Res Communis

S. 2940: A bill to increase the use of security cameras at airport security screening checkpoints and exits, to impose increased penalties on individuals who circumvent security screening at airports, and for other purposes.

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

S. 2940: A bill to increase the use of security cameras at airport security screening checkpoints and exits, to impose increased penalties on individuals who circumvent security screening at airports, and for other purposes was introduced on January 20, 2010 by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). The text is not yet available.

Hearing Summary – The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation:

For Immediate Release
01/20/10
Contact: Jena Longo – Democratic Deputy Communications Director 202.224.7824

Hearing Summary – The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing today on The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

**LINK TO CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER’S REMARKS ON AVIATION SECURITY HERE**

**LINK TO ARCHIVED WEBCAST HERE**

Witness List:

The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The Honorable Michael Leiter, Director, National Counterterrorism Center

The Honorable Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Vice Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

The Honorable Tom Kean, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

Key Quotations from Today’s Hearing:

“The threat to America is real and we have to get it absolutely right, 100 percent of the time. A man with a bomb was able to board a plane headed for America – so it is obvious and clear our system failed. We have a responsibility to be brutally honest about where we have fallen short. We have to do better. And that basic fact will drive much of this Committee’s work in the year ahead. We have to do better at protecting our families, safeguarding our communities, and securing our nation. That is at the top of our agenda this year: Bringing the attention, the resources, and the leadership needed to improve our citizen’s safety and security.”
Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

“While we address the circumstances behind this specific incident, we must also recognize the evolving threats posed by terrorists, and take action to ensure that our defenses continue to evolve in order to defeat them. We live in a world of ever-changing risks, and we must move as aggressively as possible both to find and fix security flaws and anticipate future vulnerabilities in all sectors. President Obama has clearly communicated the urgency of this task, and the American people rightfully expect swift action. DHS and our federal partners are moving quickly to provide just that.”
The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

“Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not have stepped on that plane. The counterterrorism system failed and we told the President we are determined to do better. We are taking a fresh and penetrating look at strengthening both human and technical performance and do what we have to do in all areas. Director of National Intelligence Blair and I have specifically been tasked by the President to improve and manage this work.”
The Honorable Michael Leiter, Director, National Counterterrorism Center

“We need to do a better job of judging sources of potential attacks properly. As the President’s review has shown, we had a ‘strategic sense’ that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was becoming a threat, but ‘we didn’t know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here.’ This at once shows the need for improved collection and better analysis. We collect a tremendous amount of intelligence and we need the very best people not only sorting through it for tactical details, but in a strategic sense asking where the next attack will come from.”
The Honorable Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Vice Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

“The balance between security and liberty will always be a part of the struggle against terrorism. America must not sacrifice one for the other and must be in the business of protecting freedom and liberty as well as fighting terrorism. Following the 9/11 Commission recommendations, the Bush Administration created a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to advise the executive branch and oversee government efforts to defend civil liberties. We continue to believe that the Board provides critical functions and we urge President Obama to reconstitute it, quickly appoint its Members, and allow them full access to the information and the authority to perform to perform this essential function.”
The Honorable Tom Kean, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

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UK: Statement on security and counter-terrorism

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From United Kingdom’s Prime Minister’s Office:

Wednesday 20 January 2010
Statement on security and counter-terrorism

A statement given by the Prime Minister to the House of Commons on 20 January 2010.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I should like to update the House on the measures we are taking to enhance our security and protection against terrorism.

Yesterday, at a regular meeting of our National Security Committee, Ministers and I received the latest intelligence and information from the chiefs of our security and intelligence agencies, the head of the UK Border Agency, the country’s senior counter terrorism officials and police officers and the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Also yesterday I spoke to President Obama about our measures.

The failed attack over Detroit on Christmas day signalled the first operation mounted outside Arabia by “al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula,” the Yemen-based organisation with close links to the al Qaeda core in Pakistan. And we know that a number of terrorist cells are actively trying to attack Britain and other countries.

Earlier this month the Home Secretary and the Transport Secretary made statements to Parliament setting out urgent steps we are taking to enhance aviation security, including new regulations for transit passengers.

Today, following the advice the government has received, I want to announce further measures

* to strengthen the protection of our borders and to maximise aviation security
* and to enhance intelligence coordination at home and abroad

Mr Speaker, earlier today I paid tribute to those members of our armed forces who have most recently given their lives in the service of the security of our country in Afghanistan.

The action we are taking to counter terrorism at its source in the Afghanistan Pakistan region and elsewhere is a central part of our wider counter-terrorist strategy, and all our actions which we will update regularly are founded on what is and must be the first and most important duty of government: the protection and security of the British people.

While the UK’s borders are already among the strongest in the world I now want to set out how we will further strengthen our protection against would be terrorists:

* first by extending our Home Office Watchlist,
* and second – in partnership with security agencies abroad – improving the sharing of information on individuals of concern.

I can announce today that as well as extending our Watchlist we intend – for the first time – to use the Watchlist as the basis for two new lists: first a no-fly list and second a larger list of those who should be subject to special measures including enhanced screening prior to boarding flights bound for the UK. We will use the new technology we have introduced and our partnerships with police and agencies in other countries to stop those who pose the greatest risk from travelling to this country.

But over the coming months we will go further in taking action against people before they even board a plane to the UK.

Our e-Borders scheme is a vital component of our strategy to strengthen and modernise the UK’s border controls. It has already achieved significant success, enabling nearly 5 thousand arrests for crimes which include murder, rape and assault.

