Referring to moves to revise the pacifist constitution that Japan adopted after the war, Akiba said it was an obligation of the present generation to uphold the principle "thou shalt not kill." "The Japanese Constitution, which embodies this axiom forever as the sovereign will of a nation, should be a guiding light for the world in the 21st century," he said.

Earlier this week, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party released a draft containing a drastic change to the constitution, proposing that the military be allowed to act not only in self-defence but also to take part in global security efforts. Although support for revising the core pacifist clause remains short of a majority, some Japanese right-wing politicians have talked of Japan having nuclear weapons, which shows that some ultra-nationalists have not realized Hiroshima's tragedy was caused by Japanese war criminals themselves.

Survivors, whose average age is now over 73, worry that as many of them pass away, so will memories of the bombing.

"Passing on the experience is our greatest concern," said Sunao Tsuboi, an 80-year-old survivor of the bombing who heads a group of victims. "As we get old, even among victims the anger, that raging feeling towards the A-bomb, has waned ... August 6 is being played up this year as it's the 60th anniversary, but I wonder about next year."

Source: China Daily

Imperial America On The Move

With 12 battle carrier groups and hundreds of military bases spread around the world, the US currently will spend $455 billion on its armed forces in 2005, with another $82 billion to be spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is more than the total sum spent by the next 32 countries down the list, and is close to 50% of total world military spending. US military doctrines have shifted away from deterrence to pre-emption, unilateral military intervention, and simultaneously fighting several local wars overseas. The US military has put in place a 2004 "Interim Global Strike Alert Order" from Donald Rumsfeld requiring it to be ready to attack hostile countries that are developing weapons of mass destruction, specifically Iran and North Korea. The military claims to be capable of carrying out such attacks within "half a day or less" and to use nuclear weapons for this purpose.[viii]

There are demands from the US Air Force for authority to put weapons in space. A former Secretary of the Air Force explained 'We haven't reached the point of strafing and bombing from space... nonetheless, we are thinking about those possibilities."[ix] Full spectrum dominance -in land, sea, air, and space - is necessary to achieve the goal of total planetary control.

US foreign policy in the Post Cold-War world owes much to "The Project for the New American Century" (PNAC), a Washington-based neo-conservative think-tank founded in 1997. PNAC was clear that the US must rule the world: " [the new world order] must have a secure foundation on unquestioned US military preeminence ...The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor."[x] That serendipitous Pearl Harbor-like event came on 11 September, 2001.

A Revolution in Military Ethics? RALPH PETERS

After 911 there was no lack of spokesmen for the American Empire. In unabashedly imperial language, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who initiated the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, writes that the US should seek to "prevent collusion and maintain dependence among the vassals, keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together"[xi]. Zbigniew Brzezinski with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan To keep the "barbarians" at bay, Pentagon planners have been charged with the task of assuring American control over every part of the planet. Major (P) Ralph Peters, an officer responsible for conceptualizing future warfare in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, is clear about why his country needs to fight[xii]: We have entered an age of constant conflict. We are entering a new American century, in which we will become still wealthier, culturally more lethal, and increasingly powerful. We will excite hatreds without precedent. There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing. excerpt from Bin Laden And Hiroshima by Pervez Hoodbhoy ZMag

Bomb scare in theatres turns out a hoax

Posted on 08 Aug 2005
Chennai, Aug 7 : The city Police personnel were on tenter hooks after an anonymous caller informed the office of a city based leading Tamil daily that bombs had been planted in four major cinema theatres of the city and they might go off at any moment.

Police said however, much to their relief, the threat turned out to be a hoax.

Police said the caller said that he was speaking from Mumbai and told the Tamil daily office that it was his duty to inform the matter.

The authorities of the newspaper informed the matter to the police, following which police held a thorough check up in all the four theatres. But nothing was found, police added. - new kerala

US drafts plans for responding to terror attacks: report

Mon Aug 8, 9:03 AM ET - WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military has reportedly devised its first war plans for responding to terrorist attacks in the United States that envision 15 potential crisis scenarios, including simultaneous strikes around the country.

