CRIME NIPC Daily Report for 29 March 2002

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Fri Mar 29 2002 - 15:18:18 PST


 
The NIPC Watch and Warning Unit compiles this report to inform 
recipients of issues impacting the integrity and capability of the 
nation's critical infrastructures.

Disaster exercise: flaws and progress. About 200 US, Maryland, Virginia 
and D.C. officials participated in a war game on 12 and 13 March that 
assembled federal and local authorities for the first time to test 
emergency plans adopted since September. The two-day anti-terrorism 
exercise found large and potentially serious gaps in the government's 
ability to remove debris, clear roads, and preserve public sanitation in

a large-scale attack on the nation's capital.  Federal and District 
officials aced a key objective of the test, however, demonstrating the 
compatibility of emergency plans in forming a common playbook and 
language intended to prevent bureaucratic paralysis in a crisis. 
Washington has made "drastic improvements" since September, when jammed 
roads and a sluggish, confused public response fueled criticism from 
Congress, said Kenneth S. Kasprisin, the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency's assistant director for readiness, response and recovery. 
(Washington Post, 28 Mar)

Large, small airports to use different security systems.  Smaller 
airports will use trace-detection systems, equipment that tests only 
parts of the outside surface of a piece of luggage for residue of 
explosive substances, a Department of Transportation (DOT) official said

on 27 March. By contrast, bigger airports will use both the 
trace-detection equipment and the bulky conveyor-belt machines that scan

for explosives with enhanced X-ray images of the luggage, both inside 
and outside. Many airports already use the trace-detection machines 
occasionally to scan carry-on luggage.   The Transportation Security 
Administration will decide the mix of equipment used at each airport 
over the next several weeks and the technology will depend on a variety 
of factors, including airport layout and volume of passengers.  The DOT 
said both technologies have strengths and weaknesses and "are good to do

the job." (Washington Post, 28 Mar)

WWU Comment: This article highlights the vulnerability of smaller 
airports in terms of weaknesses in reciprocal security  (see NIPC Daily 
Report for 15 March). Terrorists take advantage of soft targets.  And so

it is possible that baggage and passengers originating at smaller 
airports without sophisticated equipment could be used to target large 
aircraft at a major airport via a connecting flight.  An illustrative 
example is the 11 September hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, 
who embarked from Portland, Maine and connected through Logan Airport in

Boston.  Additionally, this article reinforces the importance of 
"two-factor security" (see NIPC Daily Report for 28 March) at all 
airports - large and small.

Montana declared drought disaster. On 28 March, US Agriculture 
Secretary, Ann Veneman declared Montana a drought disaster area, opening

the door for farmers to receive emergency disaster assistance. The 
declaration comes two months earlier than the USDA's drought designation

last year.  The USDA estimated drought-related losses at nearly $280 
million.  (Associated Press, 28 Mar)

US will pay for gas masks for Alabama. The federal government will pay 
for safety gear that resembles a gas mask for thousands of people who 
live near an incinerator where the Army will burn deadly nerve agents. 
As many as 35,000 people in eastern Alabama could receive the protective

hoods and training on how to use them. State and federal emergency 
management officials said they were unaware of any such previous effort,

making this the first mass distribution of safety gear to American 
civilians.  The hoods, which function like gas masks but are larger and 
simpler to use, would go to people who live nearest the incinerator. 
The money would also be used to buy gear for as many as 500 police 
officers, firefighters and emergency management workers, who would 
respond to any accident at the incinerator, said Mike Burney, emergency 
management director for Calhoun County.  The Army plans to begin test 
burning of nerve gas in September. (New York Times, 28 Mar 02)

FCC creates media-security panel. The Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC) announced the creation of an industry advisory panel intended to 
study the security of cable, broadcasting and satellite facilities in 
the event of another Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The panel is an 
outgrowth of last September's terrorist attacks on New York, when two 
commercial jets crashed into two World Trade Center buildings and caused

their collapse. The towers had been antenna sites for several city 
broadcasters.  Some stations that lost antennas were hardwired into area

cable systems and continued to be viewed by cable consumers. A senior 
FCC official said the agency had no plans to require TV stations to 
build direct wireline links from the their stations to area cable 
systems. (Multichannel News, 28 Mar)



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