Dutchman confesses to killing woman in Peru, police say

Joran van der Sloot also remains the top suspect in the disappearance of an American teen in Aruba.

Associated Press

June 8, 2010

LIMA, Peru

— Longtime murder suspect Joran van der Sloot has confessed to killing a young Lima woman, police said early Tuesday.

The Dutchman, who had been detained twice in Aruba on suspicion of killing American teenager Natalee Holloway, was arrested last week on suspicion of killing Stephany Flores, 21, whom he had met while in Peru to play poker.

She was slain May 30 — five years to the day after Holloway, 18, vanished while on a school trip to Aruba.

He was arrested in Chile on Thursday and returned to Peru for questioning.

Van der Sloot, 22, and Flores were seen on hotel security cameras going into his room together. Four hours later, he was filmed leaving the room alone.

The woman's battered body was found on the room's floor more than two days later, her neck broken. By then he had gone to Chile.

At a news conference last week, Peruvian Interior Minister Octavio Salazar said Van der Sloot had paid a taxi driver $500 to take him across the border.

If tried and convicted of murder in Peru, Van der Sloot faces a potential prison term of 35 years.

Prosecutors in Aruba still consider Van der Sloot their No. 1 suspect in the Holloway case. Her body has not been found.

Days after the slaying in Peru, Van der Sloot was charged in the United States with trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway's family in exchange for disclosing the location of her body and describing how she died. U.S. prosecutors say $15,000 was transferred to a Dutch bank in his name.

Van der Sloot is the son of a respected lawyer in Aruba who died in February. He was 17 when Holloway disappeared in 2005.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-0608-van-der-sloot-20100608,0,7637770,print.story

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Arsonist who set Station Fire still at large; reward is extended

Firefighters mourn two colleagues who died in Station fire.

Ten months after the largest fire in L.A. County history killed two firefighters, authorities are still looking for the arsonist who set the blaze.

The focus of the investigation has been at a spot of the Angeles Crest Highway where officials believe the blaze was sparked.

The deadline for a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who started the Station fire has been extended.

The Station fire ignited on Aug. 26, 2009, along Angeles Crest Highway, about two miles north of La Cañada Flintridge. 

It burned more than 160,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest, destroyed dozens of homes and was blamed for the deaths of two Los Angeles County firefighters.

Sheriff's homicide detectives in November questioned a man charged with setting a smaller blaze less than a week before in Angeles National Forest. But authorities say they have not been able to connect Babatunsin Olukunle, a 25-year-old Nigerian national, to the Station fire.

Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, and Spc. Arnold Quinones, 35, died after their truck plunged 800 feet into a ravine near Mount Gleason. They had been trying to set backfires to protect a nearby fire camp as the fire bore down.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/arsonist-who-set-station-fire-still-at-large-reward-extended.html#more

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EDITORIAL

'Islamic terrorism' and the Obama administration

Critics on the right say the administration is deliberately denying the existence of 'radical Islam' and 'Islamic terrorism.'

June 8, 2010

It's a drumbeat on the right: The Obama administration is in deliberate denial about the existence of "Islamic terrorism." A conservative columnist recently complained that two federal reports described terrorism and violent extremism but didn't mention "radical Islam as a motivator." Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent senator from Connecticut, has chided the administration for failing to identify "violent Islamist extremism" as the enemy.

There is some truth in this criticism. The administration has assiduously avoided terms that recognize the distinct threat posed by those who cite Islam as a rationalization for terror. For example, a recent report by the Homeland Security Department's Countering Violent Extremism Working Group refers vaguely to "ideologically motivated violent crime." (The word "Muslim" does appear in descriptions of members of the working group.)

We understand the reason for the administration's reticence. To Muslims, terms such as "Islamic extremists," "Islamic terrorists" and even "radical Islam" — however others view them — seem to equate Islam with violence. Moreover, the equation of Islam with terrorism isn't a figment of Muslims' imagination. Consider the evangelist Franklin Graham's noxious comment that Islam is "a very evil and wicked religion," or the opposition to the construction of an Islamic cultural center (including a mosque) near ground zero in New York. An editorial in the conservative Washington Times, for instance, suggested that "it's a sign of cultural weakness that Americans are afraid to say no to a mosque on the most prominent site of jihadist victory in the United States." (Actually, religious pluralism is a cultural strength.)

