epubdhs : Top News
DHS MORNING BRIEFING
Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

TO:
Homeland Security Secretary & Staff
DATE:
Saturday, September 14, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Top News
Washington Examiner: Biden takes executive action to crack down on fentanyl entering US through mail
Washington Examiner [9/13/2024 3:13 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 3358K, Neutral] reports President Joe Biden has taken new executive action to crack down on illegal goods, such as fentanyl, that criminals are concealing in the millions of small e-commerce packages mailed into the United States daily, particularly from Chinese entities. The Biden-Harris White House signed an executive order Friday to give officers at U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations new tools to track and intercept illegal items in shipments, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “The actions announced today by the Biden-Harris Administration will help the Department keep pace with global electronic commerce and improve our ability to protect communities from fentanyl and its precursor chemicals,” Mayorkas said in a statement. The action is meant to address the rise in shipments that fall under the “de minimis” exemption, which makes imports under $800 duty-free and does not require as many details and information, including on what is inside. More than 1.2 billion small packages come into the country every year. The new rules mean the DHS and the Justice Department will have a better chance of going after shippers who hide fentanyl or other illicit goods inside small packages.
Washington Post: Secret Service probe details failures before Trump rally shooting
Washington Post [9/13/2024 6:50 PM, Carol D. Leonnig, 52865K, Neutral] reports a Secret Service investigation has confirmed security breakdowns that paved the way for an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, while also revealing new information — including that agents never directed local police to secure the roof of the building used by the gunman, according to two senior government officials familiar with the probe. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal probe, said the investigation found that agents from Secret Service headquarters and the Pittsburgh field office had an alarmingly slipshod strategy to block a potential shooter from having a clear sight of the Republican nominee for president at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa. Agents securing the event had discussed possibly using heavy equipment and flags to create a visual impediment between the Agr International building and the rally stage, the officials said. But supervisors who arrived at Butler the day of the rally found cranes, trucks and flags were not deployed in a way that blocked the line of sight from that roof. Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to climb atop the building and open fire on Trump, wounding his ear, critically injuring two other people and killing one spectator before being fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper. The internal probe, known as a Mission Assurance investigation, is typically used to improve security practices.
FOX News: Top senators briefed on ‘major errors’ leading up to Trump assassination attempt
FOX News [9/13/2024 2:35 PM, Julia Johnson, David Spunt, 48844K, Neutral] reports a handful of leading senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) were briefed Thursday by Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on the investigation into the July assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. "I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president," HSGAC Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital following the briefing. "I do think that the director is attempting to try to make sure this doesn’t happen again. And so I do appreciate that he’s trying," Paul said after exiting the briefing. He added that "major errors" had occurred on July 13 when Trump was shot in the ear at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and one attendee was killed, while two others were critically injured. He detailed that the committee’s bipartisan interim report on the assassination attempt would be coming out in a few days. "I think it’s going to identify very specific errors that were made in this," Paul said. The Secret Service provided senators with an initial briefing just days after the assassination attempt, which left many senators unsatisfied. At the time, Johnson said "virtually no information" was shared, and the discussion was primarily meant to "check the box." A Peters aide told Fox News Digital one day after the shooting that the committee would be launching an investigation into the assassination attempt, also revealing that the chairman had been scheduled to speak with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas that weekend.
MeriTalk: FBI Counting on AI to Find the ‘Needle in the Haystack’
MeriTalk [9/13/2024 10:51 AM, Lisbeth Perez, 21K, Positive] reports that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are revolutionizing national security by their ability to quickly identify critical information from vast data sets, enabling law enforcement and intelligence agencies to find the "needle in the haystack" and stay ahead of threats, according to FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. During GDIT Emerge on Sept. 12, Abbate emphasized that the surge in data - and the requirement to derive meaning from it - is a major and escalating challenge not only for the FBI but for every organization, whether in business or government. "It’s especially urgent for us, because within all that is the information we need to stop the threat, to protect people. So, we are using technology in basic ways and looking at how we can use advanced and emerging technologies, including AI, to refine data, triage data, prioritize data, and find that ‘needle in the haystack’ that we need," Abbate said. He pointed to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center in West Virginia - the public call line for the FBI - as a key example. With such a high volume of information, prioritizing threats becomes challenging. According to Abbate, to date the average number of calls and emails coming in daily range between four or five thousand.
Newsweek: [NY] Sinola Cartel Boss ‘El Mayo’ Pleads Not Gulity
Newsweek [9/13/2024 1:48 PM, Billal Rahman, 49093K, Negative] reports that notorious drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada pleaded not guilty to charges related to narcotics trafficking, murder and money laundering. Zambada, who was arraigned in New York on Friday, is facing a 17-count indictment. He appeared before a Brooklyn court dressed in a khaki prisoner’s uniform and guarded by three federal agents. Prosecutor Francisco Navarro described "El Mayo" as "one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world. "A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes and ensure his return to court," Navarro said during the hearing. The drug lord entered the plea to the 17 felony counts he faces, which also include money laundering and weapons charges, at a hearing before U.S. Judge James Cho, who ordered that Zambada be jailed pending trial. Zambada’s defense attorney, Frank Perez, did not object to the prosecutor’s request to keep Zambada in prison, according to Reuters. "The defendant has devoted his efforts over decades to growing, increasing and enhancing the power of the Cartel-and his individual power and position in the Cartel after his partner El Chapo was captured," the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn wrote in a Thursday court filing. Zambada’s plea came in the same New York courthouse where fellow Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was convicted five years earlier.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [9/13/2024 1:47 PM, Ashley Oliver, 3358K, Negative]
USA Today [9/13/2024 4:49 PM, Josh Meyer, 79123K, Negative]
AP: [NY] Ex-NYC federal building guard gets 5-year sentence in charge related to sex assault of asylum seeker
AP [9/13/2024 6:53 PM, Staff, 34590K, Negative] reports a former security guard at a federal building in New York City where the FBI has its offices was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge related to the sexual assault of an asylum seeker. Jimmy Solano-Arias, 45, of the Bronx was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Paul G. Gardephe. Solano-Arias had pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI about the sexual assault, which occurred May 4, 2023 at 26 Federal Plaza, a building across the street from the federal courts complex where the FBI also has its New York headquarters. Prosecutors have said that if the case had gone to trial, the victim would have testified. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release that Solano-Arias used his position as an armed security officer at a federal building to sexually assault a vulnerable asylum seeker. “In so doing, Solano-Arias abused a person he was charged with protecting, and then lied to cover up his crime,” Williams said. Without his plea deal with prosecutors, Solano-Arias could have faced life in prison if he had been convicted of a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law involving kidnapping and aggravated sexual abuse.
NBC News: [OH] Bomb threats force second consecutive day of school closures in Springfield, Ohio
NBC News [9/13/2024 12:36 PM, Alicia Victoria Lozano and David K. Li, 46778K, Negative] reports that bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of public schools and municipal buildings for a second consecutive day, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention due to false claims involving its Haitian population. Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary Schools in Springfield "were evacuated from their buildings to an alternate district location," school district spokesperson Jenna Leinasars said. Roosevelt Middle School had already been "closed prior to the beginning of the school day in relation to the information received from the" Springfield Police Department, Leinasars added. In addition to those school evacuations, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were the target of an emailed bomb threat, city spokesperson Karen Graves said. A second email threatened multiple locations that included Springfield City Hall, Cliff Park High School, Perrin Woods Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School, the Bureau of MotorVehicles and the Ohio License Bureau Southside, Graves added. "As a precaution, all affected buildings have been evacuated. Authorities, with the support of explosive detection canines, have conducted thorough inspections and cleared the facilities listed in the threats," Graves said in a statement. Local police and FBI agents based in Dayton are working "to determine the origin of these email threats," the city official said.
CBS Austin: [TX] Report details former chief’s response to Uvalde mass shooting during 77-minute wait
CBS Austin [9/13/2024 10:11 AM, Robert Price, 703K, Neutral] reports that Thursday’s report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about its investigation into the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde not only offers findings and recommendations about the response from its officers, but also sheds new light on the role played by the Uvalde school district’s former police chief. Pete Arredondo is one of two officers facing criminal charges for his response to the mass shooting. His attorney insists Arredondo was not the scene commander that day and is fighting to have the felony child endangerment charges tossed. "We had 400-plus police officers respond, and it took over an hour for the situation to conclude," said Arredondo’s attorney Paul Looney. "That’s unacceptable." But Looney says that doesn’t mean his client should be charged with a crime for his response to the mass shooting. "It has allegations and it has emotional appeal, but it doesn’t even tell us that anything he did is against the law in the state of Texas," he argued. "He’s not being charged with avoiding his responsibility. He’s being charged with a crime that doesn’t exist in Texas. He wasn’t the commanding officer on scene. He responded to that situation as a police officer. He was a first responder." Now, thanks to the 200-page report from Customs and Border Protection, we’re getting a better sense of the timeline on the day of the shooting and why it took 77 minutes to confront the shooter. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]
Washington Examiner: [CA] ‘California is an open territory for the cartel to do whatever it wants’: Sheriffs
Washington Examiner [9/14/2024 4:33 AM, Bethany Blankley, 3358K, Negative] reports California residents are suffering from Biden-Harris administration “open border” policies and California’s sanctuary state law, California sheriffs argue. At a recent U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on victim perspectives, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said, “when it comes to open borders and the impact of illegal immigration in California, I have a front row seat to the havoc those can wreak.” Boudreaux is among many sheriffs in the state who don’t support Harris for president, he’s said after their image was used in one of her campaign ads. He then described cases in the Central Valley related to the border crisis. The region is known as the agricultural heart of California and referred to as the “major breadbasket of the world” because they produce so much food, he said. The region has also had a long history with illegal immigration because an estimated 80% of agricultural workers are in the country illegally, he said. With illegal immigration comes crime, and that has stretched thin law enforcement resources, he said. “When it comes to our open border, the Central Valley is at the foot of the mountain staring down an avalanche. We are confronting a barrage of violent criminals, events, and drugs flow from the border into our community. The free flow of illicit and deadly drugs, principally fentanyl, have turned the corridors of Highway 99 and Interstate 5 into two highways of death that unleash unspeakable carnage.”
