US official: Local cops help fight domestic terror (AP)

VIENNA – The head of America's Homeland Security department says it is increasingly recruiting local police forces to help in tracking down U.S. extremists planning terrorist acts.

Janet Napolitano says the number of such "home-growns" — U.S. citizens with terrorist intentions — is increasing and her department is reaching out more often to municipal and other local police departments.

Napolitano spoke to reporters after addressing the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on joint ways to battle international cybercrime, terrorism, and trafficking in drugs, weapons and people.

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Official: 17 killed in terror camp raid in Mali (AP)

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – A Mauritanian colonel who led a military raid last week on a suspected al-Qaida camp in the neighboring nation of Mali says that 17 people were killed during the operation.

Col. Brahim Fall Ould Cheibani told a news conference Sunday that his men carried out the raid on Friday in the Wagadou region of Mali, a forested area bordering Mauritania.

He says those killed included two Mauritanian soldiers and 15 members of the terrorist cell.

Al-Qaida's African affiliate is known to operate in the deserts and remote forests between the two countries. The group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of dozens of foreigners, as well as a series of attacks on Mauritanian military installations and government buildings.

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US official says terrorists lack Internet skills (AP)

LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press – Tue Jun 14, 5:16 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A top counterterrorism official says terrorist groups do not yet have the technical skills to launch a major cyber attack against the United States.

State Department counterterrorism coordinator Daniel Benjamin says such a threat is looming and one that insurgents are pursuing. But he says so far most big computer-based attacks are launched by other countries or small groups of hackers.

Benjamin says terror groups are mainly using the Internet for propaganda and as a recruiting tool. The No. 1 concern for U.S. officials is developing means to counter the insurgents in cyberspace.

U.S. government networks are probed and scanned millions of times a day by criminals and other countries, and hackers have breached the electrical grid and key defense department contractors.

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Counterterrorism chief to leave in July: official (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a unit created after the September 11 attacks to improve the sharing of intelligence among competing U.S. spy agencies, is leaving his post after 4-1/2 years in the job.

A U.S. official said NCTC chief Michael Leiter would depart the agency, and government service, in July. The source said it was unclear what Leiter's next job would be, but it was likely to be in the private sector.

Within intelligence and counterintelligence circles, Leiter was esteemed for his non-political approach to improving collaboration among rival agencies.

Under Leiter's stewardship, the NCTC has been regarded as one of the few components of the Office of Director of National Intelligence which has had success in improving U.S. intelligence coverage and analysis of militant activity.

However, the counterterrorism center faced some criticism under Leiter's leadership, particularly when the agency failed to put together clues which might have led to the early detection of Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian militant who has been charged with trying to blow up a Detroit airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underpants.

President Barack Obama praised Leiter in a statement on Thursday, saying he "led the National Counterterrorism Center with dedication and unwavering determination during challenging and demanding times."

There was also praise from Republican Representative Peter King, chairman of the House of the Representatives Homeland Security Committee, who said Leiter had done an "outstanding job" while working for both a Republican and a Democratic president.

No immediate information was available about whom Obama might nominate to succeed Leiter. However, some counterterrorism experts said that candidates might include former Bush administration counterterrorism experts Stuart Levey and Juan Zarate. Nominees for NCTC director must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball in London; Editing by Warren Strobel and Eric Beech)

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Top US official warns of 'heavy' hurricane season (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Wednesday that a "heavy" US hurricane season could be in store, after briefing President Barack Obama on latest forecasts.

Obama gathered top disaster preparedness officials, state and local authorities and non-profit groups for a White House meeting on the first day of the Atlantic hurricane season to discuss this year's predictions.

The season, which runs to November 30, will feature atmospheric conditions which experts predict will lead to formation of 12 to 18 named tropical storms, of which six to 10 could become hurricanes, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"Right now, it looks like that there could be a heavy hurricane season, but that doesn't speak to landfall," Napolitano told reporters at the White House.

"So we need to be prepared for landfall, if it happens.

"The bottom line for the president was... that this team have been planning, coordinating, organizing, recognizing each other's strengths and leveraging those strengths as we head into the hurricane season," she said.

"Our big question to the public right now: are you ready? Do you know what to do?"

Obama's briefing included Craig Fugate, administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, NOAA head Jane Lubchenco and National Hurricane Center director Bill Read.

"The president stressed the importance of this team approach and engaging the entire nation in emergency preparedness," the White House said in a statement.

Obama has made multiple trips in recent weeks to victims of killer tornadoes and floods which have ripped across the US heartland, even before hurricane season begins to threaten American shores.

The political risks of a failure to prepare or respond to natural disasters give White House aides sleepless nights.

The botched handling of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded New Orleans in 2005, was seen as a devastating political blow from which then-president George W. Bush never recovered.

NOAA forecasts reveal elevated threats this year to the United States and nations around the Caribbean and predict between three and six major hurricanes of Category 3 intensity or higher on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

Skies have been generally calm across the Atlantic, and NOAA and other meteorological websites predicted no drama in the opening days of the season. The peak Atlantic storm period is August to early October.

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Shoe bomb still a threat to aviation: top US official (AFP)

LAS VEGAS (AFP) – Shoe bombs are still a threat so for now US air travelers will have to continue to take their shoes off before airport screenings, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday.

Napolitano said her department has been looking for a technological solution to the shoe problem, drawing applause at a conference of travel and tourism industry leaders.

She quickly added: "We're not there yet, so wear slipons."

The shoe requirement is probably the most hated symbol of the raft of security measures imposed on air travelers after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Industry leaders have complained about a one-size-fits-all approach to aviation security that they say has discouraged travel and is costing billions of dollars in revenues.

"It's a technological problem," said Napolitano.

"Why? Because we know from a risk-based standard that our adversaries have tried before and are always attempting to see what they can get onto a plane that would constitute enough explosive material to blow a plane up," she said.

"That threat has not disappeared, and if anything even the public revelations out of the material seized out of this compound where bin Laden was confirmed that aviation remains a target."

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