Iran - Arab Times · ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 11 INTERNATIONAL US President Barack Obama...
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ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 11 INTERNATIONAL US President Barack Obama waves before boarding Air Force One prior to his departure from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 28, 2015, on the final day of his African trip. (AP) In this image released by the US Navy, pallbearers carry the casket of Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Scott Smith at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, on July 28. Scott was one of five servicemen whose death was the result of a series of shootings at military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn, on July 16. 2015 (AP) Iran Kerry warns ‘US not safe if deal killed’ WASHINGTON, July 29, (RTRS): Secretary of State John Kerry intensified efforts on Tuesday to beat back criticism of the Iran nuclear deal and convince US law- makers that rejecting it would give Tehran a fast track to a weapon and access to billions of dollars from collapsed sanc- tions. Days after tough question- ing by lawmak- ers at an emo- tional Senate hearing, Kerry sharpened his response to criti- cism that the deal’s provisions were temporary and would not prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon in the long run. “Iran has agreed to refrain from producing or acquiring highly enriched uranium and weapons- grade plutonium for nuclear weapons forever,” he told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. “When it comes to verification and monitor- ing, there is absolutely no sunset in this agreement. Not in 10 years, not in 15 years, not in 20 years, not in 25 years — no sunset ever.” Challenged even by some of his fellow Democrats, Kerry said: “If you kill the deal, you are not mak- ing America safer.” Skeptical Joined by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Kerry was part of the President Barack Obama’s effort to coax skeptical lawmakers into sup- porting the nuclear pact. Congress has until Sept 17 to endorse or reject it. Rejection would prevent Obama from waiv- ing most US-imposed sanctions on Iran, a key component of the deal. Under the July 14 pact, world powers agreed to lift sanctions in return for curbs on a nuclear pro- gram the West suspects was aimed at creating an atomic bomb, but which Tehran says is peaceful. The four-hour hearing grew heat- ed as some House Republicans shouted at Kerry. Senate Republicans last week accused him of having been “bamboozled” and “fleeced.” At times, Kerry visibly lost patience, saying he was hearing many complaints, while opponents offered no alternative. “What this agreement is sup- posed to do is stop them from hav- ing a nuclear weapon. Now I want to hear somebody tell me how they’re going to do that without this agreement,” he said. Kerry insisted walking away would isolate the United States. “If we walk away, we walk away alone. Our partners are not going to be with us,” Kerry said. Lew said that other countries would not keep the sanctions against Iran in place. “You could end up with Iran get- ting access to that money without the benefit of an agreement, which would be a very bad outcome,” he noted. Both Republicans and Democrats signaled the potential difficulty in getting Congress on board. Pressure Representative Ed Royce, the committee’s Republican chairman, said the deal gives Iran a “cash bonanza,” while weakening Washington’s ability to pressure Tehran. Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat, said he saw a num- ber of troublesome issues. Others expressed concern about Americans held in Iranian prisons or worried about Iran’s backing militants. “They support Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi, and those are just the organizations that begin with the letter ‘H,’” said Democratic Representative Brad Sherman. Although Republicans control majorities in the House and Senate, they would need Democratic votes against Obama to override a prom- ised veto if Congress rejects the nuclear pact. Many Democrats have not decid- ed how they will vote when Congress returns in September from a five-week recess, but sever- al have come out in favor. Representative Sander Levin, the longest serving Jewish mem- ber of the House, issued a state- ment on Tuesday backing the deal. Jewish lawmakers known as strong supporters of Israel, such as Engel and Sherman, have been under particularly intense pressure over the deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has cultivated a close rela- tionship with Republicans, has called it a threat to his country’s survival. America US may weigh-in on ‘suit’: The US government may weigh in on whether the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority must post a multi- million-dollar bond, which they have resisted doing, while the groups appeal a jury’s finding that they supported terrorist attacks in Israel. The US Department of Justice dis- closed its potential interest in the case in a letter filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, six months after 10 American fami- lies won a $655 million verdict against the PLO and Palestinian Authority. If the Justice Department filed a so- called statement of interest, it would mark the US government’s first formal role in the diplomatically sensitive lawsuit, which was filed in 2004. The Justice Department said it would decide by Aug 10. A spokeswoman declined to comment. On Tuesday, lawyers for the families urged a federal judge to add $165 million in pre-judgment interest to what they won at trial. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ No deal on Clinton testimony: Republicans on the House committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, said Tuesday that there is no agreement with Hillary Rodham Clinton over her possible appearance before the panel, despite the State Department’s pledge to produce 5,000 new pages of documents. A spokesman for Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said “nothing has changed” since Gowdy balked Saturday at an announce- ment by Clinton’s presidential campaign that she would testify Oct 22. Gowdy chairs the special committee, which is investigating the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya. Clinton’s campaign and House Republicans have sparred for months over her possible testimony and her refusal to turn over a private email server she used as secretary of state. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Email network taken down: An unclassified email network used by Army General Martin Dempsey and other members of the US military’s Joint Staff has been taken off line because of suspi- cious activity, a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Tuesday in Washinton. Army Lieutenant Colonel Valerie Henderson said the unclassified email net- work for all users on the Joint Staff was taken offline by the Defense Department because of suspicious activity noted over the weekend and is “currently down.” “We continue to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks across our networks,” Henderson said. “With those goals in mind, we have taken the Joint Staff net- work down and continue to investigate.” Extremism Kerry Massachusetts man accused of plotting college bombing due in court ‘IS sympathizer not a terrorist’ MIAMI, July 29, (AP): A man arrested by the FBI on charges of plotting as an Islamic State sympathizer to detonate a nail-filled bomb on a Florida beach is no extremist, his attorney says. A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday charges 23-year-old Harlem Suarez of Key West with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the US If convicted, he could face a maximum punishment of life in prison. After Suarez made his first court appearance Tuesday in Miami, his tem- porary attorney, Richard Della Fera, said in an email that Suarez “may be a troubled and confused young man but he is certainly not a terrorist.” “He comes from a very good, hard- working family that arrived here from Cuba in 2004 because they yearned for freedom. They raised their son to love this country,” Della Fera said. Suarez is being held without bail pending a detention hearing next week. Authorities say Suarez came to the FBI’s attention through his Facebook posts praising the Islamic State group and containing extremist rhetoric. In April, Suarez allegedly posted, “Be a warrior, learn how to cut your enemies head and then burn down the body learn how to be the new future of the world Caliphate” — a reference the Islamic State goal of building a regional fundamentalist entity. The FBI says he later added a request “from any brother. How to make a bomb send me a video or something, what do I need to make it.” The complaint says Suarez told an FBI informant he wanted to make a timer bomb, bury it on a Key West beach and detonate it remotely. Suarez was arrested Monday after taking pos- session of an inert explosive device provided by an FBI informant. Suarez had given the informant some bomb supplies, including two boxes of gal- vanized nails, the backpack and a cell- phone to be used as a detonator, according to the complaint. “I can go to the beach at the night time, put the thing in the sand, cover it up, so the next day I just call and the thing is gonna, is gonna make, a real hard noise from nowhere,” Suarez told an FBI source in a recorded call, according to the complaint. Suarez was being monitored for months by US authorities and never made an actual explosive, and there was no indication in the FBI complaint that he had contact with any Islamic State militants overseas. Still, Miami’s FBI special agent in charge, George Piro, said the alleged threats had to be taken seriously. “There is no room for failure when it comes to investigating the potential use of a weapon of mass destruction,” Piro said. ❑ ❑ ❑ A US man who wrote he was “ready for jihad” before buying a one-way ticket overseas to try joining the Islamic State group was sentenced to prison Tuesday after he sobbed to the judge, “I am an American.” Leon Nathan Davis III of Georgia state was sentenced to 15 years, the maximum punishment allowed. Davis, 38, pleaded guilty in May to seeking to help a known terrorist organization. He was arrested at the Atlanta air- port last October trying to board a flight to Turkey. Davis later said his plan was to be smuggled into Syria so he could join the Islamic State group as a recruiter and an English teacher. During his sentencing Tuesday, Davis told the judge he had been “brain- washed” by writings and online propa- ganda of radical Muslims not long after he converted to Islam while imprisoned for cocaine trafficking a decade ago. Despite his apologies and acknowl- edgement of wrongdoing, prosecutors insisted Davis was far from harmless. Assistant US Attorney Carlton Bourne showed the judge a photo- graph Davis posted online of himself holding a shotgun and surrounded by other weapons. Bourne said Davis added the caption: “ready for jihad.” Despite being a convicted felon, Davis owned six rifles, four handguns and two shotguns, according to prose- cutors who originally charged him with illegal gun possession. That charge was dropped as part of a plea deal. ❑ ❑ ❑ The son of a Boston police captain arrested this month and accused of planning to bomb a college cafeteria on behalf of the Islamic State militant group is due in court on Wednesday to face criminal charges. Alexander Ciccolo, 23, was arrested on July 4 after illegally receiving four guns from a person working with the US Justice Department, which had placed him under surveillance after his father alerted authorities to his activities. Ciccolo told an informant that he wanted to build bombs similar to those detonated at the Boston Marathon in 2013, and federal agents saw him buy a pressure cooker similar to the ones used in that attack, which killed three people and injured more than 260, according to federal prosecutors. Authorities also said they found partially built bombs at his apartment that were filled with a mix of shredded Styrofoam and motor oil, a combina- tion that federal prosecutors said Ciccolo believed would stick to vic- tims’ skin, causing severe injuries. Ciccolo will face two criminal counts when he appears in US District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts: One for illegally receiving four guns including two military-style assault rifles and one for stabbing a nurse with a pen while he was being booked at a jail in Western Massachusetts after his arrest. (RTRS) Also WASHINGTON: The Transportation Security Administration plans to retrain thousands of airport screeners to detect weapons better, scale back a pre-clearance program and more closely monitor security badges, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Peter V. Neffenger, the agency’s new administrator, told the newspaper in an interview those measures would be part of reforms to address recent security lapses. The agency was criti- cized for emphasizing speed over security after the lapses. “Efficiency and getting people through airport security lines cannot be our sole reason that makes you take your eyes off the reason for the mis- sion,” Neffenger was quoted as saying in the newspaper. A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that airport screeners, who are TSA employees, did not detect banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airports, ABC News said in June, cit- ing officials briefed on it. ‘Very valid concerns’ Sen objects to anti-terrorism rules for online sites WASHINGTON, July 29, (AP): A Democratic senator skeptical of broad government surveillance objected Tuesday to a bill that would have required social media and online sites like Google, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook to alert US authorities of any terrorist activity. The proposal had been tucked into a broader bill authorizing intel- ligence programs throughout the 2016 budget year and became the subject of several private meetings on Capitol Hill between congres- sional staff and industry officials. In a statement submitted into the Congressional Record, Sen. Ron Wyden said the Senate had been asked on Tuesday to approve the intelligence authorization bill by unanimous consent. Doing so would bypass any debate. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, confirmed that leader- ship had hoped to pass the bill before the August recess, but that not all senators were on board. Wyden said he would insist on a debate because of “very valid con- cerns” made by the technology industry. “Internet companies should not be subject to broad requirements to police the speech of their users,” Wyden said in the statement. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who made the proposal, argued that the requirement was nearly identical to one related to child pornography. But tech companies said the bill was so vague it would be almost impossible to determine whether they were meeting their legal obli- gation, or if they were on the hook if they miss a tweet, video or blog that hints of an attack. They said the result would probably be a deluge of tips to law enforcement, making it tougher for the government to find more valuable information. “The FBI and the intelligence community have made it abundant- ly clear that the terrorist threat is severe and increasing, and that those directing, inspiring and carry- ing out attacks make heavy use of social media sites,” Feinstein told The Associated Press in an emailed statement provided last week. “This provision will help get potentially actionable information to the agencies responsible for pre- venting attacks, without requiring companies to take any steps to monitor their sites they aren’t already taking.” Wyden said the FBI director told Congress that technology compa- nies are cooperative and helpful about alerting law enforcement to serious incidents. “But I haven’t yet heard any law enforcement or intelligence agen- cies suggest that this provision will actually help catch terrorists, and I take the concerns that have been raised about its breadth and vague- ness seriously,” Wyden wrote. Since the 2013 disclosure of gov- ernment surveillance by former con- tractor Edward Snowden, the tech industry has led an aggressive pub- lic push to limit surveillance requests and increase transparency, adopting more sophisticated encryption tech- niques despite opposition from the Justice Department. Their primary argument has been that consumers won’t use technology they don’t trust, and that unnecessary surveil- lance would hurt the industry. At the same time, popular social media sites have become instru- mental in helping terrorist groups expand their influence, despite widespread industry policies against posting or promoting terror- ist-related content. Henderson did not specify the nature of the suspicious activity on the network. She said the network was taken offline by the department, not by the activity or any outside party. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ ‘Twitter used to reached PC’: Russian government-backed hackers who penetrated high-profile US government and defense industry computers this year used a method combining Twitter with data hidden in seemingly benign photo- graphs, according to experts studying the campaign in San Francisco. In a public report Wednesday, researchers at security company FireEye Inc said the group used the unusual tan- dem as a means of communicating with previously infected computers. FireEye has briefed law enforcement on what it found. The technique, uncovered during a FireEye investigation at an unnamed vic- tim organization, shows how government- backed hackers can shift tactics on the fly after they are discovered. “It’s striking how many layers of obfus- cation that the group adopts,” said FireEye Strategic Analysis Manager Jennifer Weedon. “These groups are inno- vating and becoming more creative.” (RTRS) Clinton Dempsey
Transcript of Iran - Arab Times · ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 11 INTERNATIONAL US President Barack Obama...
ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015
11INTERNATIONAL
US President Barack Obama waves before boarding Air Force One prior to his departure from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 28, 2015, on the final day of his African trip. (AP)
In this image released by the USNavy, pallbearers carry the casket ofPetty Officer 2nd Class Randall ScottSmith at the Chattanooga NationalCemetery, on July 28. Scott was oneof five servicemen whose death wasthe result of a series of shootings atmilitary facilities in Chattanooga,
Tenn, on July 16. 2015 (AP)
Iran
Kerry warns
‘US not safeif deal killed’WASHINGTON, July 29, (RTRS):Secretary of State John Kerryintensified efforts on Tuesday tobeat back criticism of the Irannuclear deal and convince US law-makers that rejecting it would giveTehran a fast track to a weapon and
access to billionsof dollars fromcollapsed sanc-tions.
Days aftertough question-ing by lawmak-ers at an emo-tional Senatehearing, Kerrysharpened hisresponse to criti-
cism that the deal’s provisions weretemporary and would not preventIran from obtaining a nuclearweapon in the long run.
“Iran has agreed to refrain fromproducing or acquiring highlyenriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium for nuclearweapons forever,” he told theHouse of Representatives ForeignAffairs Committee. “When itcomes to verification and monitor-ing, there is absolutely no sunset inthis agreement. Not in 10 years, notin 15 years, not in 20 years, not in25 years — no sunset ever.”
Challenged even by some of hisfellow Democrats, Kerry said: “Ifyou kill the deal, you are not mak-ing America safer.”
SkepticalJoined by Treasury Secretary
Jack Lew and Energy SecretaryErnest Moniz, Kerry was part of thePresident Barack Obama’s effort tocoax skeptical lawmakers into sup-porting the nuclear pact.
Congress has until Sept 17 toendorse or reject it. Rejectionwould prevent Obama from waiv-ing most US-imposed sanctionson Iran, a key component of thedeal.
Under the July 14 pact, worldpowers agreed to lift sanctions inreturn for curbs on a nuclear pro-gram the West suspects wasaimed at creating an atomicbomb, but which Tehran says ispeaceful.
The four-hour hearing grew heat-ed as some House Republicansshouted at Kerry. SenateRepublicans last week accused himof having been “bamboozled” and“fleeced.”
At times, Kerry visibly lostpatience, saying he was hearingmany complaints, while opponentsoffered no alternative.
“What this agreement is sup-posed to do is stop them from hav-ing a nuclear weapon. Now I wantto hear somebody tell me howthey’re going to do that without thisagreement,” he said.
Kerry insisted walking awaywould isolate the United States.
“If we walk away, we walk awayalone. Our partners are not going tobe with us,” Kerry said.
Lew said that other countrieswould not keep the sanctionsagainst Iran in place.
“You could end up with Iran get-ting access to that money withoutthe benefit of an agreement, whichwould be a very bad outcome,” henoted.
Both Republicans andDemocrats signaled the potentialdifficulty in getting Congress onboard.
PressureRepresentative Ed Royce, the
committee’s Republican chairman,said the deal gives Iran a “cashbonanza,” while weakeningWashington’s ability to pressureTehran.
Representative Eliot Engel, thetop Democrat, said he saw a num-ber of troublesome issues.
Others expressed concern aboutAmericans held in Iranian prisonsor worried about Iran’s backingmilitants.
“They support Hamas,Hezbollah and Houthi, and thoseare just the organizations that beginwith the letter ‘H,’” saidDemocratic Representative BradSherman.
Although Republicans controlmajorities in the House and Senate,they would need Democratic votesagainst Obama to override a prom-ised veto if Congress rejects thenuclear pact.
Many Democrats have not decid-ed how they will vote whenCongress returns in Septemberfrom a five-week recess, but sever-al have come out in favor.
Representative Sander Levin,the longest serving Jewish mem-ber of the House, issued a state-ment on Tuesday backing thedeal.
Jewish lawmakers known asstrong supporters of Israel, such asEngel and Sherman, have beenunder particularly intense pressureover the deal. Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu,who has cultivated a close rela-tionship with Republicans, hascalled it a threat to his country’ssurvival.
America
US may weigh-in on ‘suit’: The USgovernment may weigh in on whether thePalestine Liberation Organization andPalestinian Authority must post a multi-million-dollar bond, which they haveresisted doing, while the groups appeal ajury’s finding that they supported terroristattacks in Israel.
The US Department of Justice dis-closed its potential interest in the case in aletter filed Monday in Manhattan federalcourt, six months after 10 American fami-lies won a $655 million verdict against thePLO and Palestinian Authority.
If the Justice Department filed a so-called statement of interest, it would markthe US government’s first formal role inthe diplomatically sensitive lawsuit, whichwas filed in 2004.
The Justice Department said it woulddecide by Aug 10. A spokeswomandeclined to comment.
On Tuesday, lawyers for the familiesurged a federal judge to add $165 millionin pre-judgment interest to what they wonat trial. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
No deal on Clinton testimony:Republicans on the House committeeinvestigating the deadly 2012 attacks inBenghazi, Libya, said Tuesday that thereis no agreement with Hillary RodhamClinton over her possible appearancebefore the panel, despite the StateDepartment’s pledge to produce 5,000new pages of documents.
A spokesman for Republican Rep. TreyGowdy said “nothing has changed” sinceGowdy balked Saturday at an announce-ment by Clinton’s presidential campaignthat she would testify Oct 22. Gowdychairs the special committee, which isinvestigating the September 2012 attacksthat killed four Americans, including theUS ambassador to Libya.
Clinton’s campaign and HouseRepublicans have sparred for months overher possible testimony and her refusal toturn over a private email server she usedas secretary of state. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
Email network taken down: Anunclassified email network used by ArmyGeneral Martin Dempsey and othermembers of the US military’s Joint Staffhas been taken off line because of suspi-cious activity, a Pentagon spokeswomansaid on Tuesday in Washinton.
Army Lieutenant Colonel ValerieHenderson said the unclassified email net-work for all users on the Joint Staff wastaken offline by the Defense Departmentbecause of suspicious activity noted overthe weekend and is “currently down.”
“We continue to identify and mitigatecybersecurity risks across our networks,”Henderson said. “With those goals inmind, we have taken the Joint Staff net-work down and continue to investigate.”
Extremism
Kerry
Massachusetts man accused of plotting college bombing due in court
‘IS sympathizer not a terrorist’MIAMI, July 29, (AP): A man arrestedby the FBI on charges of plotting as anIslamic State sympathizer to detonatea nail-filled bomb on a Florida beachis no extremist, his attorney says.
A criminal complaint unsealedTuesday charges 23-year-old HarlemSuarez of Key West with attempting touse a weapon of mass destruction inthe US If convicted, he could face amaximum punishment of life in prison.
After Suarez made his first courtappearance Tuesday in Miami, his tem-porary attorney, Richard Della Fera,said in an email that Suarez “may be atroubled and confused young man buthe is certainly not a terrorist.”
“He comes from a very good, hard-working family that arrived here fromCuba in 2004 because they yearned forfreedom. They raised their son to lovethis country,” Della Fera said.
Suarez is being held without bailpending a detention hearing next week.
Authorities say Suarez came to theFBI’s attention through his Facebookposts praising the Islamic State groupand containing extremist rhetoric.
In April, Suarez allegedly posted,“Be a warrior, learn how to cut yourenemies head and then burn down thebody learn how to be the new future ofthe world Caliphate” — a referencethe Islamic State goal of building aregional fundamentalist entity.
The FBI says he later added arequest “from any brother. How tomake a bomb send me a video orsomething, what do I need to make it.”
The complaint says Suarez told anFBI informant he wanted to make atimer bomb, bury it on a Key Westbeach and detonate it remotely. Suarezwas arrested Monday after taking pos-session of an inert explosive deviceprovided by an FBI informant. Suarezhad given the informant some bombsupplies, including two boxes of gal-vanized nails, the backpack and a cell-phone to be used as a detonator,according to the complaint.
“I can go to the beach at the nighttime, put the thing in the sand, cover itup, so the next day I just call and thething is gonna, is gonna make, a realhard noise from nowhere,” Suarez toldan FBI source in a recorded call,according to the complaint.
Suarez was being monitored formonths by US authorities and nevermade an actual explosive, and therewas no indication in the FBI complaintthat he had contact with any IslamicState militants overseas. Still, Miami’sFBI special agent in charge, GeorgePiro, said the alleged threats had to betaken seriously.
“There is no room for failure whenit comes to investigating the potentialuse of a weapon of mass destruction,”Piro said.
❑ ❑ ❑
A US man who wrote he was “ready
for jihad” before buying a one-wayticket overseas to try joining theIslamic State group was sentenced toprison Tuesday after he sobbed to thejudge, “I am an American.”
Leon Nathan Davis III of Georgiastate was sentenced to 15 years, themaximum punishment allowed. Davis,38, pleaded guilty in May to seeking tohelp a known terrorist organization.
He was arrested at the Atlanta air-port last October trying to board aflight to Turkey. Davis later said hisplan was to be smuggled into Syria sohe could join the Islamic State groupas a recruiter and an English teacher.
During his sentencing Tuesday,Davis told the judge he had been “brain-washed” by writings and online propa-ganda of radical Muslims not long afterhe converted to Islam while imprisonedfor cocaine trafficking a decade ago.
Despite his apologies and acknowl-edgement of wrongdoing, prosecutorsinsisted Davis was far from harmless.
Assistant US Attorney CarltonBourne showed the judge a photo-graph Davis posted online of himselfholding a shotgun and surrounded byother weapons. Bourne said Davisadded the caption: “ready for jihad.”
Despite being a convicted felon,Davis owned six rifles, four handgunsand two shotguns, according to prose-cutors who originally charged him with
illegal gun possession. That charge wasdropped as part of a plea deal.
❑ ❑ ❑
The son of a Boston police captainarrested this month and accused ofplanning to bomb a college cafeteriaon behalf of the Islamic State militantgroup is due in court on Wednesday toface criminal charges.
Alexander Ciccolo, 23, was arrestedon July 4 after illegally receiving fourguns from a person working with the USJustice Department, which had placedhim under surveillance after his fatheralerted authorities to his activities.
Ciccolo told an informant that hewanted to build bombs similar to thosedetonated at the Boston Marathon in2013, and federal agents saw him buya pressure cooker similar to the onesused in that attack, which killed threepeople and injured more than 260,according to federal prosecutors.
Authorities also said they foundpartially built bombs at his apartmentthat were filled with a mix of shreddedStyrofoam and motor oil, a combina-tion that federal prosecutors saidCiccolo believed would stick to vic-tims’ skin, causing severe injuries.
Ciccolo will face two criminalcounts when he appears in US DistrictCourt in Springfield, Massachusetts:One for illegally receiving four guns
including two military-style assaultrifles and one for stabbing a nurse witha pen while he was being booked at ajail in Western Massachusetts after hisarrest. (RTRS)
AlsoWASHINGTON: The TransportationSecurity Administration plans toretrain thousands of airport screenersto detect weapons better, scale back apre-clearance program and moreclosely monitor security badges, TheNew York Times reported onWednesday.
Peter V. Neffenger, the agency’snew administrator, told the newspaperin an interview those measures wouldbe part of reforms to address recentsecurity lapses. The agency was criti-cized for emphasizing speed oversecurity after the lapses.
“Efficiency and getting peoplethrough airport security lines cannotbe our sole reason that makes you takeyour eyes off the reason for the mis-sion,” Neffenger was quoted as sayingin the newspaper.
A report by the Department ofHomeland Security’s inspector generalfound that airport screeners, who areTSA employees, did not detect bannedweapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens ofairports, ABC News said in June, cit-ing officials briefed on it.
‘Very valid concerns’
Sen objects to anti-terrorism rules for online sites WASHINGTON, July 29, (AP): ADemocratic senator skeptical ofbroad government surveillanceobjected Tuesday to a bill thatwould have required social mediaand online sites like Google, Yahoo,Twitter and Facebook to alert USauthorities of any terrorist activity.
The proposal had been tuckedinto a broader bill authorizing intel-ligence programs throughout the2016 budget year and became thesubject of several private meetingson Capitol Hill between congres-sional staff and industry officials.
In a statement submitted into theCongressional Record, Sen. RonWyden said the Senate had beenasked on Tuesday to approve theintelligence authorization bill byunanimous consent. Doing sowould bypass any debate. Aspokesman for Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell, aRepublican, confirmed that leader-ship had hoped to pass the billbefore the August recess, but thatnot all senators were on board.
Wyden said he would insist on adebate because of “very valid con-cerns” made by the technologyindustry.
“Internet companies should not
be subject to broad requirementsto police the speech of their users,”Wyden said in the statement.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whomade the proposal, argued that therequirement was nearly identical toone related to child pornography.But tech companies said the billwas so vague it would be almostimpossible to determine whetherthey were meeting their legal obli-gation, or if they were on the hook ifthey miss a tweet, video or blog thathints of an attack. They said theresult would probably be a delugeof tips to law enforcement, making ittougher for the government to findmore valuable information.
“The FBI and the intelligencecommunity have made it abundant-ly clear that the terrorist threat issevere and increasing, and thatthose directing, inspiring and carry-ing out attacks make heavy use ofsocial media sites,” Feinstein toldThe Associated Press in anemailed statement provided lastweek. “This provision will help getpotentially actionable informationto the agencies responsible for pre-venting attacks, without requiringcompanies to take any steps tomonitor their sites they aren’t
already taking.”Wyden said the FBI director told
Congress that technology compa-nies are cooperative and helpfulabout alerting law enforcement toserious incidents.
“But I haven’t yet heard any lawenforcement or intelligence agen-cies suggest that this provision willactually help catch terrorists, and Itake the concerns that have beenraised about its breadth and vague-ness seriously,” Wyden wrote.
Since the 2013 disclosure of gov-ernment surveillance by former con-tractor Edward Snowden, the techindustry has led an aggressive pub-lic push to limit surveillance requestsand increase transparency, adoptingmore sophisticated encryption tech-niques despite opposition from theJustice Department. Their primaryargument has been that consumerswon’t use technology they don’ttrust, and that unnecessary surveil-lance would hurt the industry.
At the same time, popular socialmedia sites have become instru-mental in helping terrorist groupsexpand their influence, despitewidespread industry policiesagainst posting or promoting terror-ist-related content.
Henderson did not specify the nature ofthe suspicious activity on the network.She said the network was taken offline bythe department, not by the activity or anyoutside party. (RTRS)
❑ ❑ ❑
‘Twitter used to reached PC’:Russian government-backed hackers whopenetrated high-profile US governmentand defense industry computers this year
used a method combining Twitter withdata hidden in seemingly benign photo-graphs, according to experts studying thecampaign in San Francisco.
In a public report Wednesday,researchers at security company FireEyeInc said the group used the unusual tan-dem as a means of communicating withpreviously infected computers. FireEyehas briefed law enforcement on what itfound.
The technique, uncovered during aFireEye investigation at an unnamed vic-tim organization, shows how government-backed hackers can shift tactics on the flyafter they are discovered.
“It’s striking how many layers of obfus-cation that the group adopts,” saidFireEye Strategic Analysis ManagerJennifer Weedon. “These groups are inno-vating and becoming more creative.”(RTRS)Clinton Dempsey
