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From the Los Angeles Times

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Verdict in key child-sex trial at risk

Attorneys for an ex-Marine convicted of abusing underage girls in Cambodia say a Vietnamese interpreter was having an affair with a federal agent, undermining their case.

By Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times

November 20, 2010

A costly and emotionally charged child sex case in which prosecutors traveled to Cambodia and paid to fly frightened young victims to the United States is under fire by defense attorneys amid allegations that court interpreters were biased in favor of the prosecution.

One of the interpreters assigned to the case of Michael Joseph Pepe admitted being involved in a sexual relationship with the lead investigator around the time the case went to trial in May 2008, according to documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

Pepe, a retired U.S. Marine captain who was working as a teacher in Cambodia, was convicted of having sex with seven girls ages 9 to 12. The girls, speaking through Vietnamese and Khmer interpreters, testified that Pepe drugged, bound, beat and raped them in his compound in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

After Pepe's conviction, prosecutors discovered and disclosed the relationship between interpreter Ann Luong Spiratos and Gary J. Phillips, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Following the disclosure, Pepe's defense attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer for a new trial, arguing that the "secret … sexual relationship" between Spiratos and Phillips resulted in skewed interpretations by Spiratos and a colleague, which aided the prosecution and undermined the defense.

"Only after Mr. Pepe was convicted did the defense learn that the Vietnamese language interpreter was not the disinterested interpreter that she appeared," wrote deputy federal public defender Charles C. Brown. "We now know that what the jury heard during the trial was not what the witnesses said but what the interpreters said they said." Brown argued that Spiratos' alleged bias spread to another interpreter she brought in to work on the case.

As a result of the controversy, Pepe's sentencing has been postponed. The motion for a new trial has been pending before Fischer for nearly four months.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, said prosecutors hired experts who reviewed the translations after the trial and found no substantive differences between witnesses' testimony and what the interpreters said aloud in court. He said some of the interpretations questioned by the defense experts were done by an interpreter other than Spiratos who had no reason to put her career at risk by manipulating witnesses' testimony.

In a recent interview with The Times, Spiratos said her interpretations were unbiased.

In a hearing earlier this year, Fischer expressed concerns about the objectivity of a defense expert who was critical of interpretations by Spiratos and a fellow interpreter she brought on to help with the case. Fischer ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to meet and attempt to reach an agreement about what discrepancies — if any — exist between the testimony and translations in order to help her decide how to proceed with the case.

The defense's new trial motion also hinted at improper conduct by one of the federal prosecutors on the case. According to the court papers, Phillips, the ICE agent, said that Assistant U.S. Atty. John Lulejian encouraged him to become involved with Spiratos. [The prosecutor and agent are not named in the court filing, but sources close to the case have confirmed their identities.]

"Wait till you see who I hired … she is Vietnamese and is very hot," Phillips said the prosecutor told him, according to a declaration he submitted to the court.

Phillips said Lulejian twice told him he should "take care" of Spiratos, an apparent reference to having sex with her, according to court papers. Phillips added that Lulejian himself was "enamored" with Spiratos and that the prosecutor showed him photographs of her that he had on his phone.

Phillips, who is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation by ICE, declined to comment through an agency spokeswoman.

Lulejian also declined to comment for this article. According to the court papers, he said he had a "professional and platonic" relationship with Spiratos and did nothing to facilitate a romantic relationship between her and Phillips.

The issue has tainted what was once a celebrated case within the Department of Justice. The prosecution team, including Phillips and Lulejian, was given distinguished service awards last year by Atty. Gen. Eric Holder for its work on the case. The situation also seems to have angered Fischer, who refused to allow defense attorneys to file their motion under seal.

"This case received media attention — at least some of which was initiated by the government. This prosecution consumed a significant amount of public funds," the judge wrote in July. "Concealing the basis for the motion — or the ruling — would promote distrust of the judicial process."

Lulejian said that when he came to suspect last year that Phillips and Spiratos had been involved in a sexual relationship, he contacted the U.S. attorney's ethics office, according court papers. Prosecutors conducted an investigation and disclosed the results to the defense.

The timeline of the relationship between Spiratos and Phillips is somewhat vague. Both filed sworn declarations with the court, but those documents are under seal, meaning they are not available for public review. According to Brown's new trial motion, Phillips stated in his declaration that the relationship began "sometime after the start of the trial or near the end of the trial." The agent recalled several instances of being romantic with Spiratos, including one time after he accompanied the victims to Disneyland and another that "possibly" occurred before one of the girls took the stand. Spiratos wrote that she began a friendship with Phillips during the trial but that it did not become intimate until early June, shortly after the verdict.

Brown wrote that Spiratos' relationship with the lead investigator went "beyond creating the unsavory appearance of impropriety." Spiratos and her colleague, he wrote, "secretly allied themselves with the [prosecution] witnesses and unfairly bolstered their testimony and at the same time sabotaged the defense."

An expert hired by the defense to analyze the interpretations done at trial found numerous discrepancies between what interpreters said aloud and the witnesses' actual testimony, court papers state.

In one instance, a girl's statement: "I didn't sleep because I was afraid of him," was translated to: "I meant that I wouldn't let him insert his penis in my vagina," defense experts said.

Some of the allegedly bogus interpretations were "at times so divergent from the actual responses that they cannot simply be attributed to good faith misunderstandings," Brown contended.

Mrozek, the U.S. attorney's spokesman, said prosecutors will be filing a detailed response to the defense allegations regarding the interpretations in coming weeks.

Spiratos said in an interview this week that she was unaware at the time of the trial that her relationship with Phillips outside of work represented a conflict of interest. She said she could not remember whether they had been intimate prior to the verdict.

"I would be a liar if I said, 'no,' " she said.

She insisted that her relationship with Phillips had no bearing on her work or on that of the other interpreter she hired for the case. Since her relationship with Phillips was disclosed, she said, she has been denied work in the federal courts — decimating her once successful business — and that Phillips and Lulejian have turned their backs on her.

"I lost everything," she said. "I feel like I'm a scapegoat. It takes two, right? Not just me."

Worse, Spiratos said, is the delay in Pepe's sentencing and uncertainty surrounding the case.

"Those little kids don't deserve this," she said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-child-sex-prosecution-20101120,0,4654424,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Does the Constitution have a heart for boobies?

The breast cancer awareness wristbands, banned in some school districts, should be protected under the 1st Amendment.

November 20, 2010

The wisdom of the 1st Amendment has guided this nation through portentous and contentious debates. It has established judicial boundaries regarding freedom of the press, censorship, desecration of the American flag and expressions of obscenity. Now it is faced with another controversial test of free speech. The question is: Does the Constitution ? boobies?

In the five years since the Keep A Breast Foundation began its campaign to make young people aware of breast cancer, it has sold more than 2 million rubber wristbands inscribed with the words: "I ? boobies." It would appear that many of those wristbands have turned up where there is maximum potential for adolescent interest in boobies: middle school. That development, in turn, has incited the wrath of a group of adults that decidedly does not love the wristbands: middle-school administrators.

Schools from California to Florida have banned the wristbands, primarily on the grounds that they violate existing dress codes, and the Easton Area Middle School in Pennsylvania was following a familiar path when it did the same. Students there were told in mid-October to turn the wristbands inside out, and a few days later the school announced that they would no longer be allowed in the building. Some students and teachers had found them offensive, and some boys had been overly enthusiastic about them, telling girls, "I love your boobies."

Kayla Martinez and Brianna Hawk nevertheless wore their wristbands on Oct. 28, the school's Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and were suspended for the rest of the afternoon and the following day. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is suing the school on their behalf. It is not seeking damages, just a removal of the suspension from the girls' records, permission for them to attend a school dance and an end to the wristband ban. The school has relented on the dance, but a federal court hearing is set for Dec. 16 on the remaining issues.

The school argues that the wristbands are lewd speech, which the Supreme Court has said schools may regulate. We disagree. Juvenile speech, yes. Lewd? No. In this instance, the more relevant precedent is Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District. In that 1969 case, the Supreme Court upheld the 1st Amendment rights of students who had worn black armbands emblazoned with a peace symbol to school, protesting the Vietnam War. Students' 1st Amendment rights don't end at the school door, and to justify censorship, the court wrote, the school district would have had to demonstrate more than a desire to avoid "discomfort and unpleasantness."

