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:
Identity Cards: Evaluations of the UK approach

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

1. World

In advance of the G8 summit that opens next week, meetings are underway to attempt to resolve key economic, diplomatic, and security issues. Plans to address poverty, particularly in Africa, are well under way, but the issue of climate change is proving more intractable.

The World Health Organization has maintained its alert warning regarding avian influenza. They have not found evidence that the deadly H5N1 variant has increased its ability to spread to humans, but investigations are hampered by a lack of data from China, where there has been a serious outbreak among wild birds that is proving much more deadly than first thought. Infection among such migratory fowl again increases the threat. To date there have been more than a hundred human infections, about than half fatal.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_06_30/en/index.html

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) released the "Financial Risks of Climate Change" report, which is based on scientific research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their financial models reveal that the global cost of major storms will increase by two-thirds, to about $27 billion by 2080, without immediate action to reduce global warming. The report also recommends a variety of disaster reduction measures, such as resilient buildings and flood management.
http://www.abi.org.uk/climatechange http://www.ipcc.ch

The Indian Ocean Tsunami early warning system has been formally launched.
http://ioc.unesco.org/indotsunami

2. Africa

The World Food Program warns that food crises are threatening peace and security in Africa, particularly n the south.
http://www.wfp.org

Burundi's army reports the arrest of some 100 child soldiers who were recruited by the only active rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), some undergoing training in Democratic Republic of Congo to prepare to disrupt the legislative elections on July 4.

Central African Republic is no longer subject to African Union sanctions, which were lifted after recognition that the March elections returned constitutional order.

In Democratic republic of Congo UN peacekeeping troops engaged in dismantling a militia camp in the eastern province of Ituri came under sustained attack with mortars, grenades, and machine guns by a rebel National Liberation Front (FNL) force of more than 1,000. The rebels also used women and children as human shields. Most of the 4,000 residents of the village fled. Casualties from that incident are not yet known, but at least seven people were killed in and around the capital Kinshasa during protests against a delay of at least six months in holding parliamentary elections. Also note coverage in Finance, below.

Eritrea has denied charges filed by Sudan to the Security Council that it provides assistance to rebel groups in eastern Sudan.

The Eritrea-Ethiopia border security zone has been the scene of recent shooting incidents that could escalate. As a result, the UN Security Council is considering a mission to the area to help overcome the border stalemate and assure commitment to the peace process.

Ivory Coast government and opposition leaders have agreed that pro-government militias will be dismantled by August 20 and that disarmament of the rebels and army will begin by July 31. They confirmed the commitment to hold presidential elections on October 30.

Liberian interim leader Gyude Bryant warned that any presidential candidates tempted to use human sacrifice to improve their chances of being elected will be executed for the crime.

Mauritius islanders are voting to elect a new parliament, with results expected the next day, July 4. More than 650 candidates are competing for 62 seats in a closely divided and hotly debated vote in which economic and ethnic issues all play a part and have contributed to some incidents of pre-election violence.

Mozambique commemorated 30 years of independence from Portugal on June 25.

In Sierra Leone, the UN peacekeeping operation will be extended for a final six months and complete the end of the mission by December 31. The force was scheduled to withdraw at the end of last year, three years since the end of the civil war, but security concerns in Liberia and Guinea warranted additional support and training for the Sierra Leone army and police.

In Sudan's western Darfur region International Criminal Court investigators have found a "significant amount of credible information" that grave crimes have occurred. The chief prosecutor said they will make every effort to identify those chiefly responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians, the widespread destruction and looting of villages, as well as persistent targeting and intimidation of humanitarian personnel. Sudan's justice minister has rejected the extradition of people accused of these crimes. He said all cases would be handled domestically, and pointed to ten suspects on trial in Sudan.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sc8429.doc.htm
http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/LMO_UNSC_On_DARFUR-EN.pdf
Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked a displaced persons camp in the north, killing a baby being carried on its mother's back and a Sudanese national possibly with the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina ("Drive Out Rubbish") has left over 300,000 people homeless, at least three dead, and exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation. Note details from a recent International Crisis Group report that urges international action.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3543&l=1&m=1
The International Monetary Fund is also predicting a bleak future. Zimbabwe has unemployment around 70 percent and a still rising inflation rate of 144.4 percent.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2005/pr05151.htm
The World Food Program says that the food shortage in Zimbabwe is one of the worst in the world, and government interference hinders relief work. The government has allowed aid groups to provide humanitarian assistance to those displaced in the clean-up operation. The head of UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, visited Zimbabwe to evaluate the operation. She said that authorities could have taken steps to minimize the human impact, and briefed them on how to negotiate with slum dwellers. Tibaijuka spoke warmly of the government's (unfunded) plan to build new housing and described very good, constructive talks, but did not elaborate, pending her report that will be delivered to the UN.