Citing officers who drafted the plans, the Washington Post said the plans developed by the military's Northern Command assign as many as 3,000 ground troops to handle each attack, a number that could easily grow depending on the extent of the damage.

The possible scenarios range from relatively modest crowd-control missions to full-scale disaster management after catastrophic attacks such as the release of a deadly biological agent or the explosion of a radiological device, the report said.

Some of the worst-case scenarios involve three simultaneous attacks, according to The Post.

The paper said the war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement.

Defense officials continue to stress that the troops will play largely a supporting role in homeland emergencies, bolstering police, firefighters and other civilian response groups, the report pointed out.

But several senior officers acknowledged the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources, The Post said.

"In my estimation ... the Department of Defense is best positioned -- of the various eight federal agencies that would be involved -- to take the lead," the paper quotes Admiral Timothy Keating, head of Northcom, as saying.

The plans come at a time when senior Pentagon officials are engaged in a year-long review of force levels and weapons systems, attempting to balance the requirements of homeland defense against the demands of overseas deployments, The Post pointed out.

Keating expressed confidence that existing military assets are sufficient to meet homeland security needs. - yahoo.com

Intelligence chiefs warn of UK insurgency

Big News Network.com Monday 8th August, 2005 (UPI)

Intelligence chiefs have warned Prime Minister Tony Blair that Britain may be facing a full-blown Islamist insurgency rather than a sporadic terror campaign.

Fears of a third attack on London remain high, based on evidence supplied by an intercepted text message and the interrogation of a terror suspect being held outside Britain, according to U.S. reports.

And while prior to the July 7 and 21 bombings, security services concentrated on the threat from British-born militants trained abroad, attention is now focusing on the pool of migrants to Britain from the Horn of Africa and central Asia.

A well-connected source told the Independent newspaper Sunday that there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from completely militarized regions such as Somalia and Afghanistan. Every one of them knows how to use an AK-47, said the source. About 10 percent can strip and reassemble such a weapon blindfolded, and probably a similar proportion have some knowledge of how to use military explosives. That adds up to tens of thousands of men.

There has been a debate on whether Britain is facing an insurgency or terrorism, said the source, and the verdict is on the side of an insurgency. bignewsnetwork.com

France warned to watch its Pakistani community

PARIS: The Central Directorate of General Information (DCRG) has warned that several hundred Pakistanis in France have terrorist links and recommended surveillance of the community, said French newspaper Le Figaro newspaper on Monday.

According to the newspaper, the report said that while most Pakistanis aspire to integrate into French society, several hundred "have chosen the path of terrorism and Salafism to express their hatred of the West." An Interior Ministry official confirmed the existence of the report, but cautioned that it was "a very technical study on the Pakistani community in France." He said it was not aimed at lecturing Britain on what might happen on its own soil.

The report quoted by Le Figaro said that people plotting an attack could count on the "support of jihadists within the large Pakistani community in Britain" and warned: "France is not immune from this kind of violent group."

The DCRG report, a French intelligence service, said that radical Pakistani activists from southern Asia or Britain had visited France more frequently in recent years. It said that militant groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba had set up outposts in France. "Monitoring the Pakistani community is essential in preventing any violent act," said the report.

The DCRG also warned that Britain was at risk from radicals within its Pakistani community, said Le Figaro, noting that the report was completed in late June, soon before London's July 7 attacks.

Louis Caprioli, a former anti-terrorism officer with France's DST counter-espionage agency, said the Pakistani community in France "in so far as it has elements practising Islamic fundamentalism, has always attracted the attention of intelligence services." "That started in the 1990s, when it emerged that Pakistan was a transit point for jihad training in Afghanistan," he said. agencies - dailytimes.com

SAUDIS RELAYED INTERCEPTS OF LONDON BOMBERS

LONDON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has asserted that it relayed a warning of an Al Qaida plot against Britain.

