hacker has your laptop, they will siphon any data they find on it and potentially sell your identity online. Schools are traditionally unprotected environments. Keeping your personal information secure is a critical responsibility because losing that information can impact you for the rest of your life.

The makers of identity theft prevention software, Identity Finder (http://www.identityfinder.com), here provide tips to help protect your identity at school:

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From DOJ Release

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) today announced that there have been significant developments in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings, which killed five individuals and injured 17 others. In particular, we are able to confirm that substantial progress has been made in the investigation by bringing to bear new and sophisticated scientific tools.

We are unable to provide additional information at this time. The Department, the FBI, and the USPIS have significant obligations to the victims of these attacks and their families that must be fulfilled before any additional information on the investigation can be made public. In addition, investigative documents remain under court seal. We anticipate being able to provide additional details in the near future.

Additional Information on the Investigation

The investigation known as “Amerithrax” is one of the most complex and comprehensive ever conducted by law enforcement. Over the past seven years, the Amerithrax Task Force, which is comprised of 17 FBI Special Agents and 10 U.S. Postal Inspectors, has executed approximately 75 searches and conducted more than 9,100 interviews in the relentless pursuit of the perpetrator of these attacks.

From WashingtonPost.com, by Ellen Nakashima

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The policies . . . are truly alarming,” said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government’s border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

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This survey is being conducted by the DHS/Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in partnership with the University of North Carolina.

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET COMPLETED THIS IMPORTANT SURVEY…..PLEASE CONSIDER DOING IT NOW. THE RESULTS WILL IDENTIFY TRAINING GAPS THAT DHS/FLETC WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS

PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY:

Computer crimes pose a variety of threats to computer users around the globe. Attacks can come from internal or external attackers and take various forms including hacks and viruses that utilize or corrupt Internet services and computing resources. Businesses, universities, and individuals are all at risk of victimization, and require law enforcement assistance to deal with this challenging new form of crime. There is, however, a lack of research on the capacity for law enforcement to effectively handle computer crime cases.
The proposed research will address multiple issues including:
1. the ways that computer crimes are defined and measured by local law enforcement agencies, and the frequency of reported offenses;
2. the staffing, training, and preparation of local law enforcement agencies to handle computer crime;
3. the perceived severity, prevalence, and importance of computer crime among management in local law enforcement agencies

This research is needed to understand the nature and scope of law enforcement investigations to deal with computer crime. The findings can also identify gaps in the knowledge base of the law enforcement community that can be improved through training programs.

This survey should take no longer than 15-20 minutes to complete.

To take the survey, click here http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=72476 .