U.S., Russia could be preparing for exchange of spy ring suspects

A Russian scientist serving a prison sentence for spying has been flown to Moscow and will be part of an exchange for the members of the alleged spy ring arrested in the U.S., his family says.

By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times

July 7, 2010

Reporting from Moscow

A Russian scientist serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges of spying for U. S. intelligence services says he and other Russian prisoners will be swapped in the next few days for the members of the alleged Russian spy ring recently arrested in the United States, his family said Wednesday.

Igor Sutyagin, a former researcher for the Moscow-based USA and Canada Institute think tank, was flown to Moscow from a prison camp near the Arctic Circle, where he has been serving a 15-year sentence.

The 45-year-old scientist was arrested in 1999 and spent five years in pretrial detention. In 2004, Sutyagin was found guilty of passing classified information on Russian submarines and missile systems to a British company called Alternative Future, which the investigation claimed was a CIA front.

Russian and international human rights organizations believed Sutyagin was dealing only with officially published, unclassified information and that the verdict was intended to discourage Russian scientists and intellectuals from cooperating with the West.

The scientist's mother, Svetlana Sutyagina, said in a telephone interview that after arriving at Moscow's high-security Lefortovo prison Tuesday, her son was ushered into a room where he met with a general from the Russian security services and three U.S. diplomats.

"He was told that he and nine other prisoners will be exchanged for the 10 Russians recently arrested in the United States," his mother said, adding that her son told her the list was prepared by U.S. officials. "If he agreed, Igor was told he would have to sign a document, which among other things contained a paragraph where Igor was to confess of spying, which he never did before."

"Under different circumstances my son would have never done that," Sutyagina said. "But Igor was in such a state of shock that he signed the document."

Sutyagina was allowed to meet with her son at the Lefortovo prison Wednesday morning, and he told her that he would be flown from Moscow to Vienna and from there to London, where the exchange would take place.

Sutyagina said her son also told her that the Russian general read to him a list of the nine others who would be part of the exchange, but he remembered only one of them: Sergei Stupar, a former Russian military intelligence officer who in 2006 was given a 13-year sentence for spying for Britain.

Russian intelligence services declined to comment on the family's revelations.

"There will be no comments on the situation with the people detained in the United States," Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Sergei Guskov said on the phone. "At least up to now we have nothing to say."

A U.S. embassy spokesman also declined to comment, saying he heard about it from media reports.

A hearing scheduled Wednesday in Alexandria, Va., for three of the suspected Russian spies, Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko, was canceled and they were ordered transported to New York, court records show.

"I can't say anything publicly about it right now," said Charles Burnham, a lawyer for Mills.

Government officials also were not commenting. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was to attend a previously scheduled White House meeting Wednesday night with National Security Advisor Jim Jones and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Some Russian observers and political commentators hurried to hail reports of an impending exchange as another sign of improvement in Russian-U.S. relations.

"On the one hand, if the deal is really in the works, that will be the Kremlin's confirmation that these people were fulfilling some special tasks in the United States in favor of Russia," said Andrei Kortunov, president of New Eurasia Foundation, a Moscow-based think tank, in a phone interview with The Times. "On the other hand, that means that both sides want to hush up the affair quickly and thus demonstrate that both Moscow and Washington are ready to leave the spy scandal behind them and continue to develop the positive trend in their relationship."

Kortunov said it would be an act of goodwill somewhat similar to the famous Rudolph Abel-Francis Gary Powers exchange in 1962.

"However this time it will have a somewhat farcical connotation," Kortunov said. "The alleged spies arrested in the United States didn't really achieve anything in terms of espionage, while Sutyagin, many human rights activists believe, was not a spy either, and his conviction was purely political."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-russia-spy-exchange-20100708,0,5008419,print.story

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Alleged Al Qaeda operatives indicted in New York plot

The indictment names new suspects in the case, including two who allegedly were planning a similar attack in Britain.

By Julia Love, Tribune Washington Bureau

July 8, 2010

Reporting from Washington

An unsuccessful plan to detonate homemade bombs in the New York subway system last year was orchestrated by senior Al Qaeda leaders who were also plotting a comparable attack in Britain, according to a terrorism indictment unsealed Wednesday.

"The charges announced today illustrated the coordinated and persistent attempts by our adversaries to harm American citizens," said George Venizelos, acting assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York office.

Adnan Shukrijumah, a U.S. citizen who was regarded as one of Al Qaeda's best hopes to execute a plot in post- 9/11 America, is among several new alleged Al Qaeda figures charged in the botched Manhattan attempt.

Two others indicted Wednesday, Abid Naseer and Tariq Ur Rehman, are also allegedly connected to the attack that was planned for English soil.

"These charges underscore the global nature of the terrorist threat we face," said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.

Three U.S. citizens have already been charged with plotting a series of suicide bombings on the New York subway during rush hour that would have taken place days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, both Afghan immigrants, pleaded guilty this year.

Bosnian-born Adis Medunjanin pleaded not guilty and is waiting for his day in court.

The indictment alleges that after Zazi was taken into custody, Medunjanin tried again to complete a suicide attack. On Jan. 7, he crashed his car into another vehicle in Queens, N.Y., dialing 911 moments before to state his name and his motives, authorities said.

"We love death," he told the 911 operator, according to the indictment.

The date for his trial has not been set.

Naseer, a British citizen, allegedly exchanged coded e-mails with the American Al Qaeda cell to hatch a plot, detailing plans for a "large wedding." Days before Zazi headed to New York from Colorado in early September, he wrote, "The marriage is ready," signaling that the attack was near execution, the indictment says.

After Naseer and Rehman were taken into custody in England in April 2009, a search of their residences yielded large amounts of flour and oil in addition to surveillance photos of public areas in Manchester and maps of Manchester's city center posted on the walls, the indictment says.

Naseer is in custody in England, and federal prosecutors plan to seek to extradite him for a trial. Rehman is no longer in custody. Shukrijumah's whereabouts are unknown.

In the wake of the New York case and other failed terrorist attacks, said David Schanzer, an associate professor and terrorism expert at Duke University, the indictment should boost public confidence in federal officials' ability to intercept a terrorist plot.

