Archive for category Threat Watch

Two of the seven kidnapped state police officers released in Monterrey.

“Two of the seven state police officers kidnapped last week near Monterrey, the capital of Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state, have been released, a State Investigations Agency, or AEI, spokesman said.

The officers, who were tortured and beaten, were found early Sunday in Contry, a neighborhood in the southern section of Monterrey.

The two officers were thrown out of a moving vehicle, eyewitnesses said.”

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

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ICE Agent’s attack: Gun supplier was U.S. Marine

“One of three men arrested and linked with one of the guns used in the murder of a U.S. federal agent in Mexico was part of the U.S. military and received training on weapons.

Ranferi Osorio, 27, spent eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq and Afghanistan before retiring in 2009, said his ex-wife Valeria Rojas in a statement issued on Wednesday before the federal court case. He supported his family by buying and selling firearms, but had no license or authorization for such trade.

Ranferi Osorio, like his younger brother Otilio, 22, is accused of possessing firearms with altered serial numbers. They were under investigation which took an unexpected turn on Friday 25 February when ATF agents in Dallas were notified that one of the serial numbers of guns used in the murder of Zapata, was related to Otilio Osorio.

Although he had apparently erased the serial number of the gun, it could still be detected on the gun using modern laboratory techniques. The ATF decided to proceed and the three suspects were arrested on Feb. 28 in Lancaster, a suburb south of Dallas.

On 15 February, the ICE agent and his partner Victor Zapata Avila, were shot as they drove along a road in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. Zapata died in the attack and Avila was injured.”

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/750863.html

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They’re not Fast, but they are Furious

NOW ARE THEY FURIOUS? The Attorney General of the Republic, still headed by Arturo Chavez Chavez, decided to conceal details of the investigation that began from the failed operation Fast and Furious, in which agents of the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) deliberately allowed around two thousand high-caliber arms to enter Mexico in order, for the moment, to not generate more friction with the government of the United States.

Nevertheless, what the agency decided to avoid in its official press release is that the investigations taking place in the Justice sub-offices of Legal and International Affairs has, among its objectives, to establish not only which criminal organizations received the armament, but also if US citizens committed crimes that could be penalized and tried in Mexican courts.

They assure us that this is one of the objectives.

And, in face of the gravity of the issue, they say that there are instructions which, if a crime exists, will be carried out against whoever it may be so that the case doesn’t go unpunished and that, if it is proved that ATF agents actually permitted the illegal traffic, it will be sought to bring them before Mexican justice.”

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/columnas/88729.html

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Red Alert: Radiation Rising and Heading South in Japan

This report is published by Stratfor.

The nuclear reactor situation in Japan has deteriorated significantly. Two more explosions occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 15.

The first occurred at 6:10 a.m. local time at reactor No. 2, which had seen nuclear fuel rods exposed for several hours after dropping water levels due to mishaps in the emergency cooling efforts. Within three hours the amount of radiation at the plant rose to 163 times the previously recorded level, according to Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. Read the rest of this entry »

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Six Mexican police officers kidnapped in Nuevo Leon

“Six police officers were kidnapped Friday in this northern Mexican metropolis, Nuevo Leon state authorities said.

Witnesses said several SUV-loads of men armed with assault rifles intercepted two state police vehicles at an intersection in Monterrey and forced the officers to surrender, said sources with the Nuevo Leon Security Council.

Bullet holes were found in the abandoned police vehicles.

The mass abduction came a few hours after two gunmen were killed and two others arrested in a clash with state police in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon’s capital, and followed the army’s arrest here Thursday of six traffic cops on suspicion of ties to organized crime.”

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

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Counterinsurgency

Your company has just been warned for deployment on counterinsurgency operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. You have read David Galula, T. E. Lawrence, and Robert Thompson.  You have studied  FM 3–24 and now understand the history, philosophy, and theory of counterinsurgency. You have watched Black Hawk Down and The Battle of Algiers, and you know this will be the most difficult challenge of your life.

But what does all the theory mean, at the company level? How do the principles translate into action—at night, with the GPS down, the media criticizing you, the locals complaining in a language you don’t understand, and an unseen enemy killing your people by ones and twos? How does counterinsurgency actually happen?