San Diego Union Tribune: [CA] Who will run a new migrant aid center? After months of talks, county is back to the drawing board
San Diego Union Tribune [9/13/2024 4:21 PM, Emily Alvarenga, 3336K, Neutral] reports after two months negotiating with a potential contractor to run a migrant center, San Diego County is going back to the drawing board to select an operator for a transfer center and respite shelter to help recently arrived migrants. The county and Jewish Family Service of San Diego couldn’t develop a sustainable plan and agreed to end contract talks for the nonprofit to operate the center, they announced Friday. He said the county would continue with its procurement process for these services, but when it would announce a new operator and begin contract talks wasn’t clear.
Telemundo 51: [Panama] Nearly 160,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darien jungle so far in 2024
Telemundo 51 [9/13/2024 1:42 PM, Staff, 325K, Neutral] reports that Venezuelans crossing the Darien jungle into Panama continue to number in the thousands and are by far the nationality with the largest number of migrants crossing the dangerous path, commonly used en route to the United States. Cubans, for their part, rank 17th among the countries that use that jungle to reach Panama, according to figures from the authorities of that country. At least 244,243 migrants have crossed the dangerous Darien jungle, the common border between Panama and Colombia, so far in 2024, a decrease of 110,056 passers-by compared to the same period last year, which represents a drop of 31%, according to figures released last Monday by the Panamanian government. The National Migration Service of Panama indicated, in a publication on X along with an infographic, that until this Monday, September 9, 244,443 migrants have passed through that jungle while until that date in 2023 there were 354,299 migrants, a "variation" of -31%. The migration information highlights that "the majority of migrants are from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and China" and in the records broken down until August of this year, it can be seen that in 2024 158,682 Venezuelans had passed through the jungle. Ecuador and Colombia did not reach 15,000 migrants in August. As for Cubans, in 2024 (until August), 577 nationals of that country had passed through the dangerous jungle. Panamanian authorities estimate that in 2024 some 320,000 migrants will cross this jungle, a 38% reduction compared to the historic record of 520,000 who crossed last year, and which they link to the new migration control policies implemented by the new Executive, whose mandate began on July 1.
Miami Herald: [Venezuela] Forced exile of Edmundo González raises questions about Biden’s approach to Venezuela
Miami Herald [9/13/2024 12:05 PM, Nora Gamez Torres, 6765K, Neutral] reports that the forced exile to Spain of Edmundo González, the opposition candidate who won the recent presidential election in Venezuela, has raised new questions about how the Biden administration has handled one of the worst political crises in the Western Hemisphere and the limited foreign policy tools available to the U.S. and international partners to counter authoritarian governments. González left for Spain on Sunday after officials loyal to Nicolás Maduro, the country’s strongman who was declared the winner of the election by the electoral council without proof, ordered his arrest. His exit diminishes hopes of a democratic transition in the country. Led by conservative leader María Corina Machado, the opposition delivered chavismo’s most significant defeat in the July 28 election, in which González won by a landslide, according to tally receipts from more than 80% of the voting machines that the opposition published online and were verified by the Carter Center. U.S. officials have taken credit for the fact the elections took place at all, following secret negotiations with Maduro. Still, questions linger about how well prepared they were for a scenario, forewarned by many, in which the Venezuelan ruler stole the election. “We got an election but is that the endgame?” asked Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas in Washington. “The opposition has done everything and finds itself exposed to repression and a radicalized government, but the U.S. won’t even acknowledge González as president-elect.” Farnsworth said he was “disappointed” that the administration did not have “an entire menu of options” ready to put into action, beginning with the July 28 election results and stretching all the way until González was to be sworn into office in January. “
The Hill: [China] Chinese maritime cranes pose national security risk at ports, House GOP warns
The Hill [9/13/2024 5:31 PM, Tobias Burns, 19591K, Neutral] reports that U.S. reliance on Chinese maritime cranes is presenting a national security risk since the cranes can be accessed remotely with built-in modems, Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party warned in a staff report Friday. Describing the modems as “hidden” and “unauthorized,” the committee said its discovery was troubling, as the modems were not requested by U.S. ports or mentioned in relevant legal contracts. “These cellular modems, not requested by U.S. ports or included in contracts, were intended for the collection of usage data on certain equipment. This constitutes a significant backdoor security vulnerability that undermines the integrity of port operations,” the staff report says. The cranes in question are made by the Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (ZPMC), a state-controlled enterprise in China that does business with ports all over the world. House Republicans, expressing alarm at the potential vulnerability, also noted ZPMC and similar Chinese companies were not contractually prohibited from installing backdoors into their hardware. “ZPMC and other [Chinese state-owned enterprises] are not contractually barred from installing backdoors into equipment or modifying technology in ways that could allow unauthorized access or remote control, enabling them to compromise sensitive data or disrupt operations within the U.S. maritime sector at a later time,” the report said. “Due to our constant work with the U.S. Coast Guard, other federal law enforcement, and private sector experts, there have been no known security breaches involving port equipment to date,”AAPA President and CEO Cary S. Davis said in a Thursday statement responding to the congressional report.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Newsweek: [NY] Migrant With Fake New York ID Suspected of Murdering Family of Four
Newsweek [9/13/2024 5:35 PM, Dan Gooding, 49093K, Negative] reports a Dominican man is suspected of murdering a family in their home in New York state after arriving in the country illegally and obtaining a fake ID. The bodies of two adults and two children were found inside a burning home in Irondequoit, near Rochester, on August 31. It took almost two days to assess the scene and identify those killed. Fraime Ubaldo, 30, Marangely Moreno-Santiago, 26, and their children Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, 4, and Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno, 2, were all declared deceased by emergency responders. On Friday, the Irondequoit Police Department said it had made an arrest on September 7 and had subsequently charged Julio Cesar Pimentel Soriano, 34, with four counts of first-degree murder. The Dominican man was believed to have entered the United States illegally through Puerto Rico and obtained a fraudulent New York state ID, which allowed him access to the mainland. Soriano is wanted for another murder in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and is listed as a fugitive by the Dominican Republic National Police.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [9/13/2024 9:11 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 48844K, Negative]
Yahoo! News: [IN] Mexican man living in Goshen sentenced for illegal reentry
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 12:01 PM, Staff, 60726K, Negative] reports that a Mexican man who had illegally reentered the United States and was living in Goshen after failing to register as a sex offender has been sentenced in federal court to two years in prison. Jose De Leon Medina, 39, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry of a removed alien and failure to register as a sex offender, according to U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty. According to documents in the case, De Leon Medina, a citizen of Mexico, was convicted of child molesting in 2019 and was required him to register as a sex offender. After De Leon Medina completed his sentence of imprisonment for the crime, he was removed from the United States to Mexico. Two months later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials learned De Leon Medina had illegally reentered the United States and was living in Goshen. De Leon Medina had also failed to register as a sex offender. This case was investigated by U.S, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerome W. McKeever.
Chicago Tribune: [IL] Home search leads to Buffalo Grove man being charged with multiple felonies, police say
Chicago Tribune [9/13/2024 4:08 PM, Staff, 5800K, Negative] reports a 33-year-old Buffalo Grove man is facing multiple narcotics charges following a joint investigation by a task force of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Group and Homeland Security Investigations. Zans Batjuks, 33, of the 400 block of Castlewood Lane, was charged with two counts each of Manufacturing Ecstasy (Class X Felonies) and Unlawful Possession of Ecstasy (Class 1 Felonies), according to a news release. Batjukas was also charged with Manufacturing/Delivery of Cannabis (Class X Felony) and Unlawful Possession of Cannabis (Class 1 Felony). The release said on Wednesday, Sept. 11, the special task force executed a search warrant for Batjuks’ home. During the search, detectives allegedly found and seized over 315 grams of MDMA, 15 ecstasy pills, cocaine, and over 5,200 grams of cannabis.
Citizenship and Immigration Services
AP: [CA] California pair convicted in Chinese birth tourism scheme
AP [9/13/2024 5:58 PM, Amy Taxin, 44095K, Neutral] reports a jury on Friday convicted a Southern California couple of running a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States without revealing their intentions to give birth to babies who would automatically have American citizenship. Michael Liu and Phoebe Dong were found guilty of one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of money laundering in a federal court in Los Angeles. The case against the pair went to trial nine years after federal authorities searched more than a dozen homes across Southern California in a crackdown on so-called birth tourism operators who authorities said encouraged pregnant women to lie on their visa paperwork and hide their pregnancies and helped the women travel to deliver their babies in the United States. Liu and Dong were charged in 2019 along with more than a dozen others, including a woman who later pleaded guilty to running a company known as “You Win USA” and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. Liu and Dong are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9.
Customs and Border Protection
MeriTalk: CBP Declares Victory in Cloud Infrastructure Campaign
MeriTalk [9/13/2024 9:10 AM, Weslan Hansen, 21K, Positive] report that the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component is declaring victory in a long technology modernization journey marked by the completion of its transition to modern cloud-based systems. CBP explained in a recent announcement that the cloud-based systems enable quicker information delivery times and "greater flexibility" to meet "everchanging CBP mission demands," and follow its retirement at the end of last year of the agency’s Mainframe as a Service infrastructure. "For nearly six decades, the mainframe era served us well as a foundation for our operations. But technology and our needs have changed," Troy Miller, the senior official performing the duties of the CBP commissioner, said in a statement earlier this year. "Our officers and agents and specialists in the field will have better access to information they need - anywhere anytime," Miller continued. The legacy mainframe system, first introduced nearly 60 years ago, was the second largest mainframe in the Federal government, trailing only the Social Security Administration. "CBP’s IT enterprise transformation involves strategic transformation, tactical operations excellence, and innovation at the speed of CBP’s 24/7 mission," commented CBP Chief Information Officer Sonny Bhagowalia. "This historic milestone embodies the incredible teamwork of all the Department of Homeland Security, CBP, and Industry stakeholders over time using business and IT best practices to meet the mission needs faster, better, more securely, and more affordably," the CIO said.
Palm Beach Daily News: [FL] Palm Beach restaurant worker charged with labor trafficking of girl, 17
Palm Beach Daily News [9/13/2024 6:02 PM, Kristina Webb, Negative] reports a 17-year-old girl was smuggled from Guatemala to the U.S. border over a grueling 10-day stretch. A relative of the teen, a 40-year-old West Palm Beach woman, was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit while she was working at a Worth Avenue restaurant on Thursday afternoon. Investigators charged the woman with labor trafficking of a minor and with child neglect without great bodily harm. The woman is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail, court records show. The girl told PBSO investigators she was smuggled from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border, where she was taken into custody by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. While in detention — the arrest report does not mention where she was held — the teen first contacted the woman, whose relationship to the teenager was redacted from the report released by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office. The two had not met before the teen arrived in the U.S.