"A lot has been made of the attempted bombings in Detroit and Times Square," he said. "This case demonstrates that our intelligence and law enforcement authorities had leads and were able to prevent an attack that originated at the very top of Al Qaeda."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ny-terror-20100708,0,5260357,print.story

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Parole agents spoke to Jaycee Lee Dugard during her captivity but failed to identify her

DNA leads to arrest in 1993 killing of two sailors in San Diego

DNA evidence has led to an arrest in one of San Diego's oldest and most mysterious criminal cases: the 1993 killings of two enlisted sailors from the carrier Constellation.

Leopoldo Castro Chavez II, 34, was arrested in Kent, Wash., in the Sept. 25, 1993, killing of Eugene Ellis, 20, and Keith Combs, 23. The victims' bodies were found in a field east of the 805 Freeway in the South Bay region in an area often used for bonfires, picnics and off-road vehicle riding.

The motive for the killings was robbery, said San Diego Police Lt. Ernie Herbert. Chavez offered no resistance when he was arrested by Kent and San Diego police after a traffic stop.

DNA and fingerprints were gathered at the scene of the crime, and the DNA was compared against the California DNA database. Chavez served a prison term for robbery; all prisoners are required to give DNA samples for the database.

San Diego police and Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents pursued multiple leads for 17 years until the DNA match was made, said Herbert and Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrea Freshwater.

Chavez was not in the Navy. At the time of his arrest, he was working at an auto parts store.

Chavez's extradition to San Diego is pending.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Aunt of Grim Sleeper's last victim feels 'joy' over arrest in serial killer case

Three years ago, Janecia LaVette Peters was found dead at Western Avenue near 92nd Street in South Los Angeles. She had been shot in the back and stuffed into a trash bag. She is considered the most recent victim of the Grim Sleeper serial killer.

Since that day, Peters' aunt has been waiting for police to make an arrest.

On Wednesday, hours after LAPD detectives announced they believe 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr. is responsible for Peters' death and those of nine others, the aunt went to his home.

"He killed my niece," Diane McQueen, 55, said as she stood behind the crime tape, clutching a program from Peters' funeral.

"She was found on Western and 92nd Street, in a dumpster," McQueen said. "She was 25. It hit my family real hard. I had lost hope this day would come. I feel a lot of joy it did at last."

DNA and ballistics evidence have connected the killings of 10 women and one man from 1985 to 2007, police said. After 1988, the killer did not commit any known homicides until 2002. Peters was the killer's last known victim. Franklin has not been charged in the slaying of the man.

The victims the killer targeted were all black and most appear to have been prostitutes or drug addicts who were sexually assaulted. A 12th victim escaped after being shot and raped.

Franklin is charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder on Nov. 20, 1988:

Aug. 10, 1985, Debra Jackson

Aug. 12, 1985, Henrietta Wright

Jan. 10, 1987, Barbara Ware

April 15, 1987, Bernita Sparks

Oct. 31, 1987, Mary Lowe

Feb. 1, 1988, Lachrica Jefferson

Sept. 11, 1988, Alicia Alexander

March 19, 2002, Princess Berthomieux (Inglewood)

July 11, 2003, Valerie McCorvey

Jan. 1, 2007, Janecia Peters

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/aunt-of-grim-sleepers-last-victim-feels-joy-over-arrest-in-serial-killer-case.html#more

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Pizza slice helped link suspect to Grim Sleeper serial killings, sources say

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, was arrested at his home in South Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after police said they made DNA matches linking him to the killings of 11 people over the last three decades. Prosecutors said they have charged Franklin with 10 counts of murder, noting that he is eligible for the death penalty.

Franklin is a former city trash collector who at one time worked as a vehicle mechanic at an LAPD station, sources said.

“He's the neighborhood mechanic" said neighbor Eric Robinson, 47. “He volunteers at the park. A very good man. His daughter just graduated from college, I believe. He's a good mechanic, worked out of his garage. I've been here since 1976; that's how long I've known him. I'm not pretty shocked, I'm all the way shocked."

In recent days, the LAPD received the results of what is known as a familial DNA search, which trolls through state felon databases for partial DNA matches that would indicate a match to a relative, a source said.

The suspect in the killings had left DNA evidence at several of the crime scenes. The LAPD learned that a man in state prison showed a strong familial match. Detectives questioned the man, who was too young to have committed several of the older murders, and he led detectives to his father, Franklin, the source said. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said detectives got a piece of discarded pizza with Franklin's DNA to make the link.

The series of killings included victims, mostly female, in the city of Los Angeles, in unincorporated areas of L.A. County and in Inglewood since the 1980s. A survivor in 1988 described her attacker as black, in his 20s, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, about 160 pounds, soft-spoken and articulate, with neatly trimmed hair and a pockmarked face.

DNA and ballistics evidence have connected the killings of 10 women and one man from 1985 to 2007, police said. After 1988, the killer did not commit any known homicides until 2002 and last struck on Jan. 1, 2007.

The victims the killer targeted were all black, and most were apparently prostitutes or drug addicts who were sexually assaulted. A 12th victim escaped after being shot and raped.

[Corrected at 8:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this post said that Eric Robinson has twice been convicted of felonies. Lonnie David Franklin, a neighbor of Robinson, has twice been convicted of felonies.]

Franklin has twice been convicted of felonies, according to court records, both for receiving stolen property. One was in 1993 and the other was 2003. He served a year in jail for the first conviction and was sentenced to 270 days in jail in the 2003 case.

In 1997, he pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor battery. As part of a plea deal, a charge of false imprisonment was dropped, according to court records. In 1999, he was convicted of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Details of that case were not immediately available.

Neighbors said they were shocked by the arrest.

Dante Combs, 27, said he visited Franklin just last week to ask him to install a timing belt on his car.

Franklin was a kind of do-everything neighborhood handyman, he said.

"You needed your car fixed, he'd do it dirt cheap. He'd help you out however he could, cut your grass, put up your Christmas lights," Combs said as he stood behind the yellow crime-scene tape cordoning off Franklin's house near Western Avenue and 81st Street. "He helped all the elderly on the block. I grew up with his daughter and his son. As far as I know, he couldn't be this man," he said. "Then again, you never really know a man."

Combs said Franklin wasn't a troublemaker, but he added that Franklin told him he was arrested years ago for running a stolen-car chop shop out of his yard.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Two men charged with police attacks in Riverside County allegedly targeted one detective

Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco on Tuesday filed charges against the two men suspected in a series of attacks against Hemet police, a campaign of violence that apparently targeted a single detective who had arrested one of the suspects on a drug charge last year.

Nicholas John Smit, 39, of Hemet, was charged with nine felonies, including three charges of attempted murder of a police officer. He faces multiple life sentences if convicted.

Steven Hansen, 36, of Homeland, was charged with one count of attempted murder of a police officer as well as conspiracy to murder a police officer, and faces up to 30 years in prison.

Pacheco said he has never seen such an intense campaign of “domestic terrorism'' waged against a local police department.

“Once convicted, and they will be convicted, neither will have the opportunity again to commit these offenses against law enforcement or against anyone else,'' Pacheco said. “They will be in our state prison system until they take their last breath.''

Pacheco said evidence indicates that the two suspects were “associated'' with a white supremacist gang, and possibly the Vagos motorcycle gang, but did not elaborate. Neither suspect faces gang-related charges.

Pacheco said the two suspects specifically targeted Hemet Police Det. Charles Johnson, who arrested Smit on marijuana charges in 2009. Smit stalked Johnson for months, found out what car he drove and where he lived, he said.

The two are suspected of being involved in the attacks on Hemet police that started six months ago, including arson fires and a booby-trapped zip gun rigged to shoot an anti-gang investigator.

Police Chief Richard Dana said 78 officers, Riverside County sheriff's deputies and federal agents raided the two suspects' homes Friday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/charges-filed-riverside-county-police-attacks.html#more

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Family and friends of missing woman Mitrice Richardson plan fundraiser to hire a private investigator

Family and friends of a young woman missing since she was released from a Los Angeles County sheriff's station almost 10 months ago plan to host a fundraising event Sunday to collect money to hire a private investigator to help search for the woman.

Mitrice Richardson, who turned 25 in April, has not been seen since she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station in the early morning of Sept. 17, after having been arrested for failing to pay a restaurant dinner bill. She was without her cellphone, purse or car, which had been impounded, relatives said.

Richardson's family want to hire renowned private investigator Lawrence Olmstead, according to a statement released by Richardson's family. Olmstead has helped in cases such as last year's rape and murder of Southern California teen Amber Dubois by convicted sex offender John Gardner and the 1997 killing of actor Bill Cosby's son.

Richardson's father, Michael Richardson said in the statement that the fundraiser was necessary because “I have exhausted my savings and reduced my method of living severely” since his daughter's disappearance.

Private donors and corporations have contributed several items to be raffled off during Sunday's event at Leimert Park, including a 22-inch flat-screen television, a digital camera and a personally autographed jersey from New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce.

Last month, Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials. The suit alleges that authorities neglected to provide Richardson with a medical or psychiatric evaluation after she was seen to be behaving in an infantile manner in video footage taken of her in a holding cell.

The Sheriff's Department has always maintained that Richardson seemed lucid and normal during the several hours she was held at the station.

“Some people want to believe Mitrice is dead because they want her to be, but right about now I am thinking very differently,” Michael Richardson said in the statement.

The fundraiser is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the park on Crenshaw Boulevard, between 43rd Street and Vernon Avenue.

Anyone with information regarding Richardson's disappearance is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division at (213) 486-6900.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/mitrice-richardson-missing-fundraiser.html#more

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U.S. case against Arizona law

The suit is an assertion of federal authority, on solid grounds, but there still is a need for a sound immigration control policy.

OPINION

July 8, 2010

In filing its long-awaited suit to block implementation of Arizona's harsh new immigration law, the Justice Department has taken a necessary step to reassert federal authority over immigration enforcement. The Obama administration rightly argues that states cannot be permitted to concoct their own rules and regulations on this issue to suit local needs and local politics, no matter how frustrated they are with the federal government. Allowing states to do so would result in a mishmash of laws handicapping Washington's ability to do its job.

Arizona officials have argued that the state is merely seeking to enforce federal law. But that's not quite right. The new Arizona law, scheduled to take effect July 29, makes it a crime for undocumented immigrants to be in Arizona and requires noncitizens who are in the country legally to carry registration papers with them at all times. It also requires police to check the immigration status of people who are stopped for other reasons if they are "reasonably suspected" of being in the country illegally. But, as the administration notes, being an illegal immigrant is not a federal crime: "Congress has affirmatively decided that unlawful presence — standing alone — should not subject an alien to criminal penalties and incarceration." Deportation by the U.S. government, yes; arrest by civil authorities, no.

Furthermore, the United States does not have the wherewithal to deport 11 million people. So federal policy prioritizes the capture, prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants who threaten national security or who are dangerous or criminal. Arizona's law could force the U.S. government to redirect its efforts to processing untold numbers of illegal immigrants discovered by the police for, say, driving with a broken tail light or jaywalking. What's more, thousands of immigrants are legally present in the U.S. but do not possess federal registration papers, such as those who have applied for asylum, or are applying for special visas as victims of trafficking or a violent crime. Arresting them would violate federal policy.

Immigration foes don't believe the government has any interest in halting illegal immigration, and have responded to U.S. policy with simplistic slogans such as "What part of illegal don't you understand?" and "Illegal is a crime." But in fact, the situation isn't simple at all. Consider, for example, our relationship with Mexico. As the suit points out, migration flow cannot easily be teased out from the web of interconnecting political, socioeconomic and diplomatic concerns. Trade between the two countries averages $1 billion a day; Mexico is the third-largest supplier of oil to the U.S., and together we combat drug and human trafficking. How we handle immigration will affect these and other issues and is therefore best handled by the federal government.

Admittedly, there is a disconnect between the government's bold assertions of federal authority in the complaint and its contradictory, often confusing policy. For example, the government doesn't just deport criminals, or even mostly criminals. In reality, it apprehends and deports thousands of ordinary people, just as Arizona is threatening to do. Given such inconsistencies, it is understandable that, increasingly, states are growing frustrated and taking matters into their own legislatures. On Tuesday, the government made a clear case for control of immigration policy; now it needs to actually implement one.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-arizona-20100708,0,23216,print.story

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Anti-white bias at the Justice Department?

