Archive » Homeland Security

TSA: Thousands Standing Around. Those Silly Asses. Taking Scissors Away.

On alert. Plus: A first-hand report from a pilot on airline (in)security.

Chertie has chosen to lie in bed with the very people who make a living intimidating and suing vigilant Americans who take homeland security seriously.

Crying over spilled water.

Thank you, Brian Morganstern, for stepping up to the plate.

Update: New WashTimes article on the report here.
This weekend, dogged Washington Times reporter Audrey Hudson previewed a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report on the handling–and mishandling–of Flight 327. Longtime readers will remember this incident as an airline security object lesson on the need for passengers to say something when they see something. Thirteen [...]

A John Doe bill has just been introduced in Congress:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressmen Stevan Pearce, along with Rep. Peter King and Rep. Bill Shuster, introduced a bill today that would protect those who come forward to report suspicious activity from frivolous civil liability prosecution.
If passed, the bill, known commonly as the ‘John Doe’ [...]

The NYPost has exclusive details about the John Doe hero who turned in the Jersey Jihadist suspects. He’s a teenager who at first hesitated after watching the terror training video tape the suspects dropped off at Circuit City to convert to a DVD:
When the teen and another employee went into a back room and began [...]

Update: 1:45pm Eastern. All suspects denied bail.

Dix Six defense: It’s all the government’s fault
The Fort Dix Six were in court this morning for a bail hearing. Courier Post blogged from the courthouse.
You won’t be shocked to hear that the lawyers for the Jersey Jihadist suspects are gearing up to argue entrapment:
Attorney Rocco Cipparone, who is [...]

There were 10 young men in the Fort Dix terror plot videos. Six are in custody. Where are the other four? Haven’t seen this elsewhere, but CNSNews.com reports that the FBI knows the identities of the other Jersey Jihadi suspects. There is not enough evidence, however, to charge them. Keep an eye on this. More: [...]

The AP sent a reporter to the three illegal alien Jersey Jihadists’ hometown of Debar, located on Macedonia’s border with Albania. Relatives of the Duka brothers reacted:
“They must have been crazy. They shouldn’t dare throw a stone at America,” said Rrahmi Duka, 70, a distant relative of the brothers, as a loudspeaker blared Muslim prayers [...]

Looking out for you
I said it yesterday. I repeat it today: Thank you, whistleblower. Now, we know a bit more. He works at Circuit City:
A male employee who works at Circuit City behind the Moorestown
Mall is the unsung hero that first enabled authorities to foil the Fort Dix terror plot.
Circuit City corporate spokesman Jim Babb [...]

Yesterday morning, I noted early on that Fort Dix had been a refuge for ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. As I suspected, Agron Abdullahu, one of the Jersey Jihadist suspects, was indeed one of the thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo whom we welcomed there in 1999 (hat tip: Allah):
A trained sniper during the war [...]

Lots of interesting info and tidbits coming in on the Fort Dix terrorist plot, so I’m starting a new post.
Update: Clayton Cramer examines the gun law aspects of the case.
As mentioned this morning, the criminal complaint states that jihadi suspect Serdar Tatar delivered pizza to Fort Dix and that his family owned a pizza place [...]

Soldiers at Fort Dix: Targeted by jihadists
Update: The names of the suspects via one of the filed complaints:
Dritan Duka (illegal alien); Eliver Duka (illegal alien); Shain Duka (illegal alien)
Serdar Tatar (the pizza deliverer…his family owns a pizzeria near Ft. Dix)
Mohamad Shnewer; Agron Abdullahu
Via Allahpundit: According to CBS News, Shnewer is from Jordan and is the [...]

Someone saw something and said something. No doubt CAIR’s lawyers are getting ready to sue the John Does who spoke up when they saw this suspicious activity. Via DMN:
Dallas police and federal terrorism officials are investigating two women, both dressed in camouflage pants under their traditional Muslim robes and scarves, who were seen conducting what [...]

