CRIME NIPC Daily Report 07/30/02

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 09:04:51 PDT

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    CDC seeks funding for new labs.  Since the 11 September and the anthrax
    attacks that followed, lawmakers have been quick to promise the Centers for
    Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) money to fight bio-terrorism. But
    agency officials say its crumbling buildings need just-as-urgent attention.
    ''We don't have any extra room,'' said Dr. Jim Pirkle of CDC's National
    Center for Environmental Health. Earlier in July, the CDC dedicated two new
    labs at its campus in suburban Atlanta - structures to house scientists
    working on parasitic diseases and toxins. (Associated Press, 29 Jul)
    
    Livermore lab plans pathogen facility.  Lawrence Livermore Laboratory wants
    to build a research facility where its scientists can study the dangerous
    bacteria and viruses that are an increasing focus of its renewed
    counter-terrorism mission.  The building would allow scientists to work on
    major bio-terrorism threats, including bugs that cause diseases such as
    anthrax, bubonic plague, and tularemia.  The lab's research centers are
    currently limited to diseases that are not transmitted in the air and are
    easily treated. This means lab scientists can work on salmonella, measles
    and hepatitis B, and also bacteria that cause anthrax and the plague.  The
    new facility would allow lab scientists to work with diseases that are
    spread through the air and, while treatable, could cause serious illness or
    death.  (Contra Costa Times, 25 Jul)
    
    Al Qaeda suspects arrested with plans to poison water supplies. Officials
    have arrested two Al Qaeda terror suspects in the US with documents in their
    possession about how to poison the country's water supplies.  The first case
    involves James Ujaama, 36, who surrendered last week in Denver, CO. Sources
    say they found documents about water poisoning among several other
    terrorism-related documents in his residence.  Also arrested was Semi Osman.
    He is also accused of having documents about poisoning water supplies in his
    possession when he was taken into custody. (Associated Press, 30 Jul)
    
    Dynegy sells natural-gas pipeline to MidAmerican for $928 million.   Dynegy
    Inc. agreed to sell its 16,600-mile natural-gas pipeline to Berkshire
    Hathaway Inc.'s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. for $928 million in cash,
    plus debt.  The Houston-based energy trader had previously said it was
    trying to sell at least part of the pipeline, Northern Natural Gas Co., as
    part of a plan to raise $2 billion and shore up its finances.  For its part,
    MidAmerican said the acquisition of Northern Natural Gas marks another step
    in a strategy of investing in the US energy infrastructure. (Wall Street
    Journal , 29 Jul)
    
    IT nightmare: the enemy within.  Tim Lloyd, employed for 11 years as a
    network administrator, was convicted in May 2000 of doing $10 million in
    damages to the company where he was employed, by deleting proprietary
    programs.   Although Lloyd maintains his innocence, his case represented one
    of the first federal prosecutions of computer sabotage. Such a situation is
    every business' worst fear: that employees could betray their trust and
    attack their computer systems from the inside. While internal sabotage is a
    potential problem that will exist as long as companies have employees, there
    is evidence that although the incidence of insider attacks has increased
    this year, attacks originating from the outside still pose a greater threat.
    (News Factor Network , 29 Jul)
    
    101 injured in Amtrak crash. On 29 July, an Amtrak passenger train derailed
    in Montgomery County, MD, injuring 101 people and seriously injuring six.
    The eastbound Capitol Limited was carrying 164 passengers and 12
    crew-members from Chicago, IL to Washington, DC when the accident occurred
    at 1:55 p.m.  The tracks, owned by CSX, had been visually inspected and OK'd
    by rail crews on 21 July. Forty minutes before the accident, a 91-car
    freight train carrying 9,100 tons of cargo passed over the tracks without
    any trouble, said CSX spokesman Dan Murphy.  Rail officials and the National
    Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the derailment.
    (Baltimore Sun , 30 Jul)
    
    
    
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