Iran Sleeper Cells Parked Around the U.S.

Posted on August 21, 2018August 21, 2018 by Denise Simon

Primer: Two Individuals Charged for Acting as Illegal Agents of the Government of Iran

Could it be that law enforcement officials are working the cases diligently? This adds a deeper dimension to the work of the FBI, ICE and Border Patrol as well as all diplomatic posts in Central America and Latin America. Iran’s economy is in a free-fall, so money/revenue is most important and illicit activities, including attacks are the easiest method to raise operational funds.

Israel and Stuff » Report: Obama WH obstructed Hezbollah ...

Iranian-backed militants are operating across the United States mostly unfettered, raising concerns in Congress and among regional experts that these “sleeper cell” agents are poised to launch a large-scale attack on the American homeland, according to testimony before lawmakers.

Iranian agents tied to the terror group Hezbollah have already been discovered in the United States plotting attacks, giving rise to fears that Tehran could order a strike inside America should tensions between the Trump administration and Islamic Republic reach a boiling point.

Intelligence officials and former White House officials confirmed to Congress on Tuesday that such an attack is not only plausible, but relatively easy for Iran to carry out at a time when the Trump administration is considering abandoning the landmark nuclear deal and reapplying sanctions on Tehran.

There is mounting evidence that Iran poses “a direct threat to the homeland,” according to Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and chair of its subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence.

A chief concern is “Iranian support for Hezbollah, which is active in the Middle East, Latin America, and here in the U.S., where Hezbollah operatives have been arrested for activities conducted in our own country,” King said, referring the recent arrest of two individuals plotting terror attacks in New York City and Michigan.

“Both individuals received significant weapons training from Hezbollah,” King said. “It is clear Hezbollah has the will and capability.”

After more than a decade of receiving intelligence briefs, King said he has concluded that “Hezbollah is probably the most experienced and professional terrorist organization in the world,” even more so than ISIS and Al Qaeda.

Asked if Iran could use Hezbollah to conduct strikes on the United States, a panel of experts including intelligence officials and former White House insiders responded in the affirmative.

“They are as good or better at explosive devices than ISIS, they are better at assassinations and developing assassination cells,” said Michael Pregent, a former intelligence officer who worked to counter Iranian influence in the region. “They’re better at targeting, better at looking at things,” and they can outsource attacks to Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah is smart,” Pregent said. “They’re very good at keeping their communications secure, keeping their operational security secure, and, again, from a high profile attack perspective, they’d be good at improvised explosive devices.”

Others testifying before Congress agreed with this assessment.

“The answer is absolutely. We do face a threat,” said Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who has long tracked Iran’s militant efforts. “Their networks are present in the Untied States.”

Iran is believed to have an auxiliary fighting force or around 200,000 militants spread across the Middle East, according to Nader Uskowi, a onetime policy adviser to U.S. Central Command and current visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

At least 50 to 60 thousand of these militants are “battle tested” in Syria and elsewhere.

“It doesn’t take many of them to penetrate this country and be a major threat,” Uskowi said. “They can pose a major threat to our homeland.”

While Iran is currently more motivated to use its proxies such as Hezbollah regionally for attacks against Israel or U.S. forces, “those sleeper cells” positioned in the United States could be used to orchestrate an attack, according to Brian Katulis, a former member of the White House National Security Council under President Bill Clinton.

“The potential is there, but the movement’s center of focus is in the region,” said Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Among the most pressing threats to the U.S. homeland is Hezbollah’s deep penetration throughout Latin America, where it finances its terror activities by teaming up with drug cartels and crime syndicates.

“Iran’s proxy terror networks in Latin America are run by Tehran’s wholly owned Lebanese franchise Hezbollah,” according to Ottolenghi. “These networks are equal part crime and terror” and have the ability to provide funding and logistics to militant fighters.

“Their presence in Latin America must be viewed as a forward operating base against America’s interest in the region and the homeland itself,” he said.

These Hezbollah operatives exploit loopholes in the U.S. immigration system to enter America under the guise of legitimate business.

Operatives working for Hezbollah and Iran use the United States “as a staging ground for trade-based and real estate-based money laundering.” They “come in through the front door with a legitimate passport and a credible business cover story,” Ottolenghi said.

The matter is further complicated by Iran’s presence in Syria, where it has established not only operating bases, but also weapons factories that have fueled Hezbollah’s and Hamas’s war on Israel.

Iran’s development of advanced ballistic missile and rocket technology—which has continued virtually unimpeded since the nuclear deal was enacted—has benefitted terror groups such as Hezbollah.

“Iran is increasing Hezbollah’s capability to target Israel with more advanced and precision guided rockets and missiles,” according to Pregent. “These missiles are being developed in Syria under the protection of Syrian and Russian air defense networks.”

In Iraq, Iranian forces “have access to U.S. funds and equipment in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Iraq’s Ministry of Interior,” Pregent said.

The Trump administration has offered tough talk on Iran, but failed to take adequate action to dismantle its terror networks across the Middle East, as well as in Latin American and the United States itself, according to CAP’s Katulis.

“The Trump administration has talked a good game and has had strong rhetoric, but I would categorize its approach vis-à-vis Iran as one of passive appeasement,” said Katulis. “We simply have not shown up in a meaningful way.”

K2/Spice Overdoses, Sadly Very Common

Posted on August 16, 2018August 16, 2018 by Denise Simon

It is sold at convenience stores and costs $20-$50 per 3 grams. It is legal and is undetectable in drug tests.

It has a few names other than laced marijuana, such as K2, Spice, Genie, Mojo or Zohai. Head shops sell it as for the most part it is not regulated in the United States but is banned in most of Europe.

One K2 sample tests negative for Fentanyl as New Haven ...

Synthetic cannabinoid users report some effects similar to those produced by marijuana:

elevated mood
relaxation
altered perception—awareness of surrounding objects and conditions
symptoms of psychosis—delusional or disordered thinking detached from reality

Psychotic effects include:

extreme anxiety
confusion
paranoia—extreme and unreasonable distrust of others
hallucinations—sensations and images that seem real though they are not

People who have used synthetic cannabinoids and have been taken to emergency rooms have shown severe effects including:

rapid heart rate
vomiting
violent behavior
suicidal thoughts

More here

***

Chinese manufacturers are shipping thousands of pounds synthetic chemicals into the U.S. to make dangerous recreational drugs – and it’s all legal.

The Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. lawmakers are struggling to keep up with the influx of new, completely untested, compounds that Chinese chemists offer up online.

Websites for Chinese manufacturers advertise of host of chemical substances that can be bought legally by American citizens and shipped to the U.S.

The drugs go by street names like Spice, Bath Salts, Molly, Smiles and N-bomb. They are meant to mimic the effects of marijuana, cocaine, LSD and other banned substances. Many forms of these drugs were legal until only very recently. More here.

***

More than 70 people overdosed in or around a historic Connecticut park near the Yale University campus on Wednesday after receiving what authorities believe was synthetic marijuana laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl. Although there have been no deaths, at least two people suffered life-threatening symptoms, according to authorities.

Connecticut Public Radio‘s Diane Orson reports that at least one person has been arrested in connection with the case.

“After 8:00 [a.m. Wednesday], we ended up with 12 victims in a 40-minute period. That caused us to respond with a multi-casualty incident,” New Haven Fire Chief John Alston said. “It brought out Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven Police Department, Fire Department, [American Medical Response]. We also have representatives with the DEA here.”

Rick Fontana, the director of emergency operations for New Haven, told Connecticut Public Radio’s Tucker Ives that 72 people were transported to local hospitals while four patients refused treatment on scene, for a total of 76 cases.

“Only a few required admittance to the hospital, and most were discharged or left before any treatment,” Fontana told Ives.

Most of the overdoses occurred on the New Haven Green, a downtown park adjacent to Yale.

“We literally had people running around the Green providing treatment,” Fontana said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

“Do not come down to the Green and purchase this K2,” New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell told WVIT-TV. “It is taking people out very quickly, people having respiratory failure. Don’t put your life in harm.”

The AP reports, “Paramedics and police officers remained at the park all day as more people fell ill. Some became unconscious and others vomited, authorities said. Emergency responders rushed to one victim as officials were giving a news conference nearby late Wednesday morning.”