Of course, just because the wristbands are legal doesn't mean they're a great idea. The Keep A Breast Foundation says that if a conversation about breast cancer begins with sexual innuendo or locker room humor, that's better than no conversation at all. But schools have a mission that is just as important as the foundation's. A wristband may raise awareness, but it's also worth noting that cancer patients with the most education are those with the lowest mortality rates. So helping kids concentrate in school, rather than distracting them, may be a better way to ? boobies.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-boobies-20101120,0,5415544,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Detonator at Namibian Airport Was a Test Device

BERLIN — Germany's interior minister said Friday that a laptop case rigged with wires, a clock and a detonator found at a Namibian airport was really a mock bomb built in the United States to test airport security.

The minister, Thomas de Maizière, said it was “highly unlikely” that a German security agency had planted the case as part of a drill, and an angry Namibian official said no one from Namibia, Germany or the United States had been involved in conducting an authorized test.

“It will be determined who deposited it,” said Lt. Gen. Sebastian Ndeitunga of Namibia's national police. “The governments of the U.S., Germany and Namibia were not aware of the parcel.”

The discovery that the device was made in California by a security firm — and was not a bomb designed to destroy a passenger plane — was a welcome relief at a time when many European nations and the United States have said there is a serious danger of a terrorist attack from Islamist extremists.

But the announcement also raised a troubling concern: On Friday, two days after the parcel was discovered, the authorities on three continents said they were at a loss to explain how a mock bomb got mixed in with passenger luggage for a flight to Munich, or even whom it belonged to.

Mr. de Maizière could not even rule out for certain that a German agency was not behind the episode. “I consider that highly unlikely, but that is one of the things we are looking into,” he said.

The bomb scare arose at a time of increased anxiety in Germany and across Europe of a potential terrorist strike. There is concern that teams of terrorists may have been dispatched from Pakistan or Afghanistan to stage Mumbai-style attacks in Europe. German officials said this week that there was concrete evidence of plans to strike their nation by the end of the year.

With heavily armed police officers at central gathering places, and officers patrolling trains, a vigilant public has called in a flurry of false alarms in Germany.

The police closed off several tracks at the Hanover central train station on Friday to investigate an abandoned plastic bag, which turned out to be empty. In Berlin, police officers sealed off a post office after a package was found on top of a mailbox; it turned out to be a printer cartridge. And a train traveling from Kiel to Basel was stopped to allow the police to investigate a suspicious package, which turned out to be innocuous.

The interior minister tried to use the bomb scare in Namibia to calm the public — noting that even if there had been a real bomb, it did not make it to the plane.

“The important thing for all of us is that no explosives were found in the luggage and that, as far as we know at this point in the investigation, there was at no point a danger to passengers posed by this luggage,” Mr. de Maizière said.

The African authorities disclosed that the device was produced by Larry Copello of Sonora, Calif. Mr. Copello, 64, could not explain in a telephone interview how it had ended up intended for an Air Berlin flight for Munich, but he said he suspected that someone was traveling with it and that it was found by accident, a theory that has not yet been addressed by the authorities.

Mr. Copello said that he had talked to the F.B.I. on Thursday, and that while he could not divulge all the details, he said he did not know who had possession of it this week, nor how it ended up in Africa.

He said that he had sold the device four or five years ago, adding that his mother-in-law had assembled the simulated bomb.

He said he believed that the device was not being used in a training exercise when it was discovered. If it had been an authorized test, he said, it would have been better secured and the Namibian authorities would have been made aware of the test.

“Somebody dropped the ball,” he said. “I'm just happy nothing happened.”

Mr. Copello said he sold the device to government agencies and corporate security companies in and outside the United States, like the Transportation Security Administration or airport authorities.

“It's not the first time this has happened,” he said. “Sometimes it pops up where it's not supposed to. It's done thousands of times a day and you never hear anything about it.”

The mock bomb was found Wednesday morning, a few hours before Mr. de Maizière, the German interior minister, warned his nation of a concrete threat of a terrorist strike, reversing a previous and long-held position that the threat was abstract. When news of the security alarm in Namibia, a former German colony, became public on Thursday, fears mounted of a possible bomb attack.

German security experts and F.B.I. agents were sent to the airport outside Windhoek, the Namibian capital, to investigate the device, according to German and Namibian officials.

“The outcome is that the luggage turned out to be a so-called real-test suitcase made by a company in the United States,” Mr. de Maizière said at a news conference in Hamburg on Friday.

However, General Ndeitunga, of Namibia's national police, said that German and American authorities had told Namibia that they were not conducting a test. Nor was Namibia. “The Namibian police want to send out a stern warning to people with ill intentions that it will not allow Namibia to be used as a testing ground by anyone,” he said.

General Ndeitunga said the device, which is about a foot long, was discovered in the bag during the last screening before it was to be loaded onto the airplane. He added that, while intended for training purposes, it could easily have been converted into a bomb with the addition of 500 grams, about 18 ounces, of explosives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/europe/20germany.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Maker of Dummy Bombs Is Quiet About Business

Since 1988, deep in the pocket of California's old gold-mining country, Larry Copello has been laboring at what he loves: manufacturing devices that resemble bombs, that are used to test the alertness of security personnel around the world.

There are a couple of other companies that make such products, Mr. Copello said in an interview on Friday, and on any given day, the devices make thousands of trips through X-ray machines awaiting detection, without the public's ever knowing.

But it just so happened that the one that was found in an untagged laptop bag in Namibia on Wednesday came from his tiny four-person factory in Sonora, Calif., and not from a competitor's shop. And it just so happened that the person who assembled the device about four years ago was Mr. Copello's mother-in-law.

F.B.I. agents visited his company, Larry Copello Inc., on Thursday to ask about the device, which was detected before being loaded onto an Air Berlin plane bound for Munich. On Friday, Mr. Copello said that security concerns prevented him from saying much about the episode, though he did effectively confirm that such devices could be tracked: he said he told the F.B.I. that “somebody had purchased it from me a few years ago.”

Still, he said, he “had no clue” who owned the device now, or why it nearly made it onto the Air Berlin plane. The agencies he sells to, he said, take special precautions when transporting the devices.

“Somebody dropped the ball,” Mr. Copello said. “I don't think it was meant to be a training exercise, but I think somebody was traveling with it to do some training and then it got detected.”

Mr. Copello said he was restricted in what he could say about the devices, but that the sales were carefully monitored.

“It's not a gag, not a joke,” he said. “We're very stringent about who has these and who does not,” he added. “Who we deal with is very classified, and we have very strict purchasing practices. We don't divulge anything that would compromise our security.”

Officials in Namibia said Friday that devices similar to the one found Wednesday were bought by two other African countries five years ago. Mr. Copello said he did not know about that, that he had an independent distributor who routinely sold the devices to buyers outside the United States, and that he could not disclose which countries bought them, other than to say that some were in Europe.

Mr. Copello, 64, a career machinist from the San Francisco area, said he was not used to such international attention. He and his brother, now dead, began working together in a machine shop in 1973; later he began tinkering with testing devices. In 1988, he said, the Federal Aviation Administration first approached him about making some for the agency.

“They didn't want to do it” themselves, he said. “I love to do it, and I have a natural ability for it.” After the Sept. 11 attacks, a wider variety of security agencies began buying the devices. He sells a handful a month, sometimes more, and each costs about $500.

His office now is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in northern California, near Yosemite National Park. He is the president and treasurer, and his wife, Sandra, is the vice president. “We try to find a niche,” he said.

“I feel what I do is a public service,” Mr. Copello said. “Because somebody has to do this, somebody has to make these things to help train people, so airplanes and buildings are safe. It's not something I make a lot of money at, but I feel it's worth the sacrifices.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/business/global/20device.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Vatican Preparing New Guidelines to Deal With Sexual Abuse

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced on Friday that it was preparing a new set of guidelines to help bishops offer a “coordinated and efficient” response to sexual abuse, one that emphasizes protecting children, cooperating with civil authorities and careful selection of future priests.

The Vatican did not reveal details of the guidelines or when they would be published, but they appear to be one of the most decisive remedial measures it has taken to tackle a sexual abuse crisis that roared back last spring, challenging its moral authority and underscoring widespread confusion about its own rules for handling abuse.

Cardinal William J. Levada , the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for disciplining abusive priests, announced the guidelines at a meeting of more than 200 cardinals at the Vatican on Friday. The cardinals had been summoned by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss key issues facing the church on the eve of his elevating new cardinals on Saturday.

