Maryland

Maryland

Applied Physics Laboratory Paper: The Need for Intelligence Community Sponsored Influence Research

Military Information Support Operations (MISO) is a critical capability in contemporary conflict. Its success depends upon the application of social and behavioral science to analyze target audiences, craft messages, and measure the outcome of their dissemination (Spitaletta, 2013). Recent operational experience has exposed weaknesses in US capability that require redoubled effort to conduct research on the mechanisms and methods of influence and their effective application. In particular, the US needs to better understand the doctrines of adversaries and to develop countermeasures against them. The modern Russian manifestation of information confrontation, often attributed to Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, adapts historical Russian and Soviet tactics of maskirovka (surprise, camouflage, concealment, mimicry, disinformation, and deceptive maneuver) in the contemporary information environment (Thornton, 2015). These approaches are a combination of not only overt military but also covert intelligence tactics that, when executed by disciplined professionals, can achieve a variety of economic and geopolitical effects (Pacepa & Rynchlak, 2013).

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Department of Homeland Security, Maryland

DHS-University of Maryland Study: Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism – United States (PPT-US)

The objective of this project is to create and manage a comprehensive dataset of groups and movements that have used terrorist tactics within the United States – at some point between 1970 and 2007 – to achieve political, religious, social or economic goals. These data will be integrated into the Terrorist and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) database in the near future as part of the larger Integrating U.S. Security Databases (IUSSD) project.

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Department of Homeland Security, Maryland

DHS-University of Maryland Study: Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States 1970 to 2008

While efforts are increasingly aimed at understanding and identifying “hot spots” of ordinary crime, little is known about the geographic concentration of terrorist attacks. What areas are most prone to terrorism? Does the geographic concentration of attacks change over time? Do specific ideologies motivate and concentrate terrorist attacks? Moreover, what factors increase the risk that an attack will occur in a particular area? Using recently released data from the Global Terrorism Database, we address these gaps in our knowledge by examining county-level trends in terrorist attacks in the United States from 1970 through 2008.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

(U//FOUO/LES) Maryland Fusion Center Criminal Use of Police Scanner Apps and RadioReference.com

During several recent contacts with criminal gang members, an identified Maryland law enforcement agency has heard their radio transmissions broadcast over a suspect’s smartphone. In one incident, officers pursuing a suspect on foot overheard the suspect listening to the pursuing officers’ radio transmission over a smartphone. The radio broadcasts of the agency’s primary secure law enforcement channel had an approximate delay of three seconds on the suspect’s smartphone. Further investigation revealed that the general public, as well as criminal gang members and associates, are utilizing the website www.radioreference.com to listen to law enforcement secure channels streaming via the Internet. Registration and access to the site is free, with advanced features available to premium subscribers. A customer is able to search radio frequencies throughout the country by state, metro area, city and/or zip code. The website advertises a search for trunked frequencies as well. The frequencies are obtained over the Internet and any cell phone that has web access can listen in.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

(U//FOUO/LES) Baltimore Police 2nd Amendment Support Decal Warning

The company “Legally Concealed” has created and is marketing decals and apparel to the public “specifically to show support and solidarity for the 2nd Amendment”. According to their website, http://www.legallyconcealed.org/ the special symbol, of the (2) silver lines and number “2” on the black background was “designed in the same spirit of the law enforcement “thin blue line””.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

(U//FOUO) Maryland Fusion Center Trash Bag Balloon Bombs Warning

According to recent open source reporting, law enforcement officers (LEO’s) have been encountering bombs made of innocuous trash bags that have caused injuries to responding officers or significant damage to property. LEO’s are encouraged not to touch the light (airy), low-flying, closed trash bags; consider evacuating the immediate area; and, to call the appropriate response personnel.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

(U//FOUO) Maryland Fusion Center Implications of Death of Osama bin Laden

The Intelligence Community (IC) assesses the death of al-Qa’ida (AQ) leader Usama Bin Laden could result in retaliatory attacks in the Homeland and against U.S. and Western interests overseas. Attacks might originate with AQ Core elements in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan, with one of their affiliates overseas, and/or with individuals in the Homeland sympathetic to the cause but lacking a formal group association. We have no indications of advanced AQ Core plotting efforts in the Homeland, but the case of now-detained AQ operative Najibullah Zazi—who, along with two associates, planned to attack New York City subway in 2009 using homemade explosives— demonstrates that unidentified operatives could advance plotting in the Homeland.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

(U//FOUO/LES) Maryland Fusion Center Incendiary Device Warning

The Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (MCAC) reports two potential incendiary devices have activated at state government buildings in Annapolis and Hanover, MD. The first device activated in the Jeffery Building’s mailroom at 16 Francis St, Annapolis; which hosts the offices of the Maryland Secretary of State and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security. The second device activated at Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) headquarters in Hanover, MD.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland, Virginia

(U//FOUO//LES) Johns Hopkins Hospital Shooting Update

Initial News sources had reported that the Baltimore Police Department had responded to a call for service for a single male shooter at the Johns Hopkins hospital located in Baltimore, MD. Initial reports indicated that a doctor was shot by the unknown suspect and was in critical condition. The suspect suspect was believed to be barricaded on the eighth floor of the Nelson Building on the Johns Hopkins Hospital Campus. There are reports that the shooter could be barricaded in the room with a relative. Baltimore Police Department reports that only certain areas of the hospital campus are cordoned off. Baltimore Police Department officers are on the scene, the suspect is not in custody, and the Baltimore Police is reporting that the situation is contained. The areas of the Hospital not cordoned off are operating normally.

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Intelligence Fusion Centers, Maryland

Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center: Stages of an Active Shooter

(U//FOUO) Due to the recent events in Virginia and threats to schools across the country, the following information is provided as background information for patrol officers. An active shooter is usually not a spur of the moment action. The person progresses through a number of identifiable stages. These stages may occur in rapid succession or over a period of months or even years. During the first four stages, law enforcement may have an opportunity to intervene before the shooter is able to execute the plan.

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Maryland

Reuse of N-95 Respirators Briefing Overview and Summary

1. Current stocks of disposable N-95 respirators will not be sufficient to meet demands within the health care community.

a. Increased number of sick individuals;

b. Decreased stores and available stock-on-hand;

c. Limited production with dependence on international production facilities;

d. Production and delivery may be impacted by staff and employee absenteeism;

e. The pandemic may result in the prolonged requirement for respiratory protection.

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