These articles are cited to provide current news related to terrorism, homeland security, critical incident response and public safety.
Taliban warns U.S. of more Fort Hood-like attacks
Citizens may review DHS's Active Shooter pamphlet
Report Phishing to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
Terror Plot Puts Focus on Student Visas
Campus Safety Tips Brochure
Call for Citizens to Look for Suspicious Activity
Taliban warns U.S. of more Fort Hood-like attacks
The Taliban has warned the United States of more attacks like the Fort Hood shooting rampage unless Washington ends it policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, the SITE Intelligence Group said Tuesday.
The Afghan militants also described the American army psychiatrist suspected of carrying out the shooting in Texas as a "hero," the monitoring group said, quoting a message posted on the Internet.
"The recent attack on the military base in Texas warns that if the occupation policy of the American rulers continues in this way, without them folding the carpets of occupation and transgression in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is natural then that incidents and attacks similar to Texas will spread to the Pentagon and other American military centres," the message said.
"According to media reports, the hero of the attack is a Muslim psychiatrist and major in the American army, of Palestinian origin," said the message posted on jihadist forums, SITE said.
Major Nidal Hasan, a Muslim of Palestinian origin, is suspected of killing 13 people in the shooting spree at a Texas army base last week.
Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month and his family has said that he complained of harassment in the military and was deeply concerned about his orders to go to Afghanistan.
He has emerged from a coma after being wounded in the Fort Hood shootings.
For information on what to do if faced with an active shooter situation, see the article belolw.
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Citizens may review DHS's Active Shooter pamphlet
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Report Phishing to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
US-CERT is collecting phishing email messages and web site locations so that we can help people avoid becoming victims of phishing scams.
You can report phishing to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team by sending email to phishing-report@us-cert.gov
Phishing is an attempt by an individual or group to solicit personal information from unsuspecting users by employing social engineering techniques. Phishing emails are crafted to appear as if they have been sent from a legitimate organization or known individual. These emails often attempt to entice users to click on a link that will take the user to a fraudulent web site that appears legitimate. The user then may be asked to provide personal information such as account usernames and passwords that can further expose them to future compromises. Additionally, these fraudulent web sites may contain malicious code.
The following documents and web sites can help you learn more about phishing and how to protect yourself against phishing attacks.
Methods of Reporting Phishing Email to US-CERT
- In Outlook Express, you can create a new message and drag and drop the phishing email into the new message. Address the message to mailto:phishing-report@us-cert.gov and send it.
- In Outlook Express you can also forward the email message (without opening it) to phishing-report@us-cert.gov.
- If you cannot forward the email message, at a minimum, please send the URL of the phishing web site.
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Terror Plot Puts Focus on Student Visas
Federal authorities have begun a nationwide investigation of the foreign student visa process as a result of Thursday's attempted bombing in Dallas. The suspect in that case — 19-year-old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi — was in the United States under an expired student visa.
Two weeks ago, Smadi was cited for driving without a license in Ellis County. Police do not routinely ask suspected traffic offenders about their immigration status. If they had in his case, they would have found the Jordanian national was in the United States on an expired student visa.
"Overstays on student visas is a tremendous problem," said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), a member of the House Immigration Subcommittee. "Now approximately 60 percent of the people in the United States are here illegally. They overstayed. They never went home. And some of the 9/11 hijackers were people who did that very thing."
Smadi took a full-time job at a barbecue restaurant in Italy, Texas last year. His friends said he never attended school in Texas, meaning he was in the country illegally.
Smadi was originally admitted to the U.S. to attend high school in Santa Clara, California.
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DC Metropolitan Police Department issues on-line brochure on Campus Safety
While colleges and universities are among the safest communities, no campus is immune from crime. Promoting safety on campus is the responsibility of students, faculty, staff, campus and Metropolitan Police officers, and other members of the campus community. An important part of everyone's education is learning how to be alert, use common sense, and prevent unnecessary threats to the safety of themselves and others.
Campus crimes can generally be broken down into two categories: crimes against property and crimes against persons. Most campus crimes occur when criminals are given the opportunity to commit them. By taking away the opportunity, you can help prevent the crime before it occurs. And when entire campuses pull together to reduce the opportunity for crime, they can significantly reduce the risk and enhance the safety of the entire community.
While crimes against property are by far more common on college and university campuses, some campus criminals target people as well. Not every crime against a person can be prevented, and victims should never blame themselves for a criminal's behavior. Still, you can help reduce your risk of being victimized by following some common-sense tips like the ones in our Crimes Against Persons section.
The pages in this section offer tips for reducing your risk of being victimized on campus. And they offer steps you can take in the event of a crime to keep the situation from getting worse.
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Citizen Vigilance Long Urged by Authorities.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Council on Foreign Relations that is incumbent that citizens pay attention to their surroundings for anything suspicious and out of place, and to report it to proper authorities. It might just prevent a domestic terrorist attack, she said. "With respect to individuals and the private sector, we're taking a much closer look at how we can support and inform our greatest asset, individual citizens, and with them the private sector. You are the ones who know if something is not right in your communities, such as a suspicious package or unusual activity," Napolitano said.
What to do if you see suspicious behavior. If you see suspicious behavior, do not confront the individuals involved. Take note of the details:
S - Size (Jot down the number of people, gender, ages and physical descriptions)
A - Activity (Describe exactly what they are doing)
L - Location (Provide exact location)
U - Uniform (Describe what they are wearing, including shoes)
T – Time (Provide date, time, and duration of activity)
E – Equipment (Describe vehicle, make, color etc., license plate, camera, guns, etc)
Suspicious activity is often recalled after an event. We must train ourselves to be on the lookout for things that are out of the ordinary and arouse suspicions.
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