According to Debkafile, an Israeli electronic news website, a group claiming to be al-Qa‘ida has declared 11 November 2007 as the first day of a campaign of “electronic jihad” on the Internet. According to Debkafile, unspecified “al-Qa‘ida electronic experts” allegedly would begin attacking “Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate and Shiite Web sites on that date with many more jihadist hackers joining in the attacks later [sic].” DHS and the FBI have no specific or credible information corroborating these cyber attack claims, or intelligence indicating this group is tied to al-Qa‘ida.
Author Archive for Public Intelligence
Department of State
U.S. State Department Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Country Database 2011
Every year, U.S. officials from agencies with anti-money laundering responsibilities meet to assess the money laundering situations in 200 jurisdictions. The review includes an assessment of the significance of financial transactions in the country‘s financial institutions involving proceeds of serious crime, steps taken or not taken to address financial crime and money laundering, each jurisdiction‘s vulnerability to money laundering, the conformance of its laws and policies to international standards, the effectiveness with which the government has acted, and the government‘s political will to take needed actions.
Department of Defense
Restricted U.S. Military Multi-Service Brevity Codes Manual
This publication will ease coordination and improve understanding during multi-Service operations. A Brevity code is a code which provides no security but which has as its sole purpose the shortening of messages rather than the concealment of their content (Joint Publication 1-02).
U.S. Navy
(U//FOUO) U.S. Navy Strategic Foreign Language List
The intent of the Navy SLL is to inform the Navy total force of Navy’s foreign language requirements. The list is used to shape foreign language capability and capacity in the force, prioritize development of related training, and facilitate administration of Navy’s Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus (FLPB) Program.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//FOUO) DHS Hotels Threat Assessment
This assessment is intended to support the activities of DHS and to assist federal, state, and local government counterterrorism and law enforcement officials, and the private sector in deterring, preventing, preempting, or responding to terrorist attacks against soft targets such as hotels in the United States. It is intended to support the national “See Something, Say Something” campaign.
Afghanistan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
ISAF Afghan National Police Logistics Training Handbook
The mission of CJTF Phoenix is to train and mentor the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to conduct independent, self-sustained Counter Insurgency (COIN) and Security Operations in order to defeat terrorism and provide a secure, stable environment within the borders of Afghanistan. The ANSF is primarily composed of the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan Uniformed Police (AUP), Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan Border Patrol (ABP) and Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP).
California
(U//FOUO/LES) L.A. County Sheriff Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Presentation
FOUO/LES Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Presentation from June 2010.
Department of State
(U//FOUO) State Department Visa Cancellation Stamps Bulletin February 2003
Consular Affairs has developed a highly penetrative security ink to be used exclusively for cancelling nonimmigrant visas. This unique formulation, designated security ink #297, is specially designed to penetrate TESLIN, the synthetic material used as the basis of visa foils issued since late 1993 until the recent introduction of the Lincoln Visa. The ink finally selected was chosen after extensive laboratory testing undertaken by both the U.S. Secret Service and INS/FDL. Up to now, there existed no genuinely effective means for cancelling a visa permanently short of destructive methods that risked damaging the underlying passport page. To remedy this, CA commissioned the manufacture of two types of visa cancellation stamps in conjunction with the new security ink, and they are being distributed to visa issuing posts worldwide.
Congressional Research Service
Direct Overt U.S. Aid and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan, 2002-2012
Direct Overt U.S. Aid and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan, FY2002-FY2012, prepared for the Congressional Research Service by K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs.
White House
White House International Strategy for Cyberspace
Digital infrastructure is increasingly the backbone of prosperous economies, vigorous research communities, strong militaries, transparent governments, and free societies. As never before, information technology is fostering transnational dialogue and facilitating the global flow of goods and services. These social and trade links have become indispensable to our daily lives. Critical life-sustaining infrastructures that deliver electricity and water, control air traffic, and support our financial system all depend on networked information systems. Governments are now able to streamline the provision of essential services through eGovernment initiatives. Social and political movements rely on the Internet to enable new and more expansive forms of organization and action. The reach of networked technology is pervasive and global. For all nations, the underlying digital infrastructure is or will soon become a national asset.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Chemical Storage Facility Terrorist Indicators Report
To consider terrorist threat indicators in relationship to chemical storage facilities, it is useful to understand the basic structure of the industry and what general types of facilities might be attractive targets for terrorist attack. Chemical storage facilities are attractive terrorist targets because they can contain toxic and hazardous materials, can create extensive casualties and property damage, and can be a source of materials for use in other attacks. Figure 1 shows some of the potential terrorist targeting objectives.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Petroleum Pipeline Vulnerabilities and Terrorist Indicators Reports
The United States (U.S.) has two types of pipelines that transport petroleum: those that carry crude oil and those that carry refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and home heating oil. Pipelines transport more than two-thirds of all crude oil and refined products in the U.S. Other transportation modes are water, which includes ocean tankers and barges and accounts for 28% of petroleum transportation; tanker trucks, which account for 3% of petroleum transportation; and railroads, which account for 2% of petroleum transportation. The U.S. has more than 200,000 miles of petroleum pipelines.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Highway Tunnel Terrorist Indicators Report
Highway tunnels are enclosed passageways for road vehicles to travel through or under an obstruction, such as a city, mountain, river, or harbor. Tunnels may have one or more “tubes,” and some are also equipped with rail lines for trains. Highway tunnels are generally classified with regard to their method of construction: bored, cut and cover, or submerged. Tunnels through hard rock formations are usually bored (i.e., drilled) and finished to facilitate vehicular traffic. Very large boring machines are often used to cut the tunnel tubes through the hard rock formation.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//FOUO/LES) FBI Improvised Chemical and Biological Agent Production Indicators
The Technical Support Working Group’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures (CBRNC) Subgroup, in cooperation with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, conducts comprehensive assessments of chemical and biological materials, devices, and countermeasures. As part of their efforts, they evaluated the potential effectiveness of production methods found in the form of recipes from open-source improvised production handbooks that may be used by extremists groups. They assessed the skill level required to follow the instructions and determined the availability of the necessary equipment and ingredients.
Congressional Research Service
Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion
The federal government loses both individual and corporate income tax revenue from the shifting of profits and income into low-tax countries, often referred to as tax havens. The revenue losses from this tax avoidance and evasion are difficult to estimate, but some have suggested that the annual cost of offshore tax abuses may be around $100 billion per year. International tax avoidance can arise from large multinational corporations who shift profits into low-tax foreign subsidiaries or wealthy individual investors who set up secret bank accounts in tax haven countries.
Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//FOUO) DHS-FBI Potential for Retaliatory Attacks Following the Death of Osama bin Laden
This Joint Intelligence Bulletin provides law enforcement and public and private sector officials with information for consideration in the wake of the death of Usama bin Ladin. This information is provided to support the activities of DHS and FBI and to help federal, state, and local government counterterrorism and law enforcement officials deter, prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist attacks directed against the United States.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Chemical Facility Vulnerabilities and Terrorist Indicators Reports
While hazardous and nonhazardous chemicals are stored and used in many industries, the focus of this report is specific to facilities that manufacture chemicals. A chemical manufacturing facility comprises upstream components, process units, downstream components, and product storage. The chemical manufacturing process can be further divided into the following five stages, each of which may contain one or more processing activities: (1) receipt of chemical ingredients, (2) temporarily staging or storing chemical ingredients awaiting use in production, (3) processing chemical ingredients into product, (4) temporarily staging or storing chemical products awaiting shipment, and (5) shipping chemical products.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Fossil-Fuel Power Station Terrorist Indicators Report
Steam power plants burn fossil fuel in the furnace of a steam boiler. Steam from the boiler expands through a steam turbine, which is connected to a drive shaft of an electric generator. The exhaust vapor expelled from the turbine condenses, and the liquid is pumped back to the boiler to repeat the cycle. Steam power plants are designed to use coal, natural gas, or oil. Before combustion gases can be exhausted to the atmosphere, they typically must be cleaned to reduce particulates, NOx, and SO2 to levels required by federal and state regulations.