Still, the administration has been excessively delicate in its language and has opened itself to a charge of political correctness run amok. It needs to find a way to acknowledge that at this point in history, the political extremism that poses the greatest threat is motivated by a perverted interpretation of a religion — while insisting, as the administration's new National Security Strategy does, that "neither Islam nor any other religion condones the slaughter of innocents."

It isn't just that such realism would deprive administration critics of an easy political argument. It also would make it easier to join openly with Muslim communities in preventing the self-radicalization exemplified by Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, and Faisal Shahzad, accused in the abortive Times Square bombing. Last month The Times reported that the administration was contemplating new efforts to deal with the radicalization of American Muslims.

So what should the proper terminology be? How about "terrorism, carried out in the name of Islam"?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-islam-20100608,0,5056810,print.story

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EDITORIAL

The ICC and an 'aggression' mandate

It's asking too much of the International Criminal Court to add an 'aggression' statute.

June 7, 2010

If there were an international court with the power to prosecute crimes of aggression, we might be able to haul North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il before it to answer for his country's sinking of a South Korean warship in March. We could nail Russian leaders for their invasion of Georgia in 2008, and maybe even throw the book at the Argentines who sparked the Falklands War in 1982. World peace could be enforced with the tapping of a gavel rather than the pounding of artillery.

It's an inspiring goal. It's also hopelessly impractical.

Representatives from around the globe have been meeting in Uganda for a week to discuss changes to the mandate of the International Criminal Court, which since its founding in 1998 has attracted 111 member states, has indicted 14 people and is conducting two trials. The court is currently empowered to pursue cases against leaders accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, but the key topic for discussion in Uganda is the addition of a fourth crime: "aggression."

The United States is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC, yet the State Department has sent a team to Uganda. Its goal, in part, seems to be to prevent an expansion of the court's mandate. That's the right approach, because an aggression statute would imperil the court's credibility.

The problem with legislating "aggression" is that in nearly all conflicts between nations, each side believes the other to be the aggressor. It's comparatively easy to try a dictator for committing genocide against his own people, but how does one decide whether, for example, the U.S. was an "aggressor" when it invaded Iraq, which it believed was stockpiling biological and chemical weapons? Was the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 2006 an act of aggression? To Israelis it was an act of self-defense, but much of the world saw it differently. Fear of international prosecution might deter countries from using military force to depose a murderous dictator or to prevent a dangerous regime from developing weapons of mass destruction.

And who decides whether to prosecute such cases? The veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council think they alone should have the power to launch an investigation, but the rest of the world disagrees. If the Security Council gets its way, smaller countries will dismiss the court as a repressive tool of the great powers; if it doesn't, and the General Assembly or the court prosecutor decides, there would be charges of politicization, and the court could end up fueling more conflicts than it avoids.

The ICC is gaining in membership and respect, but it has yet to complete a trial. It hasn't come close to building the trust and track record needed before it can tackle an issue like international aggression, which some of the world's best legal minds have struggled for decades to define. This page is deeply conflicted about whether the U.S. should join the court, but if aggression is added to the ICC's mandate, there is no chance such an outcome would occur.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-icc-20100607,0,5095856,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Mass Grave Found in Mexican Mine

Authorities in a southern Mexican state popular with tourists reported Monday that 55 bodies -- more than double the number initially thought -- had been recovered from an abandoned silver mine apparently used by drug gangs as a mass grave.

Evidence of the bodies, apparently the victims of drug gang violence, was discovered last week and officials said at the time that there appeared to be up to 25 bodies in the mine. However, during the week, additional bodies were found and over the weekend, 55 had been recovered, said Albertico Guinto Sierra, the attorney general for Guerrero state. The body count was announced Monday in a statement on the state government's Web site.

