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SECURITY BEAT
December 2004
Security Beat
Reported by Joe Pappalardo and Roxana Tiron
This Month:
NYPD Walks International Beat in Search of Terrorists
New York City police are not just patrolling the
five boroughs in search of terrorist cells. They also have deployed investigators
around the world, according to one of the city's top counter-terrorism officials.
The department conducts its own intelligence analyses and has detectives dispersed around the world, said Michael Sheehan, deputy commissioner of counter-terrorism at New York's police department. They keep track of potential attackers and "how they may show up in New York City," he said. The police department is going to increase its presence, Sheehan added, especially in the Arab world.
At the same time, police have stepped up domestic efforts to monitor radical groups and harden potential targets. "We have to improve the defensive posture of the city, but at the same time, not allow barriers to surround every building," Sheehan said.
Because al Qaeda member movements have been under the microscope since September 2001, the organization is seeking to recruit local operatives, preferably with U.S. citizenship, said Sheehan. "There are pockets of individuals that we need to worry about in New York City," he said at this year's Eisenhower national security conference. "They discuss jihad. They discuss violence."
Often these groups are involved in extremist movements, but are not necessarily defined as terrorist organizations, he explained. It is almost impossible to know whether there is "a Mohamed Atta-like cell in our midst," Sheehan said.
Atta, the head of the September 11 cell, was instructed by al Qaeda senior leadership not to go near mosques or extremist group meetings in order to keep a low profile, Sheehan recalled. The Madrid cell also employed this subtle operational profile, he said.
Thwarting attacks means establishing constant surveillance and protective measures without crippling daily life of the world's best-known metropolis. "We have to improve the defensive posture of the city, but at the same time, not allow barriers to surround every building," Sheehan said.
In order to deter potential attackers, at least initially, the department has sent "highly visible surges of police around the city," he said. The department also has its own tabletop training for chemical and biological defense, said Sheehan, and officers have become more proficient in that area. "We operate 24/7 under the assumption that we are being targeted," Sheehan noted.
New York increasingly has to deal with a "troubling" international trend, which appeared in the Madrid train bombings back in March, Sheehan said. Attackers can bypass the professional training offered in specialized camps that previously were good locations to identify terrorist operatives.
Border, Port, Air Security Score Funding Hikes
President George W. Bush in late October signed the 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which provides $28.9 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of Homeland Security. This is $1.8 billion more than the previous years budget, a 6.6 percent increase.
Including mandatory, fee-funded programs and an effort to detect the release of biological agents-Project BioShield-a total of $40.7 billion will be available to DHS in 2005.
The law provides $419.2 million in new funding to enhance border and port security, including the expansion of pre-screening cargo containers in high-risk areas and the border control. The act allocated $5.1 billion for the Transportation Security Administration, $679 million more than 2004.
Additional funding for the U.S. Coast Guard, a $500 million increase, is designated toward upgrading port security efforts and providing additional resources to implement the Maritime Transportation Security Act. Also in the new budget are $80 million for the next generation of radiation detection monitors to screen entry at America's ports. The spending measure also authorizes $28 million to boost the flight hours of P-3 aircraft and $12.5 million for long-range radar operations.
The budget includes an additional $123 million to expand fugitive apprehension efforts and the removal from the United States of jailed offenders. Funding for detecting and locating individuals in the United States who are in violation of immigration laws, or who are engaging in immigration-related fraud, increased by $56 million.
The Federal Air Marshals program, which has been moved under the auspices of immigration and customs enforcement, received $663 million, an increase of $50 million from a year ago. The law includes $475 million to continue deploying more efficient baggage screening solutions at the nation's busiest airports. DHS' science and technology directorate garnered $61 million to accelerate development of technologies to counter the threat of portable anti-aircraft missiles.
Reports Traces Transport Security Research Dollars
Billed as a rebuke over the Department of Homeland Security's managerial efforts to foster protective technology, a recent Government Accountability Office report answers an oft-asked question-what is the department spending its research dollars on?
During 2003 and 2004, DHS and the Transportation Security Administration funded more than 200 research and development projects that are designed to develop technology to harden all modes of transportation.
In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, TSA spent the bulk of its research and development budgets-81 percent in 2003, and 79 percent in 2004-on aviation security. On the DHS side, aviation security received 71 percent of its 2004 budget. Rail security research received just over $1 million from the TSA in fiscal year 2004, up from the $169,000 in 2003. DHS spent nothing on rail security in either year.