In the past, Cardinal Levada, the highest ranking American in the Vatican hierarchy and a former archbishop of San Francisco, has praised the so-called Dallas Charter adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002, which offers guidelines on reporting abuse and raising awareness.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that it would be impossible for the Vatican to apply the United States norms worldwide, but that the new guidelines would allow local bishops' conferences to issue their own procedures, taking into consideration “the different legal and pastoral situations” in each country.

In a central issue, some countries require the mandatory reporting of abuse to civil authorities, while others do not.

In a statement, the Vatican also said that after Cardinal Levada's presentation, several cardinals suggested that the Vatican “encourage bishops' conferences to develop plans that are effective, timely, articulate, complete and decisive about protecting minors,” and that help “re-establish justice, both for the aiding of victims and for prevention and training, including in countries where the problem has not yet manifested itself as dramatically as it has in others.”

According to several cardinals who attended Friday's meeting, two speakers who raised those themes were Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, a former archbishop of London, and Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, both of whom were chosen by the pope as part of a delegation to investigate a widespread sex abuse scandal in Ireland.

In the past, some bishops had complained that the Vatican's own rules for handling abuse were unclear. In 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a document saying all credible allegations of abuse by priests should be reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But the document was not widely circulated, and the confusion remained.

Last July, the Vatican issued changes to canon law for handling abuse, placing pedophilia in the rank of the church's gravest crimes, but drew criticism confusion when it also placed the attempted ordination of women in a similar category.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/europe/20vatican.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Thai Police Find 2,000 Illegally Aborted Fetuses

BANGKOK — Two thousand fetuses from illegal abortion clinics have been found hidden at a Buddhist temple here, igniting calls for stricter abortion laws in a nation that is both socially conservative and sexually tolerant.

An undertaker in Bangkok told police officers investigating complaints of an overwhelming stench that the fetuses were supposed to have been cremated, but that he had begun to store them in the mortuary after the temple's crematorium broke down, according to local news reports.

He said he poured gasoline around them to mask the odor, and finally when the numbers grew too large, he dug a pit to bury them. But neighbors complained, and the stored fetuses were discovered on Tuesday.

The police have arrested two undertakers and a woman who confessed to delivering fetuses to the temple from several clinics. She said she was paid as much as 500 baht, about $16, per delivery and that she paid the undertaker as much as 200 baht to dispose of them. Buddhist cremations are generally performed at temple crematoriums.

The woman also said she had performed illegal abortions and was raising eight children who had survived the procedure, according to local newspaper accounts.

Explaining her adoption of these children, The Nation newspaper quoted her as saying she rescued them after failed abortions because “if the kids won't die, there's no need to kill them.”

The case has been a sensation in the local press and has led to calls for stronger laws controlling abortion, which is legal only in cases or rape or incest or if the mother's life is in danger.

Thailand is a Buddhist country, and many people are generally conservative on sexual matters. Though there is a thriving sex industry here and birth control is widely available, advocates for safe sex say many young people are ill informed on the subject.

On Tuesday, the police said they had discovered 348 fetuses, but the number grew as they continued to search, and on Friday they reported that the total had risen to more than 2,000.

After the discovery, the police raided clinics in the area and told local reporters they had found 20 clinics performing illegal abortions.

Responding to the calls for stronger laws against illegal abortions, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that although the case highlighted the extent of the problem, the current legislation was “flexible enough.”

Under Thai law, a person who performs an illegal abortion can face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 baht, or about $333. The penalty increases if the abortion seriously injures the pregnant woman.

The public health minister, Jurin Laksanavisith, said that one million Thai women became pregnant each year, with 60,000 suffering miscarriages and 80,000 having legal abortions. He gave no estimate of the number of illegal abortions.

The Public Health Ministry ordered a nationwide crackdown on clinics that perform illegal abortions after the discovery at the temple.

The woman under arrest, Lanchakorn Janthamanas, 33, was quoted in newspapers as saying that she learned to perform abortions by watching the doctor and the nurse with whom she used to work. Most of her customers were students and teenagers, she said.

She told the police that she earned 5,000 baht for an abortion on a woman up to three months pregnant and 30,000 baht for a woman more than five months into her term, The Bangkok Post reported.

The Nation quoted Ms. Lanchakorn as telling the police that the fetuses were taken secretly to the crematorium and were hidden with other bodies to be cremated.

She said that without knowing it, monks would perform prayers for the fetuses along with the prayers for those being cremated.

Investigators said they had questioned the abbot and monks at the temple, Wat Phai Ngerm Chotanaram, and concluded that they were not involved in the case, the newspapers reported.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/asia/20bangkok.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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NATO Agrees to Build Missile Defense System

LISBON — NATO leaders agreed on Friday evening to establish a missile defense shield that would cover all NATO member states, and on Saturday they expect Russia to agree to discuss the possibility of cooperating on the system's development.

President Obama, who has promoted a less costly, more flexible missile defense system that will have components in Europe and at sea, praised the day's work, saying that for the first time “we've agreed to develop a missile defense capability that is strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations as well as the United States.”

Turkey, which had seemed to present a potential sticking point, dropped its objections to a common missile defense system when it was satisfied that no country, particularly Iran, would be named as a principal threat. Turkey also wanted money to buy antimissile components.

Missile defense has long created tensions between NATO and Russia, but American officials were optimistic that the meeting on Saturday would prove more productive than earlier ones with the Russian president at the time, Vladimir V. Putin, who made no secret of his mistrust of the alliance.

In general, senior NATO officials note a welcoming Russian tone under President Dmitri A. Medvedev to the idea of cooperation with NATO on missile defense and European security, and they also note the general silence of Mr. Putin, now prime minister.

On Saturday, Russia will be formally invited to take part in the missile defense system, especially with intelligence and radar sharing. Moscow has indicated that it is interested but has questions, and wants to ensure that the system is not aimed at countering Russian missiles.

The missile defense system approved Friday is different from the fixed-missile defense that President George W. Bush initiated and that proved controversial. The idea is to have a phased system of radars and antimissile missiles that would be less expensive than the Bush system. The NATO spokesman, James Appathurai, said the nearly $1.5 billion cost could be managed over 10 years.

American officials hailed the agreements as a victory for Mr. Obama and his efforts to strengthen the alliance and improve relations with Moscow. They said the agreements showed that Mr. Obama retained influence and credibility among the allies despite his party's drubbing in the recent midterm elections and his inability so far to overcome Senate Republican objections to a revised nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Mr. Obama has been seeking support among the allies here for the treaty, known as New Start, both to reassure Senate Republicans and to increase pressure on them.

The snag for the treaty clouds the broader efforts to “reset” relations with the Kremlin. Russian officials have said that they understand the domestic political situation, but that a failure to ratify the treaty would have some impact, at least, on the warmth of future relations.

The White House distributed remarks by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of NATO, supporting ratification of the treaty. Mrs. Merkel said no one was so naïve as to believe immediately in a world without nuclear weapons. The White House distributed a column by the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, who wrote that “the senators' decision will inevitably have an impact beyond their country's borders. It will be particularly significant for Poland, a staunch ally.”

Mr. Obama told American reporters, “Just as this is a national security priority for the United States, the message that I've received since I arrived from my fellow leaders here at NATO could not be clearer: New Start will strengthen our alliance, and it will strengthen European security.”

The NATO leaders also signed off on a broad new strategic doctrine, the first since 1999, intended to explain to their citizens why the alliance still matters after the cold war. The accord ends weeks of negotiations among the 28-member alliance over how to deal with Russia and to decide what role disarmament and nuclear weapons will play in the alliance.

Mr. Rasmussen said the strategic concept, a sort of mission statement, meant that NATO would “continue to play its unique and essential role in ensuring our common defense and security.”

The document is an effort to define the broader threats to NATO and its populations, which now include terrorism, cyberwarfare and failed states, while reconfirming the idea of collective defense. It promises to work to “prevent crises, manage conflicts and stabilize postconflict situations,” and pledges closer cooperation with the United Nations and the European Union.

The document also commits the alliance, for the first time, “to the goal of creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons,” while reconfirming the centrality of nuclear deterrence “as long as there are nuclear weapons in the world.”

Saturday will mark the beginning of NATO's own reset with Russia. Although some countries, particularly the Baltic states, are skeptical about warming relations between NATO and Russia, Mr. Rasmussen said the alliance and Russia shared many common threats, like terrorism and drug trafficking.

Mr. Medvedev was invited to the NATO summit meeting Friday night, a major change from two years ago, when Mr. Putin crashed the NATO dinner in Bucharest, Romania, to lecture Mr. Bush about the dangers of NATO expansion to Georgia and Ukraine.