A voter intimidation case involving the New Black Panthers raises larger questions.

OPINION

July 8, 2010

A long-running dispute over the Justice Department's handling of a 2008 voter intimidation case has morphed into a partisan debate about whether the department is hostile to white voters whose rights are violated. So far the evidence is anecdotal and impressionistic. The department has denied that race plays any role in its decisions enforcing the Voting Rights Act, and its critics — including conservatives on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission — have yet to establish that a worthy case was dropped because of liberal ideological bias.

The clash between the commission and the Justice Department has its origins in an election day incident in which two members of the New Black Panther Party, one of whom was carrying a nightstick, were captured on videotape standing outside a polling station in Philadelphia. According to a witness, the Panthers shouted racial slurs; one said, presumably to a white voter: "Now you will see what it is like to be ruled by the black man, cracker." In the closing days of the George W. Bush administration, the department filed a complaint against the two men, along with the head of the party and the organization itself, asking a court to rule that they had violated the law and to order them not to engage in similar conduct. After President Obama took office, however, the department decided that charges should be dropped against all of the defendants except the man with the nightstick. The department succeeded in obtaining an injunction to forbid him from carrying a weapon at a polling place in the future.

The Panthers' behavior was outrageous, even if no voter was actually deterred from exercising the franchise. But there is no evidence that the charges were dropped because of political pressure or lack of sympathy for white voters. Assistant Atty. Gen. Tom Perez told the Civil Rights Commission that the department had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish a violation by the other three defendants. Reasonable lawyers could differ on that question, and in fact some lower-ranking lawyers believed strongly in the case against all four parties.

One of those lawyers, J. Christian Adams, defended the original charges Tuesday in testimony before the commission. Adams, who has since resigned from the department, said: "I was told by voting section management that cases are not going to be brought against black defendants on [behalf] of white victims." If the commission heard from other lawyers in the section, he said, "little doubt would remain whether or not open hostility exists toward race-neutral and equal enforcement of the voting laws."

The department's Office of Professional Responsibility is already investigating the handling of the Black Panthers case. As part of that investigation, it ought to determine whether Adams' accusations of discrimination against white voters have any merit. So far the case hasn't been made.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-panthers-20100708,0,3754177,print.story

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From the New York Times

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3 Arrested in Norway Al Qaeda Bomb Plot

July 8, 2010

OSLO (AP) -- Three suspected al-Qaida members were arrested Thursday morning in what Norwegian and U.S. officials said was a terrorist plot linked to similar plans in New York and England.

The three men, whose names were not released, had been under surveillance for more than a year.

Two of the men were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, according to Janne Kristiansen, head of Norway's Police Security Service. She declined to give further details of the locations.

Kristiansen said one of the men was a 39-year-old Norwegian of Uighur origin, who had lived in Norway since 1999. The other suspects included a 37-year-old Iraqi and a 31-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, both of whom have permanent residency permits in Norway.

Officials believe they were planning attacks with portable but powerful bombs like the ones at the heart of last year's thwarted suicide attack in the New York City subway.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called that one of the most serious terrorist plots since 9/11. On Wednesday, prosecutors revealed the existence of a related plot in Manchester, England. Officials believe the Norway plan was organized by Salah al-Somali, al-Qaida's former chief of external operations, the man in charge of plotting attacks worldwide.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. The Norwegian Police Security Service said only that the three were arrested on suspicion of ''preparing terror activities.''

Al-Somali, who was killed in a CIA drone airstrike last year, has been identified in U.S. court documents as one of the masterminds of the New York subway plot. Two men have pleaded guilty in that case, admitting they planned to detonate explosives during rush hour. A third man awaits trial.

Officials said it was not clear the men had selected a target for the attacks but they were attempting to make peroxide bombs, the powerful homemade explosives that prosecutors say were attempted in both New York and England.

U.S. and Norwegian counterterrorism officials worked closely together to unravel the Norwegian plot, officials said. Kristiansen traveled to the U.S. this spring to discuss some of the closely held intelligence that been gathered in the case.

In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd had no comment.

Officials did not say why Norway was a target, but al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri has called for attacks on Norway, among other countries.

Magnus Norell, a terrorism expert at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said Norway's 500 troops in Afghanistan could be a factor, as could the 2006 controversy sparked by a Danish newspaper's publication of 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Norell said the controversy has extended to neighboring Norway and Sweden after newspapers there republished the cartoons and later published similar cartoons. Images of Muhammad, even favorable ones, are considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/07/08/world/europe/AP-Norway-Terror.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Pre-emption, Not Profiling, in Challenge to Arizona

PHOENIX — In the public outcry that followed passage of Arizona's new immigration law, President Obama and other critics worried that it would lead to racial profiling. But while that concern has dominated the public debate and inspired a round of boycotts of the state, it played little role in the actual legal challenge the administration filed Tuesday against the law.

The word profiling appears only once, in passing, in the Justice Department's lawsuit against the law, which allows the police to demand legal papers from those its officers think might be illegal immigrants.

And while the lawsuit does argue against a patchwork of state immigration laws Mr. Obama has fretted over, the idea that legal residents and citizens might find themselves swept up in Arizona's enforcement, which is intended to discourage illegal immigrants from coming and prompt those here to leave, is not a central argument.

In this case it is clear the administration's arguments in the court of public opinion took a backseat to those expected in the actual courtroom.

Justice Department officials and legal experts say the government, political consequences aside, faced up to cold legal practicalities. Racial profiling claims are difficult enough to prove, let alone before a law takes effect, and there are no examples that prosecutors can point to of legal citizens whose lives were disrupted by the Arizona law because they looked like an illegal immigrant to a police officer.

Dennis Burke, the United States attorney here, said in an interview that focusing the case on “pre-emption,” the legal doctrine based on the Constitution's supremacy clause that elevates federal law over states', was the surest route to suspending the law before it goes into effect July 29. The federal government has successfully used the pre-emption argument in several cases, but this would be the biggest test in an immigration case.

