-----Original Message-----
From: NIPC Watch
To: daily
Sent: 4/24/02 5:25 AM
Subject: NIPC DAILY REPORT: 24 APR, '02
NIPC Daily
Report
24 April, 2002
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.
Scores arrested in DC-area airport crackdown. Authorities yesterday
arrested nearly 100 workers at airports serving the nation's capital on
charges they lied to obtain security badges that gave them broad access
to sensitive areas. Procedures at many of the nation's airports allow
any employee with a security badge into sensitive areas such as hangars
or baggage areas, whether they have business there or not. Security
experts say airports should grant access more narrowly, depending on
where employees need to work. Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed the
operation as a multi-jurisdictional effort that has "come to define our
effort to prevent terrorist attacks." (CNN, Associated Press, 23 Apr)
Kansas City gets computer system to warn of bioterrorist attacks. The
Kansas City Health Department and a commercial contractor have developed
an "early warning" computer system to alert health authorities to
possible disease outbreaks or bioterrorist attacks in the metropolitan
area. The warning system will provide the Health Department with daily
updates on the hundreds of lab tests that area hospitals order for
patients who may have infectious diseases. The system is designed to
immediately page health officials whenever patients are tested for
deadly diseases like anthrax or plague, which are considered potential
bioterrorist weapons. Eventually, the system will be able to
automatically alert the Health Department when hospitals order unusually
large numbers of tests for other infectious illness, such as sexually
transmitted or food borne diseases. (The Kansas City Star, 23 Apr)
Energy officials call for transmission investment. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) has established new rules for utilities to
combine their grid assets into regional transmission organizations
(RTOs), with the aim of fostering competition by boosting supplies and
lowering costs to consumers. William McCormick, chairman and chief
executive of CMS Energy Corp. called transmission the "Achilles heel" of
the electricity grid. The building of new power plants has far outpaced
that of transmission grid because of the higher returns reaped from
generation projects. (Reuters, 23 Apr)
California blackouts unlikely this summer; conservation still needed.
The California Independent System Operator expects energy from
hydroelectric sources will be near normal this summer, raising hopes for
a blackout-free summer. Despite the optimistic forecast, ISO officials
are concerned that 62 planned power plants have been canceled or
deferred in recent months because some energy companies' stocks and
credit ratings have sunk following energy giant Enron's bankruptcy. The
delay in building new power plants could lead to tighter energy supplies
in the future. (Associated Press, 23 Apr)
US regulators raise warning on banks' cross-ownership. Federal banking
agencies are worried about "parallel banks," pairs of foreign and US
financial institutions that are controlled either directly or indirectly
by the same person or group because of risks posed to the financial
system. Parallel banks may be set up for a variety of reasons, but
their structure "may make it more difficult for supervisors to monitor
and address risks." Low-quality assets and problem loans can be shifted
among parallel banks to manipulate earnings or losses and avoid
regulatory scrutiny, or to pressure the US depository institution to
provide credit support or liquidity to an affiliate in excess of the
legal limits. (Reuters, 23 Apr)..
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