Russian and Georgia fought a small war later that year, and Russian troops still occupy two provinces of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. NATO officials contend that a closer relationship with Moscow is the best way to make progress on Georgia.

But Mr. Obama made a point on Friday of meeting the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to show American support for Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On Afghanistan, there is general agreement that NATO will begin next year to hand over responsibility for security to the Afghan government and its troops and police officers, a process that is supposed to be finished by the end of 2014. European nations that have troops in Afghanistan are eager to shift to noncombat roles, so there will be much discussion down the line about which provinces are handed over first.

While the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has annoyed American and European officials with criticism of American military tactics there, he met on Friday for an hour with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a discussion American officials called “candid and friendly.” The Americans and other NATO allies are hopeful that Mr. Karzai will be careful in his comments here.

Mr. Obama told the Spanish daily newspaper El País that he expected the allies to pledge additional trainers for Afghan security forces. “This effort is going to take time, and our commitment to Afghanistan and the Afghan people is for the long-term,” he said. “We cannot turn our backs on the Afghan people.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/europe/20prexy.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Debt Rising, a City Seeks Donations in Michigan

DETROIT — A Michigan city is pleading with churches, schools and a hospital for donations to help cover its staggering budget deficit.

The mayor of Mount Clemens, Barb Dempsey, sent a letter this week to 35 tax-exempt organizations asking them to voluntarily contribute to the city's general fund, which pays for services like fire protection, streetlights and roads. Ms. Dempsey said the city has already drastically cut its expenses, having disbanded the police department six years ago, but still faces a $960,000 deficit that is projected to reach $1.5 million next year.

“Those are all services that they utilize at no cost to them,” Ms. Dempsey said. “We figured it can't hurt to send out letters. If you don't ask, you never know.”

Mount Clemens, about 25 miles northeast of Detroit, collects no taxes from 42 percent of the property within its borders. The 4.2-square-mile city has about 17,000 residents and is home to 26 churches, a hospital, several schools and the headquarters of Macomb County, the third largest in Michigan. If not exempt, the properties would pay at least $1.2 million, enough to wipe out the deficit, Ms. Dempsey said.

Plunging property values across Michigan have greatly reduced the revenue collected by municipalities, and tax caps hinder governments' abilities to demand more from businesses and residents. A proposal that would have allowed Mount Clemens to increase its tax rate was defeated this month by a little fewer than 500 votes.

Ms. Dempsey's unusual request came several days after Hamtramck, a city adjacent to Detroit, asked the state for permission to file for bankruptcy, something no Michigan government had ever done before. The departing governor, Jennifer M. Granholm, said she hoped to find an alternative for Hamtramck, but warned that many communities were nearing insolvency.

“You've got a perfect storm hitting many of these communities,” Ms. Granholm told Michigan Radio, “and this is an issue that's going to be very difficult over the next few years as the property taxes continue to decline, and communities all across the state are going to need some additional support if they're going to provide the services that citizens expect.”

Charles Ballard, a professor of economics at Michigan State University, said it could take 15 years or more for tax revenue to rebound to pre-recession levels, given the way that Michigan governments are now allowed to levy taxes, and simply begging for more money is unlikely to make up much of the gap.

“People usually don't pay a whole lot of taxes unless they have to,” Dr. Ballard said. “But it shows you the level of desperation that is in many units of government of Michigan.”

Some of those receiving the requests in Mount Clemens are grappling with budget shortfalls of their own. The Mount Clemens Community School District has laid off some employees, and the county is more than $24 million in the red next year.

But the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Clemens is “blessed with having a surplus,” said the Rev. Bill Davis, its pastor. The church gave $1,000 to the city about five years ago, when officials considered making a similar request, and it might make another gift now, pending the board's approval, he said.

“If we can help the city in a time of need we definitely should do that,” Mr. Davis said. “We need the city, and the city needs us. If we can help financially, I think that's right.”

Ms. Dempsey said she realizes some of the letters will be ignored, but hopes they at least raise awareness of the city's financial straits.

She also said just asking can make a difference. The city asked its retirees to increase their health insurance deductibles, Ms. Dempsey said, and 8 or 10 did so or switched to their spouse's plan, saving $192,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/us/20michigan.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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OPINION

Getting Touchy at the Airport

Ah, Thanksgiving is almost upon us. We can look forward to a full belly, good wine, bad football and the worst travel day of the year. And in 2010, apparently, it will be the worst travel day in the history of mankind: “In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in,” reports The Times's Susan Stellin. “Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation …It remains to be seen whether travelers approve of the pat-downs, especially as millions more people experience them for the first time during the holiday travel season.”

But we're an innovative people — if we're worried about inappropriate contact, we can find a technological alternative that makes everybody happy, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

There are plenty of horror stories (and one full-fledged martyr); they tend to get repetitive, although some stand out for their excellent documentation and others actually achieve humor. Piilots' unions are not pleased, some politicians want the T.S.A. removed from the scene, Ron Paul thinks there oughta be a law and some airports are even trying to opt out. (At least somebody's having a laugh.)

This is not to say everybody finds the scanners intrusive, dangerous and a potential privacy concern. Here some poll data from CNET's Declan McCullagh:

A Rasmussen poll released November 2 suggests that 69 percent of Americans would rather go through full-body scanners rather than be subjected to pat-downs that can involve genital touching usually reserved for intimate partners. An even higher percentage of Americans support full-body X-ray machines, according to a subsequent CBS News poll, but the wording of the question only referenced “electronic” screening, without mentioning health or privacy worries.

The Times's Nate Silver, however, warns that we should take the polling with a healthy dose of salt: “I would guess that only somewhere between 1 and 5 percent of Americans have so far traveled through a security line where such machines were in use; it will probably take some time before we know where public opinion settles in on this topic. Another issue is that most of these surveys are asking about the full-body machines in a vacuum. I'd be curious to see what the results were if respondents were asked to pick between full-body machines and traditional metal detectors.”

And McCullagh finds an expert who thinks we're right to be worried. “A University of California at San Francisco professor of biochemistry told CNET today that the Obama administration's claim that full-body scanners pose no health risks to air travelers is in ‘error',” he reports. “The administration's defense of the controversial machines, which use X-rays to perform what critics have dubbed naked strip searches, has ‘many misconceptions, and we will write a careful answer pointing out their errors,' said John Sedat, a UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the National Academy of Sciences.”

What could go wrong, professor? “Air travelers over 65 years old are especially susceptible to the ‘mutagenic effects of the X-rays' … as are HIV and cancer patients, children and adolescents, pregnant women, and men (because the X-rays can penetrate skin and put the testicles ‘at risk for sperm mutagenesis'). Eyes could also be at risk because X-rays can penetrate the cornea.”

Ouch. Yet Michael Dorf of Findlaw's blog thinks the health concerns are highly exaggerated:

A typical dental X-ray exposes the patient to about 2 millirems of radiation. According to one widely cited estimate, exposing each of 10,000 people to one rem (that is, 1,000 millirems) of radiation will likely lead to 8 excess cancer deaths. Using our assumption of linearity, that means that exposure to the 2 millirems of a typical dental X-ray would lead an individual to have an increased risk of dying from cancer of 16 hundred-thousandths of one percent. Given that very small risk, it is easy to see why most rational people would choose to undergo dental X-rays every few years to protect their teeth.

More importantly for our purposes, assuming that the radiation in a backscatter X-ray is about a hundredth the dose of a dental X-ray, we find that a backscatter X-ray increases the odds of dying from cancer by about 16 ten millionths of one percent. That suggests that for every billion passengers screened with backscatter radiation, about 16 will die from cancer as a result.

Ann Althouse surmises that instituting the body searches was part of a psychological agenda:

It seems to me that these 2 things happened together: new machines that see you naked and newly intense body searches. Am I wrong to believe that the new groping procedure was intended to get more people into the scanners they would otherwise resist? Someone, at some level of the Obama administration, decided that the only way to channel people into the see-you-naked machines was to make the alternative more offensive to nearly everyone. Personally, I'd take the grope over being seen naked, but I did a poll yesterday, and I see that the scanner is significantly more popular than the grope. I suspect that was the calibration. And I suspect that if too many people choose the grope over nakedness, the plan is to intensify the grope until they get the scanner acceptance rate they need.