Connecticut Public Radio reports:

“[Fire Chief] Alston says the substance appears to be some type of synthetic cannabis, but authorities are not sure. Some of the victims were unconscious and in respiratory distress.

At first, the drug [naloxone] — used to treat narcotic overdoses — appeared not to work. ‘Narcan was not effective here at the scene,’ said Alston. ‘However higher concentrations of it in the emergency room proved effective.’

He says one of the victims still had some of the drug, which has been sent off to a lab for testing.”

The Hartford Courant said authorities had determined that patients had smoked the synthetic cannabinoid K-2 laced with fentanyl.

Officer David Hartman was quoted by the newspaper as saying the patients were being treated for overdose-related respiratory illnesses.

WVIT reports that the man arrested “is believed connected to at least some of the overdoses” and “had drugs on him at the time of his arrest, [but] has yet to be charged in any of the overdose cases.”

Gov. Dannel Malloy said Wednesday that the state Department of Public Health and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services were assisting New Haven with the rash of overdoses.

“Today’s emergency is deeply troubling and illustrative of the very real and serious threat that illicit street drugs pose to health of individuals,” Malloy said, according to the Hartford Courant. “The substance behind these overdoses is highly dangerous and must be avoided.”

The AP notes, “New Haven first responders were called to a similar overdose outbreak on the Green on July 4, when more than a dozen people were sick from synthetic marijuana. The city also saw more than a dozen synthetic marijuana overdoses in late January. No deaths were reported in either outbreak.”

The latest incident in Connecticut comes as new preliminary estimates on 2017 overdose deaths were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said a record 72,000 Americans died last year because of drug overdose — about 10 percent higher than previous figures. It said major causes of the increase in deaths are the growing number of people using opioids and the increased potency of the drugs themselves.

Google Wont Stop Following You, Regardless of Settings

Posted on August 13, 2018August 13, 2018 by Denise Simon

Even when you opt out. Even when you change the settings. Even without your knowledge. Next question that needs an answer…who is Google selling the data to?

Google is tracking your every move, apparently | Metro News photo

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.

An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so.

Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at the AP’s request.

For the most part, Google is upfront about asking permission to use your location information. An app like Google Maps will remind you to allow access to location if you use it for navigating. If you agree to let it record your location over time, Google Maps will display that history for you in a “timeline” that maps out your daily movements.

** In case you missed Tucker Carlson’s segment on Google:

Storing your minute-by-minute travels carries privacy risks. So Google will let you “pause” a setting called Location History.

Google says that prevents the company from remembering where you’ve been. Its support page states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”

But this isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking.

For example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Automatic daily weather updates on Android phones note your location. So can searches that have nothing to do with location.

The privacy issue affects some two billion users of devices that run Google’s Android operating software and hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for maps or search.

Storing location data in violation of a user’s preferences is wrong, said Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton computer scientist and former chief technologist for the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement bureau. A researcher from Mayer’s lab confirmed the AP’s findings on multiple Android devices; the AP conducted its own tests on several iPhones and found the same behavior.

“If you’re going to allow users to turn off something called ‘Location History,’ then all the places where you maintain location history should be turned off,” Mayer said.

Google says it is being perfectly clear.

“There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services,” Google said in a statement to the AP. “We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.”

To stop Google from saving these location markers, the company says, users can turn off another setting, though it doesn’t specifically reference location information. Called “Web and App Activity,” that setting stores a variety of information from Google apps and websites to your Google account.

When paused, it will prevent activity on any device from being saved to your account. But leaving “Web & App Activity” on and turning “Location History” off only prevents Google from adding your movements to the “timeline,” its visualization of your daily travels. It does not stop Google’s collection of other location markers.

You can see these stored location markers on a page in your Google account at myactivity.google.com. It’s possible, though laborious, to delete them.

To demonstrate how powerful these other markers can be, the AP created a visual map of the movements of Princeton postdoctoral researcher Gunes Acar, who carried an Android phone with Location history off and shared a record of his Google account.

The map includes Acar’s train commute on two trips to New York and visits to the High Line park, Chelsea Market, Hell’s Kitchen, Central Park and Harlem.

Huge tech companies are under increasing scrutiny over their data practices, following a series of privacy scandals at Facebook and new data-privacy rules recently adopted by the European Union.

Critics say Google’s insistence on tracking its users’ locations stems from its drive to boost advertising revenue.

“They build advertising information out of data,” said Peter Lenz, the senior geospatial analyst at Dstillery, a rival advertising technology company. “More data for them presumably means more profit.”

The AP learned of the issue from K. Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley who studies the commuting patterns of volunteers in order to help urban planners. She noticed that her Android phone prompted her to rate a shopping trip to Kohl’s, even though she had turned Location History off.

“I am not opposed to background location tracking in principle,” she said. “It just really bothers me that it is not explicitly stated.”

Google offers a more accurate description of how Location History works in a popup when you pause the setting on your Google account webpage . It notes that “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other Google services, like Search and Maps.”

There’s another obscure notice if you turn off and re-activate the “Web & App Activity” setting. It notes that the setting “saves the things you do on Google sites, apps, and services … and associated information, like location.”

The warnings offered when you turn Location History off via Android and iPhone device settings are more difficult to interpret.

Since 2014, Google has let advertisers track the effectiveness of online ads at driving foot traffic , a feature that Google has said relies on user location histories.

Racketeering and the Bloody Streets of Chicago

Posted on August 6, 2018August 6, 2018 by Denise Simon

The news reports, the headlines and numbers are head-shaking. It has to be difficult to listen to the police radios calling due to emergencies all over the city. The reporters are tasked with getting names, ages, locations and getting interviews and responses from law enforcement.

Merely reading the article from the Chicago Tribune from a very bloody weekend in Chicago was hard to finish. Getting crime statistics from the Windy City is one thing, believing them is another.

Is crime just part of Chicago’s DNA, a permanent condition given those like Dillinger, Capone or Durkin? From the earliest days of the Bureau, it was clear that agents were permanently needed in two cities—New York and Chicago. By July 21, 1908, several days before the FBI’s official birthday, the Department of Justice had assigned four special agents to Chicago.

The FBI Chicago Field Office grew larger.

On August 27, 1964, the Chicago Division moved into new space located in the just completed E.M. Dirksen Federal Building and Courthouse. Located at 219 South Dearborn Street in Chicago’s “Loop,” the Chicago FBI occupied the entire ninth floor of the building. Marlin W. Johnson was the special agent in charge, and the office included 281 special agents and 185 support employees. The Dirksen building remained the home of the division for the next 42 years. During that time, the office expanded to occupy the entire eighth and 10th floors and part of the 11th floor.

In October 1969, violent members of a radical group known as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) bombed a Chicago police memorial and fomented the “Days of Rage” riot in Chicago. An offshoot of SDS called the Weathermen—later the Weather Underground Organization—which evolved into a domestic terrorist group that used bombings, robberies, arson, and other illegal acts to further its radical political agenda. Chicago agents, along with other field offices across the country, thoroughly investigated this organization and its activities. In 1974, the Chicago Division produced an extensive summary of the group’s motivations and activities.

The FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación National/Armed Forces of National Liberation)—which advocated Puerto Rican Independence—was another 1970s terrorist group subject to intense investigation by the Chicago Division. In the early morning hours of October 27, 1975, bombs exploded outside three Chicago Loop office buildings, including the Sears Tower. A fourth device was found outside the Standard Oil building, but was disarmed before detonating.

In the late 1970s, the division opened what ended up being the FBI’s longest-running domestic terrorism investigation. On May 28, 1978, a bomb exploded at the University of Illinois at Chicago, injuring one individual. In 1979, an FBI-led task force that included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was formed to investigate the “UNABOM” case—code-named for the UNiversity and Airline BOMbing targets involved. Sixteen more bombings took place over the next 17 years, killing three and injuring more than 20 people. FBI Chicago, along with nearly all of the FBI’s 56 field offices, pursued this terrorist throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. After an extensive investigation—and a tip from the bomber’s brother—the FBI arrested Theodore Kaczynski in April 1996. Kaczynski ultimately pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

Operation Family Secrets—began in 1999 and culminated in 2005 with the indictment and arrest of 14 known or suspected members of a Chicago organized crime group for 18 unsolved mob hits. A Chicago policeman and Cook County sheriff’s deputy were also charged. The defendants all either pled guilty, were convicted in court, or died prior to trial. Read more detail here.

So, now we have a sanctuary city where gangs and illegals own the streets. Mayor Rahm Emanuel either cant get control of the city or refuses to do so. So, the people of Chicago are protesting, demanding he resign. While there is clearly political corruption in the Mayor’s office, racketeering is nothing new in Chicago. Remember Tony Rezko? He was a former fundraiser for Obama and close friend. Then there was the mortgage scandal for the land slated to be part of the Olympic Park in 2009. Moving forward to 2018, there are shady operations going on with the Obama Presidential Library.

But is there corruption within the ranks of Chicago law enforcement? Appears so.

Just this part February, multiple members of a Chicago Police Department anti-gang unit have been stripped of their authority following a federal probe into allegations that they robbed drug dealers.

In 2016, 762 homicides last year and more than 4,000 people wounded—has been described as an epidemic. Primarily gang-related, the shootings are often spontaneous and unpredictable, and the toll on victims, families, and entire communities cannot be overstated. That’s why the FBI’s Chicago Division, working with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and other agencies, has undertaken significant measures to address the problem.

Flowers, candles, and a t-shirt that says “Justice for Marc” mark the spot where an individual was killed in Chicago. photo

The tasks appear to be too daunting for the FBI in Chicago as they work with law enforcement officials.

That effort involves three major areas:

The creation in 2016 of a homicide task force—in addition to the FBI’s existing violent crimes squad—in which agents work alongside CPD detectives and other law enforcement officers to assist in solving the city’s murder cases;

Increased intelligence-gathering efforts to identify shooters and “directors of violence,” which includes embedding FBI analysts at CPD headquarters; and

Stepping up community outreach efforts to gain the public’s trust and enlist their help in solving crimes and making communities safer.

U.S. is on the Offensive, Espionage and Cyber

Posted on August 2, 2018August 2, 2018 by Denise Simon

In the last few weeks, there was the Aspen Security Forum, a 3 day event. Then there was a DNI report. Then came 2 separate nationwide conference calls hosted by CERT, the cyber division of DHS.

A remarkable White House press briefing included the heads of intelligence agencies explaining the condition of cyber/espionage and the countermeasures against Russia.

Then there is the military side, a division frankly not well known, the Defense Security Services.

See the whole 2 page release here.

And there is more:

FBI Releases Article on Securing the Internet of Things

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an article on the risks associated with internet-connected devices, commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT). FBI warns that cyber threat actors can use unsecured IoT devices as proxies to anonymously pursue malicious cyber activities.

As our reliance on IoT becomes an important part of everyday life, being aware of the associated risks is a key part of keeping your information and devices secure. NCCIC encourages users and administrators to review the FBI article for more information and refer to the NCCIC Tip Securing the Internet of Things.

*** IOT?

The internet of things, at its simplest level, is a network of smart devices – from refrigerators that warn you when you’re out of milk to industrial sensors – that are connected to the internet so they can share data, but IoT is far from a simple challenge for IT departments.

Related reading: Five IoT Predictions For 2019

For many companies, it represents a vast influx of new devices, many of which are difficult to secure and manage. It’s comparable to the advent of BYOD, except the new gizmos are potentially more difficult to secure, aren’t all running one of three or four basic operating systems, and there are already more of them.

A lot more, in fact – IDC research says that there are around 13 billion connected devices in use worldwide already, and that that number could expand to 30 billion within the next three years. (There were less than 4 billion smartphone subscriptions active around the world in Ericsson’s most recent Mobility Report.)

With a huge number of companies “doing IoT” – most big-name tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Intel, and IBM have various types of IoT play – all working to bring as many users as possible into their respective ecosystems, motivation to make sure IoT systems and devices from different companies all work with each other is sometimes lacking.

photo

The problem, of course, is that nobody’s willing to give up on the idea of their own ecosystem becoming a widely accepted standard – think of the benefits to the company whose system wins out! – and so the biggest players in the space focus on their own systems and development of more open technologies lags behind. More here.