Border Report: [TX] South Texas border resident sentenced to 5 years for human smuggling ring
Border Report [9/13/2024 3:06 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 121K, Negative] reports a South Texas resident from the border town of Pharr was sentenced to five years in federal prison for smuggling “thousands” of undocumented migrants from Mexico and trafficking a teen girl for sex, U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani announced Friday. Isaac Jake Gonzalez, 21, must serve five years in prison and three years supervised release, U.S. District Judge David Morales of Corpus Christi ruled. Gonzalez plead guilty on March 30, 2023, on three counts of bringing in and harboring aliens, according to federal court documents. Authorities said in court that Gonzalez and his brother-in-law Anthony Williams were arrested for a smuggling ring that brought in “thousands of undocumented’ migrants in tractor-trailers across the border from Mexico into South Texas since the summer of 2021. Gonzalez was responsible for smuggling 115 undocumented migrants, Hamdani said. Three other co-conspirators also were arrested on similar charges in connection with the smuggling ring, court documents show.
Telemundo 48 El Paso: [TX] 23 migrants found hiding inside a trailer in Deming
Telemundo 48 El Paso [9/13/2024 3:01 PM, Staff, 23K, Negative] reports at least 23 migrants were detained after being discovered inside a trailer on the highway heading to Deming. The El Paso Sector Border Patrol announced the incident on social media, describing it as a "human smuggling scheme" involving a tractor-trailer and detaining 23 migrants. They reported that in fiscal year 24, 22 semi-trucks and 343 people were arrested for incidents of the same category.
Border Report: [CA] Lack of money for CBP officers holding up construction of new border crossing, official says
Border Report [9/13/2024 6:34 PM, Salvador Rivera, 121K, Neutral] reports construction for the proposed Otay Mesa II Port of Entry, which is already two years behind schedule on the U.S. side of border, has hit another snag: No money for U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. Joaquín Luken, executive director of the Smart Border Coalition, says until a budget is finalized and money allocated for CBP officers to work at the crossing, construction can’t get started. The new port of entry was slated to open at the end of this month, but money and design issues have prevented the start of construction on the U.S. side of the border. On the Mexico side, however, the facility is almost done, and Baja California officials have said they’ll be ready to go as planned. Luken fears the funding issue could further delay the port of entry’s opening. It’s now not slated to open until 2027.
CBS Austin/FOX News: [Mexico] Mexican government buses migrants to US southern border for CBP One appointments
CBS Austin [9/13/2024 3:34 PM, Ray Lewis, 703K, Neutral] reports a bus transporting migrants from a southern Mexico city has arrived in a town at the country’s border with Texas, the Mexican National Institute of Migration announced on Wednesday. The bus pulled up to a station in Reynosa this week with people who boarded in Tapachula, a city west of the Mexico-Guatemala border, the government institute posted on social media. It wrote on X that the bus was carrying migrants who scheduled appointments with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) app CBP One, which allows people to request appointments if they don’t have the documents needed to legally enter the U.S. FOX News [9/13/2024 12:12 PM, Staff, 48844K, Neutral] reports that the Mexican National Institute of Migration posted the video of what it said was the first bus transporting "foreigners" from Tapachula, in the south of the country near Guatemala, to Reynosa near the U.S. border. It said that migrants will attend their appointments scheduled via the CBP One app. It is part of an "Emerging Safe Mobility Corridor" launched by the Mexican government last month. The CBP One app was expanded during the Biden administration to allow up to 1,450 migrants per day to schedule an appointment at a U.S. port of entry to be paroled into the U.S. if they meet certain conditions. The app also allows them to upload documents ahead of that appointment. The Biden administration has said that the app is a key part of its migration strategy, which involves increasing funding to the border while expanding "lawful" migration pathways. It has also used the app to allow up to 30,000 nationals from four countries to fly directly into the U.S. after being approved. DHS is also pointing to a sharp decrease in apprehensions since President Biden signed an order to allow authorities to temporarily suspend the entry of illegal immigrants across the border. Officials say that has led to a 50% decrease in apprehensions since that time. It also says it has removed more than 131,000 individuals to 144 countries, including 420 international deportation flights. Officials say they have also tripled the percentage of non-citizens processed through Expedited Removal to Mexico while in custody.
Washington Post: [Mexico] How Mexico is helping Biden and Harris at the U.S. border
Washington Post [9/14/2024 5:00 AM, Mary Beth Sheridan, 52865K, Neutral] reports that, with detentions at the U.S. border plunging to a four-year low, everyone is angling for the credit. Democrats highlight President Joe Biden’s tougher asylum policies. Republicans point to Gov. Greg Abbott’s razor-wire barriers on the Texas border. But a major reason for the drop can be seen 800 miles south of the border in this sleepy, palm-shaded city closer to Guatemala than to the United States. Here, sleek white government buses roll in, one after another, to disgorge groups of bewildered migrants. The foreigners have been stopped at highway checkpoints or plucked from buses and trains, caught in a massive dragnet set up by Mexico under U.S. pressure. But the government can’t afford to deport them. So it sends them back here to southern Mexico — where many simply turn around and head north again. Officials call it “El Carrusel.” The merry-go-round. The tactic isn’t totally new, but is being employed more aggressively than ever before. Since the start of this year, the Mexican government has bused around 10,000 migrants a month to the south, roughly double the figure last year, according to official data obtained by the migrant activist Gretchen Kuhner. Thousands more captured migrants are loaded onto planes or minibuses for the trip. Senior U.S. officials and migrant advocates say the operation is a major factor in the stunning fall in apprehensions at the U.S. border, down 77 percent since December. But it’s unclear whether the results are sustainable. The number of migrants camped out in Mexican cities is rising. And advocates and aid workers worry about the human toll.
Bloomberg: [China] White House Targets Chinese Retailers With Planned Trade Fix
Bloomberg [9/13/2024 3:25 PM, Clara Hudson, Neutral] reports the Biden administration is moving to narrow a trade loophole that Chinese online retailers like Shein and Temu have used to ship a torrent of packages containing cheap goods into the US every day. White House officials on Friday announced they intend to propose rules that would rein in use of the so-called de minimis exemption allowing products worth less than $800 to go directly to consumers without customs declarations or duties. The measures are aimed at reducing the evasion of US tariffs on Chinese goods and preventing fentanyl-laced shipments from entering the country. They would remove de minimis eligibility from products subject to trade enforcement actions under Section 301 and Section 201 of the US Trade Act, and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. The administration is also pursuing rulemaking for new information collection requirements and “implementing new steps” to ensure that products meet consumer safety standards, said Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for international economics. The Department of Homeland Security has ramped up enforcement of the Uyghur law this year, and Customs and Border Protection said it would heighten screening for packages claiming the de minimis exemption that could be tied to forced labor.
Transportation Security Administration
Miami Herald: TSA reveals plan to clamp down on airport rule many don’t like
Miami Herald [9/13/2024 11:15 AM, Veronika Bondarenko, 6765K, Neutral] reports that While flying anywhere internationally unquestionably requires a passport, domestic flights within the United States have some rules that have been subject to controversy for nearly two decades. When then-President George W. Bush pushed forward the Real ID Act in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in May 2005, the consideration had been to create a single standard of identification verification since some states have much stricter laws for issuing a driver’s license than others. Obtaining a federally-accepted Real ID requires providing not just proof of identity and address, but also a Social Security number and documentation of one’s immigration status in the United States. You may really have to get that ID updated this time While the goal was to soon start requiring Real ID-compliant documents to gain access to certain federal buildings and get on a flight, implementation proved difficult and the deadline for requiring one to fly has been delayed long enough for some kids born after the bill’s passing to reach adulthood. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) initially announced that it would start requiring driver licenses with the Real ID red star by 2008, but amid the challenges of getting millions of people to apply for new identification, the deadline was later pushed back to 2011 and then 2015, 2018 and 2020. The pandemic did not help matters and other extensions were given until 2023 and 2024. The “it’s for real this time” deadline has now been set for May 7, 2025 but the TSA, while stressing that it does want to see it respected, acknowledged that a “history of extensions” means that the public is likely to “not feel the urgency” of needing to renew their application.
Newsweek: Post-9/11 Airport Safety Measure Could Be Delayed Again After 20 Years
Newsweek [9/13/2024 3:06 PM, Jasmine Laws, 49093K, Neutral] reports that an airport safety measure, which was passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers to combat terrorism and identity fraud, could be delayed again until 2027. The measure involved requiring those over the age of 18 traveling domestically to still provide a federally compliant identity card, or a Real ID, at airport security and was meant to come into action next year, according to Homeland Security. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has instead proposed a phased approach to the installment of the new law. The TSA report explained that the phased approach would allow Federal agencies to "start card-based enforcement in a manner that reduces potential disruption to operations, reduces negative public impact, and supports a smooth transition to full card-based enforcement." Giving the example of agencies beginning the enforcement by "issuing warning notices" or "through progressive consequences," the TSA added that this would "mitigate the risks of an immediate transition." This would mean that passengers of flights traveling within the U.S. who do not have a federally compliant ID card on them at the airport security checks could be handed a non-compliant ID slip saying their license needs to be upgraded, according to Thrifty Traveler. The TSA warned that without the gradual implementation of the new rule, Federal agencies could face a "serious risk of operational disruption, negative public impact, and potential security vulnerabilities." As around 56 percent of identification cards in circulation were federally compliant as of January 2024, according to the TSA report, the TSA explained this would have a "real possibility of disruptions" to travel if the law was to come into action on the originally proposed date of May 7, 2025.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Yahoo! News: Tropical Storm Gordon forms in Atlantic, hurricane forecasters eye track
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 10:25 PM, Doyle Rice, 60726K, Negative] Video: HERE reports Tropical Storm Gordon, the seventh named storm of what’s predicted to be an extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, formed Friday morning far out in the open ocean. As of 9 p.m. ET Friday, the storm was just over 2,400 miles from the U.S. East Coast and is moving to the west-northwest at 10 mph. The official forecast track from the National Hurricane Center shows Gordon slowly meandering west across the open Atlantic for the next few days, potentially even weakening to a tropical depression. Beyond that, most computer models show the system curving out to sea away from North America. Meanwhile, Francine weakened to a post-tropical cyclone but was still a dangerous storm pounding heavy rain across portions of the Southeast and Tennessee Valley. At 5 p.m. EDT Friday, the center of Tropical Storm Gordon was located about 1,045 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph. The storm is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph. A turn westward is forecast by later tonight, with the system slowing down through the weekend. Slight strengthening is expected today before a weakening trend begins on Saturday, the hurricane center said.