She's also interested in following the money:

In 2008, former U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff authored a 38 page report warning of terrorists exploiting our security deficiencies – including air travel … After the [Christmas Day] ‘bombing attempt' Chertoff made a flurry of media appearances suggesting that the “attempted bombing incident” could have been avoided if all airports were using full body scanners. The Washington Post printed an article on January 1, 2010, calling Chertoff out for using his government credentials to promote a product that benefits his clients. It was revealed that Rapiscan Systems, the manufacturer of the naked body scanner Chertoff was recommending, was a client of Chertoff's security consulting agency. Rapiscan has since received over $250 million in scanner orders.

David Rittgers, writing at The New York Post, thinks the scanners are a waste of money and give a false sense of security:

Despite what their proponents would have us believe, body scanners are not some magical tool to find all weapons and explosives that can be hidden on the human body. Yes, the scanners work against high-density objects such as guns and knives — but so do traditional magnetometers.

And the scanners fare poorly against low-density materials such as thin plastics, gels and liquids. Care to guess what Abdulmutallab's bomb was made of? The Government Accountability Office reported in March that it's not clear that a scanner would've detected that device.

Even if the scanners did work against low-density materials, the same group linked to the Christmas bomb, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has already found another way to defeat the technology: hiding bombs inside the human body: A would-be AQAP assassin tried to kill a senior Saudi counterterrorism official with a bomb hidden where only a proctologist would find it.

His claims have support from somebody who knows of what he speaks, according to Canwest's Sarah Schmidt:

A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install “useless” imaging machines at airports across the country. “I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747,” Rafi Sela told parliamentarians probing the state of aviation safety in Canada.

“That's why we haven't put them in our airport,” Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world.

Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway thinks the T.S.A. is “fighting the last war”: “As we've learned in London and Madrid, though, terrorists can and do find other ways to attack. Forcing everyone to stand in long lines, take off their shoes, and subject themselves to groping by someone who most likely has their job because they couldn't get into college or the police academy doesn't accomplish much of anything, and the American people are waking up to that fact.”

Still, the concerns over the scanners pale in comparison to the outrage over the body searches. Elusis at Live Journal has a theory for the timing of the uproar:

The thing is that nothing about this is new. Private citizens being arbitrarily singled out for intrusive searches and rough treatment by authority figures because of their appearance, their “attitude,” or just a momentary need for an endorphin rush by a small-minded bureaucrat? Welcome to the lives of people of color, the phenomenon of Driving While Black, the lives of women, of transpeople, of disabled people (oh hai, Canada!).

It is no accident that women have been complaining about being pulled out of line because of their big breasts, having their bodies commented on by TSA officials, and getting inappropriate touching when selected for pat-downs for nearly 10 years now, but just this week it went viral. It is no accident that CAIR identified Islamic head scarves (hijab) as an automatic trigger for extra screenings in January, but just this week it went viral. What was different? Suddenly an able-bodied white man is the one who was complaining.

It's not only the able-bodied — The Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer is also fed up: “This has nothing to do with safety – 95 percent of these inspections, searches, shoe removals and pat-downs are ridiculously unnecessary. The only reason we continue to do this is that people are too cowed to even question the absurd taboo against profiling – when the profile of the airline attacker is narrow, concrete, uniquely definable and universally known. So instead of seeking out terrorists, we seek out tubes of gel in stroller pouches.”

(I wonder if Krauthammer has seen this story.)

There are a few voices who think may be the price to pay for safety. “With our troops risking not just their genitals but their lives to prevent 9/11 style attacks, I find the more extreme protests of both Muslims (to profiling) and members of the general population (to the new machine) a bit jarring,” writes Paul Mirengoff at Power Line. “To be sure, people who are singled out for special procedures for no good reason have a legitimate gripe. So do people whose privacy is momentarily invaded to no legitimate end. But most of the bitching I hear tends not to focus with clarity on the extent to which profiling or use of the machine advances the goal of preventing terrorist attacks. It focuses instead on the fact that the complaining party simply doesn't like what is being done to him or her. That's not surprising given the grievance oriented state of our society, but it's not reassuring either.”

But Mirengoff, along with The Los Angeles Times editorial board, is in a decided minority on the Web, where the rage is bipartisan and, in some cases, a creepily portentous. “My problem with what's unfolding at our nation's airports runs a lot deeper than the misfortune of genital encroachment,” adds James Poulos at Ricochet. “My problem is that we're racing down an inherently absurd road. Set aside for a moment the dismaying way in which every new advance in security measures involves a retreat for civil liberties and traditional definitions of decency. Our logic of escalation appears to mean that every new solution actually creates a new and dramatically worse problem — one which calls, of course, for dramatically more invasive and comprehensive countermeasures. Where does it end? As a matter of logic, it ends with a free people dehumanizing themselves in a way their own enemies cannot quite manage to do.”

Well, maybe. Or maybe the T.S.A. can just teach its employees to use a little more tact and those who don't trust the scanners can take the train. After all, as odious as you may find today's security measures, it's not as though flying was a terribly pleasant experience before 9/11.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/getting-touchy-at-the-airport/?pagemode=print

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EDITORIAL

The Uproar Over Pat-Downs

Americans understand the need for security screenings at airports and are remarkably patient. So there is no excuse for the bumbling, arrogant way the Transportation Security Administration has handled questions and complaints about its new body-scanning machines and more aggressive pat-downs.

The Times reported on Friday that civil liberties groups have collected more than 400 complaints since the new pat-downs began three weeks ago. That is a minuscule number compared with all the people who flew. But there are far too many reports of T.S.A. agents groping passengers, using male agents to search female passengers, mocking passengers and disdaining complaints.

Lawsuits have been filed asserting that new, more powerful body-scanning machines violate the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches. In general, it seems to us that the scanners are not unconstitutional, but the lawsuits are a healthy process that will require the government to prove that the scanners are reliable and more effective than other devices.

The Fourth Amendment would certainly protect Americans from unnecessary, overly intimate security checks. And nothing in the Constitution permits power-happy or just downright creepy people from abusing their uniforms and the real need for security. The government could start by making their screening guidelines clear. And they should respond to the concerns of people like the woman who told The Times that she is patted down every time because of an insulin pump.

Some passenger groups are planning demonstrations during the Thanksgiving rush. That's their right, although if they interfere with air travel, or with security measures, they have to assume the risk that applies to any civil disobedience: they might be arrested.

The federal authorities need to take customers' complaints seriously. And while they're at it, they should be hard at work filling in the really huge hole in the security of air travel: the inadequate screening of cargo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/opinion/20sat3.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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Toughest prison still grim: report

TAMMS | Treatment of inmates 'need not be this harsh,' watchdog group contends

November 20, 2010

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN AND DAVE McKINNEY Staff Reporters

A prison watchdog group's recent report details the lives of Illinois' worst convicts, unveiling a bleak portrait where socially deprived and mentally unstable inmates stare at colorless walls, engage in self-mutilation and graze on bland meatloaf when they misbehave.

Conditions at the all-male Tamms Correctional Center 360 miles south of Chicago have been criticized by human-rights and prison-advocacy organizations since the $73 million, 500-bed facility opened in 1998.

The conditions at Tamms Correctional Center have been criticized by human-rights and prison-advocacy groups.

George Welborn, the first Tamms warden, stands in the unfinished death chamber of the new prison in this 1997 file photo.

Facts:

•  Tamms Correctional Center is on 236 acres of land just north of Tamms on Illinois 127 in Alexander County.

•  The annual cost per inmate is $64,116, according to IDOC.

•   More than a half dozen Chicago gang leaders are at Tamms, according to the Chicago Crime Commission.

•   Tamms was supposed to be used to house inmates on Death Row and put them to death. But because of the moratorium on executions imposed by former Gov. George Ryan in 2000, only DuPage County murderer Andrew Kokoraleis, executed by lethal injection in March 1999, was ever put to death there.

Just last year, former state prisons director Michael Randle announced a series of reforms, including increased mental health evaluations and incentives for Tamms Supermax inmates who display good behavior.

But while some of Randle's proposals have been implemented, the treatment of Tamms' 206 inmates still "need not be this harsh," according to the 11-page assessment by the John Howard Association of Illinois.

"Ninety three percent of people who go to prison come back out again. They can come out worse, or they can come out better. Which do you prefer?" said Bob Manor, the report's author.

Most Tamms inmates spend 23 hours a day alone, where their "universe of gray" is only interrupted by a sliver of the blue sky visible from a small window above, Manor said. They're not allowed to work or mingle too much with fellow prisoners and are waiting for the state Legislature to give them the green light to place and receive phone calls.

Currently, there is only one computer from which prisoners can communicate with loved ones, the report says. It recommends painting the prison's interior with brighter colors and abolishing a tactic where unruly prisoners are dressed down in flimsy paper smocks and isolated in a barren cell with just a mattress.

Tamms is clean and well-administered, but conditions there impose "dramatic limitations on human contact, so much so as to inflict lasting psychological damage and emotional harm on inmates confined there for long periods," a federal judge in East St. Louis, Ill., wrote in a opinion last July.

Judge G. Patrick Murphy ruled in an inmates' lawsuit that the state can continue isolating prisoners at Tamms but must give them an opportunity to challenge their transfers and continued placement at the prison.

The state has appealed Murphy's ruling. But the federal judge ruled that during the appeal, Tamms must continue to provide all men transferred with due-process hearings regarding their continued placement at the prison, said Belinda Belcher, executive director of the Uptown People's Law Center, which represented 16 inmates who were plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Manor's report says only one Tamms inmate has committed suicide in the prison's 12-year history, but that hasn't meant the mental health of other inmates has been stable. One inmate who said he was diagnosed as schizophrenic admitted he was a "cutter" and often thinks about killing himself or chopping off his hand, the report said.

"I am stuck in that cell, and I have nothing to do. I put myself in that cell. I have no hope," the inmate is quoted as saying in the report.

Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharyn Elman said IDOC has continuously worked with the John Howard Association and takes its suggestions into account when discussing improvements. However, she said the report is at times contradictory, noting that it repeatedly mentions how the inmates can barely interact with one another but then lists an account of how a punished inmate said he was "humiliated" by his peers when they made comments about his body that was barely covered by the skimpy paper gown he was forced to wear.

Elman also said tasteless meatloaf given to prisoners who have committed infractions is not unique to Tamms.

The report "has some fair points. . . . Some of it is inaccurate, and I think some of the points are unfair," she said.

Former state prisons director Odie Washington, who now works for a Utah firm involved in the private management of state and federal prisons, defended the concept of the prison he opened while in former Gov. Jim Edgar's Cabinet.

"It achieved its purpose when I was there in terms of reducing the level of violence and isolating those most disruptive in a corrections environment," said Washington, prisons chief from 1995 to 1999.

Manor acknowledged there are sociopaths, gang leaders and other "terrible" people housed at Tamms, but added, "You have to treat people like they're human. If you engage in sensory deprivation and social isolation, which Tamms does, you will make people get worse, not better."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2909482,CST-NWS-TAMMS20.article

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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TSA - Holiday Travel Tips Every holiday travel season, TSA prepares its workforce of 50,000 Transportation Security Officers to ensure we provide a smooth holiday travel experience for travelers. Since this is during the busiest travel time of the year, TSA wants to remind passengers of the security procedures in place and help travelers be prepared for security, before they leave home.

The ‘Why's' Behind Security

TSA strives to inform the traveling public about the ‘Why's' behind security. The goal is to improve security by compelling airline passengers to be better prepared for the security processes, thereby resulting in less frustration and a safer and more positive experience. To learn the ‘Why's' behind TSA's security procedures, Click Here.

Advanced Imaging Technology

TSA has deployed hundreds of advanced imaging technology units to airports across the country to keep the traveling public safe. To learn more about their safety, privacy, and how the technologies work, Click Here.

Secure Flight

Secure Flight requires airlines to collect a passenger's full name (as it appears on their government-issued ID), date of birth, gender and Redress Number (if applicable). By providing complete information, passengers can significantly decrease the likelihood of watch list misidentification. To learn more about Secure Flight and what it means this holiday travel season, Click Here.

The MyTSA App To provide passengers with 24/7 access to the most commonly requested TSA information on their mobile device, TSA has developed the MyTSA mobile application. No matter where you are, you'll have easy access to information you need to get through security and onto the plane safely and smoothly. To learn more, Click Here. The 3-1-1 Policy for Liquids, Gels, and Aerosols Liquid explosives still pose a threat and for that reason TSA limits the amount of liquids passengers can safely carry through the security checkpoint. This limitation applies only to carry-on bags. Larger quantities of liquids, gels, and aerosols can be safely packed in checked baggage. Here are the rules: 3.4 ounce (100ml) bottle or less for all liquids, gels and aerosols; placed in a 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag to hold all small bottles; 1 bag per passenger placed in a screening bin

Traveling With Kids or Your Parents? Use Family Lanes

Families or individuals traveling with medically necessary liquids this holiday season can use TSA's Family Lanes to have a more pleasant travel experience. There are Family Lanes at every security checkpoint allowing families and travelers with special needs to go through security at their own pace. Individuals carrying medically necessary liquids, gels and aerosols in excess of three ounces will also be directed to these popular lanes. Individuals traveling with liquids, gels and aerosols within 3-1-1 limits will not experience any change to their screening procedures. These lanes are marked by signage at each security checkpoint.

Traveling with Food

Everyone has favorite foods from home that they want to bring to holiday dinners, or items from their destination that they want to bring back home. Travelers should know that while pies are permitted through the security checkpoint, here is a list of liquids, gels and aerosol items that you should put in your checked bag, ship ahead, or leave at home.

Items that are purchased after the security checkpoint have been pre-screened and can be taken on the plane.

Traveling with Gifts and Snow Globes

Remember not to wrap gifts before you travel. Our security officers may have to un-wrap a gift if they need to take a closer look inside. This applies to both carry-ons at the security checkpoint and to checked baggage. Please ship wrapped gifts ahead of time or wait until you arrive at your destination to wrap them. Additionally, TSA does not permit snow globes through the security checkpoint because they contain an undetermined amount of liquid. Snow globes are permitted in checked baggage.

TSA Travel Checklist

• Click here to download TSA's Helpful Hints for Holiday Travelers Checklist
  (pdf, 318Kb)

Before Packing

• Quart sized zip top bag (Hint: 1 bag per passenger is permitted)
• 3 ounces or less sized containers of liquids, gels and aerosols ( 3-1-1 )
• Visit TSA.gov to review the prohibited items list for both carry-on and checked baggage
• If purchasing a luggage lock, be sure to look for those that are recognized by TSA ( Locks )
• It can be helpful to tape a card with your name and contact information on any large electronics (like laptops)

When Packing

• Pack items in layers (shoes one layer, clothes one layer, electronics one layer, etc.) ( Pack For Security )
• Pack large electronics on top layer of carry-on for easy accessibility
• Place your 3-1-1 bag with liquids, gels and aerosols in front pocket of your carry-on for easy accessibility

Before Leaving for Airport

• Give yourself enough time to arrive at airport early
• Wear easily removable shoes
• Make sure to have accepted government issued identification and boarding pass if printed at home ( Acceptable Identification )

Before Entering Checkpoint

• Look for Family/Medical Liquids Lanes if special assistance is needed for families ( Family Lanes )
• Be sure to place all items from pockets and any bulky metal jewelry in carry-on bag or purse
• Have ID and boarding pass out for inspection

After Entering Checkpoint

• Remove 3-1-1 bag and place in bin
• Remove shoes and place directly on belt for quick screening ( Shoes )
• Remove coats and jackets and place in bin ( Outerwear )
• Remove computers and large electronics from carry on and place in bin alone (video game consoles, remote control toys, etc.) ( Large Electronics )
• Ensure no items remain in your pockets before proceeding to the walk-through metal detector or imaging technology (keys, cell phones, comb, eyeglasses, etc.) ( Imaging Technology )
• Remember to check bins and collect all belongings following screening

Helpful Travel Information

• Information on traveling with food and gifts
• Learn more about the 3-1-1 Policy
• Tips on traveling with children
• Tips on traveling with passengers with special needs
• Complete list of prohibited items
• Identification requirements
• Information on traveling with unique items, including sporting equipment
• Tips on how to pack for security

United States and the Netherlands Sign Agreement to Prevent and Combat Serious Crime

THE HAGUE, Netherlands—U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute today joined Dutch Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten to sign a Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC) Agreement—allowing for the exchange of biometric and biographic data between the United States and the Netherlands to bolster counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts while protecting individual privacy.

“Faced with ever-evolving transnational threats, it is critical that we enable law enforcement officers in the United States and the Netherlands to more quickly and efficiently investigate crime and prevent criminals and terrorists from entering our respective countries,” said Deputy Secretary Lute. “This agreement will strengthen our international efforts to combat transnational crime while facilitating lawful trade and travel between our two nations.”

“The agreement signed today underlines the efforts we have taken in fighting serious crime and preventing terrorism. In today's society law enforcement agencies should be able to prevent and combat crime and terrorism efficiently in a way that respects both the national legislation and the standards on privacy. I am proud that the PCSC-agreement provides a solid basis for these goals and I look forward to continuing our intensive cooperation with the United States in this important field,” said Minister Opstelten.

Under the agreement, the United States and the Netherlands will leverage state-of-the-art technology to share law enforcement data, including fingerprints, to better identify known terrorists and criminals during investigations and other law enforcement activities. The agreement both outlines the best practices for sharing vital information to help prevent serious threats to public security as well as measures to ensure the protection and privacy of citizens in both countries.

To date, the United States has signed similar agreements to prevent and combat serious crime with 17 international partners. These agreements—negotiated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State—prevent individuals who commit serious crimes in one signatory country from continuing illicit acts in another and reaffirm the United States' commitment to the reciprocal partnerships that advance the safety and security of the United States and its allies.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1290201281485.shtm

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USFA and NFPA Join Forces to Put a Freeze on Winter Fires

“These fires are a painful reminder of what we see every year—the temperatures drop and fires increase,” said NFPA President Jim Shannon. According to NFPA statistics space heaters account for about one third of the home heating fires yet more than 80 percent of the home heating fire deaths.

The Winter Residential Building Fires (PDF, 1Mb) report released by USFA in 2010, reports an estimated 108,400 winter residential building fires occur annually in the United States, resulting in an estimated average of 945 deaths, 3,825 injuries, and $1.7 billion in property loss. Cooking is the leading cause of winter residential building fires at 36 percent followed by heating at 23 percent, and winter residential building fires occur mainly in the early evening hours, peaking from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

USFA and NFPA have compiled a great deal of information about the various causes of fire during the winter months, winter storm fire safety, holiday fire safety and tips that will help reduce or prevent the incidence of fire in the home on their websites.

This information can be found at www.usfa.dhs.gov/winter or www.nfpa.org/winter.

Gaines emphasized, “Winter fires are preventable. Everyone should find out what they need to know to have a safe winter season. There are simple steps each of us can take to prevent a tragedy this winter. In many cases it is just the simple matter of checking for information available at most fire departments.”

The United States Fire Administration recommends everyone should have a comprehensive fire protection plan that includes smoke alarms, residential sprinklers, and practicing a home fire escape plan.

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/media/press/2010releases/111910.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Attorney General Holder, Vice President Biden Announce New Initiatives to Help Homeowners, Veterans and Workers Access Legal Services

WASHINGTON , DC – Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice's Access to Justice Initiative co-hosted a Middle Class Task Force event today with Vice President Joe Biden, announcing a series of steps designed to help middle class and low-income families secure their legal rights. These actions include strengthening foreclosure mediation programs, helping veterans secure the legal help they need, and making it easier for workers to find a qualified attorney when they believe their rights have been violated. 

“In difficult economic times, we want to make sure all Americans—regardless of income or status—have access to the resources they need to pursue justice,”  said Vice President Joe Biden. “The initiatives we are announcing today represent an important step toward that goal and will help thousands of Americans get the legal assistance they need.”

Today's announcement is the culmination of work between the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Access to Justice Initiative and federal agencies like the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as partners in the advocacy community.

 “ As a prosecutor and former judge, I know that the fundamental integrity of our justice system, and our faith in it, depends on effective representation on both sides of the courtroom ,” said Attorney General Holder. “ With the strides we have made – and with the additional steps soon to come – I am confident that we can build a fairer and more effective justice system.”

“ Many people's lives can be improved without major new investments, and in fact with real savings, if we simply help them access the legal rights and benefits that are theirs. That's why the Department's Access to Justice Initiative is honored to work with the Vice President, HUD, the Labor Department, and the VA to make justice a reality. ” said DOJ Senior Counselor for Access to Justice Laurence Tribe.

Legal Support for Workers

The Department of Labor and the American Bar Association (ABA) today announced a collaboration to help workers resolve complaints received by DOL's Wage and Hour Division, such as not getting paid the minimum wage or not being paid overtime, or being denied family medical leave. Beginning on December 13, 2010, complainants whose cases cannot be resolved by DOL because of limited capacity will be given a toll-free number to a newly created system where they are connected to an ABA-approved attorney referral provider if there are participating attorneys in their area.

In addition, if DOL has conducted an investigation, the complainant will be given information about the findings to provide to an attorney who may take the case, including the violations at issue and any back wages owed. DOL has also developed a special process for complainants and representing attorneys to obtain relevant case information and documents when available.

Said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, “Our nation's workers deserve full and fair compensation, and this Administration is committed to ensuring that they receive it.  Today's announced collaboration with the American Bar Association streamlines worker access to additional legal resources and builds on the Department of Labor's continued efforts to ensure that employers comply with America's labor laws.”

Veterans' Access to Legal Help

Today the Vice President announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) have launched an awareness campaign between the VA's community-based Vet Centers and local LSC legal aid service providers to help veterans better address legal challenges in areas such as foreclosure, consumer fraud, and employment issues. The first phase of the new awareness campaign is already underway.

LSC-funded programs have reached out to 51 Vet Centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the mid-Atlantic region, Maine, and Arkansas to share information about legal services and to create appropriate referral systems to minimize veterans' frustration in obtaining advice and representation on civil legal problems.

In support of this effort, the LSC announced the launch of a new website, www.StatesideLegal.org, to help veterans access information online. The site was developed to explain legal and military terms in a straightforward way, and includes videos and interactive forms to help veterans advocate for themselves. Information on the website covers such topics as disability benefits, employment, and legal protections for service members confronted with foreclosure actions.

Foreclosure Mediation Programs

Foreclosure mediation programs are designed to identify alternatives to foreclosure that benefit both the homeowner and the lender. Today, the Vice President announced a number of initiatives to strengthen these mediation programs.

DOJ's Access to Justice Initiative and HUD issued a joint report identifying emerging strategies for effective foreclosure mediation programs, such as well-trained housing counselors and pro bono attorneys who can counsel and support homeowners throughout the mediation process. To assist jurisdictions that are developing or expanding mediation programs, the report describes several features that have a positive impact on program effectiveness.  The report also lists existing foreclosure mediation programs that are interested in sharing their experiences with other program stakeholders throughout the country.

To view the report, visit http://www.justice.gov/atj/effective-mediation-prog-strategies.pdf

Additionally, HUD announced a new training webinar that will highlight strategies and resources for avoiding foreclosure. The training, which is aimed at a wide variety of audiences including homeowners, housing counselors, pro bono attorneys and mediators, will include topics such as accessing housing counseling resources, finding state-specific foreclosure prevention resources, avoiding foreclosure rescue scams, and understanding Federal foreclosure prevention programs.

HUD also provided guidance on the use of Community Development Block Grant and Neighborhood Stabilization Funds for housing counseling, a resource that can increase the effectiveness of foreclosure mediation programs.

To view the guidance, visit www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/pdf/housing_counseling.pdf

In addition to these efforts, NeighborWorks®, a national non-profit created by Congress and funded by Congressional appropriations, will debut a foreclosure mediation workshop at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in December. More than 2,000 counselors and other nonprofit professionals are expected to attend the Training Institute. NeighborWorks is one of the largest funders of foreclosure-mitigation counseling in the nation, and is the administrator of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program.

Finally, the Federal Trade Commission today announced a new rule and several enforcement actions to protect vulnerable homeowners from mortgage rescue fraud.

To view the FTC's press release, visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/11/mars.shtm

More information about the Department of Justice's Access to Justice Initiative can be found at: www.justice.gov/access

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-ag-1329.html

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From ICE

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ICE dismantles 2 Sacramento counterfeit document mills Mills allegedly produced phony immigration documents, driver's licenses and birth certificates November 19, 2010 SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Four men are in custody facing federal criminal charges following the execution of search warrants Thursday at two local residences that allegedly housed large-scale counterfeiting operations responsible for producing phony immigration and identity documents, including fake "green cards," birth certificates and driver's licenses from California and five other states.

During Thursday's searches, authorities seized a large cache of document-making equipment, including multiple computers, high quality printers, laminators, card stock, along with dozens of counterfeit documents.  The recovered documents included counterfeit versions of the newest California driver's license and the latest generation of the Permanent Resident Card, often known as a "green card."

The searches and arrests are the latest developments in a year-long ongoing undercover probe involving the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles that originated with a call to ICE's toll-free tip line: 1-866-DHS-2ICE begin_of_the_skype_highlighting   1-866-DHS-2ICE end_of_the_skype_highlighting . 

According to the search warrant affidavit, which describes several document buys by undercover HSI agents, the suspects charged $120 for a single counterfeit card, or $250 for a "set" of phony documents.  The "sets" typically included a "green card," Social Security card and a driver's license.  The transactions took place in the parking lots of businesses in south Sacramento, including The Home Depot and Hacienda Market.  When an undercover agent expressed interest in setting up his own document mill, the affidavit alleges one of the defendants told him that for $20,000 he could help him obtain the illegal software and training to create good quality counterfeits.

"Targeting those responsible for making and selling fraudulent documents is an enforcement priority for ICE Homeland Security Investigations," said Daniel Lane, assistant special agent in charge for the ICE HSI in Sacramento.  "Anyone who knowingly and indiscriminately sells phony identity cards is putting the security of our communities and even our country at risk.  Documents like this could potentially be used by dangerous criminals and others seeking to obscure their identities and mask their motives."  

George Valverde, director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), said the security and privacy of DMV's customer database and the state's driver's license is one of the highest priorities for the department.

"The DMV will continue to do whatever is necessary to assist local, state and federal law enforcement entities in their efforts to assure the integrity of the license," Director Valverde said. "The California Driver License is now the primary identification document for our citizens, and the Department is absolutely dedicated to protecting it from the criminal element such as counterfeiters. Californians expect no less."

One of the four criminal suspects made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.  The remaining three are due in court Friday morning.  The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.  The suspects, named below, are all Mexican nationals who are in the United States illegally.  They are currently charged with manufacturing false identity and immigration documents.

• Javier Hernandez-Lopez, 39;
• Juan Hernandez-Lopez, 33, Javier's younger brother; 
• Luis Eduardo Torres-Hernandez, 25, and 
• Alejandro Bielma-Ortiz, 40.

In addition to the criminal arrests, HSI agents encountered two Mexican national males at one of the document mills who were taken into custody on administrative immigration violations.  They will be held pending a hearing before an immigration judge.

Document fraud involves the manufacture, sale, or use of counterfeit identity documents, such as fake driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards or passports - for immigration fraud or other criminal activity.  Individuals and criminal organizations often use fraudulent documents to obtain driver's licenses and Social Security cards.

Traffickers and alien smugglers employ these documents to facilitate their movement into and within the United States and to shield illegal aliens from detection.  Fraudulent documents may be used to obtain financial benefits and entitlements intended for U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and to obtain unauthorized employment.

In the last three fiscal years, ICE Homeland Security Investigations initiated more than 4,800 document fraud investigations nationwide resulting in more than 3,200 indictments and more than 3,100 criminal convictions.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1011/101119sacramento.htm

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ICE assists Mexican authorities in seizing over $2 million

MEXICO CITY - On Nov. 12, 2010, Mexico's customs authority, the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), seized over $2 million at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport.

Julio Alonso Soto, a Mexican national, concealed the currency in his luggage while trying to depart the airport for Panama. The Mexican authorities arrested Soto and seized the currency for federal prosecution by the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR).

U.S. and Mexican investigators continue to follow-up on all in investigative leads resulting from this seizure and arrest.

In October, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton joined senior Mexican officials to host the first-ever graduation of Mexican customs officials from a 10-week, ICE-led investigator training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in North Charleston, S.C. Twenty-four men and women from SAT participated in the inaugural session of the Mexican customs investigator training conducted by ICE agents.

The course included coursework in both Mexican and U.S. customs law, as well as training in a wide variety of investigative techniques, officer safety tactics, and ethics - helping to provide the graduates with the tools and knowledge necessary to combat cross-border crime, including money laundering, customs offenses and weapons and drug trafficking, in close coordination with ICE special agents and other U.S. law enforcement officials.

ICE is the largest investigative arm of DHS, charged with enforcing a wide array of laws, including those related to financial crime, trade fraud, narcotics smuggling, cash smuggling, and others. ICE has taken a leading role in combating bulk cash smuggling. In 2005, ICE teamed with CBP to launch Operation Firewall, a comprehensive law enforcement operation targeting criminal organizations involved in the smuggling of large quantities of U.S. currency.

The ICE Office of International Affairs is a critical asset in this mission, responsible for enhancing national security by conducting and coordinating international investigations involving transnational criminal organizations and serving as ICE's liaison to counterparts in local government and law enforcement. With agents in over 65 locations around the world, including Mexico City, the ICE Office of International Affairs works with their foreign counterparts to identify and combat transnational criminal organizations before they threaten the United States.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1011/101119mexicocity.htm

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From the FBI

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Special Agent Bomb Technicians

Another installment in our continuing series about the men and women of the FBI and the equipment they use to get the job done.

• The special agent bomb technician (SABT) program is part of the FBI's Hazardous Devices Operations Center in our Critical Incident Response Group.
• Every field office has at least one SABT. All bomb techs are certified through a rigorous six-week program and recertified every three years.
• In the field, bomb techs regularly work with the evidence response units and HAZMAT and SWAT teams of our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.
• Suspicious packages and suspicious vehicles represent about 90 percent of the calls bomb techs respond to, which could include weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and improvised explosives devices (IEDs).

Truck

This specially made bomb tech vehicle went into service in 2008.

Stats:

• Weight: 32,000 pounds.
• Load capacity: 3,000 pounds.
• Length: 32 feet, 10.5 inches.
• Height: 11 feet, 5.75 inches.
• Features
• Computer network allows real-time transfer of vital information to FBI Headquarters or other command posts.
• Bomb techs can remotely operate robots from two sets of quad monitors inside the truck. Camera tower on roof extends to 25 feet, allowing extended field of view.
• Self-contained for emergency response, with ample storage inside and out for a variety of equipment.
• Cell phone and land-line capabilities for communications in all situations.
• On-board generator allows battery-operated equipment such as the robot to be charged even when the truck's power is off.

Suit

A bomb tech's suit weights about 90 pounds and is equipped with a variety of safety and other devices.

• Pants are constructed of fire-resistant Nomex and Kevlar to provide leg protection.
• A ceramic “trauma plate” in front provides groin protection.
• A honeycomb plastic support covers the back and offers maximum absorption to prevent spinal cord injury in the event a blast propels a bomb tech backward.
• Kevlar jacket includes ceramic trauma plate around chest; also contains quick release toggles so SABTs can spin out of their suits very quickly if necessary.
• Bomb techs rarely wear gloves, because hand agility and dexterity is critical.
• Helmet weighs about 15 pounds and is equipped with amplifiers to increase ambient sounds. Also has defogger, lights, and ventilation fan controlled by buttons on sleeve.
• Power pack on hip powers fan, lights, and defogger.
• Suit typically contains no communication equipment because such devices are controlled by radio frequency and could trigger an explosive device. But special radios can be mounted on suit if necessary.

Toolkit

Because bombs are often contained within other devices, bomb techs carry a toolkit that includes standard items like screw drivers, drill bits, and flashlights.

Robot

• Weighs 800 pounds.
• Runs on two marine batteries, but can be hardwired for continuous power.
• Can gain access to almost any location on land.
• Always the first response option, to keep humans from danger.
• Can be operated remotely or by bomb tech with on-board hand controls.
• Equipped with three cameras and two-way microphone (used for speaking to people in hostage situations).
• Custom attachment allows render-safe devices to be deployed directly from the robot.
• Front “claw” does everything a hand does. Has attachments sensitive enough to open a car door or carry a saw for cutting.

X-Ray

• Primary diagnostic tool for suspicious packages and devices.
• Portable device takes standard X-ray images, which are displayed on a laptop computer.
• Results are enlarged and digitally manipulated for further analysis, then transmitted wirelessly to command posts or other bomb experts.

Pan Disrupter

• Primary deployment tool for disrupting suspicious packages or real or potential improvised explosive devices.
• Horizontally angled weapons grade high strength stainless steel canon can fire water or specialized ammunition to disrupt or dismantle an explosive device.

Total Containment Vessel

• Used to safely transport an explosive device to a remote location for investigation or detonation.
• Round steel ball is up to 12 inches thick and can hold 10 pounds of explosives. Other models vary in capacity.
• Newest models are automated, allowing robots to place explosives safely inside the vessel.

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