3. Americas

Colombian President Uribe flew to the southwest province of Putamayo to lead a massive counterattack against Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels that were responsible for the death of 25 Colombian soldiers on June 26. More than a thousand troops, supported by helicopter gunships, have been hunting up to 300 rebels, forcing thousands of indigenous tribal people to flee their homes - already 4,000 have been blocked at the Ecuadorian border.

In Haiti, peacekeeping troops routed an armed gang in an exchange of fire that killed six suspected criminals. Five others were injured and 13 captured during the raid. A kidnap victim was also rescued, and armaments, munitions and equipment captured.

The Mexican government has welcomed a Zapatista rebel announcement of a forthcoming "new political initiative" they believe will be a plan to renounce violence in favor of political action. In the border town of Nuevo Laredo, the crackdown against drug violence continued. In one operation at least 43 people who had been kidnapped by a local drug gang were rescued.

US President Bush has ordered 70 new measures to implement most of the recommendations of the WMD Commission. They include:

A personal account of Eric Rudolph's five years spent hiding from authorities was posted online.
http://www.armyofgod.com/EricRudolphTil.html
Rudolph is currently awaiting sentencing following his conviction for the Olympics bombing in Atlanta and other attacks.

The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington released "Working Together When the Worst Happens: Nonprofit Emergency Preparedness in the National Capital Region", a report about coordinating disaster response and recovery services in and around the District of Colombia, using experiences gained after the 2001 attack on the Pentagon.
http://www.nonprofitroundtable.org/

Venezuelan President Chavez has launched a regional initiative to provide cheaper fuel to 15 Caribbean nations, helping secure his diplomatic influence in the region.
http://www.petrocaribe.com/
http://www.mre.gov.ve/Petrocaribe2005/acuerdo_final.htm (in Spanish)

4. Asia Pacific

Australia's National Heritage Department designated the Glenrowan Heritage Precinct, the site of Ned Kelly's last stand, which "established Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang as cultural symbols, fostered the notion of bushranging as an attempt to come to terms with established authority and added new stories to Australian folklore.".
http://www.deh.gov.au/heritage/national/sites/glenrowan.html

Indonesian antiterror police have arrested at least 24 suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) associates. Indonesia has not outlawed JI, although the UN has designated it as an international terrorist group. The UN refugee agency has been invited to return to Aceh province to assist in providing post-tsunami shelter. The House of Representatives approved additional military funding to support some 35,000 troops in Aceh. For timeliness, this will probably come from emergency reserves that had been designated for operations in the disputed oil-rich Ambalat area in the Sulawesi Sea for the sake of timeliness.

Philippine President Arroyo is under heavy pressure and strong opposition demands that she resign. Accused by the opposition of rigging votes, she finally admitted a "lapse of judgement" in phoning an election official during the presidential poll count, but denies this was an effort to influence the outcome. Next, her husband moved abroad to escape charges of influence peddling and taking bribes from illegal gambling syndicates. Her son and brother-in-law are also implicated in these charges. At the end of the week, thousands of Filipinos took to the streets to demand her resignation, while the Supreme Court suspended a sales tax hours after it went into effect pending a constitutional review. The tax was meant to increase revenue and reduce the government deficit.

Thailand's head of police announced that at least 790 people had been killed and 1,200 injured in during the past 18 months of unrest in the south. Last week, two Buddhist villagers, a policeman and his informer, were shot.

5. Europe

Albania is holding parliamentary elections July 3.

Bulgarian elections gave no party a majority. The Central Elections Commission announced that the socialist Coalition for Bulgaria received 34.17 percent; Simeon II National Movement 22.08%; Movement for Rights and Freedoms 14.7 percent; Attack (Ataka) 8.75 percent; United Democratic Forces 8.33 percent; and the Bulgarian People's Union 5.42 percent. The socialists insist on leading the government, but the current prime minister refuses to join a government dominated by them. European election observers said the election was credible but that some ambiguities and new voter turnout efforts introduced some uncertainty that in some cases depart from best practices.

A French court has sentenced 14 Spanish and French militants, five with Basque separatist group ETA and nine with the Breton Revolutionary Army (ARB), to terms of prison ranging from two to twenty years for their involvement in two years of bombings that killed 18 people in Spain and France.

Italy has requested an explanation from Washington for the CIA abduction of Egyptian cleric Hassan, for which they insist they had no prior knowledge or involvement. Anti-terror police in nine regions have carried out raids to investigate the "Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies", which is believed to be a parallel intelligence agency fighting Islamist militant groups.

In Kosovo, the UN mission was attacked with three explosions. There were no casualties.

Russia has rejected the clauses added to the Estonian border treaty last week, when the Estonian parliament ratified the treaty. Russia, rejecting "political statements in the accord" has withdrawn from the treaty, which had taken ten years to negotiate, and that required Estonia gives up five percent of its pre-WW II territory. .

Russian official in Chechnya, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, reported that about 300,000 people have been killed during the past ten years of war in Chechnya, and more than 200,000 had gone missing. The Russian government has not previously released details of civilian casualties and Abdurakhmanov's numbers could not be independently verified.
http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/1082/news/n_16139.htm
On July 1, an explosion in Dagestan killed at least ten soldiers and injured seven.

In Spain, Basque separatist group ETA seems to be attempting to undermine Madrid's bid to host the Olympics, using a series of firebombs thrown at government offices and a radio station, as well as a car bomb at a Madrid sports stadium. There was property damage but no casualties. Spanish parliamentarians will debate the findings of the parliamentary panel that investigated the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Turkish police stopped a suicide bomber who failed to detonate his explosives and was then killed as he ran away. The incident occurred near the Prime Minister's office in Ankara, but further details are not yet known.

A trial in Britain has revealed an unexpected link to al Qaeda, revealed following the conviction of Mustafa Abushima as part of a kidnapping group that abducted five children from their British mother and took them to their father in Libya. Testimony indicated that Djamel Beghal organized the kidnapping. Beghal is serving a prison sentence in France for associating with terrorists, in particular helping to fund al Qaeda through credit card fraud. He is also considered responsible for recruiting shoe bomber Richard Reid and the "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1518853,00.html

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) has been blamed for the shooting death of a man sitting in a truck at the site of a demolished loyalist bar.

6. Middle East

Egyptian judges say the constitutional referendum's 80 percent approval was the result of widespread fraud and may lead them to refuse to supervise forthcoming elections in September.

Egypt's new ambassador to Iraq has been taken hostage, only weeks after his arrival.

As the planned withdrawal from Gaza nears, Jewish protests have grown larger and more violent. Following serious clashes, Israel Defense Forces sealed off the Gaza Strip to ban entry by non-residents who have been provoking violence. The closure lasted only one day. Another operation required forced evacuation of 150 right-wing extremists who had been occupying a hotel for a few months. Prime Minister Sharon said that these "radical gangs" will be handled with "an iron fist" and will not be allowed to terrorize Israeli society.

In Iran, the memory of 1979 resurfaced when some of the 52 Americans taken hostage inside the US embassy in Tehran said that one of their captors was the Iran's president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. US officials investigating agreed there was a resemblance, but believe that detailed analysis indicates it was a different person.

June 28 marked the first anniversary of the transfer of power from US administration to Iraq. As insurgent violence has strengthened, the clampdown against insurgents has begun increasing humanitarian concerns related to displaced families; health risks including those associated with lack of clean water; and widespread use of mass detentions and indiscriminate torture. Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity warns of massive corruption and suggests increasing the salaries of public employees to help reduce it.

Iraq's oldest member of parliament, Dhari al-Fayadh, has become its second to die since the government was installed in April. His son and three bodyguards were also killed in the same suicide car bombing.

Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel Defense Forces clashed several times in the disputed border area where the two countries and Syria meet. One Israeli soldier was killed. UN monitors report conflicting claims over how the fighting began. Near Beirut, a hand grenade thrown at a private beach seriously injured a woman, but the motive and responsibility are unknown.

The US Embassy in Lebanon has reiterated an offer of $5 million for information leading the those responsible for the TWA Flight 847 hijacking of June 14, 1995, in which a Navy SEAL was murdered.
http://lebanon.usembassy.gov/lebanon/pr062905rewards4justice.html

Saudi security forces report Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari, the local al Qaeda leader and top of a new list of the 36 most wanted militants, has been killed during a shootout at a police raid.
http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/newsletter2005/saudi-relations-NID-06-30.html

The West Bank town of Qalqilyah handover to the Palestinian Authority has been delayed after a series of shootings, mainly by Islamic jihad, which killed three Israelis. At lest six wanted Islamic Jihad members have been arrested.

7. South Asia

In Afghanistan, a rocket-propelled grenade brought down a US helicopter, killing the 16 soldiers on board. It is believed that troops on the ground were alive, but they are missing. US fighter planes bombed a suspected Taleban hideout in the same area, killing 25 people, and have now acknowledged that number may include civilians who also lived inside the residential compounds. Ahead of parliamentary elections due in September the violence has been increasing, but the UN-backed disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program marked a milestone with the completion of the first two phases. The final phase of reintegration will take another year.

India and the US have signed a landmark 10-year agreement to strengthen defense ties, including joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defense, and technology transfer. The Communist Party of India objects to the agreement. It adds to other communist grievances that have led Communist parties in India to call for protest rallies across the country, focusing on economic issues such as recent fuel price increases.

India's northeast state of Assam held a training program for rebels of the disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger Force, who were drafted into India's paramilitary Border Security Force BSF). Apparently due to harsh treatment in the camp, nearly 300 of the rebels fled and at least some are believed to be returning to Assam.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, Indian army troops shot dead at least six militants believed attempting to infiltrate across the Line of Control with Pakistan.

Pakistan has completed nine months of investigation of 17 men formerly held in Guantanamo Bay and has released them all.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are believed responsible for an ambush that killed three soldiers.

8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare

Gartner research finds that phishing attacks have now been sent to an estimated 57 million Americans and that direct losses from identity theft fraud against the victims cost US banks and credit card issuers about $1.2 billion last year.
http://www.gartner.com/5_about/press_releases/asset_71087_11.jsp

Following allegations last week in Britain's Sun newspaper, India is considering strengthening existing cyber security laws. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and its members have emphasized their support for data privacy and will work with legal authorities in India and the UK to address any criminal breaches.
http://www.nasscom.org

International raids in eleven countries targeting piracy gangs has shut down eight servers used for illegal distribution of movies, games, software and other copyright materials. "Operation Site Down" captured materials worth $50 million, and seven people were arrested. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced legal actions against 784 people suspected of illegal song downloads, bringing the number of such actions to nearly 11,000/

The US Federal Trade Commission offered advice to consumers for securing personal information while using peer-to-peer file sharing technology. They suggest:

US banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has issued guidance on how to respond to web-site spoofing, which is often used for phishing and pharming attacks.
http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/bulletin/2005-24.txt

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has added more information about account hijacking, including these updated findings:

Cybersecurity challenges for the US Department of Homeland security are the topic of a Government Accountability Office report that warns of significant organizational and other challenges.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-434

9. Finance

The use of "blood diamonds" to finance conflict in Africa is well known and has led to a number of international measures to combat the trade. Last week Global Witness released a new report that indicates illegal mining is fueling the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. See "Under-Mining Peace: Tin - the Explosive Trade in Casseriterite in Eastern DRC".
http://www.globalwitness.org/reports/show.php/en.00076.html

The US Treasury has designated Syrian interior minister Ghazi Kanaan and intelligence chief Rustum Ghazali as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) of Syria, for their role in directing Syria's military presence in Lebanon, supporting terrorism, and engaging in corrupt dealings.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2617.htm

Treasury is also responsible for freezing the assets of eight organizations designated by President Bush as WMD proliferators.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2613.htm
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2614.htm

