GOOGLE

The U.S. Department of Defense banned Google from capturing images of military bases for its entertaining Street View facility on Google Maps, citing security risks. The ban came shortly after the detailed images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas appeared on Google Maps and posed a threat to national security.

Last week, DOD issued restrictions to Google, banning roving photographic vehicles that the internet giant uses to acquire Google Maps Street View images, from entering any U.S. military base. Complimenting its popular mapping technology, Web search giant Google Inc. in May launched "Street View", a unique Google Map service that provides users a street-level picture of downtown areas of various U.S. cities.

The new "Street View" feature in Google Maps enables users to view and navigate with a 360- degree view of the selected cities, including San Francisco area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. Google claims that its street-level viewing feature places Google Map users at the road level, offering them a deeper and more detailed experience of the location than aerial images provide. But, the "Street View" feature came into question after the shocking discovery of intimate images of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

However, Google said it has removed the images after receiving a request from the military that said Sam Houston was not open to the public. "It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base. Our policy is to stay on public roads, but a driver broke that policy," said Larry Yu, Google spokesman said. Meanwhile, a message has been sent to all Defense Department bases and installations around the country, asking officials not to allow the mapping Web site to take panoramic views inside the facilities.

"We don't have any issues regarding Google and their products, which are very useful tools," said Gary Ross, a public affairs officer for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command. "But the Street View provides clear imagery of control points, barriers, headquarters and security facilities that pose a risk to our force-protection efforts." The restriction applies to all other companies that acquire images for similar purposes, Ross added. Source: http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20080308/u_s_military_imposes_ban_on_google_street_view-id-1018450.html Fort Sam Houston Google Images Seen By Al-Jazeera A national safety threat happened right here in the San Antonio area after detailed pictures were taken inside the gates of Fort Sam Houston and then put online.

A Google maps team went onto Fort Sam Houston and took pictures of buildings on the post without permission. The question now is could the Army post now be in danger after the pictures were put online for the world to see. Google maps "street view" provides a 360- degree view of the streets, as if you were standing on the street yourself. Officials at Fort Sam Houston told News 4 the Google team had permission to map the post, but not to take any photos. So, when Google's unauthorized pictures of the post ended up on their site, experts said they got into the wrong hands.

"Anyone in the world that has any interest in understanding what is going on," said terrorism prevention expert Dr. Saul Wilen. After making some calls, Dr. Wilen found out that within an hour, the N.S.A. knew. Within 2 hours, the F.B.I. was aware. Within 6 hours Israeli intelligence was looking at the layout of Fort Sam Houston. Dr. Wilen said Al-Jazeera and at least 4 other intelligence agencies overseas saw the unauthorized Google pictures. "And that's just preliminarily checking," Dr. Wilen said. Within 24 hours, the street view of Fort Sam Houston was taken down. But Dr. Wilen told News 4 this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

"Accidents of information happen," explained Dr. Wilen. Dr. Wilen said the next step for the post will be to keep security tight. "Because the information is out there, once it's out there it's out there, you either have to do something about it, or you have to then change direction," said Dr. Wilen. The Defense Department is now forbidding Google from coming onto any of its installments. Source: http://www.woai.com/news/ local/story.aspx? content_id=824cb46a-dee6-4067- aaa1-9280bd2abde3&rss=68

U.S. Military Imposes Ban on Google ‘Street View’ "It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base. Our policy is to stay on public roads, but a driver broke that policy," “If you see something, say something.”

Note: No “Street View” images of NSDM or Presidio of Monterey or Ord Military Community are available on the Internet. Report attempts to photograph or map NSDM, POM or OMC to NSDM PD 656-2555/56  or POM PD, 242-7851/7852

NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

Fire engulfed five luxury homes Monday morning at a subdivision north of Seattle in what could be a case of ecoterrorism, officials said. A sign with the letters "ELF" was found at the scene of the fires
in the "Street of Dreams" development in Woodinville, Washington, said Chief Rick Eastman of Snohomish County Fire District No. 7.