Miami Herald: [FL] Fire crews continue to battle 3 Southern California wildfires
Miami Herald [9/13/2024 1:43 PM, Clyde Hughes, 6765K, Negative] reports that three major wildfires continued to burn around southern California on Friday, fueled by dry brush and triple-digit temperatures that have led to more than 110,000 acres being charred, state forest crews said. The Bridge Fire, which was 3% contained on Friday, has destroyed at least 40 homes and is threatening thousands of others after burning nearly 52,000 acres. The origins of the fire, which started on Sunday, remained under investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard The Airport Fire started Monday and was 8% contained as of Friday. The blaze, which started fire in the Trabuco Canyon has now spread to Riverside County. Officials said that they believe the fire was started accidentally by a spark from heavy equipment used by public workers. The wildfire has now burned nearly 25,000 acres. The Line Fire, which started last Thursday, is the oldest of the three fires and has burned more than 37,000 acres as of Friday. Fire crews have managed to get the blaze 21% contained and is being blamed on arson. Authorities charged Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, with nine counts of arson that have caused more than $7 million in damage so far. At least one firefighter suffered a serious injury in battling the blaze.
AP: [LA] After storms like Francine, New Orleans rushes to dry out
AP [9/13/2024 4:55 PM, Michael Phillis and Kevin McGill, Neutral] reports Hurricane Francine rapidly strengthened before making landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people, flooding a cemetery and dumping rain on New Orleans, a city that relies on a uniquely complicated network of canals and pumps to get the water out. More than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas, outpacing its drainage system. By Thursday, officials said they had emptied out the rain, but that job requires an immense amount of infrastructure vital to keeping New Orleans habitable. At a post-Francine news conference on Friday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the drainage system had improved over the years, but there was more work to do. The Republican said state and federal emergency officials are working with the city to determine where pumps and power generation are needed.
AZ Central: [AZ] As heat and smoke imperil millions, advocates urge FEMA to free up disaster aid
AZ Central [9/13/2024 2:09 PM, Hayleigh Evans, 5146K, Negative] reports that temperatures soared across the country this summer and thermometers reached — and stayed at — triple digits throughout the Southwest. Wildfires continue to rage in California and other western states, clouding the skies and exposing millions of Americans to harmful air pollution from smoke. As heat deaths rise and smoke clouds choke communities, a growing chorus of local governments and environmental groups are urging the federal government to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recognizes as ‘major disasters’ catastrophes like hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, earthquakes, wildfires and flooding. Under the Stafford Act, FEMA and the president can provide funding and resources for state and local governments to address natural catastrophes. However, extreme heat and smoke are not included in the list, so state and local governments cannot benefit from the resources offered under the act. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero wrote a letter, co-signed by 16 mayors from Arizona, California, Texas and other states nationwide, urging FEMA to amend its regulatory definition for major disasters. “Extreme heat is the silent killer,” Romero said. “It kills more people than floods and hurricanes combined. So we’ve got to update FEMA in its rulemaking in how to deal with our new reality because of climate change.”
AP/Los Angeles Times/NBC News: [CA] Firefighters gain ground on 3 huge Southern California blazes
The AP [9/14/2024 9:34 PM, Jaimie Ding and Olga R. Rodriguez, 20K, Negative] reports that, helped by cooler temperatures, firefighters gained ground Friday against three blazes in Southern California and authorities began scaling back evacuation orders that displaced thousands of people. The largest is the Bridge Fire east of Los Angeles, which has burned 81 square miles (210 square kilometers), torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. The cause of the fire is not yet known. After days of burning without fire crews being able to stop its forward march, it was 3% contained on Friday. “Firefighters made great progress on the ground, aided by aircraft to attack the fire aggressively 24 hours per day,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement. While firefighters have made significant progress, the three major wildfires that have ravaged the mountains east of Los Angeles, destroying dozens of homes, injuring a dozen people, and burning more than 155 square miles (400 square kilometers), still pose significant threats to some communities. The Los Angeles Times [9/13/2024 7:00 PM, Salvador Hernandez and Joseph Serna, 26099K, Neutral] reports that on Friday, containment of the 51,884-acre Bridge fire increased to 3% after days of marching its way north over the Angeles and San Bernardino National forests with crews unable to contain any of its perimeter. More than 5,000 structures remain threatened by the flames and dozens of buildings destroyed. Firefighters there and to the east fighting the Line fire and to the south battling the Airport fire in Orange and Riverside counties have been counting on a break from days of extreme heat and low humidity as an opportunity to start to corral the out-of-control blazes. Firefighters on the Bridge fire Friday are focusing their attention on the north flank of the fire, protecting the communities of Piñon Hills, Wrightwood and Mount Baldy Village, Haskett said. NBC News [9/13/2024 11:25 PM, Dennis Romero and Todd Miyazawa, 46778K, Neutral] reports crews battling three major California fires could get some relief from record heat and help from the weather as a cooldown preceded minor containment for the blazes. The Airport, Bridge and Line fires have collectively burned over 114,000 acres of land in the state since they ignited this month, destroyed more than a dozen of structures and injured at least 15 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as CalFire. None is fully contained. A high pressure system that has baked the west for much of September moved eastward and opened the door to cloud cover, ocean breezes, and the possibility of showers. Hot, flame-fanning winds from the desert are dissipating, and the cooler temps may help firefighters give the blaze their best. The Airport Fire, which started Monday in the area of Trabuco Canyon, about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles, expanded to 23,494 acres, according to CalFire. On Friday, firefighters got their first sign of victory — 9% containment. "Crews had an outstanding day yesterday," Craig Covey, operations chief for the blaze, said in a video update Friday.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [9/13/2024 2:13 PM, Staff, 27782K, Negative]
New York Times: [HI] No Criminal Charges Expected in Aftermath of Maui Wildfire
New York Times [9/13/2024 8:36 PM, Mike Baker, 147417K, Neutral] reports investigators in Hawaii have found a series of failures that contributed to last year’s deadly wildfire in the town of Lahaina, but the state attorney general’s office said on Friday that it did not expect to file criminal charges against anyone involved in the response. The attorney general, Anne Lopez, released a report identifying a range of problems in the response to the fire, including a statewide culture of minimizing the risks posed by wildfires, a lack of preparedness on the island of Maui even when conditions were forecast to be dangerous, and a series of flawed decisions during the fire that delayed evacuating people who were in danger. The fire ultimately left more than 100 people dead. But a spokeswoman for the attorney general said that based on the information gathered thus far, no criminal charges would be filed. “This report makes it clear that no one event, person or action caused the result or outcomes of this fire,” Ms. Lopez said at a news conference in Honolulu. Several agencies have now released a series of lengthy reports about the inferno — Friday’s was more than 500 pages — but none of them have answered some of the key remaining questions, including the reason for delays in sending evacuation alerts to cellphones and a conclusive determination of how the fire started and spread.
AP: [HI] Report finds ‘no evidence’ Hawaii officials prepared for wildfire that killed 102 despite warnings
AP [9/13/2024 6:10 PM, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Audrey McAvoy and Gene Johnson, Neutral] reports investigators reviewing the emergency response to last year’s wildfire that killed 102 people on Maui said in a report released Friday they found “no evidence” Hawaii officials made preparations for it, despite days of warnings that critical fire weather was coming. That lack of planning hindered efforts to evacuate the historic town of Lahaina before it burned, the report said. But in the ensuing days, the report found, there is no evidence that key agencies — the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Maui Fire Department, Maui Police and others — developed plans for dealing with severe wildfire risk, such as by having extra staff on duty, stationing emergency vehicles or supplies in high-risk areas, or plotting possible evacuations. The review determined that the lack of planning fit a long pattern of apathy to wildfire risk in Hawaii, where tsunamis and hurricanes are considered more pressing dangers, and it was among many factors that set the stage for the catastrophe.

Reported similarly:
Hawaiʻi Public Radio [9/13/2024 4:04 PM, Ashley Mizuo, 95K, Neutral]
Bloomberg: [HI] Hawaii Probe Finds No Single Factor Led to Maui Wildfire Losses
Bloomberg [9/13/2024 5:28 PM, Mark Chediak, 27782K, Negative] reports no single factor led a fire in the seaside Hawaiian town of Lahaina last year to rage out of control and kill 102 people, according to a state report that assesses the government’s response to the disaster but not its root cause. The report released Friday by the state’s attorney general blamed the devastation on a confluence of issues, including decades-old utility infrastructure, the weather, lack of preparedness, and poor communications among emergency responders. The report won’t be the final word on the disaster, the country’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has conducted an investigation into the fire’s origin but has not yet made its findings public. The August 2023 blaze damaged or destroyed about 2,200 structures, mostly homes, and caused damages estimated at $5.5 billion.
Secret Service
Washington Examiner: Josh Hawley says lead advance agent at Butler rally failed exams
Washington Examiner [9/13/2024 1:06 PM, Luke Gentile, Neutral] reports Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) reported Thursday that the Secret Service’s lead advance agent in charge of former President Donald Trump’s trip to Butler, Pennsylvania, where the assassination attempt on his life occurred, failed one or more of her training exams. “The Trump rally was undermanned. It was understaffed. They did not have people who had experience on it,” Hawley said on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime. “Now this advance agent, I’m told, may have failed one or more of her training exams and was known not to be a top quality agent. I mean, this is absurd.” Information on the agent is the product of whistleblowers speaking out months after the former president’s ear was grazed by a gunman’s bullet at the July rally, according to the senator. “The fact that the director will not level with the American people about what’s going on here is just totally unacceptable and unbelievable,” Hawley said. Kimberly Cheatle, former director of the Secret Service, wanted to increase the percentage of female agents in the organization, which Hawley said made him question how this female agent could have her performance record and still be named as lead advance agent. “If she was known not be really one of the Secret Service’s top agent, she’s in the Pittsburgh office, why was she put in charge of the entire trip?” he said. “I mean the whole thing. She was in charge of the whole works. From the time the president landed to the time he went to Butler. It’s just totally inexplicable.” “I’m told by people close to and have knowledge of the Secret Service’s own internal investigation that the Department of Homeland Security is leaning on the Secret Service not to comply with document requests to Congress,” Hawley added.
NECN.com: [MA] Brookline police searching for man accused of card skimming
NECN.com [9/13/2024 11:49 AM, Munashe Kwangwari, 207K, Neutral] reports shoppers in Brookline, Massachusetts, are being asked to check their bank statements after a credit card skimmer was found at a local supermarket. The credit card skimmer was found Tuesday at the H-Mart on Beacon Street. Brookline police say they are still searching for the man responsible and asking for the public’s help in identifying him. The man in question appears to act like a customer, and while at the checkout terminal, he waited for the right time to take the skimmer out of his pocket and slip it on the terminal. The device was placed on Aug. 23, according to police. It’s unclear how many people were impacted. Police urge anyone who shopped in the last month to check their account. If you discover you are a victim, you’re encouraged to report it both to police and to your credit card company. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]
United States Department of Justice: [PA] Johnstown Man Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charge in Connection with Series of International Fraud Scams
United States Department of Justice [9/13/2024 2:00 PM, Staff, Positive] reports a resident of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today. John M. Trabert Jr., 54, pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines on September 12, 2024. In connection with the guilty plea, the Court was advised that, from in and around January 2020 through in and around March 2022 in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Trabert knowingly and unlawfully conspired with other individuals to commit money laundering by acting as a “money mule”— a person who, at someone else’s direction, receives and moves money obtained from victims of fraud—in a variety of romance, real estate, and gold scams. The scheme consisted of a co-conspirator outside of the United States directing victims, who believed they were investing in real estate, gold, or financial support of a fictional love interest, to send funds to one of Trabert’s bank accounts. Trabert then conducted financial transactions using proceeds of the fraud scams at the direction of and in concert with his co-conspirator, with Trabert retaining a portion of each transaction as personal profit. The United States Secret Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Trabert.
WTAJ: [PA] Johnstown man pleaded guilty in federal court after international fraud scams
WTAJ [9/13/2024 4:11 PM, Hayden Thompson, 144K, Positive] reports a Johnstown man pleaded guilty in federal court to a conspiracy to commit money laundering charge. John Trabert Jr., 54, pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Stephanie Haines on Sept. 12, according to United States Attorney Eric Olshan. From Jan. 2020 through March 2022, Trabert knowingly and unlawfully conspired with other individuals to commit money laundering. Trabert was the “money mule,” which is a person who, in someone else’s direction, receives and moves money obtained from victims of fraud. The fraud came from a variety of outlets, including romance, real estate and gold scams. The scheme consisted of a co-conspirator outside the U.S. directing victims, who believed they were investing in real estate, gold or financially supporting a fictional love interest. The victim was instructed to send funds to one of Trabert’s bank accounts, where he would then conduct financial transactions and retain a portion for personal profit. Trabert’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2025. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $500,000, or both. Assistant United States Attorney Arnold P. Bernard Jr. is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. The United States Secret Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Trabert.
TribLIVE: [PA] Skimming device at Golden Dawn is only one found recently in New Kensington, police say
TribLIVE [9/13/2024 3:28 PM, Brian C. Rittmeyer, Neutral] reports a skimming device found at a New Kensington grocery store this week is the only one the city’s police are aware of, a detective said Friday. Golden Dawn owners Gene Tommasi and Jim Faccenda said Thursday that a skimming device was found Wednesday attached to the pinpad in one of their five checkout lanes. While they believe the device, which can steal credit and debit card information, was there only a day or two before being discovered, New Kensington police Detective Sgt. Sam Long said police are not sure when it was placed. “We haven’t received any reports of financial information being compromised as a result of the skimming device,” Long said. “Many of these devices have to be retrieved by the actor who placed it in order to obtain the information from any cards used.” The device, now in possession of New Kensington police, covers the lower portion of a pinpad, including the buttons and privacy shroud. It was attached with four pieces of doublesided tape. “The terminal functions as normal, but the card information is stored on the device and then downloaded once retrieved,” Long said.
United States Department of Justice: [WV] North Carolina Woman Sentenced to Prison for Role in Counterfeit Currency Conspiracy
United States Department of Justice [9/13/2024 3:00 PM, Staff, Positive] reports Crystal Wilks, 24, of Lenoir, North Carolina, was sentenced today to one year and six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $800 in restitution for conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Harris admitted to her role in a conspiracy to create and pass counterfeit United States currency in the Southern District of West Virginia. According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 12, 2022, Wilks and co-defendants Xavier Sanders and Jamarcus Harris traveled with another individual from North Carolina to West Virginia. Wilks admitted that they passed counterfeit $100 bills at businesses in Beckley, Fayetteville and Summersville. Wilks and her co-conspirators rented a room that evening at a Summersville hotel, where they attempted to create new counterfeit United States currency. Wilks admitted that their counterfeiting process involved bleaching $1 bills, scanning a genuine $100 bill, and printing the scanned image on the bleached bills. United States Attorney Will Thompson made today’s announcement and commended the investigative work of the United States Secret Service.
K105: [KY] GCHS threat inquiry leads to multi-agency investigation into illegal firearms, other illegal activity in Grayson Co.
K105 [9/13/2024 4:14 PM, Ken Howlett, 23K, Positive] reports an investigation into a threat made against Grayson County High School has led to a multi-agency intervention involving firearms and other illegal activity. On Wednesday, the Leitchfield Police Department began investigating a potential school threat made via Snapchat. “The suspect(s) were rapidly identified through a prompt response from Snapchat and investigators immediately began developing the appropriate tactical plan to apprehend the suspects in such a way to ensure public safety, officer safety, as well as the safety of all persons at the target location,” LPD Det. Sgt. Ian Renfrow. Due to sensitive intelligence provided by Grayson County Sheriff’s Office and Greater Hardin County Narcotics Task Force, it was determined that a safe operation could not be conducted without additional resources. As a result, LPD received assistance from Kentucky State Police, the ATF and FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Secret Service as well as the Louisville Metro Police Department. “Two individuals were placed under arrest outside of the target location for second-degree terroristic threatening. This charge is specifically in reference to the threat made against Grayson County High School,” Renfrow said. At this time, police are not releasing the identities of the people arrested “due to possible infringement upon further investigations,” according to Renfrow.
Record by Recorded Future: [TN] Tennessee school district loses $3.4 million to a fake curriculum vendor
Record by Recorded Future [9/13/2024 4:02 PM, James Reddick, 310K, Neutral] reports a school district in the northeast corner of Tennessee lost more than $3 million earlier this year after an employee was tricked into sending funds intended for online curriculum materials to a fraudster. In March, the finance director of the Johnson County Board of Education — whose rural district has about 4,500 students — received an email from someone she thought was a representative of Pearson, a company that provides online courses and other materials for digital learning. In fact, the sender was using a pearson.quest, rather than “.com”, email address. After a back-and-forth exchange about banking information and payment dates, the school officer initiated two wire transfers in April totaling $3.36 million to a Wells Fargo bank account. The money came from the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement budget — a state program to help fund public schools. Nearly two weeks later, the school board’s bank was notified about potential fraudulent activity and contacted the Johnson County Schools Director Mischelle Simcox. By that point, the wired funds had already been moved into a web of other accounts. A special agent of the U.S. Secret Service tracked the funds and identified a 76-year-old Texan, John Crowson, as the owner of the recipient accounts.
Ozark Radio News: [MO] Willow Springs Police Department Seeks Information on Counterfeit Bills Received by Simmons Bank
Ozark Radio News [9/13/2024 11:00 AM, Jasmine Carroll, 77K, Neutral] reports the Willow Springs Police Department posted on their Facebook page that they are seeking information regarding counterfeit money received by several banks. On the morning of September 12, 2024, Simmons Bank contacted the Willow Springs Police Department about counterfeit currency that had been received in a bank deposit. They were also informed that the Mountain View branch had received some of the same bills. The Police Department noted that the counterfeit bills look and feel legitimate. Both bills had pen marks indicating that they passed the pen test. However, they added, “If you look closely, you can spot small discrepancies, such as matching serial numbers and an ink mark in the bottom left corner of the bill.” The department also stated that they believe the bills were passed at a local business, though the exact date is unknown. They are asking anyone with information about who may have passed the bills, or anyone who has received counterfeit bills, to contact the Willow Springs Police Department.
Wilcox Newspapers: [MI] Clare City Police warn of counterfeit bills in town
Wilcox Newspapers [9/13/2024 8:00 AM, Staff, Neutral] reports Chief Dave Saad said that two counterfeit bills recently surfaced at a bank in Clare.
Saad said these are difficult to detect because the paper is real. It’s smaller bills that that have been bleached and then reprinted with a higher denomination. One thing to look for is matching serial numbers. Saad said, “The serial numbers are matching in all the examples that were passed. During a similar situation in the City, police said, “Please take the time to look at the money you get either as an individual or business. We must all be vigilant in order to not be a victim. If you are an individual and you are given a bill from a business that you feel may not be real, ask the teller to check the bill and request a different one. Suggest that they call law enforcement. If you are a business, please encourage your employees to look at the money they are taking in.”
CBS Austin: [TX] Multiple arrests made in copycat threats against Central Texas schools
CBS Austin [9/14/2024 12:04 AM, Adela Uchida, 703K, Neutral] reports multiple arrests have been made in connection with copycat threats made against schools in Central Texas. These threats have been increasing all week following the recent deadly school shooting in Georgia. Hays Cisd announced Friday afternoon two more sixth-grade students have been arrested and charged for making threats this week, bringing the total number of arrests there to three. Austin police also arrested a man for threatening Hill Elementary in Austin ISD. We will not name the 29-year-old suspect Austin police arrested for making the terroristic threat against Hill Elementary School in northwest Austin because according to his arrest affidavit, he did this to be on the news. An expert with the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University says that is very common among people who make threats. “Perpetrators have typically been obsessed with previous mass shooters and the notoriety that often comes with that high publicity coverage, and so in these types of situations, you know, it’s that’s why it’s really important that we don’t name them and we don’t give them that public recognition that sometimes these individuals are often seeking,” said Dr. Kathy Martinez-Prather. One Hill Elementary neighbor tells us it did not make sense. “Crazy. This is a good school. Top marks for the school. You know, everybody in the neighborhood walks here. crossing guards to know everybody. It’s why anybody would make a threat beyond me,” said Tim Gaskin.
FOX 7: [TX] Social media school threats: 1 person placed in custody
FOX 7 [9/13/2024 8:56 AM, Jessica Rivera, Neutral] reports Llano ISD says one person is in custody in connection to social media threats regarding violence at schools in Central Texas cities. In a Facebook post on September 12, Llano ISD says it learned of a post circulating on social media regarding potential violence at schools in Johnson City, Marble Falls, Llano and Blanco. The situation is being investigated by Llano ISD Police Department, Granite Shoals PD, Marble Falls PD, Blanco County Sheriff’s Department and the Texas Rangers. Llano ISD says there will again be increased law enforcement presences on its campuses on September 13. There have been several reports of threats made against multiple schools across the area. Llano ISD was already investigating a threat made on September 11. The district says that the threat was also made on social media and that it believed there was no reason to believe that the threat posed a risk to any of its campuses. There was an increased law enforcement presence on September 12. Also on September 11, Hays CISD said law enforcement was alerted and started investigating threats that were circulating on social media. Among those threats, one specifically named Simon Middle School. A 6th grader has been detained and officials say the student faces, in the juvenile justice system, the equivalent to a state jail felony for making a false alarm or report. Recently, an Eanes ISD student was arrested after police were notified about a possible act of violence against another student or group of students. Superintendent Dr. Jeff Arnett says it came over Snapchat and was about a possible act of violence against another student or group of students. Eanes ISD police immediately began investigating. Within just a couple of hours, they found there was some legitimacy to the threat. The student was identified and arrested. Dime Box ISD also reported investigating an anonymous threat that happened on Monday, Sept. 9.
KWCH 12: [KS] Counterfeit bills being passed at Kansas State Fair
KWCH 12 [9/13/2024 1:08 PM, Jeffrey Lutz, 961K, Neutral] reports the Kansas State Fair is warning you to be ok the lookout for counterfeit bills. A fair spokesperson said there have been fake $20 bills circulating on the fairgrounds. You can easily check to see if you have a fake bill by holding it up to the light. You should see the Andrew Jackson watermark on both sides. When you touch a real bill, you should also be able to feel the texture of the numbers and letters when you rub your fingers across it. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]
Tracy Press: [CA] Gun, counterfeit money seized during traffic stop
Tracy Press [9/13/2024 11:00 AM, Staff, 130K, Positive] reports that, on Sunday around 4:53 p.m. a Tracy Police officer made a traffic stop on a car on the 3200 block of North Tracy Boulevard. A 29-year-old Pleasanton man in the car was on searchable probation and had multiple warrants for his arrest. Police searched the car and found a loaded firearm that was claimed by another passenger, a 20-year-old man from Tracy. The older man was booked into San Joaquin County Jail on a misdemeanor drug possession charge as well as warrants for previous drug possession charges, and the younger man was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed firearm, and possession of a firearm with identifying marks removed. A 30-year-old woman in the car was cited for possession of altered checks and counterfeit currency.
United States Department of Justice: [AK] Juneau man charged with sexually exploiting a child
United States Department of Justice [9/13/2024 11:00 AM, Staff, Positive] reports a Juneau man made his initial appearance yesterday on a criminal charge related to his alleged production of child pornography. According to court documents, William Steadman, 34, was arrested on Sept. 6 after he allegedly produced child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) depicting a minor known to him. Additionally, court documents indicate that he allegedly spent time with other children in his community. Steadman is charged with sexual exploitation of a child, also known as production of child pornography. The defendant made his initial court appearance on Sept. 12 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew M. Scoble of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker of the District of Alaska made the announcement. The U.S. Secret Service is investigating the case. If anyone has information concerning Steadman’s alleged actions or may have encountered someone in person or online using the name William Steadman, please contact mostwanted@usss.dhs.gov.
Noosa Today: [Australia] Detectives recognised with highest award from Secret Service this Child Protection Week
Noosa Today [9/13/2024 2:00 PM, Staff, Positive] reports two members from Argos have received a United States Secret Service Director’s Award for their efforts in the arrest of an offender in Ohio in October 2023 and the rescue of two children aged two years and five-weeks. The Director’s Award is the United States Secret Service’s highest award given to individuals or agencies outside of the US. It is only given in circumstances in which an organisation or individual has given extraordinary support to the Secret Service. The offending was first identified by Argos in mid-October 2023 when officers identified a man in an encrypted online platform sharing Child Exploitation Material (CEM) depicting the sexual abuse of a baby girl. Investigations by Argos identified further CEM depicting the sexual abuse of a second baby girl. The extent of the abuse was so horrific that medical evidence suggested one of the children would not survive her injuries if she was not found quickly. Over several days law enforcement across the globe worked tirelessly to identify the offender and rescue the children from further harm. Detective Inspector Glen Donaldson of Argos said that everyday Argos works collaboratively with law enforcement across the world to target high harm offenders operating on a range of online platforms. “We are incredibly proud of the award received from the US Secret Service who remain a valued partner of the Queensland Police,” Detective Inspector Donaldson said. “Whilst the officers themselves are also proud to receive such a prestigious award, the identification of the victim children and their removal from harm was the greatest reward these officers can receive.
Coast Guard
Yahoo! News: [CT] Shaheen: Coast Guard station in New Castle must get storm damage repairs
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 5:20 PM, Staff, 60726K, Neutral] reports Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, visited Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor on Friday, meeting with senior officials from the station, Coast Guard Sector Northern New England and the First Coast Guard District to discuss facility damage resulting from storms in January. After receiving a briefing on the actions the Coast Guard has taken to maintain its capabilities, officials led a walking tour and discussed next steps to repair the damaged infrastructure. “In recent years, many areas of New Hampshire have been heavily impacted by extreme weather events of increased strength and duration, including our coastal communities,” Shaheen said. “I’ll continue advocating for climate resiliency measures to ensure these communities have the resources to recover from extreme weather events when they occur and to withstand extreme weather in the future. The Coast Guard plays an essential role in keeping our communities and our country safe, which is why I’m working to get the Portsmouth Harbor Station fully repaired as soon as possible.” In January , the New Hampshire seacoast was severely impacted by a series of storms from the 14th to the 19th. During these events, Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor sustained significant damage to its seawall and boathouse. Due to the damage, the station is no longer able to dock two emergency response boats and have been forced to make alternative arrangements.
CISA/Cybersecurity
Federal News Network: CISA review: ‘Low hanging’ cyber lapses plague critical infrastructure
Federal News Network [9/13/2024 4:40 PM, Justin Doubleday, 600K, Neutral] reports phishing, stolen credentials, and other lapses in basic cybersecurity continue to be a primary avenue available to hackers, including China-linked threat groups such as “Volt Typhoon,” looking to infiltrate U.S. critical infrastructure networks. That’s the upshot from a new analysis released today by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The report breaks down the results of 143 Risk Vulnerabilities and Assessments (RVAs) CISA and the U.S. Coast Guard completed in fiscal 2023. The teams probed the cyber defenses of organizations across multiple critical infrastructure sectors. Ultimately, CISA and Coast Guard teams found they could infiltrate networks using some of the most common attack methods available, such as phishing, valid accounts, and default passwords. The red flags raised in CISA’s report come amid a steady drumbeat of warnings about cyber threats to critical infrastructure. In the latest RVA report, CISA ties many of its findings to the techniques used by Volt Typhoon and other China-connected groups.
Cyberscoop: CISA warns of hackers exploiting bug for end-of-life Ivanti product
Cyberscoop [9/13/2024 2:31 AM, Christian Vasquez, 1M, Neutral] reports an end-of-life version of Ivanti’s cloud IT service management software has a recently released vulnerability that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says is being exploited. CISA warned that organizations outfitted with Ivanti’s Cloud Service Appliance version 4.6 and below are being targeted by hackers and the bug has been added to the known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) list. The Utah-based company said on Friday that a “limited number of customers” have confirmed exploitation but did not provide further details. Additionally, the bug is the last to be ported to the end-of-life version, Ivanti said, so organizations should update to CSA 5.0 for further security updates. The bug — an OS command injection vulnerability — allows a hacker with admin rights in the software to gain remote code execution of the device. “CSA 5.0 is the only supported version and does not contain this vulnerability,” Ivanti noted. Additionally, Ivanti said “CSA configurations should be dual-homed with eth0 as an internal network.” The vulnerability — CVE-2024-8190 — was first released to the public Sept. 10 and at the time there were no known public exploits. To find evidence of compromise, Ivanti suggests reviewing CSA for new admin users. Federal civilian agencies are required to mitigate the vulnerability within 60 days after being added to the KEV list.
USA Today: [PR] Indy woman drowned in Puerto Rico trying to save girlfriend from rip currents, family says
USA Today [9/13/2024 1:25 PM, Taylor Ardrey, 79123K, Neutral] reports that a 22-year-old Indianapolis woman was found "submerged and unresponsive" while on vacation in San Juan, Puerto Rico, earlier this week, officials said. The body of Cimone Alicea Dawson was recovered from Condado Beach on Monday afternoon, according to a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard. She was on the island along with two friends when they got caught "in the strong rip currents" the night before. Coast Guard watchstanders were notified about screaming and people "in distress" in the water around 6:30 p.m., per the news release. This prompted search efforts from several agencies and emergency responders. Dawson’s friends were saved with the help of law enforcement and bystanders. “We extend are most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of this young woman and pray they find strength and closure during this most difficult time,” Cmdr. Matthew Romano said in a statement. Romano continued, “I would like to extend my appreciation to the bystanders and on-scene authorities for their actions which saved two lives and to all the Coast Guard units and emergency response partners for their professionalism, dedication, and tireless efforts during the search.” According to WTHR, Dawson was in Puerto Rico for a birthday celebration. The night of the incident, she was trying to save her girlfriend when she disappeared and didn’t return to land.
Terrorism Investigations
CNN: [GA] Authorities were ‘actively looking’ for Georgia shooting suspect after a warning call from his mom the morning of the attack
CNN [9/14/2024 4:44 AM, Dalia Faheid, Ashley R. Williams, Alisha Ebrahimji and Jamiel Lynch, 24052K, Negative] reports that, on the morning of the shooting at a Winder, Georgia, high school that left four people dead, authorities were “actively looking” for the teenage suspect after the school received a warning call from his mom – but there was a mix-up and they weren’t able to get to him fast enough, according to the Barrow County sheriff. Before last week’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School, Colt Gray, 14, apologized to his mother, Marcee Gray, in an alarming, cryptic text that prompted the mother to warn the school that something could be wrong. “I’m sorry, mom,” the text read. The mother then called the school and asked administrators to check on her son. That’s when authorities started searching for Colt Gray, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told CNN affiliate WXIA. “She did speak to someone in the school, and we were actively looking for him,” Smith said. “I am not aware of her saying he is going to do this, or he has planned this, but there were some messages back and forth,” the sheriff added. A resource officer went to look for the boy, but there was another student in the same class with “almost identically the same name,” and both he and Colt Gray weren’t inside the classroom at the time, according to the sheriff. “He went to the bathroom with a student that has the almost same name – that’s who they think we’re looking for,” Smith said. Smith said the officers thought they had caught up to Colt Gray in time, but they were actually speaking to the other student. “As we’re trying to figure out what’s going on, the shooting starts,” Smith told WXIA.
New York Times: [GA] Earlier Investigation of School Shooting Suspect Ended Too Soon, Experts Say
New York Times [9/13/2024 7:18 PM, Shaila Dewan, Sean Keenan and Alessandro Marazzi, 147417K, Negative] reports that, more than a year before the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., the sheriff in a neighboring county was told by the F.B.I. of school shooting threats that a local student was believed to have posted on the internet chat site Discord. An investigator interviewed the student, who was 13, for less than 10 minutes, and came away saying he could not determine whether the teen had made the threats. He closed the case, and his supervisor said the teenager would be monitored. Now that same teenager is accused of carrying out the rampage that killed two students and two teachers last week at Apalachee, and his earlier encounter with the police has raised questions about whether more aggressive intervention then could have prevented the deadly shooting. Cybersecurity experts and law enforcement officers who specialize in tracking online activity say that the investigator, from the Jackson County Sheriff’s office, gave up too quickly and that the handling of the case underscores a lack of training and expertise among rank-and-file officers in the nation’s 18,000 police agencies. Those officers are often the first line of investigation into online threats of violence, working in an ever-shifting universe of apps and chat rooms. Seeking information from social media platforms has become routine for many police agencies, who use it to piece together timelines and behavioral profiles. Instagram, YouTube and TikTok have entire divisions dedicated to responding to law enforcement inquiries and complying with subpoenas that officers have obtained for user account information. But the investigator in Jackson did not seek such information.
CBS Philadelphia: [GA] 911 calls released in deadly Georgia school shooting
CBS Philadelphia [9/13/2024 9:49 PM, Staff, 59828K, Negative] reports a Georgia county’s emergency call center was overwhelmed by calls on Sept. 4 about a school shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people and wounded nine others, records released Friday by Barrow County show. Local news organizations report many of the 911 phone calls were not released under public record requests because state law exempts from release calls recording the voice of someone younger than 18 years old. That exemption would cover calls from most of the 1,900 students at the school in Winder, northeast of Atlanta. Calls spiked around 10:20 a.m., when authorities have said that 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray began shooting. Many calls were answered with an automated message saying there was a "high call volume," WAGA-TV reported. One man called 911 after receiving text messages from a girlfriend. He was put on hold for just over 10 minutes because of an influx of calls at the time of the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "She hears people yelling outside, so I don’t know if that’s officers in the building or that’s — I don’t know," he said, adding that she was eventually evacuated out of the school. Other adults also called 911 after their children contacted them. Parents of students at an elementary school and middle school neighboring Apalachee also flooded 911 seeking information. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]
Albany Herald: [GA] Arrests made within Dougherty County School System after gun violence threats to schools
Albany Herald [9/13/2024 5:01 PM, Lucille Lannigan, Negative] reports twelve Dougherty County School System students were arrested this week in connection to multiple gun violence threats made against DCSS schools, Superintendent Kenneth Dyer and DCSS Police Chief Troy Conley announced during a news conference Friday. Each student, ages 12 to 15 years old, has been charged with a felony count of terroristic threats and acts, with additional charges pending, Dyer said. Each student also faces administrative disciplinary action through the schools. Conley said at least five threats were made over a period of days – from Sept. 8 to Thursday night at about 6:30 p.m. Some of the threats had multiple offenders. The two threats made Thursday night are currently being investigated. The influx comes after a shooting at Apalachee High School in north Georgia’s Winder on Sept. 4 during which four people were killed and nine injured. School districts across Georgia, including southwest Georgia, received violent threats and released statements throughout the week. Conley said DCSS is working with the GBI and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the threats.
Yahoo! News: [FL] Dozens of violent school threats are flooding Florida and the nation. Here’s what we know
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 11:56 AM, Brandon Girod, 60726K, Negative] reports that Florida school districts across the state are on heightened alert after violent threats have been made in several counties throughout the state following the school shooting in Georgia that left four dead on Sept. 4. Escambia County Schools were the latest after local law enforcement was made aware of a potential social media threat made against several area schools early Friday morning. "In the hours since, local law enforcement has been working diligently to determine the source and validity of this threat. As a result, there will be heightened law enforcement presence at our campuses today," said a news release from the school district. The release did not specify the nature of the threat or which schools were named. These aren’t isolated events, however. A wave of violent threats against schools has cropped up across the country, leading to arrests, school shutdowns and closures. Here’s everything we know. On Thursday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported the arrest of a 13-year-old Griffin Middle School student after a loaded handgun and what was suspected to be cocaine were found in his backpack. The arrest came on the same day as three area high schools received violent threats, including Godby High School, Leon High School and Lincoln High School. Other news outlets have reported threats in at least seven other school counties.
Yahoo! News: [FL] Orlando teen arrested for online post threatening public official; Secret Service involved
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 9:53 PM, Silas Morgan, 60726K, Negative] reports an Orlando teenager was arrested Friday by the Orlando Police Department for a social media post threatening deadly violence against a public official, according to a press release from the agency. The unidentified suspect is a 16-year-old female student at Lake Nona High School, according to the release. She was arrested on charges of written/electronic threat to kill or cause bodily harm, according to OPD, which received notice of the post earlier Friday. The release said the United States Secret Service is assisting with the investigation. No other information was included in the release.
Yahoo! News: [FL] 11-year-old girl arrested in connection to threats to Escambia schools
Yahoo! News [9/13/2024 6:00 PM, Staff, 60726K, Negative] reports the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has located and arrested an 11-year-old girl in connection to threats made to several local schools made over social medial. The investigation identified a female middle school student who has been arrested and charged with written or electronic threats to conduct a mass shooting, a second-degree felony, according to an ECSO Facebook post. The juvenile was not identified, nor was the specific language of the threats. The post notes that the investigation is ongoing and may lead to additional arrests. The FBI and the Escambia County school district assisted in Friday’s investigation. In a written statement, Escambia County Public Schools noted, "Be certain, we will use every tool at our disposal to be sure the person or persons responsible for today’s disruption never has the opportunity to do something like this again. We will work with our partners in law enforcement as they investigate further and we will pursue charges. We want to send the message that this behavior will not be tolerated in any of our schools. To those who seek to promote chaos by knowingly spreading harmful and disruptive disinformation, we will pursue you with every legal means available."
National Security News
New York Times: Biden Administration Is Likely to Delay Decision Over U.S. Steel
New York Times [9/13/2024 2:39 PM, Alan Rappeport, Andrew Duehren, and Lauren Hirsch, 147417K, Neutral] reports that the Biden administration is likely to delay a final decision on whether to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan until after the election, slowing a process that has been caught up in presidential politics, according to people familiar with the matter. Top Democrats and Republicans, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, have been in agreement that Nippon’s $15 billion bid to take over U.S. Steel should not move forward and that the company should remain American owned and operated. However, the prospect that the deal would be blocked before the election drew backlash from business groups and legal experts who feared that political interests were tainting a process that is intended to be focused on national security. A White House spokeswoman said in a statement that a decision to block the deal was never “imminent” because the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which has been reviewing the transaction, has not provided Mr. Biden with a recommendation. She emphasized that he continued to want U.S. Steel to remain American owned. “The president’s position is that it is vital for U.S. Steel to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated,” said Saloni Sharma, the spokeswoman. “The president told our steelworkers he has their backs, and he meant it.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [9/13/2024 11:20 AM, Jeff Stein and David J. Lynch, 52865K, Neutral]
VOA News: [DC] Lawsuit against TikTok ban set to begin in Washington
VOA News [9/13/2024 1:21 PM, Rob Garver, 4566K, Neutral] reports that Attorneys representing the social media application TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are poised to clash with lawyers from the Department of Justice on Monday in a case that could decide the fate of the service in the United States. The case, which will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, consolidates several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a law enacted earlier this year. The measure, which had broad bipartisan support in Congress, demands that ByteDance sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner before January 19, 2025, or be forced to shut down its service within the U.S. The law’s challengers claim that it represents an unconstitutional suppression of free speech, violating the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s estimated 170 million U.S. users. The Department of Justice contends that TikTok presents a national security threat because it collects personal data of American citizens and, despite assurances to the contrary, could be compelled by the Chinese government to provide that data on demand. The government also says that the platform’s recommendation algorithm, which determines what content individual users see, could be manipulated by the Chinese government to shape public opinion in the U.S.
CBS Austin: [CA] US adversaries would be barred from operating American ports under GOP bill - full text
CBS Austin [9/13/2024 1:20 PM, Ray Lewis, 703K, Neutral] reports that a California congresswoman on Friday introduced a bill that would ban businesses owned by companies of U.S. adversaries from operating American ports. The Secure Our Ports Act, filed by Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., would bar port owners from letting businesses operate U.S. docks if they are owned by Chinese, Russian, Iranian or North Korean companies by any share. Rep. Steel’s district is in the greater Los Angeles area, which is home to two of the largest ports in the country. The congresswoman said the act would prevent American adversaries from accessing shipping infrastructure there and harming U.S. supply chains. Companies like the China Ocean Shipping Company have routes to the ports in the greater Los Angeles area. Barring them from controlling the docks would help protect the U.S. economy, according to the congresswoman. "My Secure Our Ports Act would shore up America’s economic and national security in the face of threats from Communist China and their like-minded allies," Rep. Steel said. "Congress must protect America’s supply chains by restricting adversarial governments from having high-level access to our ports."