Saudi officials said the kingdom's intelligence agency relayed the intercepts of phone calls between senior Al Qaida commanders and the head of the insurgency cell that carried out the July 7 bombings of London's mass transit system. The officials said the London strikes were coordinated with or directed by the same Al Qaida commanders who planned major suicide attacks in Casablanca and Riyad in 2003.

Saudi ambassador to London, Prince Turki Al Faisal, said Riyad transferred information of the Al Qaida intercepts to Britain in April 2005. Turki said the intercepts were of communications between the suspected head of the London cell, Mohammed Siddiqui Khan, and Abdul Karim Al Mejati and his senior aide, Yunis Mohammed Al Hayari. Al Mejati and Al Hayari were killed by Saudi security forces before the London strikes.

"There was certainly close liaison between the Saudi Arabian intelligence authorities and the British intelligence authorities some months ago when information was passed to Britain about a heightened terrorist threat to London," Turki said in a statement over the weekend. -menewsline.com

Businesses watch, wait during bomb scare

Lincoln Museum and malt shop were only two establishments that were evacuated. By SETH GOLDSTEIN - Evening Sun Reporter

As a bomb scare unfolded on Lincoln Square in Gettysburg Saturday afternoon, most of the nearby businesses remained open. Around 3 p.m. a driver reported seeing a suspicious package sitting by the Lincoln statue in front of the Wills House.

Gettysburg Police aided by Cumberland Township and the Pennsylvania State Police bomb squad roped off the square and began investigating what turned out to be a suitcase full of men's and women's shoes. Although most businesses stayed open, the Lincoln Museum, the building closest to the suitcase, and the Cannon Ball Old Tyme Malt Shop on York Street were evacuated.

Malt shop owner Greg Bair said he was told by State Police to close up shop. "At 4 p.m. a trooper came in and told my wife we had to evacuate the building," Bair said. "She told the trooper that she had customers to serve. But after the trooper insisted everyone evacuated. You don't argue with the police. They say get out you get out."

Some of their customers didn't even have a chance to pay for their ice cream, he said. It wasn't until after 6 p.m. that they were allowed back into their building. The Seven Valleys Wine Shop on the square was bustling with customers when someone came in and said the police had roped off the square because of a suspicious package.

"We weren't evacuated," said Marilyn Schelling, an employee at the wine shop. "We watched from our front windows as the events happened."

It was interesting to see how the State Police dealt with the situation and the technology they used, she said. At one point, a bomb robot approached the suitcase while from a safe distance troopers analyzed the close-up video images it provided.

"They did a good job," Schelling said. "It's always better to be safe than sorry. The technology they used was really interesting - especially the robot. Thank God it was nothing."

The police can never been too cautious in today's world, she said. "As I was watching, I was thinking about the countries that have bombs going off in their towns on a regular basis," Schelling said. "We're lucky we haven't had to deal with that."

The police told everyone to stay in the store, said Pat Gillin, assistant manager of 17 on the Square, recalling the events of the other day. "It wasn't the best time for business," said Melinda Davis, the owner of 17 on the Square. "Most of our customers had finished shopping and just stood around and waited for it to end. No one could leave until it was safe."

Betsy Bender, owner of the House of Bender on the square, wasn't worried or panicked. "The police told me to stay away from my windows as a precaution," she said. "Definitely exciting. I ended up closing up shop after things died down."

The Plaza Restaurant on the corner of Baltimore Street on the square was not evacuated either. The general manager of the Gettysburg Hotel and the manager of the Pub & Restaurant were unavailable for comment. Police said Sunday they are still investigating the incident, which closed the square to traffic for more than three hours, and have no new leads. - eveningsun

Western missions issue Saudi terror warning

By Guy Dinmore in Washington - Published: August 8 2005 18:34 | Last updated: August 8 2005 23:44

Saudi Arabia's new leader-ship confronted its first security crisis on Monday as the US closed all its diplomatic missions in the kingdom for two days and the UK and Australia warned they had "credible reports" that terrorists would soon strike again.