CALIFORNIA EVENTS

At least one dormitory on the University of California, Davis campus was evacuated late Wednesday night after an anonymous tip led police to find potential homemade explosives in a dorm room. Authorities found two devices, and the bomb squad has been called in to deal with the potential threat. Police and firefighter units are also on the scene.

9/11 Redux: 'Thousands of Aliens' in US Flight Schools Illegally Thousands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from US flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/ll attacks, according to internal government documents obtained by ABC News. "Some of the very same conditions that allowed the 9-11 tragedy to happen in the first place are still very much in existence today," wrote one regional security official to his boss at the TSA.

UCLA Seeks Restraining Order Against ‘Terrorist’ Animal Rights Activists
The University of California went to court Thursday to try to keep animal rights activists away from University of California, Los Angeles employees who say they have been threatened because of their
research. The suit specifically requests restraining orders and injunctions against the Animal Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Brigade, the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, and five protesters
believed to be affiliated with those groups.

Pipe Bomb Found, Defused In Vehicle In Livermore A routine traffic stop Saturday led police to the discovery of several homemade explosives and bomb-making materials in Pittsburg. The driver, Paul Michalek, 45, of Pittsburg was arrested on suspicion of possessing an explosive device. He has since made bail, according to the Livermore Police Department.

TSA: More Dogs Will Be Sniffing Air Cargo As part of its effort to enhance the security of cargo being loaded onto passenger aircraft, the Transportation Security Administration is planning to increase the number of explosive sniffing dogs deployed at U.S. airports and is making arrangements to kennel those dogs at the private homes of their respective handlers. "By the end of FY08, TSA will add another 170 canine teams to the force whose primary focus will be cargo."

In July 2005, the Los Angeles Police Department caught a group of men who had been robbing gas stations in the area. While investigating, police uncovered something far worse: The gas station hits were bankrolling a terrorist plot to attack National Guard facilities, synagogues, the Israeli consulate and Los Angeles International Airport. Deputy Chief of Police Michael Downing says the group was "closer to going operational at the time than anyone since 9/11."

Thomas P. O'Brien, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, says, "An untold number of lives may
have been saved when this terrorist cell was dismantled." This story is hardly unique: Since Sept. 11, authorities have disrupted more than 20 publicly known plots against domestic U.S. targets, involving dozens of arrests at home and abroad. Some of these plots are well known, such as Richard Reid's
failed "shoe bombing" in December 2001 and the liquid explosives plot of 2006, when British investigators uncovered a plan to carry bombs on airliners bound for the U.S. Each of those incidents permanently changed airport security protocols. Then there was the plot to kill U.S. soldiers using assault rifles and grenades at Fort Dix in New Jersey, and the so-called "Lackawanna Six," who pleaded guilty to providing support to Al Qaeda. But others have passed by with little notice from the general public, as well as critics of government efforts to protect the U.S. from homegrown terror attacks.

Take, for example, Iyman Faris, of Columbus, Ohio, who plotted to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge and
was convicted of conspiracy and providing material support for Al Qaeda in 2003. Later that year 11 men with connections to Al Qaeda were discovered training for jihad in Virginia, using paint ball games to simulate battlefield situations. In 2004, James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj were convicted of
planning to bomb New York's Penn Station during the Republican National Convention. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a household name for his role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, also is known to have prepared little-known strikes against America's tallest building, the Sears Tower in Chicago, as well as the Epire State Building in New York and the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles. In contrast, Dhiren Barot may not be a familiar name, although some security experts say he should be.

An Indian convert to Islam, the Pakistan-based Barot planned a series of ruinous attacks on the U.S. and U.K, including the New York Stock Exchange and the IMF building in Washington, D.C. Barot was caught by British authorities in 2004 and sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder. Andrew McCarthy, director of the Center for Law and Counterterrorismat the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, credits much of the success in preventing terrorist attacks at home to the pursuit of enemies overseas. "There have been days in Iraq and Afghanistan," he says, "where we have killed or captured more terrorists than we did between 1993, when the World Trade Center was attacked, and 2001, when the World Trade Center was destroyed.