Three of the bodies were mummified and two had been reduced to skeletons, the statement said, making it unclear how long the mine, called San Francisco Cuadra, had been used as a mass grave. The federal police said last week that a suspect in a case involving organized crime had told the authorities about the mass grave. At least 15 people have been detained in the case, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Guerrero is plagued by drug violence among rival gangs, and marked by brazen attacks on the police and soldiers engaged in a crackdown on traffickers.

The authorities Monday also released the names of four victims: José Luis Gómez Ortiz, Gilberto Hernández Rosales, Alejandro Pérez Zúñiga and Daniel Bravo Mota, who Mexican newspapers have reported was a prison warden in nearby Iguala.

The authorities asked families who might be missing members to come forward to initiate genetic testing in case their family members were among the dead. Officials also planned to explore other mine shafts to determine if other bodies had been placed there.

The bodies appeared to have been tossed over time down about 300 feet into the abandoned mine, which is near Taxco, a city in the state of Guerrero that is known for its silver jewelry and other items. The area is popular with tourists from the United States and elsewhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/world/americas/08grave.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Reviving Fast Lanes at Security

The stereotype of the business traveler dashing to catch a plane with minutes to spare was long ago retired; 9/11 and unpredictable security lines took care of that. And any hopes that private companies could run faster alternative lanes proved too optimistic after the companies closed down a year ago.

But there may be life yet in the E-ZPass-style lanes.

A new crop of successors has risen up, and in recent weeks two airports, Indianapolis and Denver, have been named as the first airports to get the revived programs. While the companies' odds of success this time around remain uncertain, one factor working in their favor may be pressure from members of Congress, business travel groups and some airports for a reprieve from the sometimes lengthy waits at checkpoints.

Legislation is pending in Congress that would direct the Transportation Security Administration , which balked at the earlier private efforts, to support a new registered traveler program for passengers deemed to be low risk.

At the same time, a two-year-old United States Customs and Border Protection program called Global Entry, which allows fliers undergoing background checks to bypass immigration lines returning home at the end of the trip, is getting a lift from a new publicity campaign aimed at increasing enrollments. Global Entry is now at 20 airports in the United States, including Kennedy Airport in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and other large international gateways.

Enrollment increased to 54,000 members from 16,000, in the last nine months, said Joanne Ferreira, a spokeswoman for Customs. She estimated that a user could swipe an ID card at a kiosk and clear immigration in 60 seconds.

Travel experts say that while these security and immigration programs differ in many details, including price — Global Entry costs $100 for five years, while the private programs charge from about $150 to $180 a year — the result is the same to the business traveler: both can eliminate hours of unproductive time.

“One of those wild cards for travelers is how long they're going to have to wait on line,” said Steve Lott, an official in Washington with the airlines' trade group, the International Air Transport Association.

Mr. Lott said he had used Global Entry often on international trips. “It eliminates one of the pain points for many travelers,” he said.

For many fliers, the main point of pain is at the start of the trip where they are often cooling their heels behind vacationers and other inexperienced travelers.

“My biggest frustration is the infrequent travelers who hold the rest of us up,” said Doug Murray, a technical producer for film and television from Larkspur, Calif.

Mr. Murray said he was a customer of Clear, the largest of the previous registered traveler providers. “I was extremely upset when they closed down, because I really used it a lot,” he said. While he said he flew around 75,000 miles a year, he does not fly enough on one airline to take advantage of the V.I.P. lanes that give the airlines' premium fliers a similar shortcut through the security line at many airports.

“I am constantly on the go, and I am often running behind schedule,” he said.

Still, some business travelers are skeptical about the new private programs, questioning whether enough customers will be willing to pay simply for the right to go to the head of the line. And some previous customers are still smarting over the sudden shutdown of Clear because of a lack of financing. (The new companies, however, have said that they will honor those memberships at no additional fee and will purge the personal data of customers who choose not to re-enroll.) The former companies had a combined membership of around 200,000 at the time of their demise.

In recent weeks, AlClear, which purchased the assets of Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, said it had reached an agreement with Denver International Airport to start up this fall. Another entrant, iQueue, has begun enrolling members at Indianapolis International Airport, where the new express lanes are expected to open in August.

Joe Brancatelli, who runs the business travel Web site joesentme.com, said he was pessimistic that programs like Clear could work the second time around.