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada has released a consultation paper on "Enhancing Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime". It covers such key measures as:

The Egmont Group of financial intelligence units reached the 101-member mark with the addition of the financial intelligence units of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Peru, Philippines, Montenegro, Qatar and San Marino.
http://www.egmontgroup.org/

The US Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has issued the "Bank Secrecy Act/Money Laundering Examination Manual".
http://www.ffiec.gov/press/pr063005.htm
Procedures for examining Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance were also released.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2620.htm

The US Treasury released its report on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA). The report recommends that TRIA should not be continued in its present form, but instead consider a restricted, temporary measure to encourage the development of private coverage.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2618.htm

10. Human Rights

Attempting to encourage the G8 to "make poverty history", a series of Live 8 worldwide concerts are under way.
http://www.live8live.com/

Nigeria's high Court ruled that the 1999 constitution's support for free assembly trumps the 1990 Public Order Act that required police permission, therefore Nigerians can hold peaceful protests without obtaining prior permission.

The International Federation for Human Rights has asked the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into 2,000 atrocities allegedly committed by Colombian paramilitary group the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) since December 2002.
http://www.fidh.org/

The US Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, ruled that Tennessee could proceed with the execution of a convicted murderer despite an appeal's court acknowledgment that it had erred in denying an earlier appeal. Dissenting from the opinion, Justice Breyer said this could countenance a "miscarriage or justice".

June 26 is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union released "Witness to Abuse". The report documents indefinite detention without charge of 70 men, all but one Muslim, as "material witnesses", although only a few were ever charged with any terrorism-related crime.
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18586&c=280

Mexico has become the first government to endorse the UN's Global Compact at the government level.

11. Law and Legal Issues

Vitaly Askishin was sentenced to 23.5 years in prison for the shooting dead the pro-democracy Russian lawmaker Galina Starovoitova, in 1998. Yuri Kolchin, a former military intelligence officer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning the political assassination.

Wayne Dowie, an associate of Ulster Defense Association (UDA) leader Johnny Adair, has been acquitted of the 2002 murder of Jonathan Stewart that had been linked to a loyalist feud. Dowie was not a member.

Douglas Harvard was sentenced to six years in jail for a phishing scheme through which he stole some GBP 6,5 million. His colleague Lee Elwood was jailed for four years. Both were convicted of charges of fraud and conspiracy to launder money. They used stolen bank details supplied by Russian crackers.

Leon Mugesera will be deported from Canada to Rwanda, where he is accused of encouraging the 1994 genocide. Canada's supreme court unanimously ruled against a lower court finding that there was not enough evidence that Mugesera had incited murder.

Etienne Nzabonimana and Samuel Ndashyikirwa were jailed for 12 and ten years respectively for their role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The two brothers were tried in Belgium, under a law that allows war crimes trials even when committed by foreigners outside of Belgium.

Kubwa Mohammed Seif, Said Saggar Ahmed and Mohammed Khamis were acquitted of conspiracy charges by a Kenyan judge who found that the prosecutor had failed to connect the men to the 2002 suicide bombing of a Mombasa hotel.

Yiannis Serifis and Michalis Kassimis were unanimously acquitted in Greek court of involvement in a series of People's Revolutionary Struggle (ELA) bombings between 1985 and 1995. Angeletos Kanas, Costas Agapiou, Irene Athanasaki and Christos Tsigaridas were cleared on majority verdicts but had been sentenced last October to 25 years in jail on separate bombings and attempted murder charges.

Tarik Ibn Osman Shah and Rafiq Sabir were arraigned in Florida court last week on charges of conspiring to aid al Qaeda members by providing combat training and medical aid. Both pleaded not guilty.

Hassan al-Turabi, a prominent Islamist leader in Sudan, has been freed, by President al-Bashir on the 16th anniversary of the coup that brought his to power. Turabi was detained last year for an alleged coup plot.

Wahid Taysir was convicted in Israeli court of manslaughter, obstruction justice, submitting and obtaining false testimony, and unbecoming behavior. The soldier was convicted for shooting British student Tom Hurndall, who was helping protect Palestinian children from gunfire in the Gaza Strip.