“The supremacy clause and a pre-emption argument require no waiting for the law to be actually in implementation,” Mr. Burke said. “It doesn't allow the defense to say, ‘They are in here too early, judge, this should be allowed to play out for a while.' “

The Arizona law, known as SB 1070, requires police officers to check the papers of people they stop or arrest if suspicious of their immigration status and makes it a state crime to be in the country without authorization.

The Justice Department did argue in its suit that the law “will cause the detention and harassment of authorized visitors, immigrants, and citizens who do not have or carry identification documents specified by the statute, or who otherwise will be swept into the ambit of S.B. 1070's ‘attrition through enforcement' approach.”

But people on both sides of the debate concede racial profiling is not what the Justice Department case, the biggest gun in the legal fight, is about.

To supporters of the law, this is validation of their claims that the law, which includes language forbidding profiling, is not discriminatory.

“It's nice to see the Obama administration finally concede there is no allowance for racial profiling in Arizona's immigration law,” said Kirk Adams, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives. “After all the sound and fury about discrimination, it's now clear that the administration's entire case against SB 1070 rests on a technical claim that the law is indirectly pre-empted by federal immigration law.”

United States Representative Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican, said Mr. Obama's discrimination worries are “glaringly absent from his lawsuit.”

“It is beyond ironic,” Mr. Franks added, “that the main claim in the lawsuit is that Arizona is wrongly pre-empting a federal responsibility when the entire reason the legislation was necessary in the first place was precisely because the federal government was simply not living up to its responsibility.”

And it turns out Kris Kobach , the University of Missouri law professor who wrote the bill for legislators here, had accurately predicted the government's stronger case would rest over who has authority over immigration law and not concerns about racial profiling.

Lawyers in the other five lawsuits against the law that play up the potential for discrimination shrugged off their opponents' glee, saying the government shrewdly chose not to “throw the kitchen sink” at the state, as Thomas A. Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund put it.

They were happy the government stepped in and did so forcefully, even raising arguments, like the potential effect on diplomatic affairs, that others had not emphasized.

“I am overwhelmed by their case,” said Stephen Montoya, the lawyer for a Phoenix police officer who has sued, in part, on the basis that he would be forced to consider people's race or ethnicity to enforce the law.

He and others said they had played up the possibility of racial profiling because, unlike the federal government, they represent clients who might be affected by the law and its repercussions.

Above all, they said, they will take anything that stops the law, even if it does not turn on what all the fuss has been about.

“To me it's clear the Justice Department's goal is to stop the law from going into effect and prevent the harassment and racial profiling from occurring,” said Lucas Guttentag, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union .

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/us/08immig.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Guantánamo Detainee Pleads Guilty in Terror Case

WASHINGTON — A Guantánamo Bay detainee on Wednesday pleaded guilty to conspiring with Al Qaeda and to providing material support for terrorism, setting up the first conviction before a military commission under the Obama administration.

The detainee, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, a 50-year-old Sudanese man captured in Afghanistan, admitted to a military judge that he had engaged in hostilities against the United States in violation of the laws of war.

A jury of military officers next month will determine his prison sentence, which will be constrained by terms of a plea agreement that remains under seal for now, said Capt. David Iglesias of the Navy, a prosecutor and spokesman for the commissions.

“This represents progress in our country's ongoing struggle against terrorism,” said Captain Iglesias, who was in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. “We've got someone who admitted under oath to some pretty serious violations under the laws of war.”

In an e-mail exchange, Paul Reichler, a civilian lawyer who is helping to defend Mr. Qosi, declined to comment.

At the hearing, Mr. Qosi acknowledged following the Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden , from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996 and serving variously as a quartermaster, cook, bodyguard and driver at Qaeda compounds.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, and the invasion of Afghanistan, Mr. Qosi was captured by Pakistani forces in the Tora Bora mountains in December 2001, turned over to the United States and taken to Guantánamo.

While his role in Al Qaeda was relatively low-profile compared with the accusations against several other detainees, Mr. Qosi's case is significant because he is the first prisoner convicted of war crimes by a military commission under President Obama .

As a candidate, Mr. Obama criticized the commissions system established by President George W. Bush , and one of Mr. Obama's first acts was to suspend the trials. His administration later worked with Congress to overhaul the rules, and it defends the revamped system as fair, although the American Civil Liberties Union contends that they remain flawed.

Still, the inclusion of the “material support for terrorism” charge in Mr. Qosi's case was notable because David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security, told Congress last year that it would be a mistake to include such an offense in the commissions system.

Mr. Kris testified that because the offense was not generally considered to be part of the traditional laws of war, its use could make convictions vulnerable to reversal and could undermine the system's legitimacy.

Nevertheless, Congress kept the offense in its 2009 legislation overhauling the commissions.

Mr. Iglesias said prosecutors used the charge against Mr. Qosi because it was in the law Congress had approved. He also noted that Mr. Qosi had in essence waived his right to appeal on the grounds that providing material support to terrorism is not a valid offense under the laws of war.

“You waive your right to appeal a specific argument by pleading guilty, and he pled guilty to material support,” he said. “We don't expect there to be any appeal.”

Mr. Qosi's guilty plea made him the fourth detainee to be convicted by a military commission since Mr. Bush ordered their creation in November 2001.

In March 2007 and August 2008, respectively, David Hicks of Australia and Salim Hamdan of Yemen pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism. Both received short prison terms and are now free.

In November 2008, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, a Yemeni accused of making propaganda videos for Al Qaeda, was convicted on several charges after he refused to mount a defense. He received a life sentence.

Although the Bush administration established the military commissions system with an eye toward providing flexible trial rules and swift convictions, the system has had a rocky history.

It took years to develop rules for the new system, and the first charges against a group of detainees, Mr. Qosi among them, were not filed until 2004. The trials became bogged down in legal challenges culminating in a 2006 Supreme Court decision, in a case brought by Mr. Hamdan, striking down the system. Lawmakers have since passed legislation twice overhauling it.

Also Wednesday, Germany announced that it would accept two detainees who had been cleared for release but could not be repatriated for their own safety. Their identities were not disclosed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/us/08gitmo.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Illinois Law Requires Testing All Rape Kits to End Backlog

CHICAGO — Facing criticism that physical evidence from sexual assault cases in Illinois often went unanalyzed, Gov. Patrick J. Quinn this week signed a law requiring the police to test all rape kits. State officials and victims' advocates said it is the first such law in the nation.

Over the past year, critics had exposed a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits in Illinois, and officials said the law would send an important message.

“As a direct result of this law, we will increase the number of arrests and prosecutions of sex offenders and get them out of our communities and into prison,” said Lisa Madigan , the state's attorney general.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a report showing that since 1995, only about 20 percent of rape kits, which contain physical evidence obtained from victims, could be confirmed as having been tested in Illinois. More than 4,000 kits had gone untested, the report found.

Testing of evidence like semen, saliva and other DNA samples can be used to identify an offender, to connect a case to another rape or to exonerate innocent suspects.

“Illinois' failure to test DNA evidence is not only an insult to rape victims — it puts all women at risk by leaving rapists who could be identified at large, some of whom may attack again,” said Sarah Tofte, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

The problem is widespread, with reports of thousands of untested kits in cities including Detroit and Houston. New York and Los Angeles adopted policies to test all rape kits after their own backlogs were exposed.

Under the Illinois law, local authorities must submit evidence collected from a sexual assault criminal investigation to the state crime laboratory within 10 business days. The evidence must be tested within six months “if sufficient staffing and resources are available,” according to the law.

But some worried that that language provided an out if funds were not available for tests — a distinct possibility, they said, for a state already facing a budget deficit of at least $12 billion.

Mr. Quinn said the state would apply for federal grants to test the backlog and find additional state money if necessary.

Human Rights Watch said the law could be a model for other states. “It's a landmark piece of legislation, but there is this big loophole,” Ms. Tofte said. “The law is not going to be effective if the funding is not there.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/us/08victims.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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The Constitution Trumps Arizona

OPINION

The Obama administration has not always been completely clear about its immigration agenda, but it was forthright Tuesday when it challenged the pernicious Arizona law that allows the police to question the immigration status of people they detain for local violations. Only the federal government can set or enforce immigration policy, the government said in its lawsuit against the state, and “Arizona has crossed this constitutional line.”

There is nothing terribly complicated about this principle, which is based on several aspects of the Constitution, acts of Congress, and Supreme Court decisions over the years. A patchwork of state and local immigration policies would cause havoc.

As the Justice Department points out in its complaint , the Arizona law will divert resources from the government's pursuit of dangerous aliens, including terrorists, spies and violent criminals. It will harass authorized immigrants, visitors and citizens who might not be carrying their papers when stopped by the police. It will ignore the country's cherished protections of asylum and will interfere with national foreign policy interests. (Already several Mexican governors are refusing to meet with their American counterparts in Arizona, a sign of the diplomatic disarray produced by the law.)

The courts have repeatedly made these fundamental ideas clear. A federal court in 1997 struck down Proposition 187 in California, which would have denied social benefits to illegal immigrants and turned state employees into enforcement agents because it was pre-empted by federal authority. (Appeals in the case were dropped.) The Supreme Court has said federal authority can pre-empt state law when the federal interest is dominant and where there already exists a system of federal regulations. The government has done a poor job enforcing its immigration rules, to say the least, but they do exist, and clearly fall under what the Constitution calls “ the supreme law of the land. ”

Though private lawsuits have done so, the government's suit does not allege any discrimination or civil rights violations in the law, in part because that case is difficult to make until the law goes into effect on July 29.

The current Supreme Court, fortunately, has not been as active in recognizing state power as was the Rehnquist court, but it is not always easy to predict its direction on a volatile issue like this one. Should the case reach the court, those justices with a constructionist bent might take note of Justice Hugo Black's words from 1941 , quoted by the Justice Department on Tuesday in support of its lawsuit: “The supremacy of the national power in the general field of foreign affairs, including power over immigration, naturalization and deportation, is made clear by the Constitution, was pointed out by authors of The Federalist in 1787, and has since been given continuous recognition by this Court.”

The court has already taken a related Arizona case for its next term. It challenges a 2007 law penalizing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The administration has urged the court to strike down that law for many of the same reasons it cited on Tuesday, and we hope the court uses that case to undermine the notion that states can set their own immigration policy.

In the meantime, there are steps President Obama can take. He can deny Arizona access to federal databases of immigration status and refuse to allow the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to cooperate with state officials in handling people detained under the law. The government should end the misguided program allowing local deputies to enforce immigration law after taking an educational course.

Most important, the president can follow through on his recent promise to end the chaos of the immigration system with a comprehensive reform bill. Stamping out unjust laws like Arizona's is a good place to start.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/opinion/08thu1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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Obey the Law on the Mentally Ill

OPINION

Nearly a year has passed since a federal court ruled that New York violated federal disability law by warehousing mentally ill people in highly restrictive “homes” that are in some ways worse than the psychiatric hospitals they were meant to replace. The court rightly ordered Gov. David Paterson to give about 4,500 mentally ill people the option of moving into supported housing, where they could live independently with the help of social service organizations.

In addition to being morally correct, the ruling was fully consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that the disabled be treated in the least-restrictive environment. The state, which has appealed the ruling, should stop stalling and comply.

The failings of New York's mental health system were detailed in two state-sponsored reports dating to 2002. The state Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled found a pervasive pattern of neglect in the adult homes and said the owners were driving up profits and the cost of Medicaid by subjecting residents to needless, overly expensive medical treatment.

A second panel appointed by then-Gov. George Pataki found that many people confined to the homes did not belong there and proposed a timeline for moving about 6,000 of them into supportive housing.

This seemed perfectly reasonable given that New York is nationally known for humane, innovative housing developments where mentally ill people who present no danger to themselves or others manage to live independently. But as the court points out, the state ignored the recommendation.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn went over this history in detail in last fall's ruling. By isolating the mentally ill in highly restrictive homes, he pointed out, the state makes it impossible for them to have contact with the wider community or to learn the social skills that would allow them to live independently.