"But," McCarthy cautions, "once you get them over here, the rules of the justice system apply." Successful prosecutions are key to tackling terrorism, but they are not an easy process. Investigators prefer to wait for overwhelming evidence of a terrorist plot, and the timing is difficult. "It's more dangerous to let things play out because law enforcement is rarely, if ever, in control during these investigations," McCarthy says. and as a result, he says, "you don't often have well developed cases." But there have been successes, and the courts have been very active since Sept. 11. According to Sean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department, 527 defendants have been charged in terrorism or terrorism-related cases arising from investigations primarily conducted after Sept. 11.

Those cases have resulted in 319 convictions, with an additional 176 cases pending in court. It's not a perfect record for the Justice Department, but it still is a good one, says McCarthy, who prosecuted and convicted "blind sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman, ringleader of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.

THWARTED ATTACKS ON THE U.S.

By Joseph Abrams
"The batting average is not as high as it was prior to Sept. 11," when most investigations focused
on crimes already committed, "but that again is something that we are going to have to accept," McCarthy says. Allison Barrie, a security and terrorism consultant and a FOXNews.com contributor,
agrees on the difficulties. "The evidence [in these trials] is always at its best at the 11th hour," she says. Waiting until the last moment is dangerous, but "you've got to weigh that against actually getting that prosecution." • Click here to read Barrie's latest Security Barrier column. So far, that strategy has been
decisive in preventing another attack on the scale of Sept. 11. "We've just been plain lucky,"
Barrie says. And intelligence work hasn't prevented smaller attacks from being carried out. On July 4, 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a 41-year-old Egyptian national, opened fire at the E- ticket counter at LAX, killing two people before a security guard killed him. That same ticket counter later
would be targeted by those L.A. gas station robbers, a homegrown terrorist group with roots in a California prison. Homegrown groups often are difficult to detect, and the California cell was not found
through careful intelligence work; the LAPD stumbled on them by accident. They might never have been discovered. "The cliché is true," Barrie says. "Terrorists only have to be lucky once, but the good
guys have to be lucky every time."

There are six categories of information that may indicate pre-operational terrorist activity. Individuals
must know to observe and report the following:
(1) SPECIFIC THREATS. Report any threats received by any means that contain a specific time, location, or area for an attack against US forces. This may include any event or incident that indicates a potential threat to US forces, facilities or mission.
(2) SURVEILLANCE. Report any attempt to record information or use unusual means to monitor activities. Examples of surveillance include use of cameras (still or video), note taking, annotated maps or drawings, or use of binoculars.
(3) ELICITATION. Report any attempt to obtain security related information by personnel not having an appropriate clearance or need to know. Queries can be in many forms, including by mail, fax, telephone, or in person. Documents that are “For Official Use Only” such as recall or alert rosters fall into this category. Do not divulge this information to personnel except on a need to know basis.
(4) TESTS OF SECURITY. Report any attempt to measure security reaction times. Examples of security tests include penetration of physical security barriers, testing of base-entry procedures, and attempting to acquire duplicate uniforms, badges, or passes.
(5) REPETITIVE ACTIVITIES. Report any activity observed or repeated two or more times within a one-month period. Examples include activities by the same person or same vehicle, or multiple requests for the same information (classified or unclassified).
(6) SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES OR INTERESTS. Report any incident that does not fall in a specific category but is suspicious in nature. Examples include thefts of material that could be used to manufacture false identification cards or badges, missing documents, or evidence of tampering.

DO: OBSERVE AND REPORT:
• Unusual or suspicious activity or suspected surveillance
• Unusual questions or requests for information relating to capabilities, limitations or operational information
• Unusual vehicles operating in or around the installation
• Unusual phone calls, messages or emails
• Unusual contacts on or off post
• Unusual aerial activity near or around installation
• Any possible compromise of sensitive information

DO NOT:
• Discuss any aspect of military operations or planning
• Talk about military capabilities or limitations
• Discuss force protection measures, capabilities or posture
• Disclose any information related to unit deployments

REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IMMEDIATELY - YOUR CALL MAY SAVE LIVES!