"There are credible reports that terrorists are planning further attacks in the near future," the UK embassy in Riyadh said in a travel warning on its website. "There is a continuing high threat of terrorism in Saudi Arabia. We continue to believe that terrorists are planning further attacks, including against westerners and places associated with westerners in Saudi Arabia."

It urged a high state ofvigilance and said specifically that aviation interests remained a possible target.

In a co-ordinated warning, Australia urged its citizens not to travel to the kingdom as militants might be planning attacks on "housing compounds". It also cited "credible reports".

The warnings were prompted by a US decision to close all three of its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in response to threats against buildings used by its staff.

The US had also warned Americans on July 25 of the danger of new attacks. The US State Department has repeatedly advisedthe American business community to leave thecountry.

A US official said the Bush administration had credible and specific information that "western facilities" were targets.

The suspected attacks were also seen by the US as directed at challenging the new Saudi leadership and its close relationship with the west. US diplomatic missions could stay closed longer than the announced two days, the official added.

In June last year Saudi extremists linked to al-Qaeda killed three American defence contractors as their tactics shifted from indiscriminate car bombings to more targeted attacks. A month earlier, 22 foreigners were killed in an attack on a compound in the oil centre of Khobar.

Only last week world leaders gathered in Riyadh for the funeral of King Fahd to demonstrate their continued support of his successor, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Dick Cheney, US vice-president, and George H. W. Bush, the former US president, led the US delegation.

Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, said during her visit to Riyadh in June that the kingdom's crackdown on suspected terrorists gave the US confidence it was tackling counter-terrorism.

King Abdullah on Monday pardoned four prominent reform advocates and a university professor jailed for terms ranging from five to nine years meeting expectations that the new Saudi ruler would move quickly with political reforms. - news.ft.com

King George School Gets Bomb Scare

Students Evacuated, Nearby Road Closed - BY JEANNE MILES, Staff Writer - Monday August 8, 2005

SUTTON -- As if the beleaguered King George School didn't have enough on its plate with an upcoming bankruptcy auction, a bomb scare prompted an evacuation there Sunday.

A telephone message left at the King George School late Sunday morning warned of a possible bomb somewhere on the private school's campus.

Head of School Karen Fitzhugh said Sunday afternoon the caller claimed to be from the U.S. Postal Service and warned that an "incendiary device" might have been delivered to the school. The caller also advised to call 911, which was done around 11:30 a.m.

"The good news is there was no bomb and our emergency procedures worked very well," Fitzhugh said. - caledonian record

Aug 8th 2005 - Well, there I was at 3.30pm this afternoon, travelling down the Nottingham Road, passing the junction of Gregory Boulevard, when four police cars including the heavy mob, and some Armed Responce Units, pulled over a bus. I didn't know what was going on to start with, but like most citizens, am quite concerned to be confronted by guns on the streets. - IMCUK

Bomb scare drama

Aug 9 2005 By Sarah Clark - SHOPPERS were evacuated from Princess Square shopping centre in Bracknell last week after a suspect package was found in a bin.

A member of the public alerted security staff after seeing a locked black briefcase dumped in a bin near the middle of the shopping centre just before 3pm on Wednesday. Princess Square was closed for nearly half an hour while police officers investigated.

Michael Bentley, retired pastor of Great Hollands Free Church, who was in Princess Square when the alert was raised, told Midweek: "Everyone was bewildered and when that ringing bell started everyone thought this isn't just any ordinary sort of thing. Then a voice said 'This is an emergency, everyone please leave the building.' "I saw this concertina-shaped briefcase by the escalators; it was just sticking out of the bin. "First of all I thought 'why has someone put a brand new briefcase in there?' and then I thought it must be a sick joke. "Everyone left quietly. There was no running, no hurrying. It was quite commendable really."