“It's a waste of resources and it is not a registered traveler program in the sense we originally meant — a meaningful security program,” he said. “It's simply a line-cut program” because of the lack of participation by the T.S.A.

In fact, the original incarnation of the registered traveler program was similar to Global Entry. It, too, was to have included a thorough background check and biometric identity card. Those signing up were fingerprinted and asked to hand over detailed personal information. But the vetting was done by the T.S.A., whose leaders eventually cooled to the private programs, announcing in 2008 that the agency would no longer handle the background checks.

Caryn Seidman-Becker, a former investment manager who is the chief executive of AlClear, said that she was aware of resistance from both past users and the government, but said that there were benefits in having a fraud-proof identity card.

“Knowing someone is who they say they are is incredibly important for security,” she said. She said the company was also looking into member services like reduced-rate parking at airports.

As for the question of the T.S.A.'s support this time, she noted that Michael Chertoff , former secretary of Homeland Security, is on the company's board.

A T.S.A. spokesman said it was still not involved in vetting staff or participants of the new airport services, but “remains open to considering proposed programs.”

Meanwhile, airports are predicting fuller flights this year, which could contribute to peak-hour backups at checkpoints. At busy airports like Atlanta's, wait times at security checkpoints have sometimes exceeded 30 minutes at peak times this year, according to information posted on the T.S.A.'s Web site.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a consortium of corporate travel managers, described interest in the renewed registered traveler programs as “medium to high,” but said that ultimately, “The new business model will need to be sound.”

“No one will want to stick his neck out twice on this one,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/business/08security.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Doctors Who Aid Torture

Disturbing new questions have been raised about the role of doctors and other medical professionals in helping the Central Intelligence Agency subject terrorism suspects to harsh treatment, abuse and torture.

The Red Cross previously documented, from interviews with “high-value” prisoners, that medical personnel helped facilitate abuses in the C.I.A.'s “enhanced interrogation program” during the Bush administration. Now Physicians for Human Rights has suggested that the medical professionals may also have violated national and international laws setting limits on what research can be performed on humans.

The physicians' group, which is based in Cambridge, Mass., analyzed a wide range of previously released government documents and reports, many of them heavily censored. It found that the Bush administration used medical personnel — including doctors, psychologists and physician's assistants — to help justify acts that had long been classified by law and treaty as illegal or unethical and to redefine them as safe, legal and effective when used on terrorism suspects.

The group's report focused particularly on a few issues where medical personnel played an important role — determining how far a harsh interrogation could go, providing legal cover against prosecution and designing future interrogation procedures. The actual monitoring data are not publicly available, but the group was able to deduce from the guidelines governing the program what role the health professionals played, assuming they followed the rules.

In the case of waterboarding, a technique in which prisoners are brought to the edge of drowning, health professionals were required to monitor the practice and keep detailed medical records. Their findings led to several changes, including a switch to saline solution as the near-drowning agent instead of water, ostensibly to protect the health of detainees who ingest large volumes of liquid but also, the group says, to allow repeated use of waterboarding on the same subject.

Another government memorandum concluded from medical observations on 25 detainees that combining several techniques — say a face slap with water dousing or a stress kneeling position — caused no more pain than when the techniques were used individually. That was used to justify the application of multiple techniques at the same time.

The group concludes that health professionals who facilitated these practices were in essence conducting research and experimentation on human subjects. The main purposes of such research, the group says, were to determine how to use various techniques, to calibrate the levels of pain and to create a legal basis for defending interrogators from potential prosecution under antitorture laws. The interrogators could claim that they had acted in good faith in accord with medical judgments of safety and had not intended to inflict extreme suffering.

The report from the physicians' group does not prove its case beyond doubt — how could it when so much is still hidden? — but it rightly calls on the White House and Congress to investigate the potentially illegal human experimentation and whether those who authorized or conducted it should be punished. Those are just two of the many unresolved issues from the Bush administration that President Obama and Congressional leaders have swept under the carpet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/opinion/08tue1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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Albany's Chance to Be Tough on Crime

The gun lobby has been hard at work these past few weeks in Albany trying to block smart legislation that would help police officers solve violent crimes. The measure would require, starting in 2012, that all new semiautomatic pistols sold in New York State be equipped with microstamping technology that would allow police officers to quickly match empty bullet casings found at crime scenes to the weapons that fired them. California already has enacted a similar law.

The microstamping process uses lasers to make tiny markings on a gun's firing pin and other internal surfaces, identifying the weapon's make, model and serial number. When a gun is fired, this information is stamped onto the bullet casing. That sounds like a very smart idea to us. The bill has the support of 100 mayors and more than 80 police chiefs around the state.

The gun lobby is pushing back hard. It predictably minimizes the public safety value of microstamping, claiming that criminals would file down all the markings. It exaggerates the cost of the process and claims that it would curtail the availability of handguns in New York. The State Assembly rightly ignored those arguments and has passed the bill. The Senate's Codes Committee, which deals with criminal justice issues, is scheduled to take up the measure on Tuesday. Committee members should approve it, and Democratic leaders should then quickly bring the bill to a full vote.

More than 1,000 murders have gone unsolved in New York over the past five years. Senators who oppose this bill will need to explain to voters why they would deny police departments critical information that would help apprehend murderers and other violent criminals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/opinion/08tue4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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2 New Jersey Men in Terrorism Case Go Before a Judge

Two New Jersey men who were arrested as they prepared to begin what prosecutors said was a carefully thought-out journey to an Islamic insurgent group in Somalia made their first public appearance on Monday since being taken into custody.

The men, Mohamed Mahmood Alessa , 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte , 24, were shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles as they went before Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in federal court in Newark.

Judge Arleo appointed lawyers to represent them and scheduled two additional court appearances: a bail hearing on Thursday and a preliminary hearing on June 21 about the charges they face.

Federal prosecutors hinted that they would oppose bail for the two men, who were arrested late Saturday at Kennedy International Airport .

“The government believes that no condition or set of conditions could assure the defendants' appearance or ensure the safety of the community,” a prosecutor, L. Judson Welle, told the judge.

Prosecutors said in court papers that the two men were on the way to join Al Shabab , an extremist organization thought to have sheltered Qaeda operatives wanted in the 1998 bombings of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Mr. Alessa, of North Bergen, and Mr. Almonte, of Elmwood Park, were taken into custody as they prepared to fly separately to Egypt. Prosecutors said the two had planned to go from there to Somalia.

In court in Newark, each was wearing shoes from which the laces had been removed. Mr. Alessa had what appeared to be bruises on his left temple and the left side of his forehead. There was no immediate explanation for how he got them; his parents were in court but refused to talk to reporters.

But Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey, said later at a news conference that both defendants had resisted arrest. Mr. Fishman also said that passengers on their two flights were not in danger.

“The charges were filed before their bags were packed, and the arrest teams were waiting at the airport before they arrived,” he said. “There was never any chance that those defendants would get on those planes.”

That was apparently a reference to Faisal Shahzad , who was accused of trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square last month. Mr. Shahzad was also arrested at Kennedy Airport, but when he was apprehended, he had already boarded a plane that was about to leave for Dubai.

At one point during the court appearance on Monday, Mr. Alessa responded to a question from Judge Arleo about whether he wanted a court-appointed lawyer by saying, “Excuse me?”

As he was being led out, he recognized someone in the courtroom, smiled broadly, pointed and waved as best he could with the shackles. He also tapped a hand over his heart.

Mr. Almonte spent most of his time in court frowning.

Mr. Welle told Judge Arleo they were being charged with conspiracy to murder, kidnap or maim persons outside the United States. He said each could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and penalties of $250,000.

The two defendants have been under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2006, when the agency received a tip on its Web site. Many of their conversations in the past year were recorded by an undercover officer from the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department, according to a criminal complaint.

A few young men who identified themselves as Muslims showed up at the courthouse to support the defendants.

“They were sincere kids with very good manners,” said Ahmad Mansoor, 26, from Staten Island, who said that he feared that the young men might have been led down a radical path by an informant working for the government.

Mr. Mansoor said that he had met the two at mosques in Paterson, N.J., and that they always seemed to be with a third young man whose name he did not know.

“Always it was the three of them, hanging out together, going out, eating,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/nyregion/08terror.html?pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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2010 AmeriCorps Grants

The AmeriCorps grants, the first made under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act signed by President Obama in April 2009, carry out the vision of the landmark law to expand the AmeriCorps program and target it on addressing critical national issues.

Today, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced that more than 325 organizations across the country will get a major boost in their efforts – thanks to $234 million in federal AmeriCorps grants. Patrick Corvington, Corporation CEO, discussed these grants:

In difficult times, working in some of America's most distressed communities, AmeriCorps members are using service as a solution to our toughest problems. With these grants, we are not only expanding AmeriCorps, we are focusing AmeriCorps -- by targeting it on the most critical issues facing our country -- from illiteracy and the high school dropout epidemic to hunger and homelessness.

View a table of the 329 grants awarded to national and local nonprofits that will engage more than 57,000 new AmeriCorps members to improve lives and strengthen communities from coast to coast. Many of the positions announced today will be available starting in the fall, learn more about available opportunities at AmeriCorps.gov .

Below are a few examples of the organizations that are receiving funds:

• Education: Teach for America's grant will support more than 6,600 classroom teachers for under-resourced schools.
• Health: The National Association of Community Health Centers will engage 469 AmeriCorps members in providing health education and improving access to health services in low income communities across the U.S.
• Clean Energy and Environment: The Corps Network will engage 2,885 members in expanding recycling programs, constructing trails, removing invasive species, and weatherizing homes while providing disadvantaged youth with green job skills.
• Veterans: The American Legion Auxiliary will engage 15 AmeriCorps members who will provide services, conduct outreach, manage volunteers and build the capacity of organizations addressing the needs of veterans and military families in six states.
• Economic opportunity: Through their national grant, YouthBuild USA, Inc. will engage 2,930 members in renovating houses and buildings for homeless people and low-income families.
• The Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than five million Americans in service and leads the President's national call to service initiative, United We Serve . For more information, visit NationalService.gov .

Secretary Napolitano Announces Major Aviation Security Milestone

Release Date: June 7, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

DHS performs 100 percent watchlist matching for domestic flights

Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation.

Before Secure Flight, airlines conducted passenger watchlist checking.

 “Secure Flight fulfills a key recommendation of the of the 9/11 Commission Report , enabling TSA to screen passengers directly against government watchlists using passenger name, date of birth, and gender before a boarding pass is issued,” said Secretary Napolitano. “This program is one of our many layers of security—coordinated with our partners in the airline industry and governments around the world—that we leverage to protect the traveling public against threats of terrorism.” 

Under Secure Flight, TSA prescreens passenger name, date of birth and gender against government watchlists for domestic and international flights. In addition to facilitating secure travel for all passengers, the program helps prevent the misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watchlists.

“We are quite pleased to see the positive outcome from the collaborative work that ATA, its member airlines and TSA have invested in the development of the Secure Flight program,” said Air Transport Association (ATA) President and CEO James C. May. “We are especially pleased that TSA phased program implementation to ensure that commercial airline travelers experience a seamless transition.”

99 percent of passengers will be cleared by Secure Flight to print boarding passes at home by providing their date of birth, gender and name as it appears on the government ID they plan to use when traveling when booking airline tickets. Individuals found to match watchlist parameters will be subjected to secondary screening, a law enforcement interview or prohibition from boarding an aircraft, depending on the specific case.

The Transportation Security Administration began implementing Secure Flight in late 2009 and expects all international carriers with direct flights to the U.S. to begin using Secure Flight by the end of 2010.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1275936513012.shtm

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From ICE

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ICE, CCSF arrest 5, seize 1,483 kilograms of cocaine

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents, working jointly with U.S. Coast Guardsmen and other Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) agents, arrested Friday five alleged Honduran smugglers and seized 66 bales of cocaine following an at-sea interdiction of the fishing vessel Two Brothers, on May 24.