Photography on Military Installations is Prohibited Per DoD instruction 5200.08, "security of
DoD installations and resources," 10 Dec 05, it is DoD policy that DoD installations, property, and personnel shall be protected and that applicable laws and regulations shall be enforced.

Commanders have the responsibility and authority (under 50 U.S. code 797) to enforce appropriate security measures to ensure the protection of DoD property and personnel assigned, attached, or subject to their command. Guidelines for such security measures are contained in DODI 5200.08 and DoD 5200.08-r, "physical security program," 9 Apr 07. Under 50 USC 797, it is a misdemeanor crime to violate defense property security regulations.

It is a crime under 18 USC 795 to photograph defense installations without first obtaining the permission of the commanding officer of the military installation. It is also a crime under 18 USC 797 to reproduce, publish, sell or give away any photograph, picture or graphic representation of a defense installation without first obtaining the permission of the commanding officer of the military installation. Finally, 18 USC 1382 makes it a crime to enter a military installation for any purpose prohibited by law or lawful regulation.

Call NSDM PD 656-2555/56  or  POM PD, 242-7851/7852
FPCON Level: ALPHA
Terrorist threat level for the United States is: SIGNIFICANT
Homeland Security current threat level is: **YELLOW – ELEVATED (ORANGE FOR AVIATION)
Significant risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the previously outlined Protective Measures, the following may be applied:
• Increasing surveillance of critical locations.
• Coordinating emergency plans with nearby jurisdictions.
• Assessing further refinement of Protective Measures within the context of the current threat information.
• Implementing, as appropriate, contingency and emergency response plans.

Current Threat Level Information
The Antiterrorism Newsletter is a product of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, Antiterrorism Section, NSDM and Presidio of Monterey, CA. The Newsletter is a review of unclassified open intelligence and security articles intended for information purposes only and
not intended or implied to replace official DoD intelligence reports.

The assessment for NSDM and Presidio of Monterey and Ord Military Community is as follows, and subject to change:

Criminal threat to NSDM / POM is                                                                                        LOW.
Gang threat to NSDM / POM is                                                                                             LOW.
Direct protester threat to NSDM /POM is                                                                            LOW.
Subversive threat to NSDM /POM is rated                                                                          LOW.
The potential Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) threat to DLIFLC is assessed as   HIGH.
The probability that a cyber attack would incapacitate NSDM/DLIFLC mission is     LOW.

PLANNED ANTI-WAR PROTESTS WITH POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE

Currently, broad spectrums of national groups have organized for a national demonstration between 15 – 22 Mar 08, called “United for Peace and Justice” and “Call to Action” against the war in Iraq. March 19, 2008 marks the 5th Anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Protest groups throughout the United States have combined to be part of the largest day of civil disobedience ever, covering fifty states. On March 19th, mass demonstrations will take place throughout the Nation, specifically in cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Washington D.C., Orlando, Chapel Hill, SC, Tampa, Baton Rouge, San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento, to mention a few.

Student demonstration web sites have announced their attempt to shut down the Hollywood Recruiting Station on 15th and 19th of March as they plan to demonstrate heavily on Hollywood Blvd. Other locations that have been identified as possible targets for non-peaceful protest are Washington, DC; Pittsburgh, PA; Orlando, FL; and San Francisco, CA.

The scheduled dates of 15-23 March 2008 coincide with many college spring breaks and could result in larger turnouts and an increase in the potential for violence. . As the 5th anniversary of the Iraqi war approaches on 19 Mar numerous protest groups have stepped up their rhetoric on protesting recruiting stations. While most are peaceful several groups have taken on a more militant tone nd have issued statements that form a direct threat towards certain recruiting stations. Recruiters are reminded to be vigilant of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity.