CONTENTS:

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:

1. World
2. Africa
3. Americas
4. Asia Pacific
5. Europe
6. Middle East
7. South Asia
8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
9. Finance
10 Human Rights
11. Law and Legal Issues
12. Transportation
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
14. Recently Published

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Biometrics and the US-VISIT Program

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

1. World

An unofficial US delegation visited North Korea's nuclear complex at Yongbyon where the government said it had shown its nuclear deterrent. Details will be forthcoming later. A fresh round of talks is expected early this year.

The International Monetary Fund has issued a warning of a serious threat to the international economy: the huge US budget deficit, growing trade imbalance and falling dollar. http://www.imf.org/external/Pubs/NFT/Op/227/index.htm

To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the US Surgeon General's report on smoking, the New England Journal of medicine has released early a Special report on "Tobacco Control in the Wake of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement" that will appear in the January 15 print issue. http://content.nejm.org

The Worldwatch Institute published annual report, "State Of The World 2004". It finds growing disparities in the world and an increasing consumer class that is more overweight and has less time, reducing the overall quality of life. The rich are unhappy, and the poor even less able to meet basic needs. http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2004/

2. Africa

Burundi rebels of the National Liberation forces (FNL) that is the only rebel group still fighting the government has agreed to talks with the president later this month.

Central African Republic is at risk of relapsing in the face of dire economic conditions. The latest report to the UN Security Council points to the National Transition Council, national dialogue, and new Prime Minister as marking hopeful progress, but availability of arms and the practice of "road blocking" and criminal activities, sometimes conducted by the security forces, mean that security is fragile. Kofi Annan says that he is "gravely concerned by the re-emergence of acts of rape, hold-ups, and violations of the right to life perpetrated in the country's hinterland and in Bangui" and that international aid to ensure disarmament and prepare the way for restoration of a functioning state is essential. http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S2003/1209 Also note the Chronology of 2003 at http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38806

In Ethiopia, bombs were planted on two fuel tankers. One was defused but a second exploded. The truck was destroyed but there were no injuries. Responsibility is unknown but rebels of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) are suspected.

Ivory Coast military leaders are discussing how to begin disarmament and demobilization scheduled to begin later this month. Continued ethnic fighting in the west killed six.

Libya reached a compensation agreement with the French government to provide $170 million to the 170 people killed in the UTA bombing in 1989.

In the northern Nigeria state of Yobe, serious fighting between authorities and radical Islamic youths calling themselves the Taliban has led to the death of at least 8 rebels and a civilian, as well as arson and looting. At least 10,000 people have fled their homes.

Somalia's peace talks have been delayed again as mediators attempt to establish a basis for discussions. Tension in the breakaway regions of Somaliland and Puntland in the north have increased over lingering territorial claims.

Sudan's government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation army have signed an agreement to share oil wealth. At the same time, the security situation in Darfur is perilous; Arab militias have been attacking refugee villages in the area.

Amid reports that up to 10,000 Zimbabweans starved to death last year, police arrested the editor and two journalists of the weekly Zimbabwe Independent for criminal defamation of President Mugabe after reporting that he had commandeered a national jet for a family party. A court ordered police to stop occupying the Daily News offices and allow them to resume publication as ruled by the court last month.

3. Americas

Argentina's President Kirchner has begun a campaign to clean up corrupt police. Campaigning against organized crime could threaten both his political support and his life, as connections between organized criminal elements in the police and ruling powers is very strong.

In Brazil, protesters opposed to an indigenous reserve in the Amazon rainforest kidnapped three priests. They were freed a few days later.

Guatemala and the UN have agreed a special commission to prosecute organized crime and clandestine security organizations that have engendered an increase in murder, assault and kidnapping of more than 150 percent.
http://www.un.org/News/dh/guatemala/ciciacs-spa.pdf

Haiti continues to experience serious civil unrest. Street violence has left at least two dead and twenty injured this week.

In Mexico, about 40 heavily armed men wearing military-type uniforms stormed a prison, freeing 29 inmates, including several members of the Gulf Cartel, and killing one.

In the US, the national threat level was reduced from orange to yellow, apart from eight airports and some unspecified areas of continued higher risk.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/press_release_0335.xml

US homeland security specialists staged "Terrorex 04" mock terrorism exercise in Las Vegas as part of the Government Convention on Emerging Technologies. http://federalevents.com/govcon/simulation.shtml

The World Trade Center Site memorial competition selected "Reflecting Absence" designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker. http://www.wtcsitememorial.org/

4. Asia Pacific

China has confirmed two cases of SARS. In contrast with last year, they have launched very aggressive public health measures. Temperature screening has been accepted as a sensible precaution, but the World Health Organization is concerned at the mass cull of civet cats, badgers, raccoon dogs, rats and cockroaches. Civet cats are only suspected of harboring SARS-like virus and the other species have not been linked to the disease whose source remains unknown. WHO pointed to the dangers of mass culls by potential disease exposure, destruction of evidence, and unanticipated environmental consequences.

In Sulawesi, Indonesia, a bomb in a crowded cafe has killed four and injured three. Responsibility is unknown but the region has experienced conflict between Christians and Muslims in the past.

In the southern Philippines, a bomb attack at a basketball game killed ten and wounded more than 40. The bomb was an improvised device planted on a motorcycle and may have targeted the anti-separatist mayor. Philippine communists of the New People's Army (NPA) attacked a power station south of Manila, killing three soldiers and three rebels before the guerillas fled.

Thailand has acknowledged that separatist militants are operating the at least three southern provinces. Previously bandits were blamed but a number of bomb and arson attacks against government posts and schools, killing six soldiers and police, have required a different strategy that includes uniting security operations in the south under a declaration of martial law. Thai authorities have detained around 30 people, including two prominent Muslim teachers. Authorities are also investigating possible links to al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah, including the Muslim militant group Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani.

5. Europe

European parliament offices have been on high alert after seven letter bombs in ten days. Italian anarchists are believed responsible for the spate of attacks, none of which caused serious injury. The previously unknown Informal Anarchist Federation has claimed responsibility for two bombs in garbage cans.

Georgian opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili won a landslide victory to become the new president, replacing Eduard Shevardnadze six weeks after the bloodless "revolution of roses".

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reports government statistics that Chechen rebels killed 159 pro-Moscow police last year and another 300 were wounded, a reduction of a third from the precious year.

Swiss police raided homes in several cities, questioning 20 and arresting eight suspected connected with the May bombings at the Riyadh housing compound.

The Independent Monitoring Commission, designed to monitor paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, has been formally established and will begin to issue reports on IRA and loyalist ceasefires every six months. The Good Friday Agreement review will begin January 29.

A series of racist attacks against ethnic minorities in south Belfast has been linked to loyalist paramilitary groups. The Ulster Volunteer Force has denied any involvement.

6. Middle East

In Egypt, Maamoun al-Hodeiby, spiritual leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has died age 85.

A man shutting a window in his Gaza home was shot dead on Thursday. The incident is under investigation.

Iran's conservative Guardian Council has disqualified more than half of the proposed reformist candidates, leading to a walkout of parliament, a planned sit-in and other growing protests.

The insurgency in Iraq continues while US forces are beginning a troop rotation that constitutes the largest logistical operation since World War II. Attacks include two helicopters downed, a bicycle bombing at a mosque that killed six, and injured 36, and five protesters whose deaths are under investigation. Saddam Hussein has been classified as a Prisoner of War and the Red Cross has requested an interview.

On the weapons of mass destruction front there are a number of developments. The Pentagon has pulled out the 400-member Joint Captured Materiel Exploitation Group (JCMEG) that had been searching for WMD, although some members of the Iraqi Survey Group remain. It is increasingly likely that Iraq's WMDs were destroyed in 1990 and that sanctions prevented the programs from resuming. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post reports that "Iraq's Arsenal Was Only on Paper" (also note a video and online discussion on this topic). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60340-2004Jan6.html
And Joseph Cirincione and others at the Carnegie Endowment has published a massive report that reviews the intelligence evidence and makes a number of policy recommendations. In addition to the report, you can see supplementary materials and the press conference at http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/IraqReport3.asp?from=pubdate
But shortly after these two reports, Danish troops uncovered 36 mortar rounds that appear to have contained blister gases and were buried for at least ten years. This is being investigated as is a report attributed to a senior Iraqi military intelligence official that weapons were moved to Syria. US national security advisor Condolezza Rice said there was no hard evidence of this but the reports were being followed up. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040109-8.html