As a result of the £1.2 billion investment we are making in the e-Borders system, we will by the end of this year be able to check all passengers travelling from other countries to all major airports and ports in the UK, whether they are in transit or whether the UK is their final destination, by checking against the Watchlist 24 hours prior to travel and taking appropriate action.

The e-Borders system will give us a better picture than ever of people coming into and out of our country.

And today my Right Honourable Friend the Home Secretary is meeting with his European counterparts to push for swift agreement at EU level on the ability to collect and process data on passenger records, including on travel within the EU, and to enforce the European Commission’s recent approval of the transmission of advanced passenger information to our e-Borders system by carriers based in other member states.

As the Detroit bomber highlighted, we also need – and we are sponsoring – research on the most sophisticated devices capable of identifying potential explosives anywhere on the body.

And as President Obama and I discussed – greater security in our airports, with new body scanners introduced from next week, an increase in explosive trace testing, and use of dogs, must be matched by demanding greater guarantees about security in those international airports from which there are flights into our country.

I can today inform the House that we have agreed with Yemenia airlines – pending enhanced security – that they suspend their direct flights to the UK from Yemen with immediate effect. Mr Speaker, we are working closely with the Yemeni government to agree what security measures need to be put in place before flights are resumed. Aviation security officials are in Sana’a at present looking at this. I hope that flights can be resumed soon – but the security of our citizens must be our priority.

We will also work with our partners in the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the EU, and the G8 to promote enhancements to the international aviation security regime – including stronger security arrangements in airports and greater sharing of information. And my Right Honourable Friend the Home Secretary will be discussing initial proposals with European and US counterparts this week.

We will also offer increased assistance to countries whose weaknesses in aviation security may present a wider threat to the international community, including to the UK.

Mr Speaker, it is because we fully recognise the global nature of the terrorist threat we face today that our response must also be truly global. Plots against the UK and our interests originate in various parts of the globe. Some of the intelligence we need to protect our people against attacks will be here in Britain; some will be held by our international partners and passed to us, just as we help them with our information about the threats they face. And some information will come from the most unstable parts of the world. So in tackling these threats to life and to our way of life, our security services, to whom I pay tribute, need to be able seamlessly to track and disrupt terrorist activity and movements, whether within the UK or beyond. This requires ever closer working between our agencies themselves, and with our international partners.

So I can announce that as part of the work I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to lead on intelligence co-ordination, our three intelligence agencies have already begun to set up joint investigating and targeting teams to address potential threats upstream long before the individuals concerned might reach our shores – ensuring that at all times we continue to deliver improvements in the way we collect, share and use intelligence, building on previous reforms including the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre in 2003, and the Office of Security and Counter Terrorism and the National Security Secretariat in 2007.

Mr Speaker, in addition to all these measures to protect British lives at home and in the air – we are tackling the problem of global international terrorism at its source.

I have said before that Yemen is both an incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism – and is along with Somalia, the most significant after the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas.

Mr Speaker, we and our allies are clear that the crucible of terrorism on the Afghan-Pakistan border remains the number one security threat to the west.

But at the same time we must recognise that – al Qaeda’s affiliates and allies – pushed out of Afghanistan and under increasing pressure in Pakistan – are seeking to exploit other areas with weak governance like parts of Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel.

In Yemen we have been at the forefront of the international effort for some time, assisting the government through intelligence support, through support for its coastguard and for the training of counter-terror personnel. We are also helping to tackle some of the root causes of terrorism by supporting political, economic and social reform. By next year our commitments will total some £100 million, making the UK one of the leading donors. And we are also increasing our capacity-building in Somalia, working with the transitional government and with the African Union.

Mr Speaker, as with all aspects of the fight against terrorism, this new threat can be met only through enhanced cooperation. So we will now work more closely with allies in the region to pool efforts, resource and expertise.

And next week – here in London alongside our conference on Afghanistan – we will be hosting a special meeting to strengthen international support for Yemen in its efforts against al Qaeda; to help the government of Yemen advance its internal reforms; and to increase capacity building and development assistance in a way that directly addresses poverty and grievances which can fuel insecurity and extremism.

Mr Speaker, since 2001 we have reformed domestic defences against the terrorist threat: trebled our domestic security budget, doubled the staff in the security services, and reformed our security structures to bring greater coordination across government; we have responded to the changing nature of the threat by bringing in new powers and new terrorism-related offences; nearly 230 people have been convicted of terrorist or terrorist-related offences since 2001.

Mr Speaker, today’s announcements demonstrate that we will continue to be vigilant, adapting our response to changing terrorist techniques.

And I commend this statement to the House.

B-310102.6; B-310102.7; B-310102.8; B-310102.9, ITT Corporation, Systems Division, December 4, 2009

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The Government Accountability Office has issued a new aerospace related bid protest decision:

B-310102.6; B-310102.7; B-310102.8; B-310102.9, ITT Corporation,
Systems Division, December 4, 2009
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/3101026.htm

ITT Corporation, Systems Division, of Colorado Springs, Colorado,
protests the award of a contract to Readiness Management Support,
L.C. (RMS) of Panama City, Florida, under request for proposals
(RFP) No. N65236-06-R-0748, issued by the Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Center, Department of the Navy, for air traffic control,
air field management, and air traffic control and landing systems
operation and maintenance support services for facilities in the
United States Central Command Air Forces (USCENTAF) in Southwest
Asia. ITT argues that the agency’s evaluation of proposals and
selection of RMS’s proposal for award were unreasonable and
inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation.

We deny the protests.