Lowell Timmers, who pleaded guilty to making false threats when he saying threatened to blow up his van near the White House before Bush's second inauguration, has not been sentenced. The delay came after Timmers would not rule out a repeat of the offense.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063001743.html

Steven Todorovic's sentence of ten years in prison for war crimes has been commuted having served two-thirds of his sentence and agreeing to cooperate with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as they continue investigating crimes committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2005/p984-e.htm

12. Transportation

General aviation airports in the US develop their own security measures, and are not subject to the federal rules that govern commercial air travel. Two incidents in two weeks in which small planes were taken for joy rides raised security concerns. Eleven general aviation aircraft were stolen in 2003.
http://www.acpi.org/
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association reminded their members to be vigilant in securing their craft, and to report suspicious activities.
http://www.aopa.org/

Pirates seized a World Food Program boat carrying tsunami aid supplies off the coast of Somalia and are asking for $500,000 to release it.
http://www.wfp.org

Somalia was again the focus of the International Maritime Bureau's Weekly Piracy Report, with the following alerts:

Responding to reports last week, a Malaysian port operator has downplayed the prospect of rising insurance costs.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050703124957&irec=4

Port security and the Maritime Transportation Security Act were the topic of hearings on June 29 by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Maritime Transportation subcommittee. One of the issues raised was security of merchant mariner identification documents.
http://www.house.gov/transportation/

Rail and truck transportation of hazardous materials garnered more attention last week when Chicago's Health Committee began consideration of restrictions against shipments in town. Washington's ban is in the courts, and other cities including Baltimore, Boston and Cleveland are considering similar measures.

Passport fraud and lack of coordination with terrorist watch lists is the topic of a new report, "State Department: Improvements Needed to Strengthen U.S. Passport Fraud Detection Efforts".
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-477
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-853T

13. Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Nuclear Suppliers Group held their Plenary Meeting in which they agreed to continue support of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, enhance information exchange, and adopt the following measures:

Croatia has been approved as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the 45th.
http://www.nuclearsuppliersgroup.org/

US President Bush issued an executive order freezing US assets of companies suspected of aiding the proliferation of WMD and their associates. The following eight companies were designated:

Research from the new Economics Foundation finds that the cost of new nuclear power has been underestimated by a factor of nearly three.
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_mirageandoasis.aspx

A new study published in the British Medical Journal finds that even a low level of radiation exposure leads to a small added risk of cancer.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38499.599861.E0v1

The US plans to resume production of deadly plutonium 238 for "national security".
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/politics/27nuke.html (registration)

"Analyzing a bioterror attack on the food supply: The case of botulinum toxin in milk" has been published in the Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences. The report demonstrates the risk presented by rapid distribution and consumption of milk products. The paper had been delayed at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, who felt it offered a roadmap to a terrorist attack. Expert review determined that the data used was in the public domain and that publication was in the public interest because it could encourage improved safety measures.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0408526102v1
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050629/01

The World Health Organization's latest "3by5" report finds that "The number of people receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS in developing countries is increasing significantly ? more than doubling from 400 000 in December 2003 to approximately one million in June 2005.... However, access to HIV treatment continues to fall short of the growing need, and overall progress is unlikely to be fast enough to reach the target set by WHO and UNAIDS of treating three million people by the end of 2005".
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr30/en/index.html

14. Recently Published

Kenneth Feinberg, "What is Life Worth? The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11", Public Affairs.

Catriona Kelly, "Comrade Pavlik: The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Boy Hero", Granta Books

Gerd Langguth, "Angela Merkel", DTV Deutscher Taschenbuch.
Review article at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1514896,00.html

Ann Larabee, "The Dynamite Fiend: The Chilling Tale of a Confederate Spy, Con Artist, and Mass Murderer", Palgrave Macmillan

David Lazer, "DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice", MIT Press.

Matthew Simmons, "Twilight in the Desert", Wiley

FEATURE ARTICLE: Identity Cards: Evaluations of the UK approach

Identity management is a core security requirement. Governments, faced with challenges from controlling entry into a country to managing benefits fraud, have looked to national identity cards as a solution to some or all of these problems.