"Saudi Arabia: On a Dagger's Edge" is a 4-part series by Faye Bowers published in the Christian Science Monitor, looking at critical issues facing the country. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0108/p01s04-wome.html

Syria has been on a regional campaign to shore up support from neighboring countries. Their proposal for a region free of weapons of mass destruction has largely met with approval from Arab countries, but Israel and the US insist that an end to support for terrorism must come first. Syria's conversations imply that the country does possess such weapons, since they will not eliminate them until Israel undertakes similar moves.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Qurei says they will pursue a one-state solution if Israel pursues its threat to draw up its own borders. On Wednesday there were raids in Jenin in which the Israeli army arrested 19 and shot dead three suspected militants and the following day killed a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. On Sunday, a confrontation with stone throwers resulted in the death of a nearby student and a man, suspected of prematurely setting off a suicide belt, was killed.

7. South Asia

In Afghanistan, violence continues. A bicycle bomb in Kandahar killed at least 13, mostly children. Drug smugglers in Kandahar killed five soldiers and injured three. In Helmand, twelve civilians were executed and later in the week four suspected Taliban were killed as they planted a mine. Because of the continuing insecurity and difficulty of registering voters, the UN has stated it is likely that presidential elections, scheduled for June, will have to be postponed.

Burma launched a military assault against separatist rebels on the border with India. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland said that 15 Burmese soldiers and three rebels were killed. Burma claims they destroyed some 30 rebel bases. Indian troops have reinforced the border area.

India's Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf of Pakistan have met for the first time since July 2001 and agreed to broad talks to identify all open issues. This is a very positive step towards stabilizing the two nuclear powers.

Indian soldiers in Assam killed two rebels from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, near the border with Bhutan, which has been conducting operations against Indian rebels who have camped out in Bhutan.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, a grenade thrown in a mosque wounded 18 people. It was the first attack since India and Pakistan agreed to hold talks.

In western Pakistan, four soldiers were killed in a rocket attack. Local Wazir tribesmen were questioned but no foreign militants were found.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Wickramasinghe has suggested that president Kumaratunga should renegotiate the 2-year-old Tamil Tiger ceasefire since she took control of defense last November and rendered some clauses of the agreement invalid.

8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare

AOL has announced that it will make spyware protection available as a standard member feature. http://media.aoltimewarner.com/media/newmedia/cb_press_view.cfm?release_num=55253697

Phisher scams jumped over 400 percent during the holidays.
http://www.tumbleweed.com/en/news_events/press_releases/2003/pr-2569.html
http://www.anti-phishing.org

9. Finance

Australia has announced it will implement the FATF 40 Recommendations, including expanding customer due diligence and extending anti-money laundering to non-financial businesses. http://www.ag.gov.au/aml

The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has launched the QuikNews program to provide email notification services. http://www.fincen.gov/maillist/maillist.php

US financial regulators have issued "Guidance on Customer Identification Regulations" frequently asked questions. http://www.fincen.gov/reg_guidance.html

Metalor USA Refining,, a subsidiary of Swiss Metalor, has pleaded guilty to participating in a smuggling operation in which gold was packaged in shampoo bottles and used to launder drug proceeds. Metalor was not connected with money laundering but had continued processing transactions after the fraud was discovered. http://www.metalor.com

Saudi Arabia has dismissed Sheikh Aqil Al-Aqil, head of the Al-Haramain Charity. No official explanation was given but the charity has been accused of funding terrorism.

See the Law section below for details of Mario Roberto Hernandez money laundering conviction and a new indictment for Mohamed Albanna and the other "Lackawanna 5" for illegal money transmitting.

10. Human Rights

Turkey has agreed to a total ban on capital punishment, including during wartime.

In Kazakhstan, a moratorium on the death penalty came into force and officials are building their first prison to hole those sentenced to life.

Charles Singleton, a schizophrenic convicted in the US of murder, has been forcibly given anti-psychotic drugs to make him lucid enough to be put to death. He was killed in Arkansas by lethal injection.

11. Law and Legal Issues

Mohamed Albanna, Ali A. Albanna, Saleh Albanna, Ali Taher Elbaneh, and Abdul Wali Kushasha of Lackawanna New York were charged in US federal court with a five count Superseding Indictment for conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business. http://buffalo.fbi.gov/pressrel/2004/alb010804.htm

Yaser Esam Hamdi, a US citizen held without charge as an "enemy combatant", will have his case heard by the Supreme Court in April.

