HOMELAND SECURITY
01 Aug 09. Al-Qaeda supporters ‘joined MI5’. A senior Tory MP has asked the home secretary whether al-Qaeda sympathisers were mistakenly recruited by MI5. Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Home Affairs counter-terror sub-committee, said he was told six recruits were ejected after worries about their past. Two allegedly attended al-Qaeda training camps while the others had unexplained gaps in their CVs, Mr Mercer told the Daily Telegraph. A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims. Mr Mercer said he had learned that MI5 had dismissed the six recruits some time between 2005 and 2007. The MP said he feared that, in the aftermath of the bombings on London’s transport network in July 2005, the security services had rushed to try and take on Muslim recruits, and that had potentially allowed al-Qaeda sympathisers to infiltrate the security service. He has written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson asking for further details. Mr Mercer said the Commons Home Affairs committee may investigate the issue next month. He told the newspaper that the government should have been prompted to expand the security services following the attacks on New York on 11 September 2001. (Source: BBC)
24 Jul 09. FARC seeking SAM capability, says Colombian Air Force. The Colombian Air Force (FAC) acknowledged on 13 July that the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are in the process of acquiring – or may already have acquired – a batch of 20 Igla-S man-portable surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. According to several recent local newspaper reports, a Colombian intelligence unit learned in December 2008 that three FARC agents were conducting negotiations over the SAMs somewhere in Venezuela. (Source: Jane’s, JDW)
30 Jul 09. AgustaWestland announced that the government of Trinidad and Tobago has signed a contract to purchase four AW139 medium twin turbine helicopters. Trinidad and Tobago’s Air Guard (TTAG) will establish a dedicated unit to use these helicopters for search and rescue, surface surveillance, law enforcement, drug interdiction and disaster relief operations. The contract also includes an extensive training and logistical support service for the first five years. The contract, comprising the aircraft and support package, is valued at US$348m. A consortium involving AgustaWestland, Bristow Caribbean, FB Heliservices of UK and Helidex of USA will be established to manage the AW139 programme in Trinidad and Tobago with training services to be supplied in Italy, the UK and the USA. Operations will primarily take place from Piarco International Airport and from offshore patrol vessels, working in conjunction with the Coast Guard. This order marks the establishment of the first Search and Rescue helicopter unit in the country.
31 Jul 09. A Briton wanted in the United States for breaking into NASA and Pentagon networks in “the biggest military hack of all time” lost an appeal against his extradition Friday, making a U.S. trial more likely.
Gary McKinnon, 43, has fought a three-year battle to avoid extradition,
including going to the European Court of Human Rights, but he appeared to have run out of options as Britain’s High Court ruled against his latest appeal Friday. The court rejected arguments by McKinnon’s lawyers that extraditing McKinnon, who was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, would have disastrous consequences for his health, including possible psychosis and suicide. Judges also dismissed his calls for a judicial review of the case. Lawyers had challenged a refusal by Britain’s chief prosecutor to allow McKinnon to be tried in Britain, which would have avoided any need for extradition. “For the reasons set out in the judgment, the claims against the secretary of state and the Department for Public Prosecutions are dismissed,” Lord Justice Stanley Burnton said in the ruling, according to the Press Association. McKinnon, whose lawyers describe him a