Last week the British parliament approved the identity cards bill, with a small majority and little enthusiasm within the parliament or the public. Pursuit of this vote as well as its outcome have been somewhat surprising given the consensus among parliament, within government watchdogs, and among outside experts that this is a high risk venture that is unlikely to succeed.

Two of these reports are summarized here, while references to others are cited at the end of the article.

Perhaps most significant of all the reports to weigh in is the most recent from the London School of Economics. Their overall conclusion is that, "the establishment of a secure national identity system has the potential to create significant, though limited, benefits for society. However, the proposals currently being considered by Parliament are neither safe nor appropriate. There was an overwhelming view, expressed by stakeholders involved in this Report, that the proposals are TOO COMPLEX, TECHNICALLY UNSAFE, OVERLY PRESCRIPTIVE and LACK A FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC TRUST AND CONFIDENCE [italics in the original]. The current proposals miss key opportunities to establish a secure, trusted and cost-effective identity card scheme that may achieve the goals of the legislation more effectively. The concept of a national identity system is supportable, but the current proposals are not feasible".

Many objectives can be better achieved by other means: "For example, preventing identity theft may be better addressed by giving individuals greater control over the disclosure of their own personal information, while prevention of terrorism may be more effectively managed through strengthened border patrols and increased presence at borders, or allocating adequate resources for conventional police intelligence work".

The British press picked up on the cost estimates. At the low end, the current plan would be GBP 10.6 billion, not taking into account cost overruns or problems with implementation or operations. At the high end, the cost estimate is GBP 19.2 billion, with a median cost of GBP 14.5 billion.

As Ferdinand Mount in the June 29 Daily Telegraph put it "At an original cost of GBP 6bn (now upped to GBP 10bn, or GBP 19.2bn, according to the latest study from the London School of Economics), it doesn't strike me as much of a bargain, since the Department for Work and Pensions claims to be losing no more than GBP 35m a year through fraud.... There is also the poll-tax aspect of compelling people to pay GBP 90 or GBP 230 or whatever merely for the privilege of being alive and British."

The report identified a number of other problems:

Britain's information commissioner, Richard Thomas, weighed in with his own report and conclusions, calling the current plan "excessive and disproportionate". He warned that "The creation of this detailed data trail of individuals' activities [the National Identity Register] is particularly worrying and cannot be viewed in isolation of other initiatives which serve to build a detailed picture of people's lives such as CCTV surveillance (with automatic facial recognition), use of automatic number plate recognition recording vehicle movements for law enforcement and congestion charging, and the recent proposals to introduce satellite tracking of vehicles for road use charging purposes. The Information Commissioner is concerned that each development puts in place another component in the infrastructure of a 'surveillance society'. To avoid this it is important that each component limits to the minimum the recording of information about individuals, otherwise we risk unleashing unwarranted intrusion into individuals lives by government and other public bodies."

Other voices expressed concern that identity cards would not improve security. The Mail on Sunday quoted shadow home secretary David Davis as finding the cards "unnecessary, unworkable and unlikely to make our streets and communities safe". The Financial Times editorial of June 29 was very specific:" The case for ID cards remains unconvincing. Their existence in Spain did not stop the Madrid train bombings, while the 19 terrorists who mounted the attacks of September 11, 2001 used legitimate travel documents. More than 26 million visitors enter the UK each year on short-term trips that will not require an ID card".

The myriad problems with Britain's ID card programs are not unique, but illustrate common problems with identity cards in general. Biometric technology in particular is in its infancy, and raises significant issues of accuracy, efficacy, and cost. Data acquisition and management systems that can handle the transaction volume and quantity are equally primitive. Data quality is always an issue. On top of all this, public policy, even in the most advanced European jurisdictions, has barely tapped the data protection and privacy issues raised by this technology.

Identity cards are not alone in facing these challenges. Remote Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, under development for a variety of supply chain and similar applications, face parallel and overlapping problems that have not been resolved despite powerful commercial interests among some of the world's largest companies.

Over time, these issues will be resolved, but taking a risk management approach, it is not possible to justify the massive costs against the small and at-risk benefits at this time. A modest, incremental approach will be more effective. Current technologies from the worlds of web services, federated identity management, peer-to-peer and other emerging network models can help support incremental roll-out, supported perhaps by an internationally approved technology architecture.

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