"Several members of an expert panel on transportation security and technology that GAO convened believed the distribution of R&D projects . was reasonable, while others believed that aviation has been overemphasized at the expense of maritime and land modes," the report said, acknowledging an oft-debated point in homeland defense circles.
Overall, the research budgets of both agencies were significantly increased-from TSA's $21.1 million for 2003 to $159 million in 2004, and DHS' $25.9 million to $88 million for 2004. DHS spent 23 percent of its 2004 budget, or $2 million, on research that could be used in several modes of travel. TSA spent $2.2 million.
The research dollars are not going to basic research projects, GAO reported, and noted "TSA and DHS have not estimated deployment dates for the vast majority of their R&D projects."
The report also noted that, while the two agencies "made some progress" managing their research projects according to law and implemented best practices, "neither agency has prepared a strategic plan for R&D that contains measurable objectives."
The report added that the TSA has not finished vulnerability and criticality assessments, and that while both agencies have taken into account the concerns of other agencies, such as the Transportation Department and NASA, "their outreach to consider the concerns of the transportation industry has been limited."
In response, DHS said that the report does not take into account recent changes, especially at TSA, including new programs to track progress of research efforts, the finalization of a strategic plan for research and the impact of a weekly conference call conducted by TSA's assistant secretary to communicate with transportation industry leaders from all sectors. The response, drafted by Anna Dixon, DHS's liaison to government investigators, also noted that many airline security technologies easily can be applied to other modes and would be leveraged in future projects.
"Taken in total, this report does not paint the picture of irresponsibility," Dixon wrote. "Rather, we believe it paints a picture of the difficulties of integrating multiple new agencies' missions, resources and approaches."
H & K Makes History With Pistol Contract
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded the largest ever law enforcement contract for pistols to Heckler & Koch Defense Inc. to make tens of thousands of small arms for immigration and customs enforcement personnel.
The multi-year contract has a potential value of $26.2 million. The maximum number of pistols being purchased hovers at 65,000, making it the single largest handgun procurement in the history of U.S. law enforcement. Three models of firearms were selected, chosen in three calibers, from a pool of 46 weapons from different companies vying for the contract. The company said that more than 3 million rounds were fired during the testing of the weapons.
"The testing protocol not only included one of the most rigorous battery of reliability, environmental, accuracy and durability tests a handgun has ever been subjected to," mentioned Wayne Weber, the company's defense federal operations manager. It also featured the "most powerful selection of cartridges within each of three calibers." Those calibers are 9x19 mm, .40 cal. Smith and Wesson, and .357 mm SIG.
H&K has long sought the border enforcement market. In 2000, the company modified a trigger system solely for U.S. immigration specifications. The system uses the rearward movement of the slide to pre-cock an internal separate cocking piece within the hammer. The hammer returns forward with the slide after loading or firing, yet the internal cocking piece stays raised. Once the trigger is pulled, the hammer is driven forward by the cocking piece to fire the pistol. The amount of force of the hammer can be set to the user's preference.
The trigger system was made for proficient shooting, and quick follow-up shots, by those with small hands or limited hand strength, according to H&K company statements.
H&K has had a good year for gun sales. Earlier this year the company won a contract to equip the federal flight deck officer program for the Transportation Security Agency. This year, the arms manufacturers began construction of a new plant in Columbus, Ga., to keep up with new orders.
Heartbeat Detector Is Big in Japan
Despite less than glowing reviews from U.S. research labs, the Japanese regional police force has purchased 100 passive detectors that purport to detect the electric field created by a beating human heart.
"Everyone looked at us like we were loonies," Howard Sidman, president of DKL International Inc., told National Defense.
The product, called LifeGuard, claims to detect unique ultra low frequency fields generated by the heartbeat, so that living humans can be found, company officials said. The technology is touted as being able to locate a standing adult from a distance of 500 meters in the open, and at shorter distances through concrete walls, steel bulkheads, heavy foliage or water.
Skeptics have called the device no better than a dowsing stick, and during 1998 trials at Sandia National Labs the detectors failed in controlled tests. Government researchers said the device operated no better than random chance when it came to finding people in boxes.
Dozens of LifeGuard units have been purchased for border control, police work, and collapsed building and avalanche rescue in Belgium, France and Italy, he said.
The next step, Sidman said, is selling Lifeguard to the U.S. government. "We have some interest in the Defense Department and some other agencies," he said, adding that negotiations were pending. "It's a tough sell," he conceded.
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