AP: [Mexico] Mexico’s president asks Sinaloa cartel to act ‘responsibly’ as violence escalates in the north
AP [9/13/2024 7:32 PM, Staff, 16227K, Neutral] reports that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday asked the warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel to act “responsibly” so no one else gets killed, after a week of escalating violence nearly paralyzed the Sinaloa state capital, Culiacan. Asked by a journalist if he trusted that the cartels would heed his call, López Obrador answered bluntly: “The president of Mexico is always listened to.” “Even by criminals?” pressed the journalist. “By everyone, more so if one has moral authority,” responded the president. The exchange Friday during the president’s morning press briefing is the latest in a series of instances where López Obrador has downplayed the clashes between factions of the Sinaloa cartel. The president, who leaves office on Sept. 30, has repeatedly refused to confront cartels, laying out various justifications for his “hugs, not bullets” strategy offering opportunities to youths so they won’t join cartels. The latest clashes in Culiacan are the latest example of the violence that continues to plague Mexico, where cartels employ increasingly sophisticated forms of warfare including roadside bombs or IEDs, trenches, home-made armored vehicles and bomb-dropping drones. The cartels “have to look for other ways, so they do not harm innocent people ... and avoid further loss of life,” López Obrador said on Friday. “They also should take care of themselves and their families.”
AP: [Congo] Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
AP [9/13/2024 6:49 PM, Jean-Yves Kamale, and Hannah Schoebaum, 24052K, Negative] reports that a military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt. The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian and Canadian, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include attempted coup, terrorism and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June. The open-air military court in the capital, Kinshasa, convicted the 37 defendants and imposed “the harshest penalty, that of death” in the verdict delivered in French by presiding judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma. The three Americans, wearing blue and yellow prison clothes and sitting in plastic chairs, appeared stoic as a translator explained their sentence. Richard Bondo, the lawyer who defended the six foreigners, disputed whether the death penalty could currently be imposed in Congo, despite its reinstatement earlier this year, and said his clients had inadequate interpreters during the investigation of the case. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Friday that the federal government was aware of the verdict. The department has not declared the three Americans wrongfully detained, making it unlikely that U.S. officials would try to negotiate their return.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [9/13/2024 12:23 PM, Sonia Rolley and Jessica Donati, 34590K, Negative]
Newsweek [9/13/2024 2:16 PM, Rachel Dobkin, 49093K, Negative]
New York Times: [Ukraine] Meeting With Biden, British Leader Hints at Ukraine Weapon Decision Soon
New York Times [9/13/2024 7:18 PM, Michael D. Shear and David E. Sanger, 147417K, Neutral] reports President Biden’s deliberations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain about whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range Western weapons were fresh evidence that the president remains deeply fearful of setting off a dangerous, wider conflict. But the decision now facing Mr. Biden after Friday’s closed-door meeting at the White House — whether to sign off on the use of long-range missiles made by Britain and France — could be far more consequential than previous concessions by the president that delivered largely defensive weapons to Ukraine during the past two and a half years. In remarks at the start of his meeting with Mr. Starmer, the president underscored his support for helping Ukraine defend itself but did not say whether he was willing to do more to allow for long-range strikes deep into Russia. “We’re going to discuss that now,” the president told reporters. For his part, the prime minister noted that “the next few weeks and months could be crucial — very, very important that we support Ukraine in this vital war of freedom.” European officials said earlier in the week that Mr. Biden appeared ready to approve the use of British and French long-range missiles, a move that Mr. Starmer and officials in France have said they want to provide a united front in the conflict with Russia. But Mr. Biden has hesitated to allow Ukraine to use arms provided by the United States in the same way over fears that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would see it as a major escalation. On Thursday, Mr. Putin responded to reports that America and its allies were considering such a move by declaring that it would “mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia,” according to a report by the Kremlin.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [9/13/2024 7:43 AM, Lara Seligman and Max Colchester, 767K, Neutral]
The Hill: [Egypt] Senate Democrats slam Biden’s release of military funds for Egypt over human rights concerns
The Hill [9/13/2024 1:16 PM, Laura Kelly, 19591K, Neutral] reports that more than a dozen Senate Democrats are slamming President Biden for releasing $320 million in U.S. military assistance to Egypt despite what they call serious human rights concerns over the government in Cairo. It is the first time the Biden administration has decided to release the full amount of funds over the course of the president’s term, and comes as the U.S. is relying heavily on Egypt as a mediating partner between Hamas and Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip. But Democrats are arguing that the amount of funds linked to progress on human rights is small enough not to jeopardize the military-to-military relationship, though important in reinforcing U.S. values and commitments. Of the $1.3 billion in assistance to Egypt, only $320 million is subject to considerations on progress on human rights. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the president pro tempore of the Senate and the chair of the Appropriations Committee, became one of the most senior Senate Democratic voices to criticize the president for sending U.S. aid to Egypt despite its government’s failure to release political prisoners. “When we can stand up for the values that define American democracy — freedom, liberty, and so much else — we absolutely must. … [The] conditions Congress places on foreign aid must be respected by any administration,” she said in a statement Thursday. This followed statements of concern from at least 12 other senators released over the past few weeks. Murray’s statement comes in response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken notifying Congress on Wednesday that the administration was issuing a national security waiver to deliver $320 million in foreign aid to Egypt that is contingent on Cairo addressing U.S. concerns over human rights abuses.
Wall Street Journal: [Syria] Israeli Military Conducted Rare Raid in Syria, U.S. Officials Say
Wall Street Journal [9/13/2024 2:31 AM, Nancy A. Youssef and Michael R. Gordon, 767K, Neutral] reports Israeli special forces conducted a rare raid in Syria earlier this week, U.S. officials said, killing at least 16 people and striking a blow against a suspected Iranian missile factory. The Israeli military has long carried out airstrikes in Syria to try to interrupt the flow of Iranian precision-guided missiles and technology to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has been firing rockets at northern Israel. The recent Israeli operation was unusual because of the ambitious scale of the attack and the involvement of Israeli troops, in addition to airstrikes. Israeli officials notified the U.S. of its plan in advance of the operation near the western Syrian city of Masyaf but didn’t elaborate on how or when it would take place, the U.S. officials said. “This attack was spectacular and out of the ordinary,” said Andrew Tabler, former director for Syria on the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It shows that [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and the regime are still in the Axis of Resistance even if Assad has allowed very few Iranian strikes from his country” since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Reports of a Sunday night attack began to emerge earlier in the week, including one by Syria TV, an opposition news site, which said that Israeli forces landed by slipping down ropes from hovering helicopters. Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute think tank, who has closely monitored developments at the site based on people in Syria and abroad and local news reports, said the Israeli raid was directed at a factory inside a mountain that develops missiles and rockets. That facility, he said, is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and is part of a larger military complex that is managed by Assad’s regime in Syria.
FOX News: [Iran] Iran using Hells Angels, criminal gangs to target critics in US and abroad: report
FOX News [9/13/2024 12:04 PM, Greg Norman, 48844K, Negative] reports that Iran is enlisting members of the Hells Angels biker gang and other criminal enterprises as part of their efforts to attack and silence dissidents living in Europe and on American soil, a new report has revealed. The shadowy operations being orchestrated by high-level units within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Ministry of Intelligence have targeted a former Iranian military officer living in Maryland, an Iranian-American activist and journalist based in New York City and an exiled reporter in London, according to The Washington Post. "We’re not dealing with the usual suspects," Matt Jukes, who is the head of counterterrorism policing in the United Kingdom, told the newspaper. "What we’ve got is a hostile state actor that sees the battlefield as being without border and individuals in London every bit as legitimate as targets as if [they were] in Iran." The report cites data from the Washington Institute linking Iran to 88 violent plots over the last five years, including assassination and abduction attempts. Officials in the U.K. reportedly have tracked more than 16 plots alone over the last two years. In one of the plots, Naji Sharifi Zindashti, an alleged Iran-based heroin trafficking kingpin, worked out a $350,000 contract with two Hells Angels biker gang members in Canada to kill an Iranian defector and his wife who had been living under different identities in Maryland.
AP: [Iran] Iran says it successfully launched a satellite in its program criticized by West over missile fears
AP [9/14/2024 5:51 AM, Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell, 4566K, Neutral] reports Iran launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program. Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success. Footage later released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher. The video suggested the launch happened at the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran. The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program. Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language. The solid-fuel rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported.
Washington Post: [Iraq] Four Islamic State leaders killed in August raid in Iraq, U.S. says
Washington Post [9/14/2024 1:26 AM, Andrew Jeong, 52865K, Negative] reports four leaders of the Islamic State were killed by U.S. and Iraqi security forces in a combined raid carried out in western Iraq last month, including the head of the extremist group’s operations in the country, U.S. military officials announced Friday. The dramatic operation Aug. 29 resulted in the deaths of 14 Islamic State operatives and was designed to “disrupt and degrade” the terrorist group’s ability to organize and launch attacks throughout the region and beyond, U.S. Central Command said at the time. The four leaders killed were identified as Ahmad Hamid Husayn Abd-al-Jalil al-Ithawi, who was in charge of all Islamic State operations in Iraq; Abu Hammam, who oversaw all operations in western Iraq; Abu Ali al-Tunisi, who oversaw technical development; and Shakir Abud Ahmad al-Issawi, who was responsible for military operations in western Iraq, according to a statement Friday from Centcom, which coordinates American military activity throughout the Middle East. The raid last month began with “consecutive and surprise airstrikes” on four Islamic State hideouts in the early hours, Washington Post previously reported, and took place east of Wadi al-Ghadaf, a river bed that runs through the Anbar desert, in an area Iraqi officials identified as al-Hazeemi. The operation destroyed four “highly camouflaged hideouts,” as well as weapons and ammunition used by the Islamic State, and documents and digital devices found were seized. Centcom described the militants as “armed with numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts.”

Reported similarly:
ABC News [9/13/2024 9:54 PM, Luis Martinez, 31638K, Neutral]
CNN [9/13/2024 11:04 PM, Kaanita Iyer, 24052K, Negative]

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