– Excerpt from,  Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen  -2010

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Using the Evolved Cyber Range – Free Webinar

From: IDGA

Using the Evolved Cyber Range to Arm and Train U.S. Warriors to Win Cyber War

This FREE webinar will be on:
Tuesday, April 5, 2011, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Presenter: Scott Register
Register

How are military and intelligence organizations such as the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), and Northrop Grumman (U.S. and U.K.) deploying cyber range technology? What are these organizations doing to develop the expertise of personnel and then equipping them with the advanced tools needed to fulfill cyber security missions?

Join BreakingPoint Systems, the global leader in cyber range technology, and learn how U.S. government and military can properly train personnel with the skills to defend against cyber terrorism, espionage, and theft of intellectual property.

Listen to the best practice case studies of DISA, EUCOM, and Northrop Grumman as they use the latest technology and establish a turnkey system to deliver a complete, scalable, and operational cyber range.

Learn how to use technology to simulate Internet-scale cyber war conditions in a controlled environment in order to establish IT certification methods and curriculum needed for assessing, training, and qualifying cyber warrior personnel.

View the Whitepaper

View the Whitepaper

After attending this webinar you will know how to:

  • Deploy and use a modern cyber range machine to create an operationally relevant environment that precisely mirrors the Global Information Grid (GIG), enabling sophisticated simulation of real-world cyber conditions
  • Optimize and harden the resiliency—the performance, stability, and security—of next-generation deep packet inspection (DPI) devices to carry out effective Lawful Intercept programs and related missions
  • Model and research advanced cyber threats including Stuxnet and botnet-driven distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
  • Implement a scalable approach for training and certifying cyber warriors in critical Information Assurance (IA), Information Operations (IO), and Mission Assurance (MA) skills.
  • Establish centralized command and control to monitor and manage a distributed network of remote cyber ranges

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Will Libya Again Become the Arsenal of Terrorism?

Will Libya Again Become the Arsenal of Terrorism? is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By Scott Stewart

During the 1970s and 1980s, Libya served as the arsenal of terrorism. While this role may have received the most publicity when large shipments of weapons were intercepted that Libya was trying to send to the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Libyan involvement in arming terrorist groups was far more widespread. Traces conducted on the weapons used in terrorist attacks by groups such as the Abu Nidal Organization frequently showed that the weapons had come from Libya. In fact, there were specific lot numbers of Soviet-manufactured F1 hand grenades that became widely known in the counterterrorism community as signature items tied to Libyan support of terrorist groups.

As we have discussed, the conflict in Libya could provide jihadists in Libya more room to operate than they have enjoyed for many years. This operational freedom for the jihadists might have an impact not only in Libya but also in the broader region, and one significant way this impact could manifest itself is in the supply of arms. The looting of the arms depots in Libya is reminiscent of the looting in Iraq following the U.S. invasion in 2003. There are also reports that foreign governments are discussing providing arms to the Libyan rebels in the eastern part of the country. While it is far from clear if any of those discussions are serious or whether any potential patron would ever follow through, past operations to arm rebels have had long-lasting repercussions in places like Afghanistan and Central America.

In light of these developments, a tactical discussion of the various classes of weapons contained in Libyan supply depots and how they could be utilized by insurgents and terrorists is in order. Read the rest of this entry »

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Saudi Police Fire On Protesters In Oil Hub

From: STRATFOR

Red Alert: Saudi Police Fire On Protesters In Oil Hub

March 10, 2011

Saudi police have reportedly opened gunfire on and launched stun grenades at several hundred protesters March 10 rallying in the heavily Shiite-populated city of Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

The decision to employ violence in this latest crackdown comes a day before Friday prayers, after which various Saudi opposition groups were planning to rally in the streets. Unrest has been simmering in the Saudi kingdom over the past couple weeks, with mostly Sunni youth, human rights activists and intellectuals in Riyadh and Jeddah campaigning for greater political freedoms, including the call for a constitutional monarchy. A so-called “Day of Rage” of protests across the country has been called for March 11 by Facebook groups Hanyn (Nostalgia) Revolution and the Free Youth Coalition following Friday prayers.

What is most critical to Saudi Arabia, however, is Shiite-driven unrest in the country’s Eastern Province. Shiite activists and clerics have become more vocal in recent weeks in expressing their dissent and have been attempting to dodge Saudi security forces. The Saudi regime has been cautious thus far, not wanting to inflame the protests with a violent crackdown but at the same time facing a growing need to demonstrate firm control.