The state argued that obeying the ruling would be too costly. But that explanation was recently rejected by the Justice Department, which was so concerned about the state's treatment of the disabled that it entered the case on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Judge Garaufis dismissed the cost excuse in his initial ruling. “The evidence,” he wrote, demonstrates that serving the mentally ill “in supported housing rather than Adult Homes would not increase costs to the state.” He further noted that the homes were more costly thanks to soaring Medicaid costs. “The overall annual Medicaid costs for an individual residing in an Adult Home, were, on average, roughly $15,000 higher than the average Medicaid costs for an individual with mental illness in supported housing,” he said. The point is that supportive housing is both more humane and, in the final analysis, less expensive.

The case moved closer to resolution last month when the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the state's request to stay the initial ruling while it pursues its appeal. This means that the state will have to devise a mechanism for moving at least some people into supportive housing while the litigation runs its course. The better decision would be to drop the appeal altogether and negotiate a settlement that would bring the state into compliance with federal disability law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/opinion/08thu2.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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The "Hospital Compare" Tool at HealthCare.gov

When you are sick and have to go to the hospital, you want to know that you're getting the highest quality care. And if you're choosing between hospitals, you should be able to make an informed choice and compare the quality of hospitals in your area. That's where HealthCare.gov comes in.

By visiting HealthCare.gov, you can quickly access the Hospital Compare tool which analyzes and compares data about the quality of care at more than 4,700 hospitals across the country. Simply type in your zip code or city and state to access a wealth of information, including data on 44 quality measures such as how well your local hospitals handle conditions like heart attacks and diabetes.

Hospital Compare has long been an important resource for patients and it's only getting better. This year, Hospital Compare includes new data on the use of medical imaging equipment like MRI machines, new information about the quality of care patients with suspected heart attacks receive, and data about infection rates following outpatient surgeries.

Click here to read more about the information about the new Hospital Compare data.

Giving consumers an easy way to compare hospitals is just one important way HealthCare.gov is working to put consumers in charge of their health care.  HealthCare.gov takes the guesswork and confusion out of shopping for insurance and finding the coverage that is right for you and your family. By visiting HealthCare.gov, you can learn about your new patient rights and benefits, and even use the insurance finder to easily compare insurance choices and choose a health plan that works for you. And the new transparency into plans makes it easier for you to compare plans, which will inspire more robust competition in the insurance marketplace, improve quality and lower costs. 

Check out the site today and while you are there, let us know what we can do to make it better. Wherever you see a yellow box, let us know if the page was helpful to you, and be sure to submit your comments and feedback. So far, we've received more than 6,000 responses. HealthCare.gov will be changing over time – with more data like pricing estimates for insurance plans being added in October – and we want to hear your thoughts about how it can better serve you. 

Stephanie Cutter is Assistant to the President for Special Projects

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/07/hospital-compare-tool-healthcaregov

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Remarks at the Chemical Sector Security Summit

July 7, 2010

Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today delivered remarks highlighting the Department's ongoing efforts to bolster security and increase resiliency at high-risk chemical facilities through the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program at the 2010 Chemical Sector Security Summit.

"Securing our nation's chemical sector requires extensive collaboration with our private sector partners," said Secretary Napolitano. "Flexible, practical and collaborative programs such as DHS' National Infrastructure Protection Plan, the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council and CFATS play a key role in enhancing the security and resiliency of our nation's chemical facilities and other critical infrastructure."

In her remarks, Secretary Napolitano outlined ongoing efforts to identify high-risk chemical facilities through CFATS, and underscored the importance of the program's common-sense performance standards to help protect individual facilities against threats without compromising their unique operational characteristics or efficiency.

Secretary Napolitano also highlighted the Department's unique role in combating chemical security threats through both regulatory and voluntary programs—a coordinated effort which includes multiple agencies and missions within the Department.

For instance, the Coast Guard has significant regulatory authority over chemical facilities along ports and waterways as part of the Maritime Transportation Security Act while the Transportation Security Administration works with industry partners to protect hazardous chemicals transported by rail and pipelines.

Additionally, to ensure the security of citizens throughout the nation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection screens cargo at our land and sea ports of entry to prevent chemical and radiological threats from entering the country, while the National Protection and Programs Directorate's Office of Infrastructure Protection works directly with the chemical sector to ensure compliance with CFATS, and with the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council on a variety of voluntary security initiatives.

Underscoring the interconnectedness of the chemical sector to other sectors including energy, transportation and agriculture, Secretary Napolitano also emphasized the importance of cybersecurity—in addition to physical security measures—as a key part of any critical infrastructure security strategy.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1278525832515.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced charges against five members of an al-Qaeda plot to attack targets in the United States and United Kingdom. The charges reveal that the plot against New York's subway system uncovered in September 2009 involving Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi was directed by senior al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, and was also directly related to a scheme by al-Qaeda plotters in Pakistan to use Western operatives to attack a target in the United Kingdom.

The superseding indictment, which was returned and unsealed today in the Eastern District of New York, charges the following defendants each with several terrorism violations: Adnan El Shukrijumah, also known as "Hamad;" Adis Medunjanin, also known as "Mohammad;" Abid Naseer; Tariq Ur Rehman; and a fifth defendant known as "Ahmad," "Sohaib" or "Zahid." Each of the defendants faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

According to the indictment, court filings and plea proceedings in the case, the plot involving Zazi was organized by Saleh al-Somali, Rashid Rauf, and El Shukrijumah, who were then-leaders of al-Qaeda's "external operations" program dedicated to terrorist attacks in the United States and other Western countries.

Between September and December 2008, Saleh and El Shukrijumah recruited Zazi and Zazi's co-conspirators, Zarein Ahmedzay and Medunjanin, to conduct suicide bombings in New York City using improvised explosive devices made from supplies such as hydrogen peroxide, acetone, flour and oil. According to the indictment and court filings, Saleh communicated with Zazi through "Ahmad," an al-Qaeda facilitator in Peshawar, Pakistan. In early September 2009, after Zazi constructed the detonator explosives for the attack, he emailed with "Ahmad" in Pakistan about the proper ingredients for the flour-based main charge explosive. Zazi pleaded guilty to his role in the New York subway plot on February 22, 2010; Ahmedzay similarly pleaded guilty on April 23, 2010.

