Program would require those who purchase, sell at least 25 pounds of chemical to register with feds
BY EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press
Updated: 08-3-2011 1:45 pm
WASHINGTON
--
More than 15 years after a fertilizer bomb was used to blow up a government building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, the federal government is proposing to regulate the sale and transfer of the chemical ammonium nitrate.
The proposal comes nearly four years after Congress gave the Homeland Security Department the authority to develop a program to regulate the compound.
Ammonium nitrate is one of the most common farm fertilizers in the world, and instructions for turning it into a bomb are available on the Internet. Its deadly potential was once again realized on July 22, when a Norwegian man allegedly blew up a government building in his country, killing eight people with a bomb that investigators believe was made with ammonium nitrate.
On Tuesday, the Homeland Security Department's proposal was posted on the Federal Register website, and the public will have 120 days to comment.
As it's proposed, the "Ammonium Nitrate Security Program" would require those who purchase, sell or transfer at least 25 pounds of the chemical in the U.S. to register with the government so that they may be screened against U.S. terror watch lists, according to a homeland security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal had not formally been published. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh used 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
"In today's ever-evolving threat environment, we must continually reinforce the security of substances, such as ammonium nitrate, which can be used for legitimate purposes or exploited by terrorists," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.
The Homeland Security Department would give registration numbers to those who are approved to buy, sell or transfer ammonium nitrate. The registrants would also be required to keep records and report the theft or loss of the chemical within 24 hours of discovering it missing.
A number of countries, including Germany, Colombia, Ireland, the Philippines and China, have banned ammonium nitrate fertilizer. And some U.S. states started to regulate its use after the chemical was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. Last year, the Afghan government banned ammonium nitrate, as the chemical most often used in bombs targeting American soldiers in Afghanistan. Such "fertilizer bombs" have also been used in Iraq in attacks against government security forces.
In late 2007, Congress passed a law requiring the department to develop a regulation program. The department missed its 2008 deadline to publish a final rule, and instead that year, it posted an advance notice in the Federal Register that it would eventually post a proposal for regulating ammonium nitrate. The public had 120 days to comment then, as well. Among the concerns was that farmers who use fertilizer with ammonium nitrate don't have the computers or computer skills to adhere to the federal government's reporting requirements.
In a September 2010 letter to the top Republican on the House Homeland Security committee, Napolitano said the department held "listening sessions" with stakeholders and created a government task force for input into the regulation.
The department already requires that businesses storing certain dangerous or combustible chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, provide regular reports on the security of those materials. But those regulations are centered on the security of the facility and not the sale and transfers of the chemical.
The bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives already regulates explosive mixtures that include ammonium nitrate. The homeland security proposal is designed not to duplicate other federal efforts, the homeland security official said.
After the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, ATF partnered with the industry group, The Fertilizer Institute, and other members of the agriculture industry to launch a voluntary reporting program for people to report suspicious activities, including thefts of ammonium nitrate.
Studies were done to see whether the explosive properties of ammonium nitrate could be made inert, said Kathy Mathers, spokeswoman for the Fertilizer Institute. That was not possible, she said, and over the years it became clear that there needed to be a formal regulating program.
"At this point, it's necessary," Mathers said of the proposed regulation. "We're lined up with Congress and DHS on this one."
Hackers crash Missouri sheriffs' association website
Computer hackers associated with an anti-security group called AntiSec have attacked the websites of at least 70 law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri Sheriffs' Association.
The attack disabled the association's website, and the hackers accessed and published the Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, usernames and passwords of scores of law enforcement officers in the state.
At least two current and one former Boone County Sheriff's Department employee had their Social Security numbers published. Other department members had their home addresses and personal email addresses published.
Brooks-Jeffery Marketing Inc. hosts the website for the Missouri Sheriffs' Association. A spokeswoman declined comment Monday afternoon.
Earlier Monday, Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey said he believed only "noncritical" information was accessed. Officials from the association were unavailable Monday morning because they were conducting a training seminar. Carey was attending the seminar.
Carey's published information included the sheriff's department address, his work email and work phone, and his username and password. His Social Security number was not listed.
AntiSec, which took responsibility for the attacks, opposes the computer security industry. AntiSec wrote that the attack is in response to recent arrests of members of another hacking group, Anonymous. The group demands prosecutors immediately drop all charges.
"To law enforcement: your bogus trumped-up charges against the Anonymous paypal LOIC attacks will not stick, nor will your intimidation tactics stop us from exposing your corruption. While many of the recent 'Anonymous' arrestees are completely innocent, there is no such thing as an innocent cop, and we will act accordingly," the group's website said.
AntiSec claims it extracted 10 gigabytes of private data from at least 70 websites. It claims to have acquired entire spools of email records from dozens of law enforcement agencies, passwords, Social Security numbers and home phone numbers and addresses of more than 7,000 officers. The group also claims to have found a list of hundreds of "snitches" who made anonymous crime tips to police and hundreds of internal police academy training files.
"In our fight for a world free from police, prisons and politicians, we will continue to expose their corruption and destroy their systems. Remember there are more of us than there are of them, and they can never stop us all," the group wrote on its website.
Copyright 2011 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Researchers discover 'indestructible botnet'
More than 4.5 million computers already infected
BY SIW EDITORIAL STAFF
SecurityInfoWatch.com
Updated: 07-1-2011 10:16 am
Researchers with anti-virus software maker Kaspersky Labs say they have discovered a new computer botnet that has already infected more than 4.5 million computers and is virtually "indestructible."
Botnets are a form of malware that allow cybercriminals to take control of numerous infected computers for malicious purposes, such as distributing spam e-mail.
According to the report, this particular botnet, dubbed "TDL-4," is being planted on websites that offer pornography, pirated content, as well as video and file storage. Researchers say the owners of the botnet are paying their online "affiliates" between $20 and $200 for every 1,000 installations of the malware depending on the location of the computers infected.
TDL-4 even features its own anti-virus protection, according to the report.
"The owners of TDL are essentially trying to create an 'indestructible' botnet that is protected against attacks, competitors, and antivirus companies," wrote the report’s authors.
Click here to read the full analysis.
NYPD pioneers new dirty bomb detection system
NEW YORK
-- The New York Police Department is testing ground-breaking counterterror technology expected to dramatically increase its ability to detect and thwart a potential radiation attack, officials said Thursday.
The technology will allow a command center in lower Manhattan to monitor 2,000 mobile radiation detectors carried by officers each day around the city. The detectors will send a wireless, real-time alert if there's a reading signaling a dirty bomb threat.
The system already is being tested under the watch of federal authorities in hopes it can be perfected and used elsewhere.
"This is the first and only place you'll see it," said Jessica Tisch, an NYPD counterterrorism official. "It's been tested in the field. It works, and we're hoping to get (the wireless detectors) deployed in a few months."
A dirty bomb - intended to spread panic by using a small explosive to create a radioactive cloud in urban settings - has never been discovered or detonated in a U.S. terror plot. But law enforcement considers dirty bombs a serious threat because they're easy to build and because of intelligence that foreign terrorists want to use them against American cities.
The radiation detection system is being developed as part of a $200 million lower Manhattan security initiative. Police say the overall plan was inspired by the so-called "ring of steel" encircling the business district in London but is broader in scope and sophistication.
The initiative will rely largely on 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras carpeting the roughly 1.7 square miles south of Canal Street, the subway system and parts of midtown Manhattan. So far, about 1,800 cameras are up and running, with the rest expected to come on line by the end of the year.
In 2008, police began monitoring live feeds from the cameras round-the-clock at a high-tech command center in lower Manhattan, home to Wall Street, the new development at ground zero, and other sites needing heightened protection.
"We're talking about some of the most significant targets anywhere in the world," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
The NYPD is using a single, high-bandwidth fiber optic network to connect all its cameras to a central computer system. It's also pioneering "video analytic" computer software designed to detect threats, like unattended bags, and retrieve stored images based on descriptions of terror or other criminal suspects.
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