Thames Valley Police spokeswoman Rebecca Webber said a policeman acting on the advice of senior officers had opened the briefcase and found it was empty. The case was taken away by police.

Helen Barnett, marketing officer for Bracknell Regeneration Partnership (BRP) which owns Princess Square, said: "A locked briefcase was left in a dustbin, so security cleared the area as quickly as possible." She added: "In the current climate we have to take all the precautions necessary to ensure that people in Brack-nell can shop safely." And she urged shoppers to keep all their personal items on them at all times.

Many shoppers waited out-side the entrances until the all-clear was given. The scare is the second in Bracknell town centre in recent weeks. The Bracknell News reported in July how a man had been arrested under the Terrorism Act after hoax bomb threats were made in town centre shops. - ic berkshire

Hundreds evacuated after bomb scare

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 9: Hundreds of people were evacuated after police received two SMS messages that bombs had been placed at three places here tonight.

The messages, which were sent to the State police operations centre, warned the authorities of explosive devices placed at Level 10 of the landmark Komtar building, along Persiaran Gurney and at the Burmah House commercial complex in Pulau Tikus.

The two SMS were sent at 8.10pm, leading police to rush to all three sites.

The roads leading to the sites were closed to traffic before people in the buildings and surrounding areas were evacuated.

State police chief Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee said bomb squads sent to investigate did not find any explosive device in all three areas.

Police believe the SMSes were sent by the same person. He said police acted fast to evacuate the areas as a precautionary measure.

"This is no laughing matter. We view such irresponsible acts very seriously. "A thorough investigation to find the person who sent the false warnings will be conducted," he said.

Wan said there was a possibility that the Internal Security Act could be invoked against anyone found to have been involved in the hoax. Police declared all three areas safe at 10.20pm before reopening the roads and allowing people back to the affected areas. - nst.com

Two Indons nabbed in connection with bomb scare in Penang

By Aaron Ngui and K Kandiah - GEORGE TOWN, Wed 10th Aug 2005: POLICE have arrested two Indonesians in connection with the bomb scares here last night, which resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of people and several road closures.

The two suspects, both aged 25, were arrested as they were about to board a flight to Medan from the Bayan Lepas International Airport at about 11.30am today.

State police chief Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee said police managed to get a breakthrough in the case after following up on several leads after receiving six SMS messages about the bomb threats last night. - nst.com

Package near courthouse sparks another bomb scare

By SHANNON OLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER - Published August 10, 2005

TAMPA - A suspicious package outside the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa on Tuesday turned out to be nothing more than a cardboard box filled with papers, but it caused a scare nonetheless. It was the second time in less than a week that a suspicious package disrupted life downtown. Jurors in the Sami Al-Arian trial were sent home early Tuesday afternoon, but were not told the reason.

Law enforcement officers shut down the streets surrounding the courthouse for nearly 11/2 hours while the Tampa Police Department bomb squad used a robot and a high-powered water cannon to dismantle the package and determine its contents. U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman Lisa Alfonso said Federal Protective Services officers, charged with securing the courthouse's perimeter, noticed the cardboard box about 2 p.m. near a bus stop on the southeast corner of the courthouse, at E Polk Street and N Marion Avenue.

The box was about 24 inches by 6 inches, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said. The U.S. Marshals Service contacted Tampa police officers assigned to the courthouse, and those officers called in the bomb squad. The courthouse was not evacuated, Alfonso said. But police shut down surrounding streets while the bomb squad's robot inspected the package, which contained nothing more than papers, Durkin said.

Detectives will sift through the papers to try to determine who they belonged to, Durkin said. Friday during the morning rush hour, about 3,000 HARTline passengers had their buses rerouted as authorities investigated a suspicious backpack left in a trash can at the bus terminal on Marion Street. The police bomb squad determined the bag contained personal items, including clothes and a shaving kit.