U.S. Army
Afghanistan Human Terrain Team Pashtun Homosexuality Report
Military cultural awareness training for Afghanistan often emphasizes that the effeminate characteristics of male Pashtun interaction are to be considered “normal” and no indicator of a prevalence of homosexuality. This training is intended to prevent servicemembers from reacting with typically western shock or aversion to such displays. However, slightly more in-depth research points to the presence of a culturally-dependent homosexuality appearing to affect a far greater population base then some researchers would argue is attributable to natural inclination. To dismiss the existence of this dynamic out of desire to avoid western discomfort is to risk failing to comprehend an essential social force underlying Pashtun culture—one with a variety of potential implications upon the efficacy and applicability of ISAF efforts and on the long-term future of Afghan society.
Headline
More Afghan Children
See also: Afghan Children
Afghanistan, Department of Defense
Money as a Weapon System Afghanistan (MAAWS-A) SOP 2011
Money As A Weapon System Afghanistan (MAAWS-A) SOP February 2011.
India, Pakistan
Indian Government Dossier Linking Mumbai Terrorists to Pakistani ISI
Documentation released by the Government of India’s Press Information Bureau with this description: “A report which appeared in the media today states that the Chicago trial of the 2008 Mumbai attacks will be held from the 16th of this month. The report also states that the federal prosecutors indicted some more suspects last week in this case. Information available with the Government of India on the five persons named as accused in the second charge-sheet filed by the United States Government in the case is given in the annexure.”
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Hotel Vulnerabilities and Terrorist Indicators Reports
Terrorists are most likely to choose vehicle bombs if their goal is to cause maximum casualties. This method has been used to attack hotels in the United States (U.S.) and around the world. Hotels that are likely to be most vulnerable are those located in downtown areas of large cities, those hosting a controversial group or special event, those where U.S. or foreign dignitaries are guests, and those with a worldwide reputation and connections to a culture that is seen by some groups as corrupt (e.g., casino hotels).
Intelligence Fusion Centers
(U//LES) New Mexico Investigative Support Center Dual SIM Cell Phone Warning
A recent narcotics investigation led to the arrest of two subjects after they were found to be in possession of sixty (60) pounds of marijuana. During the investigation Agents observed the male subject repeatedly holding a wristwatch to his ear and later found the item to be a cellular phone. A Cellebrite extraction was conducted on this phone which was found to have two SIM cards. Dual SIM cards enable the user to combine different numbers, plans or network carriers. This particular cell phone had one SIM card from A T & T, and the other one from Telcel, New Mexico’s largest mobile phone carrier. An internet search revealed you can purchase these wristwatch cell phones starting at $50.00. There were no markings to identify the brand or carrier of this phone. Law Enforcement is advised to be on the look out for these communication devices when you are in contact with subjects of criminal investigations.
Department of Homeland Security
(U//LES) DHS Hydroelectric Dam Vulnerabilities and Terrorist Indicators Reports
Hydropower, including pumped storage, constitutes about 14% of the electrical generating capacity of the United States (U.S.). Hydropower is the primary source of renewable energy in the U.S. Total U.S. hydroelectric capacity is 103.8 gigawatts (GW), including pumped storage projects. The federal government owns 38.2 GW at 165 sites (excluding pumped storage). Another 40 GW of non-federal, licensed conventional hydroelectric capacity (excluding pumped storage) exists at 2,162 sites in the U.S. (National Hydropower Association). The distribution of hydropower generating capacity by ownership is illustrated in Figure 1. The 10 largest hydroelectric facilities in the country are listed in Table 1 (U.S. Society on Dams).