Yet in watching Shiite unrest continue to simmer in the nearby island of Bahrain, the Saudi royals are growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of Shiite uprisings cascading throughout the Persian Gulf region, playing directly into the Iranian strategic interest of destabilizing its U.S.-allied Arab neighbors. By showing a willingness to use force early, the Saudi authorities are likely hoping they will be able to deter people from joining the protests, but such actions could just as easily embolden the protesters.

There is a strong potential for clashes to break out March 11 between Saudi security forces and protesters, particularly in the vital Eastern Province. Saudi authorities have taken tough security measures in the Shiite areas of the country by deploying about 15,000 national guardsmen to thwart the planned demonstrations by attempting to impose a curfew in critical areas. Energy speculators are already reacting to the heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf region, but unrest in cities like Qatif cuts directly to the source of the threat that is fueling market speculation: The major oil transit pipelines that supply the major oil port of Ras Tanura — the world’s largest, with a capacity of 5 million barrels per day — go directly through Qatif. Visit STRATFOR to learn more »

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Maersk Alabama Targeted A Third Time By Pirates

Pirates attempted to board the Maersk Alabama merchant ship for a third time yesterday.

From Wired’s Danger Room:

The container ship Maersk, you’ll recall, was the scene of one of the more dramatic pirate rescues in recent memory. After it became the first U.S. flagged ship seized by pirates in 200 years, Navy sharpshooters aboard the U.S.S. Bainbridge liberated Captain Richard Phillips with just three shots to end a five-day standoff in the Indian Ocean. That all happened on Easter Sunday 2009, no less.

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U.S. Raids Mexican Gang

From: WSJ

Federal agents have arrested a number of members of the Barrio Azteca drug gang in Mexico overnight, after having tied the group to the killing of a U.S. consulate worker and her husband, according to people familiar with the case.

Drug Crime in Mexico

Track the increasing violence in an interactive map.

Lesley Enriquez and her husband were gunned down in March 2010. Mexican investigators said months later that a captured drug-gang enforcer claimed to have ordered the slaying because Ms. Enriquez allegedly helped provide visas to a rival gang. At the time, federal authorities said the motive for the killing was unknown.

The attack on the Enriquez couple came at almost the same time as a third killing in which the husband of a Mexican employee of the U.S. consulate was gunned down. That raised concerns that U.S. government personnel were being targeted in drug-related violence. Those concerns were revived last month when an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent was gunned down on a roadside in Mexico.

Ms. Enriquez was pregnant when she was killed. The couple’s infant daughter was in the car at the time of the shooting but was not injured. Police who responded to the crime scene found the child crying in the back seat.

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Planning a Vacation in Mexico?

Mexico’s drug war has claimed more than 31,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office.

Think the violence only reaches the drug runners?
Oct 22, 2010, Ciudad Juarez: Birthday Party Attacked Fourteen people, including a 13-year-old, are killed in a massacre at a Ciudad Juarez birthday party.

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GovSec 2011: March 29-30

The Government Security Expo and Conference
Tuesday – Wednesday, March 29-30, 2011
Washington D.C.

Gain valuable insights into key issues central to the protection of our nation through in-depth conference sessions and conference-only keynote addresses.

GovSec, The Government Security Expo and Conference, features an exposition with a full spectrum of physical, IT and cybersecurity solutions, alongside wireless and mobility communications equipment for federal, state and local governments.  GovSec is a one-of-a-kind event that unites thousands of professionals tasked with securing our homeland, from the decision-makers at the federal level to the first responders, firefighters and police officers responding to catastrophic events in their hometown and every government security professional in between.  Attendance to the exposition is free for government, military, law enforcement and first responders as well as industry — new this year!

 

GovSec is co-located with U.S. Law, the U.S. Law Enforcement Conference and Exposition for federal, state and local law enforcement.

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North Korea Developing EMP Bomb, Electronic Weapons

From ABC News:

The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.

The current attempts to interfere with GPS transmissions are coming from atop a modified truck-mounted Russian device. Pyongyang reportedly imported the GPS jamming system from Russia in early 2000 and has since developed two kinds of a modified version.

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Rebels Bring Down Libyan Fighter

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