Mario Roberto Hernandez was sentenced in a Utah, US court to 87 months in federal prison running a sophisticated money laundering operation primarily dealing with Colombian cocaine and heroin proceeds. Three others were also involved.

Sami Omar Hussayen has been charged in US federal court of conspiring to create web sites to provide funds and other support for organizations to wage jihad against the US. He is a computer science doctoral student at the University of Idaho.

Hemant Kakhani has pleaded not guilty to charged of delivering missiles and other weapons to people he believed were terrorists.

Sebastien Nzapali "King of the Beasts" is on trial in the Netherlands for torture, rape and other crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s.

Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad), accused of being a senior Revolutionary Armed forced of Colombia (FARC) rebel leader, faces dozens of charges of murder, kidnapping and rebellion. He has been transferred from Ecuador, where he was captured, to a high security prison north of Bogota.

The conspiracy trial of Mohammed Kubwa Seif, Said Saggar Ahmed and Salmin Mohamed Khamisi in connection with bomb plots in Kenya, has begun.

James Stubbs Jr and his brother Michael Ray Stubbs were arrested December 13 by Philippine authorities accusing them of consorting with Islamic separatists. They will be deported to the US, where any potential security breaches are under investigation.

12. Transportation

The heightened alert in the US over the holidays was in large part focused on specific threats related to commercial airlines. In turn, dozens of international flights were delayed, diverted or cancelled. Fighter jets accompanied some flights. All of the intelligence warnings were investigated and dismissed with one exception - a passenger who did not turn up for an Air France flight is being investigated.

The US issued new security requirements, including requiring international carriers to place armed air marshals on designated flights, an action than engendered significant resistance including the refusal of Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Portugal to cooperate. These countries said that if a flight presented a high enough risk to warrant armed sky marshals they would prefer to cancel the flight. Larger countries expressed similar opinions but for economic reasons are cooperating. Another directive banned standing in line for the toilet. This is being largely ignored, particularly by long-haul flights. The US VISIT program, launched on January 5, is discussed in the Feature Article, below.

The US Department of Homeland Security has selected a team led by BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines to develop a plan and prototypes to see whether technology can be used to protect commercial aircraft from the risks of portable, shoulder-fired missiles. http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=2735

13. Weapons of Mass Destruction

"Human monkeypox: an emerging zoonosis" by Daniel B Di Giulio and Paul B Eckburg was published in The Lancet, January 1, 2004 issue. They find that " Human monkeypox is a rare viral zoonosis endemic to central and western Africa that has recently emerged in the USA. Laboratory diagnosis is important because the virus can cause disease that is clinically indistinguishable from other pox-like illnesses, particularly smallpox and chickenpox. Although the natural animal reservoir of the monkeypox virus is unknown, rodents are the probable source of its introduction into the USA. A clear understanding of the virulence and transmissibility of human monkeypox has been limited by inconsistencies in epidemiological investigations. Monkeypox is the most important orthopoxvirus infection in human beings since the eradication of smallpox in the 1970s. There is currently no proven treatment for human monkeypox, and questions about its potential as an agent of bioterrorism persist.
http://infection.thelancet.com/journal/vol4/iss1/full/laid.4.1.review_and_opinion.28126.1 (requires registration)

The US FBI, Postal Inspection Service, and Department of Transportation (DOT) are offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information in connection with a threatening letter addressed to DOT that contained ricin received last October. They report that " The author(s) of this typewritten letter claimed that he or she was a fleet owner of a tanker company and demanded that the present laws regarding truck driver hours of service regulations remain unchanged. On January 4, 2004, significant new federal regulations went into effect mandating more rest and orienting drivers toward a 24-hour work/rest cycle. A type-written message on the exterior of the envelope indicated 'caution RICIN POISON Enclosed in sealed container Do not open without proper protection'. Inside the envelope was a small, metal vial which contained ricin, a white, granular, potentially deadly poison.
"The author(s) of this letter claimed to have the ability to make large quantities of ricin and to use this poison if the new hours of service regulations were not repealed by January 4, 2004. The letter was signed 'Fallen Angel'. "
http://www.fbi.gov/fieldnews/january04/ncin010804.htm