Back in 2003, a teenager was arrested and charged for joking about a bomb in his luggage.
In 2004, a British student was arrested and released after making a bomb joke before boarding a flight from Miami to Britain.
We are constantly warned not to make light of homeland security while passing through airport checkpoints and threatened [...]

Update: I am HuffPo.

The left-wing blogosphere is up in arms over the John Doe movement and manifesto.
It’s telling, isn’t it, that HuffPo and company are outraged not at CAIR and the litigious imams–but at me:
Does Michelle Malkin believe the things she writes? Is she five? Is she living in a parallel universe where Afghanistan is [...]

Check out our Spartacus-inspired PSA in support of the citizen John Does threatened by CAIR and the litigious imams for reporting suspicious behavior:

(Thanks to the cast and crew: Uncle Jimbo, Robert Spencer, Erick Stakelbeck, and Bryan Preston.)
My column this week also covers the new John Doe movement and lays down the John Doe manifesto:
Dear [...]

House GOP strikes back at the litigious imams, reports the Washington Times in a web-only exclusive. Audrey Hudson writes:
House Republicans today surprised Democrats with a procedural vote to protect public-transportation passengers from being sued if they report suspicious activity — the first step by lawmakers to protect “John Doe” airline travelers already targeted in a [...]

Christopher Soghoian, a PhD student in the School of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington, created a fake boarding pass generator to expose flaws in airport security. A reader sent this link to the generator, but it looks like it has been taken down.
Looks like he could be in big trouble for blowing the whistle. Wired [...]

Have you forgotten? Five years ago today, someone–still unknown–sent letters laced with anthrax to the NYPost and NBC News. Two more letters, postmarked October 9, 2001, were sent to Sens. Tom Daschle and Pat Leahy with even more refined (”weaponized”) anthrax:

The CDC mapped the mail flow of anthrax letters, which included several more inferred from [...]

***scroll for updates, including new info from Annie Jacobsen (remember Flight 327?)…who were the ringleaders of Bojinka II (is there a better name? let me know)…here’s the reason for the liquid ban: ABC says the jihadists were going to hide the explosives in sports drink bottles…reports of dry runs…USNews now also reporting details involving hydrogen [...]

***updated…10pm Eastern-new details about Haq via AP - he “forced his way through a security door by holding a gun to a 13-year-old girl’s head”…told 911 dispatcher, “These are Jews and I’m tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East…”***
***new photo of Haq via AP…***

***7/30 [...]

***scroll for updates…university library cancels its NYT subscription!…and the WSJ explains the circumstances that led the newspaper to publish its SWIFT story…read the whole thing…the NYTimes covers the House resolution condemning the paper…***
I mentioned the other day that I’d been hearing buzz about a protest at the New York Times building.
It’s coming together and there [...]

The New York Times and their traitorous, leaking sources have done it again. (Hat tip: LGF) This time they’re broadcasting classified information on troop levels. Hey, Bill Keller–al Qaeda thanks you:
The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of [...]

You’ve seen tonight’s headlines: FBI detains 7 in domestic terror probe
Seven people are in custody after a sweep by law enforcement authorities in connection with an alleged plot against targets that may have included the Sears Tower, officials told CNN on Thursday.
Officials said no weapons or bomb-making materials had been found in the searches in [...]

But don’t worry. He’s been sent to…Saudi Arabia!
Great, just great:
New Zealand has deported a Yemeni man identified as having direct links with the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States who was taking pilot training in the country this year, the government said Saturday.
Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported to [...]

Via Fox News/AP:
A New York City man has been hospitalized after inhaling anthrax, but officials believe it was accidental and not related to terrorism.
The man, a doctor, traveled recently to the west coast of Africa and became ill shortly after his return, said a federal law enforcement official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition [...]

Just received via e-mail and posted by Sen. Bill Frist on the VOLPAC blog:
News that a Middle-East based firm is seeking to purchase the operating rights to several U.S. ports - from New York to New Orleans - raise serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland.
Post 9/11 prudence warrants - [...]