The 87-foot, Panamanian-flagged boat was carrying 1,483 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of approximately $46 million. CCSF agents arrested the five Honduran men in connection with the seizure.

"ICE is committed to working with our federal, state and local counterparts in an effort to stop the movement of contraband in the Caribbean," said Roberto Escobar Vargas, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in San Juan. "Those involved in drug trafficking should know that the Caribbean is no longer an option to transship narcotics into the United States."

As a result of the joint investigative efforts by CCSF participants, the crew of the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate Van Speijk, along with an embedded U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, interdicted the Two Brothers in international waters on May 24, approximately 34 miles northwest of Oranjestad, Aruba. U.S. Coast Guard crews boarded the Two Brothers, located the cocaine, and detained the crewmembers of the fishing vessel.

Following successful coordination between CCSF agencies, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Puerto Rico, and Republic of Panama officials, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCG Cushing escorted the Two Brothers to San Juan on Friday, where they turned over custody of the fishing vessel, the contraband, and the detained crew to await CCSF agents.

This case has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos R. Cardona from the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) of the United States Attorney's Office.

CCSF is an initiative of the United States Attorney's Office created to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations operating in the Caribbean. CCSF is a part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) that investigates South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics utilizing the Caribbean as a transshipment point for further distribution to the United States.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100607sanjuan.htm

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ICE and law enforcement agencies in south Texas work together to prioritize, identify and remove criminal aliens

Webb County celebrates success of Secure Communities program after one year; initiative expanding to 12 more south Texas counties

LAREDO, Texas - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced the success and further expansion of ICE's Secure Communities strategy to south Texas. Secure Communities utilizes a biometric information-sharing capability to enable ICE to better identify aliens at the time they are fingerprinted and booked on criminal charges.

Secure Communities, which was launched in Laredo (Webb County) last June, has led to the removal of more than 20,000 convicted criminal aliens from the country. Additionally, the biometric information-sharing capability is being expanded to 12 additional south Texas counties on Tuesday.

"I applaud the efforts of ICE in working closely with our local law enforcement communities and for expanding this program into rural Texas," said Rep. Cuellar.

"Criminal elements are everywhere, and one of our duties is to ensure that our residents feel protected. This program makes sure that once a criminal's immigration status has been determined, appropriate action is taken after offenders complete their prison term."

Cuellar is a member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism.

On June 16, 2009, Webb County launched ICE's Secure Communities program. To date, the following 17 central and south Texas counties have implemented the program: Bell, Bexar, Dimmitt, Hidalgo, Kinney, Maverick, McLennan, Real, Starr, Travis, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Willacy, Williamson, Zapata and Zavala. The newest 12 counties in south Texas include: Bandera, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Karnes, Kendall, La Salle, Medina and Wilson. ICE expects nationwide coverage for all law enforcement agencies by the end of 2013.

Formerly, during the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were checked for criminal history information only against the biometric database maintained by the FBI. With the implementation of Secure Communities, this fingerprint information is now automatically and simultaneously checked against both the FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If any fingerprints match those of someone in the DHS biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action. This includes aliens who are in lawful status and those who are present without lawful authority. Once identified through fingerprint matching, ICE will respond with a priority placed on aliens convicted of the most serious offenses first - such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping.

"We want to make sure that our local law enforcement partners know as much as possible about the people in their custody," said Alonzo R. Pena, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for ICE. "By using sophisticated biometrics, the Secure Communities initiative allows us to quickly and accurately identify aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities. And the program requires no additional costs to the local law enforcement agency."

"I acclaim the work of ICE in jointly working with my office on this technology initiative launched in 2009. This initiative has now enhanced the way these offenders are identified and processed," said Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar.

Secure Communities bolsters the ongoing joint efforts by ICE and participating law enforcement agencies in the United States. Secure Communities is DHS' comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States.

DHS' US-VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records. The interoperability of these two systems, which is the information-sharing capability ICE uses through Secure Communities, currently is activated in 197 jurisdictions in 20 states.

ICE does not regard aliens charged with, but not yet convicted of crimes, as "criminal aliens." Instead, a "criminal alien" is an alien convicted of a crime.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100607laredo.htm

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