Following a finding by the US Food and Drug Administration last week that anthrax vaccine was safe, an injunction that had blocked injections was lifted and the Defense Department has resumed the vaccination program. http://www.dod.mil/advisories/2004/pa20040107-0761.html

14. Recently Published

Daniel Bergner "In the Land of Magic Soldiers: A Story of White and Black in West Africa"

Mark Falcoff "Cuba, the Morning After: Normalization and Its Discontents" AEI Press

Paul Farmer "Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor" university of California Press

Lorrie Goldensohn "Dismantling Glory: 20th Century Soldier Poetry" Columbia

Michael Light "100 Suns" Jonathan Cape/Random House

David Paull Nickles "Under the Wire" Harvard University Press (history of the telegraph)

FEATURE ARTICLE: Serbia: Biometrics and the US-VISIT Program

On January 5, the US Department of Homeland Security launched the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program. It requires all foreign visitors traveling to the US on a visa to have their two index fingers scanned and a digital photograph taken at the point of entry. This process is supposed to verify identity and is meant to be part of an automated entry/exit procedure implemented by the end of this year for the 50 busiest land ports and by the end of next year for all land ports. There are 27, mostly European, countries on a visa waiver program who are not required to provide this information but are expected to adopt biometrically-enabled passports by October 26.

Countries whose nationals are subject to fingerprints and photographs have protested that it violates civil rights and is racist. Brazil retaliated by implementing the same requirements to visitors from the US. There have already been reports of people being fingerprinted and photographed even though they are nationals of countries under the waiver program. Those countries are not happy either, since they are unlikely to be able to meet the October 26 deadline for new passports. Last year, two thirds of foreign visitors to the US came in under the waiver program. After October 26 these roughly 15 million people will need visas, until new passports are ready some time in 2006.

US-VISIT was under scrutiny as recently as September 2003 in a General Accounting Office report that identified ten factors making this a "very risky endeavor". They found that "Some risk factors are inherent to the program, such as its mission criticality, its size and complexity, and its enormous potential costs. Others, however, arise from the program's relatively immature state of governance and management. For example, although the program has governmentwide scope, an accountable governance structure to direct and oversee the program that reflects this scope is not yet established. In addition, a US-VISIT program management capability has yet to be established, important aspects defining the program's operating environment are not decided, facility needs are unclear and challenging, and the mission value to be derived from the program's initial operating capability is unknown". GAO predicts that the "near-term investment in the program is at risk of not delivering promised capabilities on time and within budget and not producing mission value commensurate with investment costs".

Early indicators are that GAO's predictions are on the mark. Initial testing of the new procedures added 15 seconds to primary inspection, using a sample of 20,000 passengers. Extrapolated to the total visitor population, this would indicate significantly increased resource requirements. In addition, the entry/exit program only reached the Request for Proposal stage in November and the contract will not beawarded until May 2004.

One of the riskiest aspects of this initiative is in the use of biometric technologies. Biometrics are the physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual, such as fingerprints, hand geometry, facial recognition, iris or retinal scans, signature verification, voice authentication, and even the way you walk.

Biometric technologies are immature and all have serious limitations, including issues of technology, public policy and economics. For example:

To summarize, biometric technology is not a silver bullet and will not be reliable for positive identification at any scale for years to come. Even as these technologies mature they cannot stand on their own, but only as one component of a general identity management program. Even within these limitations, it is unlikely that the investment in biometrics will ever be cost-effective. With diversion of resources from more practical measures, it is more likely to reduce than to increase security.

In particular, airline security would benefit immediately from several simple, practical measures that focus on people rather than technical toys, beginning with effective personnel training. This has already begun with the simple matter of altering the policy of negotiating with hijackers to taking action against them. Identity authentication is important, as is random testing. Physical security of airport perimeters and the cockpit are important and to some extent have been implemented. Aircraft monitoring would be better served with online monitoring systems including GPS monitoring than with fighter pilot escorts. (After all, they don't need to be physically proximate to shoot down a plane.) Biometrics fits into this picture in two ways. First, it can be used as one method of authentication for airport and airline employees. Secondly, a biometric system can be applied to aircraft controls so that only authorized personnel can actually fly the plan. These measures are known to be effective and do not carry enormous costs and high technology risks.

Next week we look at a related area with a review of the technical and public policy issues associated with DNA.

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