A similar incident occurred last March when a suspicious backpack was found outside the U.S. District Courthouse garage entrance on the same day that the parents of Terri Schiavo were asking a federal judge to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted. It, too, was found to be harmless. - sptimes.com

Power cut sparks bomb scare at Selfridges

By Neil Craven - 12/08/2005

A "loud bang" today at London department store Selfridges followed by a loss of power to some parts of the store sparked a scare today.

Shortly after 2.30pm the bang was followed by the loss of electricity on the lower ground floor. The area of the store around the young fashion Spirit department has been cleared while the problem is solved.

A source at the store said of the incident: "Some people thought it was a bomb, but it wasn’t it was an electrical problem and they are trying to fix it now."

The source said the store had remained open throughout the incident. - retail-week.com

(Fuel Laden VBIED)

Advisory General
New York State Office of Homeland Security

Message
Green

August 11, 2005

This communication from the New York State Office of Homeland Security is Sensitive. The New York State Office of Homeland Security in conjunction with the Upstate New York Regional Intelligence Center, issues the following advisory to the Oil, Gas, and Transportation sectors:

George Pataki
Governor James Kallstrom Advisor on Counter-Terrorism

The United States Intelligence Community has repeatedly advised of threat streams suggesting al Qaeda and affiliated groups have considered using a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in a US-based attack.

There are numerous historical and current threat streams to suggest the terrorist use of tanker fuel trucks, among other vehicle types, to facilitate a major explosion targeting critical infrastructure and designed to create mass casualties or economic destruction.

Senior al Qaeda operational planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, captured in Pakistan in March 2003, has told interrogators that he had developed terrorist plots targeting gas stations due to their apparent vulnerability and the potential destructive force of a fuel-driven explosion. Terrorists in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have effectively used large fuel trucks as VBIEDs against military and civilian coalition targets.

The following tear line information, provided by the Intelligence Community, identifies a possible threat to the United States involving the use of fuel tankers as Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices. This tear line has been widely disseminated throughout law enforcement channels, generating numerous inquiries regarding the imminent nature of the threat.

Although this report makes an attack appear imminent, no other intelligence exists to corroborate this specific threat stream. This scenario represents just one of many possible methods of attack known to be considered by terrorist organizations.

Begin tear line:

1. (FOUO) Al Qaeda leaders plan to employ various types of fuel trucks as vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) in an effort to cause mass casualties in the US (and London), prior to 19 September. Attacks are planned specifically for New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It is unclear whether the attacks will occur simultaneously or be spread over a period of time. The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy.

2. (FOUO) Some of the vehicles used will be hijacked. The type of vehicle may be anything from gasoline tanker trucks to trucks hauling oxygen and gas cylinders. Water trucks filled with gasoline or other highly combustible material may also be used. The detonation of the vehicles will be carried out by driving them into gas stations or ramming explosive-laden vehicles into the trucks carrying the fuel.

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Fuel Laden VBIED

3. (FOUO) The attackers will be members of small Al Qaeda cells which are spread throughout the US. The cell responsible for the specific attack will execute the plan upon receipt of an order.

4. (FOUO) It is possible that the tape recently released on television by Zawahiri was meant as the activation signal to the cells and not so much as an indictment to Bush or Blair.

End tear line:

In light of a potential VBIED threat in the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has disseminated bulletins incorporating the advantages for terrorists in using large, official looking vehicles, and suggested measures for owners and operators of facilities where large vehicles are housed.

Excerpts of FBI Bulletin #166, dated May 10, 2005 are included below:

VEHICLES AS VBIEDS

On January 12, 2005, DHS and the FBI published Joint Bulletin 162, titled "Terrorist Tactics: Analysis of the Surveillance Notes Concerning Certain U.S. Financial Buildings." This bulletin provides information on VBIED attacks using a limousine, to which security personnel provide some degree of deference, or in a service/delivery vehicle, because they do not attract unwanted attention. Exploding a device in an underground parking lot, VIP area, or near the main entrance or a support column were the main attack options offered in the notes. Terrorists have shown creativity in their VBIED platforms, ranging from tanker trucks (Khobar Towers in 1996) to rental trucks (World Trade Center in 1993). A delivery vehicle acquired through a legitimate source could provide the following advantages when deployed as a VBIED:

Heavy/large payload capacity.

Vehicle interior and contents are not visible.

Vehicle, due to its size, could ram security barriers.

Access to high value symbolic or economic targets.

Can fit in parking garages (based on the size of the vehicle).

Easy licensing procedures (based on the size and purpose of the vehicle).

Delivery vehicles can typically remain stationary for extended periods without drawing suspicion.

Public perception as a recognized entity (recognized company delivery van).

Rigging vehicle for VBIED use in privacy (e.g. at night, in a private garage after hours).

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Fuel Laden VBIED

POTENTIAL SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES

The Office of Homeland Security, in cooperation with the Upstate New York Regional Intelligence Center, encourages owners and operators of fuel depots, truck companies and gas stations to report any of the following activities to the UNYRIC Counter Terrorism Center at 1-866-SAFE-NYS.

Individuals videotaping or photographing premises for no apparent reason.

Suspicious individuals apparently surveilling delivery of fuel from tanker-trucks.

Inquiries regarding the frequency of fuel deliveries to your business.

Any information regarding the loss, theft or attempted theft of any tanks, vehicles, or driver's license credentials or licenses used in the transportation of bulk fuel to your station.

Theft of fuel or unexplained loss from your business inventory or tractor-trailer-tanker.

Customer requests to purchase unusual amounts of fuel, not typical of most transactions, or an unusual method of payment.

Unusual inquiries from strangers concerning how to store bulk fuel or handle it on premises.

SUGGESTED PROTECTIVE MEASURES

The following are the recommended general protective measures that apply to facilities with both controlled and uncontrolled access, and specific protective measures recommended for soft targets with controlled access.

General Protective Measures for Controlled and Uncontrolled Access:

Security personnel and private citizens should be advised to remain vigilant in ensuring that large vehicles of any kind in the vicinity of critical infrastructure facilities are viewed as a security risk until proven otherwise.

Ensure all personnel are provided periodic security briefings regarding present and emerging threats.

Specific Protective Measures for Soft Targets with Controlled Access:

Be alert to the necessity for thoroughly checking large vehicles of any kind attempting to gain access to controlled critical infrastructure facilities.

Review existing vehicle bombing prevention procedures to incorporate thwarting the use of a moving vehicle bomb, and consider adjusting buffer zones further from potential targets.

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Fuel Laden VBIED

Adjusting buffer zones further from potential targets.

Periodically rearrange exterior vehicle barriers, traffic cones and road blocks to alter traffic patterns near facilities.

Limit the number of access points and strictly enforce access control procedures.

Approach all illegally parked vehicles in and around facilities, question drivers and direct them to move immediately; if the owner cannot be identified, have vehicle towed by law enforcement.

Provide vehicle inspection training to security personnel, and institute a robust vehicle inspection program to include checking the undercarriage of vehicles, under the hood and in the trunk.

Deploy explosive detection devices and explosive detection canine teams.

Institute/increase security patrols varying in size, timing and routes.

Increase perimeter lighting and maintain/remove vegetation in and around perimeters.

Encourage personnel to be alert and to immediately report any situation that appears to constitute a threat or suspicious activity.

Guard force turnover and personnel authentication procedures.

Implement random security guard shift changes.

Deploy visible security cameras and motion sensors - review security camera footage daily to detect possible indicators of pre-operational surveillance.

As always, observance of suspicious individuals and activities, or any threats received should immediately be reported to the Upstate New York Regional Intelligence Center, Counter Terrorism Center, at 1866-SAFE-NYS.

Please treat this and all other communications from the Office of Homeland Security as SENSITIVE

The Times