The indictment adds formal charges against El Shukrijumah, a 34-year-old native of Saudi Arabia who served as one of the leaders of al-Qaeda's external operations program. According to the indictment, El Shukrijumah recruited Zazi, Ahmedzay, and Medunjanin to return to the United States and conduct terrorist attacks there. El Shukrijumah has been wanted by the FBI for several years and is the subject of a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He remains at large.

The investigation by authorities in the United States and United Kingdom has revealed that "Ahmad" was also communicating with Manchester-based, United Kingdom resident Naseer. Naseer, like Zazi, was in Peshawar, Pakistan in November 2008, according to the court filings.

After returning to the United Kingdom, Naseer sent messages back and forth to the same email account that "Ahmad" was using to communicate with the American-based al-Qaeda cell on behalf of Saleh, the indictment and court filings allege. In the messages, Naseer used coded language to refer to different types of explosives. At the culmination of the plot, in early April 2009, Naseer, again using coded language, told "Ahmad" that he was planning a large "wedding" for numerous guests between April 15 and 20, 2009, and that "Ahmad" should be ready. Notably, "Ahmad" and Zazi had agreed on a similar code to mean the attack was ready to be executed, and Zazi emailed Ahmad that "the marriage is ready" just before he left Colorado for New York in early September 2009.

On April 8, 2009, Naseer and Rehman were arrested in the United Kingdom on terrorism charges. In connection with the arrests, U.K. authorities conducted searches of the plotters' homes, where they found large quantities of flour and oil, as well as surveillance photographs of public areas in Manchester and maps of Manchester's city center posted on the wall, with one of the locations from the surveillance photographs highlighted. Naseer is currently in custody in the United Kingdom. The United States intends to seek his extradition to face trial. Rehman is not in custody.

The superseding indictment also adds new charges to the pending indictment against Medunjanin. Specifically, the indictment charges that, in furtherance of the New York plot, and, after Zazi was already in custody, Medunjanin attempted to crash his car into another car on the Whitestone Expressway in Queens, N.Y. as a last attempt to carry out a suicide attack on American soil. Just before crashing his car, Medunjanin called 911 to identify himself and announce his intentions. Medunjanin remains in federal custody in the United States. No trial date has been set.

Medunjanin is charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction; conspiring to commit murder abroad; providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda; receiving military training from al-Qaeda; committing and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries; and using firearms and a destructive device in relation to the above offenses.

Shukrijumah and "Ahmad" are each charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda; conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction; assisting the receipt of military training; committing and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries; and using firearms in relation to the same offenses. "Ahmad" is also charged together with Naseer and Rehman with providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda and conspiracy to use a destructive device in relation to the U.K. branch of the plot.

"These charges underscore the global nature of the terrorist threat we face. They further reflect the effectiveness of mutual investigations and cooperation with our global partners in disrupting terrorism threats. I thank our counterparts in the United Kingdom for their assistance in this investigation," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

"As today's charges demonstrate, we will not rest in our pursuit of those responsible for plotting terrorist attacks," said Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  Ms. Lynch also expressed her gratitude to the law enforcement personnel, both domestic and foreign, who took part in the investigation.

FBI Executive Assistant Director Sean Joyce, National Security Branch said, "The threat posed by terrorists around the world is a threat to security and a threat to the rule of law.  The transnational nature of this conspiracy, and its connection to plots targeted outside the U.S. underscores the importance of international coordination and collaboration to do everything we can to ensure public safety."

"The charges announced today illustrate the coordinated and persistent attempts by our adversaries to harm American citizens," said FBI New York Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos. "FBI personnel around the world are dedicated to working with our international law enforcement partners to uncover and thwart attacks."

The investigation is being conducted by the New York, Denver and Miami FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces, as well as the Washington Field Office of the FBI. The North West Counter Terrorism Unit and Greater Manchester Police Department have also provided significant assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida has also provided assistance in the investigation.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-nsd-781.html

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From ICE

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ICE and Oakland County Sheriff's Office announce activation of Secure Communities to prioritize, identify and remove criminal aliens

Secure Communities strategy prioritizes immigration enforcement actions against convicted criminal aliens

DETROIT - On July 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, announced that ICE is using a new biometric information sharing capability in every county municipality to help federal immigration officials identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime. This capability is part of Secure Communities - ICE's comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States.

Formerly, during the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were checked for criminal history information only against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), a 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 in the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), which is 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.

"The Secure Communities strategy provides an effective tool to help ICE identify aliens charged with crimes in law enforcement custody with little or no cost to our law enforcement partners," said ICE Director John Morton. "Applying this biometric information sharing tool in Michigan improves public safety by enabling ICE to prevent the release of criminal aliens back into our communities when they complete their sentences."

"The ability for local law enforcement to run fingerprints against the ICE database is a critical tool in protecting our streets and neighborhoods," Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard said. "Aliens illegally in our country committing crimes in our communities is unacceptable. We are happy to work with ICE to identify those illegal aliens in a streamlined fashion and expedite their removal."

"This initiative ensures that our local law enforcement partners know as much as possible about the people in their custody," said Rebecca Adducci, ICE field office director for Detroit Enforcement and Removals Operations, the office overseeing the Secure Communities initiative in Michigan. "By using sophisticated biometrics, this tool allows us to quickly and accurately identify those criminal aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities."

With the expansion of the biometric information sharing capability in Oakland County, ICE is now using it in 437 jurisdictions in 24 states. Wayne County was the first county in Michigan to acquire this capability last year. ICE expects to make it available in jurisdictions nationwide by 2013.

Since ICE began using this enhanced information sharing capability in October 2008, immigration officers have removed from the United States more than 8,500 criminal aliens convicted of Level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping. Additionally, ICE has removed more than 22,200 criminal aliens convicted of Level 2 and 3 crimes, including burglary and serious property crimes, which account for the majority of crimes committed by aliens.

The IDENT system is maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program and IAFIS is maintained by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

"US VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US-VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are able to give federal, state and local decision makers information that helps them better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this plan, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's CJIS Division. "Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals."

For more information, visit www.ice.gov/secure_communities .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1007/100707detroit.htm

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