GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Aviation Security: Policy Responses to Address Terrorism Threats

Testimony before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Committee on State Government
 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: The Heritage Foundation

31March2011 10:20pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The 9/11 attacks were a wake-up call for policymakers on the threats facing aviation security. In 1988, a bomb that was detonated on Pan Am Flight 103 killed 243 passengers and 16 crew members (commonly referred to as the Lockerbie bombing). The perpetrator of the bombing did not board the plane, but rather planted a bomb in a suitcase which detonated while the plane was in the air. Most other aviation threats before 9/11 were largely motivated by attempts to extort money or some other agenda where those aboard were largely left unharmed and the airplane intact. The 9/11 attacks were different in that they introduced the idea of suicidal hijackings and reinforced the fact that al-Qaeda, which had targeted the U.S. before, was still seeking to inflict catastrophic harm on the United States. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Civil War in Libya: Jets bomb civilians. Pilots, high officials flee to Malta

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

21February2011 3:00pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Muammar Qaddafi's 42-year rule of Libya appeared to have begun disintegrating Monday, Feb. 21, as civil war swept the country with no signs of him quitting. Instead, he ordered the army to redouble its brutal assaults on the opposition. The Air Force began bombing crowds at random while army tanks and armored vehicles blasted them with live ammunition - not just in the insurgent eastern provinces of Cyrenaica, but the capital of Tripoli and its environs too.

There, helicopter gunships aimed heavy machine fire into the main market, the Souk al Jumma, while the first tribal militias loyal to Qaddafi to arrive in the capital from the Sahara fought alongside the army. Casualties soared to an estimated 600, with 250 in Tripoli alone as Qaddafi rallied for a bloody civil war that could linger for years.

High officials of his regime and businessmen began fleeing Tripoli aboard Libyan Air Force fighter jets and helicopters which landed Monday at Malta's MIA international airport.  Government officials in Valetta said the pilots had defected rather than bomb demonstrators, while all the Libyan arrivals asked for political asylum and more flights were on the way.  

The United States and European Union have concentrated airplanes and ferries on the island ready to evacuate the thousands of their citizens employed in Libya, most in the oil and gas fields, starting Monday night, while the price of crude oil shot up 5 percent.

The 48 hours during which Qaddafi dropped out of sight from Saturday were spent, DEBKAfile's sources report, in mustering embers of loyal Libyan tribes to fight along the remnants of the army for his reinstatement. There are no signs he has any intention of following in the footsteps of the Tunisians and Egyptian presidents and step down. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claims responsibility for Moscow airport attack

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor

08February2011 10:19amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for last month’s deadly bombing of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport in a video posted online late Monday. The video of Russia’s most-wanted criminal was the second to surface in the past few days, stoking fears of further acts of terrorism by radical Caucasus groups.

Mr. Umarov said in the video that he ordered the Jan. 24 attack on Russia’s largest airport, which killed 36 people and injured 180, and warned that more bombings will follow if Russia does not grant the Caucasus independence.

"You see this special operation carried out by my order ... more special operations will be carried out in the future," Mr. Umarov said in the video, as translated from Russian by the Associated Press. (read full report)

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's advertisers or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Soft Targets:The Moscow Attack and Airport Security

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Right Side News

28January2011 1:42pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The Jan. 24 bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport killed 35 people and injured more than 160. The attack occurred at approximately 4:40 p.m. as passengers from several arriving international flights were leaving the airport after clearing immigration and customs. The attacker (or attackers; reports are still conflicting over whether the attack was conducted by a man or a man and a woman together) entered the international arrivals hall of the airport, a part of the facility that is outside the secure area and that is commonly packed with crowds of relatives and taxi and limo drivers waiting to meet travelers.

Once the attacker was in the midst of the waiting crowd and exiting passengers, the improvised explosive device that he (or she) carried was detonated. It is not clear at this point whether the device was command-detonated by the attacker as a traditional suicide bomb or if the device was remotely detonated by another person. The attack was most likely staged by Islamist militants from Russia’s Northern Caucasus region who have conducted a long series of attacks in Russia, including the Aug. 24, 2004, suicide bombings that destroyed two Russian airliners.

The Domodedovo attack serves as a striking illustration of several trends we have been following for years now, including the difficulty of preventing attacks against soft targets, the resourcefulness of militants in identifying such targets and the fixation militants have on aviation-related targets.  (read full report)

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Medvedev: Russia needs Israeli-style security

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: BBC

25January2011 10:05amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Dmitry Medvedev spoke out the day after a bomber detonated an estimated 7kg (15lb) of TNT at Domodedovo airport, killing 35 people and injuring 110.

He blamed airport officials for "clear security breaches", and called for sackings if negligence was proved.

Militant groups from the North Caucasus are suspected of planning the attack.

Speaking to security officers in televised remarks, Mr Medvedev said terrorism was the most serious threat facing Russia today.

He called for those responsible to be hunted down and their organisations "eliminated".

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also took a hard line, saying that "retribution is inevitable".

"This was an abominable crime in both its senselessness and its cruelty," he said, offering government help to the families of those affected.  (read full report)