Public Intelligence

In light of the upcoming 2012 US presidential election, NYSIC is providing a snapshot of four historical cases where terrorists conducted attacks in conjunction with upcoming local or national elections, including the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) used and how the attacks met or failed to meet the terrorists’ goals of altering the outcome of the election.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Criminal Intelligence Unit recently partnered with the Ohio Strategic Analysis and Information Center (SAIC) and gathered information regarding bath salts via a survey. The objective of the study was to assist Law Enforcement by creating an officer safety awareness product relating to the dangers of encountering people on bath salts.

Multi-Agency Operation
* 240 State, Local & Federal officers/analysts
* 41 agencies
* Co-located with the FBI JTTF & FIG
* IGA signed by all agencies
* Three year commitment

Over the past three years, federal, state, and local officials have worked tirelessly to ensure that robust privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protections are integrated into fusion center policies and business processes. These efforts have included developing Baseline Capabilities and model privacy policy templates and providing training and subject-matter expertise to fusion centers.

The purpose of this Threat Assessment is to convey potential threats to educational facilities and related assets in the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to prevent terrorist and insider attacks as well as to increase awareness regarding available threat information. It is anticipated that this assessment will assist homeland security personnel in understanding the potential vulnerabilities to public and private schools, colleges, and universities in order to further assist in responding effectively to an educational facility-related incident. This assessment describes insider threats as well as those posed by domestic extremist and international terrorist groups.

To facilitate the development of a nationwide, integrated, inter-connected fusion center capability, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) and the Office of Intelligence & Analysis (I&A) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) have partnered to develop and deploy the Fusion Process Technical Assistance Program. This program has been developed in coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI); the Office of the Program Manager, Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and experts from the State and local community—including the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global), the Criminal
Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC), and the Global Intelligence Working Group (GIWG).

Some of the most tragic events in our country’s recent history have been episodes where a deviant has carried out shootings in public places. These killings take place for no other reason than to harm as many innocent people as possible. They are often unpredictable and strike in places dear to us, such as our schools, churches, and places of work. They also can occur in random public settings. The definition of an active shooter incident is when one or more subjects participate in a shooting spree, random or systematic, with intent to continuously harm others. Active shooter scenarios are incredibly dangerous and difficult because there is no criminal objective (robbery, hostagetaking) involved other than mass murder.

On April 16, 2008, authorities arrested Roger Von Bergendorff for possession of the deadly biological toxin ricin after searches of three storage lockers he rented in Utah revealed traces of ricin, laboratory equipment, chemicals, and castor beans (the ingredient from which ricin is derived), as well as a drawing of an injection device. When Bergendorff fell critically ill in February in a Las Vegas hotel room, authorities discovered vials containing enough ricin to kill more than 500 people.

A news article from July 18, 2009 highlights a new medication has been developed which reportedly can protect people exposed to normally lethal doses of radiation from a nuclear or a “dirty” bomb.
The article cited tests involving 650 monkeys exposed to radiation equivalent to that recorded during the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in 1986, 70 per cent died while the rest suffered serious maladies, the newspaper Yediot Achronot said yesterday.

The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an initiative to grant select state and major urban area fusion center personnel access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network. Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the DoD Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet)—a secure network used to send classified data. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data Network (HSDN). DHS will be responsible for ensuring that proper security procedures are followed.

Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP):Lead the coordinated national effort to reduce the risk to our critical infrastructures and key resources (CIKR) posed by acts of terrorism, and strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster, or other emergency.